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Bits: £100 off £500 BA spend, 4000 Miles & More miles with a hotel, Troy Warfield leaves BA

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News in brief:

£100 off a £500 British Airways spend deal with Amex

American Express is offering a very limited number of cardholders a £100 statement credit with their next £500 British Airways purchase.

If you are targetted, it will appear on your American Express online account under ‘Offers’.  It is limited to the first 7,000 people to save the offer to their card and the £500 transaction must be made by 12th June.

Neither my wife or I have this.  If you have put British Airways transactions through one of your Amex cards recently then you will probably be out of luck.   Some – but not all – HfP readers who have contacted Amex Customer Services have managed to get this offer added to their accounts even though they were not targetted.

Helpfully, £500 just covers the taxes and charges on a Club World or First Class long haul Avios redemption.

Get 4,000 Miles & More miles with any hotel booking

Lufthansa is again offering a generous bribe to encourage you to try its new hotel booking website.

It is only valid for first-time bookers via the Miles & More Hotels portal which you can find here.   There is no minimum stay and no minimum spend.  You need to book by 23rd May but the stay can be for a future date.  All bookings must be pre-paid.

The 4,000 miles is the minimum you will earn – this consists of a 3,000 miles bonus and 1,000 base miles.  You may receive more than 1,000 base miles based on the cost of your room.

British Airways BA 777X 777 9X

British Airways loses its second ‘Director of Customer Experience’

British Airways staff were told last week that Troy Warfield, BA’s ‘Director of Customer Experience’ is leaving the company after 18 months.

The announcement:

Troy Warfield, Director Customer Experience, has decided to leave British Airways.  Since joining the airline, Troy has led many customer improvements including the Gatwick and Boston Lounges, First Wing and forthcoming transformation of Club World catering, service and sleep proposition.  The process of finding a successor is now under way and an announcement will be made once an appointment is confirmed.

…. seems to be lacking the usual ‘leaves with our best wishes’, ‘we wish him success in his future career’, ‘I am sad to leave behind such a hard working group of colleagues’ etc platitudes normally found in such wording.

There were raised eyebrows when Warfield was hired, given that his previous employer (Avis Budget) is not exactly known for its outstanding customer service.  His job before Avis was running Andrex, Kleenex, Scottex and Velvet for Kimberley-Clark in Europe ….

That said, Warfield’s departure mirrors that of Frank van der Post.  van der Post was Warfield’s predecessor and the first person to have this role.  He came from a successful stint at Jumeirah Hotels – which does have a good reputation for customer experience – but he did not last too long either, albeit he went on to a senior role at KPM Royal Dutch Telecom.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 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

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

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

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

The Platinum Card from American Express

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

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

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

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus 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

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Lufthansa and Miles & More

Comments (189)

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

  • Joe says:
    16 May16 May 11:25

    Off topic Q, wondered if anyone could advise.
    Have an amex ba 241 voucher I want to use for t-355 to book outwards flight this week.
    1. Can you use the 241 voucher to book outward flight only
    2.how do you then book rtn flight with 241.
    Best

    • Genghis says:
      16 May16 May 11:33

      1. Yes. At t-355 12.50am BST go online and enter the particulars for the flight that you want to get. Keep refreshing at about 12.59.40 BST and then at 1am BST it should come up saying that the flight is available. Make sure you apply the 241 voucher.
      2. When flights become available for the return you can either call up the Japan / US call centre (have a read of https://headforpoints.com/2017/01/03/which-british-airways-office-call-centre-is-open-now/) and get them to add the return to the 241. OR if you have a stash of avios, do what I did last time and book the return leg as a single and then call up the morning after to cancel the single and get them to rebook and add to the 241. Note if you do that your booking has been manually processed and you won’t then be charged taxes etc straight away. I then liaised with the BA Twitter team (who are top notch by the way) and got my wife’s BA Amex card charged to hit the sign up bonus and then cancel the BAPP.
      Hope this helps

      • Joe says:
        16 May16 May 12:53

        Thanks for the detailed reply Genghis. That’s an interesting tip re single tickets.

    • Dave T says:
      16 May16 May 22:01

      i’m also looking to book my first tix using amex 2for1. Does anyone have any first hand experience using the amex 241 for one way booking? I’m just curious what happens to the voucher when using it in this way. does it show as “partially used” and why can’t you just book the rtn online?

