Primera Air drops flights from Birmingham to North America

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• James M says:

  8 Jun8 June 07:00

  OT, I have Amex Platinum, over the last 6 months Amex / Hilton have failed to sort out the gold upgrade (to the point that I created a 2nd account and did a status match for when I needed it). I have tried asking them them a dozen times, which they helpfully kept detailed notes on.

  I opened a complaint, the team I was dealing with faced similar issues in trying to make any sense of their own “back office” team so upheld my complaint.

  Their offer, was a full refund of the annual fee, £150 on top but they aren’t sorting the Hilton Gold as I now have that separately.

  • AndyGWP says:

    8 Jun8 June 08:17

    On a related Amex Plat / Hilton note, can someone remind me where on the American Express cardmember website you apply for the ‘perks’?

    • Craig says:

      8 Jun8 June 08:43

      Here you go

      http://americanexpress.co.uk/benefitstatus

      • AndyGWP says:

        8 Jun8 June 15:34

        Brill – thanks

        (and cheers for the other replies below too!)

    • Rob says:

      8 Jun8 June 09:04

      americanexpress.co.uk/platinum – your supp cardholder now needs to create their own Amex account if they want them.

      • Olly says:

        8 Jun8 June 10:07

        Rob, when you refer to perks as “them”, it made me Google the benefits of a supplementary cardholder (the wife) and I find she doesn’t just get the Priority Pass as the only perk, I missed she can also get the hotel status. Thank you for that. Anything else I missed?

    • Mike G says:

      8 Jun8 June 09:04

      Login to Amex then menus: Benefits and Help->Platinum Benefits then select the benefit category (e.g., Travel->Hotels) click on the specific benefit (e.g., Hilton Honors Elite Gold Status). That opens a new browser window, in which you can enrol

  • KBuffett says:

    8 Jun8 June 21:25

    I had a similar issue that was caused by my email address being linked to another old Hilton account that I had forgotten about. Therefore the new account just wasn’t opening. Try calling Hilton and asking them to delete all old accounts by searching your email addresss and home addresses etc

• Matthew says:

  8 Jun8 June 07:13

  I’m going to Bastille. Hopefully see you there!

• EY says:

  8 Jun8 June 07:31

  Rob: Possibly a little harsh with your wording, “partly due to delays” and “tries to spin this as good”. I’m friends with a senior A321neo captain at Primera and the cancellations are entirely down to late deliveries from Airbus, not just “partly”. I’ve seen the internal email sent to staff by the CEO which confirms it. In terms of load factors, only the future will tell if the routes become profitable, but I’d argue that 70% for a new operator is a pretty good start to build up customer brand awareness.

• Andrew says:

  8 Jun8 June 07:49

  OT: Anyone got their Avios back from the 50% Iberia promotion? I have chased them up for it and have been made to send a screenshot of the Ts&Cs and provide details of my bookings, both of which they surely have access to!

• Cat says:

  8 Jun8 June 08:17

  I love that in this picture Bastille are playing with some of the Lego Architecture sets that are stacked up in the spare room (much to the annoyance of my OH), that I’m still trying to sell on Ebay.
  Nice pan-miles-and-points picture choice Rob!

  • Anna says:

    8 Jun8 June 08:31

    Presumably you won’t be stocking up on any more of them once Tesco Direct closes?! I too have a backlog of Lego and other toys which will see me through the next couple of Christmases!

    • the real harry1 says:

      8 Jun8 June 10:08

      They’ll still be selling non-food items thru Groceries, presumably Lego will cut the range but still be a supplier willing to use points to incentivise sales

      • Cat says:

        8 Jun8 June 13:07

        I hope so – I probably got about 200,000 miles a year from CC bonus point deals (I always aimed to have about 17,000 CC points each quarter). I might have to start travelling in (gasp) premium economy if lego deals go away entirely! None of my friends really do miles and points, and my OH just sees the lego, the Now TV boxes etc as a nuisance (but he grudgingly admitted that flying first class to the USA was quite nice), so I don’t have anyone to do ping-pong credit card referrals with!
        Are there any other foodie travellers a little bit devastated by the news about Bourdain?

      • the real harry1 says:

        8 Jun8 June 15:05

        yep suicide is hard to understand – he had a great life from what we could see, I liked his approach in the food progs, a big loss @ only 61

      • Cat says:

        8 Jun8 June 15:26

        I suppose you never really know what’s going on behind the scenes, or in someone’s head. Poor dude. I loved watching “No Reservations”.
        Whenever I go to a new city or country, I do a bit of a google search to find out if Bourdain’s been, and where he ate. I planned my trip to the Dominican Republic partially around visiting a restaurant (El Cabito) that he went to, that looks out over the edge of a cliff and serves the best conch I have ever had (it was absolutely incredible). It’s rare that in a restaurant with a panorama that dramatic, the view is spectacularly superseded by the food.
        The evening out in Jaisalmer where I tried out the bhang lassi place that he visited was, erm, less memorable…

      • Sapiens says:

        8 Jun8 June 15:31

        Very sad to hear about Anthony bourdain, as I expect many here are. What a traveler he was!

      • the real harry1 says:

        8 Jun8 June 17:25

        Anthony Bourdain No Reservations S04E06 London Edinburgh
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nt3NZmiBbs full episode

      • Cat says:

        8 Jun8 June 17:41

        Thanks Harry (the real 1). The long-suffering OH will want to watch this later too – he’s an obsessive home-cook, and is a big fan of both Anthony Bourdain and Fergus Henderson.

• Tony says:

  8 Jun8 June 08:43

  My daughter recently flew Stansted to Malaga by Primers Air. Flight was virtually full and very good service from staff at all levels although the on board service only took cash.

