British Airways announces new Pittsburgh route with excellent Avios availability

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

• Roger says:

  26 Jul26 July 06:02

  Quiet thread hence OT
  How do you tackle with positive balance on credit card account?
  Is asking for refund a good idea of wait out and spend it over next couple of months.

  • Genghis says:

    26 Jul26 July 06:05

    If significant, ask for a refund.

    • RIccatti says:

      26 Jul26 July 06:23

      Depends on the card issuer. MBNA normally refunds without a question, UK AMEX will eat your soul if checks are triggered.

      • Bagoly says:

        26 Jul26 July 07:19

        I have had UK Amex send money back to account from which direct debit settles it without my asking – only a few hundred, and after two months inactivity.

  • RIccatti says:

    26 Jul26 July 06:21

    UK AMEX is a pain. They WILL check if there was a charge from the same retailer, for the same amount.

    If they can’t identify the charge for which the refunded money came (and it can happen at their backoffice processing in India), eg partial refunds, the money will be deducted from your AMEX but not transferred to your bank account.

    The situation is irresolvable short of major written complaint and FOS complaint.

    • Genghis says:

      26 Jul26 July 06:32

      Agreed. At a hotel I used an Amex Plat as the guarantee card and then paid with a different non-Amex card. I made a complaint to the hotel and they agreed to a partial refund but amounts were refunded to the now cancelled Plat. Amex questioned why there was no debit to the corresponding credit so I had to write a letter and attach all receipts etc. Eventually I got my refund after about 6 weeks

      • Roger says:

        26 Jul26 July 06:33

        This is Creation IHG so not too sure how they will handle this.

    • John says:

      26 Jul26 July 08:22

      This isn’t my experience though the amount was small. My wife bought something on a non-Amex and accidentally refunded it to an Amex, and the shop didn’t notice. The only thing Amex did was take away some MR points!

      • TGLoyalty says:

        26 Jul26 July 21:04

        Had that as and old card had been cancelled and the shop said they would just refund any card then.

        I contacted Amex and they gave me my MR back.

    • Andrew says:

      26 Jul26 July 08:36

      What can happen is employees attempt to embezzle their employers by refunding non-existant transactions to their own cards.

      So if there isn’t a matching transaction, it should flag up as fraud.

      I had this issue recently when I bought a faulty item from WDF on Amex. Apparently they can’t refund to Amex on postal returns, so a £900 credit was made to my Debit card instead. This flagged as fraud so was ring-fenced, it took a 2 minute call to my bank and they were satisfied it was normal.

      (You’re Posting Comments too quickly Slow Down just flashed up there from HfP – Either I’m typing too quickly or one of my 12,000 colleagues who share this IP address is also commenting!)

    • Nick says:

      26 Jul26 July 08:50

      I find that they are normally happy to transfer a credit from one of my cards to another. Of course only helpful if you have more than one Amex.

    • RIccatti says:

      26 Jul26 July 09:11

      Fraud is one thing, but the main cause is AML (anti money laundering) regulations.

      Once AMEX UK identifies a large credit/refund (without a corresponding debit/transaction), they can’t simply leave the credit on account. They can’t forward funds to your bank account either — the funds go into limbo.

      The only thing they can do is to refund the funds back the source of payment.

      I had a major issue with Balance Transfers, for example.

      Creation IHG would be very similar in terms of dealing with returning cash from refunds. The solution is to open Curve account, link up Creation IHG and..

• Roger says:

  26 Jul26 July 06:17

  Any idea of any increased signup bonus on Nectar card?

• Craig says:

  26 Jul26 July 06:24

  OT: Is anyone else missing points balances and progress bars from Amex this morning?

  • Roger says:

    26 Jul26 July 06:31

    Yes.

  • Richard says:

    26 Jul26 July 08:07

    Yes

  • RussellH says:

    26 Jul26 July 10:14

    Website has posted a message about maintenance on Membership Rewards currently taking place.

