See NFL at Wembley by redeeming hotel points with Marriott and SPG

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• Jonathan says:

  3 Sep3 September 04:40

  The free fast track is also available at Stansted. I used it on Friday. They didn’t check my fast track ticket upon entering security, nor whether I had purchased anything from duty free, so I don’t know how they can threaten to “send you an invoice, if you don’t buy anything”, as they are not keeping any records.

  • John says:

    3 Sep3 September 08:31

    Isn’t the only record they need to keep the one from the duty free shop regarding whether you picked up your order? Does your real name appear on the fast track ticket?

  • Rob says:

    3 Sep3 September 09:42

    Thanks, might run this.

• Ian M says:

  3 Sep3 September 05:46

  OT..

  Has anyone received their SPG Amex points from July yet?

  • HL says:

    3 Sep3 September 06:23

    July yes, August no

    • Ian M says:

      3 Sep3 September 06:38

      When did you receive your July points? On a normal month everything I earned from 1st – 31st July would have left my Amex on or around 6th August and landed in my SPG account. The points left my Amex account as normal but have not reappeared anywhere as yet.

      • Munch says:

        3 Sep3 September 08:22

        Amex are now talking about transfers starting mid September. I’m not sure if its best to combine my accounts (SPG/Marriott) or will this cause more confusion to the system?

  • FlyingChris says:

    3 Sep3 September 09:00

    No SPG Amex points yet from August. Website says mid september. Likewise haven’t yet combined accounts just in case led to more confusion?

    Anyone know if MR transfers from Amex will be similarly delayed? There’s a Cat 7 redemption I *really* want to book for next year but no point initiating a big transfer if will get delayed/lost in the system.

    • Lee says:

      3 Sep3 September 09:48

      MR transfers from Amex to SPG works alright, took only two days last weekend.

      • FlyingChris says:

        3 Sep3 September 09:49

        Great to know, thanks!

• Czechoslovakia says:

  3 Sep3 September 05:59

  I have to pass through Manchester T1 every three weeks… I’d really like to hear the reasoning from the berk who decided it was in everyone’s best interest to combine the fast track lane with the family lane. Probably the same Muppet who thought it was ok to get every T1 arriving passenger to walk up a flight of stairs, only then to, 10 meters later, go down a flight of stairs again….

  • Rash says:

    3 Sep3 September 13:26

    The same muppet who decided to charge 4 pounds for dropping off passengers! Manchester airport is becoming a joke….

  • Trickster says:

    3 Sep3 September 13:30

    T1 arrivals experience is disgraceful. The place is a dump, and the toilets are a disgrace. Thanks nice they’ve finished doing T2 I hope they turn their attention to T.

    However, I was impressed with the family Lane last night, certainly benefited from it, and for once our luggage didn’t take an age to arrive.

• Jon says:

  3 Sep3 September 06:31

  O/T but as it’s bits – re the Hilton Miles & More promotion. Be aware, it appears the miles come at a cost…

  Can someone remind me, didn’t HIlton drop the whole Points & Points / Points & Miles thing about a year ago and change to a simple 10 points + status-related-extra-points earnings model on stays?

  Hilton have just sent me this (the latest in a long and frustrating round of emails resulting from me querying why the points I’d earned for a couple of stays had been reduced by about 20% when the M&M miles were credited):

  ***
  “First, let me apologize for the confusion and necessary follow-up as we truly value your time.

  Upon checking your file, I see that your miles has been credited on your account. Due to the adjustment, your initial points has been deduced. Please see the policy below after we applied your MyWay preference.

  *Points & Points* – Earn 10 Hilton Honors Base Points plus 5 Bonus Points per eligible US dollar spent on your room. (For stays at Home2 Suites by Hilton hotels, earn 5 Hilton Honors Base Points plus 2.5 Bonus Points per eligible US dollar spent on your room.)

