The Order I’d Apply for Amex Cards If I Started Again

If you’ve read my other posts, you know my husband and I made a big mistake with our first Amex cards. We applied for the free British Airways American Express, got a tiny welcome bonus, and that blocked us from much bigger ones. We ended up spending two years without any Amex at all.

And the reason is that with Amex, the order you apply in really matters. Some cards block the welcome bonus of others. If you get it wrong, you can lose tens of thousands of points, like we did.

So today I want to show you the order I’d follow if I were starting from zero. This is just my view, based on what works for my family. Your family might need something different, and that’s fine.

First, the rules you need to know

These are the rules that decide whether you get a welcome bonus or not. All of them look at whether you currently have a card, or have had one in the last 24 months:

• Amex Gold, Amex Nectar and the free BA Amex: you can’t get the welcome bonus if you have, or have had, any personal Amex card. So these three block each other. You can only get the bonus on one of them.
• Amex Platinum: you can’t get the welcome bonus if you have, or have had, a personal Amex card that earns Membership Rewards, like the Gold.
• BA Amex Premium Plus: you can’t get the welcome bonus if you have, or have had, a personal British Airways Amex card.

Rules can change, so always read the terms before applying. But once you understand these, the order starts to make sense.

Step 1: Start with the Amex Gold

There are three Amex cards with no annual fee in the first year: the free BA Amex, the Amex Gold and the Amex Nectar. And of the three, the Gold always has the biggest welcome bonus. I’ve never seen the other two beat it. And if you wait for a boosted offer, it’s even bigger.

So I’d start with the Gold. And if you have a partner, you can both get the bonus, one after the other, with the Player 1 + Player 2 strategy. I’ll explain exactly how in another post very soon.

Step 2: Downgrade, don’t cancel

I don’t think the Gold is worth keeping once you have to pay the annual fee. So at the end of the free year, I’d downgrade to the free Amex Rewards Credit Card through the chat in the Amex app. It also earns Membership Rewards, so your points stay in your account.

And there’s another reason to keep an Amex card open: from time to time, Amex offers bonus points to upgrade to the Platinum. That’s how you can still get a bonus on the Platinum, even though you had the Gold. If you cancel instead, you’d have to wait two years before applying for the Platinum to get its welcome bonus.

Whether the Platinum makes sense for you is another conversation. My business partner Nat shared how the Platinum’s lounge and hotel benefits help her family in her post, and I’ll tell you about my family’s experience with it in another post too!

Step 3: The BA Premium Plus (if the companion voucher is for you)

The Gold doesn’t block the BA Premium Plus. So the next step, if it makes sense for your family, is the British Airways American Express Premium Plus.

This one has an annual fee of £300 from day one. So I’d only apply when there’s a boosted welcome offer, so that the bonus makes up for the fee.

The real reason to get this card is the companion voucher. When you spend £15,000 on the card in a year, you get a voucher that lets a second person fly with you using the same reward seat, paying only the taxes and charges. It’s valid for two years, you can use it with British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus, and in any cabin: economy, premium economy, business or first.

How I’d play it as a family of four

This is how I’d do it with my family:

1. I apply for the Premium Plus during a boosted offer, and get the welcome bonus.
2. I keep the card for two years, hitting the £15,000 spend each year, so I get two companion vouchers. That way, the four of us can fly together in business. That’s what makes paying £600 in fees over two years worth it.
3. Before I cancel, still in my second year, I refer my husband. He applies, gets his welcome bonus, and I get a referral bonus.
4. He keeps his card for two years and gets two more companion vouchers.
5. By the time his two years are up, I’ll have been without a BA Amex card for 24 months. So I can apply again during a boosted offer, get the welcome bonus again, and the cycle continues.

The Premium Plus used to earn 1.5 Avios per £1, but from October 2026 it earns 1.25 Avios per £1. That’s a shame, but for the welcome bonus and the companion vouchers, it’s still worth it for us.

What about the free BA Amex? If you don’t want to pay £300, you can downgrade the Premium Plus to the free BA Amex. It also gives you a companion voucher when you spend £15,000 in a year, but it’s only valid for one year and only in economy. So if the companion voucher matters to your family, I’d keep the Premium Plus.

Step 4: A card that earns well, without a big fee

Let’s say you’ve made the most of all the welcome bonuses, and now you just want a card that earns well, without paying a big annual fee. The Amex Nectar is a really good option. If you already have another Amex card, you won’t get its welcome bonus, but that’s fine here. In this case, we want it for how well it earns.

It’s free in the first year, and then £30 a year. And it earns:

• 2 Nectar points per £1 on everything you buy, which is 1.25 Avios per £1
• At least 3 Nectar points per £1 when you shop with one of the 500+ Nectar partners, like Sainsbury’s and Argos, which is about 1.87 Avios per £1

So on everyday spending, it already earns the same as the BA Premium Plus, for a tenth of the fee. And if you shop with Nectar partners, even better.

My tip: don’t convert your Nectar points to Avios automatically. Nectar runs bonus promotions on transfers a few times a year, and you get a percentage more when you transfer during one of those.

The order, in short

1. Amex Gold (free year, the biggest welcome bonus of the free cards)
2. Downgrade to the free Amex Rewards Credit Card, and wait for a Platinum upgrade offer if you want it
3. BA Premium Plus during a boosted offer, if the companion voucher makes sense for you
4. Amex Nectar, if you want a card that earns well without a big fee

Before you apply for anything

I know this can feel like a lot. So before you apply for any card, please remember: only do it if you pay it off in full every month. No welcome bonus is worth paying interest, okay? And only apply if the minimum spend fits into what you already spend.

Also, every new application shows up on your credit file. So don’t apply for lots of cards at once, especially if you’re planning a mortgage or a loan. And always read the current terms, because rules, fees and bonuses change.

And if credit cards aren’t for you, that’s completely okay. My family spent two years without any Amex, and we kept travelling with shopping portals, Nectar and Clubcard.

If you have any questions about the order, or about your own situation, leave them in the comments. I’ll be really happy to help!

Lots of love, and see you next time! Xx

Fly Smart Club is an educational website. The content in this article is based on my personal experience and is for information only. It is not financial advice. Card benefits, fees, welcome offers and terms can change, so please check the latest details with the provider and consider your own circumstances before making any financial decision. Some of our articles contain referral links. If you sign up through one, Fly Smart Club may receive a reward, at no extra cost to you.