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Bits: TAP launches London City, generous SAS / Hertz deal, KLM drops free bags for BlueBiz

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News in brief:

TAP launches flights from London City

In a surprising move, Portuguese national carrier TAP has announced a new service from London City Airport to Lisbon.   One possible reason I saw yesterday is that it is a potential prelude to a sale of TAP’s 06.00 Heathrow departure slot, which could presumably be used for an early morning arrival by a long-haul carrier.

Launching at the start of the winter timetable on 29th October, the City service will operate twice daily during the week with one flight a day on Saturday and Sunday.

TAP is a member of Star Alliance if you are considering earning and redemption options.

Generous SAS EuroBonus / Hertz deal

The SAS frequent flyer scheme, EuroBonus, has launched a very generous deal with Hertz.  If you rent a lot of cars, or fancy doing the car equivalent of a mattress run, you could nicely from this.

As you can see here, you will earn 5,000 SAS EuroBonus miles for every Hertz rental you make before 30th June, for pick up before 30th September.

There is no minimum rental period, except in the US and Canada where a minimum of three days is required.

EuroBonus is a member of Star Alliance so you could use your points to book flights on any Star airline – including the new TAP flight I wrote about above!  You can also use EuroBonus points for hotel stays – I did this last year to book a night at the 5-star The May Fair in London for 20,000 points.

Details can be found on the Hertz site here.

KLM drops free baggage for BlueBiz and corporate customers

Whilst KLM brought in baggage charges on short haul flights back in 2013, they gave an exception for the first checked bag to travellers on corporate deals or those who were members of the corporate BlueBiz scheme.

You can learn more about BlueBiz here if your company is not already a member.

This exception was quietly dropped on 1st April.  Even if your company is a member of BlueBiz or has a corporate deal with KLM, you must now pay for all checked baggage on short-haul flights. 

How to earn Flying Blue miles from UK credit cards

How to earn Flying Blue miles from UK credit cards (April 2024)

Air France and KLM do not have a UK Flying Blue credit card.  However, you can earn Flying Blue miles by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.

These cards earn Membership Rewards points:

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:1 into Flying Blue miles which is an attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 1 Flying Blue mile. The Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it.

Category

Air France KLM and Flying Blue, Hertz and Gold Plus Rewards

Comments (121)

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

  • Stu R says:
    20 Apr20 April 05:20

    I’m a little curious as to how the sale of a departure slot could be used for an early morning arrival by a long haul carrier?

    • the real harry1 says:
      20 Apr20 April 05:45

      presumably a slot is a slot, since it’s the same runway – ie in 40 mins the runway does (say) 10 take-offs then accepts 10 landings (knowing nothing much about airports here!)

      so to switch from 10 + 10 to 11 + 9 would result in the runway getting booked for the same amount of time, assuming incoming & outgoing flights occupy pretty much the same runway time

      • TrollBasher says:
        20 Apr20 April 06:29

        You are making an argument for a single runway airport though.

        Giving up a departure slot at LHR doesn’t improve the landing rate, unless the limiting factor is gate space.

        • Rich says:
          20 Apr20 April 06:50

          It’s called ‘mixed mode’ – i.e even at an airport with two runways, one or either can be used for both take offs and landings. It optimises runway use where arrivals and departure volumes fluctuate during the course of a day. So the real harry has a point.

          • the real harry1 says:
            20 Apr20 April 07:14

            yep I knew that LHR does not dedicate one runway for landings & the other for takeoffs, that’s why I thought 2 mins per slot was about right since they’re always telling us LHR gets 1 movement per minute

    • TimS says:
      20 Apr20 April 06:50

      A single slot wouldn’t get sold on its own. It would almost certainly be sold as a pair of slots (as the arriving plane has to depart eventually & LHR parking charges will be obscene!)

      Therefore, an airline or alliance with a large enough network at LHR could buy the TAP pair and, using existing slots, rework them to allow the 0600 departure to become an 0600 arrival.

