News: Opodo and ebookers discounts, Virgin MAN and LGW routes using airberlin planes

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• AS1 says:

  4 Jan4 January 07:13

  Sorry OT: Any ideas what to do with 60K miles and more points about to expire?

  • Daftboy says:

    4 Jan4 January 08:15

    If you really don’t have a flight need for them, I’d suggest the Lufthansa Worldshop – you can apply the miles balance to purchases there in full or part, they often have sales

  • Rob says:

    4 Jan4 January 08:17

    Move to Heathrow Rewards or use them towards a hotel booking.

  • AS1 says:

    4 Jan4 January 18:29

    Many thanks!

• Dev says:

  4 Jan4 January 07:25

  Here’s also hoping for a UK credit card option for Hyatt (or at least a points transferring option e.g. Amex MR).

• chris says:

  4 Jan4 January 07:36

  My Amex gained Platinum Accor Status dropped to gold today (i had 14k status points last year) so i guess they were just slow getting into the new year – a bit like IHG who i had to kick to get Spire benefits to show for 2018

  • David says:

    4 Jan4 January 08:06

    My status is still platinum with an expiry of 12/17. Can’t help thinking they’re simply working their way through the alphabet (I’m a ‘W’)…

    • wally1976 says:

      4 Jan4 January 11:14

      Same here (finally a benefit to having a ‘W’ surname)!

      • Alex W says:

        5 Jan5 January 01:04

        +1!

  • Fenny says:

    5 Jan5 January 01:22

    I’m still showing as Plat with a Dec 17 expiry date, but my points and nights from 2017 have dropped to zero since yesterday. Surname is B.

• Ant says:

  4 Jan4 January 11:11

  Completely OTT sorry: we land in Doha from Sydney at 5am and depart at 1500 to Stockholm. I am thinking of booking the +Qatar promotion for the night that we land, that way on arrival we can check in at hotel, get a few hours of sleep and maybe see a bit of Doha.

  Can this be done?

  and any recommendations for hotel? Would be great i guess if we could walk from hotel to the main attractions.

  Thanks

  • Alex W says:

    5 Jan5 January 01:10

    There’s not much to see in Doha. You’re not missing out. If you’re flying Qatar business you can use the (Al Mourjan?) business lounge during the layover. There is a dark/quiet section with sofas you can sleep on. Get in early as there may be a waiting list.

    If you do venture outside, this time of year the heat should not be too oppressive.

• John says:

  4 Jan4 January 12:06

  I don’t know about sleeping, you will have had 10 hours to sleep on the plane and it will be afternoon SYD time (albeit 2am UK time).

  If you want to walk around Doha you had better do it before 9am, you certainly don’t want to be walking around noon. If the hotel is free then I would stay around the Souq Waqif but the timing is a bit wrong, so perhaps staying around the city centre may make more sense.

• JamesB says:

  4 Jan4 January 12:24

  OT: I don’t know if anybody had their 10k bonus from nectar yet for the October credit card application. Just been told it will be credited within 28 days of the third statement date, which should be sometine this month for almost all of us. Sounded like it had the ring of truth this time, either that the agent was just a better poker player.

  • EwanG says:

    4 Jan4 January 14:14

    For me the 20k points posted with my second statement and the 10k bonus points a further 5 days later.

    • JamesB says:

      4 Jan4 January 14:48

      Thanks Ewan, Iam getting tired of there excuses so I will call again.

  • Scallder says:

    4 Jan4 January 17:08

    The T&Cs stated that the extra 10k points were to be added a number of days after the 20k were awarded by Amex. Afraid the screenshot is at home, but sure it was within 28 days. My 20k points hit my Amex account on 2nd December – were swept to my Nectar account on the 24th (this was my second statement) and then the bonus 10k hit on the 26th.

    Sorry to hear you’re having issue again, although personally at least this went a lot smoother than the bonus offer I had signed up to last year!

  • JamesB says:

    4 Jan4 January 19:29

    Cheers Scallder, I called again after reading Ewans comments. Difficult to get angry with them at Nectar, they all so polite. Further assurances the problem was understood would be sorted, and they claimed this time that points should be within 6 weeks of the amex 20k which I got early November.

