Bits: British Airways launches airberlin status match, 1200 Avios with £20 NOW TV box

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• Gin and Tonic Please says:

  19 Oct19 October 10:18

  OT: The Shop Small email just landed in my inbox. Having had a quick look at the map for my local area I can see (1) a load of places I know from last year don’t take Amex and (2) quite a few new places, including several pubs and offies. Very happy on both fronts… 🙂

  • Genghis says:

    19 Oct19 October 10:30

    (1) = lots of phone calls to Amex but they do pay up and say “thanks for letting us know”. I guess they never then update the map.

    • Polly says:

      19 Oct19 October 10:44

      I must have made 20 of those calls, they really don’t care it’s only £5 to them…great customer service for our inconvenience!

      • Crafty says:

        19 Oct19 October 11:24

        Used to be easier with the secure messaging – will be more of a hassle now.

    • Gin and Tonic Please says:

      19 Oct19 October 11:22

      Oh I know – that’s why I’m happy! Last year I found 5 local stores on the map that didn’t take Amex. Made quite a tidy little sum when I applied that across all my cards… They thanked me for the feedback and said that they’d update the map for future reference. Admittedly, last year I did it all by email (one email per card, to be exact). Will be more of a hassle this time.

      • Lewis says:

        19 Oct19 October 19:04

        I don’t see why you can’t do this via online chat. I’ve cancelled cards with it too no problem

      • the real harry1 says:

        19 Oct19 October 19:10

        Amex Chat seems to go round in circles for me, rather slow to actually verify ID & get the result I was after – I prefer phoning & find the phone agents normally very good

    • Drav says:

      19 Oct19 October 21:12

      what – so you go to shop X and pay with your e.g. visa card and then call up Amex saying – this shop was on your map but doesnt take amex…cam i have a fiver please?

      • the real harry1 says:

        19 Oct19 October 21:22

        not for me – I got my CS £5/s when I used my Amex but didn’t get the statement credit (the map is rubbish)

        even better when you use 6 cards and ask for 6x £5

      • Rob says:

        20 Oct20 October 08:48

        Yes

  • Tom says:

    19 Oct19 October 11:43

    Never seen a small shop offer on our cards 🙁

    • Genghis says:

      19 Oct19 October 12:02

      When did you get your Amex cards? Small shop comes around once a year and recently has been for two weeks the first two weeks of December.

      • Tom says:

        19 Oct19 October 15:10

        That’d be why then! Got the free BA amex in Feb, upgraded to the BAPP in May I think, and hold the gold amex too which I’ve had for approaching a month I think.

      • Tom says:

        19 Oct19 October 15:13

        In fact strike that I’ve only had the GC 2 weeks or so!

  • Wally1976 says:

    19 Oct19 October 14:42

    Where are you finding the Shop Small map please? Can’t see a link in the email and all the info on http://www.amexshopsmall.co.uk seems to relate to last year? Thanks

• Matteo says:

  19 Oct19 October 10:26

  Re your suggestion to match with both Iberia and BA, is it really possible to credit miles on a card and use another to access the lounge on the same flight/s, re on the same boarding pass??? THX in advance for any feedback!

  • Polly says:

    19 Oct19 October 10:39

    Yes, it’s your status that gets you into the lounge. Back in the old days of AB sapphire status on Plat card, we could go into BA MAS and CX lounges whilst in Y. Sometimes we had to put the AB no on the booking,,to get into the lounge, but then get the lounge desk or gate to change it back to your BAEC no. That does work!

  • Rob says:

    19 Oct19 October 11:11

    Yes but …. some lounges may get stroppy and change the FF number on the ticket. In which case, you will need to change it back (a main lounge may have a ticket desk in it).

    This was a common issue when Amex Plat came with Cathay Gold status, so we all used that for lounge access but wanted to credit flights to BAEC.

    • Matteo says:

      19 Oct19 October 15:30

      THX for responses, indeed all times I tried to access they changed the FF ref on my boarding pass. Last time in Narita, but it was only a small number of miles and it was worth the free flow of sake. But how do you change it back directly in the lounge, with the same guy that a minute before did the initial change, or the guy next to him? seems impractical. At a ticket desk elsewhere in the airport seems a better option. Perhaps it is my legal background, but indeed the terms of a FF program do not seem to address clearly whether it has to be the same card for miles accrual and/or lounge access, and this latter might also incur in repayments fees between airlines or the lounge company.

      • Rob says:

        19 Oct19 October 16:09

        The system can actually handle 2 cards for this very reason but almost no staff know how to do it.

• Julie says:

  19 Oct19 October 10:35

  Genghis, We did the same for the IC Bordeaux last month. My husband is SE Amb too. Booked first 2 nights as 2 for 1 with my husband’s free ambassador certificate and 3rd night as a reward night from my gold account. I immediately emailed hotel directly and just requested they link the bookings so we could keep the same room – this was before any upgrade was on the account. When the amb upgrade showed online the 3rd night upgraded too. The day before arrival they upgraded all 3 nights again to a family junior suite. Beautiful place.

