The YOTEL San Francisco hotel will open on 1st March

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• Vasco says:

  26 Jan26 January 12:14

  OT: Upgrading from AMEX Gold to Plat as soon as the 10000 points from 15k spend post. As I’m upgrading, will be card number stay the same, or will they issue a new one? It’d be massively more convenient if it was the former..

  • Roger says:

    26 Jan26 January 12:30

    it will be a new card with new number

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:

      26 Jan26 January 14:03

      But spending on your current card will count towards the Plat while you await the new card.

• Lost+confused says:

  26 Jan26 January 14:46

  OT Amex Platinum – I’m doing the maths to decide if I should get a platinum or gold card so I have a few questions:-

  1 Is the £200 back on £600 travel spend likely to come up on a new platinum card? (I haven’t had a rewards account before)

  2 If I book Lufthansa flights through Amex travel will I still get my frequent flyer benefits (ie extra luggage allowance)?

  3 Does the hire car insurance cover a 2nd driver on my rental?

  4 if 3 is yes, what if a driver has a non EU license?

  5 if flying from Luton, am I likely to get into a lounge using priority pass ?

  Many thanks!

  • John says:

    26 Jan26 January 15:09

    1. Not immediately and not guaranteed

    2. Yes

    3. Yes

    4. The policy doesn’t say anything about licence, assume covered as long as the rental agency is happy for them to drive

    5. Probably yes.

    • Lost+confused says:

      26 Jan26 January 15:59

      Thanks John, and it doesn’t matter if the rental is paid for by another card (ie Mastercard) ? I couldn’t see any mention of this in the T&Cs.

      I also assume its ok if I booked the car rental before I receive the Amex ?

      • Genghis says:

        26 Jan26 January 18:08

        No requirement to pay my Amex. Latter Q also OK

    • thehornets says:

      26 Jan26 January 21:39

      1. Offer has not appeared on mine since I received a new one two weeks ago

      (I do have 33 offers I don’t need though!)

      • Lost+confused says:

        26 Jan26 January 22:54

        OK thanks Genghis and thehornets, It looks like I’ll get reasonable value from it if the offer turns up and if not I can drop my Nationwide FlexPlus account (which I might do anyway) at which point the travel insurance becomes useful. I’ll apply and see what offers I get. I’ve about 20 days before I go away so hopefully it will arrive in time.

• John says:

  26 Jan26 January 14:48

  With curve, once it’s all actually working properly, do you think you will be upgrade to metal for one month and spend £10k on amex (for example to get a 241) then downgrade, and repeat 6 months later?

  • Jonathan says:

    26 Jan26 January 15:03

    As I understand it, the minimum subscription term after the trial on the metal card will be 6 months apparently.

• Shoestring says:

  26 Jan26 January 15:42

  *10% off @Co-Op

  • Shoestring says:

    26 Jan26 January 18:22

    I’m pretty confident we can both get 10% off £300 @Co-Op twice a year each = £120 off the council tax.

• Dace says:

  26 Jan26 January 16:59

  OT. Has anyone ever been able to use their Curve to buy FX for a Currency Exchange? Thanks in advance for any help!

  • Dace says:

    26 Jan26 January 17:00

    *from.

    Just to clarify, I know I can get a better rate by using the card, it is just that I need the cash.

    • John says:

      26 Jan26 January 19:13

      Use ATM and pay the fee? How much of the foreign currency do you need?

  • Anna says:

    26 Jan26 January 17:10

    I suspect that the underlying card will treat it as a cash advance and apply charges accordingly.

    • Shoestring says:

      26 Jan26 January 17:44

      Not necessarily. I bought a couple of £thou FX on my Tesco credit card a while back (@HIFX) and it was treated as a purchase.

      • Anna says:

        26 Jan26 January 18:11

        Was that cash? I’ve used Curve linked to Lloyds Mastercard to top up my Cash Passport with no fees but never tried it for cash.

      • Anna says:

        26 Jan26 January 18:12

        Also, glad you didn’t go away for too long!

