New Charles Tyrwhitt / Avios discount code now launched

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• Scallder says:

  12 Aug12 August 06:23

  You could still make a booking for the SPG properties without the points in your account (as Marriott have confirmed this will continue in the new scheme) and hope the certificate you have will be able to be used and attach it to the booking after Sep 18…

  • Rob says:

    12 Aug12 August 10:05

    No you can’t. The rules are out and SPG hotels are exempt from ‘Points Advance’.

    • Tony says:

      12 Aug12 August 11:19

      Rob, do you know if this points advance exception is for the Aug 18—Sept 18 period only, or actually for beyond this month period? Thanks

    • RIccatti says:

      12 Aug12 August 11:56

      Rob, I was offered by an SPG Plat associate to book a hotel and add the points later, about a month ago — I did not pursue but from the previous dealings on Nights&Flights,

      I know it is possible for SPG to create unfunded award booking (booking created but no award certificate issued). Then, after some time, points deducted and the award certificate issued — you normally receive a separate email confirming that.

      • Tony says:

        12 Aug12 August 12:52

        Ricatti, would you be able to let me know the actual process for doing that? I’m an SPG Plat and I’m keen to book a St Regis for 60K from Aug 18 (for Feb 19) but won’t have the points by then. Thanks!

        • Rob says:

          12 Aug12 August 15:34

          Can’t be done, only ex-Marriott hotels will allow this.

• Sam G says:

  12 Aug12 August 06:23

  I booked a one way ticket on BA a while ago out of IST and it was priced/charged in USD, so looks like they already protected themselves from any losses

  • BJ says:

    12 Aug12 August 06:48

    Not to mention a certain other currency that is far more important to us has crashed in the past two years.

    • John says:

      12 Aug12 August 07:18

      The “crash” isn’t comparable. The Turkish lira is worth less than half it was 2 years ago even in GBP terms. Anyway, the pound was at its present value of 1.27 USD back in 1985, and it recovered; meanwhile today’s Turkish lira is only worth 1/12000th of what it was back then.

      • BJ says:

        12 Aug12 August 07:57

        Time to visit Turkey then 🙂

        I did not know the pound had been so low against the dollar in 85, it was 86 onwards I started travelling in the states as a student and I seem to remember rates being good. I think they even went through the $2 but I cannot recall when that was.

      • Jonathan says:

        12 Aug12 August 08:21

        $2.10 to the pound when I was in Miami in June 2007. Oh for those days to return!

      • xcalx says:

        12 Aug12 August 09:11

        $2.42 to the pound when we were in California 27/7/1979 back in the days when your holiday money was noted at the back of your JOINT passport. Just had a look at mine £798 for 3 weeks lived like royalty with that.

      • RIccatti says:

        12 Aug12 August 12:01

        It’s NOT the fact that pounds will recover to nearer 2 USD. This is very dangerous thinking. Depends on our productivity.

      • Lady London says:

        12 Aug12 August 12:16

        Yes the pound has tended to mostly bounce back. However the longterm underlying trend is downwards (as for the UK economy except for certain sectors like specific high tech, professional services and the City).

        @John is right for most of the latter part of next year people from other countries will be doing the turkey trick with GBP. There will most definitely be a recovery and sooner than a lot of people think. But there’s money to be made on that volatility by smart purchasers of any UK service or asset or UK-priced travel if you catch it at the right time.

        Anyone whose income is in GBP or assets in UK and immovable is going to lose out though if they are forced to dispose of assets in that time.

        Just my 2-p worth. Too much for a Sunday really I think I;m boring you all. Think I should change my name to Grumpy Cat.

  • Intentionally Blank says:

    12 Aug12 August 11:11

    Upgraded on the way back from IST with BA last Sunday. Was charged in USD. Thought £140 wasn’t bad for the 4 hour flight. The lounge at IST that BA use was disgusting, though. Food all over the tables / floor. Use your priority pass and use a different lounge if you can. I toured all three PP lounges and the BA one was by far the worst.

    • Lumma says:

      12 Aug12 August 12:49

      I’d rather fly Turkish airlines economy on one of the widebodies than BA club to or from Istanbul to be fair

      • Michael Jennings says:

        12 Aug12 August 13:49

        Last time I flew Turkish to Istanbul in Economy, it was good, except that I overheard the following exchange from behind me:

        “I am sorry sir, but we have run out of tonic. It’s very popular on London flights..”

        Oh the depravity of it. I hope that this, at least, would never happen on BA.

• MDA says:

  12 Aug12 August 06:57

  Looking to go LHR to IST offpeak times within the next few months. Any idea on the best time to go? Ideally BA due to points but prefer Turkish Airlines

  • John says:

    12 Aug12 August 07:24

    Remember no big electronic devices allowed on board when flying BA from IST

    • ankomonkey says:

      12 Aug12 August 08:55

      And be aware that the new Istanbul airport is scheduled to open at the end of October, and is much further from the main areas of interest than Ataturk is. Some believe the opening will be delayed or only affect some airlines initially.

