Air India drops flights from Heathrow to New York – but adds Bangalore

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• Elt says:

  9 Oct9 October 04:45

  OT returning from joburg, BA in F.
  Which lounges do people recommend and can we def get a decent dinner?
  Want to sleep on plane. Thanks

  • N says:

    9 Oct9 October 12:32

    BA F lounge is poor and busy. Can’t recommend anywhere else as we didn’t get a chance to explore – sorry!

• Harry Hv says:

  9 Oct9 October 05:13

  OT there’s a banner ad across the top of this article for IHG’s Autumn Sale – but if you click on the ad it says “sorry, Autumn sale’s over”

  • BJ says:

    9 Oct9 October 06:15

    Perhaps that was for 4 day flash sale that ended yesterday.

    • Rob says:

      9 Oct9 October 07:12

      Ad was paid for until midnight but we were in bed so I just swapped it now!

      You can automate this stuff but it slows down the site and is one more thing that can break it during updates.

• Andrew says:

  9 Oct9 October 06:05

  OT (bits). £5 back on £25 Amazon spend just loaded onto my Amex Plat. Open to the first 74,000 to save the offer.

  • BJ says:

    9 Oct9 October 06:22

    Thanks, 5 off 20 on my platinum. Nothing on BAPP or nectar.

    • Roger says:

      9 Oct9 October 06:35

      Assume GC will work.

    • Shoestring says:

      9 Oct9 October 07:38

      Got 4x the £5 off £20, happy with that. Somebody test GC pls, the £5 statement credit should be success emailed immediately

      • Peter K says:

        9 Oct9 October 08:12

        If you have 4, why not test it for the rest of us please?

      • Shoestring says:

        9 Oct9 October 08:18

        I’m always testing stuff 🙂

        OK I probably will later on, no particular risk having an extra £20 credit balance.

        Just on another free 1 month trial – if you cancel towards the end of the month, Amazon offer you another free month. You won’t get 3 free months, so you can accept month 2 then immediately cancel – you’ll still get 2 full free months.

      • Sam Butler says:

        9 Oct9 October 09:48

        I’ve just bought a gift card on one of my amex cards, got the email saying I’d used the offer, but it did say if your purchase meets the offer terms it will appear in 5 days. I’ll report back if I do/don’t get the credit.

        Just noticed in the offer terms it says not valid for purchases using Prime. Have just ordered a chair using prime on another card (got the ‘you have used the offer’ email), so we’ll see how that goes.

      • Shoestring says:

        9 Oct9 October 10:09

        [Offer not valid on orders paid on finance.]

        Doesn’t seem to have worked on GC purchase. If you were that bothered, there are plenty of items with free returns, slightly infra dig IMV, we’ll end up buying stuff anyway.

      • Shoestring says:

        9 Oct9 October 10:35

        You never know, might work – not actually received the GC yet, I’ve got one of those £1s sitting there in Pending (to Amazon), not £20 just yet.

      • Shoestring says:

        9 Oct9 October 10:39

        It worked!

      • Genghis says:

        9 Oct9 October 10:41

        @shoestring is that top up or gift card?

      • Shoestring says:

        9 Oct9 October 10:49

        GC

      • Stu N says:

        9 Oct9 October 12:22

        Just made a £20 account top-up and got the success email.

    • 1nfrequent says:

      9 Oct9 October 09:58

      Thanks for this – got it on my BAPP.

      1F

  • Gill says:

    9 Oct9 October 08:26

    Thanks. Found on my BA, GC (charge) also

    • Paul S says:

      9 Oct9 October 09:13

      Found on my BAPP card. Thanks.

      • Robman says:

        9 Oct9 October 09:42

        I have it on all six of my cards, so cheaper alcohol purchases coming to me over the next couple of months! Considering I didn’t get either of the recent Amex Travel generous offers on any of my cards, I’m happy that I can use this Amazon offer.

  • Alan says:

    9 Oct9 October 10:44

    Thanks for the heads up – 5 off 20 on my Plat and Plat AC. Nothing on BAPP or SPG.

• Andy says:

  9 Oct9 October 06:29

  £5 back on £25 Amazon spend also on BA Amex

  • Rich says:

    9 Oct9 October 06:56

    Nice one Andy, offer bagged! Mine was for £5 off £20 spend though.

  • Andrew says:

    9 Oct9 October 09:02

    £5 off £20 on BA Amex

    • Jill (Kinkell) says:

      9 Oct9 October 13:03

      I must be doing something wrong! No recent ( 2 months at least) offers on any cards for me or hubby! I need to stop constantly moaning and posting every time I hear of others’ good fortune! Away you go and boost Amazon’s profit and ? Maybe their tax bill?!

• Ian M says:

  9 Oct9 October 06:30

  OT – SPG Amex Missing Points Update.

  Called Amex yesterday to submit a formal complaint. Not received points for any spend since 1st July. My complaint was: a) the fact I haven’t received any points, and b) that I was twice promised by Amex customer service that this matter would be resolved (by 20-22nd Sept, and 5th Oct).

