British Airways opens up 13,000 Club World seats for Avios over Christmas

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• Charlie says:

  10 Dec10 December 09:51

  Hi all,
  Off topic, however is it possible to book a flight with BA splitting across credit cards? or does payment have to be wholly on one card?

  • Rob says:

    10 Dec10 December 09:56

    Online it must be on one card. The call centre may be more flexible but they’ll hit you with the £15 telephone booking fee I imagine.

• Leigh says:

  10 Dec10 December 10:00

  BA have usually done something around end November – last year it was two flights at £1007 each. Thought their Black Friday offering was it for this year. We were holding out a Christmas offer but instead went for the unbelievable Royal Jordian business offer to BKK in January. Frustratingly I have used up all my avois as there there has always been such poor redemption availability on BA flights with good cash offers. That looks like it is changing.

• Marly says:

  10 Dec10 December 10:25

  It is still not good, avios are too expensive if you don’t have a 2for1 voucher, I rather pay £1000 and gain more avios and TP along the road…

• Charlie says:

  10 Dec10 December 12:08

  Sorry for being OT again, new to the site and don’t know where to ask the questions, is there a thread/guide on credit card churning? currently have amex gold charge & recently opened BAPP – would love to get info on how to max bonus points etc.

  thanks, and sorry!!

  • Rob says:

    10 Dec10 December 13:12

    The rules:

    Amex – need to wait six months after cancelling a card to get another with the same reward currency (eg MR points.). No restriction on other cards.

    MBNA – in theory you can never get a bonus again on the same card. Where they have a free and paid version (eg Virgin) you can get the bonus on both and even have both at the same time.

    Barclays – can only have 1 Barclays card at once. After cancelling, need to wait 6 months before you can get the same card again but you can get a different card immediately.

• Kathy says:

  10 Dec10 December 12:10

  Totally OT: My accelerate 2 free night certificates have just posted, so I’m looking at booking a hotel in New York. My 4 stays cost me £208. I’m travelling solo. Dithering over what to book so would appreciate any thoughts!

  I could get The Intercontinental Times Square (the Barcaly’s not available on my dates, which are fixed), which is showing a nightly rate of c. $400 – so I would be ‘saving’ well over £300 (only not really, because I’d never pay that cash rate). No breakfast included, though. I undestand their breakfast costs about $20-30, which seems a lot. I know New York doesn’t lack for breakfast options but I’m not a huge fan of wandering around first thing in the morning looking for somewhere to eat.

  Or I could get The Staybridge Suites, nightly rate c. $279, so I would be ‘saving’ far less – around £180 – but free breakfast, a ‘manager’s reception’ drinks and nibbles the night I arrive, and cooking facilities in the room – so I could potentially avoid the awkward solo restuarant dining experience a couple of nights.

  I will move to the Hampton Inn Times Square South after 2 nights.

  So, anyone stayed at both of these and want to venture an opinion? I think I would normally naturally lean towards Staybridge Suites except that The Intercontinental is such a big ‘saving’ and I’m sure I’ll never pay to stay there.

  • AndyGWP says:

    10 Dec10 December 12:59

    I’d just be happy if my points posted… admittedly it’s only been around 2 weeks, but it kills off four of the five challenges I need to complete, and I don’t know when (or if) I should be chasing them

    20 days of my challenge remain

    • Kathy says:

      10 Dec10 December 13:54

      My points posted after a week for each stay, but it took about 12 days for the free night vouchers to show up in my account.

      • AndyGWP says:

        10 Dec10 December 16:58

        Cheers – on double checking, 3 of the 4 that I am waiting to post all say this underneath them “Completed stay at xxxxxxxxx 28/11/2015 – 29/11/2015”, so they’ve tracked, even if the “Completed” box hasn’t been ticked and points haven’t been awarded.

        The 4th one is spending on my Credit Card, so fully expect that to take a while to track…

        Sounds like I’m good to go 🙂

        • Leo says:

          10 Dec10 December 20:43

          I’m really miffed. The Accelerate Offer was rubbish for me in the first place – but I’ve just found out that that the 1 IHG night I had booked and have completed doesn’t count because although I registered for the promotion I didn’t book that stay through the Accelerate page. I feel as if I’ve been mugged. In a fit of pique I may now book into the Conrad rather than the IC in Bangkok (as I’m now a Hilton Diamond) on an upcoming paid stay – that’ll show ’em….

        • Rob says:

          10 Dec10 December 21:39

          That is not a term of the promo AFAIK.

        • Leo says:

          10 Dec10 December 21:51

          My 2000 odd points have posted from the actual stay (including 300 amenity points) but not the 5000 for the one night stay via Accelerate – Accelerate page is showing that I’ve earned 0 points. If this alters I’ll report back. Stayed 1 week ago.

        • Rob says:

          10 Dec10 December 22:52

          They post in arrears. I got 5,000 Accelerate points yesterday from a stay which originally posted about 10 days ago.

  • Rob says:

    10 Dec10 December 13:09

    The IC, whilst very nicely done, lacks public space. As with many modern hotels they saw public space as wasted space, so there is nowhere to hang around. I’ve been in HIX properties with more public areas.