    • Peter K says:

      26 Jul26 July 17:20

      Probably because too many MR points used for Rob’s hack on getting Heathrow rewards points cheap ????

• KBuffett says:

  26 Jul26 July 07:25

  Whilst we are talking about credit cards, I have a question about preloading or paying off credit cards before the due date. I have a Hilton Barclaycard and have already hit my limit for this month. Can I pay this off early and then max it out again to pay HMRC (via Curve) and all the points?
  I think I read on here previously that this not allowed.

  • Genghis says:

    26 Jul26 July 07:51

    It’s allowed. From experience.

  • Mark says:

    26 Jul26 July 08:20

    One problem that can arise is if the card is paid off by direct debit, set to pay in full. HSBC, for example, will still take the full statement balance oot of the DD, meaning it takes a month or so to work through.

    • Genghis says:

      26 Jul26 July 10:14

      Not the case with Barclaycard. DD amended a la Amex.

  • Rob says:

    26 Jul26 July 08:35

    Depends on issuer is the not hugely helpful answer. MBNA was always ok.

  • Andrew says:

    26 Jul26 July 08:57

    As soon as an entry is posted to the ledger (ie not a pending transaction), it’s absolutely fine to drop a payment across to your account. You have created a debt and you are entitled to settle your debts.

    If you are a bit quick, John Lewis Partnership Cards are an example of this, and send a payment whilst it is still pending, then I’ve known the Faster Payment to be rejected.

    The Direct Debit element is only really an issue if you happen to pre-settle at the very same instant that the Statement is generated – even then some companies will reduce the DD collected if settlement is made between the statement date and the extract for the DD run.

  • Peter K says:

    26 Jul26 July 09:33

    I did this a lot with Barclaycard Hilton card, then just asked for a higher limit. Paint of early is not an issue and it does reduce down any DD in place.

  • sunguy says:

    26 Jul26 July 12:07

    Barclaycard will not allow you to overpay …

    I pay my balance off monthly, I *always* have to take the balance and then find the authorisations that have not yet been finalised and take them off before I have an amount I am allowed to pay.

    Ive tried on the app and on the website – it just wont let you do it.

    You could try just sending the amount via a bank transfer rather than paying via the app/website, but who knows if they will accept it!

    • Genghis says:

      26 Jul26 July 12:33

      They do accept bank transfers even if pending amounts.

  • the_real_a says:

    26 Jul26 July 19:40

    Yes i do this very often and have done so for a decade or more. I have never experienced any issue whatsoever. This is favorable if you are trying to massage your credit reports, so that you are showing a zero balance (thus no utilised credit) when they report your account once a month.

    • Genghis says:

      26 Jul26 July 19:51

      Isn’t no utilised credit supposedly worse that a middling amount of used credit?

• HayMow says:

  26 Jul26 July 08:23

  For architecture fans new route this is great news – Frank Lloyd Wright’s spectacular Fallingwater is only an hour from Pittsburgh (+half hour from the airport) and has been on my bucket list for a while https://www.fallingwater.org – this would definitely make it easier to visit 🙂

  • Alan says:

    26 Jul26 July 08:39

    Wow, looks impressive and worth a visit!

    • HayMow says:

      27 Jul27 July 13:49

      Exactly what I thought! Apparently you may have to book q far ahead to get the tour you particularly want – and there is some accommodation on the way back to Pittsburgh you can stay at, which was also designed by Lloyd Wright: Duncan House at Polymath Park and some other buildings, plus a restaurant.

  • FromPittsburgh says:

    26 Jul26 July 08:45

    Definitely a great addition to the route network, even if surprising. Pittsburgh has been lacking international connections since 2004, but routes to Paris (DL, seasonal for the last 5-6 years), FRA (Condor, new summer 2018) and KEF (WOW, started 2017) are apparently doing well. BA is reportedly getting $3 mln over two years to start this route. I highly recommend a visit – in addition to Fallingwater, there is the Andy Warhol museum, some other great museums, history, universities, professional sports, and some very good hotels, and all very affordable by big city prices. It’s also the setting for August Wilson’s drama, for fans of his work (Fences). Finally, only a four hour drive from Washington, DC and around 7-8 hours from NY, for those contemplating a US road trip.

