Bits: no more UK 5000 point Hilton rooms, Amazon Prime deal, future of A380 and B747-8

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• TimS says:

  28 Dec28 December 05:34

  I can’t see a future for the 747-8I. If the -8 carries on it will be in the -8F freighter configuration only, and even then the global freighter market is moving away from widebodies at the moment. Their main advantage over other freighters is for carrying oversize loads via the nose door but generally the 748s have been simply replacing 744s (or, indirectly, 747-200s).

  The only realistic future for “passenger” 747-8s is the BBJ variant at the VVIP end of the market, ie the replacement for Airforce One (though Trump claims the planned replacement will be shelved) and as private jets for Middle Eastern royalty etc. Even there, the take up hasn’t been as high as Boeing were hoping for.

• Lynn says:

  28 Dec28 December 06:01

  I have saved the Amex offer to my card. My prime membership is due for renewal on the 6th January which is after the deadline. Can I force it to renew now or should I cancel the membership and then join again? Thanks.

  • the real harry says:

    28 Dec28 December 07:32

    try Amazon Chat – they are pretty good & if it’s possible to cancel or renew early they’ll tell you

    • Lynn says:

      28 Dec28 December 08:05

      Thanks

      • Lynn says:

        28 Dec28 December 08:31

        whilst it is not possible to renew early, cancelling prime and rejoining worked

• Anon says:

  28 Dec28 December 06:03

  Might give the 10k Hampton in Newcastle a go next month whilst the 5k Visa promo is still on, so along with a small Visa purchase on the room bill you get it for 5k / night.

  Anyone here been to it?

  • TimS says:

    28 Dec28 December 07:54

    I stayed at the Newcastle Hampton about 6 years ago. Reasonable enough location close to the train station and from memory it had a small carpark for patrons. Rooms were clean and tidy and everything was similar to Hampton Corby.

    I ended up choosing the Hampton Newcastle over the Hilton Gateshead as i felt it was better value for my needs at the time (though admittedly i didn’t have Hilton status at that time).

    • mark2 says:

      28 Dec28 December 09:48

      We stayed at the HGI Sunderland in May a couple of weeks after it opened. It was excellent but don’t know how many points now.

  • John says:

    28 Dec28 December 10:01

    Hampton Newcastle is excellent if you want to be right in the city centre.

    The breakfast is as extensive as it gets in a Hampton and quality beats the Hilton Gateshead, which from word of mouth is a disgrace. You’re better off skipping the Gateshead lounge too.

    Park on the street at Ilford Road metro station for free. Completely safe.

    The best Hilton in Newcastle is the airport Doubletree, worth going to even if you are not flying, as long as you have the time to travel (and aren’t staying out after the metro shuts)

    • RussellH says:

      28 Dec28 December 12:00

      Just back (yesterday) from a three night stay at Hampton Newcastle.

      I cannot comment on value for money as this was points+cash (12 000pts + >£60 for the three nights) and our stay a few months ago was points only.

      It is definitely better than the HIEx half a mile down the road – except for one thing. Staff at the HIex were much pleasanter than the afternoon/evening team at the Hampton. And no free drinks for silver Hilton members, unlike the offer for gold members at HIex. But (I think, the HIEx is 20 000 points per stay.)

      But the Hampton rooms are MUCH nicer, the bathroom is nicer, the shower is brilliant, and as said above, the breakfast is very good for a hotel of its class.

      We did have one issue this time – our room was not made up on Boxing Day (it was done on Christmas Day). A complaint to reception got it done, but still a little annoying. I asked for some extra points as compensation at check out, but the very busy receptionist said she would have to mention it to the duty manager to deal with.

      But for me, 10 000 Hilton points for Hamton cf 20 000 IHG points for HIEx makes the Hampton a no-brainer.

      Thanks for the tip about parking at Ilford Park, though we normally take the train from Carlisle.

  • James67 says:

    28 Dec28 December 10:26

    When I mentioned a similar plan a few weeks ago there were several comments indicating mixed results on the visa5000 at Hampton so you should factor that in. I’m still going to risk it combined with an IHG stay for accelerate and make a weekend of it.

    • Sandgrounder says:

      28 Dec28 December 11:22

      Should the Visa 5k post immediatly after the stay? The ts and cs suggest it may take several weeks- if so I will drop them an email later.

      • Anon says:

        28 Dec28 December 15:52

        My Florida one posted a couple of days after the stay, thanks all for Hampton Newcastle reviews 🙂

        Also noticed Bali airport is still a 5k redemption, might have a 1 nighter on way to the Conrad or new Hilton in a year’s time..

• the real harry says:

  28 Dec28 December 06:24

  Amazon – AMEX16SWP is still working & giving £15 off £25 for Amazon goods – works multiple times (once per Amazon a/c) using the same Gold or Plat card, you must use at least 2 MR points (£0.01) as part payment at checkout. Won’t work on new Amazon a/cs set up after 23/12.

