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

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• Stephan says:

  20 Jun20 June 07:50

  Think you need to spend a minimum of €10 to earn avios on the vueling cards: ‘8/16 Avios tous les 10 € dépensés’

  • Rob says:

    20 Jun20 June 12:53

    The small print says you don’t – I think they have just used €10 units to avoid having to talk in fractions.

• Richard says:

  20 Jun20 June 08:09

  Off topic. Does anyone know how long it takes for Marriot status to update following the posting of the final qualifying night? I am doing the platinum challenge and trying to do it before end of July (in the hope that platinum will move to platinum premier in the new scheme). I am looking at my last stay being 28th July, but am worried it might be too late for my status to update if the points don’t post before end of July.

  Any help / insight much appreciated

  • Ian says:

    20 Jun20 June 08:31

    Your status should update as soon as the points/nights post to your account for your last stay of the Platinum challenge. Normally that will happened within 48hrs of checking out.

    • Richard says:

      20 Jun20 June 10:06

      Thanks Ian!

  • Rob says:

    20 Jun20 June 12:52

    Instant, because I got mine yesterday. Stayed on Saturday at Manchester Airport, points posted Tuesday, status immediately updated to Platinum. Spookily, my linked Starwood status became Platinum too.

    • Richard says:

      20 Jun20 June 13:18

      Thanks Rob! Congrats on reaching platinum!

• Lee says:

  20 Jun20 June 08:10

  Thought about SPG points, but for Dubai it says ‘All rooms at Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa, Dubai are villas; therefore, Starpoint Award reservations must be booked at a higher Starpoint rate through your local customer contact center.’

  So I am not sure if the maximum rate applies there as mentioned on this site. Certainly you can’t book it via points online.

• Nigel says:

  20 Jun20 June 08:13

  Are Marriott rewards and Ritz Carlton rewards the same thing? I have a gold RC card which was issued in lieu of a gold Marriott card. Can i transfer spg points purchased via the 35% discount to my RC account 3 for one, and then book any spg, marriott or RC hotel at a max of 60000 points per night??

  • Rob says:

    20 Jun20 June 12:51

    In August, yes. And R-C Rewards won’t exist post August anyway, in anything except name. All points across all 3 schemes are pooled with one new account number.

• David says:

  20 Jun20 June 08:19

  On the Vueling card, I note the Cartes Bancaires ‘CB’ logo.

  IIRC domestic payment networks are out of scope for the interchange fee cap. While I know CB has some kind of connection to the Visa network, and I’ve not been following the interchange cap in France in any detail, I do wonder if that plays a role in making the economics of the card work – if certain fees are not capped as low for a percentage of the transactions they expect. It might also explain the position on cash withdrawals.

  But as I said, I’ve not been following French market too closely.

  • Jeff says:

    20 Jun20 June 09:17

    The French CB card system used by all the banks there is a bit different, so I don’t know if it is caught in the interchange fee cap. Their equivalent of our debit card is actually a deferred debit card whereby when you spend on it, the sum is immediately blocked on your bank account, but they don’t actually take the money until the end of the month, so a bit more like a charge card as there is no credit involved and it is always paid in full because the money is secured at the time of purchase.

    • Lumma says:

      20 Jun20 June 09:53

      That’s weird. Is there any point in them doing it like that? If your current account accrues interest would you get interest on the amount you’ve spent on your card?

      • Jeff says:

        20 Jun20 June 10:11

        I was never able to find a current account that offered interest in France, in fact there was a monthly fee of €14 just for having the account; no additional benefits and that is very standard there. There are now more online banks but with the inertia factor, the domestic business of the main French banks is very profitable. Cheques and cash are still used far more than in the UK.

      • Concerto says:

        20 Jun20 June 10:51

        I manage to get 6% interest out of La Poste, but I opened the two accounts (Livret A and PEL) 20 years ago during a special offer.

      • Bob says:

        20 Jun20 June 11:25

        Current accounts do not accrue interests in France… old habit in the French market.

        Livret A and PEL are not current accounts.

