Take advantage of the Virgin Hotels San Francisco launch offer

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• Chelseafi says:

  25 Jan25 January 07:10

  OT my son is (was) flying out from Stansted to Madrid at 8.25 this morning but M11 closed and they are not making flight 5 travelling, is it generally worth even checking with Ryanair at airport when they eventually get there what flights are available, when I look online all flights today are fully booked, there is a flight tomorrow they could get on. I just get feeling Ryan air might not be too helpful and the flight tomorrow could fill up from today’s flight? Thanks

  • TGLoyalty says:

    25 Jan25 January 07:21

    Are they all insured? Might be worth getting onto the insurance to see if they can get on another flight from another airport.

    • Chelseafi says:

      25 Jan25 January 07:37

      My son is insured via my amex Plat card but don’t know about other 4, it’s just a lads weekend, one of the others booked it.

      • Marcw says:

        25 Jan25 January 08:07

        Well,, if someone else booked it, not even your son is covered by your platinum

  • AndyW says:

    25 Jan25 January 07:28

    Also worth checking return flights if booked together with outbound. Some airlines cancel the entire ticket, though no idea if this applies shorth haul/Ryanair.

  • Anthony says:

    25 Jan25 January 07:40

    I read that Ryanair were rebooking for free last week according to The Independent under similar circumstances – https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/ryanair-m11-closed-crash-stansted-airport-free-flight-travel-delay-a8730226.html

    • Chelseafi says:

      25 Jan25 January 09:06

      Thanks Ryanair have just tweeted the same message with regards today so thanks for replies

  • Clo says:

    25 Jan25 January 07:43

    Hi, it happen once to me around 2 years ago. It was our second flight with our 4 months old twins and one of them got sick in the car so we lost a lot of time and arrived too late and missed our flight.
    The lady at the desk asked me why we were late and after explaining the situation (I was really emotional) she rebooked us for free on the next flight.
    Opposite of usual terrible Ryanair experience they were brilliant with us

• Jimbob says:

  25 Jan25 January 07:37

  OT – my Iberia ticket has my surname twice, will this cause a problem boarding, or are Iberia staff used to this problem and wave me through?

  • Shoestring says:

    25 Jan25 January 07:39

    Not a problem, often happens.

    • Roberto says:

      25 Jan25 January 10:08

      I had this and contacted customer services who quickly ammended the surname surname to surname with no charge or agro.

• BJ says:

  25 Jan25 January 07:40

  Lucky you, I have had only a single offer on my Halifax card for Sky now since December.

  • John says:

    25 Jan25 January 09:20

    Same here, the way to get more offers is to use the card, but can’t work out what exactly will trigger more offers.

    As Halifax cards earn no rewards so there is no incentive to use them when my Lloyds Amex still works. I’m getting plenty of offers on Lloyds.

    Likewise with Santander, no reason to use a card that doesn’t earn points.

  • Andrew says:

    25 Jan25 January 09:58

    How often do you use your Halifax Debit Card?

    I keep 2x Bank of Scotland Current Accounts and 1x Halifax Current Account. All are accessed using the same log-in via either the BoS or Hfx portal or App.

    I never use my Halifax Card, but often use my BoS card. The more often I use the BoS card, the more offers I get via the BoS portal. I get no offers on the Hfx portal.

    Current BoS offers for me are:-

    Chef & Brewer (15%)
    National Express (10%)
    Europcar (10%)
    Hungry Horse (15%)
    Ryman (10%)
    Harvester (10%)
    Le Pain Quotidien (10%)
    JoJo Maman Beve (10%)
    Alpharooms (5%)
    Byron (10%)
    White Stuff (10%)

    I suspect the heavy loading of restaurant offers relates to me “eating out” every day at one of our staff canteens.

    • Shoestring says:

      25 Jan25 January 15:39

      …and I guess I mostly use my Halifax debit card @Lidl, which is why I get a lot of Co-Op, Waitrose & Morrisons offers – plus loads of hotels for some reason

• Roxanna Zea says:

  25 Jan25 January 08:11

  And for those with Santander accounts, very similar offers to Halifax. Check out the HSBC Visa offers too. I have been targeted for £10 off £50 at Waitrose (in-store only) twice since Christmas.

• Liz says:

  25 Jan25 January 08:16

  I have paid my SPG balance and pts have all transferred across to my SPG. I am saving for future KF miles and wanted to churn the SPG Card later in the year. Am worried if I cancel now it won’t be there later in the year. Sod’s law if I cancel the card gets pulled later in the year. I’m not currently spending on it so paying the fee for nothing. Decisions decisions…….

  • jane says:

    25 Jan25 January 09:01

    Just pondering the exact same decision. I think I’m going with cancel though.