  *Points & Variable Miles* – Earn 10 Hilton Honors Base Points plus 1 mile per eligible US dollar spent on your room. (For stays at Home2 Suites by Hilton hotels, earn 5 Hilton Honors Base Points plus 1 mile per eligible US dollar spent on your room, up to 100 miles per stay.)

  Thus, the 5 Bonus Points per eligible US dollar spent on your room before has been deducted on your account and has converted to miles. Hopefully, this clears up any confusion it caused.”
  ***

  This is wrong isn’t it?

  Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but I can see nothing in the Miles & More promotion T&Cs that says anything about needing to switch to Points & Miles (no longer an option surely?!) or that the points earned will be reduced in return for the miles etc…

  Thoughts?

  • Ian M says:

    3 Sep3 September 06:46

    There’s no longer an option to choose between ‘Points & Points’ or ‘Points & Miles’. There hasn’t been since April. You should have received 10 base points per dollar spent + your status bonus + 2500 Miles & More.

  • BJ says:

    3 Sep3 September 07:35

    Ian is correct. In addition you should receive a further 10 points/$ if you registered for double points. My points plus 2500 miles have posted fine so far. Are you sure you are calculating them properly? If so, launch a new ticket with Hilton as opposed to replying to the ongoing one.

    Reminder to those doing Lufthansa offer…reward stays and Points and Money do not qualify!

    • Jon says:

      3 Sep3 September 08:12

      Thanks both – exactly what I thought.

      Yep, definitely calculating them correctly – the points initially credited at the correct amount but were then reduced when an agent manually credited the M&M miles.

      The frustrating thing is the amount of going round in circles this is taking to get resolved – it should be blindingly obvious, both by doing the maths and by looking at the points awarded for numerous previous stays at the same hotel with much the same amount on the bill, let alone the points originally credited for these stays, that the points have been reduced erroneously as a consequence of this manual crediting of the M&M miles, yet they persist in responding with stock answers and invalid excuses rather than actually fixing the problem.

      Anyone got contact details for someone vaguely senior at Hilton? 😉

      • Ian M says:

        3 Sep3 September 08:14

        I suggest submitting a formal complaint and state all the time you’ve wasted on trying to get this sorted. My recent formal complaint with Amex paid big dividends!

      • Jon says:

        4 Sep4 September 06:50

        Thanks Ian, I will now be doing exactly that. The latest is that they’ve credited the missing points – “as a one time courtesy” (!) Still no acknowledgement that this was their mistake and should not have taken 7 emails from me to resolve. My request for compensation was declined (amusingly, they opened their previous email with “We truly value your time” – so I suggested we put a value on it… 😉

        Anyway, I’ve asked for their formal complaints procedure. In the meantime – does anyone here know of a more direct email address for doing so, other than the usual contact one? Worth going direct to the CEO’s office?

• Scallder says:

  3 Sep3 September 07:38

  Thanks Anika – just grabbed a suite package for the Eagles game! Can’t wait 🙂

  • AndyGWP says:

    3 Sep3 September 17:03

    I’m tempted by this – was it the 45k ‘redeem’ one…? Any idea what to expect from the included ‘Food and Drink’?

    I wanted the 25k Premium seats + free gift (as ‘lower bowl’ makes it sound like you’re on the bottom tier) but think I’ll probably go for this as they’ve all sold out!

    Annoying as pre-sale for remaining tickets is on Saturday and auctions don’t end till October 🙁

• Jack says:

  3 Sep3 September 07:39

  Sorry for the OT (not that sorry as I always do it) – has anyone had experience of using two Lloyds vouchers on the same booking, to upgrade two of us both ways – both vouchers are in my name. There doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of info on this that I can find and I wondered if anyone has first hand experience. I might have asked this before but I have a terrible memory so forgive me if I’m repeating myself…

  I also gather they now take the booking by phone and can move the Avios from your BA account; does anyone think/know if BA household Avios (not in my individual account) might be able to be used with the Lloyds voucher?

  Thanks all and Happy Monday 🙂

  • Chris L says:

    3 Sep3 September 07:59

    Haven’t done this exactly but just making two separate one-way bookings should achieve the desired outcome.