  • the real harry1 says:
    20 Apr20 April 06:23

    O/T don’t know why the previous post/ link disappears into ether but
    Collect 500 extra Clubcard points when you spend £30 or more on LEGO DC Super Heroes

  • Roger says:
    20 Apr20 April 06:44

    OT- Curve

    Has anyone managed to use Curve overseas (Travelling to AUS/NZ in next few weeks) at ATM?
    Rather than buying currency (Cash) I am thinking of using Curve to withdraw my £200 monthly ATM limit to withdraw AUD/NZD.
    Any feedback appreciated.

    I have used Curve for shopping transaction abroad before without problem, but not used for cash withdrawal.

    • Jonathan says:
      20 Apr20 April 06:58

      I looked at this a couple of weeks ago and whilst it was far from clear, got the impression the £200 limit may be UK only.

      You pay a fee on the withdrawal abroad of £2 + 1% (I seem to recall). Which on £200 equivalent is 2%, and is therefore roughly the same as a good foreign exchange bureau in the UK for developed market currencies. So perhaps only opt for curve if it’s convenient, you may not be saving much in terms of execution cost.

      • Genghis says:
        20 Apr20 April 07:17

        Curve never used to charge the £2 fee but it now seems they do.
        I withdrew IDR1.25m from each of Halifax Clarity and Curve the other day from an ATM (30 secs apart). Halifax went through at £74.75 whilst Curve went through at £77.57. Using £74.75 as the base, £74.75 x 1.01 + £2 = £77.50 (can’t account for the remaining 7p). Anyway, I’ll be using Clarity for ATM withdrawals going forward.

        • Roger says:
          20 Apr20 April 07:20

          Yes, this is from their FAQ’s

          Can I withdraw cash from ATMs?

          You can use your Curve card to withdraw cash from ATMs and there is no fee.

          If you are outside the UK, you may need to check that the machine uses chip & pin as its verification method. You can use MasterCard’s ATM locator here.

          You may withdraw up to £200 from your credit cards each calendar month as per our Fair Use Policy, amounts over this are subject to a 2% fee.

          • Genghis says:
            20 Apr20 April 07:24

            I think you looked up the wrong bit. Note that de facto and de jure don’t always align.

        • The_real_a says:
          21 Apr21 April 02:41

          Just ensure you understand the implication on your credit score. I had some 50 cash advances on experian highlighted as a red concern on their score checker. Of course if you are in no requirement of a loan ir mortgage then its of no consequence.

    • Matthew says:
      20 Apr20 April 07:00

      Yes, I actually used mine to withdraw cash in NZD. I think there is no limit when withdrawing cash in a foreign country. The £200 applies withdrawing sterling in U.K. Just be mindful of the ATMs that will try very hard to charge you in GBP at a rubbish conversion rate. You obviously want to be charged in NZD and let curve do the conversion.

    • dwadda says:
      20 Apr20 April 07:06

      We just got back from Australia. No problems with Supercard or Revolut cards, both worked with all retailers however none of our UK cards would work in the on street parking meters. Supercard says it saved me £50. I link it to my hsbc premier credit card so I get avios as well. Revolut allows you to take out £200 in cash a month with no fee. Both cards are free.

      • Pid says:
        20 Apr20 April 08:27

        Supercard has always worked fine For me when either using it abroad for purchases or foreign currency purchases on the Internet. It has actually world better than the trial beta cad. However, never used it for cash withdrawals due to the 2.99% fee they charge. I have found it better to use Curve.

        • Rob says:
          20 Apr20 April 08:31

          Have to say, Curve was excellent in Asia recently – never got rejected and I even got a £1500 hotel bill to work which surprised me. Handy as I failed to notice my FX free Post Office card had expired …..

    • BigDave says:
      20 Apr20 April 07:43

      Never had any problems using Curve overseas – in fact I am overseas most of the time – revolut seemed too fiddly for me – thats why I got the Curve as none of my other bank cards would give me less than 2% forex fees
      The rewards are great too – even better if you double up linked to another rewards card too.
      their support is getting better all the time
      I had an issue with a car parking meter too abroad – thats all … its to do with them no accepting pre-paid cards as they do not charge on the spot they charge later (like car hire firms) and if your balance is good now and not later then they cannot guarrantee collecting payment so they block these types of cards not curve/revolut/supercard’s fault

      • the real harry1 says:
        20 Apr20 April 07:54

        Halifax Clarity credit card gives perfect exchange rate, Dave. Plus free of charge to withdraw cash from ATMs. Obviously cash withdrawals on credit cards mean they start to charge interest immediately – you get round that by funding your credit card immediately (some do it ahead of time but credit card cos often don’t like that) – and the interest charged will then be negligible.

