Astonishing 70,000 Avios sign-up bonus for the British Airways Premium Plus American Express!

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• Myriad says:

  13 Jan13 January 13:50

  Any advice on proving you used BA to sign up in the event they only award 35k instead of 70k? Or just hope the system gets it right.

  • Andy says:

    13 Jan13 January 14:11

    I guess you can PDF print the web page showing the application approval. The page link will show the correct campaign id of “cpid=100504447”.

    • Myraid says:

      13 Jan13 January 14:48

      Unfortunately the page timed out after approval, though if I go backwards it takes me to the link with that code (so I know I did it right), however all that shows is another application form. I guess I have to trust in the system.

• Melissa says:

  13 Jan13 January 14:11

  Roughly what kind of flights could I get with 70k points?

• Aron says:

  13 Jan13 January 14:58

  Hi all.

  I am thinking of applying for this at the start of Feb. The offer runs until almost the end of Feb – is there any risk in doing this? I have payments to make late March / April so trying to apply then to give me enough time.

  Any chance this offer would end early or that’s never happened? Thanks!

  • Tom says:

    13 Jan13 January 15:08

    I would think chances of it being pulled early are slim but i imagine there has been quite a bit of push back from affiliates like HfP over this. Rob has already stated they have probably lost a five figure sum on this.

• Adam says:

  13 Jan13 January 15:10

  After reading through all 15 pages of comments, just want to confirm one thing I haven’t found an answer for:
  I’ve held the barebones free transparent/blue card for the past multiple years, never held any other Amex card so should be in the clear for the BAPP option, as I understand it. I did, however apply for that Avios Mastercard thing a few months ago and got rejected, likely simply because on the free card Amex is always increasing my limit.
  Should I reach out to Amex, ask them to decrease my limit on the free card to “make room” for this application, or not necessary as they consider the overall limit for the same name with them across all cards? Credit limit currently at just over 20% of my gross annual income, I don’t have a mortgage or anything big like that, don’t spend more than 40-50% of my monthly salary on non-discretionaries.

  • Tom says:

    13 Jan13 January 15:14

    The Avios Mastercard you mention i assume was with Barclaycard? If so, many people had issues with being accepted for that card. If Amex have been increasing your limit regularly then i would say you are probably OK and they don’t have a problem with your credit worthiness. I would apply regardless.

  • Jon says:

    13 Jan13 January 15:18

    No, you are overthinking this. The Avios mastercard is owned by Barclaycard who have specific eligibility criteria. If you already have an Amex then the likelihood of you getting accepted is very high. If you are already at the credit limit for your income with Amex they will still give you the card but with the minimum credit limit for that particular card.

    Unfortunately you are mistaken on the sign up bonuses – if you have the blue BA card already then you will not be eligible for the sign up bonus for the premium black BA card.

    • oldak says:

      13 Jan13 January 15:20

      I think he has the basic Member Reward card, not the basic BA/Avios card, so should be applicable.

      • Adam says:

        13 Jan13 January 15:28

        exactly, it’s just the basic Member Reward one, sorry for not being clear enough earlier and thanks so much everyone for your two cents! I love how healthy and helpful of a community this place is.

  • oldak says:

    13 Jan13 January 15:18

    IMO, there are very few cases in which requesting decreased limit makes sense. Amex tends to be generous with limits compared to other providers. As they are automatically increasing your limit, they see you as increasingly credit-worthy. They will not be automatically increasing it to what they view as your full credit capacity anyhow. They might give you a low limit on your second card if they don’t see too much room in your credit capacity. They want existing customers to get additional cards and pay additional fees, after all, and will not have priced themselves out of you getting an additional fee-paying card from them. Additionally, as an existing Amex card holder, they likely won’t run a credit check on you so won’t pick up on your previous hard search (they proably wouldn’t care about a single hard check a few months ago anyway).

    (I’m assuming here you don’t have any other credit cards.)

• akrot says:

  13 Jan13 January 15:26

  how do i find out if i’m eligible for this – i have had an AMEX in the past but cant remember when or what type or when it was cancelled. Do I speak to AMEX to ask them (would they live chat with me so i have it in writing) or is it BA i need to speak to?

  • Rhys says:

    13 Jan13 January 15:38

    Have you tried searching your emails? That may be the fastest option.

