News in brief:
The Facebook ‘Avios Suitcase’ game is over
For the last couple of year, it has been possible to pick up the odd hundred Avios here and there in avios.com by using the Avios Suitcase app on Facebook.
You didn’t even need to do anything to get the points – just click on various links. Some tasks insisted that you post various things to social media.
There haven’t been any new ‘suitcases’ added for a while. The Avios Twitter team has now confirmed that the game is over.
The app still exists on Facebook (with ‘900+ monthly users’). I’ve no idea what happens if you go into it now for the first time – you may or may not still be able to earn the points.
Good Finnair deals to Asia
Finnair has launched a new batch of sale fares from the UK to Asia. There are a few reasons why you should find this interesting:
You can fly from Manchester and now Edinburgh as well as London
You can earn BA tier points and Avios when flying Finnair
Depending on route, you may get the impressive new Finnair A350 business class seat I reviewed here (the A350 has a special website here)
The following prices are available for bookings made by 15th March. Travel dates vary but the end date will be between mid June and late July. You must stay away for a Saturday night.
Beijing £1,325
Chongqing £1,235
Delhi £1,269
Guangzhou £1,345
Seoul £1,360
Singapore £1,545
Xi’an £1,209
Finnair also flies to Bangkok, Hong Kong, Nagoyo, Osaka, Shanghai and Tokyo but these are more expensive at between £1,500 and £2,000 return.
Full details and flight rules for these offers can be found here.
About Head for Points
Seems to be game over for Holidaycheck too, at least for UK users. Haven’t been able to post any hotel reviews in exchange for Etihad miles recently (was getting an error message when submitting) and now the site can’t be viewed in English.
Yes, I got an email from them. German only now. It was a good way to keep a few scheme accounts active.
Yes, I went into it about a month ago to funnel a few miles into AAdvantage to keep it alive, found out they were no longer an option on completion, so sent them to EY Guest instead – then about a week later got the email about the impending closure.
Miles haven’t posted to EY, although it said they still would, so we’ll see what happens there.
AY’s sale prices seem reasonable from LHR and MAN, and you get 440 TPs for a 1-stop flight, which is nearly direct given that HEL is in the far north (unlike DOH).
On BA, you would get 440 TPs for an ex-EU but only if you paid for CE to position – which is more hassle and may work out to be more expensive.
QR of course gets you 560 TPs but I’d rather not let the tax man have £160 of APD just so I can try the LHR T4 lounge, plus their ex-UK fares are never that great, so it usually means a 2-stop trip with a night in Scandinavia.
Am sure ex EU AY fares will be good in this sale… Just using RFS to get to HEL. Def prefer spending the APD enjoying a short stay in the EU somewhere.
Polly, AY not cheap exHEL, however, try some of thd other usual suspects like AMS or ARN and they usually work out at little over £1k.
Ex-HEL you’d pay 1-1,5k more (or so). You’ll need to start somewhere else to get the good ex-EUR deals on AY
Xi’an, for those who were wondering, is the resting place of the Terracotta Army.
Anyone else been watching Michael Wood on BBC4? As a documentary I find it a bit hit and miss, but it’s a novel subject matter for me so that’s enough.
Not to mention other stuff like cave dwellings and a train ride to Shaolin.
Or to climb Hua Shan
And not far from Pingyao
I wondered why I hadn’t seen any suitcase badges recently. (Booo)!
Might be worth mentioning that Turkish are doing cheap fares out of OSL to places in the US again. There’s a thread of FlyerTalk about it. Maybe they were forced to cut their prices after your recent reviews, Rob…;)
hahaha good one!
Would people from the UK really go ex-OSL via IST to the US? Life’s too short surely…
It’s amazing the lengths some go to in an effort to save a £, point or mile, or simply for the adventure and experience. For me, time’s too precious, I prefer to make my longhaul trips nonstop overnight if at all possible and I’m happy to pay a premium for that. ExEU works a treat though if you can make a short break out of the positioning flight. Also, some could never afford lonhaul premium were it not for the exEU deals so in such cases I can understand why they want to try it.
