BIG NEWS: BA Amex annual fee AND voucher qualifying spend to rise sharply

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• ChasP says:

  11 Apr11 April 17:31

  That’s me out – with my 250k pot of MR/Avios (mainly from signup Bonuses I have enjoyed 2 241s but I won’t be able to put £15k through the card
  So its back to Virgin for me – especially as I can use it (via Curve) to pay £3k Council tax/water etc Which makes a big dent in the annual £10k

  • NorthernLass says:

    11 Apr11 April 18:18

    Why would you even need Curve for those?

    • BLT says:

      11 Apr11 April 18:29

      Because lots of councils only accept debit cards

      • Roy says:

        12 Apr12 April 16:54

        I’m lucky – my council accepts credit cards. But many don’t.

• Doug says:

  11 Apr11 April 21:00

  moving the goal posts while the game is still being played and not after the final whistle is blown will make people find another sport to watch ..

  • David says:

    12 Apr12 April 00:39

    For those that leave the game will leave more entertainment for the rest who stay.

• Nick N says:

  11 Apr11 April 22:13

  Re Council tax payments with Amex. My local council stated they dont take it, payment made today at local Co Op using paypoint

  • NorthernLass says:

    11 Apr11 April 23:28

    PayPal?

    • JDB says:

      12 Apr12 April 06:57

      Not many councils accept PayPal as it’s generally the most expensive payment provider for them.

• Kevin says:

  11 Apr11 April 23:39

  Paypoint can also be used to pay “Household Rates” in Northern Ireland. Similar to Council Tax in England. Just find a shop or garage that has Paypoint (most Spars, Eurospars, Centra etc.) and also accepts Amex and you can pay in full or at intervals throughout the year.

  • Roy says:

    12 Apr12 April 17:47

    Many independent convenience stores, too, IME – at least in London.

    It’s mainly used to allow people to pay cash for their utility bills, I think, so it makes sense that many councils would use it to provide an option to pay your council tax in cash.

• David says:

  12 Apr12 April 05:21

  I wonder if the recent offer of TP for 15k+ spend was a test to see how much further spend could be readily unlocked from cardholders who have either hit their 10k and stopped, or are stopping just short of it (i.e. is there more spend on the table)

  A bit like we said with that TP offer, there should be more and lower rungs on the ladder.
  Perhaps a lower spend voucher that you can use economy only, and a higher rung voucher for all cabins, but on one card product.

• MrMcBurger says:

  12 Apr12 April 06:29

  not sure how someone in a current year can be forced to spend more. Surely paying an annual fee should have locked in the spend & not see the goalposts moved until the next renewal date.

• vlcnc says:

  12 Apr12 April 10:01

  It sure feels like Amex wants to lose customers these days…

  • tw33ty says:

    12 Apr12 April 11:37

    I think they are more trying to force out the less profitable customers

    • Roy says:

      12 Apr12 April 17:09

      In part, I’m sure, but I think a big part is that they know that many customers in their target demographic are are running multiple cards, either BAPP plus Barclays or BAPP plus Virgin (or all three!) and they’re trying to push more of that spend over to their cards. To the extent that some of those customers have difficulty meeting £25,000 spend across two cards and will cancel one, I think they’re hoping that most will keep the BAPP and cancel (one of) their other cards. Because, frankly, the BAPP 2-4-1 is rather more valuable than the Barclays or Virgin vouchers to many.

      • Rob says:

        12 Apr12 April 18:10

        Very likely to be correct. It’s a trade off between how many cancel (because they can’t hit £15k) and how many of those who now stop at £10,001 (or £9,999) will spend another £5k.

        • Roy says:

          12 Apr12 April 23:18

          Better than that (for Amex). If you currently spend, say £22,000 across two cards – hitting £10,000 spend targets on both cards, then you are putting at most £12,000 in the way of Amex. If you cancel the other card because you can no longer meet the spend target on both (and you decide that the BAPP is more valuable to you than the Barclays or Virgin) then you may well be putting £22,000 on your BAPP in future. So it’s an increase of £10,000 in your Amex spend, not just £5,000.

          At least, I guess that’s what they’re hoping.

• David says:

  12 Apr12 April 12:59

  This is nothing short of scandalous. £10k to £15k spend on the BAPP is a 50% increase – 50%! I get fed up of posters saying this is ‘easily achievable’ or ‘justified as the original spend was 10k and inflation etc etc has changed the game. We are in a cost of living crisis and I do not want to HAVE to spend another 5k a year just because Amex decides it wants us to spend more on their cards at a time when most of us should be cutting back.

  Unless you are lucky enough to rack up lots of company expenses you can claim back, for the average consumer £15k is a real stretch. Many of us held the Amex and the Barclaycard, this will mean you’d have to spend £25k now to obtain both vouchers. What with the fee increase as well, and the near-impossibility of obtaining tickets on some popular routes, it gets really hard to make a good return out of it. I have been trying to book a popular route and when you think about how ridiculous it is that the advice is to phone a US call centre one year advance, book one leg and then have to wait x days to book the second leg with no guarantee of success, it’s a whole load of stress on top of the fees.

  Then there is BA’s seeming drive to make Avios more like an airline currency than a reward scheme, which apparently is attracting the gaze of HMRC so there may be further pain to come there as well. For the standard free card, it’s barely worth the bother as who wants to spend years saving up to travel long haul economy?

  For the fee of £300 this card should come with automatic Bronze status with a reduced silver point target, if not de factor silver status itself. Let’s face it, everyone has lounge access these days anyway, so it’s hardly the perk that is used to be.

  • Freddy says:

    12 Apr12 April 13:20

    Not sure if the bapp was suited for the ‘average consumer’ in any event. If your yearly amex spend is 10k pa then how long would it take to have enough for a redemption

    • Rob says:

      12 Apr12 April 13:40

      Er, that would be all those business travellers flying for work?

    • Roy says:

      12 Apr12 April 17:25

      But remember that for every 1 Avios you earn, Balance Boost allows you to buy 3 more at _very_ attractive rates – i.e. less than the 1p valuation that most of us apply. So take whatever number of Avios you think you can earn from credit cards plus flying, and quadruple it – that is the figure that you should be at, IMO.

      • Roy says:

        12 Apr12 April 17:26

        *should be looking at

  • Roy says:

    12 Apr12 April 17:13

    Free miles and points cards are rarely attractive IMO. They exist to satisfy those who would never pay a card fee.

    • Rob says:

      12 Apr12 April 18:09

      Correct, and also as a free top-up for someone who gets Avios via work and realises that the free BA Amex / Barclaycard are FAR better value than a reward card from John Lewis etc.

      • Josh B says:

        12 Apr12 April 18:22

        some of those also appear to believe that the ability to leverage work travel for personal benefit and a pair of cheap biz flights a year is a basic human right rather than a commercial enterprise…

  • Nick says:

    12 Apr12 April 22:25

    “wE aRe In A cOsT oF lIvInG cRiSiS” If this is how you feel then this card wasn’t suited to you even before the rise…

  • TGLoyalty says:

    12 Apr12 April 23:10

    Should check out the Avios store plenty of opps to boost the Avios balance via everyday shopping.

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