Vueling launches an Avios credit card in France – but is it any good?

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• Laura says:

  20 Jun20 June 05:23

  Completely off topic but wanted to share what happened when we flew from LCY to Mykonos on Monday. Much to my surprise we had complimentary food and drink in economy and to learn that it’s never stopped on City flights. Also, interestingly one of the cabin crew told me that BA is very unhappy with M & S and hinted there may be changes ahead.

  • Anna says:

    20 Jun20 June 06:51

    This is also the case with the CityFlyer flights from MAN.

    • Tom Cook says:

      20 Jun20 June 10:13

      Can concur – we had this in economy on MAN – FLORENCE this month.

  • Doug M says:

    20 Jun20 June 09:40

    This really wasn’t a choice by BA, more of a logistical issue. That fleet is separate and has never been trained and switched over to BOB. Probably also linked to the Embraer fleet.

    Typically the LCY flights cost a little more than LHR ones for same destination, say TXL, so 30p worth of food not making much difference.

    • Lumma says:

      20 Jun20 June 09:50

      For London to Berlin, LCY is usually cheaper than LHR in my experience. And there’s usually more avios seats on the LCY flights.

      My last flight the free food was just some popcorn or a packet of crisps though

      • Ben says:

        20 Jun20 June 11:03

        Bacon sandwich this morning from LCY – ZRH

      • Lumma says:

        20 Jun20 June 11:14

        I got a makerel salad on the outbound but only the crisps on the way back. They were both roughly lunchtime which is why I found it strange

    • john says:

      20 Jun20 June 11:43

      I believe it’s to do with space for the relevant trollies on the Embraer fleet, although it was supposed to get resolved before.

• BJ says:

  20 Jun20 June 05:56

  The Vueling card must be causing some alarm at amex UK. I think many would dump their amex basic card for this given the opportunity. However, more importantly, if as you say somebody still thinks they can make money in these conditions then it is difficult to see BA sticking with amex if they can offer this on visa/MasterCard.

• Rob W says:

  20 Jun20 June 06:38

  Rob, I’ve got the Tesco Premium card and it’s been working well for me.

  I’ve been awarded my bonus 5000 Clubcard points already so my only question is. Do you know when existing cardholders will be informed of their cancelled cards? Cheers.

  • shd says:

    20 Jun20 June 06:39

    Tesco may have pulled the card for new applicants, but has it been confirmed that existing cards will be closed?

    • Jeff says:

      20 Jun20 June 09:50

      Just checked with Tesco – they say it is closed to new applications, but existing accounts are not affected. No indication how long that will be the case…

• Jack says:

  20 Jun20 June 06:43

  Hi all… wondering if anyone knows the answer: if my daughter living at the same address buys spg points, is it possible for me or wife to pool them immediately for redemptions? Does my daughter need to check in or can we spend them as we wish?
  Thanks!

  • Genghis says:

    20 Jun20 June 06:53

    Your daughter simply transfers the points to you or your wife for use in your / her acct.

  • BJ says:

    20 Jun20 June 06:59

    They can be transferred from one person to another at the same address using a request form in the online account. However, it is not immediate, it usually takes about 5 working days but last time I got mine in 3 days. To buy points the account needs to have been open so many day but I cannot recall how many, 14 rings a bell.

• Anna says:

  20 Jun20 June 07:04

  May have been mentioned already but apparently BA are now embroiled in an error fare controversy where a number of pax have booked cheap flights to the Middle East (and, in several cases separate accommodation and car hire) only to have BA cancel the flights citing an IT error. MSE have picked up on it now so it’ll be interesting to see how it pans out. The legal adviser asked for comment calls it a “grey area” even though it’s covered to a certain extent by contract law.

  • the real harry1 says:

    20 Jun20 June 07:46

    https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/travel/2018/06/ba-cancels-passengers-cheap-tickets-to-middle-east-blaming-exceptionally-rare-pricing-error?_ga=2.254130443.287676921.1529420789-307826308.1529420789

    BA are letting some people fly these tickets. The ‘error’ wasn’t exactly obvious, with BA’s price not so different to the LCCs (BA’s ticket was in a flexible bucket so worth more, though how is the less-informed traveller to know it was exceptionally cheap on this basis? – they just look at the headline cost in many cases.)

    Seems a weak position to defend if somebody took BA to MCOL/ CEDR.

    • Roberto says:

      20 Jun20 June 08:03

      The Tel Aviv fare is an obvious error with the actual fare component ( so not the taxes and fees ) was minus seven quid..

      Ba have been quick to mitigate conflict by offering £100 ( voucher/cash details to follow ) appology to those that booked it.

      I flew a mistake fare to Costa Rica in business from Malaga via London for six hundred pounds a couple of years back so many of these issues are fully ticketed..

      And lastly Martin Lewis talks with broad brush strokes generally (and even more so about travel) – he is spreading himself and his site too thin as he is forced to dumb down to the masses.

      • the real harry1 says:

        20 Jun20 June 08:15

        The voucher details are published. The ‘£100’ is only to be used against purchase of a BA product at the same online travel agent the pax where bought their ticket, with a short ‘book by’ date, end July 2018 I think. So it’s completely mean as a compo gesture.

