New Credit Card - What say thee...?

[NicoG]

Morning folks,

So a couple of months ago, I got a letter from MBNA saying that their partnership with Emirates was coming to an end, something to do with a new rule which (correct me if I am wrong...) seems to spell the end of any viable airmiles type credit card.

Now, I also have the BA Amex which if you have tried using Avios, you will know is ste.
In fact the reason I went for the MBNA Visa/Amex Emirates combo was precisely because the BA card seems to offered no availability for what I wanted, even less with companion vouchers, and there was always decent availability with Emirates.

With the new rules (which if anyone can explain in simple terms I'd appreciate) what card is actually worth having?
What cards do you have an what made you choose them? not just airmiles cards, any card.

I always seemed have a companion voucher or two so I must be spending at least £10K/annum on it / MBNA,
I have over £12K limit on both, not that I have asked for it or need it; they just kept upping it without any request from me, and I'm not even powerfully built !

I don't fly much these days so the Amex Gold / Platinum / Airline lounge access cards aren't as interesting as they used to be...

Interested to hear what y'all have and why

Cheers

[trowelhead]

NicoG said:

Morning folks,

So a couple of months ago, I got a letter from MBNA saying that their partnership with Emirates was coming to an end, something to do with a new rule which (correct me if I am wrong...) seems to spell the end of any viable airmiles type credit card.

Now, I also have the BA Amex which if you have tried using Avios, you will know is ste.
In fact the reason I went for the MBNA Visa/Amex Emirates combo was precisely because the BA card seems to offered no availability for what I wanted, even less with companion vouchers, and there was always decent availability with Emirates.

With the new rules (which if anyone can explain in simple terms I'd appreciate) what card is actually worth having?
What cards do you have an what made you choose them? not just airmiles cards, any card.

I always seemed have a companion voucher or two so I must be spending at least £10K/annum on it / MBNA,
I have over £12K limit on both, not that I have asked for it or need it; they just kept upping it without any request from me, and I'm not even powerfully built !

I don't fly much these days so the Amex Gold / Platinum / Airline lounge access cards aren't as interesting as they used to be...

Interested to hear what y'all have and why

Cheers

I have BA amex to get the companion voucher

Also a platinum amex which i put all my business spending on (mainly adwords/fb ads)

I have built up a load of points, and have a companion voucher, but have not yet tried to redeem...

[okgo]

They're not great.

I have the paid for BA amex and have two companion vouchers, you can use them if you know where you're going a long long way in advance. I have a wedding in California next year and that will be fine to use one of my vouchers, but its too far in advance to use the other, which is annoying.

You can use them fairly easy on routes like New York, but its not great really. I've spent around £100k on it in since I got it and I've only actually cashed in once.

[sleepezy]

Used Avios twice for flights

New York - booked relatively close to the departure (think about 3 months) - plenty of availability
Toronto - booked well in advance but there was plenty of availability

Both using points/double up vouchers.

There are 5 of us...

Apparently the most over subscribed flights are to South Africa with Australia running a close second (Avios lady who I booked the flights with)

[Mr Moley]

I had the same card as you, frustrating that they withdrew it! Went for the Amex platinum charge card in the end and convert all the points to Emirates miles.

[okgo]

Also make sure you go at least biz class or its a waste of money I think.

[NicoG]

Mr Moley said:

I had the same card as you, frustrating that they withdrew it! Went for the Amex platinum charge card in the end and convert all the points to Emirates miles.

Did you ever get the pro-rata'd refund of the annual fee? I was told it'd be credited from the July cut-off date and paid by September.
With my Annual fee being paid in December, that's about 90 squid due back to me by my reckoning.

Have checked my statements but there's fk all evidence of any refund...

I want to pay the card off and close the account, but not before I've got what's mine paid back !!

[Jockman]

It wasn’t just Emirates but Virgin too they ended their relationship with.

They will send you a new card that pays 0.5% cash back. I took it and got out of air miles. Too many terms and conditions that I could not be bothered with.

[The Leaper]

I've had a Amex BA card for longer than I can remember. Although I retired several years ago so international air travel for work ended, I've still got 1000s of Avios. I use them for holiday travel at least twice a year, usually with a companion voucher, mostly travelling in Europe or very occasionally to the USA, often in business class. I don't find any real obstacles to getting the flights to the destinations I want. However, being retired we can be quite flexible which is I think the key to our success. And we never travel in UK school holiday time.

I've used Avios/BA Miles over 20 times, as I say without much difficulty. I think they are great!

R.

[Mr Moley]

NicoG said:

Did you ever get the pro-rata'd refund of the annual fee? I was told it'd be credited from the July cut-off date and paid by September.
With my Annual fee being paid in December, that's about 90 squid due back to me by my reckoning.

Have checked my statements but there's fk all evidence of any refund...

I want to pay the card off and close the account, but not before I've got what's mine paid back !!

Good point - I'd forgotten about that! Just checked and yes, they returned it in July

[NicoG]

The Leaper said:

I've had a Amex BA card for longer than I can remember. Although I retired several years ago so international air travel for work ended, I've still got 1000s of Avios. I use them for holiday travel at least twice a year, usually with a companion voucher, mostly travelling in Europe or very occasionally to the USA, often in business class. I don't find any real obstacles to getting the flights to the destinations I want. However, being retired we can be quite flexible which is I think the key to our success. And we never travel in UK school holiday time.

I've used Avios/BA Miles over 20 times, as I say without much difficulty. I think they are great!

R.

Perhaps I've painted too grim a picture of Avios / Reward Flight Availability - I too have used them for Club Europe to Nice etc with some success, but to be honest that is almost as pointless as going Gatwick - Edinburgh in Club!*

What I mean is, as others have very rightly pointed out above, the need to book so far in advance for Club World / Long haul seats is what is so frustrating, there's only two seats per flight for most longhaul routes, and almost without fail the BA site is fked and doesn't work properly for the "reward flight finder" and has been so for years
Yes LCY to JFK is often available, but I think that's because BA have aircraft on that route that are 100% business class configured; no cattle seats at all....

I'd be far more interested in Barbados or Vietnam (which BA appear not to fly to at all presently..) / BKK / HKT / KUL / MLE ie holiday places.
If I could ever get Business with a companion voucher to one of those destinations, I'd happily wind my neck in and stop derailing my own thread!

• although when going club to NCE last year, I managed to get so well oiled in the LHR lounge, I was still pissed when I arrived at Café De Paris 3 hours later, so probably saved myself Euro 200 on booze that night!

[sidicks]

sleepezy said:

Used Avios twice for flights

New York - booked relatively close to the departure (think about 3 months) - plenty of availability
Toronto - booked well in advance but there was plenty of availability

Both using points/double up vouchers.

There are 5 of us...

Apparently the most over subscribed flights are to South Africa with Australia running a close second (Avios lady who I booked the flights with)

I’ve had a BA Amex care for more than 12 years now and have always been able to use the Companion voucher for a business or first class flight, but of course you do need to plan (a long way) ahead.

If you’re looking 4 months ahead and have a set destination and fixed dates in mind you’re unlikely to find what you are looking for. In our case, we’ve either been able to plan a long way ahead - book flights as soon as they are released 355 days ahead - or have been happy to be flexible on location and just use the iPhone App to narrow down the locations that are of interest with available flights. You do have to be quite quick though.

Interestingly, I’ve never struggled to get business / first flights for South Africa (Johannesburg).