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£95 for 20,000 miles, good value?

PostPosted: 13 May 2005, 17:00
by manymiles
Get an american express card for £95 and get 20,000 miles is the current offer in I-FLY.

Seems like a good deal to me.

What do you think?

PostPosted: 13 May 2005, 17:05
by mcmbenjamin
It sure is. Would you pay more than 190GBP to fly across the atlantic (econ)?

Go for it!
Benjamin

PostPosted: 13 May 2005, 17:15
by preiffer
Direct link is here. Seems like a good offer - 20k miles awarded after your first purchase, but not open to "existing American Express cardmembers" (presumably of all flavours?)...

PostPosted: 13 May 2005, 19:08
by Nottingham Nick
That sounds a good deal to me... I have been without Amex for a few years now, but I think that will tempt me back into the fold :D;)

Nick

PostPosted: 13 May 2005, 20:24
by wood07
Say you hadn't used your Amex for a while do you think they would notice/mind if you cancelled the card and applied for another a couple of months later[?][?][?]

PostPosted: 13 May 2005, 20:45
by mcmbenjamin
Well I do not think they would care and I assume you would be approved if you left in good standing but read the T and C's to be certain you would be eliglable. Some of the offers in the USA are only for new account holders and later in the T and C's, new is defined as a cardholder who has not held the card in a year. Some even define new as a cardholder who does not have a credit card relationship with the bank.

Just read everything to be certain or you may donate 95GBP to AmEx. I have fell for these traps before.

Benjamin

PostPosted: 14 May 2005, 22:31
by Scottie1971
£95 for 20,000 miles is a bargain. You would have to complete aprroximately 2 round trips from London Heathrow to Los Angeles for that kind of reward, or stay at a Hilton 20 times.

Trust me, I am going to get one!

Scottie1971:)

PostPosted: 16 May 2005, 16:36
by Richard28
thanks for pointing this out manymiles!

I've just signed up today :)

PostPosted: 16 May 2005, 21:15
by GatorBaiter
I agree - I can't believe there's not a catch either, so I applied as soon as I got the e-mail. You have to be employed, a home-owner, NOT a current AMEX customer and also be earning over £20K pa. Also, it's obviously subject to credit checks. The fee is £95 a year and there's no obligation to keep it for any length of time, not even 12 months. You just have to make one purchase on it before October and the miles are yours - go for it!!!

PostPosted: 16 May 2005, 21:41
by Nitrox
quote:Originally posted by Jacqueline Lewis
You have to be employed, a home-owner, NOT a current AMEX customer and also be earning over £20K pa.


You don't have to be a home owner either !

PostPosted: 17 May 2005, 00:04
by Nottingham Nick
Interestingly, the 'sign up' is all done on the phone.. they read a few declarations to you with warnings about giving truthful answers and they tell you about all of the credit checks they intend to do.

They expect to have it sorted in two or three weeks ;)[8D]

Nick

PostPosted: 19 May 2005, 12:43
by JonnyBoy
I'm going to do it. Sound like a good deal to me!!

Jon

PostPosted: 19 May 2005, 16:03
by Jonathan
I applied so thats an easy 20K:D

PostPosted: 19 May 2005, 16:31
by preiffer
Have any existing Amex Cardmembers here tried applying? The 20k would be nice, but I already have an Amex account...

PostPosted: 19 May 2005, 23:49
by GreboDB
I have an Amex and my wife is an additional card holder on my account. Anybody know if she applies for her own card would she be eligible for the 20,000 miles or would she be classed as an existing account holder??

Thanks

PostPosted: 20 May 2005, 11:11
by Bazz
I applied for a similar offer a few months back, that was for 12,000 MR points on acceptance and was not restricted, so as a current member I was accepted see this thread for more details.
20k MR points for £95 is excellent value.

GreboDB let me know if your wife gets one and I will put my wife forward, she too is a secondary card holder on my account at present.

