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Our youngest has just turned 2 (oldest is 5) and as such we’re looking at travelling again a bit more. I wanted to get advice on others with families what their credit strategy is. My current thoughts is that me and the wife each get the BAPP (with each other getting a supplemental card) as we’ll then be able to trigger 2x companion vouchers each year. But is this the best approach? I can’t tell if we would be better both or one of us getting the Barclays avios card instead.
Any thoughts/suggestions welcome. If Rob reads these it’ll be great to hear what cards you have.
TIA
What Amex cards do you currently have, if any? Long term, each having the BAPP is probably a good idea for a family of 4. But, if you are eligible for the SUB on either the Gold or Platinum currently, could be a good idea to start with that first, as you would still be entitled to the SUB on the BAPP later.
I’m in a family of 3, so also have the Barclaycard, which works well for us, as my wife no longer has her BAPP. Its useful for places where Amex isn’t accepted too. Only one parent having a BAPP doesn’t really work for a family of 3, as you can’t use 2x vouchers for a 3, but can for 4. That’s where the Barclaycard voucher comes in handy.
If you don’t want to pay 2 lots of fees for the BAPP, it will work for just 1 parent to have a BAPP, but obviously it would take you 2 years to earn enough vouchers to book for all 4 of you.
One of these impossible questions. Once you’ve had any sign-up bonus on the BAPP, ignoring the extra points earning, you need to save £250 of Avios to justify the annual fee.
That’s equivalent to 25,000-30,000 Avios routes.
So will you be capable of earning enough Avios (or willing to buy enough) to justify this?
Where do you wish to fly to? In which class of travel?
But speaking as someone with two kids with a similar age gap, we cancelled our BAPPs because we weren’t travelling and then, when the kids were 2 and 5 and we contemplated travel again, did not have any 241 vouchers which was annoying! Mrs Froggee then cancelled hers again during Covid because we weren’t travelling.
But after a 2+ year gap Mrs Froggee has just taken out a BAPP (I already have one) with a view of the family redeeming Avios long haul in J once a year. I’m pretty confident we’ll do this given family visits and the savings are substantial for this.
We don’t have the Avios Barclaycard as both of us are emotionally attached to our Barclays Hilton visa for reasons I cannot fathom and Barclays only allow one card.
We also have many other cards but it all gets a bit complicated. As a starting point, work out where you will likely want to go and see if the Amex 241s make sense.
BAPP voucher/avios is a game changer if you have to travel in school holidays. For years we headed off to the Caribbean/USA and European city breaks as a family of 3 with the 241 and Lloyds upgrade vouchers (similar to the BC ones!) while our friends bankrupted themselves for 2 weeks in a villa in Majorca in August.
This will last until your kids are 18. Ours is now in Year 13, is too cool to travel with us any more and we have just had the reverse sticker shock experience of being able to fly to France in a couple of weeks for £33 return!I cannot wait for those years when my kid is too cool to travel with us 🙂
@can2 – Cherish these years, but keep your eyes on the prize 😂
@Anna, will most certainly do!
Only one parent having a BAPP doesn’t really work for a family of 3, as you can’t use 2x vouchers for a 3, but can for 4. That’s where the Barclaycard voucher comes in handy.
Practically doesn’t work that way. You can use 2x BAPP vouchers for a family of 3. You save 50% on the third traveller’s avios cost.
Barclaycard voucher, on the other hand, is practically useless. You don’t get the extra availability that BAPP voucher gets from I class. That rules out almost all popular routes like Dubai, Maldives, Singapore etc. It’s probably useful for boomers who can travel during off peak and avoid school holidays.
For example next year, plenty of availability to Singapore on BAPP vouchers. Zero on Barclaycard vouchers.
As Froggee says, the qn really is if you can accumulate enough avios to make use of vouchers.Only one parent having a BAPP doesn’t really work for a family of 3, as you can’t use 2x vouchers for a 3, but can for 4. That’s where the Barclaycard voucher comes in handy.
Practically doesn’t work that way. You can use 2x BAPP vouchers for a family of 3. You save 50% on the third traveller’s avios cost.
Barclaycard voucher, on the other hand, is practically useless. You don’t get the extra availability that BAPP voucher gets from I class. That rules out almost all popular routes like Dubai, Maldives, Singapore etc. It’s probably useful for boomers who can travel during off peak and avoid school holidays.
For example next year, plenty of availability to Singapore on BAPP vouchers. Zero on Barclaycard vouchers.
As Froggee says, the qn really is if you can accumulate enough avios to make use of vouchers.I understand that, but what I was saying that only 1 parent having BAPP doesn’t work for a family of 3; both parents have to have it to take advantage of the 3rd person at 50% avios. In my case, my wife doesn’t have the BAPP anymore, which is where the Barclaycard voucher comes in handy, but if she still had the BAPP, then, yes, the Amex voucher is better.
@KiwiDan Welcome to school holidays & gathered you considering 2 BAPP accounts. Would be advisable to achieve 2 vouchers from same account either side of its anniversary quickly before moving to the other account. Both you (and OH!) would be grateful when it comes to booking, especially with popular destinations and needing 4 seats on the same flight.
CSA cannot deal with 2 vouchers from different BAEC simultaneously, so unless both of you awake & calling. If booking online, both need to be up unless one is trained to operate two keyboards at the same time. Phoning BAEC and booking online yourself is possible but a bit messy.
You can have more than 2 people on a standard 241 booking (using one voucher), but it starts getting messy when the extra availability is released, as you can only book those for 2 pax.
I cannot wait for those years when my kid is too cool to travel with us 🙂
In the experience of several friends it lasts a year at best. Then when confronted with the holiday they could afford versus what you pay for they suddenly think family holidays are great.
I cannot wait for those years when my kid is too cool to travel with us 🙂
In the experience of several friends it lasts a year at best. Then when confronted with the holiday they could afford versus what you pay for they suddenly think family holidays are great.
Correct! And of course then they soon want to bring boyfriends/girlfriends as well. However, it’s not all bad as all that as while they appreciate the free luxury holiday, it’s only going to happen if everyone gets on well and they participate.
A friend who has two boys in their early twenties days he often messages them to ask something or see if they are coming for weekend, but doesn’t get a reply for days. Message to invite them to Barbados = instant reply!
now, going back to the original question: we are a family of 3 but sometimes my mom joins, too. and I truly think that BAPP voucher is pretty valuable even within Europe, especially during school holidays. Even we are a family of 3, we hold 2 BAPPs to ensure we always have a voucher when we need.
If your trip using a 241 will save you min (imo) 35k Avios then it’s worth it to pay the £250. Goes without saying your not paying interest on it.
Thanks all for your replies. Seems like 2 cards is the best way to go. But some good points above, especially from Gary, so will wait 7 months so I can get a new SUB and it’ll be 6 months from my wife’s card anniversary so should give us enough time to trigger vouchers either side of each card anniversary. Anything to avoid phoning BA!
That is so true – young people barely on the career ladder thinking it’s a good idea to rack up credit card debt visiting Dubai and the Maldives! We went on teletext holidays in our 20s, lol.
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