Bits: British Airways credit card fee change delayed, up to 3000 Avios from Europcar

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• rams1981 says:

  3 Feb3 February 10:51

  OT Amex referral points. I recently got a Platinum card after referral from my wife’s gold card. It stated my bonus would be 30,000 points instead of 35,000 and she didn’t receive referral 9,000 points as expected.

  I contacted Amex from my account to mention the 30,000 vs 35,000 and from here to mention she hadn’t received the referral and secondly as it is into the second year and she spent £15k on the card where are the annual bonus points – we are waiting for those to cancel her card.

  I received a reply today saying they credited me with 5,000 points as a goodwill gesture (I didn’t officially spend the £2k yet). Good news. But then they said there was no record of the referral! Can’t believe it. they have yet to respond to my wife. Anyone had this before where a referral hasn’t been registered?

  • Rob says:

    3 Feb3 February 12:06

    There are some massive problems with the Amex referral system at the moment.

    2 people I referred to Gold got a letter a week later saying that the product they applied for had been closed down !?! A lot are not tracking either.

    • Matt says:

      3 Feb3 February 14:19

      Make that 3, Rob. I was told to clear cookies and try again (same referral code) without logging into my account. Now waiting patiently but about to ring them about a problem with spg points not transferring.

      • Rob says:

        3 Feb3 February 22:41

        Applying whilst being logged in has been a problem with other issues. I should start warning people about this.

  • Lawro says:

    3 Feb3 February 12:33

    In all likelihood you will end up with 40k then. AFAIK the bonus ‘tracker’ never shows the full amount to be received when referred. Don’t think I’ve ever had it show 35k for me. Perhaps others have a different experience?

    • mark2 says:

      3 Feb3 February 13:33

      same here; it just shows the basic amount even when referred.

• James67 says:

  3 Feb3 February 10:56

  Just to clarify, does AA membership qualify us for the AAA rate at all major chains? How to handle it if reception decides to make an issue of it?

  • Rob says:

    3 Feb3 February 12:05

    They won’t. It is very unlikely you would even be asked. Worse case scenario is that your rate is revised back to Best Flex.

• Brian says:

  3 Feb3 February 11:06

  OT, but BA related – my triple Avios haven’t posted for flights I’ve taken. The T&C say that they’ll post within 48 hours. Have others had this experience? Should I just wait or is it worth chasing? Thanks.

• Harebell says:

  3 Feb3 February 11:11

  If one books BA flights with your Amex thru Amex travel there are no card booking fees charged- at the moment….

• Graeme says:

  3 Feb3 February 11:36

  O/T.. another one 🙂

  IHG accelerate dashboard, yes its back, but its not right. The targets have not been updated to show ‘completed’ despite receiving the associated points for these targets into my IHG account. So tracking progress isn’t possible. Anyone else having the same…

  • Johnny5a says:

    5 Feb5 February 08:38

    I don’t have the problem, my single stay so far has shown up. took about 1.5 weeks

• Kathy says:

  3 Feb3 February 11:52

  O/T also on IHG: I’ve had 500 points post for IHGRCbonus points – corporate on 31st Jan, which is presumably for the Iggy comp, but I thought that was for 500 points a day? I should have got 2500.

  Anyone else have a partial amount?

  • aliks says:

    3 Feb3 February 11:57

    Both myself and wife got 1000

  • Elaine says:

    3 Feb3 February 13:02

    It was 500 points for every run of 5 days. So sounds like your 500 points is correct.

• JP says:

  3 Feb3 February 12:22

  Just noticed the MBNA Virgin cards have upped the bonus to 25K on the black and 10K on the white again. They haven’t done that for a while. Apply by 3rd April.

  • aliks says:

    3 Feb3 February 12:47

    I’m struggling to redeem the Virgin points earned on the last super bonus – all the good upper class redemptions have been snapped up within 10 seconds of release at midnight for the last 7 days.

    I am trying to book for Xmas / New Year 2017 – is this just a very popular time to travel or is it always hard to book Jo’burg?

    • rams1981 says:

      3 Feb3 February 12:49

      Jo’burg – not 100% relevant but BA is pretty hard to snap up seats for too.

      Assume you are looking to book outbound and inbound separately?

      • aliks says:

        3 Feb3 February 14:07

        Yes – for Virgin you have to try for an outbound Upper Class seat, then when the return flights are released, ask Customer Services for a PE return flight, to be upgraded to Upper Class.