        Voucher details
        1. Can only be used by affected customers, discount is not transferrable and has no cash value
        2. Bookings to be made via the original travel agent. Discount is not available via BA directly or via another agent.
        3. New booking must be made by 31 July 2018 for travel by 30 June 2019
        4. £100 per customer to be used against a future booking on BA services

      • TripRep says:

        20 Jun20 June 12:48

        Cancelled Tel Aviv?, C’est la vie…

        BBC running the story…
        https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44546400

    • Nigel says:

      20 Jun20 June 08:39

      It very clearly states the cancellation terms for tickets before you press the “purchase now” button……with value fares this is usually uncancellable.
      Yet BA as the vendor seem in this case to be ignoring this part of the contract between 2 parties! This would constitute an unfair contract if it can be cancelled without agreement by both parties, and hence a breach of the unfair contract terms act…..

      • Mr(s) Entitled says:

        20 Jun20 June 11:47

        Not quite that simple.

        My employer could cancel my contract without my consent. I can cancel any financial contract without the consent of the other party within a defined period. I can cancel lots of contracts with notice.

        You cannot hold someone to a contract that is unfair. For example, if I signed a contract with a builder to build me a new bog standard garage for £3m it would not be enforceable. Same as if I got them to do it for £1.

        Lots of shades of grey but what matters here is not typically the legal position but how the vendor handles the fall out. Can either increase customet loyalty or end it.

  • Rob says:

    20 Jun20 June 12:57

    It’s not a grey area because airlines, especially BA, have been unilaterally cancelling mistake fares for years. This is why we don’t write about them.

    The only grey area here is whether the price is actually not low enough. However, as BA can unilaterally cancel your ticket anyway up to 2 weeks before departure (and often does when routes are pulled, without making any effort to reroute) it is difficult to complain. Talk to those people who booked holidays to Calgary for the winter.

    • Anna says:

      20 Jun20 June 14:57

      But in the latter scenario, there is a legal right to re-routing, no matter how awkward BA try to be about it! It seems to be the case here that BA and other airlines) have the right to cancel the flights without any kind of comeback if they can justify that there was a pricing error.

      • Rob says:

        20 Jun20 June 15:10

        There was a pricing error. You bought a fully flexible ticket, usually four-figures, for £200. A court would throw out your complaint in seconds.

        There is a cyclicality here remember. If this ticket WASN’T substantially cheaper, you wouldn’t be complaining in the first place, because you could take BA’s refund and buy a ticket with another airline for a similar price. You can’t say you didn’t think it was a mistake but give your reason for complaining as the fact that you can’t buy a replacement ticket for anything like the same amount.

      • Alex W says:

        20 Jun20 June 22:33

        How is Joe Blogs the consumer supposed to know that refundable tickets are stupidly expensive? Before being a points geek I had no idea that refundable tickets were 5x the price. I probably had no idea whether the air tickets I bought were even refundable or not. On this basis, the fare is not manifestly an error unless you have a decent level.of knowledge of air fares?

        • Rob says:

          20 Jun20 June 22:43

          Good luck with that in the Small Claims Court. Ignorance (of the truth, not stupidity!) is not a legal defence.

      • Alex W says:

        23 Jun23 June 09:01

        Depends how the term “manifestly incorrect” is defined I guess. From the consumer’s point of view the incorrectness of the fare may not have been obvious…

• Jo says:

  20 Jun20 June 07:25

  OT: hi I just got the plat card. If I refer myself for the nectar card, will I get 18000 points?

  • BJ says:

    20 Jun20 June 07:47

    Yes, according to the experience of many here. However, it would be sensible to wait a while before applying for another card.

• Dan says:

  20 Jun20 June 07:27

  Can you merge Vueling Avios to BAEC?

  • Lumma says:

    20 Jun20 June 09:10

    Vueling avios go to an avios.com account so yes

• Steve M says:

  20 Jun20 June 07:40

  Does anyone know if the old Tesco Finest card will also be pulled? I’ve reverted back to this for non-Amex spend while I wait for Virgin to offer me a sign up bonus for the new Card. I’m also using the closure of the old Virgin card as a reason to tidy up my card collection, any thoughts on whether its worth hanging on to the Finest card, I’ve had it a very long time…

  • Mikeact says:

    20 Jun20 June 08:46

    If you purchase fuel from Tesco, then there is a good reason. You need to search.

    • Steve M says:

      20 Jun20 June 09:11

      Thanks Mike, I thought I recognised your name from the community page. I guess the answer to your question still holds good. I seem to remember the card being very lucrative when I was driving 30k miles a year, not doing that any more but will keep it for now. Nice Dak(?) by the way…

  • JohnT says:

    20 Jun20 June 09:42

    Virgin are offering a signup bonus and also a monthly spend bonus (including to existing holders)! Had my reward one a while now but get 2000 for £500 spend in each of next 3 months!

    • @mkcol says:

      20 Jun20 June 09:53

      I got an email from them yesterday too.
      5000 miles for getting the card, then 2000 miles if I spend £500 monthly for the next 3 months.
      Can’t see a reason not to get the card.

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