Bits: beat AwardWallet’s price hike, £1500 UK to Sydney or Melbourne still bookable

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• Stephen says:

  19 Jan19 January 06:50

  The Malaysian deal is a superb one, although I can only get the £1.5k price to work (with one night accommodation) for a maximum stay (outbound/inbound date) of 3 weeks. It seems that this appears to be part of the deal/offer as no matter what outbound date I put in through Expedia, as soon as I select one nights accommodation too, it greys out the return flight date options greater than 3 weeks time. Ideally I’m looking for a 4 week stay in Australia mid Steptember through to mid October. Unless anyone has found a way around this? Thank you.

  • Alfie says:

    21 Jan21 January 11:19

    3 weeks and a half worked for me!

  • Nick says:

    21 Jan21 January 21:07

    Hi, any advice on dates? I’ve been looking and cant find anything under a total for Flight + Hotel for £2,000.

• Trev says:

  19 Jan19 January 06:52

  “if you are currently on Plus due to redeeming a free code then you will NOT be grandfathered onto the $10 plan” – not from my experience, if you subscribe before the 1st Feb you will be charged at $10 from when your code expires.

  Quote from the email I received:

  “Thank You!
  You have successfully scheduled to pay $10 for Order ID: XXXXXXX,
  Your Order
  AwardWallet Plus yearly subscription 1 year, starting from 26/01/2018 (payment was scheduled, not yet processed)”

  • TimS says:

    19 Jan19 January 06:57

    What I Rob is trying to make clear is that if you are currently only on the Plus plan due to a free code, you won’t move on to the grandfathered rate *unless you pay for a $10 subscription prior to 1/2/17* (which is what you did and what Rob is encouraging people to do.)

    • Trev says:

      19 Jan19 January 07:04

      You don’t actually pay before 01/Feb if your code doesn’t expire until after that but you DO need to subscribe before then is perhaps what should be made clearer

  • Stuart says:

    19 Jan19 January 07:01

    I am a little confused by this wording, I read it as – don’t wait for the redemption of the code to end before paying ?
    I have just logged in to AW to upgrade/set up a subscription, the page states $30 with a $20 discount as an early supporter, so my question is – will this be the $10 per year option ?

    • Trev says:

      19 Jan19 January 07:05

      Yes if you subscribe before 1st feb, you will be charge $10 when your code expires

      • Stuart says:

        19 Jan19 January 07:06

        Thanks Trev for your quick response !

• Concerto says:

  19 Jan19 January 07:30

  I’ve always been reluctant to join AW because so far I have managed fine and I have never been hacked. Now, I’m sure AW is fine, but this version of the Internet is such crap technology that you can never be completely sure. Think I’m going to struggle on the way I am!

  • Rob says:

    19 Jan19 January 08:09

    Here is the gamble you take:

    Risk that AW gets hacked and that your points are spent AND USED (ie a flight flown, not just booked) in the 24 hours before AW notices your balance has changed

    Or

    Track your own balances and risk that, say, someone hacks your IHG account which you only check once a month and where the hacker has had plenty of time to book and stay.

    • Andrew says:

      19 Jan19 January 08:46

      If someone hacks your IHG account I’d expect IHG to put things right no matter how long it took to spot since they’d be to blame. If someone hacked AW and took all your points I’d expect IHG to be distinctly unsympathetic since you’ve given your credentials to a completely unknown third party.

      I have a free AW account and love the convenience of it but I probably should really close it. Security wise it’s a ticking timebomb. Hacking AW would be more lucrative than hacking an average bank and at least you’d expect to get your money back if your bank account was compromised. AW make no such guarantees and the airlines, hotels and shopper loyalty schemes are unlikely to help either.

      • Rob says:

        19 Jan19 January 08:52

        But AW has an option to store all your data locally on your computer if you prefer – but this means you can’t update it on the go via your phone.

        I am far happier seeing my balances twice a day vs leaving them unmonitored but I see both sides. Their security is very strong, if you are techy minde there is a full breakdown of what they do (none of which I understand) on their site.