  The agent said my complaint would be rejected as the matter is out of their hands. However he offered me £50 credit on my account for the inconvenience and the false information provided.

  He said the latest information they have from Marriott is that the matter with be resolved in 2 to 4 weeks… So we could easily be looking at November!!!

  • BJ says:

    9 Oct9 October 06:53

    If you plan on taking amex up with ombudsmen service I think you first need to raise your formal complaint directly with amex in writing and give them 8 weeks to respond. So probably best get on with it. I don’t think amex can simply say it is out of their hands, your agreement is with them, not with Marriott and therefore you should continue to follow up with them formally in writing, not with endless calls to different agents. At least this is how I see it, Anna or others may give better advice from the legal perspective.

    • Ian M says:

      9 Oct9 October 07:03

      I called through to the Amex complaints department, they set up the formal complaint over the phone. I completely agree that my contract is with Amex. It’s not good enough for them to simply blame a 3rd party. Amex have already emailed me to say:

      “Thank you for taking the time to discuss your complaint with us. We’re writing to let you know that we now consider this matter resolved.

      Information about the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)

      You have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge – but you must do so within six months of the date of this email..”

      So it appears I already have the option to refer it to the FOS.

      • Shoestring says:

        9 Oct9 October 07:45

        Doesn’t mean the FOS would accept it as a valid complaint. You have to give Amex reasonable time to remedy the situation.

      • John says:

        9 Oct9 October 08:21

        Amex has said they won’t be taking any more action so you would be waiting for nothing

      • Genghis says:

        9 Oct9 October 08:47

        That’s what happened in my recent FOS complaint. The co gave their final answer and basically welcomed FOS complaint. I submitted then they relented.

  • C says:

    9 Oct9 October 08:29

    I was told 2-4 weeks 2 weeks ago. Very frustrating. I will be cancelling my SPG card once my signup bonus points post but in the meantime I am paying a fee for a card for a lot longer than I intended to keep it for!

    • Darren says:

      9 Oct9 October 10:04

      I cancelled the card last week and was told that the points would still show in my Starriott acc. Nothing yet.

    • Alan says:

      9 Oct9 October 10:47

      Ditto, want to get card cancelled. Marriott have told me that points will post as sent across so should be OK to cancel. Going to do it soon.

  • Jill (Kinkell) says:

    9 Oct9 October 09:08

    I was told 2-4 weeks. What I don’t understand is why it was possible to transfer MR points out of my Amex MR account into my Marriott/SPG account( all done and dusted within 5 days, last week) but cannot get my SPG credit card points into my SPG/Marriott account.

    • Ian M says:

      9 Oct9 October 10:13

      Yeah that’s crazy, doesn’t make much sense does it.

      Seeing as Amex keep blaming Marriott, perhaps we should all be putting complaints in with Marriott as well. Might give them the kick up the backside they need to speed things up a bit.

      • Ian M says:

        9 Oct9 October 10:32

        Just to follow up on that, I’ve just opened a complaint with SPG/Marriott. If nothing else perhaps they’ll dish out some free points for the inconvenience.

      • S**mo says:

        9 Oct9 October 10:55

        Still awaiting mine too – They have my new SPG number – But still no transfer….

  • pablo says:

    9 Oct9 October 10:30

    How does it work with the 11k SPG sign up bonus being tripled to 33k? Do I call to request it to be tripled or is it automatic. I got the bonus 11k starpoints a couple of days ago.

    • Ian M says:

      9 Oct9 October 10:43

      There’s no such thing as starpoints anymore. You should have received 33k new points. Are you saying 11k points have been added to your SPG Amex account? If so yes, call them.

    • Graeme says:

      9 Oct9 October 10:52

      I’m guessing you’re waiting for what was 11k Starwood points, but they’re floating around somewhere in the internet? That’s where I am. I’m expecting 33k new points to arrive.

      I hope they do soon because I really want to book a 35k room!

      • pablo says:

        9 Oct9 October 14:52

        I chatted online with Amex and they said the bonus 11k will be tripled by Marriott once they arrive there. However I’m not convinced as otherwise Amex would not be tripling all points from everyday spend at their end. How will Marriott know that from a monthly batch of let’s say 15000 points 11k requires tripling and 4k does not? I wanted to cancel the card but looks like I will need to keep it until points start arriving in Marriott and then chase it up with Amex.

• KK says:

  9 Oct9 October 06:31

  Sorry for being totally off topic, but I’ve stumbled on this page on open-jaw but the comment section is closed… https://headforpoints.com/2017/10/01/how-to-book-open-jaw-redemption-with-avios/

  In short, I’m looking at a HKG-KIX(or NGO/HND/NRT)//LHR-HKG so I will not be charged obscene amount of YQ. However both the english and cantonese hotline of HK BA Office wouldnt issue it under the same ticket for me (HKG-FRA//LHR-HKG would be ok tho).

