Bits: 20 Avios per £1 on Heathrow Express, a new ‘grown up’ Hilton in Ibiza

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

• Cuchlainn says:

  10 Sep10 September 04:27

  Couple of quicky questions please :
  1. Do individual BAEC accounts linked into a BAEC HH account “expire” ? ( I am trotting up miles easily but OH and 2 munchkins have minimal balances – all 2+ years ago since last addition ).
  2. If I dissolve said BAEC HH account, what happens to airmiles accrued ?
  3. Likewise, I have a Avios HH account but only with OH and myself in it (same 2 questions above)

  Tried to look answers up on respective sites but not clear – thanks.

  • TimS says:

    10 Sep10 September 06:01

    1. Yes. Expiry is based on the individual, not the household.

    2. If broken up, points stay with the individual who earned them. As kids can’t have individual BAEC accounts outside of a HH account you may risk losing points earned by the kids if you break up a BAEC HH account.

    3. Avios HH account is one number for the household so there is only the one expiry date.

    4. If you break up an Avios HH account you can choose how to allocate the points.

    • Raffles says:

      10 Sep10 September 08:10

      If you break up a BA HHA with kids, the Avios go to the parent and the kids accounts closed.

    • Tony says:

      11 Sep11 September 15:49

      Q1. As far as BAEC household accounts are concerned, if the account includes a gold or silver member who has earned or redeemed in the previous 36 months then the balances of other members of the household account who have not earned or redeemed do not expire.

      Q2. When a BAEC HH account is dissolved, the avios of members who are under 18 pass to the account of the head of the HH account and the under 18s’ accounts are closed.

  • harry says:

    10 Sep10 September 08:33

    glad you raised Q1, Cuchlainn – I hadn’t even thought about it!

    Sunday Times Travel will have worked for us last week but I’d better bear that in mind for the future

    just out of interest, I broke up the previous HH a/c, grabbed all the points – then was able to re-start a new HH a/c within a few weeks – I think the rules say to wait 6 months but it seems this is not enforced

    • Genghis says:

      10 Sep10 September 08:39

      Put all individual members’ accounts into AwardWallet to track expiry dates

  • Cuchlainn says:

    11 Sep11 September 01:37

    Thanks Tim, Rob and Harry.

• @mkcol says:

  10 Sep10 September 04:34

  I’m pleased to see the price plummet once out of season to a much more reasonable Euro 135/night

• aliks says:

  10 Sep10 September 07:24

  Sitting in Fairbanks Alaska waiting to check in to the Seattle flight, 9 hours behind London, there arent many comments yet, so to get the ball rolling:

  I don’t see how the Heathrow Express can charge such prices. From South London, the time it takes to get to Paddington means that the Piccadilly line is significantly more attractive. I dont think I would look at prices over £15 one way no matter how rich I was.

  • Genghis says:

    10 Sep10 September 08:02

    It depends where you’re coming from. I’ve only taken it once as just not that convenient for me. Bring on Crossrail. It’s uber today to LHR though

  • Raffles says:

    10 Sep10 September 08:09

    I think the answer is ‘because enough people will pay it’.

    • Steve says:

      12 Sep12 September 00:06

      Rob, do you still recommend Real Transfers?

      • Rob says:

        12 Sep12 September 00:09

        I haven’t had any contact with them since the last competition we ran but I have not heard anything bad about them.

  • Brian says:

    10 Sep10 September 08:13

    They can charge such prices because there are enough suckers who get drawn into the marketing speak – 15 minutes to Central London, they think, that’s great! As you say, if you then have to change to a tube or bus, dragging your luggage all the way, it doesn’t make it so great. And if you change to a taxi, then you’re much better off getting a taxi in the first place.

    • James67 says:

      10 Sep10 September 08:40

      And also worth mentioning that for any more than one person to just about anywhere it’s often cost-effective to let uber or a private hire take the strain and get from door to door in comfort and stress free. There always seems to be someplace you can get an uber promotion these days, and they are IMO preferable to private hire as no risk of waiting time charges at airport. Anybody in the know does not use HE unless it works for them, the service is kept going at current fares simply because they rip off visitors. Then there’s heathrow connect that they do a good job of hiding from visitors.

