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Bits: Manchester lounge deal, Lloyds drops Choice Rewards, Louis Vuitton hits Terminal 3

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News in brief:

Good Groupon deal on Manchester’s impressive 1903 Lounge

In May I went up to Manchester to take a look at the new premium adults-only “1903 Lounge” that opened in Terminal 3.

My review of the 1903 Lounge is here and a photo is below.  I was very impressed by the food, the drinks selection, the staff, the design …. pretty much everything actually.  Which is as it should be, given that standard entry is £35 per person when pre-booked (£40 on the door).

Groupon is currently selling passes for Manchester’s 1903 Lounge for £28 per person – see here.  You save a further 15% if you are creating a new Groupon account by using code NEW15, taking the price down to £23.80. According to the comments below, code FLASH gives a similar discount on existing accounts.

If you are travelling through Terminal 3 this Summer and want to treat yourself, it is a good experience.  Note that the maximum group size allowed is four people and children are not allowed.

The official lounge website is here although you need to visit Groupon here to get the lower price.

Review 1903 lounge Manchester Airport Terminal 3

Another licensed American Express card bites the dust

American Express has withdrawn its licences to issue Amex branded credit cards from TSB, Barclays, MBNA and Lloyds.  As existing deals expire, the cards are being scrapped.

They are dropping like flies now.  It was only four weeks that the American Airlines credit card, issued by MBNA, dropped its American Express half and became a pure Visa product.

And now another travel Amex has gone.  Lloyds has removed its Choice Rewards card, which was a double pack of American Express and MasterCard, from the market.

Lloyds Choice Rewards was an Avios credit card – this was our review – albeit one few people used.  The downside was that the Avios earning rate was worse than the Lloyds Avios Rewards credit cards.  The upside was that there were plenty of other redemption options available, so if you decided not to use your points for Avios you had some decent alternatives.

I think, in the end, the card suffered from being neither a decent airline card or a decent shopping rewards card.  There was certainly very little interest from our community.

The only remaining American Express credit card issued by Lloyds is Lloyds Avios Rewards.  But for how long now?

Louis Vuitton store opens in Heathrow Terminal 3

Finally, Louis Vuitton opened a store in Heathrow Terminal 3 yesterday.  This follows the, presumably, success of the Heathrow Terminal 5 shop which was its first airport store outside Asia.

Note that the Terminal 5 shop was excluded from earning Heathrow Rewards points and I assume Terminal 3 is the same.

As the website says:

“The store’s concept is inspired by 1950’s Italian design. A beautiful see-through façade akin to a moucharabieh with latticework utilises the brand’s signature LV monogram of flowers and diamonds. Leather belts are used to fuse each module of the store and support each display shelf, blending the modern explorer’s journey with the one of the brand.

The new 110sqm store features the Maison’s signature items including fragrances, leather goods and accessories for both men and women.”

Comments (91)

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  • rich01924 says:

    OT – but my wife just found this is he daily indulgence of entertainment in the DailyMail – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4705046/Friends-caught-BA-fiasco-haven-t-received-compensation.html

    • the real harry1 says:

      yep a very well-informed insider (CWS) says BA will never reimburse re-routing flights booked by yourselves on another airline without you having to threaten legal action

      despite the law clearly saying you are entitled to re-routing on the earliest possible flight

      on the phone you stand no chance, either – the only way to get this done is in person, in terminal, speaking directly to an empowered BA agent

      • Richard says:

        i was travelling with three others that saturday and booked flights on another airline to get home from LHR (we don’t live in the UK). I claimed the new flights + EU compensation from BA. They paid both for all three of us without any threats of legal action and I got my gold card extended for two years.

        • the real harry1 says:

          I think you got lucky with the total failure day & the status

          not getting the extra 2 yrs (which is good, though) but by being treated quickly & fairly by BA that time, they are quicker with status holders than with others

          but I stand by my earlier point, I follow the FT compo thread and it’s invariably the rule that BA won’t re-route you on competitor metal without putting up a fight, unless you can get an agent to arrange it in the airport

        • YL says:

          I think I was also lucky with my claims.
          Three of us were travelling on that Sat on one way tickets with BA using my Avios and Lloyds upgrade voucher to Germany. BA have paid the difference of our alternative flights, hotel room for 2 cap at £200 (I am the only one live in the UK), taxi, food expenses and EU 261 within a month.
          I had to contact the customer relation a couple of times due to wrong calculation and mistakes on their part, but all issues were sorted at the end. I have also follow the FT thread, and was expected BA to be very difficult with our claims. I am relieved and glad that we did not need to fight to get paid. My Silver status was also extended for 2 years.

      • Anna says:

        Yes I’ve experienced this. I was saying to the csa on the phone over and over, “But it’s the LAW” and the only reply they would give is that, “But it’s not our policy.” Nice if you can ignore the law by simply making a policy!

