News: HfP on Radio 4, earn Hyatt points with home rentals

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• JamesB says:

  6 Mar6 March 05:07

  This Hilton stuff seems very familiar…Groundhog Day Rob? 🙂

  • Rob says:

    6 Mar6 March 08:46

    Worth another plug before it ends.

    • Phil says:

      6 Mar6 March 12:06

      On consecutive days? 😉

      • Rob says:

        6 Mar6 March 13:05

        Oh FFS 🙂

        I had to cut a piece from todays Bits at the last minute and this was still sitting in the system so I used it as a last-minute replacement. I forgot we’d added it into the one yesterday.

        In my defence I had a funeral and then a (totally separate) lunch which finished at 4pm and threw us off our routine a bit!

• Ian says:

  6 Mar6 March 05:12

  Listened to the R4 show last night. Quite good but didn’t particularly enjoy the narration style.

  What I can never understand is the length and expense some people will go to for status. I did 12 long haul flights last year, all of them were redemptions, all of them in business or first. I don’t have any status because I don’t make cash bookings. But when you’re flying business and first then what the hell advantage does having status really get you anyway?

  I don’t understand why these people don’t spend their time playing the game of earning points (which is vastly cheaper), than spending their time and money chasing tier points.

  • John says:

    6 Mar6 March 05:28

    At LHR being Gold gets you quite a bit more than a J ticket. On BA in particular, having status lets you select seats for free and increased Avios earning on selected airlines, as well as priority lines if you need to call (variable).

    Having status allows you to book Y for short flights (and the odd long-haul if necessary) and to get a better experience than the regular Y flyer. It also gives you priority when something goes wrong.

    Flying earns you points and some people enjoy flying for the sake of it. Applying for credit cards is easy. The other ways to earn points are boring.

    • Mike L says:

      6 Mar6 March 07:01

      Good point as I’m finding out on our A380 flight at the end of the month when we’re paying £100 per seat selection on the upper deck !!

      • Wivus says:

        6 Mar6 March 07:45

        Just arrived Jo’burg in a 380 upper deck CW. Bit disappointed really. Window seat was quite cramped. Was told lower deck has more room due to being in the wider part of the plane. Makes sense I suppose. Still dislike the layout though. Until the shutter goes up I constantly feel the person opposite is staring at me. Probably need to see a shrink

      • Genghis says:

        6 Mar6 March 07:47

        Which seats? I like 53A/K

      • Wivus says:

        6 Mar6 March 08:01

        I was 51K Genghis. Fellow next to me must do this on a regular basis. By the time I finished making my film list he had changed in his night wear, packed everything away and had earplugs, eye shades etc lined up and ready to go.
        Going to try the lower one on the return and compare.

    • Johnny Tabasco says:

      6 Mar6 March 07:09

      Well I’m sure some people do enjoy the tier runs and flying for the sake of it. But as someone said on the other thread yesterday for some the whole tier thing is ‘far more to do with making themselves feel important than they are willing to admit/accept’. Important I highlight ‘for some’’!!
      I’ve met a couple of commited tier chasers and both seemed to take it (and themselves) very seriously and had amusing levels of entitlement but yet they genuinely enjoy what they do. Can’t really be too critical of that.

      I can’t go down the ‘get a life’ route because clearly it’s each to their own. But choosing not to earn points via credit cards because it’s ‘easy’ and ‘boring’ seems to be an opportunity thrown away, but you know, each to their own….

      • Doug M says:

        6 Mar6 March 07:24

        But credit cards don’t earn TP. I’ve never done a pure TP run, but I’ve routed via indirect points to gain TP, it’s just a choice thing. When I wanted to take some family to Berlin recently the flights from LCY were about £250 each. Being Gold they opened extra redemption seats for me. I get to choose seats without paying, including the better ones they don’t sell. I don’t see it as feeling important, I see it as something I chose to do for the rewards. I buy ink and churn cards too 🙂

      • Yuff says:

        6 Mar6 March 07:28

        There are so many variables when considering collecting points.
        My wife, whilst preferring to turn left, would rather go direct on any airline but preferably a British pilot.
        Whereas I would fly to Amsterdam ( from the midlands) via the arctic if it was on a flat bed 😉
        Only kidding about the arctic……….

