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Bits: 1200 Avios for £30 of LEGO, London City Airport launches a Business lounge

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News in brief:

New Tesco / LEGO promotion launched

Tesco Direct has launched a new LEGO promotion, this time with LEGO Disney Princess.

As you can see here, you will receive 500 bonus Tesco Clubcard points – worth 1,200 Avios or 1,250 Virgin Flying Club miles – when you spend £30 by Monday evening.

This deal requires a smaller minimum spend (£30 for 1200 Avios) than the recent ‘£60 for 2400 Avios’ deal, and may work better if you want to give the LEGO as a gift for a specific child in your life.

The full list of available LEGO Disney Princess sets is here.

London City Airport launches a Business Lounge next Monday

Regular readers will remember our recent review of the First Class Lounge at London City Airport.  It is based in the Private Jet Centre next to the airport.  

It comes with a premium price tag (£95) but you get peace, privacy and – depending on which airline you are using – access to a private security lane and a chauffeur car to drive you across the tarmac to our aircraft.  Which is quite cool.

London City will launch a ‘pay as you go’ Business Lounge on Monday, also in the Private Jet Centre.  We will be popping down to take a look in the next week or so.  This has a lower price point – £33 per person – but you do not get driven to your plane.  You will be driven to the main terminal instead just before your flight departs and you need to pass through standard security before boarding.

This may be a better option for British Airways passengers as BA refused to participate in the ‘be driven to your plane’ scheme.  This took away one of the main reasons to pay the £95 fee for the First Class Lounge.

A review will follow.

Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (April 2024)

Here are the four options to get FREE airport lounge access via a UK credit card.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Eurostar, Lufthansa and Delta Air Lines lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum instead.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with four free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £24.  You get four more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free Priority Pass card, allowing you access to the Priority Pass network.  Guests are charged at £24 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A huge bonus, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Tesco Clubcard, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (84)

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

  • Lap1 says:
    17 Mar17 March 06:43

    OT – Has anyone transferred virgin miles to IHG recently? Do they still count towards earning status?

  • LaserBeams says:
    17 Mar17 March 06:53

    Are there any OneWorld lounges at City Airport for BA Silver / Gold passengers?

  • Stu N says:
    17 Mar17 March 07:04

    OT: Anyone had any success with moving an AMEX statement date? My payment on my Platinum is due two days before I get paid and as we are throwing all our spending that way at the moment so it isn’t that helpful. Worth an ask?

    • Roosit says:
      17 Mar17 March 07:27

      Yes, called and got it changed, so it is possible. However, there was some issue in their system and it took a couple of months to be rectified. Essentially I started to receive two statements per month but when queried was told to ignore the one with the original statement date. Direct Debit had been changed to new date already. What I didn’t realise at first was that when the original due date came and went, my account showed I was overdue including overdue charges etc. For some reason from the moment I noticed it, they had to wait a month (for the next statement cycle) before they could rectify it. It worked in the end, all call center assistants were very helpful and apologetic, all charges refunded, no mark on credit file etc. I haven’t tried it again because it was a bit of hassle and many calls. But if this was a one-off problem then it should be straight forward.

      • Roger says:
        17 Mar17 March 16:34

        I might have similar issue.
        I have direct debit scheduled in next couple of days, but looks like it may not go through.

    • Uberior says:
      17 Mar17 March 08:30

      Definitely worth an ask.

      To avoid cock-ups though, be proactive and keep a nil balance on the account when you request that your statement production date is *brought forward* three weeks.

    • Lap1 says:
      17 Mar17 March 14:44

      Yes, done it for me on the past

      • Stu N says:
        18 Mar18 March 16:36

        Thanks everyone – good to know it’s possible but it sounds like a bit of hassle. May move it after next statement when I can have a pause in using the card.

  • rick says:
    17 Mar17 March 07:20

    OT- Council Tax @ Post Office

    It may be too early a bird, but just checking if anyone attempted to use Amex to pay their council tax at Post Office?
    I am likely to try this once I have my bill and will report back. Just gauging if anyone had any success already?

    IIRC, the last comment about use of Amex @ Post Office for council tax was last year.
    Hoping to hear any success story this year.

    • Ahop says:
      17 Mar17 March 07:38

      Just done it – absolutely fine.

    • mark2 says:
      17 Mar17 March 08:06

      Probably varies between branches. If not you may be able to use PayPoint at Coop (again varies between branches).

    • Uberior says:
      17 Mar17 March 08:31

      Is there a “flag” on the account of the recipient that indicates the type of payment that is acceptable?

      My Council Tax bill has *CASH ONLY* AT PAYPOINT in bold on the statement.