        And yes BA seats are snapped up too, just not all in the first seconds after midnight!

    • JP says:

      3 Feb3 February 14:04

      South Africa always comes up as a difficult to get redemption. Add to that being Xmas time as well and upper class. I would guess makes it really hard to get.

  • CDB says:

    3 Feb3 February 13:42

    Has anyone been getting MBNA Virgin referral bonuses? I mysteriously got 6,000 miles posted the other day as card spend which I think must have been two bonuses for referring my wife on the black + white cards a few months ago… So seems to work but slow.

    • JP says:

      3 Feb3 February 14:05

      Never tried a MBNA virgin referral. I believe you can only get those when there is no a enhanced bonus offer on.

  • Rob says:

    3 Feb3 February 22:43

    Yes, onto this, just didn’t have a slot for a day or so. Sunday?

• the real harry1 says:

  3 Feb3 February 14:32

  O/T
  Virgin Trains has been accused of acting like the “Gestapo” after a businessman exploited a loophole to cut more than £250 off the price of his ticket.
  Steve Morrissey, 32, the director of a software company, was accused of fare dodging after booking his 7.38am train from Lancaster to London on Tuesday for £93.
  But he was accused of getting on the train at the next stop, Preston, 25 miles south, where the price is £350.
  The father-of-one was left embarrassed as he was accused by ticket collectors on the train of getting on at Preston, ordered to buy another ticket or be fined and detained at Euston where British Transport Police were waiting.
  Mr Morrissey, from Bispham, Lancs, said: “It was not a pleasant experience. You can obviously feel people are listening in. It looked like I’m a sort of criminal. I’ve never been as embarrassed in my life.
  “Throughout the entire journey, I just felt like a criminal, all the way. When I arrived at Euston there were three members of staff hiding around the entrance, it was obvious what was going on.
  “I was just stood there on the platform at Euston with two British Transport Police and three Virgin staff.”

  Mr Morrissey refused to buy another ticket and protested his innocence until CCTV was checked and showed him getting on the train at Lancaster as he had told train staff.

  After the 40-minute delay while CCTV was studied he said he was given a hasty apology and allowed to go on his way – but by then had missed his business meeting in the capital.

  Mr Morrissey said Virgin staff were cracking down on passengers after the big difference in ticket prices between Preston and Lancaster on the West Coast Main Line was publicised recently.

  • Andrew says:

    3 Feb3 February 15:47

    The creepy but ultimately very useful Google Maps app on an Android phone (presumably Apple too) is very handy tool to prove where you (or at least your phone) has been.

  • Anna says:

    3 Feb3 February 17:16

    There may be some civil breach of contract as regards the use of the ticket, had Mr Morrissey actually got on at Preston but it would not have been criminal fraud.

    • John says:

      3 Feb3 February 19:12

      Unfortunately you are wrong.

      Mr Morrissey held an off-peak return Lancaster to London Terminals

      This ticket has restriction code 3A which indicates that break of journey is not permitted on the outbound except to change trains. Starting short is the same as breaking the journey.

      If he had started short, he would not have held a valid ticket.

      It is a criminal offence, with strict liability, not to present a valid ticket when asked by an authorised member of railway staff.

      • Andrew says:

        3 Feb3 February 19:27

        “It is a criminal offence, with strict liability, not to present a valid ticket when asked by an authorised member of railway staff.”

        That can’t be true. Otherwise I’d be committing a crime every time I boarded the train at Bridge of Allan to pay with cash.

        • BlueThroughCrimp says:

          3 Feb3 February 21:23

          ScotRail officially have a buy before you board policy, so your *should* be buying where there are ticket issuing facilities.
          As Bridge of Allan doesn’t, then you’re ok.
          When/if it gets a ticket machine, be prepared to change your buying habits.

        • Andrew says:

          3 Feb3 February 22:10

          Bridge of Allan does indeed have ticket machines, however as a consequence of vandalism, Scotrail machines do not accept cash.

          So customers presenting cash can buy on board.

        • BlueThroughCrimp says:

          3 Feb3 February 23:37

          Hmm, not sure it’s *all* ScotRail machines that don’t take cash, perhaps the ne’er-do-wells of leafy BoA have vandalised that one a few times making it card only?

  • Lady London says:

    19 Feb19 February 16:26

    I do hope the passenger is now suing the railway company for slander due to humiliation in public etc. for which there was no foundation. His reputation has been damaged and that was without foundation.

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