• Paul says:

  8 Jun8 June 08:48

  OT/ Hit my spend target on Amex Platinum early. Although have a weekend trip out of LGW South in 3 weeks. Is it worth keeping the card til then to use the lounge there?

  Also, what’s the next best move? I already have the BAPP as my day-to-day spending card. Is it best to cancel my Plat and reapply for Gold in 6 months?

  • GabeS says:

    8 Jun8 June 08:54

    Hi all
    Has anyone got ant up to date information with regards to the very poor BA Amex avios tracking?No tracking of usual purchases,avios promises for using BA Amex on BA’s online store,etc!Amex promised an investigation,nothing happened yet!Seriously thinking to cancel it and get a competitor card!

    • Richard says:

      8 Jun8 June 13:16

      I had a problem using the avios shopping portal. Several purchases made at two online retailers in February failed to track. The points missing added up to over 5000 points. I filled in the missing points form in March and quickly received an automated reply and then nothing for weeks until I sent a message to customer services. I then provided screen shots of my online visits together with receipts. The points were then eventually added to the pending points and are still there about three weeks on. I was told that the timeframe after avios received the missing points claim form was about six weeks and this tallied with my case. I’ve since purchased from the same retailer via the BA portal and points have tracked.

  • Alan says:

    8 Jun8 June 08:55

    The Platinum card is costing £37.50 per month. How much is the lounge access worth to you?

    • Paul says:

      8 Jun8 June 09:11

      Flight is at 8am and I’ll have a guest, we’re aiming to get there at 6, so that would depend on the quality of the lounge?
      Don’t usually use lounges as I’m always late! But recently used Club Aspire lounge at LHR T3 and was disappointed.

      • Leo says:

        8 Jun8 June 10:24

        LGW South No 1 is fine as far as it goes, nothing wrong with it. It does get busy – I mean it’s not the Virgin Clubhouse and it’s not the Concorde Room but it’s nice enough. If you didn’t rate the Aspire in T3 you aren’t going to be wowed by No.1 at Gatwick tbh.

    • the real harry1 says:

      8 Jun8 June 10:10

      One referral covers about 7-8 months of Plat cost, depending on which card you refer & get

      • Harkirat says:

        8 Jun8 June 10:46

        +1 the extra 9000 MRs for a referral compared with other cards is worth at least £100

  • James M says:

    8 Jun8 June 09:57

    I’ve never made it into the No. 1 lounge in LGW south, it was always “full”.

    If you’re not using any of the other benefits (e.g. car rental insurance) you might be better of cancelling now to reset the clock.

    • Paul says:

      8 Jun8 June 10:16

      Yes, that’s what I’m thinking now. Best bet to get the Gold card in 6 months then? Obviously depending on the bonuses at the time, I’m presuming they won’t change from what they are now.

      • Mark2 says:

        8 Jun8 June 13:56

        remember that you can no longer upgrade Gold to Platinum.

      • the real harry1 says:

        8 Jun8 June 21:52

        of course you can, did it a couple of weeks ago

      • Tom1 says:

        8 Jun8 June 22:29

        I think the comment is related to cancelling plat now, taking out a gold in 6 months…. which will be the credit card not the charge card.

    • john says:

      8 Jun8 June 21:41

      In April I went to grain store then No1. They said No1 was full and tried to upsell club rooms or said could take details then come back in 45mins.

      So it might be worth going to No1 first, get on the list, go have a decent breakfast at Grain Store and then go back to No1?

  • Benji says:

    8 Jun8 June 12:05

    Priority Pass (which you should have through Platinum) gets you a £15 credit at the Grain Store at Gatwick South. I used that last week and was pretty impressed – very quick service and reasonable food. Not sure what time it’s open, but if you want a quick breakfast and a coffee it might be a good option.

    • Alan says:

      8 Jun8 June 15:18

      So for keeping the card for an extra month at £37.50 you can get a £15 credit at Grain Store.

      • Genghis says:

        8 Jun8 June 15:35

        Well – per day per card (ie +Supp) I guess?

      • Cat says:

        8 Jun8 June 16:15

        As Genghis says, they do charge per day, so if it’s exactly 21 days extra that would be £25.89. I think you can get your guest the £15 credit too, if memory serves. After having breakfast there, head to the No 1 lounge and ensure you get in by reserving online (is it £5 per person, or per booking?), then drink until it’s time to board (don’t judge me, there are no time zones in airports, everyone knows that…). Plus, free travel insurance for your weekend away.

    • Jonny says:

      8 Jun8 June 16:27

      Question on Grain Store credit – myself and my wife each have both a Plat card and a Plat supplementary card. So 4x priority passes. Can we therefore redeem £15 x 4 = £60 credit at Grain Store, or are we restricted to £15 each?
      I guess i won’t find out until I’m there, unless anyone knows….?!

      • Nick M says:

        8 Jun8 June 16:49

        I imagine you could order £30 initially and use yours + guest… then go back to the counter with your wife’s and get another £30?

• Paul says:

  8 Jun8 June 09:06

  Flight is at 8am and I’ll have a guest, we’re aiming to get there at 6, so that would depend on the quality of the lounge?
  Don’t usually use lounges as I’m always late! But recently used Club Aspire lounge at LHR T3 and was disappointed.

  • the real harry1 says:

    8 Jun8 June 10:13

    What didn’t you like?, I think it’s pretty much OK, very friendly staff, Guinness, food selection not too bad, lots of different seating etc, room for 125 people so not likely to be turned away – No1 might be much better but if you can’t get in on PP, the ‘much better’s not worth a fig

    • Rob says:

      8 Jun8 June 10:36

      Whilst I haven’t been in since it opened, I thought Club Aspire was decent. Not as big as No 1 but not as busy when I was there.

      Gatwick North Aspire should reopen any day now.

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