      • Kipto says:

        6 Mar6 March 07:30

        Agree. Similar to some with elite status with hotel chains expecting to be treated like royalty at reception desks. I’ve seen it on a number of occasions. Cringing.

      • Yuff says:

        6 Mar6 March 07:47

        Doug M

        As a gold can you open up avios availability for members of your household account or do you need to be GGL for that ?

      • Lady London says:

        6 Mar6 March 11:46

        It’s a game. That’s what makes it fun.

      • Doug M says:

        6 Mar6 March 20:44

        Yuff. I’m not an expert, better asked on FT. When I checked there wasn’t 5 available redemption seats. When I logged in and checked there was, along with a message saying as gold additional seats had been made available.
        This was RFS.

    • Genghis says:

      6 Mar6 March 08:06

      For a night flight it’s change into PJs after boarding, take the tray to the galley when I’ve finished (if eat at all) and then get some shut eye. A good sleep is more valuable to me than all the champagne and food etc.

      • Alex W says:

        6 Mar6 March 20:00

        Eat in the lounge before the flight. Asleep before take off.

      • Genghis says:

        6 Mar6 March 21:32

        Would rather make my bed properly

    • paul says:

      6 Mar6 March 19:52

      but almost all other airlines don’t charge for seat selection in premium cabins….its a BA thing.

  • Doug M says:

    6 Mar6 March 07:30

    I thought the radio show was really poor. No one here will have heard anything new, and the silly narration, and presentation style of maximum dribble and minimum real content ensured no one new could have gleaned anything from it. It was clearly almost entirely BA, but then included comments about a chef and rare steak from an interview about one if the ME3.

    • Alex Sm says:

      17 Mar17 March 13:17

      I finally listened to it last weekend and I am glad that it’s not only me who thought it was sponsored (?) or at least inspired by BA with this Lakme tune, life tier points etc.

  • Sapiens says:

    6 Mar6 March 07:56

    While i agree with your gist, my work means i do a large amount of European short haul Y travel, and a few long haul in J.

    If you’re spending that much time in airports / on BA every week, status is very helpful (but you wouldn’t earn it even on 50 short haul Y flights earning 5 or 10 tp.

    • Lumma says:

      6 Mar6 March 10:45

      You would earn it on 50 short haul flights with BA. That’s the alternative option. 25 for bronze, 50 for silver.

    • Lady London says:

      6 Mar6 March 11:44

      IIRC BA will give you status at Silver for a certain minimum number of flights regardless of tier points. Could you meet that requirement? Lufthansa does that too

      • Rob says:

        6 Mar6 March 13:08

        50 flights ….

• Roger says:

  6 Mar6 March 05:17

  OT_ Amex Travel

  Did anyone receive double MR points to Amex Trave spend via Platinum card?

  • Polly says:

    6 Mar6 March 06:38

    Must have been a glitch. We used ours loads recently abroad, but normal MRs posted, sadly.

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    6 Mar6 March 07:00

    That’s correct. Platinum cardholders get an additional MR/£ for online Amex Travel purchases.

    • Roger says:

      6 Mar6 March 07:17

      I thought it was only for PRGC.

      Have used Amex for direct airline booking at airline website and in the past always received only 1 MR point per £1.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        6 Mar6 March 07:26

        Everyone gets an extra point for using Amex’s own travel booking service

      • JamesB says:

        6 Mar6 March 07:47

        Is’t it 3/£1 for PRG spend at amex travel and 2/£1 spend on other travel merchants? I thought there was an additional incetive for using amex travel.

