Bits: Norwegian launches Buenos Aires, two Avios wine deals ending

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• Catalan says:

  24 Jun24 June 06:37

  The position the Waitrose home page once occupied on the Flying Club website now sports Jamie’s Italian, with their 2miles/£1 offer. No comparison!

• Clive says:

  24 Jun24 June 06:43

  Also intriguing that Norwegian is planning to build a regional airline within Argentina which this Buenos Aires flight would connect with.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Air_Argentina

  • Paul says:

    24 Jun24 June 09:42

    Very interesting. Flight prices in South America are so high, although avios redemptions are a dream where available. Hopefully this will put some downward pressure on prices

• mark2 says:

  24 Jun24 June 07:35

  I have still got 1028 Miles pending some from Waitrose purchases as long ago as 05/05.

  • Doug M says:

    24 Jun24 June 08:13

    Wouldn’t worry too much. Mine have posted reasonably reliably, up to about the 2nd May, so yours on this basis will post quite soon.

  • Glenda says:

    24 Jun24 June 09:16

    I have been tracking mine and so far they have been paid for all purchases made between 28th March and 4th May so yours should be any day now.

• Jovanna says:

  24 Jun24 June 07:46

  OT (again): How guaranteed is the IHG Ambassador guaranteed 4:00 pm check out? I’m currently at the Intercontinental in Dubai, Festival City, and they would only permit me check out at 2:00 pm on Monday because the hotel is very busy. It will be Eid.

  • Rob says:

    24 Jun24 June 09:53

    100% guaranteed for a cash booking. Technically it is not guaranteed on a redemption booking but I have never been refused.

    • Jovanna says:

      24 Jun24 June 13:29

      Yes, a cash booking.

    • Leo says:

      24 Jun24 June 23:40

      Update on my previous whine about Le Grand in Paris on this point. I was told at least 3 times by email that 4pm was only guaranteed on paid stays. I ended up saying okay I’m going to take this up with the AMB team as an Ambassador Spire – not long after they replied saying they would guarantee 4pm check out. That said it was a great redemption – I got about £750 of value from a certificate and 60000 points. They also upgraded me to a Superior room. So I’m a very happy bunny and would go back in a flash although it’s not somewhere I’d probably pay for.

    • Leo says:

      24 Jun24 June 23:42

      Sorry and my view is the T&Cs are clear 4pm should be respected on a points booking.

• TripRep says:

  24 Jun24 June 08:01

  Whatever happened to the 1000 Tesco CC point wine deals, not seen those in ages??

  • Dave_D says:

    24 Jun24 June 08:10

    They have mostly offered money off a minimum spend amount instead for the last 12 months. Usually £10 off £75 or £15 off £120. It has been rather disappointing not to earn the additional points instead.

  • Genghis says:

    24 Jun24 June 09:23

    RIP

• Doug M says:

  24 Jun24 June 08:09

  Not surprised about Waitrose/Virgin. How much additional business would it have generated versus just paying an additional benefit to people who were going to shop there anyway. I can imagine it’s a pretty time consuming amount of admin too, dealing with the endless transactions that didn’t track, that sort of thing.

  • Frenske says:

    24 Jun24 June 08:59

    How many people are going to Tesco for the clubpoints. Quite a few I would imagine. With small product margins a small increase in number of buyers could mean a large increase in profit margins.

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:

      24 Jun24 June 09:26

      “With small product margins a small increase in number of buyers could mean a large increase in profit margins.”

      Small margin + small increase in sales = small increase in profit.

      • Genghis says:

        24 Jun24 June 10:29

        Depends heavily on the fixed cost: variable cost ratio. Take two examples both where margins profit margin is 10%.

        Scenario 1 – fixed cost heavy
        Sales 100
        Fixed costs (70)
        Variable costs (20)
        Profit 10

        Scenario 2 – variable cost heavy
        Sales 100
        Fixed costs (20)
        Variable costs (70)
        Profit 10

        An increase of 20% in sales leads to:

        Scenario 1
        Sales 120
        Fixed costs (70)
        Variable costs (24)
        Profit 26, an increase in profit of 260%

        Scenario 2
        Sales 120
        Fixed costs (20)
        Variable costs (84)
        Profit 16, an increase in profit of 160%

        Now I’m not a retail expert but I would say that Tesco has a relatively high fixed cost base and so a small increase in sales can actually lead to a large increase in profit

        • Genghis says:

          24 Jun24 June 10:30

          Should read increase in profit of 160% and 60% respectively

        • Mr(s) Entitled says:

          24 Jun24 June 20:42

          I think tesco would bite your hand off for a 20% increase in sales YoY. Not sure the appropriate managers would be pitching that as “small” however come bonus time.

          Increasing sales is very hard. It’s much easier to just cook the books.

        • Genghis says:

          24 Jun24 June 21:10

          I know. Poor choice of numbers for examples perhaps but the smaller the initial net profit, the greater the effect if there is a large fixed cost ratio on a small increase in sales

• Doug M says:

  24 Jun24 June 08:20

  OT. I’m finding the most annoying collection thing at the moment is hotels com through Avios. Pending miles not posting, which they say takes 90 to 120 days after the stay is complete, even on prepaid bookings. But then they don’t post automatically, and the pending amount is adjusted down with no explanation. I’d switch to a company scheme like HH or Marriott, but I don’t travel enough for work to pick one chain, and for leisure travel I like to just choose a hotel regardless of brand.

  • Anna says:

    24 Jun24 June 09:41

    I’ve noticed that – I’m going to take a screen shot of pending avios in future. Have you contacted them to ask for an explanation? I’ve had to chase up quite a few missing lots of avios recently but I’ve got them all added after taking it up with them. It’s just time-consuming.

    And I still don’t understand why hotel bookings take so much longer to post than other purchases!

    • Gavin says:

      24 Jun24 June 12:38

      I’ve had 2000 Avios credit today for a purchase I didn’t make!

      • Doug M says:

        24 Jun24 June 19:08

        I think they’re mine. Send £20 and we’ll call it quits 😉

      • Leo says:

        24 Jun24 June 23:29

        I’ve had 2 lots of 2300 odd virgin miles credited last month – same amount of points both times, completely wrong, they’ll remove them at some point, they always do.

        • Gavin says:

          25 Jun25 June 14:40

          I moved directly from Avios to BAEC

    • Doug M says:

      24 Jun24 June 19:04

      I have contacted Avios regarding the change of downward around 2000 Avios. Transaction tracked October 16 when I paid, hotel stay completed mid February 17, Avios don’t post, contact them and they ask for receipt proof, but within a couple of days the pending Avios decrease.

• the real harry1 says:

  24 Jun24 June 08:27

  FYI Laithwaites don’t play hardball with addresses & credit cards (ie cross-checking duplicate a/cs) – so you can have several bites at the cherry – use different email address and maybe a different first name or initial

  • Gregor says:

    24 Jun24 June 09:26

    Despite the 30th June deadline in the T&C the Rioja deal is dead. If you call Laithwaites they’ll give you an identical deal under a different code.

    • GK says:

      25 Jun25 June 09:34

      It’s easy to cancel, but then I’ve had 10-12 follow up calls from a Manchester number trying to get me to re-enroll.. be ready to block the number!

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