  • rich01924 says:

    OT – but my wife just found this is her daily indulgence of entertainment in the DailyMail this morning – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4705046/Friends-caught-BA-fiasco-haven-t-received-compensation.html

  • Simon says:

    O/T BA buy on board. Has anyone noticed a huge lag in buying some drinks etc on board, and the charge hitting your BA Amex card? I’ve just got a charge from “BA HIGH LIFE SHOP”. I can only assume this is for some drinks I bought on a flight about 7 weeks ago! Amazed it takes so long to process the payment.

    • Lynx says:

      Yes, I had one come through at least 2 months late. I eventually worked out it was the cost of a bacon roll and a cup of tea. 🙂

      • Simon says:

        What a strange system. £4.50. What a crazy flight I must have had.

    • billy says:

      Does BA buy on board apply to all their routes or just short haul? I’ve got a flight from LHR to Miami in Economy come Sept. Will there be any free food or is it all buy on board now?

      Don’t suppose anybody knows of a site or blog that keeps track of how many meals or what’s served per route

      • Genghis says:

        Currently only SH but it was leaked a few months ago that it will be coming to LH and just prior to that I had dinner with an industry source who confirmed it.

  • Darren says:

    Just applied for the Lloyds Avios rewards card, oh well, the upgrade voucher was the driver for me.

    I’m going to have to read the credit card articles again, and maybe I should opt for an SPG card instead?

    Any decent sign up bonuses around?

    • Genghis says:

      I’d read the credit card articles again. What’s right for someone else may not be right for you.

    • George says:

      There are no special bonuses on the SPG card though if you get Rob to refer you, it’ll be 11k not 10k points.

    • Alan says:

      But the Avios Reward card is still about for now? We don’t know when it’s going but you’re fine to keep spending on it with reasonable expectation of a voucher…

    • Gary says:

      Having just applied, what happens now?

      • Alan says:

        Did you apply for the Choice Rewards or the normal £24 Avios Rewards? If the latter then so far no change…

  • Talay says:

    Re the Miles and More card and specifically the ability to stop your Miles and More points expiring.

    We were going to take this card out (x 2) but held back for offers now long gone and surely not to be repeated such as extra miles (feeling somewhat foolish) but more importantly, if we do not apply now, is there any chance that a replacement card might not include the Miles and More points expiry waiver ?

    Or do we apply now ?

    • YL says:

      I have the Miles & More duo cards simply to stop my LH miles expiring. I think the cards will be replaced at some point anyway.
      However, looking at other Miles and More cards issued from other country, they seem to all have this no mileage expiration benefit, so I am hoping amy replacement card will have the benefit.

    • Pangolin says:

      You’ll still be able to get the M&M Visa. It’s only the Amex that’s disappearing (pity since that gave double the miles).

      One active M&M card is sufficient to prevent miles expiry. Remember to make at least one charge per month against it (I pay for Google Drive storage with mine).

  • Wally1976 says:

    Another OT, sorry, but Lloyds Bank related…

    It’s a long story but I did a balance transfer to clear a Lloyds credit card balance onto a Tesco 0% credit card. It accidentally went through twice. Lloyds are insisting the second one has to be recalled by Tesco. Tesco are insisting they can’t do that as it’s inconclusive whether it’s their fault or mine (they say if it was definitely their fault they could do it). This has been rumbling on a while and ultimately Lloyds are holding onto a decent chunk of my money that I want back! I have had to clear the Tesco balance to avoid over-limit fees.

    Any advice on where I can take this? E.g. could the Ombudsman force Lloyds to refund my cash? The Lloyds card is closed BTW so I can’t even spend on the card to use up the credit balance.

    Thanks.

    • Callum says:

      Have you specifically asked Lloyds to give you the money instead of trying to get them to transfer it back to Tesco? I can’t see how they could possibly refuse – it’s a standard procedure to refund credit card overpayments (which is what this effectively is) by bank transfer/cheque.

      • Wally1976 says:

        Yes and they’ve said they can’t do that as it has to go back to Tesco Bank for anti-fraud reasons. I tried sending them a letter requesting this too but they’ve just ignored that!

        • Genghis says:

          Issue a final formal written complaint. Wait 8 weeks. If unsatisfactory, go to FOS.

        • Talay says:

          Been there, done that.

          Sent £20k too much to Creation from another card and they absolutely needed to have the originator pull the money back rather than them sending it back.

          In the end, as it suited my purpose, I just let it ride and spent it.

  • Andrew says:

    Of course, products can be withdrawn at any time…

    Is the MBNA “Rewards+” the youngest of MBNA’s Amex schemes? This was the 1p per £1 spent replacement to the sadly missed Diamond Club.

  • Phil says:

    OT – Just been approved for the Hilton Honours Visa. When does my Honours status change to Silver?

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