Amex

[SmiledWtherisingsun]

If you have an Amex card, please can you explain to me how the air miles work?

Thanks

If you have the blue BA card, you gain Avios points for every purchase (more if you spend on a BA flight) and don't pay a fee. If you spend £20k in a year, you get a companion voucher. If you have the black BA card, you pay an annual fee of £200ish and only have to spend £10k. You also get 50% more Avios on spending and the companion voucher has a two year expiry rather than one year.

The companion voucher allows you to take another person with you on any BA flight (one way or return) but there are a few caveats.

• There must be reward availability on the flight (there are generally two reward seats on any flight, so popular routes e.g. LHR to LAX in Club World sell out fast; the more flexible you can be with dates and destinations, the better.
• You must pay for the flights using Avios (a long haul off peak return would be approx 150000 points in business class) plus taxes and fees, which you pay in case (approx £1k for long haul return).

It's most worth doing if you're flying long haul and Club World to be honest. I only use on shorter flights if I have a voucher that's going to expire very soon and I don't want to waste it.

The real secret is to use the bashopping.com site for any and all online purchases that you can. That's where you maximise your Avios, on top of the ones you get from your credit card. So for example, if Selfridges are offering 12 points for every pound spend, you'll get 1200 points on a £100 purchase, plus 100 (or 150) points from using the Amex. Most major brands are on there and it's the only way to hit decent points unless you fly a massive amount with BA.

Hope this is helpful.