Get a 20% bonus on hotel and credit card points transfers to Etihad Guest

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

• Ammar says:

  4 Oct4 October 15:26

  OT – What number do I call to book a Avios redemption with BA using the Lloyds Voucher? I presumed the Avios programme is closed now, so not sure who to call

  • Rob says:

    4 Oct4 October 15:39

    You will probably find you can still access your Avios account. If not, call BAEC.

    • Alex W says:

      4 Oct4 October 16:39

      I tried BA first and they were clueless, no idea what an upgrade voucher was.
      Rang avios.com and they said I didn’t have enough Avios so I had to transfer from BAEC.

      The promise that you could use BA Avios with a Lloyd’s voucher appears, so far, to have been bollocks.

      Avios.com even tried to charge me £25 RFS, even though the actual taxes were £13. I had to explain the concept of Reward Flight Saver, i.e. if you’re overcharging me it’s not a “saver”!!

      Even if you can log in to avios.com the voucher can no longer be booked online, only over the phone.

      • Anon says:

        4 Oct4 October 16:55

        You can still access your Avios account online yourself (but if you’re accessing through a Vueling or Iberia number it’s finnicky and you might have to call up first, maybe due to Spanish surname things.)

        When you ask about the Lloyds upgrade voucher you should say that although you don’t have enough Avios in the Avios account you do have them in BAEC and will transfer them over (note that they need to be your Avios points in BAEC, you can’t just use a bunch of household avios). They will get grumpy about combining your Avios for you but if you say you don’t have an internet capable device to hand they will do it.

        Interestingly enough – you can transfer Avios points from someone else’s Avios account (which you have if you have a Vueling or Iberia account I think) to your Avios account, but not from someone else’s BAEC account to your Avios account. So if there are household points you want to use for the voucher and the person who has them also has an Avios.com account you can get them transferred to you.

      • Ian M says:

        4 Oct4 October 17:26

        I made a booking using my Lloyds upgrade voucher online on the avios website just 5 days ago.. Just login to avios site and do that as normal?

      • mr dee says:

        4 Oct4 October 17:53

        Don’t do it online as their website is seriously broken with the vouchers now

      • Anna says:

        4 Oct4 October 18:07

        Which flight has £13 taxes once it’s been upgraded? A CE flight would still be £25 each way in fees as you pay the tax on the cabin you fly in, not the one you upgrade from.

      • Genghis says:

        4 Oct4 October 18:12

        @Anna from Europe most likely. BIO for instance is around that price IIRC. You pay lower of actual and £25 ew in CE

  • fivebobbill says:

    4 Oct4 October 15:40

    Number I’ve always used for vouchers, inc last booking 19th July… 0344 4933349

    • Ammar says:

      4 Oct4 October 17:52

      Thank you all for the helpful insight, I will try and log in and transfer the avios and book online first as Ian M has done recently.

      • Anna says:

        4 Oct4 October 18:05

        I called avios.com and booked 2 CW seats using upgrade vouchers about a month ago in 2 separate transactions. Both CS agents were very helpful, knew exactly what they were doing and had no issues moving my avios over from BA – they seem to be able to “see” your BAEC account without any kind of action by you.

  • mr dee says:

    4 Oct4 October 17:52

    DO NOT BOOKING ONLINE WITH THE LLOYDS VOUCHER it may work but you may end up with a problem and a lot of hassle sorting it out

    Tried this and the site gave me an error at the end not confirming booking, so tried again and it had ended up booking several times and ended up with several charges neither and a load of hassle!

    Best to phone up using the customer service number on the Avios website

    • pablo says:

      4 Oct4 October 18:34

      It gives an error when it tries to apply the voucher to the booking. At that point the ticket is reserved, avios are taken and the seats disappear from the inventory. You just need to ring avios.com and they will finalize the booking and email the confirmation within 24 hours.

• Nando says:

  4 Oct4 October 15:29

  It says in the t and c’s that you can not purchase gift cards at boots for the deal to work. However how will they know whether you have purchased gift cards or not?

  • Shoestring says:

    4 Oct4 October 15:42

    Sounds like you already worked out the answer

  • Lumma says:

    4 Oct4 October 16:46

    With purchasing gift cards I’d only be concerned if it was a separate area of the store that did them. I think in Selfridge’s (Oxford Street) there’s a gift card selling counter on the higher floors but I think any till can sell them too. I still think it would still go through as the same to American Express but you never know.

    Boots would be fine though

• Lee says:

  4 Oct4 October 15:59

  OT – I knew this has been brought up countless times. Is there anything we could do about missing Amex SPG points? Really frustrated for missing out opportunities to book and there must be a lot HFPers have same feeling.

  Saw this on FT:
  I am wondering in this situation as a financial product is involved if a breach of UK law has occurred. I know Lloyds had serious issues when they had problems with transferring points to avios. I don’t feel this is probably down to any fault with American Express but as the card issuer I would assume they have responsibility to ensure you receive the points you are entitled to and would be the first point of complaint.
  Considering the fact many people (including myself) have points quite likely in the tens of thousand we are not able to spend and a limited time to do so on the 60k rates for the top properties my patience is certainly wearing thin on this. I know Marriott were originally saying not our issue its down to Amex but I believe in the last couple of weeks may have changed their tune somewhat!

