Bits: £30 4* and 5* London hotels, double Avios at London City, got a Tesco Bank account?

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• Neal says:

  3 Apr3 April 04:56

  Use my Tesco debit card to pay Amex bills, never got points.

• Off topic says:

  3 Apr3 April 05:41

  Off topic I know but looking for some opinions. I am due to arrive from Hong Kong to London Heathrow at 5.25am on Monday morning via Virgin. Do you think it’s possible to collect luggage clear customs and then drop my bag for the 6.55 London Heathrow to Manchester or do I have no chance?

  • Andrew says:

    3 Apr3 April 06:10

    Norfolk ‘n’ chance I’m afraid. Bag drop (officially) will close at 5.55 in Terminal 5, you will be lucky to have your bag from the carousel at that time in Terminal 3.

    I’d look at changing the flight now.. If not then hope you get lucky and it arrives early and check out the Heathrow Express connection times and have a London Underground app ready to help you connect between terminals.

    • JoshBosh says:

      3 Apr3 April 07:14

      Having been at heathrow for the first flight of the day to manchester, you will be very lucky to get the heathrow express. The shuttle at that time will be every 30 minutes at the least (if running at all). I had to get a black cab from outside T3 to T5, and it had to be summoned. It took 10 minutes to arrive, but the transfer was quite prompt.
      T5 security, even with status, is a nightmare too don’t forget!

    • Calchas says:

      5 Apr5 April 22:38

      Bag drop closes at 45 minutes before departure, not 60 minutes
      Security is likely to be alright at that time of day
      I have done much tighter T3s to T5s before. But BA knew I would be late and expedited me through immigration and security. Moreover I had no bag.

  • RIccati says:

    3 Apr3 April 07:00

    Even if you have different itineraries and airlines, you can ask ‘to interline’ your luggage.

    All non-lowcoster airlines tend to have agreements allowing to do that (regardless of alliance, in fact, Star Alliance airlines are bad at interlining with each other outside a single itinerary). Show details of your onward itinerary at your first check-in.

    I was writing all of that and discovered that even if it is technically possible BA has a policy not to check bags through. You can try the other way around with Virgin to BA.

    It also looks like someone would have to manually take your bag to bring it to T5… and we all know how service-oriented Heathrow is…

    Even with the luggage being interlined, I think there is an option of an airside bus transfer between T3 and T5 and a bottleneck of security at T5 (have to go through even if you are transferring flights). Airside they are picker and slower, not many counters available.

    • Calchas says:

      5 Apr5 April 22:39

      Yes, if you have the bags interlined you can proceed directly to the airside bus.

  • CV3V says:

    3 Apr3 April 08:35

    Everything might go smoothly until you get to the T5 immigration (airside), they are incredibly slow and never have enough staff on – the slightest delay with a passenger causes long delays for those in the queue. I did this (from a CX HK flight) in January and I am certain I would have been much quicker going landside at T3, transfer over to T5 and back through security.

    The most exasperated people at T5 are those who have just transferred and had to go through T5 immigration, it’s a big bottleneck.

    But interline agreements exist for your bag transfer – just tell the check in staff that’s what you need and have your onward flight details to hand.

    • James67 says:

      3 Apr3 April 11:52

      Is my memory playing tricks on me; I thought we went through passport control at T3 before going downstairs for transit bus? May well have changed since last time I did that. Oh well, seems I set my partner up for surprise on arrival.

      • CV3V says:

        3 Apr3 April 13:24

        Perhaps something to do with arrival gate? But after my CX flight i didnt get to the ‘UK Border’ until T5. Although it was actually a short queue we still waited for nearly 30 mins.

        • James67 says:

          3 Apr3 April 16:38

          Just checked the heathrow website and it’s as you stated. I guess I better see my GP!

      • Calchas says:

        5 Apr5 April 22:40

        No, unless you took the tube or Heathrow Express or a cab or something.

