Bits: last call for £15 Amazon / Amex discount, no SPG points from Uber, Madrid BA lounge

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• Genghis says:

  27 Oct27 October 05:50

  No Virgin credit card article today?

  • Mr Dee says:

    27 Oct27 October 06:06

    News on the virgin card?

    • Genghis says:

      27 Oct27 October 06:11

      In yesterday’s comments (now deleted) Rob said “See HfP tomorrow” to a query on the MBNA Virgin card and the move to Virgin Money. I couldn’t find anything else myself online.

      • the_real_a says:

        27 Oct27 October 12:55

        Yeah i was looking for that too 🙂

  • New Card says:

    27 Oct27 October 07:52

    On V-Flyer yesterday Raffles said he’d pushed the article back and that it looked as though MBNA/VS would continue until the new year. (Explains the disappearing comment, thought I was going mad!)

    • lev441 says:

      27 Oct27 October 08:37

      Also thought I was going mad… curious as to know what’s in store…!!

  • roberto says:

    27 Oct27 October 11:43

    Was in the Gatwick Virgin Lounge on wednesday and chatted with the mbna “sign up” lady who was not signing people up as the deal has been pulled from the lounge. It used to be 31k miles but now its gone completly.

    Its not all lost ( for me anyways ) as I managed to sqeeze in what will probably be my last churn on the Virgin Black about 10 days before my trip, exactly 5 months and 2 weeks since I last cancelled.

    Posting from Barbados – thanks for your tips Rob et al..

    • RTS says:

      27 Oct27 October 16:20

      What’s the weather like? I am due to fly out there on 18th Nov.

• TripRep says:

  27 Oct27 October 06:00

  There’s also the pay point offer, sure TRH posted a good comment the other day describing them, might make use of this one myself
  https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/top-up-20-or-more-using-amazon-top-up-in-store-and-earn-a-5-amazon-promotional-credit-in-partnership-with-paypoint-2765133

  • Lady London says:

    27 Oct27 October 10:31

    Thank you Harry.

    • the real harry1 says:

      27 Oct27 October 19:10

      nae problemo

      with my Tesco MOC discounts used on Amazon cards, combined with these above, I am running on about 20% discount for Amazon stuff

      I am lucky to also have the £15 off £50 Esso deal on Amex, was in Sutton, London on Tuesday where I came across an Esso + Tesco Express – checked it out & no dice, just the rubbish cards so will stick to my stamps & diesel, gives me half price diesel

• TripRep says:

  27 Oct27 October 06:02

  Also from my experience the Amazon deal is one per Amazon account, not one per Amex card held. Has anyone found this to be different?

  • Jonathan says:

    27 Oct27 October 06:23

    Agree – that’s what I found too. Not sure if they’re smart enough to also do 1 per MR account as well so 3 months ago you couldnt have duplicate Amazon accounts with 1 MR account (using the offer on each), but nevertheless Rob indicates new Amazon accounts aren’t elegible so not worth trying now.

  • JamesB says:

    27 Oct27 October 08:14

    Used the same amex for 3 Amazon accounts in the same store without any problem with the £5 bonus posting.

• Gavin says:

  27 Oct27 October 06:34

  Can confirm it worked with the rewards credit card on mine and my wife amazon accounts last year

• Darren says:

  27 Oct27 October 07:02

  Re SPG but O/T

  Is free breakfast a perk with any SPG status? A trip to Singapore would be a little easier if I could get this at Westin? Also I know Rob is a fan of Conrad, have you been to the Singapore property?

  Thanks

  • Rob says:

    27 Oct27 October 07:07

    No, we did Capella last time in Singapore.

  • Genghis says:

    27 Oct27 October 07:11

    With SPG Platinum, yes. We stayed on Conrad in Apr. I thought v average compared say to HKG. Happy to share my TA review if you’re interested. We preferred the IC on Middle Rd (ie not the new one)

    • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

      27 Oct27 October 07:18

      Agree, rather underwhelmed by Conrad Singapore – just okay, rather than the good/great standard I was used to (I’ve stayed at about half a dozen properties in the chain). Property is a bit tired and in need of a refurb, dull pool area and had a few service issues (including room not ready at 3pm).
      Apparently the new JW Marriott a few blocks away is excellent.

      • Alan says:

        27 Oct27 October 12:30

        Interesting, I’ve always had really good stays there (3 or 4 now), with decent upgrades (sometimes to corner suites!), good Exec Lounge and superb breakfast spread. I do tend to email them in advance though, I did so for my parents too and even though they didn’t have status they still looked after them! Might help I tend to only have 1-3 night stays I guess?

    • Darren says:

      27 Oct27 October 07:45

      We stayed at IC a long time ago, actually it was our first far east stay and was very good. I have also heard good things about the lounge.
      Recently we have drifted towards Chinatown/Business district hence the question about The Westin. Thanks for the replies.

    • Prins Polo says:

      27 Oct27 October 08:46

      I like the IC too. A beaiutiful hotel – I loved the vibe and the breakfast (both variety and the restaurant itself).

    • Alan says:

      27 Oct27 October 12:35

      Have booked a stay at Middle Road IC with IHG MC free night certificate, so look forward to trying it out. Obviously no breakfast, but morning flight so will just head out to the Private Room to enjoy 😛 (in Conrad for outbound stay as love their breakfast buffet).

