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Bits: new HMRC card fees, Hilton sale, BA long-haul ‘no suitcase’ fares inevitable

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News in brief:

New HMRC fees for tax payments on credit cards published

As we have mentioned on HfP numerous times, the last day to pay tax bills on a personal credit card is 13th January.  This is a licence to print cheap miles and points, given the low 0.38% fee.  This article shows you how best to exploit it.

The Revenue WILL continue to accept payment with a corporate / business MasterCard or Visa.  This is unlikely to make sense for most people because there are virtually no business Visa or Mastercard products which gives rewards.  There are none that give travel rewards that I know about.

Here are the charges from 14th January:

VISA Business Credit Card 1.70%
VISA Commerce Credit Card 2.80%
VISA Corporate Credit Card 1.94%
VISA Purchasing Credit Card 1.92%
VISA Commercial Credit Card 1.94%
Mastercard Business Credit Card 1.80%
Mastercard Corporate Credit Card 1.98%
Mastercard Purchasing Credit Card 2.20%
Mastercard Fleet Credit Card 1.97%
Mastercard Commercial Credit Card 1.98%

The only possible upside I can imagine is using a Curve Card, which is treated as a Business Mastercard.

The fee will be 1.8%.  However, if you are self-employed and paying VAT, PAYE or corporation tax, the fee will be a deductible business expense.  If you are a higher rate taxpayer, the net cost including the NI saving would be just under 1%.  If you have a legacy mileage card, such as the ‘1.25 miles per £1’ American Airlines Visa, this is not bad.

You can find our more about Curve in this article.  They will pay you £5 for trying it out.

Hilton weekend sale still running

Hilton currently has a sale running covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa.  It is valid for ALL of 2018 (and the rest of 2017) but only for weekend stays.

You can see full details on the Hilton website here.

Here are the headline details:

Valid for participating hotels in the UK, Middle East, Africa and Europe

Discounts are up to 25% off ‘Best Available Rate’ and ‘Best Available Rate With Breakfast’ for Hilton Honors members, and up to 20% off for non-members

Bookings are non-changeable and non-refundable (so, let’s be honest, it isn’t a full 25% discount as a non-refundable rate is usually 10% cheaper anyway)

You must book at hilton.com here 

Bookings valid for WEEKEND STAYS at any point between now and the end of 2018

Bookings must be made by 31st January 2018

Given that you can book for the whole of next year, you may be able to lock in a deal for any weddings or other events which you know are coming up.

The photo below is the new-ish Hilton Bournemouth which I reviewed here.

KLM / Air France / Delta launch ‘no luggage’ fares, leaving BA with little choice

The ‘hand baggage only’ trend has now hit transatlantic fares.  From 10th April, standard economy fares from the UK to the US or Canada on Delta, Air France or KLM will be ‘hand baggage only’ with a 10kg limit.

The cost of a suitcase will be, each way:

  • 1st bag fee $60 / €50 / 75 CAD
  • 2nd bag fee $100 / €85 / 120 CAD

To be honest, it is difficult to see how British Airways can avoid being drawn into this.  It already faces stiff competition from Norwegian on many routes to North America and now Singapore too.  The key factor at play is that online travel agent search results do not adjust to reflect baggage costs.

A Delta fare may now appear cheaper than a British Airways fare on Expedia, but only when you come to book will you realise it is an extra £80 for your suitcase.  How many people will still book the Delta fare, assuming that BA would add a similar fee even though it doesn’t?  Enough, I imagine.

It is virtually certain that Virgin Atlantic will have to adopt this system when its transatlantic joint venture with Delta, KLM and Air France is approved in 2018.  What chance of BA holding out then?

Category

Air France KLM and Flying Blue, British Airways and Avios, Hilton Honors, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (99)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Graeme says:
    22 Dec22 December 12:29

    OT – has anyone churned the Nectar Amex and received the bonus again?

    • Scallder says:
      22 Dec22 December 12:35

      Yes – just wait 6 months like the other Amex cards…

    • Jonathan says:
      22 Dec22 December 12:35

      Yes, no problem. Both times when Nectar have extended signups of 40k and 30k respectively. Even signed up as an additional nectar card holder on my wife’s main nectar account.

    • JamesB says:
      22 Dec22 December 16:29

      I’ve churned too with no problem. Anybody had the extra 10k points directly from nectar for applying in October?

      • Jonathan says:
        22 Dec22 December 20:32

        Not yet, was told it comes after the 4 statement is generated.

        • JamesB says:
          23 Dec23 December 06:16

          I think they are making the rules up call by call, they told me it will be after 28 December.