    But I grew up and have family there, so I’m biased!

    • FromPittsburgh says:

      26 Jul26 July 08:47

      Andy Warhol museum: https://www.warhol.org/
      For hotels, try the Kimpton.

    • HayMow says:

      27 Jul27 July 13:58

      Great info from a local @FromPittsburgh! Sounds like Pennsylvania decided to throw a load of money at boosting Pittsburgh/PA tourism – and why not – $3m can’t be such a big deal if it drives a huge rise in tourist dollars as a result. I wonder if that means they have to keep it running for min.2 years or have a break option if it performs poorly (thinking ahead, if I can’t make it in 2019!). Good to know about the FRA route too – tho I’ll start with trying to use my Amex 241 on BA first 🙂 I do like a Kimpton (and affordability) – more good news. Not far to Ohio, where we have several friends, either. Will check out Fences (not on my Netflix or Amazon Prime sadly and can’t figure out how to tell if it’s on Now TV without signing up 😉 ). Thanks

• Optimus Prime says:

  26 Jul26 July 09:35

  OT – how long does an Amex to BA points transfer when linking an account for the first time?

  • Optimus Prime says:

    26 Jul26 July 09:35

    How long does it *take*…

    • S says:

      26 Jul26 July 10:46

      3-4 days

      • Optimus Prime says:

        26 Jul26 July 12:57

        Thanks.

• Lemeng says:

  26 Jul26 July 10:51

  BA’s withdrawal from Pittsburgh in 1999 was a boon to Virgin as it released a US gateway city under the rules of the Bermuda II air services agreement then in force. Virgin picked up the designation in order to start its successful Gatwick-Las Vegas route.

  Now BA is going back to Pittsburgh, no doubt lured by financial incentives from the airport there. Pittsburgh is very active in incentivising new routes, giving large bungs to Qatar Airways to start cargo flights – which have so far hugely underperformed their plan. It will be interesting to see whether BA makes a success of the route or pulls out again when the financial incentives run out.

  • FromPittsburgh says:

    26 Jul26 July 14:25

    I too am somewhat skeptical such a large premium cabin will work. I was anticipating the likes of EI to DUB on a 757 / A321LR, or Primera to STN.

    • Yorkieflyer says:

      27 Jul27 July 00:18

      Pittsburgh has a population of some 300,000 and appears to be a neither business nor leisure, a hick destination in the middle of pretty much nowhere. Yet a further example of the transatlantic focus both BA and Virgin with their Delta tie up are relentlessly pursuing rather than competing with the ME3 and others going eastward. Sad.

      • the real harry1 says:

        27 Jul27 July 01:08

        Qatar is persevering with Cardiff despite poor sales so far…

        • Rob says:

          27 Jul27 July 10:23

          BA is getting £3m allegedly.

      • Jimbob says:

        27 Jul27 July 05:24

        I suspect Qatar persevering with Cardiff might have something to do with the Welsh Government being overly generous.

        Interestingly Welsh Government has refused to divulge the agreement they have with Qatar, some much for being open and transparent.

        • Rob says:

          27 Jul27 July 10:22

          £5m, either the Qatar CEO or the First Minister said so at the press conference for the launch, which I was at. Not sure if it was meant to be a secret or not.

• bumpmad says:

  26 Jul26 July 11:40

  Annoying this wasn’t Cincinnati…. still the largest US city not served directly from the UK.. 🙁

  • sunguy says:

    26 Jul26 July 12:11

    In some ways I aggree with the CVG bit – but having worked alot in Cincy, the extra tier points you get…for the 2nd flight…..besides, previously it was Delta….and from LGW….(so of absolutely no use to BA followers).

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.