American Express British Airways credit cards

[cuccir]

Mods' note: split from Commuting with offpeak returns

My Brother-in-Law got himself an American Express British Airways credit card before moving house - all spending brings Airmiles and with the expense of moving house he's racked up enough for a return flight to New York. If you're buying online with a regular spend like this and they accept Amex then that's another way to get extra value - just set up a direct debit to pay it off each month!

 

[miami]

My Brother-in-Law got himself an American Express British Airways credit card before moving house - all spending brings Airmiles and with the expense of moving house he's racked up enough for a return flight to New York. If you're buying online with a regular spend like this and they accept Amex then that's another way to get extra value - just set up a direct debit to pay it off each month!

No he hasn't. He's got enough for a return flight to new york if he also throws in £160 in taxes and £140 in fuel costs -- i.e. the 26,000 miles (off peak) are worth about £140. To earn that you'd have to spend £17,300 on a credit card on the premium card, or £26,000 on the free card. He should have had a 241 as well mind, so that doubles the value to £280, as long as you want to go to NY.

With a new amex cashback card you could have had about £380 for your £26,000 spending.

 

[maniacmartin]

My Brother-in-Law got himself an American Express British Airways credit card before moving house - all spending brings Airmiles and with the expense of moving house he's racked up enough for a return flight to New York. If you're buying online with a regular spend like this and they accept Amex then that's another way to get extra value - just set up a direct debit to pay it off each month!

The taxes aren't paid for by airmiles though

 

[maniacmartin]

If you change cards with American Express every 6 months or so, you can get the introductory bonuses every time, which mean you can get substantially more airmiles per pound spent if you are savvy. Also if you have a partner, alternate the cards being in each of your names and giving each other a supplementary card.

Also, if you have time to spare, getting a cheap flight to somewhere in Europe with little taxes and then using the airmiles to book a flight from there to the long-haul destination means you avoid the UK's high long-haul air departure tax.
Note that unlike rail, if you split ticket you are not covered in the event of delays causing you to miss your second flight though, but this isn't a problem if you overnight in a cheap hotel.

Like rail tickets, air tickets and airmiles usage is full of tricks and loopholes- but a BA airmile is worth about 1p if used correctly

 

[miami]

Also, if you have time to spare, getting a cheap flight to somewhere in Europe with little taxes and then using the airmiles to book a flight from there to the long-haul destination means you avoid the UK's high long-haul air departure tax.

Please don't fall for BA's propaganda. Even on the cheapest JFK return - about £440 - the UK long haul departure tax is only 17% of the ticket price. By comparrison the BA fuel bill (which you pay on a reward ticket) is about 33% of the ticket price.

US taxes and airport fees: £44.70
USDA APHIS Fee (XA) £2.90
US Immigration Fee (XY) £5.00
US Customs Fee (YC) £4.00
US International Arrival Tax (US) £12.80
US International Departure Tax (US) £12.80
US September 11th Security Fee (AY) £4.00
US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) £3.20

UK taxes and airport fees: 114.65
United Kingdom Air Passengers Duty (GB) £73.00
United Kingdom Passenger Service Charge (UB) £41.65

BA fees: £143
BA YQ surcharge (YQ) £143.00

The actual fare (this is what the airmiles eliminate) is £69.50

Like rail tickets, air tickets and airmiles usage is full of tricks and loopholes- but a BA airmile is worth about 1p if used correctly

Depends if you'd buy the same. I went to Austrailia in the summer - 4 of us - using 2x241s, 2xGUF2s, and a joker. Flew in Business to Singapore, First to Austrailia, Business back. Cost £2200 return in taxes and fees plus 325k avios.

Now on paper even the most inflexible business class return without the layover or the first segment is about £18,000 for 4, so 5p per avios.

However as there's no way I'd have spent £18k on flights I didn't actually make a £16k saving. Given that a cashback amex card should net you about 1% on average has I earned 325k through cashback it really would have cost £3250, putting the total cost of the flights at £5500, or £1300 each. Not too bad, but a long way from "free".

In reality I "earned" the miles through sitting on my backside a lot for some years, so the cashback option wasn't really an option, and the 241s on the credit card were required, but cashback would only be worth somewhere in the £300 vacinity, putting the cost of the trip to about £2500.

But without the miles I'd have probably flown emirates in economy one-hop from Manchester for about £4000, so the miles were really worth £1500 and comfort, or about 0.5p per mile and comfort.

 

[Condor7]

Mods' note: split from Commuting with offpeak returns

My Brother-in-Law got himself an American Express British Airways credit card before moving house - all spending brings Airmiles and with the expense of moving house he's racked up enough for a return flight to New York. If you're buying online with a regular spend like this and they accept Amex then that's another way to get extra value - just set up a direct debit to pay it off each month!

I am not sure how it compares, but I have the American Express Platinum card, which gives up to 1.25% cashback on everything you buy. Once a year I get a nice little lump sum for doing nothing.

 

[142094]

One of the better ways of using Avios to go across the Pond is to use Aer Lingus from Dublin/Shannon.