Downgrade BAPP to free, then ‘upgrade’ later?

[davidn]

I have a BAPP and happened to hit the 241 a day before my new Barclaycard Avios Plus arrived. 🙂 Will therefore switch all spending to the Barclaycard, on route to the SUB and maybe (let’s see how it goes) the Cabin Upgrade voucher.

In the meantime, my BAPP card runs to late August so wondering about downgrading to BA free, then upgrading again in August, vs cancelling and reapplying, vs doing nothing in case the stars don’t align and they refuse a regrade or application later in the year. (I would like to shoot for and ‘overlap’ 2 x 241.)

Depending on exact timing and full fee months refunded, it’s around a quarter of a year so a good 10s of thousands of Avios worth of fees. 🙂

I saw a comment by Rob last month that Amex are clamping down on regrades (or words to that effect) but any thoughts from the collective mind?

Thanks in advance!

[Justin]

davidn wrote:

In the meantime, my BAPP card runs to late August so wondering about downgrading to BA free, then upgrading again in August […]

Depending on exact timing and full fee months refunded, it’s around a quarter of a year so a good 10s of thousands of Avios worth of fees. 🙂

I saw a comment by Rob last month that Amex are clamping down on regrades (or words to that effect) but any thoughts from the collective mind?

Thanks in advance!

If this is your first time, I personally don’t see a problem but I wouldn’t do it myself. If you decide to do it, when asking for an upgrade back to BAPP, you can simply say you missed the increased earning rate and the lower 241 voucher spend target.

However, I’d certainly recommend you avoid doing it again anytime in the near future and/or making a habit of this.