    • Tilly says:

      25 Jan25 January 23:41

      Me too.

  • Nate1309 says:

    25 Jan25 January 09:44

    Yep me too.

• John says:

  25 Jan25 January 09:42

  Curve:

  £14.99 a month doesn’t seem worth it as even if I value MR at 1p (which I don’t), I would need to put 18K a year through Curve just to break even. My tax is only around 5K and other non-Amex spending around 2K.

  £9.99 reduces breakeven to 12K but still not worth it when I can just spend on Amex directly.

  Don’t really care for grandfathered black as I have other cards for foreign spending. Insurance, I’ll buy something that suits me rather than hoping for the best with a one-size-fits-all package.

  So I think I’ll do the 6 months new black trial then downgrade to blue, any other factors I’m missing?

  btw anyone know if the Amex topup method is changing, or will it still charge £1000 to Amex then let me spend it slowly? Planning to use this to hit £15K on Gold Amex then cancel in new Amex year, while keeping the funds on Curve to spend slowly.

  • Shoestring says:

    25 Jan25 January 09:54

    missing MS thru ATM when you need some quick cheap points?

    doesn’t swing it for me, though – I have my everlasting fountain of 0.8p Avios plus just earned 60K @1.67p, see earlier 🙂

    • Shoestring says:

      25 Jan25 January 10:09

      0.167p!!! 🙂

  • Neil says:

    25 Jan25 January 10:02

    I was just about to run these figures but you are completely right. Unless you value the insurance perks & lounge access I can’t justify £14.99 per month. This card now appears to be targeted at people who struggle to hit sign up bonuses.

    Rob – I feel an article coming on? Where is our resident mathematician @Genghis

    • Anna says:

      25 Jan25 January 10:26

      Will I be able to keep my current free Curve and use the Amex facility (with the 0.65% fee?) I can’t find this among all the different options! Got a down payment on a car due in May…)

    • Markpeterboro says:

      25 Jan25 January 10:35

      Regarding the £7200 of ATM withdrawals per year with metal – are there any additional fees on this?

      I’m currently on the basic blue Curve card and am limited to £2400 of free ATM withdrawals but this metal card might be tempting now.

    • Matt says:

      25 Jan25 January 11:07

      But you can’t take cash out from an ATM from your Amex “wallet” on Curve, so that won’t work.

      Unless the rules change again.

      • Rob says:

        25 Jan25 January 11:16

        Ah, is that the case? This was not clear. I assumed it was possible.

    • Neil says:

      25 Jan25 January 11:11

      Cheers Rob, the maths does work out if you look at ATM withdrawals. Can anyone confirm the £50k cap will be increased?

      • Rob says:

        25 Jan25 January 11:15

        I have the £1.4m cap in writing from them. It doesn’t mean you will get it though.

        And the other comment says that ATM withdrawals cannot come from the Amex wallet, so who knows?!

        I will have full visibility by the end of the day.

    • Alex says:

      25 Jan25 January 11:39

      Rob, that would be great, please ask them about the actual cut-off for ‘free 4 month upgrade’ from beta Black to Metal deal too.

      Curve is in many ways a game-changing thing for collecting points, and I think they would have made a vastly more successful higher tier if they dropped the lounge/insurance bit – I can bet virtually ANYONE going for Metal will have at least one card providing those.

      • Memesweeper says:

        25 Jan25 January 14:35

        Quite right Alex. Bundling and charging insurance only helps me if it means I can cancel another product with the same bundle charging more … anyone got a download of the small print on the gadget insurance? I’ve got that (not free) elsewhere and that might make Metal make sense. But I honestly doubt it.

    • Neil says:

      25 Jan25 January 11:59

      £1.4 million cap!! Where do I sign up…..?? I also thought ATM withdrawals couldn’t come from the Amex wallet. Looking forward to hearing more about it.

      • Rob says:

        25 Jan25 January 12:12

        I could well be wrong on the ATM thing – I am not on the beta.

    • John says:

      25 Jan25 January 13:35

      Yeah you can’t withdraw cash on Amex at the moment.

      With 6 figures of tax you can easily hit Spire twice and two 241s… (you’ll be able to add wife’s supplementary Amex with the final release)

    • Alan says:

      25 Jan25 January 14:32

      I’ve not heard any word of ATM withdrawals coming to Amex wallets – my impression was it was something Amex wouldn’t allow?

    • Alan says:

      25 Jan25 January 14:33

      Although for use abroad you can topup Revolut from IHG, Hilton, VS Rewards and still have no forex fee but receive underlying rewards…

  • Grant says:

    25 Jan25 January 10:03

    I’m assuming you already hold the Black card as you’ve mentioned grandfathering, in which case why would you downgrade to Blue if you could go back to the grandfathered Black after your free trial of the ‘new Black’?