    If you are solo, your IC will be ten paces through the lobby, lift to room, stay in room and then reverse when you go out. You are unlikely to use the pricey restaurant or pay a lot for the buffet breakfast on your own.

    The Staybridge therefore has some attractions on that basis although it clearly won’t be as flash or shiny. I always stay at the IC of the IHG options but I tend to value the 4pm Ambassador check out for an evening flight back.

    • Simmo says:

      10 Dec10 December 13:37

      Thanks Rob,

      I find this useful also, do you think its worth to upgrade myself to ambassador for a 4 night POINTS stay in march?

      I will already be Spire Elite by then (if the Virgin-IHG is still working come Jan)
      Have a 8;40pm flight back to LHR in First, so we want to take advantage of the CCR! Not too sure on how we will be getting to JFK yet thou and what time we should leave for the airport.

      • Irons1980 says:

        10 Dec10 December 14:27

        Having literally just checked out of the IC Times Square, I think it’s hugely overpriced and overrated – I wasn’t impressed at all and have stayed at IC’s which are far superior for far less… I wish I’d kept my booking for the Staybridge Suites tbh and breakfast is included there too…

      • Rob says:

        10 Dec10 December 15:48

        If you need a 4pm check out it may be worthwhile. Your upgrade is usually just one level, however, which may be just Superior to Deluxe with an extra 5 sq m of space (depending on property).

        Real question is whether you’d use the buy one night, get one free weekend voucher.

        • Leo says:

          10 Dec10 December 20:47

          Would either of you recommend the CP rather than the IC Times Square? – Tbh I’m not keen on Times Square as a location – bit brash but I want to be in Midtown. I’d have gone for the Barclay if was available but it’s not. I think I want a bit more public space than the IC has to offer.

      • Ross says:

        10 Dec10 December 20:34

        Is the Virgin – IHG route still working?

        • Rob says:

          10 Dec10 December 21:39

          Yes

  • Waribai says:

    11 Dec11 December 06:29

    Not wanting to be a numpty but how exactly do you book using the free nights. When I search accommodation I only see the usual points booking option. Is there a special page for booking using the free nights?

    • Kathy says:

      11 Dec11 December 08:23

      There’s a menu option that appears on the left-hand side menu once a free night cert has posted – it literally says ‘Free Nights’. Clicking it shows you how many nights you have earnt and how many used, and there’s a booking link from there that takes you to the search page with ‘Accelerate Free Night’ showing as the rate. Search results then bring you up just the rooms you can book.

      • Waribai says:

        11 Dec11 December 13:34

        Thanks Kathy!

  • Louise says:

    11 Dec11 December 08:08

    I’ve never stayed at the IC Times Sq. but I have stayed at the Crowne Plaza and Staybridge.

    Staybridge was fine. We were given a suite on a high floor with limited views of the ESB. The kitchenette was very well equipped but we didn’t go to NYC to cook. The fridge was handy though.

    Free breakfast was adequate enough for something to get you going. It’s very busy though and we just brought it back to the room to eat.

    The rooms are quite small though as you would expect. There wasn’t anywhere for us to sit other than on the bed. The lifts were also very slow especially if you were on a high floor. Not enough of them.

    We spent a couple of nights at the CP last Christmas, we thought it was very nice and rooms very spacious for NYC. We had lots of room to spread out. At the time my husband was a platinum member and we were upgraded to high room with a view of the Hudson. We also for breakfast for $10 I think this is a benefit. It was fine, but wouldn’t pay more for it.

    • Kathy says:

      11 Dec11 December 08:31

      I ended up going with the Staybridge, maybe I should have gone with the CP instead! No status, though, so unlikely to get the nice view.

• Kathy says:

  10 Dec10 December 13:47

  Yes, last time I was solo in New York all my food plans ended up being abandoned in favour of cheap, quick and convenient. It’s simply no fun going for anything fancier on your own, and with only 4 nights there you want to pack in as much as possible, so don’t spend much time in the room anyway. The main things I really need is a comfortable bed, as little noise/disruption as possible, and a convenient location so I can nip back for a jet-lag busting afternoon nap/shower before heading out to the theatre in the evening. Oh, and since I’m switching hotels after 2 nights they need to be near enough each other to make that as painless as possible.

• krys_k says:

  10 Dec10 December 15:51

  What luck. Needed to fly to Warsaw on Monday for work – got a business class return for 27k Avois and £50. What a bargain as cheapest flights to and from Luton etc. were around £200. Great and for me, timely offer!

• Chico Dusty says:

  10 Dec10 December 17:02

  No availability to Calgary, AB. Would have loved an Xmas in Lake Louise! Oh well!

  • Daz says:

    10 Dec10 December 17:19

    I found dates for Calgary only at the end of Jan, my original plan was to head out there before Xmas.

  • Amo says:

    11 Dec11 December 10:02

    I picked up a couple of CW tickets to Calgary for 4 days before Christmas in the Black Friday BA part pay with avoid deal.

    Very excited to spend part of my Christmas holidays in Banff, and I get to try out the Dreamliner for the first time.

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