Bits: 20% off Best Western, pointless Aer Lingus hotel portal, new Avios Southend-Glasgow route

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• Tony Burns says:

  1 Oct1 October 04:28

  Wonder why Southend to Glasgow rather than Edinburgh?
  Now that Ryanair has pulled out of Stansted to both Glasgow and Edinburgh wonder if Flybe/Stobart will reconsider.

  • Frankie says:

    1 Oct1 October 07:20

    Glasgow’s bigger? Ryanair have only temporarily pulled out of Glasgow and Edinburgh.

  • CV3V says:

    1 Oct1 October 11:17

    There are a lot of flight options out of EDI with multiple carries into London, also multiple carriers to routes across europe. EDI is also crammed full at peak times. GLA is quieter and another option into London probably more welcome.

• Nate1309 says:

  1 Oct1 October 06:49

  O/T the new Amex ARCC looks pretty cool being clear!

• Concerto says:

  1 Oct1 October 09:00

  Does the Stobart Air franchise, like the Loganair franchise previously, offer free baggage and catering?

• Andrew M says:

  1 Oct1 October 09:09

  OT: Monarch. Distinct possibility of imminent failure. Question re S75 cover. I have flights for Wed which (together) cost > £100, paid with CC. Would CC company be liable for cost of obtaining replacement flights for same date (as contract with Monarch could be viewed as a contract to get you from A to B on date in question)? Many thanks!

  • Simon says:

    1 Oct1 October 09:17

    About to ask same question. Have 4 flights booked to Tel Aviv in 3 weeks time with Monarch. Paid on my Amex Platinum. Will i just get a refund, or full cost of replacement flights? (which are now roughly £1000 compared to the £600 i paid for the Monarch flights).

    • Genghis says:

      1 Oct1 October 09:49

      For S75 it’s the individual item that needs to cost over £100 (so two tickets at £55ea = £110 doesn’t work). I’ve read in the past that consequential losses can be claimed for (ie the additional cost of having to pay for a more expensive flight) but can’t seem to now find any supporting evidence for you.

      • Simon says:

        1 Oct1 October 09:56

        Thanks Genghis. I was assuming one way or another, Amex Platinum will refund me the £600 for 4 tickets. They are not open today to ask about the consequential losses for re-booking more expensive flights. Just wanted to ready to pounce if/when I get the bad news email from Monarch…..

      • the real harry1 says:

        1 Oct1 October 10:23

        Unfortunately Plat is not a credit card so S75 doesn’t apply…

      • the real harry1 says:

        1 Oct1 October 10:26

        …but fortunately I understand Amex behaves as if its charge cards are credit cards so voluntarily observes S75 rules! 🙂

      • Genghis says:

        1 Oct1 October 10:32

        @TRH1. Though I can’t seem to find any docs supporting this

  • Nick says:

    1 Oct1 October 09:50

    Your ‘together’ comment is pertinent here… S75 applies to individual ticket cost, not simply what was billed to your account. As Ryanair and easyjet both offer one-way pricing (i.e. you get no saving from buying a return), S75 applies to the cost per one-way sector. For ‘return pricing’ (e.g. BA longhaul and most heathrow shorthaul but not Gatwick) the £100 limit applies to the return price as it’s integrated. Obviously in either case it’s per-person, not total. And only covers refunds, not alternative flights – this is what insurance is for!

    Most Monarch tickets recently have followed the low-cost one-way pricing model, so S75 will only apply to a PER-SECTOR fare of over £100.

    I suspect you’d have to claim from insurance, under ATOL (if applicable), or as a bank ‘chargeback’ rather than S75 here.

    • John says:

      1 Oct1 October 10:15

      It doesn’t matter whether you get a saving from buying a return or not. It just depends on whether you have bought two tickets with one flight each, or one ticket with two flights.

      Perhaps Monarch does not sell “return” tickets at all, but for example you can certainly buy some BA RFS tickets as two one-ways or one return, which both cost the same (albeit under £100 so S75 wouldn’t apply anyway) but with different effects should you miss one flight or want to make changes/cancel.

  • flyforfun says:

    1 Oct1 October 10:17

    s75 only covers the cost of what you paid as it covers all types of transactions, not just airlines.

    Not sure if Amex Platinum has any additional protection for flights, but the best bet would be to see if you selected “scheduled airline failure” when (if) you bought your travel insurance.