      • Genghis says:

        27 Oct27 October 12:46

        Ice cream for breakfast? Naughty boy!

        • Alan says:

          27 Oct27 October 13:00

          Haha maybe that’s why I like the Conrad so much 😛 I make the (weak) excuse that I’m normally on UK/Oz/NZ time…

• Josh says:

  27 Oct27 October 07:34

  Apologies for o/t but can anyone advise on getting compensation from BA for a delayed flight? My wife and I recently flew to a Verona for a wedding anniversary weekend but due to a Technical fault with the aircraft and maintenance on the Verona runway the flight was diverted to Venice and then we had to get a coach transfer. We were due to arrive at 21.25 on Friday night but actually got there around 02.15am on Saturday after the horrendous 2 hour bakingly hot and uncomfortable coach ride (to a dead airport where we then had to wait 45 mins for a cab!) I was told at the time (on the phone, whilst waiting for a taxi) by a BA ops person and ground staff at Gatwick that we would be able to claim compensation, keep all receipts etc, but all BA have offered is 15,000 avios each (we were in Club Europe on a BA holiday) which doesn’t seem adequate to me. They are saying they are not obliged to financially compensate because the plane was under 3 hours late to arrrive. Does this mean they are classing Venice as the arrival point and not Verona? Seems a bit cheeky if that’s the case.
  Has anyone used the flight compensation lawyers (no win no fee people) as might they have better luck than me arguing the toss?

  Again, apologies for O/T but any advice appreciated.

  Thanks

  • TripRep says:

    27 Oct27 October 08:36

    Josh, unsurprisingly it sounds like you’re being misled to me.

    I suggest you have a look at the BA compensation thread on FlyerTalk, post your query there, the user C-W-S is a really helpful source of info.

    • TripRep says:

      27 Oct27 October 08:42

      FT thread here
      https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/1812051-2017-ba-compensation-thread-your-guide-regulation-ec261-2004-a.html

      It’s detailed + popular = huge…

      • the real harry1 says:

        27 Oct27 October 08:59

        @Josh – I agree with TripRep – sounds like a very black & white EC261 claim to me

        easy enough to do it yourself, first making a formal claim for compensation (use BA’s online claim form), then if BA don’t at first accept your claim, escalate to deadlock (which basically means you say you are not satisfied, you repeat your claim & BA comes back saying it is their final position), then file a MCOL claim (costs you £25 which gets refunded if you win)

        there are numerous cases of BA first refusing valid claims with all sorts of lies and excuses – this is presumably when 90% of people go away

        put yourself in the 10% who are persistent, ie continue to press the claim and very often (pretty much always unless there are genuine extraordinary circumstances) BA will concede either at part 2 (repeat the claim) or part 3 (MCOL)

        or if you don’t have the time, Bott & Co come highly regarded, no win no fee but will take some 35% of the settlement

  • TripRep says:

    27 Oct27 October 08:40

    HFP Article..
    https://headforpoints.com/2017/05/10/how-to-take-british-airways-to-court/

    I wouldn’t recommend CEDR helpful but soul crushingly slow. Letter before legal action likely to get better results.

  • Stu N says:

    27 Oct27 October 08:46

    I’d have a look at the EC261 thread on the British Airways forum on Flyertalk – BA will do their best to fob you off but if you have a case it is worth a go. From what you say it sounds like you do, though the diversion due to runway issues will complicate it as BA will probably argue that is extraordinary, though if their aircraft hadn’t gone tech then it wouldn’t be an issue to start with.

    I think it’s worth a go and if it stands you would be entitled to €250 each (>3 hours at final destination, short haul flight).

    As for using a no-win-no-fee firm, you’ll probably lose half the payout to them. If you aren’t happy to argue the toss yourself but can use the Avios then you’re probably going to be better off accepting the Avios.

    • Josh says:

      27 Oct27 October 09:40

      Thanks for all the above responses – much appreciated. Will check out the FT thread and go from there.

      Cheers

      • the real harry1 says:

        27 Oct27 October 09:50

        @Josh – you could jump straight to this template https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/27984677-post225.html

        whilst it’s intended for 2-4-1 downgrade compo claim, you can simply copy the legal tone & adapt it to your EC261 claim – it makes it sound like you know your legal position so BA are more likely to concede early

        that’s what I did to claim our 30x food & beverage compos & BA capitulated in a couple of days

• Paul says:

  27 Oct27 October 07:58

  Good news about the Madrid lounge, I will be there on Sunday. I guess they can’t have made it bigger so it will still have times of day when it feels like a zoo

  • Gavin says:

    27 Oct27 October 08:48

    No mention of Madrid lounge in article?

    • Paul says:

      27 Oct27 October 08:52

      This article has changed…. it was originally had uber and Madrid lounge stories but now Has Marriott and hyatt

      • john says:

        27 Oct27 October 09:11

        It still says “Starwood and Uber partnership to end” in the title of the page which confused me a bit 🙂

        • Rob says:

          27 Oct27 October 11:29

          Sorry, now runs tomorrow due to a bit of cut and paste.

• Rob says:

  27 Oct27 October 08:25

  Thanks

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