Why you should ignore the new Avios / Economist subscription offer – despite the headline

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• Nelson says:

  2 Feb2 February 08:45

  O/T amex credit card gold to plat upgrade. Yesterday amex on a live chat told me it is possible but need to call. True? Anybody tried?

  • Mark2 says:

    2 Feb2 February 08:53

    What are the terms? is there a benefit?

  • Grant says:

    2 Feb2 February 08:54

    This is consistent with the advice I received on chat yesterday. I specifically asked about MR points bonus for upgrading and there was a loose reference to 20k points. I understand that this was / is the offer for upgrading gold charge to platinum but didn’t probe to see if it actually applied to gold credit to platinum upgrades.

  • RTS says:

    2 Feb2 February 08:54

    You try and let us know!

    • Nelson says:

      2 Feb2 February 09:49

      I ll let you know but firstly need to spend 2k on Gold. Anyway I applied for plat in Dec (wasnt accepted). In Jan applied for gold (accepted). Is there a chance to be accepted for plat now? Otherwise does amex credit check when upgrading?

  • JK says:

    2 Feb2 February 09:09

    I used the below link 2 days ago to upgrade from Gold CHARGE card to the Platinum one:

    https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/benefits/upgrade/platinum-charge/?sourcecode=A0000EVVF9&om_rid=NuDp-R&om_mid=_chraps8de3?XLINK

    My card now shows as Platinum in my Amex account. Waiting for the physical one to be delivered.

  • Grant says:

    2 Feb2 February 09:42

    I called AMEX CS. The upgrade is possible but there is no bonus point offer, akin to the gold charge to platinum one, currently running to do so. No welcome bonus because you already have a MR card, yada yada…

    • Nelson says:

      2 Feb2 February 09:59

      Grant have you asked about gold credit card or only about gold charge card? Useful what you wrote. Still worthwhile to upgrade if you do 5 referrals within a month (my plan) 🙂

      • Grant says:

        2 Feb2 February 10:15

        Just to be clear, I was asking about upgrading my Gold CREDIT to the Platinum CHARGE – there is no MR bonus point offer currently running to incentivise this. I specifically referred to the well publicised offer of 20k MR points to upgrade from the old Gold CHARGE but was told that would not apply to the Gold CREDIT.

        Welcome bonus not available, obviously.

        I left it and will churn my Gold when I can reapply for a BAPP in a few months time, and get Platinum next time around.

      • N says:

        2 Feb2 February 12:13

        In which case I don’t think they were discussing an UPGRADE offer, but rather a ‘close Gold Credit, open Platinum Charge’ sort of transaction, as a Credit to Charge upgrade is not legal afaik

  • JS says:

    2 Feb2 February 14:33

    Gold credit to plat card with upgrade bonus not possible (or at least they said no on chat and telephone)

    I got around by self referring for green card, the upgrading that green card using the link (which did work)

    • Andrew M says:

      2 Feb2 February 18:03

      But I assume that, as yet, you have no idea as to whether the 20k points will trigger? Anyone any experience of this?

• TescoTease says:

  2 Feb2 February 09:32

  OT – hit 200% and 300% of the Tesco points cap this Quater. It seems like Tesco are implementing the cap again as I didn’t receive anything above the limit. I managed 150% of the cap last quater so a bit disappointed…

  • Grant says:

    2 Feb2 February 09:48

    Is the cap still 30k points per quarter? How on earth do you manage to rack up 2 or 3 times that?!

    • TescoTease says:

      2 Feb2 February 10:50

      Yep. Still 30k. Hit it with a combination of hard work and toil.

      • Grant says:

        2 Feb2 February 11:27

        I’m assuming you’re earning way more than 1 point per £. Do you move them all to Avios?

    • TescoTease says:

      2 Feb2 February 12:17

      Yes, I don’t trust Tesco so move them straight out, I’d rather risk a devaluation than account cancellation. I don’t use uber so split 50:50 with Avios and Virgin FC.

      • Simon says:

        2 Feb2 February 15:29

        I quadrupled cap 3 odd years ago via CV2 and an email to the CEO had all my CC points above the cap reinstated. Perhaps worth a try?

      • TescoTease says:

        2 Feb2 February 17:41

        I’d rather not draw attention to myself. I’ll leave it and play by the rules. Thanks for the suggestion though.

  • Louise says:

    2 Feb2 February 20:48

    Wow how did you do that with no more tesco direct!

• Luthar says:

  2 Feb2 February 09:45

  O/T as no bits. Iberia are doing a promotion 50% off Avios redemptions until February 10. Flights need to be between Feb 1 and April 15 and you need to have a Spanish address (I’ve had a “Spanish address” for a while now without any problems). Chicago to Madrid in J is currently 17k avios and £73.80.

  • Shoestring says:

    2 Feb2 February 09:51

    Spanish address = change your IB profile to any old Spanish address, and this workaround gets you the 50% discount.

    They say only IB, IB Express & Air Nostrum flights, though – anybody got it working on BA Avios flights booked thru IB?

    • Luthar says:

      2 Feb2 February 10:34

      Good point. I’ve not been able to get it to work with BA metal. Looks like it’s purely IB metal and Air Nostrum.

• Roberto says:

  2 Feb2 February 10:24

  Another OT…
  I had a couple of Curve topups that were pending on my amex that have now just disappeared and are no longer pending nor charged.

  • Grant says:

    2 Feb2 February 10:30

    Assuming that Curve haven’t actually received the funds as a result of the fall out, and that you’ve now spent the contents of your AMEX wallet, it’ll be interesting to see if Curve try and recharge this to one of your other registered cards.

