£15 Amazon discount code for American Express Gold and Platinum cardholders ending soon

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• BJ says:

  19 Jun19 June 14:32

  OT: Any recent experience with IHG cc applications? My last remaining accelerate target. Worth chancing the basic card or best to opt for the fee card?

  • Nigel says:

    19 Jun19 June 19:03

    I recently got the fee IHG card. Hit the spend bonus and the 20k bonus awarded within a week of the card arriving.

• Tom Cook says:

  19 Jun19 June 15:20

  Flew out of LBA at the weekend and was intrigued to see the new lounges. There were 6 of us in the group, 2 of us had passes so we planned on signing in a guest each, the final two had pre booked so paid for access.

  However on turning up, 2 1/2 hours before our flight we were initially denied access on a Priority Pass due to the number of pre booked paying customers. We pressed our case and after a 10 minute ‘firm’ chat they relented and let us in. The lounge that we were in then only had 2 people when we walked in and when we walked out 2 hours later it could only have been 2/3s full!

  Pretty much a joke – just shows that as more people pay for lounge access those with access as a PLAT benefit or subscription are going to be the ones to be denied.

• Tom says:

  19 Jun19 June 15:27

  OT: Looking to go to Bali next year. I have a BA companion voucher and plenty of Avios. What is the best route to go? Any help appreciated!

  • BJ says:

    19 Jun19 June 16:27

    Out to BKK zone 7 or KUL zone 8 depending if/where you want stopovers. KUL has F, BKK does not so that might sway you when using your 241. (BKK-)KUL-DPS in J with MH on avios. For return, DPS-HKG on CX J with avios. HKG back to UK on BA J or F with 241. This should be on a separate ticket from DPS-HKG so you can use your 231 and take advantage of low tax from HKG. If you want to save APD outwards consider departing INV or DUB.

    • AndyR says:

      19 Jun19 June 17:00

      You can’t take advantage of low taxes from HKG when using a 241 unless it is a one-way flight from HKG-LHR which isn’t really a good use.

      • BJ says:

        19 Jun19 June 17:31

        Yes and no. That was misleading on my part because as you indicate it is effectively an open jaw return from UK, and the return on BA from HKG will attract the usual BA surcharges. However, the actual passenger departure tax is low but it is also misleading of me to imply that this is lower than BKK or KUL becauses they are all quite similar. Thus, in that reslect there is no reason for Tom to route back via HKG unless he wanted to stop there, try regional CX or because it was necessititated by award availability.

      • yorkieflyer says:

        19 Jun19 June 18:19

        It’s widely reported on Flyertalk that you can book the return on a Amex 241 online as two singles provided you have enough points and then call in to have the 241 applied to the second flight, half the points refunded, the taxes apply for each one way booking, bad idea ex USA but good idea ex HKG. It also obviates ringing at midnight and trying to secure the returns for 241, wish I’d known this when trying and failing to book returns on the phone for early Jan 19 returns from SA.
        Incidentally you can for sure go ex Inverness to save APD, very cute lounge with friendly staff and a great scenic (if late) ride on the Highland Chieftain with a mini break overnight, definitely recommend as a one off. Not sure that you can use an Amex 241 ex Dublin?

      • shd says:

        19 Jun19 June 18:53

        DUB is a no-go, it’s ex-UK only – but that includes ex-JER in the BA worldview!

      • BJ says:

        19 Jun19 June 18:57

        Thanks shd, I thought DUB was an exception.

  • shd says:

    19 Jun19 June 18:44

    Check very carefully whether your Avios and 241 is actually getting you a good deal.

    SQ Business fares to Bali start from £1790 r/t for Jan/Feb, ex-EU.

    • BJ says:

      19 Jun19 June 18:53

      There is also a Swiss First class companion sale on at the moment with some Asian destinations at around £1500pp. The best (only real?) value with the 241 to south east Asia is in First unless flexibility arguement can still swing it for CW.

      • shd says:

        19 Jun19 June 19:06

        After four BA F flights, three of which were poor, I’m done for good. Got better things to do with my miles/points.

• Peter K says:

  19 Jun19 June 15:29

  OT Someone a few days ago asked about whether the priority pass comes in the same box as the amex platinum. I can confirm mine both came today but one in a box and the other in a separate envelope.

  • BJ says:

    19 Jun19 June 16:34

    Yes, they always arrive independently but usually within a few dats of each other. If that person was in a hurry to get their priority pass they can call priority pass to get their account number and activation code to use the app -based card.

    • Peter K says:

      19 Jun19 June 18:04

      I did that with the lounge club card last year with the gold charge. The charge card came but not the lounge club one. I didn’t need the physical card, just the details on it that i could ring up to get.