        • Olly says:
          20 Apr20 April 10:25

          I am with TRH1. Halifax Clarity has been my trusted foreign travel companion for many years. I pay for the days spend as I go along and round the payment up. I think the exchange rate Halifax use is the wholesale rate and as an example of fees, I spent about £2500 on it in September in Bangkok and Macau and got charged £1.22.

          • Dave_D says:
            20 Apr20 April 13:26

            I’m also with you both on the Clarity card. I’ve been using it for a couple of years now, and almost never consider paying cash anymore when overseas. I tend to have a couple of hundred GBP eqivalent in local currency and USD simply to cover tips and local shops, rest goes on Clarity. I sometimes find the MasterCard rate is ever so slightly better than the highest market spot rate from that day too.

    • Klaus-Peter Dudas says:
      20 Apr20 April 07:45

      I use Monzo for cash. 0% fee and MC rate. Can’t top up with credit card though. If I have left over cash on the card that I don’t need I use it to pay towards my AmEx bill.

      • Paul says:
        20 Apr20 April 09:44

        Now they are stopping norwich & peterborough i was looking for alternative foreign cash withdrawals and some friends talked me into Monzo… so waiting to see how it goes !

      • Nick_C says:
        20 Apr20 April 13:57

        I had never heard of Monzo, and as the incompetent idiots at Halifax closed my Clarity card in error, I’m now looking for alternatives. However, the Monzo web site says;

        “The card is an e-money product, and as such it is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. In the unlikely event that Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd becomes insolvent, your funds may become valueless and unusable, and as a result you may lose your money.”

        I’m rather alarmed by this!

        Can you fund the account by Faster Payments? I wouldn’t want to keep funds in an account that has no protection.

        • Save East Coast Rewards says:
          20 Apr20 April 14:35

          You can top up within the app (using a debit card, Apple Pay in-app works) and the money appears in your account to use immediately.

          They have now got their banking licence and are working on their current account product which will have the usual banking protections but as you can feed their pre-pay product directly from your bank I don’t see any issues.

          If you need a link to sign up (to bypass the queues) let me know. I’m sure I or someone else who sees it first, will be able to give you a link.

          • Nick_C says:
            20 Apr20 April 15:07

            Many thanks. I’ve taken the plunge, and signed up with the MSE link, which jumps the queue. Card on its way.

      • Alan says:
        20 Apr20 April 21:48

        Yep I think they’re pretty good too – also a more straightforward proposition than Revolut (who also charge for a card now), so signed my folks up to them.

    • Mikeact says:
      20 Apr20 April 07:48

      I have, just an hour ago, withdrawn another $200 from an ATM in Darwin.Now coming up to the end of a three month trip to NZ, Tasmania and the NT of Aus. When required, both Curve and Supercard have worked just fine everywhere.

    • Neil says:
      20 Apr20 April 07:51

      I used my Curve card while travelling through South America last year for 6 months! I managed to get my daily withdrawal limit increased to £500 and if I remember correctly, the first 10 ATM withdrawals were free. Nonetheless, the card was a life saver and it was linked to my Hilton Visa card so the final week of accommodation in Brazil was completely free at the Hilton Barra Rio De Janeiro! I’ve also used the card in AUS/NZ and had no problems. Just let Curve know that you’re going over seas.

      • Roger says:
        20 Apr20 April 17:46

        Thanks all for your responses on Curve.
        I will withdraw my monthly £200 in UK and then happily pay fees to curve withdraw couple of hundres AUD/NZD.

  • Roger says:
    20 Apr20 April 06:46

    Sorry another OT I posted in yesterday’s Amex post.

