Why a 40% bonus when you buy World of Hyatt points means a good Mallorca deal

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• Stu N says:

  2 Nov2 November 12:26

  OT – any way to see how many Amex referrals you’ve made from a given card? Can’t remember if I have hit 5 referrals from Plat this year and MR points history only goes back three months. Calling up and asking Amex to look into this for me is not a good option.

  • Simon says:

    2 Nov2 November 12:34

    download your paper statements. It will tell you on there. I did a countback and had managed to earn 6 this year somehow….

    • Stu N says:

      2 Nov2 November 13:41

      Thanks, it’s all there, I’d never noticed that before. On 5 so not going to chance another one.

    • Steve says:

      2 Nov2 November 13:43

      +1 asked CS if I had reached my 90k cap, after a couple of mins the CS agent came back to say id received 99k. Awkward.

      • Stu N says:

        2 Nov2 November 14:42

        :-O whoops!

• Jon says:

  2 Nov2 November 13:08

  That’s a good deal! It’s funny because every few months when I think of moaning about how most of my PRG charge card’s offers are all for random restaurants and shops that I never go to (or plan to go to…), they offer something really good like 500 bonus avios for a small transaction, or 400MP at Tesco. I’m impressed.

• C F Frost says:

  2 Nov2 November 13:35

  Bits – Amex plat. I’m a supp on my wife’s plat. We both have the £200 off the £600 travel spend offer. Planning to do two bookings for two flights each for a family of four. The offer doesn’t disappear from the other card when it’s used once, does it? T&Cs describe one use per card.

  • Steve says:

    2 Nov2 November 13:44

    It wont disappear supp card counts as a completely diff card.

  • Brian W says:

    2 Nov2 November 13:48

    No it won’t disappear on the supp, you get the offer on both cards if its saved so you can use it twice.

• AlexT says:

  2 Nov2 November 13:54

  OT: Is the minimum period between churning AMEX cards in order to still get the sign-up bonus still 6 months for the MR family cards (Green / Gold / Plat)? I remember there was discussion on that being expanded a while back…

  • Alan says:

    2 Nov2 November 13:59

    Currently still 6 months

• Jon says:

  2 Nov2 November 14:31

  OT: Damn, I just found a great price for a Hilton this month, but the pre-paid rate is £246… I’m assuming if I grab something from the mini-bar, the cumulative spend over £250 will trigger the £50 back on Amex? Even though it will be a £246 charge then a fiver or something a few weeks later!

  • TGLoyalty says:

    2 Nov2 November 14:46

    Yep as long as they both post by the offer end date

    • Jon says:

      2 Nov2 November 15:22

      Thank you

• neil says:

  2 Nov2 November 14:57

  OT – Apologies….

  Im looking to use my Lloyds Upgrade Voucher for a flight next year for myself to NYC. I had assumed that I would have to go LHR-JFK, but it would appear their are decent flights from my local airport for either LBA/MAN-LHR-JFK …. so does the Upgrade voucher also allow for connecting flights?

  Thanks in advance…

  • Anna says:

    2 Nov2 November 15:10

    As long as it’s all on BA metal, you can book connecting flights using the upgrade voucher, I have always done this. You will not be charged avios for the connecting flight but you will have to pay the RFS fees. You’ll have to call avios.com to do this, whether or not your account is still open. Explain where you want to start and finish and they will sort it all out for you.

  • BJ says:

    2 Nov2 November 15:14

    Yes, and your connecting flight should also be upgraded if it is done properly.

    • Anna says:

      2 Nov2 November 16:09

      Yes but remember you’ll be charged the upgraded RFS fee as well, so £50 on top of the “tax” on the long haul leg. But £50 for a MAN-LHR return in CE with luggage is a bargain anyway, and you’ll get lounge access as well. Another benefit is that you can check in online 24 hours before the connecting flight which often gives you a better choice of seats as the pax just flying from LHR can’t check in until 24 hours before that flight.

      • BJ says:

        2 Nov2 November 16:58

        The problem I had last year was that the agent insisted only longhaul sectors were upgraded. Disputed that as it was not my prior experience but I didn’t want to lose seats so I accepred. I checked the tax and fees and found we had been charged CE prices despite ET traveller cabin. Thus, I got back on the phone and agent put us in CE no fuss at all. We were INV-LHR but I agree it is worth the extra from any airport if one has no access to lounge, early seat selection etc.

      • AndyGWP says:

        2 Nov2 November 18:01

        Interesting. I got HKG – LHR – MAN a few weeks ago for the same number points and pounds as HKG – LHR would have cost. Sounds like the £ should have been higher?

        It was processed manually using the upgrade voucher, so maybe they made a mistake (or its to do with the presence of HKG)

      • Curious says:

        2 Nov2 November 22:01

        HKG – LHR – MAN – how much then?

      • AndyGWP says:

        2 Nov2 November 23:14

        Think it was approx. £68 per ticket IIRC

• Anna says:

  2 Nov2 November 15:17

  OT – does anyone know how being retired affects credit card applications/churning? Obviously there will be some income but nothing to put in the employer details box!

  • BJ says:

    2 Nov2 November 15:38

    No impact whatsoever in my dads case. He is over 80 and has been retired for over 20 years. Churns amex with the best of them and he has never failed to get an instant apporoval on application.

    • Anna says:

      2 Nov2 November 16:10

      Thanks, that bodes well!