• Alex W says:

  19 Jun19 June 16:54

  OT. Just had an email from Virgin offering free credit card with 5k signup bonus plus 3x 5k bonus for spending 3x £500 in first 3 months. Total 20k points. Not bad for a free card.

  • Louise says:

    19 Jun19 June 17:28

    I just received this offer in the post

    • JPV says:

      19 Jun19 June 17:58

      I assumed it has a targeted sign-up URL?

      • Alex W says:

        19 Jun19 June 18:36

        Seems targeted. Says “it’s almost time to say goodbye to your Virgin Atlantic White Credit Card”.

        I only had the Black credit card and cancelled it ages ago.

      • Louise says:

        19 Jun19 June 18:47

        Letter says this is a bespoke offer for you so please see virginatlantic.com/bonus for all the information you need

      • the real harry1 says:

        19 Jun19 June 18:52

        Seen that Raffles? Looks open to all
        https://www.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/flying-club/credit-card/white-seg-a.html

        Bonus Smiles.
        A welcome bonus of 5,000 miles. An extra 5,000 miles a month when you spend a minimum of £500 a month for the first three months your account is open. That’s a huge 20,000 bonus miles when you take out the Virgin Atlantic Reward Credit Card and it’s an offer bespoke for you.

      • the real harry1 says:

        19 Jun19 June 18:55

        AND! you can choose the premium card:

        Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card
        Earn up to 60,000 bonus miles when you sign up – That’s enough for a Premium return flight to Las Vegas
        1.5 Flying Club miles for every £1 spent on card purchases
        A welcome bonus of 15,000 miles
        An extra 15,000 miles a month for the first three months your account is open when you spend a minimum of £1,500 each month on your card. Terms apply

        I happened to be logged into VAFC so maybe that helped. I’m not previously a Virgin cardholder.

      • Louise says:

        19 Jun19 June 19:08

        virginatlantic/bonus redirects there Harry so no login required.

      • the real harry1 says:

        19 Jun19 June 19:10

        cheers for the lead – I might just apply for the 60,000 miles, seems a no brainer if you can hit the spend target, I don’t think Virgin refund the £160 fee pro rata, can anybody confirm?

        • Rob says:

          19 Jun19 June 20:14

          You won’t get it, I’ve been through this with the team at Crawley.

      • Louise says:

        19 Jun19 June 19:13

        no pro rata refund, i am currently a white card holder, held black previously.
        I think i will go for the 60k too, even though the letter doesn’t offer me that but does say all the info i need is at that url.

      • the real harry1 says:

        19 Jun19 June 19:18

        shame – looks like you can choose either, Louise – not me though could be worth a try

        Who is eligible?
        You must be the primary cardholder of a Virgin Atlantic Credit Card issued by Virgin Money plc and you must have received a personalised email or letter from Virgin Atlantic inviting you to take part in this bonus Flying Club miles offer (the “Offer”). This Offer is not transferable.
        You must have applied for your Virgin Atlantic Credit Card on or before 30 September 2018.

        • Rob says:

          19 Jun19 June 20:14

          Strictly NOT transferable, they are checking each name against the list.

      • the real harry1 says:

        19 Jun19 June 20:24

        Yep I’m out – but it’s clear anybody holding any existing Virgin card can go for the 60K points deal if they choose

      • the real harry1 says:

        19 Jun19 June 20:36

        Raffles just a guess but you seem to be implying that ‘not transferable’ means you can’t go from old free card to the new paid card £160 and get 60K miles.

        That’s simply not what ‘not transferable’ means. The website invites applicants (ie existing cardholders) to choose between free/ paid cards.

        So any existing Virgin cardholder can go for the 60K option if they wish.

        • Rob says:

          19 Jun19 June 21:58

          Sorry, what I meant was that if you didn’t have EITHER MBNA card then don’t bother trying to get this offer because you won’t. You can toggle it seems.

      • Lucy says:

        19 Jun19 June 22:47

        I’ve held the Virgin Black card for almost 2 years and spend between £25-30k per year, paying off in full each month. I’ve only been offered the Reward+ card with a 15000 mile welcome bonus plus 6000 miles per month for 3 months if hit £1000 each month spend. My alternative is the standard reward card with 5000 mile welcome bonus plus 2000 miles per month for 3months if hit £500/ month spend. Initially was congratulating myself for not signing up for the new card when it first came out but now feeling a bit let down that my “bespoke” offer isn’t as good as everyone else’s! Tempted to ring Virgin Money and see if I can haggle for the better offers

        • Rob says:

          20 Jun20 June 00:50

          Nothing to do with VM. VA is funding this.