  • Neil Donoghue says:

    2 Feb2 February 10:45

    Well spotted, I’ve just noticed my £200 top up that was pending has also disappeared. Looks like Amex have marked all these transactions as fraudulent and will leave Curve to foot the bill. Dangerous game

    • Dan says:

      2 Feb2 February 11:39

      Got to feel a bit for curve here. I can understand the decision to pull Amex functionality, but the transactions clearly aren’t fraudulent, and it seems customers aren’t being asked to confirm they are.

      We’re in for some fireworks if Amex decide to cancel all £500k(?) + transactions since the live beta launched.

      • Alex Sm says:

        2 Feb2 February 17:10

        Sounds like a nail into Curve’s coffin…

    • Lady London says:

      2 Feb2 February 19:45

      Very nasty if that’s what they are doing.

    • Nate1309 says:

      3 Feb3 February 13:19

      Amex rang me to confirm the curve transaction totalling about £12k.
      Still gutted about this scenario.

  • BJ says:

    2 Feb2 February 12:09

    +1, and one was for a fab three figure sum 🙂

    • Chrisasaurus says:

      2 Feb2 February 17:58

      They have a valid authorization code that predates the termination so I expect them to be honoured (and if not they can just charge another card we have, though I’d expect them to give warning first.)

  • Charlieface says:

    2 Feb2 February 20:27

    What nobody seems to realise is that the merchant’s authorisation usually lasts for 30 days, but banks don’t hold it against your balance for more than 7-10 days so it disappears. So theoretically (and in practice it’s happened to me with other merchants, Amex Travel a prime example) you may find the charge popping up as settled 2-3 weeks later.

• Shoestring says:

  2 Feb2 February 10:44

  O/T DT:
  THE future of Airbus’s A380 is once again in serious doubt as Emirates holds talks on an order that granted the poorly selling “superjumbo” a stay of execution.
  Airbus confirmed it was in discussions with the airline – the biggest customer for the A380 with 105 in service – about the contract following reports it wanted to switch 20 of the jets for smaller A350 airliners.
  Airbus looked to have secured the A380’s future for several years when Emirates ordered 36 more last year, taking its backlog to 53 out of the 87 on Airbus’s order book.
  However, there have been problems with Rolls-royce struggling to deliver engines that meet the performance required by Emirates for the plane, entailing work which would cost the FTSE 100 engineer several hundred million pounds, delaying orders.
  Analysts believe that Emirates reducing its order could kill off the A380.
  Sandy Morris, an analyst at Jefferies, said just 56 orders for A380s – 53 from Emirates and three from Japan’s ANA – were “robust”, with the rest likely to be cancelled.
  He added that capacity constraints faced by Emirates at Dubai airport were likely to ease with the opening of a new facility by 2024, meaning the airline could operate more flights. This would ease its reliance on the giant A380, which can carry up to 600 passengers.
  “If a significant portion of the Emirates order is cancelled, we believe the A380 programme must end,” Mr Morris said.
  Analysts at Berenberg said the development “raises fresh doubts about A380’s viability”. They added: “The Emirates order is widely seen as absolutely crucial to sustaining the programme due to lacklustre orders.”
  Airbus has cut production of the double-decker, four-engine aircraft to just six a year, down from a peak of 27, as customers increasingly opt for smaller twin-engined aircraft that are cheaper to operate.
  The A380 entered service just 11 years ago and Airbus takes a loss on each of the superjumbos it makes once development costs are factored in.
  The planes have a list price of $445m (£341m), though customers typically pay far less after discounts.
  Ending production of the A380 would free up Airbus to focus resources on its more popular smaller models, but it would also mean a big financial hit.
  European governments provided “repayable launch aid” to help support development of the superjumbo, with repayments coming as aircraft sell profitably.
  Mr Morris put a rough estimate on the hit Airbus could take at €1bn (£880m) from costs related to such support.

  • BJ says:

    2 Feb2 February 12:24

    Rob suggested yesterday that this might help BA get them cheap. Hope they don’t kill it off but even if they do it could yet make a future return as a neo variant if projected growth in airline traffic and airport congestion are reliable.

• BJ says:

  2 Feb2 February 12:16

  OT: 8 per cent back at Hilton and Doubletree worldwide up to £75, one time only, on my Halifax so likely on other Lloyds group too. Excludes ME, Africa and Turkey which has a separate similar deal so ptential £150 in total.

  • Shoestring says:

    2 Feb2 February 12:25

    12% on Hilton for me (Hilton and Doubletree), also separate 12% on Middle East, Africa or Turkey.

    • BJ says:

      2 Feb2 February 12:40

      Was total benefit still £75, or greater? And I think you had co-op too? Halifax gone down for me lately, I guess I best start using it more.

      • Shoestring says:

        2 Feb2 February 12:47

        max £75, as you say

        my wife & I have different Halifax online a/cs (same joint current a/c, though) and so we get different offers – we both used Co-Op’s £30 off £300 council tax offer last week or so, plus I used it once mid 2018 – for £90 off £900 council tax

• Russ says:

  2 Feb2 February 12:37

  I think Singapore airlines does the Economist offer sometimes through its shopping portal. Another way to pick up Krisflyer points.

• Lady London says:

  2 Feb2 February 12:52

  Sneaky sneaky. Especially when The Economist as a matter of course offers free 12 weeks subscriptions to groups I ‘ve been part of.

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