Should you cancel your free British Airways American Express if you can’t spend £15,000?
Since November 2024, you need to spend £15,000 per year to receive a 2-4-1 Companion Voucher on either of the British Airways American Express credit cards.
On the free BA Amex card, this voucher is valid for one year (the Premium Plus card voucher is valid for two years) and only for Economy flights (the Premium Plus voucher is valid in all cabins).
In this article, I want to look at whether holding the free British Airways American Express Credit Card makes sense if you cannot spend the £15,000 required to earn the voucher.
Is there a better place for your card spending whilst still earning Avios?
You can read our full review of the free British Airways American Express Credit Card here.
A similar analysis for the Premium Plus card will follow tomorrow.
Should the average HfP reader have the free British Airways American Express Credit Card?
To be honest, probably not. This isn’t new advice – we’ve never recommended it to HfP readers because, whatever your reason, other cards serve you better.
Whether or not the American Express 2-4-1 Companion Voucher on the free British Airways American Express card is worth having is, I admit, personal preference.
For me, I think if you are spending £15,000 on your free British Airways American Express Credit Card, you would be better off with the ‘two year, all classes’ voucher issued with the Premium Plus version. The only reason not to do this would be if you didn’t earn enough Avios each year to use the voucher in a premium cabin.
However, if you’re not spending £15,000 per year on the free BA Amex card, you’re not triggering the 2-4-1 Companion Voucher.
In this scenario, why are you holding the card? There are two better options open to you:
- Get the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard – you earn the same rate (1 Avios per £1) and, as a Mastercard, it is accepted in more places than American Express. You are reducing the cards in your wallet or purse, because everyone needs a back-up Visa or Mastercard for their Amex anyway. You may also be able to hit £20,000 to trigger the annual upgrade voucher when you factor in your non-Amex spending.
or
- Get the free American Express Rewards Credit Card – you earn the same rate (1 Avios per £1, if you choose to convert the Membership Rewards points into Avios) but you can also convert your points into many other airline or hotel loyalty programmes
Option 1: Should you swap to the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard?
If you can’t spend £15,000 on the free British Airways American Express Credit Card, there are a LOT of good reasons to switch to the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard. For example:
- ALL Amex cardholders need a back-up Visa or Mastercard, and if you have a British Airways American Express Credit Card then the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard has ALWAYS been your obvious companion
- If you can’t spend £15,000 on the free British Airways American Express Credit Card, why not go all-in with Barclaycard? Thin out your wallet or purse ….
- …. and, ahem, after two years away you’d be able to apply for American Express cards again and start picking up fresh sign-up bonuses
- Whilst you may not be able to spend £15,000 to earn the voucher on the free BA American Express card, perhaps you COULD spend £20,000 on the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard if you put all your spend there? A lot of local authories accept Visa or Mastercard for paying Council Tax for example – that’s £2,000 to £3,000 of annual card spend in one go.
- The upgrade voucher on the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard has two advantages over the free British Airways American Express 2-4-1 Companion Voucher – it is valid for two years, and you can also use it to travel in Business or Premium Economy, albeit not First Class (this article explains how the Barclaycard Avios upgrade voucher works)
- If you’ve not applied for a Barclaycard Avios Mastercard before, you would qualify for a 5,000 Avios sign-up bonus on the free card ….
- …. although it makes more sense to apply for the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard with its 25,000 Avios bonus (£20 per month fee) and downgrade later
One thing to remember ….
If you have an existing unused 2-4-1 Companion Voucher, you will need access to an American Express card to pay the taxes and charges when you use it.
It doesn’t need to be in your name (Amex doesn’t do name verification so your name can still go in as cardholder) and it doesn’t need to be a British Airways American Express card (the rules changed a couple of years ago to make this clear, although it was always the case) but you will need access to an Amex card of some sort to book.
Option 2: Should you swap to the free American Express Rewards Credit Card?
You may want to remain within the American Express ecosystem. Perhaps you like the referral bonuses or the cashback offers?
Instead of keeping your free British Airways American Express card, why not swap to the American Express Rewards Credit Card? It’s free for life and earns 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent.
What you get with the American Express Rewards Credit Card is flexibility.
Yes, you can use your points for Avios. You can send them over to The British Airways Club via the Amex website and they will arrive within 24 hours.
However, you have other options. Membership Rewards points can also be sent to Virgin Atlantic, Flying Blue, Emirates, Etihad, Singapore Airlines or Delta among other airline partners. You can also send them to Hilton Honors (1:2), Marriott Bonvoy (2:3) and Radisson Rewards (1:3). You can convert them to Club Eurostar (15:1). You can even use them for shopping vouchers. You can see the airline partners here.
The American Express Rewards Credit Card gives you more choice. You can still take Avios if you want, and at the same 1 Avios per £1 earning rate. If you suddenly decide that you want hotel points, or that Virgin Points make more sense, or even that you want to abandon Avios altogether, you can. Simply move your Amex points somewhere else instead.
With the free BA Amex card, your points are sitting in Avios from Day 1 and you can’t do anything else with them. If Avios devalues its rewards, if BA stops flying your preferred route, if reward availability suddenly gets a lot harder to find, if Reward Flight Saver fees jump up, if new surcharges get added …. you’re stuck. Your only way out is via a transfer to Nectar points and get a poor return of 0.5p per Avios.
There is literally no area where the free British Airways American Express Credit Card outperforms the American Express Rewards Credit Card if you are not triggering the 2-4-1 Companion Voucher. You don’t even get bonus Avios when paying with the free BA Amex at ba.com, or earn tier points – these are only benefits that come with the British Airways Premium Plus card.
And, of course, after two years without a British Airways American Express card you’d be able to re-apply for Premium Plus and pick up a hefty sign-up bonus.
Even better, this card gets Amex cashback offers for other airlines such as the regular £300 United Airlines cashback deal. British Airways Amex cards are blocked from getting cashback deals with other carriers.
Conclusion
It is always good to take stock occasionally and decide if the credit cards you are using are still right for you.
Whether you get the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard:
- usable everywhere
- upgrade voucher if you can spend £20,000 (which may be possible on a Mastercard even if you can’t spend £15,000 on an Amex)
- opens the door to returning to Amex in 24 months to get a fresh sign-up bonus
- thins out your wallet or purse, since you need a Visa or Mastercard anyway as a fall back
…. or the free Amex Rewards Credit Card:
- free for life like your free British Airways American Express Credit Card
- earns Avios at the same rate (1 per £1 spent)
- opens the door to returning to the British Airways Premium Plus Card in 24 months to get a fresh sign-up bonus
- gives you FAR more flexibility in using your points, as you can also move them to many other airline schemes, plus various hotel programmes, Club Eurostar and for shopping vouchers
…. either is a better choice than the free British Airways American Express Credit Card if you spend under £15,000 per year and do not receive a 2-4-1 Companion Voucher.
Our full review of the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard is here and you can apply here.
The representative APR is 29.9% variable.
Our full review of the American Express Rewards Credit Card is here and you can apply here.
The representative APR is 29.1% variable.