Bits: Accor Autumn sale ending, Etihad credit card bonus extended, blow drys at T5

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• Roger says:

  28 Nov28 November 07:56

  OT
  Looking to buy a similar free iPhone 7.
  Is John Lewis my best option today?
  Can possibly wait until Christmas.
  With Lloyd Avios reward card (double for first 6 months) and 4 avios per £ mean I am getting 6.5% back in Avios.

  Any suggestions welcome.

  • James67 says:

    28 Nov28 November 08:28

    If you buy it at Lewis and most other places I believe it will lock on the first network you register but others will correct me if I’m wrong on this. If purchase from apple store I believe it remsins open to any network,

    • Rob says:

      28 Nov28 November 08:35

      Harrods ones are fully unlocked, so should JL ones.

      If you buy from Carphone etc then, yes, you should expect it to lock to the first SIM you insert.

    • Jonny says:

      28 Nov28 November 10:34

      I bought my iPhone 6S from John Lewis (just over a year ago I think) and it is fully unlocked

• Jonny says:

  28 Nov28 November 10:25

  OT (x2):
  1) For Hilton”Points and Money” bookings, should one receive HHonors points on the “money” element?
  2) Is it possible to use 2 x Lloyds Avios upgrade vouchers on the same booking (just as you can for the BA 2-4-1)? Or does the cardholder (i.e. myself) have to be one of the individuals on each booking?

  • AndyR says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:49

    For 1) no you don’t get points on the money element.

    For 2) I’ve used 2 vouchers before on the same booking for me and my partner. If you think of them as 1 way for 2 persons wouldn’t this mean you are on both bookings?

    • Jonny says:

      28 Nov28 November 11:07

      thanks Andy, yes I was thinking this is what I may well end up doing. Was just really wondering if I could effectively get a one-way upgrade for 4 of us instead (if all on the same booking, and myself as one of the passengers). My guess is no…

      • AndyR says:

        28 Nov28 November 12:59

        It’s worth asking, they were pretty helpful when I booked mine.

• rick says:

  28 Nov28 November 10:40

  Let me get this right.

  If I have £30 off £100 spend offer at Harrods on my Amex card, and if I bought Gift card at harrods across 6 of my cards, and provided I can use GC to buy iPhone at Harrods,
  I can buy it for £420.
  This is £599-(6 x £30)= £419.

  Any thoughts?

  • Toby says:

    28 Nov28 November 11:31

    Yep!

    • Roger says:

      28 Nov28 November 11:45

      Do Harrods sell Electronic gift card? And do they sell iPhone at airports?
      If that works I can possibly buy GC online trigger the credit and buy iPhone on my next flight in another three weeks time.

      • Rob says:

        28 Nov28 November 12:51

        Harrods don’t sell electronics at the airport.

  • Rob says:

    28 Nov28 November 12:52

    Works fine. You would need to visit the Harrods Rewards desk to merge the gift cards though as the tills can’t handle more than 4 cards (gift or split credit cards).

• Jonathan says:

  28 Nov28 November 11:53

  OT – Has anyone received their expected Virgin Atlantic flying club miles from the MBNA credit cards since the change in flying club systems and membership numbers recently? It used to get them the day after the statement date without fail but 15 days later on one card and 4 days later on a second card and nothing for either. Neither MBNA nor Virgin FC on the phones have a clue about it so hoping someone here is more clued up?

  • Genghis says:

    28 Nov28 November 12:08

    My points haven`t posted for a couple of weeks. Sent an online message to Virgin but nothing back so far. I`m just waiting…

  • Nick M says:

    28 Nov28 November 12:09

    I spoke to MBNA a week or so ago… and was told that points will be credited on/around the payment due date (I’ve recently received my first statement, so haven’t had any prior experience)

  • Andy S says:

    28 Nov28 November 22:37

    Good point, my last statement was 4th Nov before the changes so posted ok, next one is 4th Dec so I’ve sent them (MBNA) a secure message with the new number in case they need to update something their end.