  • Jane says:
    22 Dec22 December 13:46

    OT: I suspect the answer to this is “no”, otherwise I would probably have seen it mentioned before … so please forgive me if this is a daft question! We happen to be flying BA as part of a package booking. Is it possible to use avios to upgrade to business class?

    • George says:
      22 Dec22 December 13:48

      AFAIK no, as I doubt you’ll be provided with the PNR for the flight. If you do have it, try MMB and see if there are any options to change the flight in there.

      • Jane says:
        22 Dec22 December 14:06

        Thanks George, I have a feeling we might have it somewhere amongst the reams of paperwork. Will give it a try.

    • Anna says:
      22 Dec22 December 15:00

      If it’s long haul I think you’d only be able to upgrade to business class if you’re already traveling in WTP.

      • Rob says:
        22 Dec22 December 15:07

        ….. and you can’t upgrade the cheapest non-refundable BA economy tickets anyway (even if it would only be to WTP).

  • Cuchlainn says:
    22 Dec22 December 14:02

    Referral bonus from BAPP to PRG : does my OH get referral Avios for referring me and how long do they take to post in her account ?

    • mark2 says:
      22 Dec22 December 15:50

      I think so, but just generate a referral for BAPP and click on ‘other cards’ then ‘charge cards’ and you will be able to see. The points normally post in less than a week from approval .

  • Brian says:
    22 Dec22 December 14:40

    Don’t be put off by the ‘only weekends’ comment – though the terms may state this, in practice, you’ll find sale rates during the week, too.

  • Mzungu says:
    22 Dec22 December 14:49

    OT – I’ve booked LHR-DEL in March using a 241 in J. I’m hoping that F may open up and I can upgrade (already have F for the return). Does anyone have any experience of when F might open up, if it does – maybe T-72?

    I check from time-to-time on the off-chance, but nothing so far. In fact today the availability calendar shows “First does not operate on the flights displayed for this date”, but the seat map still shows a 4-class 777!? I’m already watching the seat map, as the aircraft has already been changed from a 787 to a 777 ;-(

    • mark2 says:
      22 Dec22 December 15:42

      BARedemptionFinder is your friend

      • Mzungu says:
        22 Dec22 December 15:55

        Yes, I have logged on BA redemption finder, thanks. However, that doesn’t tell me when they *might* become available, only when (if) they do, hence my post here.

        The other thing is that you cannot select specific flights with BAR. It has already flagged availability on the other flight for the same day, which does not suit my requirements – so I’m looking for one of the two flights per day.

    • CV3V says:
      22 Dec22 December 21:24

      Suggest you check Expertflyer and see how many seats have been taken in the F cabin, F class seat selection is free of charge, so Expertflyer gives a fairly accurate representation of how many seats have been taken/booked i.e. most people who have booked will have chosen their seats, unlike in CW etc. where you have to pay for seat selection.

      You never know what will happen, someone may cancel or change an existing booking making redemption seats available. It was thanks to this and a bit of luck that i got 2 F seats to Sydney this year.

  • Keith says:
    22 Dec22 December 15:47

    Referred SPG from my wife’s plat card on Monday. Arrived today she has 18000 points in her account already!

  • Mikeact says:
    22 Dec22 December 15:55

    Re Curve…suggest you ignore any email re updating Curve for the time being. I am completely locked out..and they are aware of problems.

    • Mark says:
      23 Dec23 December 17:24

      I was locked out from day 1, and my phone frozen too until I uninstalled Curve. They said it might work with different versions of Android…..

  • the real harry1 says:
    22 Dec22 December 16:12

    O/T good job my wife flew from Bristol yesterday not today! 🙂

    I feel very sorry for all those people on the cancelled flights 11.30-6pm – but why would you cancel so many flights when ONE airplane, taxiing AFTER landing, comes off the runway?

    surely just a bit of mud that could have been sorted in 30 mins???

    • the real harry1 says:
      22 Dec22 December 16:37

      OK so it seems they disembarked the passengers and the plane was stuck in the mud for 4 hrs (away from the runway)

      so they stopped everybody else flying! for no particularly good reason

      in the 1960s they’d just have let planes take off & land on the EMPTY runway alongside the stranded plane

      seems to be similar to modern practice of shutting down 2 motorway lanes whenever somebody has a prang & ends up on the hard shoulder

      bunch of H&S cover-backsidesies if you ask me

      • Jamie says:
        23 Dec23 December 09:53

        It depends whether the location of the aircraft is interfering with the ILS signals that would otherwise assist the next aircraft to land. If it came off whilst vacating the runway then it probably is interfering with those signals. It might also be resting too close to the runway to meet International Standards of separation.

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