Amex card strategy – Switching Plat/BAPP to take advantage of Feb increase?

[LoganRoy]

Hi all,

Following the 2-year re-set, my wife and I have restarted the Amex churn, intending to follow the strategy that Rob recommends here.

We’re only though Nectar so far and I was wondering whether it was possible to go straight to the BAPP card (to take advantage of the increased sign-up bonus) and then go to the Platinum one. Is there a reason why this wouldn’t work?

Thanks in advance.

[Cousin Greg]

Hey Uncle!

I think there are changes coming to the BAPP next week. Maybe @Rob can hint if it’s worth waiting.

[Reney]

There is another thread of 70k sign up bonus on Plat if referred by people who has the offer (sounds like Rob does) that is much better than the 35k referral the rest of us see. Since it doesn’t matter if you get BAPP or Plat first I would do the maths on which up lift is better not to miss. I am hoping the BAPP one will come back as I am missing it by 3 weeks.

Are you asking if you should skip nectar or is it ok to go from nectar to BAPP. The former you need to do the maths on what the nectar bonus is worth vs BAPP up lift. The latter is what Rob’s strategy teaches. Also factor in the plat uplift.

I’m not clear where these rumors BAPP changes are from, harder to keep up with the rumors when there are so many threads. But maybe worth waiting for 🤷‍♀️

[LoganRoy]

Thanks for your replies (@Cousin Greg – well done for making the deal with the devil ;))

@Reney – yes, I’m asking whether it’s possible to go to Plat first and then BAPP, instead of following Rob’s strategy verbatim. Which seems like it is?

As you suggested, I’ve done the maths to work out which approach would be better. This assumes that the enhanced bonuses (70k Plat, 40k BAPP) are only available for the first card holder. The Excel doesn’t paste well into this post, but it appears that going straight to Plat (and then BAPP) is the winner vs the other way around. This would give us 190k avios vs 169k. The added benefit for us is that we’re making a fair few Eurostar trips in the coming months, so the lounge access will be helpful.

Scenario 1 – Platinum > BAPP:
– I apply for Plat and hit spend target – 70k
– I refer my wife and she hits her spend target – 12k referral + 35k sign-up
– Wife refers me for BAPP and I hit spend target – 12k referral + 26k sign-up
– I refer wife for BAPP and she hits her spend target – 9k referral + 26k sign-up

Scenario 2 – BAPP > Platinum
– Wife refers me for BAPP and hit spend target – 3.125k referral + 40k sign-up
– I refer my wife and she hits her spend target – 9k referral + 26k sign-up
– Wife refers me for Plat and I hit spend target – 9k referral + 35k sign-up
– I refer wife for Plat and she hits her spend target – 12k referral + 35k sign-up

Can anyone see issues with the above logic?

[Rob]

There are NO changes to the BAPP card next week, DIRECTLY.

I wouldn’t worry about higher sign-up offers on BAPP going away, if anything I expect to see more of them. Take your pick – I can send you a 70k Platinum link if you want one, or do BAPP next and bag 40k (plus the extra 2k for a referral).