  • robato says:

    13 Jan13 January 16:09

    Check your credit report for most recent account settled dates. But I have many closed AMEX accounts on my credit report but that date helps to narrow down my emails with “Your payment has been received”. Inside the email it says “Thank you for your payment of £106.07 on your British Airways American Express Credit Card account.” as well as the last 5 digits of the card number to match up with the credit report. If you do live chat, definitely speak to AMEX (not BA).

  • Hbommie says:

    13 Jan13 January 16:40

    Call them, I did and it worked out fine.

• David says:

  13 Jan13 January 15:30

  Application accepted but I do hope Amex honour the welcome bonus points this time
  Platinum card 60,000 welcome bonus has been a long fight that I have still not resolved 😢

  • Chris says:

    14 Jan14 January 09:32

    What issue are you having with the Platinum bonus? I haven’t received mine yet either despite meeting the spend within a couple of months. When I chatted with Amex they said it would be awarded after the 6 month period ends, so I’m waiting for that. And if it isn’t awarded, I’ll complain at that point and hopefully get it resolved. Interested to hear your experience though as it sounds like you’re further along

    • Rabbit says:

      14 Jan14 January 12:02

      I’ve only had my plat 3.5 months and got my 60k bonus so the 6 months seems dubious

• Liam says:

  13 Jan13 January 16:58

  Applied and approved here. I’m a solo traveller, so the 50% off usage of the companion voucher has potential to be huge – new to the world of these vouchers though.

  Am I right in thinking it’s 50% off a return trip’s avois requirements? And with the PP card I could use that for 50% off a first class trip?

  Sounds like it could end up a very cheap trip to Sydney if I don’t care about dates and can find off-peak.

  • Rob says:

    13 Jan13 January 17:30

    Bad example – Qatar is 180k in Business on all dates (and far superior), BA’s old ‘middle’ rate was 250 / 300 peak so no huge saving, worse service, minimal availability.

    • Liam says:

      13 Jan13 January 17:32

      Ah okay, thanks! I was thinking it was only usable on a BA flight and picked the furthest away/highest avois thinking that would be the best discount.

      • Louie says:

        14 Jan14 January 06:39

        It (the 2-4-1 voucher) isn’t usable on Qatar. I think Rob just meant that there are better destinations to use the voucher on because the usual Avios cost is not that much greater on Qatar to Oz than using the voucher on BA – and the availability is generally better and “taxes” lower. If, like me, you want to go to Sydney and have a voucher which needs using, it’s still cheaper overall though, at least on off-peak dates. Possibly not on peak though.

• Sam says:

  13 Jan13 January 17:14

  If you have say £1000 of credit on another card and transfer it to this card after signing up, does that £1000 count towards the £3000 in 3 months spending requirement?

  And same question for the Barclaycard Avios card I signed up before seeing this Amex offer..

  • Rob says:

    13 Jan13 January 17:29

    No and No.

    • Iain says:

      13 Jan13 January 18:47

      Would this still be a no if I used the card to pay the bill of another card rather than a balance transfer?

      • Rob says:

        13 Jan13 January 18:48

        That can’t be done.

        The only way of gaming Amex spend is to PayPal someone (no fees but high risk of being shutdown and having your funds frozen by PayPal if you’re not a heavy use of their service – after all, PayPal swallows a fat Amex fee on the transaction) or to buy a big gift card for your regular supermarket or petrol station to basically prepay future expenses.

        • No longer Entitled says:

          13 Jan13 January 21:27

          Or pay your utilities or Council Tax (not all councils accept AMEX), both of which can hold a credit.

        • ginny jacobs says:

          13 Jan13 January 22:03

          Yes – my council lets me pay it all up front! Helpful for meeting spend.

      • Bill Smith says:

        13 Jan13 January 22:17

        You can’t pay council tax with Amex, they only take Visa & M/C.

        • Thomas Atkins says:

          14 Jan14 January 04:26

          Er, oh yes you can indeed! First thing to do is call your local council, water supplier, and if you pay rent etc. and ask them nicely to send you a payment card bc you “would like to make payments at your local post office or corner shop” ; if their payment card has the PayPoint logo, you’re sorted… (There are established stores that will Co-Operate to facilitate you making said payments with Amex. Much like the little dot at the end of this sentence – it’s just One Stop). Hope that helps.

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