Bits: Air New Zealand Skycouch just £199, 5% off Qatar fares, how to dispose of old credit cards

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• Mike says:

  7 Apr7 April 07:00

  I do have a pile of used 3v cards that I could make a “thank you Raffles” message that I am sure could be seen from space !!

• Danksy says:

  7 Apr7 April 07:18

  Haha love the credit card picture.

  I think I’ve probably had 15 credit cards for this hobby and approximately 500 3v cards

• Stuart says:

  7 Apr7 April 07:34

  Maybe mark should take the names off the cards before sending a fairly high res images. Including his wife’s 🙂

  • Mark says:

    7 Apr7 April 21:27

    OMG, He’s stolen my name… 🙂

• Waribai says:

  7 Apr7 April 08:15

  Thanks for the clarification regarding QR. We almost booked flights because a well known website said that R fares now qualified for tier points.

• Tim says:

  7 Apr7 April 08:18

  Thanks Raffles indeed…

  While I started collecting (18 months ago) before finding HfP it’s been a massive help in terms of learning the ropes so thanks very much to Raffles and all the posters!

  However, seeing the cut up cards and mention of all the churning etc I wonder if I’ve been either stupid or lazy?! I’m fortunate in that my business spend brings in plenty of Avios per month but have only held BA Premium Amex and Amex Gold.

  Given that I can meet sign up bonuses within a month should I be churning? For some reason churning feels a bit naughty!

  Do you guys have a process you follow to make the most of churning and if so s there a good way to keep track of when to cancel and re-apply etc. One thing I really cannot risk is losing the Amex accounts.

  • Genghis says:

    7 Apr7 April 09:07

    Churning is a way for many of us to make lots of avios. An Amex Plat application, refer to partner and then partner applies yields (2 x 35k + 18k) = 88k MR points every six months or so. I keep a record of when we can next apply for the same card.

    If you can’t risk on losing the Amex accounts though (i.e. you need to keep the accounts), then there’s no churning for those cards.

    • Tim says:

      7 Apr7 April 22:07

      Belatedly seen the updates to my original post after driving back from Scotland today. Thanks for the thoughts 🙂

      It seems that this is working out for many of you which is great. I suppose there’s nothing specific in the terms to forbid churning and they will have records on all that do it… I guess I’m being ultra risk averse in this case as I earn a lot through spend anyway and almost feel greedy going for more bonuses.

      Has anyone heard horror stories of being blacklisted for accounts or do you get warnings fist??

      • Tim says:

        7 Apr7 April 22:09

        Sorry couldn’t reply to the last post by Genghis add in on my mobile and the reply doesn’t show on the narrow comments!

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:

    7 Apr7 April 09:10

    I just keep track on a s/s showing the dates I cancelled and therefore the dates I can reapply. I’m on a permanent rotation of:

    Amex Gold -> Amex Plat upgrade -> refer spouse for Amex Gold -> Amex Plat Upgrade -> Barclays Hilton -> Barclay’s Hilton Spouse

    • Genghis says:

      7 Apr7 April 12:49

      Good call actually with the Amex Gold > Platinum initially but are you not better off referring straight to Platinum rather than to Gold and then upgrading?
      I.e.
      With referral to platinum: 18k + 35k = 53k MR points (on £2k spend)
      With referral to gold and then upgrade to platinum: 9k + 22k + 20k = 51k MR points (on £3k spend)

      • vdom says:

        7 Apr7 April 19:06

        Mr(s) Entitled what are the time frames of the below churning and how many points does it bring in?

        “Amex Gold -> Amex Plat upgrade -> refer spouse for Amex Gold -> Amex Plat Upgrade -> Barclays Hilton -> Barclay’s Hilton Spouse”

      • Liz says:

        7 Apr7 April 20:48

        if you are referring platinum to platinum then you must be paying at least half the £450 fee every time making it an expensive option – we are doing gold to gold for free albeit for less MR’s.

        • Genghis says:

          7 Apr7 April 21:11

          Comparing gold to gold for max (22k x 2k + 9k) 53k MR points and plat to plat for max (35k x 2k + 18k) 88k, there’s a difference of 35k MR for what for us is about 2 months’ plat fee (£75) or effectively buying avios for 0.2p

        • Liz says:

          7 Apr7 April 21:19

          But if you have to wait 6 months to take the card again how can you hold the card for only 2 months – surely one of you needs to hold the card longer – I can’t get my head around the timescales. If you take a platinum card out in April – spend the target asap refer your partner and cancel your card by June then continue with your partners card – surely you need to pay at least 4 months on that card before you can have the card again – making that at least £225 between the 2 cards ??? Or am I wrong?

        • Genghis says:

          7 Apr7 April 21:26

          1) get referral from friend / Raffles
          2) spend £2k in month 1.
          3) refer wife for plat. Once approved and all bonus points paid cancel my card
          4) wife spends £2k in month 2. Cancel after receive bonus
          5) repeat after 6 months or so

          I think with your method Liz you’re thinking of constant plat > plat > plat… referrals between 2 people which would involve costs of around the cost of one plat card a year, £450.

        • Liz says:

          7 Apr7 April 22:13

          Ok Genghis I get you now – you completely cancel and start again every 6 months. We have gold at the moment and was planning on my hubby refering me in July for gold again – think I will try your method and go for Platinum – take it on holiday in August and cancel when we get back. Thanks

• mohamed says:

  7 Apr7 April 08:30

  If i spend tge night from 30 april to 1st may does it count or not.

  • Brian says:

    7 Apr7 April 08:35

    Yes, I don’t think Air New Zealand mind which date it is – as long as you pay the extra for the Skycouch…

  • Rob says:

    7 Apr7 April 09:21

    Good question, you would to look carefully at the wording. I have seen promos work worth ways in the past.

• Gary says:

  7 Apr7 April 09:05

  Has anyone had personal experience of the sky couch? Is it anything like a fully flat bed?

  • Steve says:

    7 Apr7 April 09:22

    nothing like a lie flat bed…
    you can stretch your legs out if leaning against the fuselage.
    also if you are smaller than me you could perhaps sleep in the fetal position ok?
    with two people it is more tricky.
    works well if you have small children as they can stretch out across the three seats two abreast.
    just my 2cents worth

  • Genghis says:

    7 Apr7 April 09:35

    Did Sue Woodward ever report back?

    https://headforpoints.com/2015/10/05/the-winner-of-our-air-new-zealand-competition-is/

    • Rob says:

      7 Apr7 April 10:03

      Not sure they have flown yet but I know it all got booked ok.

• Cheshire Pete says:

  7 Apr7 April 09:25

  I suppose this qualifies under this “bits” topic but did anyone else receive an email from Accor late last night stating memberships extended to Dec 2017 at your current level? Great for Amex Plat holders!?

  • Brendan says:

    7 Apr7 April 09:46

    Yep, very happy with that. My status was up at the end of this month so applied for the Amex Plat again in Feb and have the extension to Dec 17 showing now.

  • The_Real_A says:

    7 Apr7 April 09:54

    Yes – also very happy to receive that since the AMEX deal is going away. Seems the scheme is changing which i’m sure Raffles will cover at some point. I still find the Accor revenue points scheme frankly boring.

    • Rob says:

      7 Apr7 April 09:58

      Er, last week 🙂

  • Rob says:

    7 Apr7 April 10:04

    That only applies if your existing expiry date was in 2017. More tomorrow.

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