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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.

  • Roger says:

    Buying gift cards at the Post Office for £5 credits, pay using Chip&PIN rather than contactless.

    Last time, there were several instances of contactless payments not registering for the promotion, including 2 from me. OK, retrospective claims usually work, but one of mine (MBNA) took several months and several reminders.

    • mark2 says:

      thanks for the tip. I bought three this morning and only one has triggered an email, the one that I did not do contactless.

      • TimS says:

        I used contactless for the last PO offer and it didn’t track straightaway but it did eventually track, about a week later.

        I’d still recommend using chip & PIN this time though as that registers the offer pretty much straightaway.

        • Andy says:

          Just another data point, used Diamond Club Amex today contactless on a £29 transaction and no tracking email yet. I’ll just chip&pin tomorrow.

          • ComeFlyWithMe123 says:

            How did you load the Post Office offer onto an MBNA card if it is not showing on amex connect / card member offers?

  • Msaleh says:

    In regards to the Arsenal tickets through Emirates, just to add you can also get any other team that is sponsored By them, I just bought two Emirates box tickets to watch Real Madrid in Feb, as I am going to Brazil via Madrid I thought it would be something fun to do.

    • Rob says:

      A few HFP readers have done this – it is substantially better value, in terms of miles required, than the Arsenal games.

  • Mickael says:

    “How Head for Points helped Paul…”
    It helped Paul and myself too! I’m still a rookie at this game and “Head for Points” has definitely helped me to understand the rules and make me travelling in style. Mornings are not painful any more as every day I’m excited to know what crazy deals it may brings. So I would really like to thank you for this great blog!
    Just a little thing that could improve this site (mainly for rookies like me) is to have a section with acronyms as sometimes it can be hard to understand what they mean (e.g. EX- which I just recently find out it means “depart from”).
    Thanks again and keep on with the great work!

  • Ethers says:

    Is Arsenal 12,500 per ticket or for 2?

    Thanks

  • Dan says:

    Thank you whiskerxx! Just bagged first class from Wilmslow down to London for 1 adult, 1 child and 1 three year old for £45 on 23 December.

  • Gavin says:

    Just had an email from Amex, £25 off a BA short haul flight over £100 departing LGW LCY LHR book by dec 7, use up until 30th April, no black out dates

    Must pay with your BA issued credit card using your unique code (emailed to me). Presumably only a £20 saving with credit card fees!

    May be targeted as I haven’t used my free BA card since hitting sign up bonus

    • Scottnothing says:

      Me too. Thanks for flagging. I just used it to book my Oslo positioning flights for the £350 Club World “mistake” fare to Miami I picked up earlier this year.

    • Rob says:

      The code is 99% certain to work however you pay.

    • richard says:

      the ba card has no credit card fees

  • harry says:

    Just got email, unique code £25 off £100 when you buy £100+ short haul BA flight

  • Simon says:

    Santander card holders currently being offered money off Hilton and Hilton family (Conrad and Wardorf) purchases too.

    Anyone going to the Leicester game at Arsenal? I don’t support any premiership team (but admire Arsenal for the same reasons as Rob). Struck me as being completely undervalued given Leicester’s form this season so that’s the one I went for.

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

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