    • Andy S says:

      29 Nov29 November 13:41

      Update, I’ve had a reply from MBNA saying not to worry they will get the new numbers from Virgin. So those missing miles, I guess they will appear soon

      • Genghis says:

        29 Nov29 November 13:43

        Points for one of my cards appeared overnight. Just waiting for the other now…

      • Alan says:

        29 Nov29 November 23:49

        Mine appeared today (AW notification :D)

• Chris C says:

  28 Nov28 November 13:48

  OT – I know the “general rule” is only to hold 2 Amex cards at once, but is there a downside to getting a third?

  Basically I’m holding the Lloyds Avios Rewards duo and would like to hold until I hit the upgrade voucher spend as well as being useful for FX spend. I also have the MBNA M&M card which I barely use, but have c. 50k miles to protect. My churn of the Amex preferred gold card is now coming up and I just wanted to know if there is any reason I shouldn’t sign back up for the 20k bonus (and PP) before closing and waiting another 6 months?

  • Rob says:

    28 Nov28 November 14:03

    Amex ignores any non-Amex issued cards. If all you have is Lloyds and M&M, then as far as Amex is concerned you have zero existing Amex cards as they don’t take any credit risk on your other ones.

  • Genghis says:

    28 Nov28 November 14:07

    I thought the general rule was something like two charge cards and three credit cards though there are exceptions, of course. These though are directly issued Amex cards.
    Any Lloyds / MBNA issued Amex should not come into it, but might from an overall credit availability assessment.
    This is coming from someone that currently holds Amex Plat, BAPP, Lloyds Amex, Virgin Black and Virgin White in own name (plus supps from my wifeäs cards).

    • jamie says:

      28 Nov28 November 15:30

      i wouldn’t bother with churning the gold card personally

      am sure Genghis here will agree

      in simple terms, just looking at the rewards

      platinum churn equals 35+35+18+4 = 92k
      gold churn equals 22+22+9+4 = 57k

      2 months fees platinum is 1/12 x2 450 = 75 pounds

      so you are effectively purchasing 35k MR points for 75 quid – no brainer in my view

      • Genghis says:

        28 Nov28 November 15:58

        I agree. But it also depends heavily on the individual.
        To take an extreme example, assume it takes a person 3 months to hit the GBP2k spend. On “his and hers” cards, this would mean GBP225 of fees (450*3/12*2) for the extra 35k MR points or 0.64p per MR point. Whilst I personally value this at a good deal (and I get them for much less as can hit the sign up bonus quickly), someone who is cash poor might prefer to get the Amex Gold and get what points they can for free.

      • Chris C says:

        29 Nov29 November 09:45

        I don’t travel enough to use the majority of benefits from the Platinum and as such may as well get the Gold points for free (season ticket renewal) rather than pay fees for things I won’t use.

• rams1981 says:

  28 Nov28 November 14:27

  OT how do you get offers on the supplmentary card?

  • Genghis says:

    28 Nov28 November 15:07

    Add the supplementary card to an online account for the supp card holder and the offers will appear. This can be an existing online account and when logging in it shows all the cards along the top and then the relevant account can be selected.

    • rams1981 says:

      28 Nov28 November 15:25

      thanks

    • Gavin says:

      28 Nov28 November 15:55

      So if my wife’s supp has a separate online account she won’t get the same offers I have. Perhaps I need to give Amex a call

      • Genghis says:

        28 Nov28 November 15:59

        Potentially though often similar. Get your wifeäs supp all sorted for small shop.

        • Gavin says:

          28 Nov28 November 16:23

          She has shop small enabled already. Perhaps it’s because the card hasn’t been used yet

• the real harry says:

  28 Nov28 November 17:24

  £50 off £200 @ Gucci (Amex)

• Andy S says:

  28 Nov28 November 21:52

  OT: Amex Starbucks offer

  Hi, just seen an offer on my BA amex for £1 statement credit for every £3 spent in starbucks (up to a max of £5 credit)

  Although it says “in store only” it works for topping up your loyalty card, I’ve just put £15 on my card via the app and got an email saying offer redeemed.

  • Alan says:

    28 Nov28 November 22:08

    Yep, Starbucks offers are always good that way 🙂

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