        If the queue at transit immigration in T5 looks long you can double back and use the T5 landside immigration instead, then go upstairs back to check in.

  • James67 says:

    3 Apr3 April 11:43

    My partner arriving off CX329 today at 18:10 connecting to EDI at 20.15. To be honest I am not even very optimistic about that but at least it’s all on one ticket so bag checked through etc, and there iare still later flights. CX329 supposedly coming in about 30 minutes early so feeling more confident now. My own preference is to try and allow 3 hours for connections between terminals at Heathrow with the theory being I can take my time, relax in the lounge and get to my destination as planned. It beats threating throughout journey about connection.

    • Erico1875 says:

      3 Apr3 April 14:14

      Ive got 90 mins arriving T3 from Helsinki and then T5 to Edinburgh. Bags should be checked thru.
      Reading this, im now a bit concerned.

      • James67 says:

        3 Apr3 April 16:26

        If all goes smoothly 90 minutes is definitely doable. The problem is if the plane is even 5 minutes late, or they are slow with the airbridge, or you just miss a transit bus or many other ifs and buts that are chronic at LHR then you start to worry. All that said, sometimes it’s been a breeze too.

      • James67 says:

        3 Apr3 April 19:01

        My partner just got from door of plane at T3 to south lounge in T5 in just under 45 mi nutes so can clearly be done comfortably if no issues arise.

• flibbly says:

  3 Apr3 April 05:50

  I only pay with my Tesco Debit Card where there is a charge for Credit Card payments – otherwise I just use it as a small 3% savings account. I’d be very interested if it transpired that some financial transactions were earning points, but then as soon as such a thing were publicised it would be stopped of course.

• Pawel says:

  3 Apr3 April 06:38

  booked park plaza Westminster for 21 June code VCPINK10 expired,

• Akkers says:

  3 Apr3 April 07:00

  I’ve got a tesco debit card.

  The only luck I have had is with gift card scheme through my work where there is a credit card surcharge, but using my tesco debit card I do get 1 point for every £8 I spend. .

• Stuart says:

  3 Apr3 April 08:34

  Vcpink10 code expired 🙁

• Waribai says:

  3 Apr3 April 08:46

  Thanks Raffles. Just booked Threadneedles for 2 nights in August.

• Umberto says:

  3 Apr3 April 08:50

  I have the tesco bank account too. I paid my tax bill and received clubcard point. Also, when I pay at the post office it gives me points. I have tried paying a couple of credit card bills but no points at all.

  • Froggitt says:

    3 Apr3 April 10:37

    Slightly OT, can I pay my VAT bill with 3V cards (if I can find any)? A secret stash Tesco location would be great purlease!!!! Any other suggestions about good ways to pay VAT/PAYE/NI?

    • ee says:

      3 Apr3 April 12:29

      St Andrews, Fife had a stock this time last week.

    • sandgrounder says:

      3 Apr3 April 12:35

      Not any more. Paid cards will work, the price per Avio is acceptable if you factor in the 2p per litre of fuel.

      • Jason says:

        3 Apr3 April 18:10

        Even better if you have an amex PRG with esso offer and can get a tesco gift card, at esso, to buy the GSI card.
        Triple MR, £5 off and 150 cc points for the paid Visa card in tesco and 2p off a litre 🙂

        • Matthew says:

          3 Apr3 April 22:33

          So you are allowed to buy a visa gift card with a Tesco gift card?

        • Jason says:

          4 Apr4 April 16:21

          I’ve been able to use the tesco gift cards to buy the visa paid cards 🙂

        • Polly says:

          5 Apr5 April 13:53

          Jason, just to clarify, did you use a paid for Visa card worth £50 to pay for petrol, as no points are given if you buy an actual tesco gift card loaded with £50. I did that to try, and they told me it’s only when the tesco gift card is actually used the clubcard points are allocated. Then just given normal cc points. Very confusing.

    • mark2 says:

      3 Apr3 April 14:35

      There are reports of pay.com cards appearing, but I have not seen any yet.

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