News in brief:
Join me at Loyalty Summit and the Frequent Traveller Awards Europe
Thursday 20th September sees a new travel loyalty conference in London called Loyalty Summit.
Held at the Hyatt Churchill, the speakers include senior members of Le Club AccorHotels, Radisson Rewards, Marriott Rewards, Finnair Plus, Norwegian Rewards, Miles & More, Flying Blue, American Express, SAS EuroBonus, Scandic Friends and IHG Rewards Club amongst others. The agenda for the day is here.
Following the summit, guests will be heading to the RAF Museum in Hendon for a reception and gala dinner underneath a Lancaster bomber! The evening will conclude with the Europe and Africa version of the Frequent Traveller Awards.
I will be attending the Summit – but not speaking – and I will also be hosting a table at the Frequent Traveller Awards dinner.
I was offered five heavily discounted tickets for my staff, but as I don’t have five employees I have been allowed to offer them to readers who work in the loyalty sector.
The standard rate is $399 if you work in the airline, hotel or car rental industry. I can sponsor registrations for five people for just $199, so roughly £150. This covers breakfast, attendance all day at the Loyalty Summit, lunch, transport from the Hyatt Churchill to Hendon, the gala dinner, drinks etc.
If you are interested, email me at rob at headforpoints.co.uk and I will send you a registration code. As I like to help people who are at the beginning of their careers, priority will be given to people who work for the main companies we cover – Avios / BA, Virgin, Hilton, IHG, Marriott, Qatar, Etihad etc – and especially those who are at a junior level and who would not otherwise be able to get the full conference fee approved.
Eurostar launches its London lounge cocktail bar
Following the huge success of the cocktail bar in its new Paris lounge (see our review here), Eurostar has opened another on the upper level of the London St Pancras lounge.
A press photo is above.
The menu has been designed by the London Cocktail Club and includes Lavender Dusk, a signature Eurostar cocktail created by the Business Premier culinary director Raymond Blanc.
Remember that Eurostar lounge access is a benefit of the American Express Platinum card, irrespective of your class of travel. You cannot bring a guest although obviously your nominated supplementary Platinum cardholder can come in with you by showing that.
British Airways launches a new Indian codeshare
British Airways has announced a codeshare deal with Indian airline Vistara.
This will allow you to book flights on ba.com to 13 new Indian cities including Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Goa, Kolkata, Kochi, and Pune.
You will change planes in Delhi, Chennai or Mumbai to a Vistara service. Bags will be checked through for you.
You will earn Avios and tier points for the Vistara flight. This is only possible if you book a Vistara flight under a British Airways flight number, which means it must be connecting to a mainline British Airways service. You cannot earn Avios or tier points if you book a Vistara flight directly.
Services are now bookable on ba.com for travel from 27th September.
(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for the latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios from current offers and promotions.)
About Head for Points
OT: Has anyone received any points from their SPG Amex into their Marriott/Starwood account yet? I’ve not received any for any spend since 1st July. Points left my SPG Amex on 5th August and again on 5th September but they’ve not hit my Marriott/SPG account.
So I’ve just spoken to Starwood customer care, and they said that I need to contact Amex and give them my new Marriott number because my old Starwood number is dead. What a mess they’ve made out of this merger, surely they could have linked old account numbers to the new merged accounts!?!
I read someone said the points will be transferred around mid Sep. My July points are also missing and Aug points suppose to leave tomorrow.
I’m not going to call Amex about SPG number change as that may cause more confusion. I noticed my Amex MR linked SPG account number has already updated automatically.
I have a Amex Plat.
I want to self-refer myself and get the SPG Amex.
So I email the link to myself. clear all cookies.
The apply for the SPG Amex. I get 33000 SPG points (if I spend £1000 within 90 days)
PLUS
9000 Membership Rewards on my Plat Account for the referral?
Is this correct?
Also will those SPG be convertible to 11,000 Avios?
You’ll get 18,000 MR points for the referral
18,000 on the Plat for the referral, but otherwise correct.
Thanks. Do i have any recourse if the 18000 don’t post?
You’re having a laugh, surely? You should be grateful they didn’t close your account and be done.
Reply is to Rob, Why
Because he’s referring himself… he’s obviously trying to exploit the system.
Even though it says 9k points you will get 18k. Mine posted this week,
Bits – United Mileage to Aer Lingus
In August 2017 I flew United from EDI to DCA, and credited the miles to my Aer Lingus Account.
Today, 7th August 2018, the miles have been credited!
I’m amazed they posted at all, I think that is the first report I’ve ever seen.
Me too!!! From around a year ago all posted today amazing!
OMG mine too!
OT: Anyone used TENERIFE SOUTH REINA SOFIA lounge in TFS (Tenerife South Airport)? Would be good to know what they offer.
Side note, used the lounge in Marrakech and it was nice, limited food but well staffed.
I have a photo from my parents when they went a few months ago.
Looks fairly basic to me but they were pleasantly surprised = easily pleased.
Mainly snacks and prepared cartons. SaLads, cous cous, olives, bocadillos etc. Can’t see any hot food.
Fridge full of drinks, couple of Nespresso machines. Self serve spirits. Beers and wines in fridge.
Very basic food, not a lot of it, and a busy lounge. Comfy chairs. But better than hanging around with the hordes in the terminal.
Crunch ! crunch… (that’s popcorn) !!
Care to enlighten us?
Oh Rob / Anika. Deleting all those comments… Well, it is your website, but what happened to a bit of lively debate? Never mind.
Don’t take the bait.
We let it run but felt it went too far.
OT bits Anyone know the rule for free refund of Avios and cash for a AA time change. BA claim its 120 mins I got one changed last year for a 4 mins change. Just had a 7 mins change and agent will not allow cancellation for free which is rich after they have cancelled the last leg of 3 of my last 4 bookings LBA once and MAN 3 times leaving me with no options other than over nights, 3 nights in Madrid for one of the MAD-MAN legs. Had to revert to Ryanair to get home..
OT Tried to cancel my SPG on the web chat. I was told as I was a loyal customer they would like to speak to me on the phone. On hold now in the worlds biggest queue. Guessing they want to offer me something so I don’t cancel? What is it? Double points?
If you’re lucky! Keep holding because that’s a great deal.
Complete waste of 28 minutes. No offer. I even hinted that the chat agent said I was loyal and I needed to review my options for canceling. Oh well, let’s see in 7 months time 🙂
OT: If I no show for a (Ryanair) flight, will there be any issues for my 2 year old daughter travelling? There are 3 other adults on the booking, who would all be travelling, including my partner (who is my daughter’s mother). I am just worried that they might have “tagged” her ticket to mine in some way.
I dont want to ask the airline this directly for obvious reasons.
Hi o/t.
If I book flights with a AA code, can I still earn BA tier points in the same way as if I booked BA codes?
Yes, but you may earn fewer Avios