  • Lumma says:

    4 Oct4 October 16:44

    It’s a shame amex aren’t a bit more like Lloyds Bank in giving cash compensation for thing like this, many people could be quids in

    • Rob says:

      4 Oct4 October 17:33

      Barclaycard used to hand over big sums to IHG cardholders who complained that they never got the bonus points for staying in IHG hotels. Quite a few people were sad when it moved to Creation.

      • meta says:

        4 Oct4 October 18:56

        Funnily enough, I am currently having same problem with Hilton card. The last three stays didn’t credit extra points for Hilton spend. I was thinking of letting it go as all in all it’s not worth the hassle for max 500 extra points. However, since you mentioned this I might complain and see where it leads…

      • Tim G says:

        5 Oct5 October 21:56

        Me too. Let me know how you get on. I will try and remember as well and complain and see what happens.

  • Ian M says:

    4 Oct4 October 17:31

    I’m owned over a million Marriott points. I’ve been promised by Amex that they will transfer over on my next monthly points transfer date, which happens to be tomorrow (5th). I’ve not received my points for any spend since 1st July. During this period I spent very heavily on the card taking advantage of double points promotion. If I don’t receive my points as promised tomorrow then I will lodge a formal complaint with Amex. I’m keen to look at all other options as well.

  • Rob says:

    4 Oct4 October 17:34

    It is a global issue, not a UK specific one. Not that it helps, but just sayin’ …

    • js54156 says:

      5 Oct5 October 00:21

      I guess it’s not a global issue…as my US cards have all transferred points to my marriott account. The US amex site automatically updated my loyalty number.

  • jason says:

    4 Oct4 October 19:16

    I have opened a complaint after being offer 5k from Amex as comp but no date for resolution …transfers from platinum cards are now working fine, so they can send points over virtually instantly but are refusing

• Kai says:

  4 Oct4 October 16:11

  OT Applied for Amex Green ICC on Friday. Get an email this morning asking for my passport copy. Sent the copy (not certified) and a few hours later was told the application has been approved. The process is much easier than I expected.

• xcalx says:

  4 Oct4 October 16:34

  OT Just received an email from IB customer services and the 42500 Avios they removed from my account have been returned. I had sent numerous emails pointing out I had activity on my account all were ignored. I then cc the email addresses of a few directors and bingo they read the details of my account instead of just the standard fob off reply.

  Only problem now is trying to combine avios. As soon as I go onto combine avios on the BA page when logged in I get a banner saying ” Sorry, you are not eligible to combine your Avios ” Any ideas, never had a problem combining avios from this account. This message comes up prior to choosing which programme I want to combine to or from.

  • Shoestring says:

    4 Oct4 October 17:23

    Got ’em back – result! You can do CMA on the phone as well.

    • xcalx says:

      5 Oct5 October 08:04

      I tried that and BA insist it’s a problem with the IB account. This can’t be the case because when I am logged into the BA account and click on combine Avios this is shown.

      ” Sorry, you are not eligible to combine your Avios ”

      • Shoestring says:

        5 Oct5 October 08:17

        And you’ve tried pulling them to an Aer Lingus avios.com a/c?

• Lumma says:

  4 Oct4 October 16:42

  Sort of OT Has anyone ever gotten the free basic charge card and do you get any offers with it and can you get the shop small discount on it (assuming it’s gonna happen again this year)?

• Anon says:

  4 Oct4 October 17:05

  O / T about Curve

  If I am abroad and buy something in Euros with my IHG premier card linked to Curve do I get both the higher points value and avoid FX fees (assuming on a weekday)?

  Also what’s the latest on ATM withdrawals with Creation, no fee and treated as purchases?

  • Rob says:

    4 Oct4 October 17:31

    No, because it is recharged in £ so you only get 2 per £1.

    Creation still seems OK on ATM withdrawals.

    • Genghis says:

      4 Oct4 October 17:51

      And even if it was charged in EUR from Curve, you’d still get 2 per £1 due to Creation’s rule that “for every £1 that you spend abroad you’ll also earn 4 points”. Curve London isn’t abroad.

• Query says:

  4 Oct4 October 17:34

  O/T

  When making a booking with Avios.com using Lloyds upgrade voucher, do they still offer a 24hr cooling-off/grace period (the same as BA) ?

  Also, are they ok with an ex-EU departure with the return leg terminating in the UK?

  Thanks

  • CountryKerry says:

    4 Oct4 October 18:44

    Officially no. Even a minute later you can’t. I successfully convinced them to allow me to change a booking though 12 hours later! Had to make the change there and then though!

    • Shoestring says:

      4 Oct4 October 18:48

      Got a free name change a couple of years ago – by asking BA CS nicely – so that my niece could use my wife’s ticket (same surname).

  • Alex W says:

    5 Oct5 October 00:51

    Lloyd’s voucher can be used on any BA flight I believe, just not in first class.

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