    • Travelling Inspector says:

      12 Aug12 August 11:06

      Whereas flying on Turkish IST-LHR there is no problem with laptops etc. on board. I know this because recently I missed the last BA flight because of a failed connection (fog in Ankara) and was able to buy an extremely reasonable one-way, on the day, on Turkish for their last flight. At check in I started to transfer the electronics to my checked bag but they said there was no need – and there wasn’t. And I’d thought it was a UK Government requirement…

    • Intentionally Blank says:

      12 Aug12 August 11:12

      No electronics other than phones last week at IST. My power pack had to go in the bin 🙁

    • Michael Jennings says:

      12 Aug12 August 13:53

      I had both my laptop and my iPad with me flying BA out of Ataturk a couple of months back. To be fair to BA, they let me check my bag containing them at the gate for free, and I got them back quickly at LHR. Annoying though.

      • Tom says:

        12 Aug12 August 18:07

        Infuriating that things like this only apply to BA. Same flying back from Riyadh.. Saudia allow electronics on board, BA will not pay for enhanced security screening..and therefore you can’t carry them. An incredibly unproductive flight home.. and not even a drop of alcohol to drink either (until out of Saudi air space..but I was fast asleep by that point!).

      • Graham Walsh says:

        12 Aug12 August 20:41

        Had the same problem coming back from Cairo the other week. Had packed my laptops into my carry on (as that is all I needed for a week) so had to check it in, so paid the £1.50 or so to have it wrapped. Baggage handlers must know that nearly every case will have a laptop/tablet inside it. Restrictions are here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/changes-to-uk-aviation-security

• Roger says:

  12 Aug12 August 06:58

  What is the best advise still, if you have enough points for MTP?
  Should one still go ahead and book Travel Package if the aim is to get cheap air miles and hotel certificate secondary?

  • Alex W says:

    12 Aug12 August 07:19

    If you can make use of the hotel certificate then until 17 August it’s the best deal out there. After 18 August, not so much.

    Think I’ve finally decided to pull the trigger on a Cat 9 with 120k Alaska miles. All speculative, but pretty sure I should get decent value out of those 🙂

  • BJ says:

    12 Aug12 August 07:26

    Personally, if I had enough points I would buy another before the 18th. My reasoning is that I think Marriott will map existing certificates to new ones in a way that everybody gets at least what they originally paid for or better. I think the only losers will be those (probably most?) who booked a cat 1-5 with a view to upgrading later, I expect those to be stuck with a new cat 1-4 certificate, potentially facing much higher upgrade costs. Tough luck, we still get what we paid for, we all know schemes can change, even without notice. Marriott has been very fair with this merger, I don’t see them changing now, especially at the expense of their best customers.

    • Alan says:

      12 Aug12 August 10:46

      Agree seems likely 1-5 will become 1-4 (hence I went for cat 6 to give buffer for cat 5). Quite annoyed about the one month block on using them though.

      • BJ says:

        12 Aug12 August 11:32

        I suspect Rob is right, Marriott couldn’t make up their own minds what to do otherwise the problem would have been resolved already and a solution in place for 18th. I am not losing any sleep over it, if it plays out the way I am guessing I should be able to upgrade to Paris Republique for 10k points per night. If not, I can use cat 4 at a number of useful hotels in Asia. Would have liked the points though as I would probably have moved them to LH.

      • Genghis says:

        12 Aug12 August 14:03

        Where does the 10k / night upgrade come from? Because you have a Cat 1-5 currently which you think will become Cat 1-4 (25k / night) but Paris Republique costs 35k in the new scheme (cat 5)? I reckon any delta will be priced from the new Marriott travel package price list so your Cat 1-4 ->5 would be a 60k top up.

      • BJ says:

        12 Aug12 August 14:40

        @ Genghis, yes that is what I was thinking but I don’t know why given the alternative you explain is the current way of doing things. You would have been a great math teacher, you have demonstrated here frequently a talent for reasoning backwards to figure out what folks do wrong with their calculations 🙂

    • Alex W says:

      13 Aug13 August 07:55

      @BJ – Marriott has been very fair – except the mid-year status downgrade and taking away free breakfast and lounge access from a lot of people. They could at least have given us until December.

      • BJ says:

        13 Aug13 August 10:08

        That was a side effect benefit of amex platinum and SPG. I am sorry it went too but I don’t blame Marriott, their allignment was fair based on comparable qualifying nights. My partner and I have two TP to redeem so will lose out on 28 breakfasts and who knows how many drinks but I still don’t have any hard feelings towards Marriott on this, I did not earn it and it was a free benefit while it lasted. If you have post 18/8 reservations made before the changes were announced you might find it worthwhile emailing hotel directly requesting they honour your benefits, comments suggestvothers have successfully done so.