      • Shoestring says:

        26 Jan26 January 18:20

        it was transfer from HIFX to my foreign bank a/c

      • Rob says:

        26 Jan26 January 18:33

        The Tesco Credit Card treats in-store Tesco FX transactions as purchases – but doesn’t award points for it. Perhaps this was similar? Does your card statement show the transaction earning points?

      • Anna says:

        26 Jan26 January 21:24

        Dace seems to saying he wants to purchase cash with his Curve, or “holiday money” as we call it!

• Ian says:

  26 Jan26 January 17:06

  OT Curve Metal Beta

  I have an invite but am close to the current 50k limit. Anyone know if you sign up for the metal beta does the 50k limit get extended or reset? Not much point otherwise!

  • Genghis says:

    26 Jan26 January 18:06

    Limits not dependent on card

  • Stuart says:

    26 Jan26 January 19:52

    Spend history is rest to zero with metal…

    • BlueHorizonUK says:

      26 Jan26 January 22:48

      no it isn’t. I just upgraded and still showing me as having exhausted by 50k limit.

      Sent them a ticket to see if they can up my limit otherwise asking for a refund.

    • Alan says:

      27 Jan27 January 05:04

      No it’s not.

  • Jonathan says:

    26 Jan26 January 20:21

    They offer a £100k limit now.

    • Thomas Howard says:

      26 Jan26 January 20:32

      Have they confirmed this anywhere? I’m in if it’s definite. Everything they do seems fairly fluid and prone to change the next day.

      • Jonathan says:

        26 Jan26 January 21:50

        Yes, me. I on the new higher limit now. I hit the £50k limit and emailed support who upped it without question. £5k per day, £20k per month, £100k per annum.

      • Rob says:

        26 Jan26 January 23:33

        Annual limit will be up to £1.4m. What you have to do to be given a £1.4m annual limit is a different question. £4,500 per day cap remains.

      • Mr Dee says:

        27 Jan27 January 00:38

        John what card do you have and are you in their beta?

      • Alan says:

        27 Jan27 January 05:04

        It’s definitely available but not linked to card type.

      • Jonathan says:

        27 Jan27 January 07:03

        Legacy black. I am on the beta but was upgraded about a week before I went onto it.

• Jay H says:

  26 Jan26 January 17:44

  OT

  Is amending the return leg of a return avios booking charged at 17.50 for the leg or 35 as it’s a whole booking

  • Genghis says:

    26 Jan26 January 18:06

    35. Can only change if not flown outbound.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      26 Jan26 January 21:05

      Another reason to book European redemptions as one ways

• MarkyT123 says:

  26 Jan26 January 18:39

  OT – BA to Istanbul in September there is no avios availability on the flight I want, though plenty still on the days roundabout.
  I’d prefer this particular flight though. Is it very common for availability to reappear between now and then? Just need one economy seat. Thanks!

  • Shoestring says:

    26 Jan26 January 19:01

    It’s very common for the standard 4+2 (Economy + Club) Avios flights to get snapped up early, then if the flight is not looking very full, BA will throw more Avios flights into the mix – unfortunately often quite late on, eg last 2-3-4 weeks before flight.

    So it’s a case of ‘are you feeling lucky, punk?’. September isn’t peak but with limited flights per day I’d have thought IST often runs close to full?

    And are you flexible enough to wait until a couple of weeks before your best date then make alternative arrangements if the reward flights don’t come up? When it could also be a lot more expensive. I can’t operate like that at the moment as I don’t want to waste a day of our fixed (school) hols. But I could easily change tack to save money once school hols are not in the equation.

    • Bonglim says:

      26 Jan26 January 20:56

      Could you book a reward flight on the best of the available days at the moment.
      Then pay the 35 pound fee and change if the correct flight appears.
      That is what I would do.

  • bsuije says:

    26 Jan26 January 21:16

    If you are BA Gold, you could force open availability, but it will cost you double Avios.

    Otherwise, agree with Shoestring that it’s a matter of chance and luck. There is a website (baredemptionfinder.com?) where you can set an alert for when reward seats open up (think there is a nominal fee?).

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