      • the real harry1 says:
        17 Mar17 March 08:39

        they might say that but it might not be true – only way to find out is by testing it with your card (& don’t accept the first Co-op cashier saying you can’t do it – just ask to put your card in & see for yourself).

        • Genghis says:
          17 Mar17 March 08:41

          Says that on my bill too but I’ve done it many times.

          • Colin MacKinnon says:
            17 Mar17 March 09:43

            Tried using Amex at my Post Office last year, but clerk said: no, South Lanarkshire don’t take Amex.

          • The Original Nick says:
            17 Mar17 March 11:29

            Says that on my Council Tax bill too but I’ve been paying at coop for over a year now. I just buy a selection bag of crisps with it to throw the cashier. They don’t normally look at the card so just put it in the card machine and bung your pin in. Job done.

    • Julian says:
      17 Mar17 March 10:50

      I have my Council Tax currently set up to pay in instalments by Direct Debit. I think its over 10 instalments. So are we saying that if I go to a Post Office I can opt to pay all the outstanding balance for the year in one hit and then cancel the Direct Debit? My experience of my local sub post office is they will take Amex to pay anything that is a Post Office transaction but not take Amex for other goods they sell themselves (eg birthday cards and childrens toys etc). Wish I had realised this while I was still getting double Avios on the Lloyds Amex Exchange Rate Fee free card (having upgraded from the old legacy free Lloyds Duo card)

      • mark2 says:
        17 Mar17 March 17:15

        I cancelled the direct debit first and then pay monthly by direct debit using Allpay at PayPoint. I would not expect a post office to accept Amex for council tax but some have managed it.

    • rick says:
      17 Mar17 March 13:03

      Just to report my finding.
      The grumpy lady at post office declined saying you cannot use credit card for council tax payment!

      • the real harry1 says:
        17 Mar17 March 19:01

        yep you can’t pay council tax with Amex at Post Office – you can usually pay at Paypoint though (with Amex) – so give it a go & if it works simply cancel the DD

  • Nick M says:
    17 Mar17 March 07:36

    OT… my wife applied for the Virgin cc on the last day of the last increased bonus but then wasn’t accepted for a couple of weeks. After receiving the card she called to check she was eligible to receive both bonuses and this was confirmed. The second bonus didn’t turn up so queried it via online chat… we’ve now had a reply from a senior person acknowledging what was said on the call but informing us that the wrong info was given and that they are unable to give her any additional points. The letter finished by saying to go to FOS if we weren’t happy…. has anybody had any success in similar situations? And I really don’t understand why they would want to encourage us to go down that route rather than just giving her the 7000 points

    • Genghis says:
      17 Mar17 March 07:47

      Doesn’t a FOS complaint over and above the limited number of freebies for the firm cost c. £400?

      • Nick M says:
        17 Mar17 March 07:54

        £550 I think… it just seems a very odd response for something that could have been dealt with fairly simply

        • Rob says:
          17 Mar17 March 08:25

          I have had at least 20 complaints over the years from people who have been legged over by MBNA because they genuinely have no records of when their own promotions start and end. They will swear blind than an offer wasn’t available on a certain date even though I had already had an article up.

          With Virgin I can usually get them fixed by going via Virgin HQ but you’re on your own with Etihad, Lufty etc. It is a joke and an embarressment, frankly – perhaps this is why Lloyds wanted to buy them 🙂

          • Matthew says:
            18 Mar18 March 19:08

            I had big issues with the Etihad card but kept phoning and chasing and eventually got the due bonus 4 months into the card year despite meeting the spend in month 1.

      • Uberior says:
        17 Mar17 March 08:37

        Varies depending on volume.

        With one sub-prime card provider, I’ve now negotiated a straightforward upfront settlement every time they make a specific error rather than go through the full complaints process.

        They were getting tied up in knots with my complaints being dealt with by the ICO rather than FOS.

    • Alan says:
      18 Mar18 March 17:30

      Bonkers but if that’s how they want to play it then fine – I’d progress matters!

  • Pieter says:
    17 Mar17 March 08:27

    OT – Instamiles: I wanted to try Instamiles this morning at LHR T2, but all LHR challenges have been removed from the app (or my profile). The only remaining one at LHR is the Spa T5 one. Pity, was going to give it a try!

  • Alex W says:
    17 Mar17 March 08:54

    So who gets in this lounge then? Club Europe? Silver? Gold? Priority Pass? Seems like vital info missing from the article!!

  • CMCP says:
    17 Mar17 March 09:19

    Partner and I doing BA001 LCY – JFK on Tuesday morning, but I think we only have access to the ‘lounge’ near gate 24. Do you know if we get access to these private jet centre ones?

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