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Bits: new American Express cashback deals, how HfP helped Paul see South America

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News in brief:

New American Express statement credit deals launched

A new wave of Amex cashback offers launched yesterday.

Some, all or none of these will be available for registration under the ‘Offers’ tab of your online statement.  Unfortunately, if they are not showing, you cannot register for them on the cardmemberoffers.co.uk website.

These offers do appear on the Amex Connect site where you can register MBNA, Lloyds or Barclays-issued American Express cards.

The three new offers are:

Argos – £10 back on a £100 purchase, expires 10th January, 14000 registrations allowed

Eurostar – £20 back on a £100 purchase, expires 10th January, 14000 registrations allowed

World Duty Free – £10 back on a £70 purchase, expires 10th January, 10500 registrations allowed

These deals were added a week or so ago.  They are not on the Amex Connect site:

Costco – £10 back on a £100 purchase, expires 31st December, 10000 registrations allowed

Paul Smith – £65 back on a £350 purchase, expires 21st December, no limit on registrations but only valid in Paul Smith own-brand stores excluding factory outlets (Heathrow seem OK)

The World Duty Free offer is especially valuable as it will double-up with any £5 off coupon you may have been sent, as long as your spend after discounts is still £70 or more.  It would also tie in with the ‘3000 Avios for spending £100 at Heathrow’ offer being run by Heathrow Rewards at the moment.

The Argos deal would be triggered by gift card purchases, although for just £10 back it probably isn’t worth the bother unless you are walking past a quiet store.

How Head for Points helped Paul in South America

Reader Paul dropped me a line over the weekend after a successful two week trip which saw him visit Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Uruguay.  He listed out everything that he had done which he had learned from reading Head for Points:

Flights:

  • Booked a low tax Iberia Avios redemption from Madrid to Santiago
  • Booked a low tax (as no fuel surcharges from Brazil) Avios redemption on BA from São Paulo to Heathrow
  • Booked a low tax LAN Avios redemption for an internal Brazil flight
  • Used an American Express £50 travel statement credit against another internal flight
  • Got a status match from Cathay Pacific (which he got for free from Amex Platinum) to Qantas Gold to allow him to continue to access oneworld benefits

Hotels:

  • Used Hilton points to book a hotel in Madrid, with an upgrade because of the status he gained from spending on the Hilton credit card
  • Booked the Pullman hotel in São Paulo during a sale featured on HfP, and gained extra benefits via his Accor Platinum status which came free with Amex Platinum

Other:

  • Used Azimo to transfer money to himself in Argentina at close to the dollar blue rate, rather than the artificial official rate

New Head for Points readers may not recognise some of the deals above, such as free Cathay status with Amex Platinum (now stopped).  However, I hope it gives a good impression of what can be achieved using the ideas and offers I highlight.

Comments (116)

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

  • Tilly71 says:

    Still ok if you were buying something from Argos and have spend targets to hit

  • TomTom says:

    “Used an American Express £50 travel statement credit against another internal flight”

    How does this travel statement credit work and what cards is this on?

    • harry says:

      finished

    • Jerry says:

      It was a previous offer on the Gold card – 50 credit on 100 spend.

    • Rob says:

      It was an Amex Travel promo, £50 off any booking of £xxx

      • david says:

        So we can use avios with LAN in Brazil? Nice

        • neuromancer says:

          Actually with TAM, but yes, since they moved to oneworld two years ago

          • Mark C says:

            How do you search for internal TAM flights in Brazil? They’re not showing up in BAEC when I search for reward flights…

          • neuromancer says:

            Not sure why they are not showing, I can see domestic flights, but my account is based in Brazil

          • Paul says:

            It didn’t appear online but could see TAM had flights so I rang up BA to book. The agent couldn’t see the flight time I wanted but I insisted it existed so she grumbled something about TAM loading them in to the wrong fair bucket. £4 and 4,500 avios vs £190 Cash

          • Mark C says:

            Sorry Paul, can’t reply to your message below. Is there anywhere you can see how much avios each flight will cost? I’m looking at Rio to Iguazu Falls and then Iguazu to Sao Paulo. Thanks

          • Paul says:

            This website is quite useful http://wandr.me/Award-Search/Avios-Map/igu
            Iguazu to Sao Paulo was the route I took which is 4,500 avios, I think Rio to Iguazu is 7,500 avios, both wilth tax of a few pounds.

            My flight actually got diverted to rio and then back to sao paulo because of the weather, not much fun

  • ET0125 says:

    Completely random question but I have just got my Amex platinum card but I want to get the gold card as well due to the better earning rates. If I apply for it, does that mean I don’t get the sign up bonus? So would I have to wait 6 months after I cancel the platinum Amex?
    Thanks in advance!

    • Amo says:

      I actually started with the Gold and within a few weeks applied for the Platinum. I received both sign up bonuses but YMMV. I’ve since cancelled the Gold (over 6 months ago) and contemplating rejoining.

      What’s Amex’s stance on churn? Would I get the Gold signup bonus again?

  • mark2 says:

    Has anyone managed to register a Lloyds Reward Avios Amex supplementary card on American Express Connect please?
    I note that MBNA supplementary cards bear the same number as the main card – spoilsports!

    • Nick M says:

      I think I have – although mine was originally a Lloyds TSB card – not sure if that could make a difference?

      …will double check that they don’t have the same number before I go too crazy with shop small

    • Wally says:

      Yes I’ve done this. Different card numbers, no problem 🙂

  • Brian says:

    Note that the Post Office deal is also on the Connect site, so MBNA/Lloyds cards can be registered, too.

  • neuromancer says:

    How can you send money to yourself with Azimo? To a foreign country, where you don’t have a bank account?

  • Marly says:

    I am interested to know which Iberia flight goes from Madrid to Santiago, it’s never really clear if it is the old or new business class setting. I feel like all the old Iberia planes (no fully flat bed) go to South America.
    That would be good to get some feedback

  • Andy says:

    You will have Tottenham fans boycotting this site with the Arsenal post!

    • Brian says:

      He might be a Chelsea fan… :))

      • Rob says:

        I am fairly ambivalent about football! I keep an eye on Chelsea because I live there and I keep an eye on Arsenal because I’ve always been quite impressed with Arsene Wenger. I would probably back Arsenal in Arsenal v Chelsea. Team I see most live is Rotherham United, mainly on their visits to Fulham!

        My interest in Tottenham is purely confined to trying to understand how they managed to blow the £80m they got for Gareth Bale so spectacularly.

        • Joel says:

          Follow up question would be, when is Harry Kane going to Real Madrid? 😉

        • Brian says:

          I think they used the same blueprint as Liverpool did after selling Suarez…

        • Sussex Bantam says:

          Oh no – not Rotherham. You and I might fall out…

        • mikee says:

          How many seats are available per game? Is it 2 standard and 2 box?

          • Rob says:

            Seems to be 2 per Skybox, yes. It will only let you book 2 seats per game from the same Emirates account but I tried to get a 3rd Chelsea seat last night from my wifes Emirates account and they showed as gone.

            Not sure about the standard tickets but you would need to use another EK account even if there were more than two.

          • mikee says:

            Ok great, thanks.

          • Jeff says:

            I KNEW you had the Chelski skybox tickets, there were none early this morning!

            (don’t worry, i’m not envious, much lol)

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

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