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Bits: Virgin Atlantic scraps Combi Fare, Hilton Visa application criteria eased

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News in brief

Virgin Atlantic scraps CombiFare

In a surprise move, Virgin Flying Club scrapped CombiFare this week.   This was odd because CombiFare was the sort of unique product which Virgin likes to use to show it is more flexible than the competition.

As I wrote recently, British Airways has even been exploring the idea of launching exactly the same thing.

CombiFares allowed you to book a flight with one leg booked using Flying Club miles and the other leg booked for cash.  The key, though, is that the cash element was 50% of the equivalent return ticket, not the extortionate cost of a one-way ticket.

Let’s assume a return flight to San Francisco was £800 in Economy and that you can only find a reward seat one way.  Virgin would let you book one leg with miles and the other leg for £400 (in reality they adjust for taxes on each leg).  On BA you would be stuffed in such a scenario, because the cost of a one-way cash ticket is charged at a premium price.

I would be interested to know why Virgin dropped this.  I was told that it is due to a new ticketing system which will make it impossible to make ‘half and half’ bookings going forward.

Virgin Atlantic

Barclaycard relaxes application criteria for the Hilton HHonors credit card

Following up my article on Tuesday on why I think the Hilton HHonors credit card is a fantastic ‘first card’ for anyone starting off collecting miles and points, it now seems that Barclaycard has improved the eligibility criteria for the card.

You are NOT now blocked from getting this card if you hold any other cards from Barclays.

This rule caused a lot of problems when it was introduced, especially as Barclays issued both the Hilton and IHG Rewards Club cards at the time.  This meant that you could not apply for both which probably annoyed both firms.  Whether or not this had anything to do with IHG moving their card to Creation Financial Services is not known.

If you have been put off from applying for the Hilton card because you have a Barclaycard or the old IHG Rewards Club card, you now now apply without any problems.  The website has also been changed to remove references to multiple applications.

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

There are various ways of earning Hilton Honors points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

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Did you know that the Virgin Atlantic credit cards are a great way of earning Hilton Honors points? Two Virgin Points can be converted into three Hilton Honors points. The Virgin Atlantic cards are the only Visa or Mastercard products in the UK which can indirectly earn Hilton Honors points and they come with generous sign-up bonuses. You can apply here.

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton points is 1:2.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Hilton Honors points. 

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Category

British Airways and Avios, Hilton Honors, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (120)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Talay says:
    7 Oct7 October 07:29

    This is a smokescreen for VIrgin or their partners or owners wanting to drop this 50/50 deal.

    As someone who once designed systems architecture, the blueprint for any new design specification is the business requirements documentation that is essentially a capture of existing functionality plus any required new functionality.

    You need to migrate existing bookings onto the new system in any case as they could be 12 months into the future and thus how could you do so without the functionality. It is however, quite possible to turn any optionality off so end users may believe it no longer exists !

    • flyoff says:
      7 Oct7 October 08:19

      I have been advised by Virgin that they are changing their booking system in November. I found out about this as currently I can’t view a reservation on their website and App and can’t therefore reserve seats or online check-in so I had to contact Virgin. Their current system can’t cope with allowing reservations with more than 4 sectors online being accesses online by the traveller.

      On Flyertalk there are confident reports that Virgin are moving to the Delta booking system – it would appear therefore they are migrating to that and using the existing features of Delta. I assume Delta can’t provide a Combi Fare.

    • Doug M says:
      7 Oct7 October 15:29

      But if said feature handles 0.0001 percent of your business and adds $$$$$ to the cost you drop it. Equally if you make a decision to drop a particular sales feature, saying IT couldn’t handle it is an easy out. People like to blame computers. Yes I work in IT.

    • HAM76 says:
      9 Oct9 October 23:41

      No, that is only the case for new in-house development on a high priority project closely monitored by the board. If you move to an existing project it becomes a matter of how expensive changes are and how easy the disadvantages are to sell.

  • Crow says:
    7 Oct7 October 07:50

    The change allowing one to hold the HIlton card alongside any other Barclays-issued card (other than IHG) is NOT new but in fact was reported by Raffles back in JANUARY!

    https://headforpoints.com/2016/01/23/barclays-changes-credit-card-policy-again-good-news-on-the-ihg-and-hilton-cards/

    • Raffles says:
      7 Oct7 October 08:37

      That report was a false alarm. It was late July that the rule was actually changed permanently but the news was slow to filter down.

