Bits: Priority Pass relaunch, Cathay devalues, using pay.com to top up Amazon accounts

News in brief:

Priority Pass relaunch

Priority Pass, the membership scheme which gives you global airline lounge access, relaunched yesterday with a new website and a new logo.  The new logo was certainly overdue.

The new site seems to feature more, and larger, lounge photographs to give you a better idea of the space you will be visiting.  The search feature has changed from a drop down list to a box where you type in the name of the airport you are visiting.

Pricing remains unchanged.  For UK residents, it is either:

£69 plus a £15 fee per lounge visit (£15 per guest)

£159, to include your first 10 visits, and then £15 thereafter (£15 per guest)

£259 for unlimited visits (£15 per guest)

Interestingly, you still cannot buy the version of Priority Pass which is given away free with American Express Platinum.  This offers unlimited visits and one free guest per visit – and you get a second Priority Pass, which also admits a free second guest, for your main supplementary cardholder.  This gets a family of four into a lounge for free.

Cathay Pacific unveils major changes to Marco Polo Club

Cathay Pacific has announced major changes to its Marco Polo Club loyalty scheme.

Many HfP readers will be a member of Marco Polo Club because American Express was, until early 2014, giving away free Gold status (which got you into British Airways lounges) with the Platinum card.

The changes are similar to those put in place by British Airways in April.  People who fly on flexible business and first class tickets will earn status more quickly and earn more miles.  Those who fly on discounted economy tickets will earn less – far less.

In some ways, the changes make BA look angelic.  You will earn 5 tier points for a discount economy flight of up to 3,700 miles.  To put this into context, you could fly the equivalent of London to New York a ludicrous 119 times one-way in economy and still not qualify for a Silver card at 600 points.

These changes will be in place from 15th April.  Full details are on the Cathay website here.

How to use pay.com gift cards to top up your Amazon account

If you are buying pay.com cards at Tesco to generate free Clubcard points (and free Avios), one of the most popular ways of cashing them out is to buy Amazon gift cards.  I wrote more about pay.com here if you are not familiar with it.

You can email these to yourself and add the balance to your existing Amazon account.  It is used up automatically when you make a purchase.

This is a little fiddly, however.  There is now an easier way.  By using this link, you can now top up your Amazon account directly using a £25 pay.com card.   No need to fiddle about with redeeming a gift card.