Haha perhaps – although I am going EDI-LUX-LHR-JFK-LAX-SFO-JFK-LHR-BRU-EDI on an upcoming trip… 😀
DIdn’t even know LUX existed, let alone you could get there from EDI!
Indeed it does, although actually missed a leg off, going EDI-LHR-LUX (you can’t fly direct). Staying at the DoubleTree Luxembourg on Flash Sale pricing – have stayed with them before and they’re fantastic, they send a driver to pick you up from the airport for free 🙂
Another Tesco Wines 1000 point code on £100 spend just landed on my doorstep. Looks generic but you can’t be sure, so I’ll just have a look around first to see if others are getting it…
it’s on PTS so must be generic http://www.paidtoshop.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=44
I tried signing up for PTS but never got approved by the MODs, is it worth it?
Most of the news they cover will turn up here at some point. What it has and which I don’t do is Tesco ‘discussion’ eg which watches could you get from Goldsmiths for highest resale etc.
OT – I’ve just reached my Amex Gold sign up bonus on foreign spend at a hotel. I got the bonus points for the foreign spend as well but I thought you get bonus points for using the card in a hotel as well? Should have I therefore got 3x the £ spend in points?
Not any more. Since the card was changed last year you only get double points on airline spend, not all travel spend.
In any event, it was never meant to stack. Buying an airline ticket in foreign currency should only get you 2 x points and not 3 x points, although sometimes it gives 3x.
Many thanks, the 2,000 extra MR’s from the referral help comfort me!!
OT news item http://news.sky.com/story/1655733/tube-drivers-vote-for-piccadilly-line-strike
That’s the Heathrow line
As a relative newbie, can I ask a couple of questions:
1 – These are listed as 200% of Finnair Plus Points. Will that 200% feed through to the BA Exec Club if that is how I were to take it?
2 – The flight I was looking at was Manchester -> Beijing, which involves one night plus day stopover and one overnight. Would a hotel and sauna be supplied?
Thanks
1. No
2. No
Cheers.
Or rather, BOO.
Cheers.
Or rather, BOO.
Flew on an AY A350 to BKK. My seat had a few technical issues, the trim under the IFE was hanging off and they completely forgot about me when it came to the meal service. All they had left was a very small apertiser and cheese plate. Not impressed.
The IFE wasn’t all that exciting either.
Also, the window in the left hand toilet had a very lose surround (for want of a better description). For a new plane it was looking a bit worn.
Here’s hoping the return flight next week is better. A lot better!
Although, the thunderstorms over Bangladesh were an awesome sight.
OT: The Supercard pilot will formally come to a close at 00:01 on Tuesday 7th June 2016, and your current card will stop working on that date. But, fear not, you’ll be the first to know about how you can get your hands on a free new Supercard and we’ll be in touch again nearer the time with full details.
Interesting that current card holders will need to get a new card to continue to use it. Not sure why that should be the case.
Went on here to comment on this too.
It looks that by the Summer they will be out of the loop.
Already holding Revolut Mastercard in my hands (and EUR, USD spending is fee-free if you convert beforehand, this actually allows you to control the rate).
Kind people at the Curve arrange for it to be shipped abroad to where I travel! So in a month time or so, will have Curve Mastercard allowing charges to AMEX.
Seems that Travelex Supercard pose themselves to be used for withdrawals abroad, the loss leader segment.
OT! Will a Hilton Diamond get status recognition when staying as a companion to a Staff Member on a staff rate?
Said like that i would say no, but if your friend is smart enough you will get lots of benefits, also depending on the hotel availability. I had no issues being very welcomed in the past…
Thanks.. The rate is so deeply discounted that I won’t be expecting anything but it would be nice if they offer something.