        • Andrew says:

          19 Jan19 January 09:35

          I am indeed techy minded and although their website makes it sound impressive any level of security is meaningless unless backed up by a guarantee. AW’s T&Cs go out of their way to excuse themselves from any liability:

          IN NO EVENT SHALL AWARDWALLET BE LIABLE TO THE USER OR THIRD PARTIES FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF USE, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF DATA, DISCLOSURE OF DATA, LOSS OF REPUTATION, DEFAMATION, COPYRIGHT OR PATENT INFRINGEMENT, OR CLAIMS BY THIRD PARTIES, OR FOR OTHER COSTS OR CLAIMS, OR ANY FORM OF SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO PERFORMANCE UNDER THIS AGREEMENT, EVEN IF AWARDWALLET HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, AND EVEN IF SUCH DAMAGES ARE CAUSED WHOLLY OR IN PART BY THE NEGLIGENCE, ERROR, OR OMISSION OF AWARDWALLET, ITS EMPLOYEES, SUBCONTRACTORS, AND THEIR RESPECTIVE AGENTS.

          Vulnerabilities have been discovered after years in very well established security protocols and will be again. Ultimately AW themselves have the ability to view completely unencrypted copies of all of their users’ logins (they have to to be able to log in and check balances). More than an outside hack the real risk is a rogue employee.

          AW is a great idea but users should be aware that there’s a very small chance they could lose thousands of pounds worth of points with no hope of recompense.

        • Rob says:

          19 Jan19 January 10:21

          But that dislaimer is meaningless, because the company couldn’t afford to recompense people in the wake of a massive hack (how much money do you reckon they make at $10 per premium user per year?!). Would you be happier if they promised to cover all your losses, even though the fact they made such a promise would mean then would be forced to declare insolvency – as they would be technically insolvent due to the liability – as soon as they had a breach?

        • Aeronaut says:

          19 Jan19 January 10:29

          @Andrew… I agree this is the risk one takes with AwardWallet.

          But it’s also the risk one takes using a password manager such as LastPass, which is something that more and more security bods seem to be suggesting that regular internet users do.

          (I’ll add that I haven’t taken an in-depth look at how LastPass manages matters compared to AwardWallet… am still at the stage of thinking I should get round to using LastPass, but I haven’t yet knowingly suffered a hacked account so the motivation is perhaps lacking…)

    • Brian says:

      19 Jan19 January 09:10

      I don’t think anybody would be stupid enough to hack a miles account and use the miles for stays or flights. They’d go for things like Amazon gift vouchers – instant redemption type things that can be spirited away into the ether without trace.

      • Andrew says:

        19 Jan19 January 09:45

        Several hacks of BAEC have been reported where avios have been used for hotels in Russia and elsewhere

      • Craig Bell says:

        19 Jan19 January 14:17

        I use both LastPass to store ALL my passwords and now I use AW too and again store my loyalty passwords there too. I use two-factor authentication on both accounts, it’s going to be difficult to hack my LastPass and AW accounts and using LastPass as my primary password keeper ensures each of my 200+ online accounts has unique complex passwords.

        • zsalya says:

          19 Jan19 January 15:26

          Two-factor authentication is definitely stronger, but is not necessarily going to stop a rogue employee, or a hack which has extracted all the security information at whichever end.
          When using the internet, it’s not your actual finger/iris sent for matching – it’s the digital version of it which can be mimicked.

          I conclude that the whole idea of storing passwords centrally is a flawed concept.

        • Rob says:

          19 Jan19 January 15:42

          …. as is keeping them on a sheet of paper in your desk though!

    • Alan says:

      21 Jan21 January 18:21

      Also worth reminding everyone to turn on two-factor authentication for your AW account to make it even less likely to be hacked! Wish Amazon UK had this (US does), but I’ve got it active on Google, MS, Dropbox, FB, AW, etc. – minimal hassle for a good extra amount of security.

• Frenske says:

  19 Jan19 January 07:42

  $30 per year!!! And I found $10 a bit too steep for bit of tracking of points.

• Mike says:

  19 Jan19 January 07:45

  You don’t need to pay $10 now. Just subscribe. The article is wrong.

  BTW I can see little point in two people having paid for accounts. One is fine for a couple, unless I am missing something? Am I correct?

  • TimS says:

    19 Jan19 January 07:53

    One is fine for a whole family if you like! I track all of my household’s accounts throuhg my one awardwallet subscription.

    • Rob says:

      19 Jan19 January 08:07

      The article is correct as far as I know:

      The free version of AW will remain free (but I expect them to reduce functionality to make people trade up)

      The paid version will cost $30 per year rather than $10

      If you move to Paid by 1st Feb you retain the $10 plan for life

      However, moving to Paid by using a 6 month free trial code does not count. To get the grandfathered rate going forward you must pay $10 by 1 Feb. Anyone on a free trial of Paid gets a 1 year extension to their current expiry date so they don’t lose anything.

