Get 3,000 bonus points per night with the new Radisson Rewards hotel promotion

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• MrM says:

  28 May28 May 10:55

  OT: My Lloyds Avios Rewards cards switched to the Mastercard in my latest statement. Annual fee was partially refunded, but, as others have reported, my 0% interest offer until 2020 was removed. I was charged interest on the new statement.

  Just called Lloyds and it’s now with the Back Office team for investigation.

  If you’re making use of this offer, be vigilant. The terms are very clear they are meant to be preserving this.

  • Tracy says:

    28 May28 May 14:15

    Thanks for highlighting this, yes I have been partially refunded my annual fee and charged interest for the first time this month, will need to chase with Lloyds too……

  • Tracy says:

    28 May28 May 15:47

    I have phoned Lloyds and they have agreed to refund the current interest charge and have put a block on any further interest charges until the interest free period is up in January 2020. Will keep an eye on my account to ensure this happens, not convinced yet lol.

• BA-Flyer says:

  28 May28 May 11:17

  Lloyds charged my £24 annual fee for the Avios Amex last December, and I’ve been using that date as the starting point for tracking my spend. I got the email confirming my voucher was triggered after spending £5k, so rang to query. Lloyds said they were using a date in October, because that’s when my account was linked to Avios. As a result, my voucher will expire in May 2020, rather than October 2020 as I had planned. Anyone else got experience with this?

  • Simon says:

    28 May28 May 11:45

    pretty sure it’s the anniversary of when you got the card. So if the £24 happened in December (it happens on the last day of the statement I think) your anniversary data is probably in November/early December. If your spending in the month before the £24 fee was quite high – that would explain it. Assuming Lloyds IT is all ok….

    • Simon says:

      28 May28 May 11:49

      just noticed your October comment (missed that). It’s weird its that far before your fee happened. Just check my statements – my fee was applied 22 days after my anniversary date.

  • Anna says:

    28 May28 May 12:11

    It should tally with your card anniversary date but Lloyds CSA’s are highly prone to talking complete rubbish. I contacted them recently and was told that all the Amex cards had now been closed down when clearly a number of us are still able to use them!

• Lady London says:

  28 May28 May 11:51

  Hmmmm, as well as Amex “forgetting” to mention this cut in “golf” benefit alongside their list of non-benefits to justify their recent fees increase for Plat, I’ve also seen coverage elsewhere that in Asia the Platinum Amex Priority Pass cards won’t allow restaurants to be used instead of lounges anymore.

  I assume that could spread elsewhere. I assume it’s only the Amex Plat version of the Priority Pass that will have the restriction. If it’s all Priority Passes, then even worse. Given the problems with accessing lounges at LGW, the restaurant access there has meant the Priority Pass that comes with Amex Platinum at least still has some use. Systematic non-acceptance of Priority Pass by No. 1 Lounges, and other lounges, has meant the promised benefit of Priority Pass has often not really been being provided by Amex. The dining credit was a bit of a lifesaver saving some value to this Amex benefit. Looks like it could get worse folks, if this restriction comes in elsewhere in which case I would value the Priority Pass benefit of Amex Plat at very little.

  • Russ says:

    28 May28 May 12:40

    You may well be right. We hold it for the odd occasion we need lounge access coming back into the UK on an economy flight. In Europe we’ve always had access but if that came under threat then I just couldn’t justify it. Back to purchasing Priority Pass.

  • Rob says:

    28 May28 May 13:36

    The thing is … on standard PP cards, where you pay for guests, this benefit is totally pointless as the guest fee (GBP 20) is higher than the GBP 15 food credit. Similarly, it is pointless on the basic Priority Pass where you pay for every visit for yourself. It is only the Amex Plat version of PP which allows free guests where it makes sense.

  • meta says:

    28 May28 May 16:28

    It looks like it’s spreading. US blogs are reporting it will apply to US issued Amex cards as well.