  • Polly says:

    19 Oct19 October 10:41

    Julie,

    Did you fly back BA from BOD by any chance. We are flying next week, and wonder if a lounge actually exists. Some reports say given voucher for cafe there…we are on the last flight to LGW thanks.

    • Genghis says:

      19 Oct19 October 10:46

      @Julie. Thanks. We’re off to the Porto one next year. I’ve already booked all the nights as separate nights (x2 though reward nights normally come straight back into reward inventory) so can chop and change.

      @Polly. Last time I was in BOD no lounge. I got vouchers for the caf.

      • Polly says:

        19 Oct19 October 10:53

        Tnx Genghis and Julie, so it’s the caf for us then…wot a let down! not so bad as we are on CE wasting a 241 sadly! But is nice to relax before a late flight…G don’t suppose you know what time that cafe closed at, presume it must stay open for all those BA late night flights?

      • Genghis says:

        19 Oct19 October 11:10

        Don’t know, sorry. I’ve only ever been on the early morning flight.
        Be sure to visit Dune du Pilat. It’s impressive!

    • Julie says:

      19 Oct19 October 10:48

      Polly, no we flew Liverpool to Bordeaux with Easyjet so we could fly direct from the north west. That meant that we flew in and out of the Billi terminal – a big shed like building they’ve built for budget airlines. No idea what facilities they have in the main terminal buildings sorry. After our 3 nights in Bordeaux we went to St Emillion for 4 nights. Wonderful holiday with lots of red wine! Enjoy your hols.

    • Gin and Tonic Please says:

      19 Oct19 October 11:43

      We flew out of BOD on the last flight a few weeks ago. There were posters advertising a lounge in the terminal, but BA wasn’t using it (and neither is it on PP). We were given the vouchers, as others have said. The bar before security was still open, and we had enough for a drink and a snack each. There is virtually nothing in the airport, so get there as late as you’re comfortable doing.

• Sunny M says:

  19 Oct19 October 11:11

  OT: I’m part of a Household account and I’m wanting to book 2 avios redemptions for myself and a friend. The friend is not part of the household account. When I come to the part to enter the second passengers details, there is a drop-down menu that only allows household account members to be selected. I can’t enter the second passengers details manually.

  Can the second passenger be anyone or does it have to be a household account member?

  • Genghis says:

    19 Oct19 October 11:12

    The second passengers details should be entered on the friends and family list.

    • the real harry1 says:

      19 Oct19 October 11:22

      or you could move your Avios over to avios.com and book the redemptions there, you can book tickets for anybody you like

    • Sunny M says:

      19 Oct19 October 11:52

      Thanks Genghis!

• JamesB says:

  19 Oct19 October 12:15

  OT UUA: Just ran into the recently discussed issue of sky high pricing when attempting to book with money and upgrade using avios. Consequently, I booked the revenue WTP flight and tried to UUA on manage my booking. It would not allow me to do this online stating I needed to call. When I did so the agent would only upgrade the longhaul sectors, not the donestic connections as they were in ET, there being no PE on domestic flights. Is this correct or should he have upgraded the domestic sectors to ET? If the whole process is completed online then the domestic sectors would have been in ET.

• Wally1976 says:

  19 Oct19 October 12:18

  OT – considering booking Virgin Atlantic LHR->NYC outbound in UC, return in PE on a reward booking. Booked online as one-ways it’s totalling 65k points + £501.61 off-peak. As far as I can tell it’s not possible to book a mixed class return online so presumably you have to phone. Just wondering if anyone knows if the fees will come down if booking as a return on the phone (as I believe they do with BA)? I would hope they do as a return UC is £530.37 booked as a return but £753.92 booked as two singles (with PE the difference is much smaller, however).

  • Rob says:

    19 Oct19 October 13:58

    The 2 singles price reflects the fact that bookings starting in the US incur higher taxes. A return flight from the UK gets around this.

    • Wally1976 says:

      19 Oct19 October 14:52

      Thanks Rob. When I looked at the fare breakdown, the taxes were the same as two singles vs a return but the difference was all YQ/YR!? I’ll ring up if no-one knows the answer. Thanks.

      • Rob says:

        19 Oct19 October 16:10

        Yes, BA and Virgin charge Americans far higher YQ

      • Alan says:

        19 Oct19 October 22:21

        Thankfully BA/VS charge US-originating itineraries a lot more in taxes – given how much cheaper US pax can acquire points (both via earnings rate on cards and thanks to frequent large transfer bonuses) I think they have to do this to limit redemptions a bit!

• jamie says:

  19 Oct19 October 13:58

  OT – anyone know when Virgin Atlantic Flying Club may allow redemptions on Air France/KLM?

  • Rob says:

    19 Oct19 October 16:12

    Late 2018 at best due to the regulatory JV approvals needed, at a guess.

    • jamie says:

      20 Oct20 October 10:36

      Thanks Rob!

• the real harry1 says:

  19 Oct19 October 17:33

  £50 discount code, methinks 🙂

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