Interesting change to AmEx BA Premium Plus Card

[RichardMannion]

I have one of these cards as it comes free with my Centurion card (as it does with Platinum, and its £30 if you hold any other personal AmEx card, otherwise its £120/year), and today with my bill was a leaflet with two changes:

1. They are lowering hte spend threshold for the companion voucher from £15k to £10k!

2. From 1/10/06, spend must be reached within 12 months of anniversary dates to qualify for voucher.

Remember that this companion voucher lets you get a companion ticket in conujunction with a mileage booking! Don't you just wish that the VS CC had this too!

Thanks,
Richard

I have one of these cards too, and this change means my 2-4-1 voucher will be issued immediately.

The problem with that is I don't have enough BA miles for a worthwhile booking! This was an excellent deal, and has now got even better, but you need to be redeeming miles for Club World/FIRST tickets to really get maximum value.

The voucher lasts for 12 months and outbound travel must commence before it expires. It's possible to get a 6 month extension, once, I believe.

Lucky for us we got the voucher on my card last month and have only just started spending on mrs jags card so should have enough miles back in the bank when the next 241 is issued,thanks to tesco beef(I dream about the stuff:D)

This is such a good deal and my only reluctance to participate in the past has been the spend threshold which I was not 100% certain to reach. Quite honestly it makes the Virgin Credit card very dissapointing especially as you even need a fare in the right fare class (e.g. no cheapie fares).

My guess is that VS may lower the threshold so that on the surface it looks like a similar offer to BA but do nothing about the remainder.

Phil (Buffy)

[RichardMannion]

Originally posted by BuffyTVS65
This is such a good deal and my only reluctance to participate in the past has been the spend threshold which I was not 100% certain to reach. Quite honestly it makes the Virgin Credit card very dissapointing especially as you even need a fare in the right fare class (e.g. no cheapie fares).

My guess is that VS may lower the threshold so that on the surface it looks like a similar offer to BA but do nothing about the remainder.

Phil (Buffy)

Hi Phil,

I had a long chat about this with the previous Head of Loyalty at VS and it was tabled as an idea during brainstorming. A key issue to remember is cost, and its not exactly fair to compare BA Exec Club and Flyign Club like for like as there are some huge differences between them and VS FC is the better programme in my opinion. Every programme normally has some cool features that others don't - like how much would you liek VS to give you 4 upgrade vouchers every year as a Gold like BMI do? Its swings and roundabouts.

Thanks,
Richard

Originally posted by RichardMannion
[br..and its not exactly fair to compare BA Exec Club and Flyign Club like for like as there are some huge differences between them and VS FC is the better programme in my opinion. Every programme normally has some cool features that others don't - like how much would you liek VS to give you 4 upgrade vouchers every year as a Gold like BMI do? Its swings and roundabouts.

Richard,

I do agree and share your opinion about FC and I am certainly did not mean to imply I was comparing like for like - the miles awarded and redemption levels are obviously vastly superior on FC. However in this crazy world of swings and roundabouts it is often about balancing incentives across a whole range of areas and the free companion ticket is certainly something that has been identified on this site as being of negligible value.

I actually managed to use my Au renewal Companion Ticket last year (but am unlikely to this year). I doubt I will be able to use the CC companion ticket either. Basically the fact that I have to buy an inflated ticket first negates a large part of the benefit - especially when you have the miles available to buy a miles ticket

Phil (Buffy)