PostPosted: 03 Jun 2005, 12:45
by GatorBaiter
Just signed the Ts and Cs a couple of days ago and sent them back - the gold card is on it's way, and after one minor purchase, so will be the 20,000 miles :D

That's an interesting comment about trying it for existing AMEX customers. I know that the offer said it wasn't open to existing customers, but perhaps they might bend the rules if you currently have a credit card but will be a new charge card customer? Surely the status is greater for a charge card as you have to be able to pay the balance in full so you'd be subject to different/more credit checks? It's got to be worth a bash!

PostPosted: 05 Jun 2005, 01:52
by chafford andy
i put in for one i asked about the £95,00 per anum payment what would happen if i shut my account down before 1 year bit cheeky i surpose anyway the women told me it would be done on pro rarta so if you use it a couple of times then shut it down hopefully should not cost the £95 but a lot less if you dont want the card anybody else been told this or asked the question on the phone and got a reply the one thing that did interest me was that she mentioned free upgrades on flight tickets bought with the amex card can anybody spred any light on this does this go for our vs flights

PostPosted: 05 Jun 2005, 14:10
by Nottingham Nick
I returned my signed T&C form a couple of days ago and.. before the card has even landed, have had a call from Amex asking if I want to upgrade the card to Plat [:0]

I was told that I would still get the 20K points if I took a plat card instead.

Explained that I ditched plat because it no longer got me in to the CH and that seemed to end the sales pitch :)

Nick

PostPosted: 05 Jun 2005, 17:53
by GatorBaiter
Nick,

I had exactly the same call this morning! Got me out of bed [:(] However, I declined only for the fact that the annual fee for platinum is over £200 (she didn't say that but a friend has one). I'm only doing it for the miles and when you start paying an annual fee of over £200 you might as well just pay for the upgrade in the first place! However, I do like the sound of these possible free upgrades if you buy flight tickets with AMEX that Chafford Andy mentioned. I'd be keen to hear mroe about that.

Jacq

PostPosted: 05 Jun 2005, 18:41
by markmat
Originally posted by Jacqueline Lewis
I'm only doing it for the miles and when you start paying an annual fee of over £200 you might as well just pay for the upgrade in the first place! However, I do like the sound of these possible free upgrades if you buy flight tickets with AMEX that Chafford Andy mentioned. I'd be keen to hear mroe about that.

I think this is probably what they mean by the upgrades:
http://www.americanexpress.com/uk/perso ... ntro.shtml

I've never looked at it that closely, but I think it only applies if you book full fare tickets, so if you're paying your own way it might not be worth while.

The platinum fee is £275, but bear in mind that you get £259 worth of Priority Pass membership and full worldwide travel insurance (for you and your supplementary card holders) thrown in. So if you've already prepared yourself to pay £95 for the miles, then you're getting pretty good value for the other £180 (assuming you're likely to use the benefits of course

:))

PostPosted: 05 Jun 2005, 18:58
by Decker
Markmat - you'll find plenty of discussions on the board about how companion tickets can be used USEFULLY. They're ESPECIALLY good in S (PE) if you have the miles (and the availability) because now you can use miles to upgrade the person paying the fare to UC.

PostPosted: 05 Jun 2005, 22:12
by jaguarpig
They're ESPECIALLY good in S (PE) if you have the miles (and the availability) because now you can use miles to upgrade the person paying the fare to UC.

Didn't know you could get away with that,so do both pax then get into UC?

PostPosted: 05 Jun 2005, 22:17
by Decker
Nope sorry - companion stays in booked class [:(]

PostPosted: 06 Jun 2005, 19:38
by markmat
Originally posted by Decker
They're ESPECIALLY good in S (PE) if you have the miles (and the availability) because now you can use miles to upgrade the person paying the fare to UC.

Thanks for the tip. I'm a bit confused though, are you talking about companion fares offered by Virgin themselves? They aren't one of the partners for the Amex deal as far as I can see.