Tesco Clubcard is dropping Uber as a partner – the best Clubcard redemption goes away

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• Luthar says:

  24 Apr24 April 08:06

  OT – I need to do 60 nights in hotels this year. I’ve got no status and not many hotel points. Which brand is best these days for earning status and points?

  • BJ says:

    24 Apr24 April 08:21

    Simple question with a very complicated answer…depends where you are going, what your budget is, whether mostly single night or multinight stays, what you want to do with the points etc

  • Brian says:

    24 Apr24 April 08:32

    Rob has reviews of the various hotel loyalty programmes. I suggest you do a search on here and read them. Should give you a bit of an idea what best suits your needs.

  • Rob says:

    24 Apr24 April 08:47

    Go to our Hotel Promos page, each scheme has a 2-part article on its pros and cons.

  • Alex W says:

    24 Apr24 April 09:04

    If you want free breakfast go for Hilton. Take out an Amex Plat to get free gold status.

    If you want lots of points go for IHG. Take out the IHG Premium credit card and get free Platinum status.

    Or better still, do both!

    • Luthar says:

      24 Apr24 April 10:03

      Thanks everyone. Based on the hotel promos currently going I’ll go with Marriott for now as I’ve missed the boat on Hilton and IHG promotions. I’ll be getting Amex Plat too to get my status level to gold immediately.

      • Relaxo says:

        24 Apr24 April 10:43

        Not sure I agree with your choice. There will be new Hilton & IHG promotions coming up soon. These have historically been a lot more generous than miserly Marriott. Marriott gold does not get you much, Hilton Gold does.

      • Luthar says:

        24 Apr24 April 10:57

        Relaxo – thanks for that. I’ll hold my horses for now. Starting my first stays in early May. I’ll use Hilton for now just to take advantage of a good Amex offer I have.

      • Lyn says:

        24 Apr24 April 12:31

        I’d agree with Alex and Relaxo re Hilton and IHG.

        The IHG premium card gives you IHG platinum, with a free night if you reach a spending target. You should be able to status match to Hilton to at least Gold but likely Diamond based on IHG platinum. You might need to show an IHG stay first though. HfP has articles on the Hilton status match,

        IHG platinum can be useful, especially in continental Europe, but Hilton gold probably has better benefits in terms of breakfast and the occasional lounge upgrade as well as room upgrades.

      • BJ says:

        24 Apr24 April 12:43

        IHG premium credit card gets you 20k points, good earning rate plus platinum status, plus free night if you spend enough. Stay IHG first 1 or 2 times and use those stays along with platinum status to do Hilton status match challenge. Eight Hilton stays then gets you Diamond so you don’t need amex platinum unless you want it for something other than Hilton Gold. Thus, after just 9 or 10 stays you are both IHG platinum and Hilton Diamond so are well set to exploit full potential of future IHG or Hilton promos, whatever works best. If you want to focus on just one scheme (not a good idea IMO) then I would definitely recommend Hilto way ahead of the others provided their is goo coverage in places you need to stay.

      • BJ says:

        24 Apr24 April 12:45

        @Lyn, sorry, was typing st same time you posted 🙂

  • Memesweeper says:

    24 Apr24 April 13:06

    I have or had some status with all the major brands. Hilton has been the stand-out for being actually useful. I’ve got Spire Elite with IHG and it’s basically useless.

    Are you looking to acquire free nights for a future holiday while away on business? The Hotels.com and IHG schemes are pretty good in that respect. Saving enough for a free night in a nice place takes longer with Hilton in my experience. Also hotels.com credit is more useful for a family when booking leisure travel as you’re not restricted to basic rooms.

  • Crafty says:

    24 Apr24 April 15:10

    Think about what you are redeeming for and where. Since Marriott acquired SPG I would argue it has by far the best portfolio of 5 star hotels (at least, in Asia, where we like to go).

    Hilton was previously my chain of choice and probably remains the best all rounder in terms of both earning and redeeming potential.

    Radisson is easy to earn but I have reduced my valuation to 0.2p because redemptions always seem to be prohibitively expensive.

• Michael says:

  24 Apr24 April 08:07

  These extra Mumbai services sound like well timed slot sitters to me.

  • Rob says:

    24 Apr24 April 08:47

    The Jet slots have gone to Etihad, although it seems they will lease them – BA may have taken one.

    • Michael says:

      24 Apr24 April 09:17

      I meant BA have just pulled 4 extra slot pairs out of nowhere to operate to Mumbai with. Sounds like they have to fly them or they’re going to lose them, so have decided to make the best out of the situation.

      • Rob says:

        24 Apr24 April 09:26

        I get a feeling that, if they haven’t done a deal with Etihad, they simply cancel a few European flights. No-one really notices.

      • Riku says:

        24 Apr24 April 09:46

        BA reduced LHR-HEL from 2x daily to 1x daily last month. That’s 7 slot pairs a week.

  • The Jetset Boyz says:

    24 Apr24 April 22:58

    BA 51 LHR-JNB & BA50 JNB-LHR operated on a B787-9 is being dropped four times a week and this aircraft is to be used for the additional LHR-BOM service for the rest of the summer period.

• Tilly says:

  24 Apr24 April 08:26

  O/T – I don’t have a Star Alliance account with any airline (only have BAEC and Virgin FC) but have a 2 hour flight on Asiana (operated by Air Seoul) later in the year from KIX to ICN. Any advice on which Star Alliance airline to open an account with to credit the flight to?

  • Michael says:

    24 Apr24 April 08:34

    Depends how much star flying you’re planning to do in the future. Perhaps Singapore Airlines as you can top them up with Membership rewards in the future.

