Ethiopian Airlines drops flights from Dublin to Los Angeles

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• ahop says:

  22 Oct22 October 10:28

  OT: Does anybody know if the Virgin Companion Voucher is book within the 24 month period or fly within it?

• Anna says:

  22 Oct22 October 10:29

  OT – Tesco are doing 10% I-Tunes gift cards until November 4th, might be worth knowing for Xmas.

  • Anna says:

    22 Oct22 October 10:29

    Sorry, 10% off!

    • Anna says:

      22 Oct22 October 10:51

      Sorry again – just to clarify this is online and seemingly run by a third party which doesn’t accept Amex. (I’m trying to hit a sign up spend asap, sigh!)

      • Nick_C says:

        22 Oct22 October 11:29

        I logged on with my normal Tesco credentials and got as far as check out. I wonder if paying with a Tesco Debit Card would generate 1 CCP per £1?

    • pablo says:

      22 Oct22 October 15:22

      10% off iTunes gift cards also in Boots (excluding £15 gift card). They accept Amex

• Sue says:

  22 Oct22 October 11:04

  Good morning Rob
  You mention that Norwegian may be going under …. do you think it’s safe enough to book flights for next year? As much as I’d prefer to fly BA I need to fly to odd places in the north of Norway and through Gatwick is a better option for me as I originate from Jersey.
  Your advice would be appreciated!

  • Rob says:

    22 Oct22 October 11:14

    As the article says, you’ll get your money back if they hit trouble – the issue is the cost of rebooking. If there are no sensible alternatives for roughly the same price then I would book it. A bigger risk is potentially Norwegian’s love of cancelling routes with little notice.

    Michael O’Leary is quoted today as saying: “It is inevitable that more of the weaker, unhedged, European airlines will fold this winter”, although of course he has an incentive to say that.

    • RussellH says:

      22 Oct22 October 17:20

      And he says it just about every winter! TBH I am surprised that he has not been proved right more often.

      • Callum says:

        23 Oct23 October 07:55

        That’s the key thing people miss. When one actually does fold they assume he was right, but if you’re constantly predicting this then it’s just a coincidence when one finally does!

    • Alex Sm says:

      23 Oct23 October 13:50

      Rob – it could be a good idea to run an article to explain how one can claim back the money spent on tickets if an airline (or any other business) goes bust.

      Will this ‘money-back’ guarantee also cover debit cards and Curve?

      • Rob says:

        23 Oct23 October 15:24

        The problem is you never know until you need it. In general, you can assume that any UK institution which is not a credit card will still honour the Section 75 rules on a voluntary basis. For total certainly, though, you should use a credit card and not an Amex Plat, Curve, PayPal etc.

• EwanG says:

  22 Oct22 October 11:08

  OT – Enterprise Plus
  Enterprise are running a promo from 3 October to 31 January to earn double points on rentals, and bonus points for other activities.

  I stumbled upon it just now as I had a rental last week – have not received any emails about it.

  You get an easy 20 points for registering. T&Cs do not say these are non-qualifying points so these should reset the points activity for accounts (points reset after 36 months of no activity).
  See https://www.plusyourpoints.enterprise.com/gb

• Michael says:

  22 Oct22 October 11:29

  OT: AMEX MR points use?

  I have about 70000 AMEX MR points and want to close card soon. I have atm enough Avios and Virgin Miles and a pile of Marriott points, but no other airline or hotel points (besides a minor Hilton Honors amount)
  1) Are there any other good uses to transfer MR points into other airline miles schemes for cheap flights to the US (economy would also be fine with me)?
  2) I alternatively consider building up my Marriott / Hilton points further but can’t think of any other more valueable options to change those MR points.
  3) Would it make sense to build up with other hotel schemes when having no other earning options in other schemes?

  Thanks in advance.

  • Russ says:

    22 Oct22 October 11:38

    Open an ICC card to hold them whilst you’re making up your mind?

  • thehornets says:

    22 Oct22 October 12:10

    I’ll be in the same situation soon and the answer depends on what, where and how you intend to travel.