    • Gin and Tonic Please says:

      28 May28 May 18:11

      Yep. Looks confirmed now. Amex spokesperson quoted as saying it applies from 1 Aug.

      • Alex W says:

        28 May28 May 19:45

        FFS, it’s just getting worse and worse with Amex.

    • Alan says:

      29 May29 May 00:01

      Yep, can’t believe we won’t be hit by this next 🙁 Was a great way of dealing with lounge overcrowding too.

• Anna says:

  28 May28 May 12:08

  I need to get my head round the status thing (currently Blue, due to our MAN flights being largely with non-OW airlines). We tend to do a mixture of redemption and cash bookings with BA – this year my OH has a cash CW booking and one CE, and I’ve done 4 cash legs in CE. If one of us had taken all these flights, would that person get higher status? If so I need to be more organised with my bookings in future!

  • Stu N says:

    28 May28 May 12:24

    You would probably be better off if one person always took the cash fares as that would give you best chance of one of you getting meaningful status. If you’re using 2-4-1s the voucher holder has to travel on the ticket though which might be difficult – not sure about Lloyds vouchers as never used them.

    • Stu N says:

      28 May28 May 12:27

      Cash CW, assuming MAN-LHR connections would be 40+140+140+40 = 360TPs. A CE round trip is another 80, so 440 TPs there if you’re in the same card year. Add on the 160TPs for the 4 CE cash and you’re on 600TPs which is a Silver card if all the flights fall into the same membership year.

    • Anna says:

      28 May28 May 12:50

      It depends whose voucher we’re using for a particular booking but if I was REALLY organised I could arrange for them to be triggered more efficiently! Though after next year we won’t have Lloyds to factor in, just our 2 4 1s.

      • Stu N says:

        28 May28 May 14:21

        Remember that you’ll only share benefits like extra baggage allowance and free seat selection at time of booking with people on same booking*, so if you have 2 no-status passengers on a redemption 2-4-1 and 1 Silver on revenue, the benefits will be limited to one person. Might not be that effective after all..

        *Golds can link bookings and sort out seating over the phone

• paulm says:

  28 May28 May 12:34

  Following on from the Plat increase announcement, I am looking at what to do with my plat and will likely cancel.

  Looking at the green card and the rewards card – the only differences I can see is that green is a charge card and there is the possible upgrade back to plat for 20K bonus. Is there anything I am missing in terms of whether its worth paying the annual fee on the green ?

  • Memesweeper says:

    28 May28 May 16:55

    Charge card will often suit very high spenders better. The classic green card looks fab in the wallet. Otherwise you’re right, the fee is just buying you the chance to upgrade.

• Tracy says:

  28 May28 May 15:51

  I enrolled in the Preferred Golf at the same time as I updated my Hilton, Marriott etc back in April when I got Plat supp. I have been enrolled in all but Preferred Golf which is still sitting as pending, am I to assume it will never complete then?

• Nick says:

  28 May28 May 16:14

  Can I book 2 avios flights now. And then in a couple months, ring up BA to apply my 241 voucher and get half the avios returned?

  • Anna says:

    28 May28 May 20:02

    Depends why, if you haven’t earned the voucher yet then probably not because it won’t be valid for your dates of travel. I would think, anyway!

    • meta says:

      28 May28 May 20:49

      Why wouldn’t a voucher be valid? Voucher is valid from the moment you earn it for 2 years (or 1 if you’re on the free card). Say you earn the voucher in April 2020 and you want to travel in May 2020. You can use it straight away if there is space. Similarly if you earn it in August 2019, you can use it in May 2020. However that’s besides the point. The question is whether you can use a voucher on an existing Avios booking, but after you’ve earned the voucher. I haven’t heard anyone reporting success on that. But if possible, it might be a work around the issue of the 12 month validity of the voucher on the free card.

• DV says:

  28 May28 May 16:17

  The introduction of the Amex Preferred Golf benefit was used to justify the previous fee increase to £450. What Amex gives with one hand, it takes away with the other.

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