      • Louie says:
        7 Oct7 October 23:28

        Sufficiently slow to filter down that Barclaycard staff didn’t know about it. I cancelled the Barclaycard I’d had 35 years in late August so I could apply for the Hilton card next year. The customer services chap asked why I was cancelling so I told him and he confirmed I would have to do that if I wanted a Hilton card. Sounds like he was already wrong at that point then.

    • Genghis says:
      7 Oct7 October 08:38

      Is this new article not more to say that the T&Cs have been updated?

  • Brian says:
    7 Oct7 October 08:09

    One thing to remember is that Virgin’s availability is generally excellent to most, if not all, of their destinations. So the CombiFare is only absolutely necessary if you don’t have enough miles for a return. With BA, on the other hand, availability is so poor that the Combi-Fare would be very useful regardless of the number of miles you hold.

  • Alan says:
    7 Oct7 October 08:11

    I was still confused as to which scheme (Virgin Miles or Avios) to concentrate my collecting on. Given this latest detrimental step by VA I think its going to be Avios.

    • BrianDT says:
      7 Oct7 October 08:24

      Very wise, especially if you have global ambitions. I’ve just booked some internal Aus tickets as well as some internal US flights…..very easy on Avios.

      • Raffles says:
        7 Oct7 October 08:38

        If you have some Amex or Tesco points in reserve you can always build up a Virgin balance within 48 hours if needed.

        • Alan says:
          7 Oct7 October 09:44

          Well, this is my problem really. I’ve just got the Gold Card and intend to refer my wife when the 2K spend has been reached. Once I’ve done that I’m looking to cancel the card to rinse and repeat. At that point I need to decide which way to jump. (We don’t shop at Tesco so have very few CC points)

          Brian’s point regarding availability is a bit of a concern as there is absolutely no point in earning hundreds of thousands of points if you can’t use the darn things. We are a family of 3 so I would need 3 tickets to wherever we book. I’ve just started really trying to get points in anticipation of a trip in the summer 2019 and, whilst we haven’t yet decided finally where we will be going, a return to Florida is a definite front runner.

          Cheers

          • Genghis says:
            7 Oct7 October 10:02

            I generally plough points into Avios from Amex when I close the account ready for the next churn. I find Virgin miles are quite easy to pick up (the ISA, credit card bonuses etc) but I concentrate on Avios primarily.

            If you want to go to Florida in 2019, both BA and Virgin fly there. Research the routes and decide which airline you’d like to go with and then start saving. You’ve plenty of time and so if you decide on where you’d like to go, you should be able to book once seats become available.

            You don’t need to shop at Tesco for your main shop to earn masses of clubcard points. If you look at the articles on here about collecting Tesco clubcard points, most come from Tesco Direct and Tesco Finance, not Tesco Grocery. Something to think about perhaps.

            Hope this helps.

          • Alan says:
            7 Oct7 October 11:04

            Thanks Genghis. To be honest we have flown to Florida with both VA and BA and find them both to be about the same. I prefer flying into TPA than MCO, which is a BA route, but I prefer VAs PE and Upper products (although, to be fair, that’s based on assumption as I’ve only flown Economy on BA and Economy and PE on VA).

            We currently have very few Avios having used them for discounted Barcelona flights earlier in the year whereas I have about 24,000 and the wife 45,000 Virgin miles.

            Availability is the key really. No point saving them if you can’t spend them. As I understand it BA only release 4 economy and 2 business seats per flight – is that correct? Using points for economy is not good and we would need 3 seats in business – so, if I want anything other than economy, is this an impossible task?

            Does anyone know whether they offer seats in their premium economy service?

            Oh hell, why is this such a difficult decision to make!

          • Genghis says:
            7 Oct7 October 11:14

            Not necessarily. BA release a minimum of 4 economy and 2 business seats / flight at T-355. There are many cases where there are much more seats than this. There is no guarantee of premium economy or first availability.

