BA Amex Card News: Higher annual fees and barriers for Companion Vouchers
Amex introduce higher fees and higher spend requirements for companion vouchers
In a significant shift for British Airways American Express Cardholders, annual fees and spending thresholds for earning companion vouchers are set to increase. Here's what you need to know about these changes and how they might affect your travel rewards strategy.
The annual fee for the American Express Premium Plus Card will see an increase from £250 to £300.
The annual spend required to earn a companion voucher will increase to £15,000 for both cards.
BA Premium Plus fee changes
The fee increase for the BA Premium Plus card starts from today for new customers. Existing customers will be charged the new £300 annual fee if their renewal is after 1st August 2024.
Therefore, if your renewal is between now and August, you’ll renew at the £250 annual fee and won’t have to pay the new fee until your next renewal date in 2025.
Companion voucher changes
The new companion voucher spend target of £15,000 applies to both BA Amex cards:
The BA Premium Plus card has a current spend target of £10,000.
The free BA card has a current spend target of £12,000.
The new spend target comes into effect from 1st November 2024. This means you are now under pressure to hit the pre-existing spend target of £10,000 by 31st October 2024. After this date, the spend target will rise to £15,000.
For example, let’s say my renewal date is on 1st Jan 2025. In order to earn my companion voucher, I will need to either:
Spend £10,000 by 31st October 2024 or
Spend £15,000 by 31st December 2024.
Is it still worth it?
Honestly, it’s difficult to justify a 20% hike considering Amex already hiked the annual fee from £195 to £250 in September 2021.
Amex’s justification for the price hike is due to companion voucher changes which enable you to redeem the voucher for a 50% Avios discount as a solo traveller and the option to use it on Aer Lingus and Iberia. But I believe the majority of Amex cardholders will start to look at other cards in Amex’s lineup or even elsewhere, which we’ll come onto.
The increase in annual spend from £10,000 and £12,000 to £15,000 is more palatable. The spend target of £10,000 has remained the same on the Premium Plus card since its introduction in 2004. If we take inflation into account, then £10,000 in 2004 roughly equates to £19,000 so it’s not the worst change.
However, it does narrow the gap between the free Amex card and the Premium Plus card even further:
Companion vouchers can be used in all classes for the BA Premium Plus Amex with a 2-year expiry date, whereas the free BA Amex card only allows you to use the voucher in economy cabins with a 1-year expiry date.
You earn 1.5 Avios per £1 spent on the BA Premium Plus Amex vs 1 Avios per £1 spent with the free BA Amex card.
You can see a full comparison here.
If you are considering cancelling altogether then Amex does still offer pro-rata refunds, so you’d be entitled to receive a portion of your annual fee back. However, if you feel you can earn your companion voucher before the new threshold kicks in on 1st November, then it maybe worth triggering this first before going onto cancel.
Alternatives to consider
If these changes have deterred you from keeping your BA Amex cards then there are alternatives available to you. If you want to remain in the Amex ecosystem, then I’d recommend looking at their Membership Reward cards, here.
If you’re keen to continue earning Avios then the Barclaycard Avios cards are a supreme contender with similar perks at a lower price. You can see my previous analysis here for an in-depth understanding.
Personally, I had always planned to downgrade my BA Premium Plus card to the free version after earning my companion voucher in this cycle and keeping it alongside my Barclaycard Avios Plus card.
Concerns for the future market
My main concern is for Barclaycard Avios holders. From a purely cost perspective, the Barclaycard Avios cards are a clear winner, with the Avios Plus card coming in at £240 annually (paid monthly) with a spend target of £10,000 to earn the upgrade voucher.
However, whether Barclaycard will aim to use this as an opportunity to carve out a competitive advantage for themselves remains to be seen. Typically, I’d always seen the BA Amex Premium Plus card as having a certain edge, but these changes have forced me to rethink my position.
I believe there’s a strong chance Barclaycard may also see this as an opportunity for them to increase revenues by hiking their prices too. Something to watch out for in the meantime.
See you next week 👋
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