Back on the 20th August, I reported on the curious story of the BA Air Miles card promotion and how the promotion had exceeded expectations, despite the BA strike problems. I questioned whether it was a case of there is no such thing as bad news, or whether other factors, such as unexpectedly strong Q2 economic growth, had played a part.

BA’s autumn sale started at the beginning of October and once again includes great promotions on the British Airways credit cards. However, the market conditions are a bit different now.

There are no strikes looming, so BA is not headline news at the moment. The US has just issued a terror alert caution to US citizens travelling to Europe advising them to be wary of crowded places.  As a considerable part of BA’s business is transatlantic flights, this may impact sales. The US economy appears to be slowing downand, with the comprehensive spending review about to take place in the UK, these factors might also apply downward pressure on BA ticket sales.

Nevertheless, one pound sterling recently bought nearly 1.6 USD, so perhaps some UK shoppers will be looking to take a trip to New York to do their Christmas shopping. The new credit card promotions do provide consumers looking to travel in the next three months with some great incentives. It will be interesting to compare the relative performance of the summer and autumn promotions. The offers this time round are once again very strong.

The BA Amex credit card offers 8,000 bonus BA Miles when you spend £500 in the first three months of card membership. It has a typical 19.9% APR variable.

The BA Amex Premium Plus card offers 18,000 bonus BA Miles when you spend £3,000 in your first three months of card membership. The Premium card has a typical APR of 19.9% p.a. (variable) on card purchases and an overall APR of 46.0% (variable), which includes a £150 membership fee.

Naturally, terms and conditions apply and the offer on both cards ends on 8th November 2010.

For consumers looking to subsidise a trip through their Christmas and winter shopping, these offers provide a useful addition and to the Air Miles cards currently available.

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British Airways (BA) has a reputation, amongst other things, for strong Airmiles programmes and, recently, for employee disputes. While there may not be a link between these two features of BA activity, a curious thing happened this summer.

The BA Airmiles credit card has always been a decent rewards credit card performer. During the strike action in May, the card performed less strongly, as may have been expected. However, since the strike ended, the card has attracted significantly higher levels of interest. When BA runs a ticket sales promotion, it is usually accompanied by a BA rewards card promotion. Often these include additional air miles as part of the promotion bonus. Nevertheless, the additional popularity of the rewards card took industry insiders by surprise.

It is true that the promotional offers this summer were strong. Could it also be evidence that there really is no such thing as bad news? Perhaps there is another explanation. The UK economy grew surprisingly fast during Q2 with exporters doing well. I wonder whether the popularity of the BA rewards card, given its benefits to the business traveller, reflects this upturn instead.

Nevertheless, as memories of the summer strikes fade, it will be interesting to see if the autumn promotions from BA are as strong, or are as popular, as those we saw in the summer. It will also be interesting to see whether this summer’s level of interest in the BA rewards card is also maintained, as no strikes are planned, and there is talk once more of a double dip recession.

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A news story (Credit card PIN security ’should be improved’) we published yesterday on the site has prompted me to write this piece on PIN protection.

Christine Grahame, a Scottish National Party MSP, had her card taken from her bag after a visit to Asda in October 2009. The thief, who Ms Grahame believes spied on her while she was entering her PIN, then proceeded to steal hundreds of pounds from her account.

As a result, Ms Grahame has tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament prompting retailers to investigate if their existing security procedures are adequate.

However, based on her comments and description of the situation, I believe she could have prevented this theft herself.

I’ll show you each of Ms Grahame’s comments in turn and add our comments and tips to each:

1. “Some supermarkets have a proper guard around the machine so people can’t see, but others have hardly any guard.”

According to a spokesman for the Scottish Retail Consortium most card reader PIN machines are indeed protected by shields but even if you use one that doesn’t you can still hide your PIN.

Our tip: DO NOT just rely on the shields over PIN machines. Personally, I find them more of a hindrance than a help and always use my hand, my purse or anything else that’s handy to cover my PIN-entering hand and the keypad.

2. “I didn’t see any notices warning people to be careful.”

Do consumers really need another sign next to the tills telling them to “be careful”? At the end of the day, there are people in this world that want to steal money from other people and if you don’t take precautions yourself, you may well end up a victim; how much would a sign do?

Our tip: Never be complacent with your personal information – thieves want it and they’ll go to great lengths to get it. This has been and always will be the case so you can never be too careful.

3. “When people are taking money out of cash machines, they usually do cover up their PIN number, but if you’re at a checkout with lots of bags you don’t always think about it. I would like to see supermarkets being a bit more proactive.”

It’s attitudes like this that make consumers prime targets for thieves – all shops could possibly do more to be proactive, but I’m sure most consumers could too.

Our tip: Whenever and wherever you enter your PIN, your full attention should be given to keeping it safe. You may enter debit or credit card details while buying something during your lunch at work but there aren’t going to be signs reminding you to keep your PIN and other details safe everywhere you go. Therefore, it’s best to get yourself into a habit of protecting your details.

4. Ms Grahame said shoppers should be on their guard during the pre-Christmas rush.

She said: “There is pressure on you to hurry up and get through and people tend just to put their pin in quickly while they’re packing their bags.”

Ms Grahame is right about one thing – you do need to increase your guard when it is busy or crowded. The extra time it takes to be more cautious will be a lot less than the time it would take to sort out the mess a fraud attack can cause.

Our tip: If you feel pressure, ignore it. You can’t be forced to hurry these things and the stress you feel by people hurrying you will be a lot less than that felt if someone steals your details and commits fraud using your card and name. Take your time and ALWAYS cover your PIN.

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