    Having just booked 14 rewards nights in California next year, I have found Marriott to be better value for family rooms than Hilton. These are generally not in ‘aspirational’ properties – think Courtyards and Residence Inns rather than mainline brand, which allows us to get free breakfast for four. Hilton standard room redemptions are great, but upgrade costs to bigger rooms are disproportionate, leading to poor value.

    If you have Platinum Amex, you get free Hilton Gold which gets you free breakfast, which is also a perk.

    With Marriott and Hilton you benefit from 5 nights for the price of four which definitely helps you to get better redemption value.

    In short, if Hilton have properties that are in places that you want to go, especially for five nights, and if you have Amex Plat, then maybe, just maybe, you should consider the Hilton scheme.

    Not sure if that helps

    • Mark2 says:

      22 Oct22 October 12:22

      We stayed in a Residence Inn in Boston last week. The Studio was enormous and very well maintained, but the breakfast was dire. Fortunately there was a Café Nero next door (probably owned by the hotel owners). But the American guests were quite happily eating it.

      • thehornets says:

        22 Oct22 October 13:25

        Good to know. We will be staying at the newish one in Anaheim – it’s one block from Disneyland!

      • Scallder says:

        22 Oct22 October 17:18

        Likewise good to know Mark2. We’re spending 7 nights at the Dupont Circle DC one and 3 nights in Philly, both with 1 bedroom suites which you can book as a normal redemption stay with Residence Inn. With a little one, definitely good to be able to put her to bed in the bedroom and then still have a lounge to use. Hopefully the breakfasts you experienced was just unlucky…

    • Doug M says:

      22 Oct22 October 16:16

      Staying in Motel 6’s in my 20’s – Residence Inn and Courtyards were aspirational for me.

  • Jon says:

    22 Oct22 October 13:13

    If you don’t NEED them in any particular scheme then Radisson seems particularly generous in terms of Amex conversion value. 210,000 RR points will get you a long way without any existing points.

• John says:

  22 Oct22 October 13:03

  Ot. Churn or hold on to cards for small shop?

  • Nick M says:

    22 Oct22 October 13:48

    How many cards do you currently have and how much value have you got from the promotion before?

    Off the top of my head I have typically had say £50-75 of value per card… but it starts to decrease after the first 4 cards we have between us

  • Lumma says:

    22 Oct22 October 13:51

    Surely the answer to this depends on which card you’re planning on churning, how much value you can get out of Shop Small and whether or not you need the points from the signup bonus before next summer if you cancel a card after Shop Small finishes.

    You could also of course, cancel your current cards now and apply for a card with a different rewards currency and use those for Shop Small and get the best of both worlds. IIRC someone said on here before that even the free basic charge card with no rewards gets some Amex offers so that could be an option if you want to increase the number of Amex cards you hold.

• faithy says:

  22 Oct22 October 13:07

  OT.
  How can one earn SPG points besides Credit crad spend and hotel stay?

  • thehornets says:

    22 Oct22 October 13:22

    Car rental?
    29 ways competition?

    • Rob says:

      22 Oct22 October 13:32

      In general, ‘not many ways’ is the answer. If/when the UK Marriott Mastercard relaunches there should be a 10k sign up bonus on that.

      • Lee says:

        22 Oct22 October 13:41

        Rob, any news on that card?

  • Charles hawkins says:

    22 Oct22 October 13:49

    With reference to China AMEX platinum got us a very a room upgrade at the Marriott in Shanghai but no breakfast on a points redemption but a cash booking at hilton Xi’an of a basic room got us a executive lounge upgrade and a very nice room.

• John2 says:

  22 Oct22 October 13:29

  Trying to understand Hotel redemptions.
  I recently stayed at the WA Amsterdam in a 700eu room for 95k HH points. Yet a room £200 in the WA Edinburgh goes for 70k HH points.

  • Rob says:

    22 Oct22 October 13:31

    It’s simple. Hilton imposes a cap per hotel which works in your favour on very expensive nights. It is the same reason I paid 60k Marriott points at St Regis New York last month when cash rates were $1100 plus tax.

    This is why it is generally better value to use your points when you can maximise value and pay cash at other times even if you have the points required.

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