  I am wondering if things have changed since your last post ie the open jaw distance needs to be shorter than the longer of the flights (which it is… LHRHKG is longer than LHRKIX, NGO and prob TYO too (LHRTYO is shorter than LHRHKG by ard 30miles, the others are shorter by hundreds of miles)

  Thanks

  • Tom1 says:

    9 Oct9 October 06:36

    I did open jaw recently with a 241 and was fine. Try the Newcastle call centre.

    • KK says:

      9 Oct9 October 07:00

      is it still ok without a 241?!?

      • pauldb says:

        9 Oct9 October 07:08

        No, I believe all rewards need to follow valid fare construction

  • pauldb says:

    9 Oct9 October 07:02

    Your open jaw (LHR-KIX) needs to be shorter than both flights, not the shortest. Obviously it’s longer than HKG-KIX. Appreciate the wording is confusing/wrong.

    • Kk says:

      9 Oct9 October 07:27

      i believe u got the distances wrong (or me being unclear)
      hkglhr>kixlhr on gcmap…(ngolhr and tyolhr is also shorter than hkglhr)

      • pauldb says:

        9 Oct9 October 07:49

        Ok I’m confused too! To keep it simple do you want to book HKG-KIX and then LHR-HKG.
        If so, your open segment is KIX-LHR.
        That is shorter than LHR-HKG but it needs to be shorter than BOTH flights: KIX-LHR far longer than HKG-KIX.
        In the FRA version, LHR-FRA is shorter than both HKG-LHR and FRA-HKG.

    • KK says:

      9 Oct9 October 07:45

      Sorry – i’ve finally caught the word “either”!

  • BJ says:

    9 Oct9 October 07:04

    Open jaw is where you fly out from A to B and return from C to A. That is why your FRA option works but not your LHR because LHR is your destination not your origin. What you are proposing is the opposite of an open jaw. Never done that and not sure if it is possible, I guess it just looks like a backtracking one way ticket to the ticket system.

    • pauldb says:

      9 Oct9 October 07:07

      HKG-KIX//LHR-HKG is A-B//C-A, an open jaw; it’s only the distances that make it invalid.

      • BJ says:

        9 Oct9 October 07:18

        I found KK’s post a bit confusing but I read it that he/she in simplest terms wants to do HKG-LHR-HKG to avoid YQ. Apologies if I am wrong. Whatever KK intends it needs to be ticketed by end of this month IIRC to avoid bew rules on YQ EXUK.

    • Lyn says:

      9 Oct9 October 07:36

      An open jaw on a revenue ticket can also be fly from A to B and return from B to C, e.g. CDG – SAN / SAN – LHR. I don’t know if BA would allow this for award travel in a single ticket, but I thin other frequent flyer programmes would. Of course this isn’t a good example for using a 2-4-1,

      • BJ says:

        9 Oct9 October 07:56

        Thanks Lyn, just realised I’ve done that several times myself despite saying I didn’t know if it was possible. Embarrassing, I best go and get a coffee to wake up 🙂

  • Lyn says:

    9 Oct9 October 07:27

    I think the rule in the 2017 post you mention is

    “The geographic distance between your original landing airport and your new departure airport must be shorter than either of the two flights.”

    rather than your interpretation “the open jaw distance needs to be shorter than the longer of the flights”.

    Your examples certainly don’t look like reasonable open jaw fights to me, whereas the FRA / LHR looks perfectly reasonable.

    • KK says:

      9 Oct9 October 07:43

      ahhh seems like thats where the problem is. i misread/ignored the word “either” .

      Thanks everyone!

  • Simon says:

    9 Oct9 October 07:37

    241 redemptions must start in the UK

• xcalx says:

  9 Oct9 October 07:25

  OT Just applied for the SPG card, when asked for my SPG number should I have put in my merged account number (which is my old Marriott number)
  Thanks

  • BJ says:

    9 Oct9 October 08:44

    Can you report back on how this works out please? I’m due to churn SPG in 3-4 weeks but considering a delay in light of the merger shambles.

    • xcalx says:

      9 Oct9 October 09:13

      Will do. I put the original SPG number from previous applications.

      • RakishDriver says:

        9 Oct9 October 15:49

        I too had submitted my original SPG number during the application.
        Brought this topic up after calling amex about an unrelated issue, agent requested my Marriott number. Told points will eventually hit, no ETA was given.

  • RM84 says:

    9 Oct9 October 09:13

    I used my merged account number when I applied at the end of last month, but have no idea whether that will help with the points transfer issues or not! I’ll report back after I get my first statement.

    • RakishDriver says:

      9 Oct9 October 15:55

      amex agent told me today that due to ‘data privacy issues’, marriott were not sharing their customers’ data with amex, so she asked for my Marriott number to update the system.
      Inference is ring amex, and give them your Marriott number..
      Why they can’t just send an email to inform current SPG card holders is vexing.

• Matt says:

  9 Oct9 October 08:11

  I’m still trying to decide whether to upgrade my Curve card to the Premium one. Is there any further insight (or rumours) into whether it’s worth £50 in view of the apparent upcoming changes?

  • Alex W says:

    9 Oct9 October 21:18

    If you send a cheeky email they night upgrade you for free.

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