  • Lewis King says:

    4 Jan4 January 22:30

    James I sent them a private message on Twitter and a few days latter my points arrived 🙂

• rufusrea says:

  4 Jan4 January 12:28

  I hope someone here can help i have booked a number of flights on American Airlines and am wondering should i use my AA account or my BA executive account to gain air miles and tier points.
  the flights are
  BHD – Heathrow, Heathrow – Dallas, Dallas – Los Angeles, and then Tampa – Miami, Miami – Heathrow , and Heathrow – Belfast . These are all on one ticket booked using two $500 vouchers i received for a delayed flight last year,
  thanks for reading

  • Rob says:

    4 Jan4 January 12:35

    I’m assuming these are Economy flights? You won’t be earning a huge number of miles if so, and on that basis – if you live in the UK – it makes sense to credit them to BA. A small amount of AA miles is very hard to use whilst a small amount of Avios will get you a BA European flight (eg 4500 Avios for one-way to Germany).

    • rufusrea says:

      4 Jan4 January 12:48

      Thanks for the quick reply.Yes we live in the UK and yes they are economy flights. I have about 50,000 AA miles and my wife has 26,000 gained through MBNA dual credit card ie Amex and visa.so we have used American Airline redemptions before but have only the bottom status with any airline.. We also have BA miles, avios and Iberia points along with amex points. ALL gained through the help of this site and one of your readers in particular. Keep up the good work.

      • JP says:

        4 Jan4 January 16:26

        I would got for AA. If you can get to 60,000 and 30,000 on each account that is enough for 3 anytime singles to / from the UK to US, including west coast.
        Fees from the US to UK are $6. Return is $143 on economy.

        For August:
        AA to LA 60000 AA miles Return + $143.
        BA return peak to LA is 50,000 Avios + £400.
        AA also allow free connections on the US so you have a two stop for the same price.

        Cash price in August for LA for BA and AA is coming in at just over £700 for most dates. Basically getting 1p per AA point and only 0.6p per avios.

        Off Peak AA is 22.5K miles each way. So if you can get you account to 67500 miles, you can have two return off peak to US for just $286 in tax plus 90K AA miles.

  • Lyn says:

    4 Jan4 January 16:52

    It also depends on what you are hoping to use your current American miles for and whether you need to keep them active to stop them expiring. American only gives you 18 months.

    As you already know, there are differences in carrier surcharges redeeming with AA and BA for non-BA transatlantic flights, and it is worth looking at differences in their award charts as well. It depends where you want to fly and how realistic it is to earn more AA miles.

    It might be worth comparing how many miles/avios you would actually earn on AA versus BA. As Rob says, if it is economy it won’t be a lot. I don’t know if you are familiar with AA’s system, but in case you aren’t, and assuming it works the same way in the UK and US – if the ticket was bought through AA, with AA flight numbers, and without AA status, they give you 5 miles per $US spent on the total value of the ticket less government/airport taxes (this figure should show if you look at your booking). You could compare earnings on BA using their calculator for the individual sectors.

    • Rufusrea says:

      4 Jan4 January 19:41

      Thanks for the ideas

      • Alex W says:

        5 Jan5 January 01:14

        Also check wheretocredit.com

• J says:

  4 Jan4 January 12:30

  OT: Does anyone have experience of a child turning 2 after the outbound but before the return leg on Virgin? On BA it seems that you can still book at the infant rate, but they ill reserve you a seat for the return. Is this different with Virgin?

  • Rob says:

    4 Jan4 January 12:33

    Those are CAA rules so I think has to follow them. I assume they ask for the date of birth of the baby during booking and will reject the quote if they are not willing to do this. The kids is not allowed to fly if it is over 2 and does not have a seat.

    • J says:

      4 Jan4 January 12:49

      Thanks Rob, I’m hoping to use my Virgin Black upgrade vouchers, so paying 10% PE cash fare return should still be quite a bit better than using miles for a third PE seat. Will see what they say on the phone.

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