New Durham Tees Valley / Teesside International airport lounge now open

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• palcsaky says:

  20 Apr20 April 09:05

  Does the Virgin offer stack with the Avis preferred membership or would the latter rule out the bonus miles?

  • Chris A says:

    20 Apr20 April 11:28

    I’ve just spoken to somebody at Avis customer services, who said that being Avis preferred will not affect whether you get the miles or not.
    This is enough for me to go with, and will make a booking today using my Avis preferred as it is a reasonable price for a hire that I needed in any case.

    • rash says:

      20 Apr20 April 12:22

      Just to clarify for everybody and someone please correct me if I am wrong but last time the points were ONLY being credited if you booked via the link specific for the promotion. A few folks who did not get their 6,000 miles credited had booked through the normal Avis website…

      • Rob says:

        20 Apr20 April 13:09

        Seem so, yes, although the rules do not specify that.

      • Leo says:

        20 Apr20 April 20:14

        We booked via the link and got the points last month; further bookings made also via the link so if any probs will report back. Avis in San Diego tried to rip us off on the petrol….all sorted eventually with Amex assistance.

• Save East Coast Rewards says:

  20 Apr20 April 09:10

  ‘New Durham lounge’ it says in the headline. As Durham doesn’t have an airport I was hoping that Virgin Trains East Coast had opened at first class lounge at Durham station. I did notice a doorway temporarily boarded up in the station when I passed a couple of weeks ago so I thought there was some work going on.

  • Darren says:

    20 Apr20 April 15:04

    Durham Tees Valley, referencing the County rather than the city.

    It was rebranded from Teesside Airport a number of years ago and has been in a spiral of decline since. The last time I used it, which was many moons ago, there was a charge for simply walking through the door due to a lack of any decent revenue streams within the place.

    It’s been clinging on for some time now.

    • Lumma says:

      20 Apr20 April 15:26

      It’s the perfect airport, if you live in Darlington and like flying to Aberdeen or Amsterdam.

      It’s actually a shame how much it’s declined, wasn’t a bad airport 10 years ago with some decent low-cost options with BMI baby. When I briefly lived in Ireland the flights to Dublin were far better timed than the ones from Newcastle

      • Darren says:

        20 Apr20 April 17:06

        Agree it is a shame, a London link and a Holiday airline are sorely missed. I think Easyjet run training out of it?

      • Genghis says:

        20 Apr20 April 17:54

        And the railway station is a mile away from the airport and the train stops once a week! I remember flying from Teesside as a kid on charter flights. Shame.

• fritzrob78 says:

  20 Apr20 April 10:14

  With the Finnair transfer promotion is there anyway of transferring on to BAEC? Or is there any sign of an MR transfer bonus to BAEC in the near future?

  • Rob says:

    20 Apr20 April 13:14

    No and No

• lammy52 says:

  20 Apr20 April 10:22

  Does the Amex £20 off apply only to a single transaction, or is it aggregable?

• Leo says:

  20 Apr20 April 10:25

  Quick google tells me that Finnair’s “Junior awards for kids 2 to 17 are half-off” and that “Finnair imposes considerable fuel surcharges on some routes for both its own flights and some partners, but it has eliminated charges on all European routes, as well as flights to Dubai and Tel Aviv”.

  Makes the deal any better? Or is this only applicable to Finnair ant OW redemptions?

• Alex says:

  20 Apr20 April 10:30

  Are we likely to see an Amex MR > BA transfer bonus over the summer?

  • Rob says:

    20 Apr20 April 13:13

    No. Amex UK has stopped doing them because it is cheaper if you are not encouraged to redeem for miles and redeem for gift vouchers etc instead. (Cost to Amex = 0.5p per point when you take a gift voucher, 1p per point when you take a mile)

    • Alex says:

      20 Apr20 April 17:33

      Thanks Rob

• Tony says:

  20 Apr20 April 11:05

  I think you probably need to spend more time in regular airport facilities if £21.95 looks toppy!

  I paid £9 for two coffees in an airport the other week. I recall buying a double G&T at NCL a year or so back and that was over a tenner.

  Price it below this level and it’ll be eternally rammed.

  • Rob says:

    20 Apr20 April 13:12

    I admit I am not a frequent user of regular airport facilities in the UK! Although I assume the Pret in T5, tucked around by A3 etc, is cheap and decent.

    • Lumma says:

      20 Apr20 April 15:36

      Unless I’m departing very early, I tend to think that £20 for lounge entry is a no brainer if I don’t have access otherwise. A couple of beers and a snack are going to set me back somewhere around that anyway. Once they become over £25 that’s when it’s worth checking out a review or 2.

      It’s not the greatest lounge but the MyLounge at Gatwick North is exceptional value at £12pp when booked through Virgin Atlantic, plus 200 miles and premium security

      • Tony says:

        20 Apr20 April 20:06

        Admittedly the coffee was at Salzburg, but the point stands.

        I recall maybe 10-12 years back, the Pru’s egg credit card ran a promo for half price lounge access, which back then made it about £8 a pop. We were flying EK J out of Birmingham, who used what back then was probably the only lounge.

        2hrs before the EK flight left, the lounge “angels” came round and turfed everyone out who wasn’t flying EK.

        Far from classy, but a great illustration of how to get lounge pricing wrong.

• paul says:

  20 Apr20 April 11:10

  Is the VS / Avis deal a bit of a conn? Just looked at weekend hire from nearby location and got price of £75. Then went via the VS link and price in now £162. Given I can buy miles for £15/1000 this does not seem to be a good deal…..

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