    • Matt B says:

      19 Jun19 June 20:49

      Bit annoying I was hoping my partner who currently holds the white mbna card would get an offer for the new VM free card but only received an offer for the premium +card. Is there anyway she can apply for the free one instead and still get the spend bonus?

      • lev441 says:

        19 Jun19 June 21:33

        Click the apply online link in the email – in the text below it says ‘Choose from one of our two cards below and apply today.’ You can then toggle between the different cards and different bonus offers. This is different to what came up last week – Also t’s & c’s changed and now has a closing date of the offer of 30/9/18

  • David says:

    19 Jun19 June 17:49

    I just recieved an email – inviting me to an ‘undefined’ offer, if I applied for an ‘undefined’ card, earning ‘undefined’ miles per £.

    Apparently it was ‘just for me’ – really it looks a heck of a lot like a very bad mailmerge. 😉

    • Adam says:

      19 Jun19 June 18:38

      Had a similar one but for the paid card….

      Hello Adam,
      As you’ve heard from MBNA, it’s almost time to say goodbye to your Virgin Atlantic Black Credit Card. But don’t be sad – you can apply for our brand new Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card!

      Copied from email…

      As well as earning 1.5 miles for every £1 you spend when you take out the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card, we’ve got an exclusive offer to get you off to a flying start:

      A welcome bonus of 15,000 miles,
      Plus, a bespoke offer for you – an extra 15,000 miles a month for the first three months your account is open. You just need to spend a minimum of £1,500 each month on your card to qualify.
      That’s up to 60,000 bonus miles in your first three months – enough for a Premium return flight to Las Vegas.*

      • the real harry1 says:

        19 Jun19 June 18:44

        odd use of ‘bespoke’ 🙂

  • Frenske says:

    19 Jun19 June 19:27

    Meh I only have 3x 2000 point for 3x £500 spend.

    • the real harry1 says:

      19 Jun19 June 19:30

      you can get 60K points if you choose the premium card 15K + 3x 15K, see other comments by myself & Louise tonight

  • Gin and Tonic Please says:

    19 Jun19 June 23:09

    Annoyingly I have a lower offer on my email: 15k signup + 6k/month for 3 months if I spend £1k. So total of 33k vs the 60k on the other link.

• Dev C says:

  19 Jun19 June 17:10

  Thanks for this Rob, I had somehow missed this Amazon offer, just redeemed on a purchase I was making anyway, nice little discount! Thanks very much for the reminder

• Crafty says:

  19 Jun19 June 18:10

  OT: Please could someone remind me of the bonus mileage transfer offer when buying a Marriott travel package – i.e. instead of receiving the standard 120,000 Avios, it’s possible to receive more? Does this require me to actually buy the package at a certain time of year?

  • Genghis says:

    19 Jun19 June 18:13

    35% bonus avios, 162k, bought when BA have that particular offer on.

  • MarkH says:

    20 Jun20 June 00:17

    The last 35% bonus period was in march and it seems to run every 6-9 months

    • Crafty says:

      20 Jun20 June 08:06

      Thanks both. I’ll sit tight then…

• Dave Barron says:

  19 Jun19 June 19:29

  Clarification required please Re EU261 Compensation…..

  My mother in law who is a US Citizen was booked to travel on BA296 from Chicago to Heathrow today but yesterday she received an email advising her flight had been cancelled (no reason provided). Consequently she was offered and rebooked onto a flight tomorrow instead (BA294). Am I correct in thinking she will be entitled to compensation under EU261? Although she’s a US citizen it’s British Airways flying into an EU airport.

  If I’m correct then presumably a claim couldn’t be made until after she arrives into the UK (some 20 hours later than originally planned).

  Also how long does it normally take to receive? Any recent experience? Is money credited to original payment card or is it a cheque in post etc???

  Many thanks!

  • the real harry1 says:

    19 Jun19 June 19:44

    Citizenship irrelevant

    Reason for cancellation is important – ‘if it wasn’t the airline’s fault, don’t expect to receive anything. Delays caused by things like extreme weather, airport or air traffic control employee strikes or other ‘extraordinary circumstances’ are not eligible for compensation.’

    So you need to determine the reason. If there are no extraordinary circs, it’s slam dunk. Operational problems such as the Trent 1000 engine issue are not extraordinary circs.

    Once agreed, compo is paid promptly.

    • Dave Barron says:

      19 Jun19 June 19:54

      Thanks for a quick reply! Confirms what I thought $$$

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