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Bits: get two free US Uber rides, new American Express shopping offers

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News in brief:

Get a free Uber ride up to $65

If you are heading to the US between now and New Year, American Express and Uber are running a holiday season promotion giving you two free Uber rides up to $65 each from selected US airports.

Simply enter the code AMEXAIRPORT before ordering your Uber and select an American Express card for your payment.  The code is accepted OK on UK registered Uber accounts.

This offer is valid for Uber rides before 31st December 2016 from the following airports:

LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW)
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)
Boston Logan International Airport (BOS)
McCarran International Airport (LAS)
George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)
Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)

Harrods

Decent Harrods / American Express promotion launched

Finally, Harrods has launched a new cashback promotion with American Express.

This may – or may not – be showing under the ‘Offers’ section for one or more of your Amex-issued Amex cards on the online statement page.  If it is there, you need to load it to your card.

You will receive £30 cashback when you spend £100 in one transaction before Christmas Eve.  The offer terms state that gift cards are excluded but I’m not sure if that would be correct in practice.  Airport stores are excluded.

Whilst you’re in Knightsbridge, many people will have an offer for £20 back on a £100 transaction at Harvey Nichols.  This offer also runs to Christmas Eve.  I believe that there is also a House of Fraser cashback deal out there.


earns points from credit cards

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2025 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Comments (105)

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

  • Gavin says:

    Does the Harrods offer work online? (For buying giftcards specifically)

  • Ant says:

    OT: BA cash back offer
    if I book these separately via the ba website on different dates but before the 24 Nov will I still get my cash back?the total is £526.
    2 RFS
    Flight and car hire
    Hotel

    Thanks

    • TGLoyalty says:

      Seems to be cumulative spend so should be ok

      In fact I wonder how many of these deals are actually in one transaction and not just total spend by the expiry date. The Hilton one is cumulative.

    • Mikee says:

      This is what Amex sent me when I asked the same question:

      “I would like to inform you that you need to make a single transaction with British Airways for £500 or more to become eligible for the offer credit. The offer credit will not be triggered on the split transactions.”

  • PalCsaky says:

    Could a Harrods gift card purchased in Knightsbridge be used to pay for goods at Harrods Heathrow?

    • TGLoyalty says:

      The FAQ says

      WHERE CAN I SPEND MY GIFT CARD?
      Online at harrods.com and across Harrods Knightsbridge stores.
      You can also spend your Gift Card in any of Harrods cafés and restaurants. Click here for more information on Harrods eateries.
      Regrettably, Gift Cards may not be redeemed at any of Harrods Airport stores or at Harrods Estates.

      So seems not

  • Waribai says:

    Just a cautionary tale regarding the AMEX offer with Harrods. Last time they had this offer, we bought a £400 handycam (remember them:)) using 8 x £50 gift cards. So effectively the camera was half price with the £25 back on each gift card purchase. A few months later, the camera started playing up and intermittently switching off. Took it back to Harrods and they didn’t really want to know but eventually agreed to send it to the manufacturers repair centre. All in all it went back and forth 3 times over the course of a year before it was correctly repaired.
    Because it was paid on vouchers section 75 didn’t apply so we couldn’t just ask for a refund.
    Finally, evenv though we only paid £200 with the cahbackback, the real saving was only about £80 as Amazon were selling it much cheaper than Harrods!

    • the real harry says:

      you could have paid partly on credit card to get S75 cover

      • Waribai says:

        That is true. I wasn’t expecting Harrods customer service to be so poor. I naively assumed they would be like Amazon and just replace it in a jiffy. You live and you learn. Suffice to say we have hardly ever used the camera in the last couple years!

        • Lady London says:

          Re Harrods item the retailer is liable. If it played up within a few months, then it’s not fit for purpose. Law changed approx last October on this. The governing law is now the Consumer Rights Act 2015. You have to allow retailer to try one repair or replacement. But after that, if it’s still faulty and within 6 months of purchase you have the right to a full refund. After 6 months a refund may be partial. MSE is good on this.

          A lot of departments within Harrods are run as “shops within shops” and it’s possible a retailer under this arrangement might have needed bringing up to date. I am sure Harrods would have helped with this if necessary.

  • the real harry says:

    it will include season tickets as Amex just see the £ transaction – not the detail

    • Tom says:

      I also assumed the same.. the only thought in my mind though was that the season ticket part of the site has a different look and feel. And whether that means it gets a different merchant ID..

      Hmm!

  • the real harry says:

    cut & paste makes it easy viewing

    • Alan says:

      Damn, that’d be a pain given how much better MBNA are at repeat sign-up bonuses vs Lloyds!

    • Genghis says:

      Cheers Harry

    • Tom says:

      You missed a bit:

      “Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. All rights reserved. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.”

      🙂

      • the real harry says:

        I always think if you give the link/ attribution they won’t mind too much – free publicity for them

        anyway, I don’t think anybody in the UK has ever been penalised for copying a newspaper article to a forum

    • Andrew says:

      Could be far worse… It could be NewDay!

      It would be a real shame for Chester if this were to happen, they’ve gradually lost a considerable number of finance jobs over recent years.

      Is £7Bn too big for an MBO? Or maybe some form of structured deal with BoA financing.

      • Rob says:

        Could be MBO’d – £7bn is mainly the value of the loan book you are buying. The actual equity value of the business is modest. The problem is that FCA approval for an MBO of something this size could be tricky and certainly slow. Selling to a trade player removes a level of uncertainty over whether the deal completes.

  • the real harry says:

    corporate is different

    your Amex deal would be associated with you & your card

  • Rob says:

    Oh dear …..

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