    • Jack says:

      3 Sep3 September 08:23

      Taxes more expensive this way, I thought?

      • Genghis says:

        3 Sep3 September 08:27

        Depends where you’re going (eg Hong Kong = singles, US = return). You should be able to call avios.com up and essentially structure it as you want as the voucher is manually applied.

      • Genghis says:

        3 Sep3 September 08:28

        Or is it now BA you call? I’ve lost track

  • BJ says:

    3 Sep3 September 08:30

    You cannot do it as a return because that would mean giving one voucher to your travel partner which is impossible as the holder must use it. You can get around that by doing 2x one way as Chris suggests. Only downside is more tax and fees if you plan on going someplace returns are markedly cheaper than 2x one way such as USA. By contrast you are a winner if the opposite is true such as in Asia.

    • Anna says:

      3 Sep3 September 08:53

      You can use them as one ways and avios.com will adjust the taxes so you’re not out of pocket, I have done this. They can access your BA account to use those avios, I just did this last week.

      • BJ says:

        3 Sep3 September 10:08

        Thanks Anna, didn’t know they were willing to adjust the tax. Not that I’m sure it will help much longer with time now running out on vouchers. Already adjusted my strategy to include BAPP and 231 vouchers in my churn cycle.

    • Alex W says:

      3 Sep3 September 12:18

      In the past I have managed to book by phone a ticket for someone else using my upgrade voucher, I was not on the same booking.

      • Tom H says:

        3 Sep3 September 14:51

        BJ I have used multiple upgrade vouchers of mine without me traveling for other people and never any problems….

      • BJ says:

        3 Sep3 September 15:14

        Thanks Alex and Tom, I tried it once and was refused so never tried again. I think T&C say voucher holder must travel. However, when it comes to avios nothing surprises me, agents seem to have independence and flexibility to interpret rules which can work to our advantage.

• Michael C says:

  3 Sep3 September 07:56

  And yet another Monday a.m. OT: I use my BA Amex 90% for personal use but am about to pay for a US conference which is business-related. Do I just wait for that specific GBP amount of the conference fees to be posted in my Amex account, then transfer only that amount from my business account (paying off the rest as usual with my personal debit)?
  Cheers.

  • Dale says:

    3 Sep3 September 08:09

    I think it’s up to you. Not sure what sort of advice you are seeking?

  • Genghis says:

    3 Sep3 September 08:10

    Depends how you run your business finances but what you propose seems sensible.

  • John says:

    3 Sep3 September 08:27

    Ask your accountant.

    • Michael C says:

      3 Sep3 September 08:37

      Thanks, all.

    • Rob says:

      3 Sep3 September 09:38

      Yes, I would. If your year-end falls over the period before you clear the bill then you might have to declare a directors loan, but if not then it doesn’t make any difference. 90% of businesses reimburse personal credit card expenses made by employees.

  • Jon says:

    3 Sep3 September 13:00

    That’s one way. I just transfer the exact amount from the Biz account to my personal account (with descriptive bank reference and linked receipt) and let the monthly bill clear as normal. To be honest anything that makes it very obvious to your bookkeeper (and potentially HMRC) what is going on should be fine.

  • KBuffett says:

    3 Sep3 September 19:58

    Personally I think you should transfer the amount spend on Business expenses to you personal account from your business account and then pay the whole balance due on your credit card from your personal account. That keeps things clean as you have claimed the amount as an expense from your employer.

• Mark Smith says:

  3 Sep3 September 08:20

  O/T what is the best number to call BAEC on to do an open jaw 241 redemption? Normal blue card line is very busy this morning so wondered if there were any other phone numbers people had had more success on. Thanks!

  • BJ says:

    3 Sep3 September 08:36

    Oddly, I’ve always found the blue line bettter than elite lines. Some agents are fussy though, they will not service you if you are on the wrong libe for your status but in most cases I find they don’t care.

  • Anna says:

    3 Sep3 September 08:54

    Call when they open at 7.30 am!

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