Limited Time Welcome Offers for the BA Amex Cards
American Express have released new limited time welcome offers exclusively available to British Airways Executive Club members. These offers are available for a limited time only until 11th June.
What are the offers?
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
The Premium Plus card is giving you the opportunity to earn 60,000 bonus Avios if you spend £3,000 in your first 3 months of card membership. Normally, the welcome offer only gives you 25,000 bonus Avios - this is undoubtedly the biggest bonus I’ve ever seen on this card.
British Airways American Express
The normal Blue Amex card has an introductory offer of 7,000 bonus Avios if you spend £1,000 in your first 3 months of card membership. This is only an extra 2,000 bonus Avios as the card normally comes with 5,000 bonus Avios if you meet the spend threshold. It’s not the best offer to be given on this card but if you’re looking to enter the world of Amex it’s a bit of a juicier bonus.
Who’s eligible?
The offers are only open to new American Express customers who have not held the British Airways edition of the cards within the last 24 months.
If you already own a pre-existing Amex card like the Amex Gold Membership Rewards card then you may be eligible to apply as the BA Amex cards are seen as a different category offering by Amex. It’s worth calling Amex to double check your eligibility for the welcome bonus if you’re unsure.
You can also use Amex’s eligibility checker here to see if you’re even eligible to be approved for the card with an application.
Where can I apply?
You won’t find these offers on Amex’s main website, only on British Airways. But you can see a comparison of the cards on offer and apply 👉 here.
What’s the catch?
With that said, Amex did recently increase the annual fee for the Premium Plus card to £300 (previously £250). They also increased the threshold for the companion vouchers to £15,000 for both BA cards making it more difficult to obtain the vouchers within the 12 month spending period. I invite you to read my previous article which breaks down these changes in more detail here.
However, if you are eligible for these welcome offers or you’re just interested in the welcome bonuses then I’d recommend taking out the Premium Plus card, hitting the spend threshold to earn the welcome bonus of 60,000 Avios and then cancelling or downgrading the card. This then enables you to receive a pro-rata refund of the £300 annual fee.
For instance, I capitalised on a limited time offer for the Premium Plus card which had a welcome bonus of 50,000 Avios. After meeting the criteria to earn the bonus and after earning my companion voucher, I was able to receive a pro-rata refund of ~£190. This means I essentially paid Amex £60 for 50,000 bonus Avios points and a companion voucher.
Note: This was before the price hike and of course I had to spend a considerable amount to earn the welcome bonus and companion voucher.
Outro
These are some great limited time offers which BA are offering exclusively to their members. The Premium Plus card offer is the biggest bonus I’ve ever seen them offer and if you’re eligible and looking for some bonus Avios, it’s definitely a great opportunity to capitalise on.
Just remember to double check your eligibility with Amex preferably by calling them or checking the likelihood of your application being accepted from a credit perspective here.
See you next week 👋
Legal disclaimer: The content provided is for informational purposes only and is not intended as financial advice. While efforts are made to ensure accuracy, the author accepts no liability for errors, omissions, or any loss or damage arising from its use. Readers are advised to consult with a professional for financial decisions. Offers and links mentioned are subject to change without notice and are not guaranteed by the author.