American Express British Airways card

[jonnykerm]

I'm thinking of applying for one of these as my partner flies to London a lot from Edinburgh and if we use it as an everyday spender and pay off the balance every month we'll get Avios points as a reward. Does anyone know if the Avios point HAVE to be used on BA though, or can you spend them with Flybe for example?

[Fas1975]

Avios can be spent via any Avios airline or travel partner.


http://www.avios.com/gb/en_gb/spend

Flybe is not one of them. By default, you will have a BA Executive Club account setup, that's where your earned avios will go. To spend on a wider selection as per link, transfer them 1:1 to an avios account

[jonnykerm]

Apparently Flybe is part of Avios – http://www.flybe.com/avios/

[Fas1975]

In that case, I stand corrected, I was getting mixed up a little I think between Avios and One World Alliance. You will need to transfer your points from you BA account to an Avios account, but once that's done, looks like you're all good

[snabzter]

Don't forget that there is a companion voucher for spending £20k in a year on the standard BA Amex card (£10k on the premium plus card, which has a £150 per year fee) which can be pretty valuable. You can only use the companion voucher on BA.

The voucher means you can double the value of your Avios by getting two reward seats for the price of one.

[jonnykerm]

Fas1975 said:

In that case, I stand corrected, I was getting mixed up a little I think between Avios and One World Alliance. You will need to transfer your points from you BA account to an Avios account, but once that's done, looks like you're all good

No worries, I think it's a pretty recent thing. So I can transfer points from the Amex to Flybe? That's good to know, as BA isn't always having the cheapest flights, or as prequels from Edinburgh as Flybe.

[GCH]

Also note that thereare two BA amex cards.
The Premium Plus card has a higher earning rate than the free card, but also carries an annual fee. Companion voucher @ £10k vs £20k - but if you are only planning on using for flybe thats maybe not so important to you , as the companion voicher can only be used on BA.
Work out which one is more suitable for you.

If you need a referral, drop me a message (bonus points for you and me)

[HotJambalaya]

the break even point for getting the fee paying card is about £10k per year (though this might have gone up due to a recent avios devaluation).

Worth doing though.

With regards on using them on flybe, be careful, sometimes the tax element alone would be more then just buying the ticket. If you use them on BA they'll qualify as reward fare saver where the tax is capped, and these can be very good value.

[Alex L]

I also link my Paypal to my BA Amex, that way you can still earn Avios when websites don't accept Amex but do allow Paypal.

Also check out http://www.britishairways.com/travel/eshop/public/... or Google Gate365. I bought my other half a handbag through the Selfridges via Gate365 and earned almost 11,000 Avios at a bonus rate of 12 Avios per £

[jonnykerm]

Thanks for the info guys. I'm also looking into the Avios Lloyds Amex card now, this enables you to spend Avios points with more than just BA. It seems the BA Avios Scheme is a different scheme to the normal Avios scheme.

https://www.avios.com/gb/en_gb/collect/lloydsbank/...

[GCH]

jonnykerm said:

Thanks for the info guys. I'm also looking into the Avios Lloyds Amex card now, this enables you to spend Avios points with more than just BA. It seems the BA Avios Scheme is a different scheme to the normal Avios scheme.

https://www.avios.com/gb/en_gb/collect/lloydsbank/...

Different but the same.

Avios is avios, and you can transfer freely from a BA avios account to an avios account, to an Iberia avois account etc...
They made it far more confusing than it needed to be.

Run a search on headforpoints.com - plenty of articles on there by Rob (raffles) about these cards and which is better/more suitable for you. Go for the highest earning card would be my advice.

If you think this is confusing, wait until you get to spending the things.

[bad company]

I considered a BA Amex card but decided against as they charge 2.99% extra for using the card abroad and I spend a lot of time & money in the USA.

The Lloyds bank Amex card also comes with Avios points and no foreign transaction charges.

[IIIRestorerIII]

Personally found it very difficult using the points on this card. Popular flights are booked up months in advance etc... Wanted to fly to America, taxes make the flight more expensive than any special offers elsewhere.

I've been using my HSBC Premier now with the Amazon vouchers that I at least get to use.

[Mr Trophy]

Just my 2 pence.

I had a American Express as a business card and it was a complete ball ache a lot of the time because places wouldn't accept it (and online also).

[bad company]

IIIRestorerIII said:

Personally found it very difficult using the points on this card. Popular flights are booked up months in advance etc... Wanted to fly to America, taxes make the flight more expensive than any special offers elsewhere.

I've been using my HSBC Premier now with the Amazon vouchers that I at least get to use.

I just booked 2 business class flights from Nice to London using Avios. I needed single tix as we will be returning from a cruise and need business class to avoid excess baggage (Mrs BC's shoes mainly). No problem booking tho it was 6 months ahead.

[whoami]

bad company said:

IIIRestorerIII said:

Personally found it very difficult using the points on this card. Popular flights are booked up months in advance etc... Wanted to fly to America, taxes make the flight more expensive than any special offers elsewhere.

I've been using my HSBC Premier now with the Amazon vouchers that I at least get to use.

I just booked 2 business class flights from Nice to London using Avios. I needed single tix as we will be returning from a cruise and need business class to avoid excess baggage (Mrs BC's shoes mainly). No problem booking tho it was 6 months ahead.

Long haul is much more difficult though.

[Harbuzi]

Alex L said:

I also link my Paypal to my BA Amex, that way you can still earn Avios when websites don't accept Amex but do allow Paypal.

Also check out http://www.britishairways.com/travel/eshop/public/... or Google Gate365. I bought my other half a handbag through the Selfridges via Gate365 and earned almost 11,000 Avios at a bonus rate of 12 Avios per £

Some elementary maths tells me you spent too much on a handbag!!

[The Leaper]

I've had an Amex/BA card since they started and I have accumulated quite a few air miles, now Avios points. I've never had any problem using the points and companion voucher, although I usually use them to upgrade to club class and do so maybe 6 months or more ahead of when I want to travel, whether short or long haul. Over the years I've probably made maybe 15 trips using the points.

Maybe I've been lucky...I've never experienced any problems.

R.

[snabzter]

If you have fixed dates then it is not the easiest to use Avios. However, over the last three years I've booked 3 long haul trips in First Class a few months before the flights. They were to New York returning from Boston, to/from Vancouver and to Washington returning from New York.

I am starting to look at flights now for next September to give me options on where to go and on what dates.

If you use the cards to book with BA on BA.com you get double Avios as well. So 2 Avios per £1 for the standard card and 3 Avios per £1 on the Premium Plus card.

Have a look at other Amex cards as well though. The earning rate might not be as good but you can transfer the Membership Points to other airline schemes or use them for hotels etc.

[Marc p]

I have the premium plus one and think it's great, I have a few companion vouchers saved up, I've already flown to Houston and back in first on Avios and will be taking the missus to New York next year in first using my avios and companion voucher.