    • Rob says:

      25 Jan25 January 10:15

      Because ‘downgraded’ Black won’t let you use Amex at all – you keep the same package as now.

      Downgrade to ‘new’ Blue and you can do ‘pay as you go’ Amex for a 0.65% fee. For someone who, say, falls £2000 short of hitting a 241 voucher on a BAPP, being able to pay £13 in fees to turn £2k of MC or Visa spend into Amex spend is a good deal.

      • Grant says:

        25 Jan25 January 10:23

        Are you sure about the Amex point? The post I read on the Curve Cmmunity re grandfathering says ‘original Black’ will not have any Amex FREE top-up allowance or insurance benefits.

        I read this as meaning you would get Amex top-up facility but all top-ups would be subject to the 0.65% fee.

        • Rob says:

          25 Jan25 January 11:18

          If Curve puts you back to the same Black terms as you have today, then there is no Amex top-up option. But who knows?

      • Matt says:

        25 Jan25 January 11:09

        The grandfathered Black card will have the same Amex usage as the Blue card, ie no free top up, pay 0.65% on everything. There’;s no reason to drop from the legacy black card to blue.

        Curve have done a REALLY bad job of communicating what they’re doing, if even one of their significant marketing partners doesn’t know the rules.

      • Matt says:

        25 Jan25 January 11:56

        Reading further, ATM usage from Amex might be allowed. It’s blocked during the current beta program, but might not be in the future.

      • Alan says:

        25 Jan25 January 14:30

        That’s not my understanding, Rob, or how it’s been explained in the community. Grandfathered Black would still give you £1k/mo topup for Amex wallet.

      • Alan says:

        25 Jan25 January 15:02

        Sorry, yes – was confusing that with the Beta when looking at what pre-subscription Black meant! I’m delaying my switch so I can maintain current Black Beta (incl £1k free) as long as I am until the 6/12 free trial starts…

    • John says:

      25 Jan25 January 13:38

      You’re right, I was getting confused with the metal trial, from which you can only downgrade to blue. (I think!)

      • Alan says:

        25 Jan25 January 14:57

        No they can drop to either Blue or New Black after 6 months, just not to Old Black as they’ve specifically excluded this option.

  • Alex says:

    25 Jan25 January 12:12

    I completely agree that MR points should not be valued at more than 1p

    Which is why I’m confused more people don’t just get the Amex cash back card at a guaranteed 1.25p per pound spent for just £25/year…

    • Russ says:

      25 Jan25 January 13:33

      Very valid point about people focusing on point collecting when a cash back card would better suit.

      Then again I earn 2MR points on the amex Gold for foreign travel spend, it’s free for first year, at renewal receive 10,000 points costing £12.50, recommend partner and pick up another 9,000 points. Partner puts me on as a supp and we pick up another MR bonus. The whole thing costs each of us £12.50 a year. Now take away from that 2 (main card holder and supp) shop small’s at out usual Chinese takeaway @£5 each, a £50 off flights offer and, they’re linked with Virgin’s Waitrose shop so picking up Virgin points as well, and we’re in profit.

  • Alan says:

    25 Jan25 January 14:27

    It’s still a wallet based system.

    • John says:

      25 Jan25 January 14:29

      You mean the Amex topup thing?

      • Alan says:

        25 Jan25 January 14:59

        Indeed

      • Anna says:

        25 Jan25 January 15:22

        I still don’t understand whether I can keep my current free Curve and use the Amex facility when it gets rolled out, or will I have to start a new account?

• Oh Matron! says:

  25 Jan25 January 09:49

  That’s quite a rollout for Virgin Hotels, and those benefits aren’t bad either…

• AlexT says:

  25 Jan25 January 10:01

  OT: Just an FYI. Do not load Revolut with the Miles & More MC prepaid – payments come up as cash withdrawals and get charged a 3% fee

  • New Card says:

    25 Jan25 January 10:59

    The MM prepaid is quite aggressive in charging cash advance fees…

  • Neil says:

    25 Jan25 January 11:09

    I also learn’t this the hard way and I was annoyed. The MM prepaid is really on to it

    • EwanG says:

      25 Jan25 January 11:58

      Is there a list anywhere of who does treat Revolut top-ups as a an ATM/cash withdrawal and hence charge a fee?
      Am I right in thinking Creation do?

      • Rob Walker says:

        25 Jan25 January 14:16

        Creation don’t as far as I can see, I’ve had a statement since, and no charges. I can only top up around £100 a day though. Still worth it for me as the Government tax free childcare site won’t take Curve, but will take Revolut.

      • EwanG says:

        25 Jan25 January 15:32

        Thanks Rob W – I’ll give it a shot next month!

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