      • Genghis says:
        17 May17 May 06:53

        You can use one way. You don’t partially use the voucher though.
        A return, A->B->A can be booked online if all sectors are available for booking. But if the return sector hasn’t yet been released (ie >t-355) but you’ve booked outbound, or you’re travelling A->B C->A/D (an open jaw), then these have to be booked online

      • Rob says:
        17 May17 May 08:55

        Voucher is wholly used. One ways must be out of the U.K., not inbound.

    • Dave T says:
      16 May16 May 22:02

      i’m also looking to book my first tix using amex 2for1. Does anyone have any first hand experience using the amex 241 for one way booking? I’m just curious what happens to the voucher when using it in this way. does it show as “partially used” and why can’t you just book the rtn online??

  • James Harrower says:
    16 May16 May 11:33

    I called Amex to be told that the deal was targetted at those who haven’t used their Amex card for BA flights recently. Was told, after they spoke to their marketing department, that this was an automated offer and I couldn’t have it applied to my card. Shame when I have BA flights to book!

  • Wivus says:
    16 May16 May 11:41

    O/T but Hilton are doing 50% Sale over the next 72 hours. Do not remember one recently but is it a common thing?
    Looking at going to Tokyo January but not confirmed 100% and the Conrad at 50% is looking tempting.

    Cheers

    • Jimmy says:
      16 May16 May 12:19

      Hi, can you clarify please, for which areas exactly? Their sales are frequently geo-specific

    • Harkirat says:
      16 May16 May 12:22

      Just booked the Conrad in Tokyo and Hilton Okinawa Chatan – both a bargain with 50% off.

      • AndyW says:
        16 May16 May 13:01

        Is there a link for the sale, or just direct to the website?

      • Jimmy says:
        16 May16 May 13:10

        Yes, but you clearly didn’t read my actual question nor answer it. However I have since located the answer. It’s a specific 72hr Hilton Japan sale.

    • timezonehopper says:
      16 May16 May 14:01

      The 72 hour Hilton flash sale is only valid for stays from 19th May until 31st December this year.

      • Yan says:
        16 May16 May 23:32

        Price jumped the days before sale began, so not really 50% off

  • mark2 says:
    16 May16 May 11:48

    If you book through American Express Travel on a Gold card check carefully that you get triple MR points, especially with a cruise.

  • Chris says:
    16 May16 May 11:53

    Phoned amex to try and get offer added to my platinum card, they said it was not possible, had to be on the BA card.

    • bill says:
      16 May16 May 11:55

      What time did you call? I called around 11.30 and they said the offer had ran out?

      • Chris says:
        16 May16 May 12:08

        Around 11:45. Weird how they didn’t give me that answer. I also said that I knew someone who had had it successfully added to their platinum card but she said that was an error and their offer would be declined!

        • Bill says:
          16 May16 May 12:39

          Called up again and they added it to my BA card. When I asked how come how they could add it now they said the demand increased so the upped the limit of the offer.

  • Bill says:
    16 May16 May 11:57

    Arggggh I’ve got a book flight with BA which I paid the deposit for. I’ve got an outstanding balance of over £1k but the offer doesn’t show. Called up and they said all the codes are gone. Has anyone got the email for customer services by any chance?

    • Genghis says:
      16 May16 May 12:39

      Do a secure message from your Amex acct?

      • James says:
        16 May16 May 18:56

        How you send a secure message from Amex account?

        • Genghis says:
          16 May16 May 18:58

          Not on a mobile, towards the bottom of the screen there should be something along the lines of ‘Contact us’ when you’re logged into your Amex account?

  • AndyGWP says:
    16 May16 May 12:10

    OT:
    I currently have a 2 for 1 voucher sat in my account, that expires in December (and had 2 year validity)
    I’m close to earning a new 2 for 1 voucher… can I confirm that they can co-exist?

    I’m happy to make the effort to hit the target, but don’t want to if there’s some reason you can’t have 2 vouchers in your account at the same time.

    • Louie says:
      16 May16 May 12:28

      There’s no problem with having two vouchers valid at the same time.

      • AndyGWP says:
        16 May16 May 13:04

        Lovely – thanks for the quick reply… looks like I’ll be upgrading to BAPP this afternoon 🙂

        • Klaus-Peter Dudas says:
          16 May16 May 19:53

          And if you have two you can use them for four people on the same flight, I.e. Three other people plus you

  • nick davies says:
    16 May16 May 13:04

    Can confirm they will still add the offer via Customer Services but only to BA Amex Cards (as of 1300 16 May).

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

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