  • Stu N says:

    6 Mar6 March 08:22

    Yes, got double points when I used the promotion in Jan

• JamesB says:

  6 Mar6 March 05:40

  OT: Financial Times leads today with implications for transatlantic flight post brexit, particularly with respect to IAG. I did not post a link due to paywall.

  • Johnny Tabasco says:

    6 Mar6 March 07:22

    Yes, I read that yesterday too and was initially alarmed but the consensus at the end was firmly one of ‘they will work it eventually’. Here’s hoping!

    • mark2 says:

      6 Mar6 March 09:25

      You have to remember that the Ft are Premier League Remoaners.

• Ian says:

  6 Mar6 March 05:44

  OT – what’s the latest you can cancel a BA avios redemption (using 2 for 1 voucher although I don’t think that makes a difference)?

  Got first class flights to Vegas in a few days but have a bad case of flu. Its not looking good 🙁

  • John says:

    6 Mar6 March 06:02

    24 hours before travel

    • Ian says:

      6 Mar6 March 06:12

      Thanks John

  • Mike L says:

    6 Mar6 March 07:04

    Having had the flu (proper flu) over New Year you’re looking at 5 days confined to bed in addition to another 3-5 trying to your energy back. Hope you make it.

    • Ian says:

      6 Mar6 March 08:28

      Yeah its not looking good. I travelled back from Beirut yesterday feeling utterly terrible, thankfully in CW so slept the entire flight. Spent the weekend in bed in Beirut which was really disappointing as I was enjoying the city.

      Travelling back to the UK when I needed to be in bed yesterday has probably set me back a day or two as well!

  • Rob says:

    6 Mar6 March 08:45

    24 hours isn’t it?

• Mr Cinnamon says:

  6 Mar6 March 05:57

  I think the Radio 4 show achieved its purpose, it was aimed at a Radio4 daytime audience, not those already involved in the “hobby”.

  The tier point obsessives sounded as loopy as ever, but each to their own. Perhaps a little more on the airmiles collectors who quietly amass points on the ground in order to upgrade once or twice a year may have been more representative, if less interesting to an audience.

  The narration added some humour to what, lets face, is a bland subject for the wider audience population. They don’t want everyone turning off after Woman’s Hour do they?

• Polly says:

  6 Mar6 March 06:43

  Agree, could have done without the longwinded explanations from Michelle, Ian and Will! Might have been nicer to hear different collectors experiences. It was far too focused on the obsessive TP chasers, unfortunately. Don’t really know the program was aimed at. Thinking many of the audience would just flash their credit cards and pay up for J flights with their regular travel agents anyway…

• TripRep says:

  6 Mar6 March 07:03

  Bu99er wrong website address!

  Here you go…
  https://www.turningleftforless.com

  • Michele says:

    6 Mar6 March 08:00

    Thanks for the recommendation for my site TripRep! I was a bit disappointed with my part on the show. They spent about an hour and half interviewing me and then only really covered my personal story in an ‘x factor’ style sad music sob story way! At least Rob was was able to add a bit more substance to it. Still can’t complain as it’s sending a lot of traffic my way!

    • Rob says:

      6 Mar6 March 08:38

      True …. but I honestly think you would have been cut entirely otherwise as I was already there as token ‘industry expert’. Caroline got chopped entirely.

    • Pangolin says:

      6 Mar6 March 08:51

      If only there were some planes were you could board from the starboard side then I’d be able to turn left for less!

      It’s a good site though. Makes a nice change from all those boring and samey US blogs were all they do is dump a load of CC referral links (for our lucky American friends who can get 100K signup bonuses, etc.).

    • Lady London says:

      6 Mar6 March 11:51

      @pangolin **giggle** about your great starboard idea!!

    • TripRep says:

      6 Mar6 March 19:06

      @Pangolin – pity about Zoolander eh, maybe he does a 270 degree Right turn instead…
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hJ1HDcMowk

    • Leo says:

      6 Mar6 March 21:30

      Good stuff! I read your blog!

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