    • Simon says:

      1 Oct1 October 10:34

      As I understand it, S75 is irrelevant as Amex Platinum is a charge card, not a credit card?? I only used my Platinum Card for payment to ensure I had the best insurance possible!

    • Nick_C says:

      1 Oct1 October 13:16

      Not entirely sure what your point is but S75 covers consequential loss.

      Back in 2012, I had planned a long weekend in Budapest. Flights booked with my Halifax MC. Hotel (non refundable) booked with my (Barclays) Hilton Visa. Malev went bust shortly before the trip. Halifax (Lloyds) reimbursed me for both the flights and the Hotel.

      I think you have a duty (at least a moral duty if not a legal one) to minimise your losses in these situations. Cancelling the hotel was cheaper than finding new flights.

      Incidentally I had a “premium” travel insurance which was meant to pay out in the event of scheduled airline failure, but they declined a claim for the hotel cost, which I had made before I knew about the consequential loss liability under S75

      MSE and its forums covers this topic well

      • Nick_C says:

        1 Oct1 October 13:18

        This was in reply to the comment “s75 only covers the cost of what you paid”

• Rash says:

  1 Oct1 October 11:50

  OT: Has anyone had experience of downgrading back down to a gold from a Platinum(which was upgraded from a gold)? I won’t have any use for the Plat benefits over the next 6 to 9 months so was considering it. Wondering if there is any claw back from Amex on the points awarded for upgrading…

  • Lev441 says:

    1 Oct1 October 13:39

    Why don’t you cancel it and take out another card (SPG or BAPP?). Then after 6 months you will be able to reapply for either plat or gold and get the bonus points.

    • Lev441 says:

      1 Oct1 October 13:40

      No issues re downgrading but you may be charged the full £140 fee

      • Rash says:

        1 Oct1 October 14:53

        Thanks Lev441, I might try the SPG but I’ve got a decent amount of MR points that I wasn’t in a rush to convert to Avios (or anything else)

      • Rash says:

        1 Oct1 October 18:25

        Thanks Genghis, I am due to refer the OH in December. So was thinking downgrade to Gold, refer the OH in Dec. Applied for the SPG as well, which I will also refer the OH for at some point.

• Andrew M says:

  1 Oct1 October 14:18

  Sorry. Me and Monarch again. Any educated best guesses as to likelihood of them still flying (one-way flight only booking) come Wednesday? Non-zero?!? Thanks!

  • Andrew M says:

    1 Oct1 October 14:57

    Thanks Harry. You don’t read the massive hiking in prices across all their routes as a strong indicator of an immediate cessation of flights? If flights will continue for now, not sure I understand why QR aircraft would be immediately needed for repatriation. Any thoughts?

    • the real harry1 says:

      1 Oct1 October 15:26

      I would look at the Air Berlin wind-down, which has been orderly and is taking several weeks – I’d have thought if the flying arm of Monarch decides to stop trading, they’ll follow a similar model, to extract as much value as possible from the assets

    • Rob says:

      1 Oct1 October 16:06

      The CAA parking a couple of Qatar planes is just a negotiating tactic in case Monarch thinks it can ignore its obligations but keep flying anyway because of the disruption otherwise caused.

  • Rob says:

    1 Oct1 October 16:12

    Swaffield was the Avios CEO before Gavin Halliday – slightly suicidal career move I think. I think Swaffield’s experiences are what persuaded Gavin that loyalty was more fun which is why he went to Etihad Guest rather than be moved around by IAG.

    • the real harry1 says:

      2 Oct2 October 06:08

      hard luck Andrew M! can you still get where you were planning to go?

• h1tvd says:

  1 Oct1 October 14:39

  O/T anyone else having problems with amex refer a friend links today? tried yesterday and today to refer someone but keep getting iformserror and can’t even get through to the referral page

  • Chris says:

    1 Oct1 October 21:19

    Ditto, been trying for days on my SPG card :-/

• Tom says:

  1 Oct1 October 21:45

  O/t any idea when we might see another Club Carlson or Hyatt promotion?

  I have 8-10 nights in October in Amsterdam and would like to make the most of them.

  Book flexible corporate rates so can always cancel and rebook – but once I commit my colleagues will follow – then getting colleagues to move hotels isn’t as easy!

  • Rob says:

    1 Oct1 October 22:44

    No idea about Hyatt and Carlson offers are relatively infrequent. Perhaps Monday will bring something.

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