        Interests on Livret A and PEL are not paid on a daily basis.
        On the Livret A, interests are paid at the end of the year.

        You need to mouve your funds between those and your current account.

        You cannot have a credit card linked to a Livret A or a PEL.

        And the interest on the Livret A is most of the time inferior of the inflation rate.

        The interest on the PEL is better but you cannot cash it before something like 4 or 5 years or more : it is meant to help you to get a reduced interest loan for buying a house.

        Then if you manage all those caveats, it may work fine.

    • Bob says:

      20 Jun20 June 11:56

      I do not know if interchange fee is different for the CB cartes bancaires network.

      I believe the CB cartes bancaires was created in the 80s to reduce the cost for the shops to accept the CB cartes bancaires cards.
      So the interchange fee, and maybe all other costs related to the cards, were already lower than in any equivalent country.

      I am not really sure the new european directive changes substantially something in France.

      Economic newspapers are not writing about that and interchange fees.

      All the buzz is in the uk ;-).

    • RussellH says:

      20 Jun20 June 16:34

      When I had a French CB Visa, it worked in exactly the same way as my UK debit cards in terms of when debits were charged to my account. I closed the a/c in 2012, though, so things may have changed. Bank was CCF, taken over by HSBC.

  • Bob says:

    20 Jun20 June 11:49

    All mastercard and visa cards (issued in France) are inside the CB Cartes Bancaires network in France.

    CB here must not be confused with Carte Bleue which is the Visa “name/brand ” in France.

• Lev441 says:

  20 Jun20 June 09:13

  Looks more encouraging than the supposed changes with Lloyd’s Avios card…. maybe they’ll be a rethink…

• Gill says:

  20 Jun20 June 09:29

  OT

  I’m after the SPG card but was declined back in Feb . Couldn’t see any reason aside from a secondary Lloyds amex triggered a credit check. I’ve since cancelled one card leaving me with one amex issued card.

  Anyone advise on how long to wait to reapply ? 4 months too soon?

  Thanks

  • Lev441 says:

    20 Jun20 June 09:34

    You shouldn’t have been checked if you were an additional cardholder?

    • Gill says:

      20 Jun20 June 10:09

      Never been checked with amex issued secondary cards but the Lloyds secondary left a mark . I wasn’t expecting it but shouldn’t have been a surprise given their disjointed IT systems.

  • Lumma says:

    20 Jun20 June 10:21

    Use the eligibility checker on the amex website as a guide. I cancelled the old gold charge card, waited 6 months to reapply and got turned down. I had opened a couple of other credit accounts in that time so I think that may have been why. Waited about 5 months and used the checker. It only gave me a 5/10 chance of being accepted for the new gold credit but I applied anyway and got accepted.

    Strangely, it gives you a rating for all of the cards that they offer and it doesn’t seem to have any logic to it. I had a 9/10 chance of getting Platinum, green or BA premium, 5/10 for gold and BA free and only 3/10 for nectar

    • Gill says:

      20 Jun20 June 10:32

      Thanks Lumma – That’s handy – hadn’t come across that.

• Marcw says:

  20 Jun20 June 09:31

  It’s not that surprising though: I believe this are more marketing tools other than generating a profit.
  Also, look at Spain. There are the Iberia cards, but also the Air Europa Visa card, totally free, 0.5 Miles per EUR. And you get free tier on top (Silver, which matches SkyTeam Elite), basically getting free luggage and seat selection when flying Air Europa (even on basic fares). Whatever, don’t believe these cards are there to make money, but rather as marketing tools.
  The problem with the Uk there’s really no competition in the FF schemes. Avios or Avios (Virgins one is more a niche FFP).

  • Lumma says:

    20 Jun20 June 10:29

    I actually think it makes sense for airlines to offer some kind of benefits to credit card holders. Take the free BA AMEX, you could fly exclusively on BA’s rivals and the only time you use BA is when you cash in your avios for almost free flights.

    Giving card holders some psuedo status benefits such as limited numbers of free seat selection, checked bags or even lounge access could push customers into favouring BA or even warrant charging a moderate annual fee on a card

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