For FREE airline tickets (American Express)

Member Name: honey000

Product:	American Express
Date:	02/06/09 (172 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Really good rewards, friendly customer service

Disadvantages: Not accepted everywhere - not cheap if you cant pay off every month

The American Express British Airways Airmiles credit card.

I applied for this credit card back in February this year through the cash back website Quidco - therefore earning a £35 cash incentive to do so. As this has just been paid to me today I thought that the time was right to write a review of my experience so far.

I chose this credit card as I do a lot of travel with work so I am always using my credit card for work expenses. I pay the balance off in full every month so I am not motivated to choose a card based on interest rates but on what the credit card company will give me for choosing their card.

I have had an Egg Money cash back card for years but this year went over the maximum spend on the card to gain cash back so wanted to make sure that I was always being rewarded for my spending.

The rewards

1. As noted above £35 for applying for the card through Quidco.

2. The other big incentive for me is the fact that you earn British Airways Airmiles for every £ that you spend. As an initial incentive I received 1000 BA airmiles for spending £500 during the first three months of my card. I then receive 1 airmile for every £1 that I spend (barring balance transfers, cash withdrawals and foreign exchange purchases). If you spend £2,000 in your first three months you are given another 1000 Airmiles thus giving you a total of £2000 as a welcome bonus.

3. As a further incentive if you spend £20,000 on the card during a calendar year you are sent a "companion voucher" for a British Airways flight. This means that if you use your Amex card to purchase a flight that you will receive a free ticket to match this. All you have to pay are the taxes on that ticket. My husband and I travel to New Zealand most years to visit his family so want to rack up the £20,000 spending and then get a free business class ticket to New Zealand return. The companion voucher can be used on any BA flight to any destination in any class of cabin.

4. Refund and purchase protection. If items that you purchase are damaged or stolen within the first 90 days or you are refused a refund Amex will replace your goods or refund you. I haven't used this facility yet but believe it to be good.

5. Free cards for friends / family - you can add a second card holder to the account for free.

The small print

There is no annual fee with this card (just as well) so it is free provided that you pay off your balance each month.

Interest rates are currently a hefty 19.9 % APR so definitely not a good deal if you don't pay your balance off in full every month.

American Express are more fussy about who they accept than Visa and Mastercard - you need to be earning at least £30,000 and have a good credit rating otherwise they will say no.

Facilities

Customer services are available on the internet and telephone 24/7 and when I have called them I have been treated with the upmost respect and friendliness.

The card I was sent out had a small fault with it which meant that it could not be used until a replacement was sent out. American Express replaced the card within 3 days and gave me £50 as an apology without me asking for anything!

You can use internet banking to manage your card. This is a great site which is very secure and easy to use. You can see your balance easily and make payment using a debit card. You could also if you wanted to transfer balances here. Or seek advice re financial difficulties!

Telephone banking - you can make payments by phone.

Cash machines - you can withdraw cash from numerous machines if you want to.

Payment - can also be made by post with a cheque or in a bank. You can also pay by direct debit - the minimum, a fixed amount or the whole balance.

Use

The card is accepted in lots of places but there are also a large number of websites and shops which don't accept. This is the major downside of Amex - it costs the retailers more so a lot say no. This is probably the one factor that could stop me reaching my target of a £20,000 spend.

Overall

If you have a good credit rating and want to be rewarded for spending then this could be the card for you. It is a really generous reward scheme and has great customer service. You do need to be really disciplined about both using the card for everything (£5 in Starbucks for example) in order to spend such a huge amount of money but I guess that it means that money sits in our offset mortgage account longer which is also good. You also need to make sure that you pay it off every month or it gets very expensive. Other than that a great card which comes highly recommended!

Summary: A good alternative to Mastercard