Important dates for your diary (April ’15)

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• Cheshire Pete says:

  11 Apr11 April 09:46

  Can anyone recall when BA announced the devaluation and guaranteed at least 2 Business seats for each flight when they did the bulk release of redemption seats. Was this meant to apply also as new seats got released for Feb to Apr 2016 period? As looking at those dates right up to the furthest they go many flight still do not show 2 available?

  • Rob says:

    11 Apr11 April 10:51

    Yes, seems to apply. I got 2 to Abu Dhabi on day of release last week. For popular routes they seem to go just after midnight though.

• itsover says:

  11 Apr11 April 09:47

  In Britain, a shop owner pays an average of 9p every time a customer pays for something by debit card, while fees for using a credit card are higher, at 0.7pc of the purchase price. Some of this revenue was passed on to customers in the form of discounts on shopping or points towards flights or vouchers.

  Under the new EU rules, which take effect in October, card issuers will only be able to charge shops a maximum “interchange” rate of 0.3 per cent on credit cards or 0.2 per cent on debit cards.

• Matt says:

  11 Apr11 April 10:45

  How long does it usually take for BAEC to credit Avios after flying on BA? This is something I’ve never really paid attention to as it seems almost instant, however I am flying to the US later in the month and returning on the 27th April (morning).. Do you think the Avios will land in time for a quick pre-devaluation booking? Cheers.

  • Rob says:

    11 Apr11 April 10:48

    Usually within 24 hours of each flight

    • Matt says:

      11 Apr11 April 11:57

      Great, I guess I could phone up and ask nicely to get them manually credited if they haven’t appeared by the evening.

  • Jason says:

    11 Apr11 April 18:42

    How long after flying on a oneworld airline, if crediting to BAEC?

    • Rob says:

      11 Apr11 April 19:43

      Days, weeks ….. depends on airline.

      • Jason says:

        12 Apr12 April 13:53

        It’s Qatar.

• Rob says:

  11 Apr11 April 10:49

  Amex is not covered by the EU rule, only MC and Visa

  • Quark999 says:

    11 Apr11 April 10:51

    Not yet, but apparently in three years’ time. It’s probably the beginning of the end…

  • Luke says:

    11 Apr11 April 16:17

    While Amex isn’t covered, there still going to lower their fees somewhat to remain competitive.

    • Rob says:

      11 Apr11 April 16:55

      True. I can’t believe the impact will be so huge, though. Look at the Etihad cards. MBNA is giving away 25,000 miles until July to get you to sign up, plus a generous earning rate afterwards. They must know by now that this is still a competitive deal for them even after these changes.

• Lloyd says:

  11 Apr11 April 11:44

  Update on my saga of getting Thistle to charge my upcoming booking in advance to trigger the £50 cash back on Amex. To recap the terms of my booking was that the card would be charged within 48 hours of my non cancellable booking, but nothing was ever charged despite me chasing the hotel…

  In the end I moaned to Amex who gave me a £20 credit plus wrote to Thistle head office who wrote back instantly in fairness to them apologising and confirmed my booking was now cancelled. Result!

  Now booked at my favourite Heathrow hotel (Park Inn) which is both cheaper, hopefully an upgrade as I have status plus I’ve made sure I’m registered for their triple points promo!

  • Kinel says:

    11 Apr11 April 13:11

    I had the same problem, phoned thistle and still not charged. Few days later looked on say no to0870.com for non premium cost phone number. Phoned and spoke to front desk, who charged it there and then, and it came up as pending on my Amex page immeditaly as i was talking to him.

    • Lloyd says:

      11 Apr11 April 13:45

      Hi Kinel, I wasnt so lucky, I called the phone number on the website, got through to reservations who said they would pass on a message to front desk who will charge the booking same day. Clearly never did. Booking was £50 for the night plus £60 for the parking although another £20 to factor in for the return trips on the pods. Not prepared to pay that kinda of money at Heathrow for a 3* that gets dubious reviews without the £50 cash back.

      I know the Park Inn gets mixed reviews but as a Silver / Gold I have always had a pleasant stay plus will get about 12,000+ Club Carlson points I reckon for one night.

      • Kinel says:

        11 Apr11 April 20:08

        Hi Lloyd. I also phoned the number on the web page and got the told the same as you, which was never actioned like yours. Thats why a few days later i searched for their 02 number and spoke to the front desk / reservations.I was also booking for stay with parking for much later in the year. We normal stay at Holiday Inn M4J4(link from HFP) but have found during the last 2 stays the Hoppa has been awful for this hotel.

        • Lloyd says:

          11 Apr11 April 23:18

          Holiday Inn M4J4 is the only other Heathrow hotel I’ve used and to be honest I enjoyed the stay (and the pub nearby). However thankfully my stay was for a conference so didnt need to go to/from Heathrow, its just too far for me to realistically consider it when on my travels plus I have an inbuilt aversion to the Hoppa service.

• Rob says:

  11 Apr11 April 16:56

  Thanks David. That must have been quietly extended without anyone noticing.

• Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

  11 Apr11 April 17:52

  That article misses a couple important points. MasterCard premium platforms (eg World) moved to 0.8% on April 1st, ahead of the EU cap. Cap One and others now losing money on each swipe. C1 always very on the ball with account valuation so no surprise that they’re the first to move. Surprised that the BBC only picked it up today – I think C1 started mailing affected accounts last week.

  Could do you an article updating on the interchange situation if you like.

  • Rob says:

    11 Apr11 April 18:03

    Would be great if you could do a couple of hundred words Andrew, given that you are in the front line. It would tie in nicely with my laymans view of where we may end up.

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