      • Temp says:

        19 Jan19 January 08:14

        Hi Rob, when I try to upgrade (on mobile) it directs me to paying £3 via the Google Play store. Do you know what will happen in this case?

        • Liz says:

          19 Jan19 January 08:20

          When I upgraded a few weeks ago it automatically took me to iTunes so I paid that way – cost me £3.99.

        • Rob says:

          19 Jan19 January 09:00

          No idea, sorry. I presume it works as that sounds roughly like $5 for 6 months.

      • Aeronaut says:

        19 Jan19 January 10:35

        “If you move to Paid by 1st Feb you retain the $10 plan for life”

        Obvious point perhaps, but I wouldn’t necessarily count on it lasting in perpetuity. That’s no reason not to go for it of course.

        • Rob says:

          19 Jan19 January 10:53

          I agree. The point still stands, though, which is that you won’t be worse off by spending $10 this week and could potentially – over a number of years – make a decent saving.

      • Jon says:

        21 Jan21 January 21:11

        Hi Rob, I think I must be missing something – just downloaded AW and appear to be on a three-month Plus trial, but can’t find anywhere that would let me subscribe / pay, only an “Upgrade using a coupon” option on the web site (but not on the app). Any ideas? Thanks.

        • Anne says:

          27 Jan27 January 18:38

          Same here. I appear to have automatically been given a plus account after registering, as there’s a ‘plus’ banner in the top left corner. I can’t find any way to subscribe/pay, I just see the “free upgrade coupon for first time users” box.

        • Anne says:

          27 Jan27 January 18:41

          Ah, just found it when I look at my profile.

• PB says:

  19 Jan19 January 08:11

  I can not see how you would get 160 tier points for KUL_SYD ?

  • Neil says:

    19 Jan19 January 08:34

    You don’t. You get 160 for London to KUL and 140 for KUL-Sydney. So 600 for the return.

• Steve says:

  19 Jan19 January 08:15

  I find AW a pain to use, so stopped,

  It has constant problems logging into some accounts, and can’t do captcha. I am hoping that new Bink app keeps improving. It is already better at getting my avios balance than AW is.

• Mark says:

  19 Jan19 January 08:22

  O/T I completed 4 stays using my Barclays Hilton CC at Hilton properties but didn’t recieve my 2500 points bonus , who do I chase Barclays or Hilton ? Anybody know ?

  • scott says:

    19 Jan19 January 08:28

    They take an age to come and for me they tracked on stays 14-18 with the card so totally off base when it should have been 1-4.

  • mark2 says:

    19 Jan19 January 08:34

    I had a very long battle with both but was determined to get them. It took a long time (but I am retired) and got points and compensation from both in the end.

  • Liz says:

    19 Jan19 January 08:35

    Our first one tracked straight away – the other 3 we had to chase up – I did it via secure message with Barclaycard – we ended up getting 20000 HH pts in the end so worth pursuing.

  • Tom says:

    19 Jan19 January 10:31

    I received the 2500 for stay number 1 and stay number 3, but not stay number 3 – currently lodged with HH via the Diamond line and awaiting response.

    • Alan says:

      21 Jan21 January 18:33

      In general my previous experience was that you’re better to chase via Barclaycard as they tend to be more generous with compensation 😀

  • Calz says:

    19 Jan19 January 13:48

    I had this problem with stay number one but stay two posted the following day after check out. After 8 weeks of waiting on stay one I contacted Barclaycard. They said they couldn’t help and I would have to contact HH to chase the points. They agreed it wasn’t clear who to chase and without me asking, awarded me £25 credit on my card for my time (fair play Barclaycard, a very nice gesture). I then chased HH via their online chat. They opened up a case and it was appalling service. They said I had paid with cash and wasn’t eligible. I had to send them my credit card statement and they finally agreed their system had logged it incorrectly. 2,500 points were promised and a reference number given…but had to chase again, I then got the same story that I had paid with cash and they had no notes under my reference number. As I was getting upset they lodged the points that evening but called it a “one-time exception”. I still didn’t think this was right but decided not to fight further as I got the points. took far too long to sort

  • Alan says:

    21 Jan21 January 18:22

    WR@barclaycard.co.uk your best route IME

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