          • Alan says:
            7 Oct7 October 11:19

            It’s not offering me the opportunity to reply to you latest message, so I’ll stick my reply here!

            Thanks for the info. Maybe I’d get lucky with BA then. Problem would be that we have to go when the schools are off so maybe reward seats won’t be so available. The reason we are looking at 2019 is that my daughter will finish her GCSEs so its (hopefully) celebrating that they are over. That, and the fact that we can go before the “official” school holidays start.

            Thanks again for your input

          • Simon says:
            7 Oct7 October 13:03

            I have booked 4 of us in Club world to Miami return using 2 x 241s this year and last year, so It is possible. Admittedly, kids are young enough to go in school term time. In future, if I struggle with availability, I will book flights to NY which are much easier to come by, and book cheap internal flights.

          • Alan says:
            7 Oct7 October 13:10

            Thanks for the info Simon

          • Chelseafi says:
            7 Oct7 October 18:14

            It is possible to go Florida in school holidays, summer 15 we flew to Orlando 4 in Economy on a part pay with Avios, this worked out a lot cheaper then £950 per ticket BA wanted, think I paid £600 per ticket and the minimal points. You may see more availability for Miami, so you do have the 3 options with BA. Don’t forget the 241 BA voucher option. As Genghis said you don’t have to shop at tesco to get the clubcard points, I’ve just popped in and stocked up on Amazon & John Lewis Gift Cards for my food shop with Waitrose. We only started a few years ago with the BAPP and we’ve had two first class return trips to US for the whole family of four, all in the summer school holidays. Plus a few nights free hotels stays thanks to the help from here.

          • Alan says:
            10 Oct10 October 10:12

            Cheers Chelseafi

    • Bob says:
      7 Oct7 October 08:55

      Given that this ‘detrimental step’ brings it back in line with Avios, which also doesn’t allow combifares, that probably shouldn’t be the deciding factor. The main question is where do you want to fly? If USA, Virgin has better lounges, better business class (though Avios allow the possibility of First), and taxes and miles needed are lower (excluding 241). If you want to see Asia and book domestic flights in Japan etc, Avios open up more of the world to you.

      • Brian says:
        7 Oct7 October 09:00

        Avios open up more of the world – if you can get availability! No problem with short-haul within regions, usually, but actually getting to Asia (or anywhere else long-haul!) is very problematic with Avios, because of the poor availability. Yet those are the flights that you would be most likely to want to book with your points for (presumably) business class redemptions, since you can usually get cheap short-haul flights within a region.

        • Genghis says:
          7 Oct7 October 10:06

          I’ve not had much issue booking BA reward flights to Asia (J to PVG and back from HKG in Sep/Oct this year and F to SIN and back from KUL in Apr/May next year) booked about 9 months in advance.

          • Gavin says:
            7 Oct7 October 11:57

            I booked HKG in June for late September in J, flight back on a Monday night had 9 seats wide open

        • TGLoyalty says:
          7 Oct7 October 19:02

          Throwing a spanner in the works but if wanting to fly east then a small number of avois for positioning flights to an exEurope cash flight on QR etc is probably far better than a large stash of Avios.

  • Bryan says:
    7 Oct7 October 09:06

    re: the hilton card, this is exactly why i canceled my barclaycard and was waiting 6 months to sign up for this one. Don’t know if I will now as don’t like to apply for too many cards andI have taken out the IHG and the SPG card recently. Have mainly been concentrated my hotel points on IHG.

  • Rob says:
    7 Oct7 October 09:33

    OT- I saved the Amex offer of 10 points per £2 spent on my card, and put £150 through TFL but I still haven’t seen any bonus points appear on my card page. Is this normal?

    • David says:
      7 Oct7 October 09:48

      Is this a BA Amex, or MR Amex, or ?

      If MR earning Amex, look on your MR account statement page. Mine showed up on that quickly.
      If you have nothing after over a week, that to me suggests a problem – as it is very different to the behaviour seen by others.

      If it is a BA Amex, or other Amex (SPG, Nectar, etc) I don’t know how those are posting, but I would expect the same way.

      Does it show you registered on your offers page?

    • Genghis says:
      7 Oct7 October 10:07

      IIRC this was for contactless spend. Was your £150 spend all contactless?