    I am expecting a refund to my PRGC but it is taking some time in processing.
    If I upgrade from PRGC to platinum do I retain the same card number or is it different?
    Does my card balance gets carried over while I am still in between billing cycles or do I still keep PRGC until next statement is produced?
    Basically once I have upgraded from PRGC to Platinum how much time do I have before my PRGC becomes inactive?

    • Crafty says:
      20 Apr20 April 07:35

      Different card number, but a refund to my gold, issued well after I’d upgraded, still arrived.

    • MattyS says:
      20 Apr20 April 08:09

      Following on from posts a couple of days ago, I hit the £1k spending target from upgrading from Gold to Platinum using a link (though can’t find it again) as it wasn’t targeted to me. The 20k MR rewards it promised credited this morning, at the same time as the last of the normal MR’s from the spending that took me over £1k.

      No fee has been posted to my balance yet.

      +1 with Crafty that it was a different card number, but everything else on the account was the same, including showing the previous transactions spent on the gold card.

      Now to spend the boat load of Tesco gift cards I bought … !

      • Ben says:
        20 Apr20 April 09:52

        Thats great to know. Thanks for the feedback. One question I did have is that i havent had my gold card for a year so havent got the 10k for hitting the target. Would I still get that if I upgrade or do I forgo that to get the 20k for the upgrade?

        • Sam says:
          20 Apr20 April 10:46

          If you haven’t had gold for a year you would get the gold sign up bonus at 20k then you can upgrade to platinum and get another 20k. You wouldn’t get the 10k bonus unless you’ve had the gold card a year.

          • Ben says:
            20 Apr20 April 16:47

            Hi Sam,
            Thats ok im only a month off the year so I will just wait till that is up then upgrade

  • Roger says:
    20 Apr20 April 07:15

    OT – BA Amex Signup Bonus (10000 Avios).
    I referred Mrs. Roger for free BA Card and was expecting 10000 Avios (Applied in Feb and have already done the £1k spend).
    The bonus Avios posted to account is only 9000 as opposed to 10000.

    Has anyone recently got BA signup bonus and can confirm if they managed to get full 10K Avios bonus?
    Not sure if it matters but I cancelled my card on the same of referring her, so hope Amex is not treating her application as non -referral and thereby giving only 9000 Avios.
    On a side note, I am still chasing Amex to get my 4000 Avios referral as I closed account before getting referral bonus.
    Of course, lessons learned is not to close account until Avios/MR is in one’s account.

    • Lev441 says:
      20 Apr20 April 08:42

      Sometimes you learn lessons in life the hard way….!! Unfortunately you should have kept the card until the bonus showed up on your account…

    • Peter K says:
      20 Apr20 April 08:43

      Chances are you won’t get your 4k avios as you forfeit any remaining avios on your account when you cancel. Sorta make sure it is actually in your BAEC account before cancelling. As you say, lesson learned.

      • Klaus-Peter Dudas says:
        20 Apr20 April 13:39

        When I cancelled my card the agent rounded my points up and did a final transfer 🙂

        • Roger says:
          20 Apr20 April 17:48

          Amex has promised that Avios should turn-up in my BAEC account within next week, so keeping fingers crossed. Will post update when I see my award wallet balance updated!

  • Roger says:
    20 Apr20 April 07:16

    OT – Energy Switch Experience
    Just to share my energy switch experience, Thanks to Harry for help.
    I goofed up somewhat and as a result I am switching to a new supplier just before 5 days when my contract comes to an end.
    My current supplier contract finishes at end of month. I switched to a new supplier hoping that it will take 3 week+ before I will be switched.
    However this time around, Nation Grid (that is what my new supplier has told me) is very efficient and I am switching in just over two weeks’ time and as a result I will pay full £60 penalty for moving supplier before end of current contract just by 5 day.

    Another lesson learned, don’t be too pre-emptive.
    Only initiate switch 10 days or so ago before contract is due to finish with current supplier

    • Genghis says:
      20 Apr20 April 07:28

      BS. You can’t be charged an exit fee in the last 50 (or there abouts) days of an energy contract

      • the real harry1 says:
        20 Apr20 April 07:56

        +1 though I think it’s 49 days! as Genghis says, you should dispute any incorrect exit penalties applied as long as you were in the 7 week grace period before contract end.