      • BJ says:

        2 Nov2 November 16:23

        I shoold add that he has been with same bank and lived at the same address for over 40y so that probably helps. He only churns amex, his only other cards are BoS and Hilton which he’s had forever.

      • Liz says:

        2 Nov2 November 22:30

        My hubby retired early 2 yrs ago and his income halfed and I have no income. We still churn our Amex cards ok – I just received my upgraded Plat card today. His drawdown pension fund and our savings are not included in the application. I always get a very low credit limit and was told I could submit savings info if I wanted to request a bigger limit.

    • AndyGWP says:

      2 Nov2 November 18:03

      So remind me, is there a retired option on the application drop down then?

      • Anna says:

        2 Nov2 November 18:30

        I don’t actually know, I haven’t checked yet! Just doing a bit of forward planning, I don’t want my earning and churning opportunities to disappear when I finally have the freedom to travel when I want to!

      • BJ says:

        2 Nov2 November 19:37

        For amex…yes.

  • RussellH says:

    3 Nov3 November 10:52

    I have only just seen your question Anna, so apologies for the delay. I too was once a teacher; my pension is based on full time Aug 1980 – Aug 1992 and half time from then until Dec 1999.

    I did not discover this site and its tips on churning Amex etc until a couple of years after retiring at the end of 2013. I already had a BA Amex, as well as Lloyds Avios and MBNA LH Amexs, but had no idea that churning was possible. I had long term Visas and M/Cards too.

    Around 30 months ago I took the plunge and asked Rob for a referral for a PRG Amex. Ironically, this is the only Amex issued Amex I got approved for immediately. But since then I have churned my BA Amex once, had two SPG Amexs and am now on my newish PRG credi Amex.

    I have also taken out, got the sign-up bonuses, and cancelled MBNA Virgin and Tesco cards.

    FWIW, my Experian Credit Score has always been very high. Like most here, I imagine, I have always paid off credit card bills in full, though back in the 1980s and early 1990s I often took out quite large cash advances on credit cards.[1]

    I really do not think that you need to worry!

    ([1] Rules were very different then, no FX fees at all on cash advances abroad {exchange was spot too} , so it was usually the cheapest way of buying foreign currency, while Barclaycard did not charge interest on cash advances if they were paid off at the same time as your purchases. Instead they charged a 2.5% flat fee. If you timed it right – just after your bill was issued – and given the high level of interest rates at the time – double figures – it was a good deal.)

• BJ says:

  2 Nov2 November 15:32

  OT: All is far from well with Xmas Saver IME. Returned two items, one electronic to CS and one F&F to clothing counter, at two different Tesco Extra stores today. Ladies at both were totally on the ball, they could clearly see that items were paid with MOC and absolutely refused to entertain any refund other than a giftcard or cash. Both were aware that refunds to clubcard would provide advantage beyond value of coupon used. One lady claimed it is not even technically possible to refund these vouchers to clubcard via the till as far as she knew; she even tried to show me that it wouldn’t work in practice!

  @xcalx, how did you manage it?

  • Genghis says:

    2 Nov2 November 16:04

    Ring ring

    • Scallder says:

      2 Nov2 November 16:57

      Which stores have you managed this in Genghis?

  • Scallder says:

    2 Nov2 November 16:16

    Does it show up specifically on the receipt as paid for with a Saver voucher? I’m thinking I might leave these until the New Year (with the exception of the £12 bonus) as hopefully might be easier…

    • BJ says:

      2 Nov2 November 16:41

      On the receipt as ‘coupon’ and when I suggested it was a clubcard voucher one lady nicely explsined it wasn’t, that it was just a money off coupon. They were obviously clued-up so I pushed it just a little to give impression I wasn’t but I didn’t want overplay i tas that would have been disrepectful to two ladies who clearly knew their job well. We still have over £600 of vouchers left so will leave them until new year too but barring positive comment from xcalx I am no longer convinced it works.

      • Genghis says:

        2 Nov2 November 16:48

        It works.

      • Shoestring says:

        2 Nov2 November 19:54

        Genghis what’s that email address again?

      • BJ says:

        2 Nov2 November 23:05

        @Harry, since Genghis not around I can confirm that it can indeed work but is a lot of trouble and far from guranteed.

      • Steve-B says:

        2 Nov2 November 23:12

        Feels to me that agents are on the ball with this. I may just leave it to the New Yr, thankfully didn’t sink too much in this.

      • Shoestring says:

        2 Nov2 November 23:17

        Despite my +1 the other day, a bit premature, it seems I am still waiting for our vouchers. They said wait up until 10th Nov.

        Just wanted to see what the new trick is.

      • BJ says:

        2 Nov2 November 23:35

        Essentially it is just what you always said but escalated! Have not decided for sure but my feeling at the moment is I’m out despite still having £600 of vouchers. Given the way it’s working, a single purchase close to £300 seems like best option to me. The doorway could also slam closed at any time but then that was always the case anyway. Any reason why you are not getting your vouchers online?

      • Shoestring says:

        2 Nov2 November 23:48

        probably because I switched to auto convert BA

      • Genghis says:

        3 Nov3 November 07:21

        @TRH1 avios4genghis@gmail.com

      • Shoestring says:

        3 Nov3 November 07:25

        cheers you’ve got mail

    • Tom1 says:

      4 Nov4 November 12:21

      I returned an item this morning and was refunded in cash. The helpful lady called cc customer services but they said could not be returned as vouchers.

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