Air Belgium to operate Toronto flights for British Airways

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• Jimbob says:

  15 Mar15 March 18:46

  OT – anyone else notice Curve starting to clamp down on money recycling?

  • Doug M says:

    15 Mar15 March 18:53

    In what way?

  • Genghis says:

    15 Mar15 March 18:54

    What type of money recycling? I was given notice of their terms changes which I’ll have deemed to have accepted in two weeks’ time.

    • Jimbob says:

      15 Mar15 March 19:02

      Used to be able to top up my isa, savings account and Revolut. But all seem blocked now

      • Genghis says:

        15 Mar15 March 19:35

        I’m ok

      • Thomas Howard says:

        15 Mar15 March 22:24

        Are you sure its not the underlying card? I couldn’t top up my II ISA with a IHG card, I called Creation and they said they were declining the transactions as the MCC was associated with bitcoin. I switched to Lloyds and the transaction went straight through.

• Darren says:

  15 Mar15 March 18:56

  O/T,
  I’m looking ot boost my avios balance by a significant amount, 300,000ish as I seem to always earn and burn and leave myself with too small a balance.

  There was a discussion last month about the merits, or otherwise, of this when BA had a bonus offer on of £3k for 300k avios. I was wondering whether to wait for the next BA offer or go via another route (maybe groupon). Is it possible to build that amount instantly with avios purchase other than BA?

  • Shoestring says:

    15 Mar15 March 19:20

    yes – Iberia!

    dates of bonus Avios promos don’t mirror BA’s

    and IB was slightly cheaper last time

    • Darren says:

      15 Mar15 March 21:07

      Thanks Harry

  • BJ says:

    15 Mar15 March 19:40

    IMO earn & burn is the optimum strategy as avios are an inflexible currency and subject to devaluation, which many think may not be far off. If you are going to buy avios at about 1.1p each in a sale you need to exercise caution to ensure that you will get value in return. Given the tax and fees on longhaul this can often be difficult unless you value flexibility, redeem in First, at peak season, in conjunction with a 241 and/or in cerain markets where excelkent cash deals ard as rare as hen’s teeth. Absent those circumstances, a better steategy would be to buy great value avios-earning revenue flights and rebuild your avios balance more gradually at much less than 1ppa. At the moment I’m using the Tesco mobile offer which is at the upper end of what I am prepared to pay per avios ever, most of those I havd collected cost much closer to 0ppa.

    • Darren says:

      15 Mar15 March 21:15

      I understand the need for caution, but my usage is always with a 241 and I’d prefer First when available as I don’t have status which makes seat selection a bit of a pain. I suppose Amex MR would be a safer bet for redemption options, is this possible as a cash purchase?

      The cushion of a larger balance would make this mad game a little easier.

      • BJ says:

        15 Mar15 March 22:18

        241, F and no status makes buying avios at 1.1ppa worthwhile. Consider SPG card as opposed to an MR card. However, next time the buy avios offer comes along you could self refer for platinum giving you 9k + 35k +300k avios plus hotel and car status, and tgen cancel the card.

      • BJ says:

        15 Mar15 March 22:25

        241, F and no status makes buying avios at 1.1ppa worthwhile. Consider SPG card as opposed to an MR card. However, next time the buy avios offer comes along you could self refer for platinum giving you 9k + 35k +300k avios plus hotel and car status, and then cancel the card.

    • Shoestring says:

      15 Mar15 March 21:21

      Depends how much money you have tied up in Avios/ how much you paid for them/ how this relates to your other assets etc

      Plus how realistic you think it is that a destructive devaluation will come along.

      I guess we have close to 2 million Avios/ Virgin miles now. If somebody offered me £20K for them, I’d take it like a shot. But that offer’s not on the table. And I didn’t pay £20K – I guess at most we paid about £3K, so that’s what I stand to lose in a 100% wipe-out. 100% wipe-out is not too likely, more like 10% tops if a nasty devaluation comes along, so £300 downside. Plus a few travelling dreams shattered!

      My view is that you need a not too hot, not too cold solution on the size of your points stash. If you earn & burn constantly, you’re not too likely to ever get your stash big enough to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. So a quick 300K stash generated as Darren is contemplating is not madness but just a pragmatic way to generate an overnight stash that could save you twice as much very easily, think 2-4-1s etc.

      • BJ says:

        15 Mar15 March 22:28

        In the right hands that would be a steal so you may get some offers…400 cases of cheap but drinkable… 🙂

• BJ says:

  15 Mar15 March 22:33

  More generous than the Hilton variant for at least two stays but does the friend get anything?

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