Bits: 30% off and double miles with East Coast trains, new Singapore flights, Best Western sale

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• James67 says:

  10 Mar10 March 14:45

  For anybody in Thailand or Singapore around Songkran who wants to try a380, SQ are deploying theirs on the 2hr flight between BKK and SIN. Redemptions presumably available across all *A schemes for all classes including suites.

  • CV3V says:

    10 Mar10 March 18:54

    For anyone in Thailand during Songkran, be prepared to get soaked everyday by all the locals. Take your kids water blaster with you 🙂

    • Genghis says:

      10 Mar10 March 19:17

      I wasn’t aware that that’s what happens on Thai NY. Googled some pics and it looks awesome 🙂

      • James67 says:

        10 Mar10 March 20:39

        Awesome is right, should be on everybodies bucket list. Pattaya was amazing, Beach Road all the way along to and through Jomtien runs like a river. No place is safe, CVs comment is an understatement, in Pattaya I was drenched for three days!

        • Brian says:

          10 Mar10 March 23:10

          Sounds like it should be on everybody’s bucket list to avoid, then…

        • Brian says:

          10 Mar10 March 23:26

          Plus Thailand is currently experiencing a drought! Wonder whether that will put the brakes on – most probably not!

        • Lady London says:

          14 Mar14 March 15:36

          Would you seriously want to get drenched by Thai river water? Are there not safety issues?

• Dave says:

  10 Mar10 March 16:08

  OT – Tesco: I just got an email about a “Christmas Savers” scheme, where they’ll give you bonus vouchers if you top-up your clubcard points with cash. Does anyone know if the vouchers that will subsequently be issued (in November) can then be exchanged for avios in the normal way? Is this a cheap way of buying avios? Or would I just be forced to buy all my Christmas presents from Tesco…?

  (and apologies for mentioning Christmas in March!)

  • harry says:

    10 Mar10 March 16:16

    Did you even look at the T&Cs? 🙂

    4.Clubcard points are not collected on cash top-ups. Top-up and bonus vouchers cannot be exchanged with Boost partners, converted into Airmiles/BA miles or used in the Clubcard Voucher Exchange, however bonus vouchers can be used for Boost at Tesco.

  • TimS says:

    10 Mar10 March 16:51

    No, the deposited money & the bonus voucher can’t be used for anything other than Tesco shopping.

    It is however easy money.

    What you do is leave your Clubcard account as normal until shortly before the closing date for the Christmas saver scheme & then you change it to opt in to the scheme.
    A few days before the scheme end date, you go to Customer Services and pay in the cash amount you want to “save” and then when the quarter ends, you will be sent your saved money back in the form of Tesco vouchers, plus the appropriate bonus voucher along with your accumulated clubcard vouchers for the period.

    The normal clubcard vouchers can still be used as you normally would (eg Avios conversion) and the other vouchers need to be used in-store.

    eg.
    – Opt in to Christmas Saver scheme any time between August quarter closing and 18th October.
    – Deposit £200 into Christmas Saver account (in store at CS) on or before 18th October.
    – Receive normal clubcard vouchers in November statement plus £212 of Tesco spend vouchers for use in store or online. Bingo! Easy 6% return on your £200 for lending it to Tesco for a month.
    – Once November statement has been received, opt back out of Christmas Saver scheme until same time next year.

    • Genghis says:

      10 Mar10 March 17:41

      Good plan

      • harry says:

        10 Mar10 March 22:57

        6%? – you might want to annualise the return.

        However – not for me. Too much hassle for the time involved.

        You might end up £12 to the good, good luck 🙂

        Can you deposit with Amex?

        • TimS says:

          11 Mar11 March 15:03

          The return is a simple 6%.

          I didn’t claim it to be APR. Also, without specifying exact dates you can’t easily annualise it. As I don’t know the date when the November statement would be issued it would be impossible to annualise accurately anyway.

          It is no hassle (other than the 5 mins queueing at CS) if you shop at Tesco anyway. Is 5 mins of your time not worth £12? If you have multiple Clubcard accounts & would be able to use the Tesco spend vouchers instore/online, you can repeat this process for each card for almost zero incremental time expended.

          When 3V cards were available it was almost a licence to print money as the savings deposits were made by Amex & the resulting vouchers could then be used to buy 3Vs and be cashed back out very quickly.

• Allan says:

  10 Mar10 March 17:55

  Eastcost 30% offer has now reach maximum use so not valid any more.

• Steve says:

  11 Mar11 March 08:02

  I’m booked on the inaugural flight from Canberra to Wellington (leaves 9am CBR-WLG 09.00). As I now live in Wellington (ex-UK), it was an easy decision to make the first trip between the capitals…Currently known as the capital express and not considered to last – but hope it does. Gives us another route back to the UK too.
  steve

  • flyforfun says:

    12 Mar12 March 13:03

    Why aren’t people expecting it to last? The connection between CBR-WLG or the whole thing?

    I didn’t even know Canberra was classed as an international port!!! I seem to know a few ex-Canberra-ites working here in the UK that would appreciate a direct flight instead of schlepping through Sydney or Melbourne. I hate doing it from Brisbane.

• Art says:

  11 Mar11 March 14:07

  the 30% off VTEC does not work. Same price as those on Nationalrail.co.uk for 5 Apr KGX – LDS: £73

• Karen says:

  13 Mar13 March 13:58

  The Virgin East Coast 30% discount was working fine for me yesterday and is still working today as I’ve just booked another journey. Got some 1st class, KX-NCL returns in April/May for £66

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