• The Streets says:

  12 Aug12 August 07:33

  I’m still gutted I can’t move my Amex MR points across to SPG in time to buy another Travel Package

  • BJ says:

    12 Aug12 August 11:23

    Can have sympathy with that, more annoying than anything going on at Marriott itself. I cancelled mine, waiting to see if another churn will be possible in October.

• Max says:

  12 Aug12 August 07:55

  OT – I’ve got a Lloyds upgrade voucher which expires in Feb 2019, but I’m struggling to use it by then. If I used it to make a booking for Feb 2020, would it then be possible to change that travel date to April 2020 when the later flights are released?

  • Roberto says:

    12 Aug12 August 08:39

    I very much doubt it. Sorry..

  • Lev441 says:

    12 Aug12 August 09:00

    I disagree, I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to extend the dates subject to the fare conditions of the ticket…

    • Callum says:

      12 Aug12 August 09:14

      Do British Airways (/most airline) tickets not expire after one year?

      Though booking so far ahead, there’s a decent chance the flight will be retimed and make you able to make an “involuntary” change to the booking. When that happened to me I got the Avios and voucher refunded, though I’m not sure they’d physically be able to issue another voucher then.

      • Rob says:

        12 Aug12 August 09:54

        You cannot extend a ticket beyond 355 days of the original booking date I think.

    • Roberto says:

      12 Aug12 August 09:29

      Award tickets using 241 and lloyds vouchers are never really “amended or swapped” for new dates/flights – they are simply cancelled and then rebooked. In this case the voucher would have expired.

      • Yorkieflyer says:

        12 Aug12 August 10:28

        An interesting question here, Lloyds vouchers are different in that you have to book by the expiry date not travel like Amex vouchers, so I think amendments aren’t then possible unlike the Smex voucher?

      • Michael says:

        12 Aug12 August 11:52

        I booked using my Lloyds upgrade voucher on 31 December 2017, the day the voucher was due to expire (talking about cutting it fine!).
        I booked a flight for June 2018 but had to rearrange the day before, I simply called-up and changes the dates to November 2018, no issues, just £35.
        The agent confirmed I could change again, however as Rob states above, I think I’m unable to change for a flight that would depart after 31 December this year as that would be more than 355 days after the initial booking.

      • BJ says:

        12 Aug12 August 12:25

        @ Michael, thanks for that, Sorry I didn’t see it before adding my comment.

    • BJ says:

      12 Aug12 August 11:47

      The issue is not one related to extending tickets, it is about cancelling and rebooking. I am quite sure a reader commented here or elsewhere that an avios agent let them cancel an existing reservation and have the voucher on it applied to a new reservation when done at the same time. The voucher was reportedly not returned to the account which is not allowed if flights are cancelled. I saw such a comment once only so have no idea if all agents would do this or not and we now have added uncertainty of BA handling vouchers going forward. Despite the chances being low, for the sake of a £35 change fee I think I would take a punt on making a reservation with an expiring voucher in the hope an agent would change it for me at a later date. £35 Is not a lot to lose given the potential points value of higher zone redemptions.

  • Lady London says:

    12 Aug12 August 12:22

    A ticket is normally valid only for 11 and a half months after it is issued. Varies slightly by airline. You will probably find it impossible to amend it later to add a flight any later than the 11 and a half months. Note that is after the date the ticket is issued NOT the date of the outgoing flight.

• Pauline says:

  12 Aug12 August 08:09

  I was hoping to buy a rewards package for a Ritz Carlton tier 5 hotel but don’t yet have enough points and a lot of them would come from AMEX MR. If you buy a certificate without the required points already there surely they are likely to cancel it anyway?

  • Peter K says:

    12 Aug12 August 08:28

    If you are on about a Marriott Travel Package then you need all the points before you can buy it.

  • Alex W says:

    13 Aug13 August 07:59

    Pauline, if you have enough for a Cat 9 package it might be useable for RC in September. But it might not.

• MarkH says:

  12 Aug12 August 08:33

  I’ve got a 1-5 package which like a lot of people in was going to upgrade when it came to book. Looks like this won’t be a good option once everything converts.

  Reckon I’ll upgrade this week so that it will map across to a higher category. Just need to figure out where the which cat to go up to.

  Does anyone know whether you get the TP back or the equivalent points when you cancel a booking made using a TP?

  • Alex W says:

    13 Aug13 August 08:02

    I have heard you get a flat 45k back but we don’t know what will happen after the merger.

    • Rob says:

      13 Aug13 August 09:49

      Yes, 45k for a Cat 1-5 if you surrender it before the 18th.

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