  • rams1981 says:

    28 Dec28 December 09:47

    my last two orders using same card were cancelled. They were placed around Xmas eve.

• Stuart Evans says:

  28 Dec28 December 06:45

  If I book the Newport Hampton before 11 Jan, I still only have to pay 5,000 points per night. But when must the stay be completed by?

  • Lynn says:

    28 Dec28 December 06:56

    I have already booked for the 13-15 January and been charged 5000 points per night, presumably they will honour this?

  • Rob says:

    28 Dec28 December 09:01

    Doesn’t matter.

• EwanG says:

  28 Dec28 December 07:33

  A new AmEx offer has appeared on my card:

  TRAILFINDERS
  Spend £1,000 or more, get £200 back
  Save to Card to get a £200 statement credit when you spend £1,000+ over the phone or in-store at Trailfinders by 31/01/17. Valid once per Card for the first 4,000 Cardmembers to save. Terms and payment restrictions apply
  Please read the Offer Terms

  • @mkcol says:

    28 Dec28 December 10:36

    I remember the last time the Trailfinders offer was on – you couldn’t buy a gift card with it, which is rather annoying.
    Will trawl those T&Cs to see if it’s excluded again.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      28 Dec28 December 12:54

      If its bought instore no one knows it was a Gift card despite what the T&C’s say

      even online your only risk is if they use a 3rd party for gift cards

  • Tammy Hardison says:

    28 Dec28 December 13:03

    thank you

• Pol says:

  28 Dec28 December 08:55

  Anybody ever get their Air Berlin status under graded to silver with the offer on here a while ago? Mine and husband’s still showing as classic.

  • Nate1309 says:

    28 Dec28 December 09:17

    same here

    • Hamish says:

      28 Dec28 December 09:34

      A few of us got the following response from topbonus at the time:
      “The silver jump start is a voluntarily offered service, which is only offered to customers who live in Germany, Austria, Swiss or USA.
      Your request for the silver upgrade can not be confirmed, as not all required conditions for this action have been fulfilled.”

      • Hamish says:

        28 Dec28 December 09:36

        Oh, and when I queried this (as I hadn’t seen in in the T&Cs), I got the following:
        “The status jump start is a voluntary topbonus service offered. Thus topbonus reserves the right to change the promotion terms and conditions at any time”.
        So I think the few people that did mention they received the Silver status maybe used a non-UK address?

        • Richard Thomas says:

          28 Dec28 December 09:40

          It worked for me, but I used my Berlin rather than London address for it.

      • dan says:

        28 Dec28 December 18:57

        Worked for me too – used a UK address I think

        • dan says:

          28 Dec28 December 18:58

          Sorry – should also have said that I did send them an email to chase though after waiting a week

• Josh says:

  28 Dec28 December 09:30

  OT: I am thinking of getting the BAPP card but I am not a big fan of the £195 fee. I read elsewhere that you can trigger the 241 voucher by: 1)getting the BA free card 2)spend £10k 3)upgrade to BAPP 4)get the 241 voucher 5)downgrade to BA free to avoid paying the fee

  Has anyone followed the above route or have you encountered any problems following the above route? Any comments as to why someone should not follow this method?

  • VP says:

    28 Dec28 December 10:19

    Hello Josh,

    My first 241 voucher was earned like this though it was not planned. Had some unexpected expenses of around 4K taking me to 9K+ in spend so I upgraded to BAPP and got the voucher after 10K. If we assume you pay the fee for just 1 month and the cards have enhanced signup bonuses, then in order to save 179 quid (195/12*11) you are giving up at least 21K of Avios (25K-9K signup bonus + 5K due to lower earning rate of the free card).If you have significant BA spend and if you are going to be referred by someone in your household account then you are foregoing, even more, Avios. However, even more crucially, your 241 will be valid for only 1 year whereas if you earn it wholly on the paid card then it is valid for 2 years and as Rob repeatedly says that is a really valuable benefit if you have specific destinations in mind for your 241 due to lack of BA availability. Hope this helps you in making your decision.

    • Josh says:

      28 Dec28 December 11:42

      Hi VP,

      so if I have spent 10k on a free card and switch to BAPP straight after that, the 241 voucher that will be triggered has a validity of 1 year and not 2? Why is that? It is triggered due to BAPP’s 10k threshold, isn’t it?

      • Louise says:

        28 Dec28 December 12:16

        Last time I did he upgrade my voucher was valid for two years. I kept the BAPP for a few months though before downgrading.

        This was over a year ago.

  • Scott says:

    28 Dec28 December 13:49

    I did this recently. One thing to note is you’re not really upgrading/downgrading – you have to re-apply in both cases (so rather than the hassle of applying again to downgrade, I just cancelled).

    And as long as the voucher is triggered on the premium card, it has a two year validity.

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