        • Alan says:
          20 Apr20 April 09:44

          Yep, its 49 days (7 weeks).

        • Fenny says:
          20 Apr20 April 13:12

          Agreed. When I switched Pa recently, they said no fees as I was within the last few weeks and the switch most likely wouldn’t happen before the end of the fixed rate anyway.

      • Riger says:
        20 Apr20 April 08:14

        Glad to hear that.

    • Dave_D says:
      20 Apr20 April 11:55

      Roger,

      You cannot be charged for leaving a contract with an energy supplier if the process started T-49 or fewer to the end of the contract (assuming it is fixed term here, as variable should always be no exit fee). Call them up and challenge it, if started after this this call them and challenge it. They say no, request a manager, if he says no state you are making g a complaint.

      If that fails, take it to the ombudsman and they will rule in your favour if started at T-49 or closer to the end of contract.

  • Pangolin says:
    20 Apr20 April 07:19

    The Hertz/SAS deal certainly looks decent. I believe in the US/Canada market they actually had to change the minimum rental period from 1 day to 3 days because the uptake was so high. Might be worth jumping on this one quickly in case they do the same over here!

    • Pid says:
      20 Apr20 April 08:32

      I think I saw an article on that. As you could get rental for around $25 per day it was worth doing it just to get the points! With the higher charges in the UK I am not sure it will be so cost effective.

    • FrequentDriver says:
      20 Apr20 April 12:37

      Well, I joined SAS Eurobonus, entered the number into my Hertz profile then followed the link provided in the article above.

      Booking page came up fine, but when I put in my details I got the following messages:

      “We are sorry. Your selection is currently unavailable. Please choose from the following vehicles for your chosen dates and location [NRX144]
      Not all requirements for the Promotion Coupon and Rate Code -{1} combination requested have been met. We have removed the Promotion Coupon and Rate Code from your request to provide you with the best rate returned. If you would still like to take advantage of the Promotion Coupon and Rate Code, please refer to the offer details to meet all necessary requirements. [DRX143]”

      What’s THAT all about ?

      • FrequentDriver says:
        20 Apr20 April 12:41

        OK answered my own question – it seems you need to choose “This is a LEISURE trip” in order for the cars to display… all very strange :0

  • HIDeHi says:
    20 Apr20 April 07:27

    That Hertz offer is going to get pulled or have its terms severely restricted. Anything that generous won’t last.

    • Sunny says:
      20 Apr20 April 07:32

      All the locations near me seem to be about £30/day so not really that generous.

      • HIDeHi says:
        20 Apr20 April 21:16

        Well 5000 SAS miles is worth more than £30 – so if you have an actual need for a 1 day hertz rental, you are arguably getting it for free. If you are just renting to get the miles, then I wouldn’t bother.

        Of course the other side of this is if the offer is withdrawn or the terms changed, or if hertz just dont credit the miles – then there is the hassle factor of chasing the miles. I rent a car often where I live for 1 day and this could actually equate to free rentals for me if I actually get the miles.

    • callum says:
      20 Apr20 April 09:46

      This isn’t a new offer – it’s been promoted for several days (a week?) and has already had its terms changed once (US/Canada minimum rental time extended). If they were going to scrap it then I’d imagine they would have by now.

      Though I’ve tried many times to book under the deal and every time the results page has informed me the CDP is not eligible and has been removed, so I have no idea how people are booking!

    • FrequentDriver says:
      20 Apr20 April 17:31

      Well I have a weekly need for a 1 or 2 day hire. I was sticking to Avis, but now that I’ve qualified for President’s Club (and they’ve messed me about a couple of times) I have decided to switch to Hertz where I am President’s Circle… rentals now booked on the SAS Eurobonus promo for the next 20 weeks at a price broadly comparable to Avis. The 100k points will do very nicely as 5 x 20000 Radisson SAS redemptions as I’m frequently in the Baltics 🙂

      • FrequentDriver says:
        20 Apr20 April 17:32

        Sorry that should read “frequently in the Nordics”… !!

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