      • Daftboy says:

        10 Sep10 September 10:04

        HEX is good for consistency – I live in East London and work in the City and I value being able to accurately estimate the journey time pretty accurately meaning I can happily leave work around 2 1/2 hrs pre flight and arrive at LHR between T-90 and T-60. Plus anything to avoid the Piccadilly Line of slow torture, and an Uber all the way East can be quite expensive. Always book in advance where you can though, the 90 day advance fares for £5.50 are good value.

      • Brian says:

        10 Sep10 September 11:47

        Simple Airport Transfers work for me – about £30 to SW London for 3 people plus luggage and no waiting charges. If I am staying near Paddington and have an early flight, HEX is the way forward, especially if you can plan ahead. Otherwise, avoid.

        • James67 says:

          10 Sep10 September 13:20

          Thanks for tip on simple/no charges, will have a look at that.

• Leo says:

  10 Sep10 September 11:51

  I HEX a fair bit but I live in NW3 so it’s fairly convenient. If HBO I will occasionally take the tube depending on time of day. I’m just about to head to Hilton Mallorca from Madrid. I didn’t book HEX in advance this trip and we were flying midweek in the morning so I couldn’t use my railcard. Net result 2 standard walk on singles on HEX cost more than a cab from Heathrow Cars! Taxi it was then.

• Will says:

  10 Sep10 September 12:14

  What really gets me about HEX is the sales people as you walk out of customs offering “trains to to London”

  How many buy tickets then without knowing the options.

  At very least they should be forced to give the price of tube/taxi for reference.

  • Will says:

    10 Sep10 September 12:16

    In JFK there are huge posters clearly showing the subway price to Manhattan as $7.75 as you leave the airport.

• Radiata says:

  10 Sep10 September 15:25

  Hilton (redemption) feedback so only mildly OT.

  Realised Free Night certificate from HHonors Barclaycard rapidly reaching six months in age. Unable to use beforehand as in SA visiting family so would raise ire if booked into the local Hilton..

  Old threads suggest both that extension requests not to be relied upon and that US call centre usually more helpful (e.g. Happy to book stay for someone other).

  Rang up US line today who gave an expiry date 12 months from date of issue and happily made a booking for me..

  • Boris says:

    10 Sep10 September 21:49

    I am currently in Sydney on the March Etihad sale, and used my HH Plat free night voucher last night for a room at the Sydney Hilton on the last weekend possible,

    Hotel Reception superb … ExpLained that the booking needed to be via US centre, which was fine booking from a seat in the foyer. US HQ forgot about the dateline and booked me a day back in time. Took some time to resolve but I ended up with a corner suite with a harbour view and enough points in compensation for the 1hr wasted to let me do it again next weekend.

    Cheers to R for the articles.

• David2910 says:

  10 Sep10 September 15:42

  Lloyds upgrade voucher query: I have a CPH to LHR coming up, 2 of us travelling. i bought the economy Plus fare because that flight is a connection (different booking/ANR) from non-BA flight, and the Plus allows me to select a later (or earlier) CPH flight if i’m on time or delayed. I have an expiring voucher that i might as well use to boost to CE for the two of us. Questio: Does that mean i will lose my flexibility? the T&Cs for a CE ticket bought with Avios in full seem to state that i am stuck with that flight, reagrdless of availability. (i’d need to pay service fees to change). is that really the case or can some of hte flexibility of hte original Plus booking somehow carry into my voucher-upgraded ticket? Thanks

  • Alan says:

    10 Sep10 September 18:33

    Lloyds voucher is for use on reward (Avios) tickets only so you can’t use it on to upgrade your cash ticket I’m afraid

• Brian W says:

  10 Sep10 September 16:22

  O/T Bits: Apologies if anyones else has already reported this. Having made 5 sub £10 transactions using the Tesco PayQwiq App my 500 Clubcard Points Bonus posted 1st Sept.

  Knowing it works now and is posting its worth registering again with the OH’s card as there is still a good few weeks until the promo ends from memory (Oct?)

  • Andy S says:

    11 Sep11 September 22:27

    ah, my 3 august transactions posted 1st sept too. 2 more to go then…

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