    • David says:

      24 Apr24 April 10:55

      If you have no other Star plans, Miles & More will at least convert to Heathrow Rewards so you don’t get nothing… But Star expiry rules are all rather draconian, so sitting on a small pile and seeing what happens is unlikely to yield any return.

  • marcw says:

    24 Apr24 April 08:35

    Think about whether it’s worth it… of course it depends on cabin/fare you are travelling in and whether you have plans to fly StarAlliance in the future. Otherwise, just forget about it.

  • Alex W says:

    24 Apr24 April 09:05

    Try wheretocredit.com

  • pablo says:

    24 Apr24 April 10:26

    Air Seoul is not in star alliance. Can only credit to Asiana.

  • Lady London says:

    24 Apr24 April 17:11

    Where to credit dot com. AS seems to have its fans due several very interesting linkups. If you can fly 4 segments on them and think you have a future in Star Alliance Aegean is still worth a look. The airline you’re flying on also but there are rumours of serious financial instability that could affect its FFP.

  • Tilly says:

    24 Apr24 April 18:10

    Thanks everyone. I’ll take a look at that site.

• Lee says:

  24 Apr24 April 08:43

  Hi, completely off point, but I wondered if anyone would have a suggestion for return business flight with BA from JFK back to Heathrow. I have read it is a good idea to eat in the lounge pre flight? Do you just turn up and do this or need to book? And if doing this, what is a good time for the flight so you have time to eat before boarding etc? Does everyone sleep on business? Learner questions 🙂

  • Anna says:

    24 Apr24 April 08:50

    A lot of people sleep as it’s quite a short flight. You don’t need to pre-book dinner in the lounge; the recommended 3 hours prior to departure will give you adequate time but you can always turn up earlier if you want to take full advantage.

    Once you’re on the flight you get a card to fill in about what time you want to be woken up, so earlier if you want full breakfast or last minute if you just want coffee. Don’t forget it may be lunch time when you land, depending on the time of your flight, so if you like to start the day with breakfast, like I do, have it on the plane!

    • Genghis says:

      24 Apr24 April 09:20

      … or head to the arrivals lounge where the breakfast is better than on the plane and maximise your sleep.

      • Mark2 says:

        24 Apr24 April 09:26

        Remembering that the Arrivals lounge closes at about 1400! Just after I arrive.

      • Lev441 says:

        24 Apr24 April 09:39

        @mark2 – Heathrow also has a few plaza premium arrivals lounges which are open all day.. I’ve taken advantage of these when landing after ba/virgin arrivals lounges close.. works if you have a priority pass/Amex plat

      • Leo says:

        24 Apr24 April 09:54

        +1 .Couldn’t agree more with this. Eat beforehand and breakfast the other end.

      • Anna says:

        24 Apr24 April 11:13

        Yes but on an overnight flight from the US breakfast might well be finished by the time you get to the lounge! I completely forgot about this last summer and was faced with the BA curry buffet at T5 when I really wanted bacon rolls, orange juice and coffee. Such a disappointing end to the holiday lol!

      • Alan says:

        24 Apr24 April 13:41

        Agreed. I much prefer to eat in the lounge at either end and just go to sleep on board 🙂

  • Michael says:

    24 Apr24 April 09:19

    Depends what your plans are like Anna said. You can eat dinner onboard or on the ground, or both! You can also skip breakfast on the flight and eat it in the arrivals lounge when you land, or do both. Depends how much time you have at each end.

    JFK-LHR eastbound is quite short so if you want to maximize sleep on the flight, eat dinner in the JFK Lounge and breakfast in the Heathrow Arrivals lounge.

    • Ben says:

      24 Apr24 April 09:43

      I got there at 1pm on Sunday and all the hot food was finished…only yogurt and cereal remaning. Kind of lame but was somewhere to wait before my taxi arrived.

  • Kipto says:

    24 Apr24 April 10:57

    Was in the lounge at JFK last Friday. The food was excellent and much better than on the plane. I would eat a meal in the lounge although you might not want to eat a meal on the plane bearing in mind that they serve the food an hour after take off.

  • Spurs Debs says:

    24 Apr24 April 11:51

    Just turn up for pre flight dinning.
    No not everyone sleeps I don’t.
    The lounge at jfk terminal 7 is woeful

  • Alan says:

    24 Apr24 April 13:38

    No need to book and would definitely recommend doing this. That way once on board you can just focus on sleep! 🙂

  • Graham Walsh says:

    26 Apr26 April 09:46

    I did this recently. JFK to LHR, food in the lounge which was average, boarded plane, said no to dinner (although the menu looked great) and no to breakfast. Woke up before landing so had some good sleep. Landed and went straight for a shower in the BA arrivals lounge, quick bit of breakfast (scrambled egg was awful however) and drove to the office in Reading. Arrived in time for meeting 🙂

• Lee says:

  24 Apr24 April 08:59

  Thanks Anna, much appreciated!

• Anwar says:

  24 Apr24 April 09:22

  Clubcard points really stack up if you use a Tesco Debit Card. As its an extra point for every £ spent at Tesco. I still have my main account and only use the Tesco Bank for use in Tesco. 2 points per £ converts to 4.8 Avios per £1 spent.

  • John says:

    24 Apr24 April 15:04

    But for Rob it is 6p of UBER credit

• Tim Jones says:

  24 Apr24 April 09:26

  Any news on the hotels.com credit card?

• Jordan D says:

  24 Apr24 April 09:37

  Shame those extra BOM flights are only loaded for the current summer timetable and not into the winter schedule, which would have been *extremely* useful.

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