      • Rob says:
        7 Oct7 October 15:22

        No not contactless. Dam did I miss that? What a waste of spend! Was on BA blue Amex

        • Alex W says:
          7 Oct7 October 16:02

          It was contactless only.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          7 Oct7 October 19:05

          Yea seems the topups (even contactless) and true contactless at gate post as different merchants so no bonus

        • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
          7 Oct7 October 19:34

          The offer explicitly requires ‘pay as you go ‘ spend

  • Scottydogg says:
    7 Oct7 October 10:44

    This is great news about the Barclay card , ive always wanted to take advantage of the free night offer but was reluctant to get rid of my Barclaycard platinum which has a really low rate that ive held for over 10 years , wait 6 months and then reapply .
    Now I will plan to get the free night in my name , and then in my partners name , I will have to plan it well as I believe you have to use it within 6 months

  • RoC says:
    7 Oct7 October 11:04

    slightly OT. I’m new to Hilton H and just joined them yesterday, downloaded the app and I’m looking to book a room in October. I want do it via the app because the doubleup promo says you get triple miles if done this way. I understand that with Hilton booking you also have the option of adding frequent flier miles to the booking so you earn HH points AND air miles OR you can get extra HH points… however when I go through there is no option to decide which one. I want to make sure I don’t miss out on the air miles!

    Any idea what I’m doing wrong? all help greatly appreciated thanks

    • mark2 says:
      7 Oct7 October 11:14

      You probably need to use the full system from a PC if you want to do anything other than book a room (I would use the full system for that except in an emergency).

    • Genghis says:
      7 Oct7 October 11:19

      On a computer:
      1) Login to HH
      2) On LHS, you’ll see under ‘My Profile’ a button ‘Preferences’. Click on ‘Preferences’
      3) On the main screen you’ll then see ‘MYWAY EARNING STYLE PREFERENCES’
      4) You can then click on ‘Change Earning Style’ and select what you want. I’d select Points + Points as default option unless there’s a bonus on.

      • harry1 says:
        7 Oct7 October 11:35

        genghis, even by your own lofty standards you are full of good advice today, keep em coming… soon rob will be redundant .. heehee

        • Genghis says:
          7 Oct7 October 12:08

          It’s more that I’m struggling get motivated to do any work after 3 weeks of holiday and a bit of jet lag. Flying into LHR and then going straight to work is not recommended though I’m doing it again next year…

          • harry1 says:
            7 Oct7 October 16:21

            nice trip? anywhere nice?

          • Genghis says:
            7 Oct7 October 16:28

            China and HK. I’ve been telling my colleagues this week it was ‘interesting’. The scenery (Great Wall, mountains, rice terraces) was impressive but the food by and large was disappointing and the people – don’t get me started. I won’t be returning, for holiday at least. It was a relief to get to HK.

        • James says:
          7 Oct7 October 13:48

          Thanks for the break Harry. Really enjoyed it.

      • RoC says:
        7 Oct7 October 11:54

        Thanks a lot for your help Genghis

        once that’s selected is it ok to book through the app to get triple points?
        Also why is points + points better? you get an extra 5 HH points or an extra 1 air miles per USD. but since HH points are transferred at 10 points to 1 airmile you would be getting 0.5 air miles per USD (unless Iberia or virgin atlantic) when you transfer to your FF account, surely its better to select the air mile options?

        • Genghis says:
          7 Oct7 October 12:06

          So points and points is 10 base HH + 5 bonus HH points per USD whereas points and miles is 10 base HH + 1 mile per USD. The difference is therefore 5 extra HH points (each valued at 0.3p using Raffles’ valuation x 5 = 1.5p) versus an extra mile at say 1p. Basically you’re getting more value.

        • Genghis says:
          7 Oct7 October 13:18

          I should have made myself a bit clearer. If you aim is to collect Avios then go for points+miles. However, if your aim is to maximise value through points, best to go for points+points.

          Once set up, book through the app and all will be rosy.

      • Arrow says:
        7 Oct7 October 22:24

        I think you’ll find that if the real harry/ harry1 posted that he wouldn’t post again as harry/ harry1 – he wouldn’t

        offski again, see you in another week

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