New Avios redemptions …. Finnair adds flights to Busan whilst Iberia adds Cairo

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• John says:

  11 Jul11 July 05:22

  Still nothing and Lloyds offers also running low since the Amex stopped working

  • BJ says:

    11 Jul11 July 05:49

    +1, a bit annoyed as this was what I predicted and cautioned against cancellation when amex changed churning rules. Looks like I will be spending only on Hilton and IHG cards for a few month to see if amex notices. No reward no spend!

    • Brighton Belle says:

      11 Jul11 July 05:59

      All my Amex cards are showing zero balance. There’s not much incentive to give my Amex cards an airing. A few months like this and they’ll be dumped.

      • BJ says:

        11 Jul11 July 06:21

        Hopefully better ones will be back soon. I agree though, aboutv30 offers on my BAPP and only one useful to me. So long as the cards are not costing me though I’m more inclined to hold the four I have instead of cancelling. Oĺflfesl like Trailfinders or airlines, if they come round again, are now more interesting given difficulty of collecting avios.

    • MDA says:

      11 Jul11 July 06:01

      The good offers have faded away. Have cancelled the plat now and kept the metal card as a souvenir

• MDA says:

  11 Jul11 July 05:59

  Tip: threaten to leave amex and they will give you double MR points per £1 for 3 months

  Much better than the £6.6k in 1 month offer. Who they kiddin?!

  • PaulC says:

    11 Jul11 July 09:01

    I wasn’t offered any incentive when I cancelled my Plat last night.

• Kenneth says:

  11 Jul11 July 06:36

  For me all I find is the usual collection of completely useless offers on my Platinum Card. Hard to justify keeping it really.

• Ian M says:

  11 Jul11 July 07:19

  No offer on my Platinum card still, but I’m a pretty heavy spender on it so perhaps they don’t feel the need to offer one. Have any other heavy spenders received an offer?

  • Andy S says:

    11 Jul11 July 07:29

    The opposite. Nothing for me and I’m a very light spender, basically only got the plat for the lounge passes etc. Maybe they think I’m a lost cause..

    • Stephen C says:

      11 Jul11 July 08:05

      Nothing here either. I’m a moderate spender (£500-£1k per month) but as my last payment went through twice I’m in credit so maybe they figure I’ll have to spend anyway despite no offers

      • AJA says:

        11 Jul11 July 09:38

        Stephen, how did you manage to pay twice? Do you pay by Direct Debit? If so Amex is obliged to refund second payment taken in error as they have broken the Direct Debit Guarantee which is to notify you in advance that they will take a payment. Phone them and get it refunded, you might get extra MR as compensation for the error. Even if you generated the payment yourself you are entitled to get it back. It’s your money, not theirs.

        I don’t pay by DD but do set up payment by bank transfer as soon as I get my statement. My bank will only allow one payment to be arranged up to 30 days ahead so not possible to pay twice. Can do payment today and another tomorrow if that is needed.

  • JM says:

    11 Jul11 July 08:33

    I am usually 5-7k and got “Spend £5,000, get 10,000 bonus Membership Rewards points”. A friend who spends around the same got nothing. Not sure how their targeting worked for this one.

• Following on behind says:

  11 Jul11 July 07:29

  I’ve just come back from Busan.

  There’s a very nice Hilton there, 10 minute taxi from the main strip, Haeundae Beach.

  I didn’t want to spend much time in Haeundae as it’s too commercial. Three nights in the Hilton was good (make sure the adult only pool will be open to avoid the large number of under 5s).

  Would also recommend the 1 hour flight to Jeju island (done in a long haul plane).

  • Rob says:

    11 Jul11 July 08:53

    My wife went to Busan once to visit a shipyard – I think that is the main reason you’d get corporate traffic on the route.

    • Gavin says:

      11 Jul11 July 09:10

      Busan is one of the worlds biggest container ports

• Gin and Tonic Please says:

  11 Jul11 July 07:39

  OT: I just got back from a trip to Paris on Eurostar. Both the London and Paris lounges refused to accept my metal Amex Platinum card for entry. Fortunately I still had my old plastic one in my bag, which worked fine. I’m sure this will get sorted eventually, but for now suggest you hold onto the plastic card if you want to use the Eurostar lounges.

  • The Streets says:

    11 Jul11 July 07:49

    Thanks for this tip! Making a trip next week and now to hunt down the plastic version

    • MarkyUK says:

      11 Jul11 July 08:14

      Please give us an update when you go… I think I have ditched the old plastic one now (wife may have hers still, not sure!). Pls can you drop a note to confirm if this has been sorted. I’m travelling 31/7. Cheers. M

  • The Streets says:

    11 Jul11 July 07:51

    Did they check the name on the card against the name on the ticket?

    • Nick M says:

      11 Jul11 July 13:30

      I was also in Paris this weekend… barely glanced at the cards at Ebbsfleet, checked names in Paris

    • Gin and Tonic Please says:

      11 Jul11 July 20:35

      Yep. Checked names at both London and Paris lounges

  • Whizz68 says:

    11 Jul11 July 08:33

    I was also initially refused entry to the Lufthansa business class lounge in Frankfurt, due to the new metal platinum card. I then called the manger and explained this is the new metal platinum card, which replaced the plastic card.
    Just beware if you refused entry.

  • PaulC says:

    11 Jul11 July 09:03

    What do they do with the Platinum card? I mean will a cancelled account card work that’s still in date or do they swipe it? Asking for a friend…

    • Andrew says:

      11 Jul11 July 09:53

      Put it this way, they didn’t have anywhere to swipe it… (not saying they couldn’t take you and your card to a desk to check but they didn’t this morning)

• Frankie says:

  11 Jul11 July 07:57

  I’ve got spend £335+ and get 10,000 bonus avios! This is on my BA Free blue card that I downgraded from premium so I wouldn’t risk losing my 2 for 1 voucher. I’ve never used the card in the three months I’ve had it. I will now!

  • sean says:

    11 Jul11 July 08:03

    Frankie check that offer as i think it is the buy 20k avious for 335 and get 10k free

  • reddot says:

    11 Jul11 July 08:15

    Watch out as this headline is misleading. If you got what I got, you have to spend £335 buying Avios, not on the things you actually want to buy.

  • AndyW says:

    11 Jul11 July 08:43

    If something appears too good to be true… in this case read it again

• Andrew says:

  11 Jul11 July 08:10

  O/T reply to the lady travelling on Eurostar on Saturday and hoping to use the lounge at St Pancras with the Amex Plat… I’m in here now and can confirm that entry was easy and the lady on the door was perfectly ok with the metal card – just flipped it over to check it was a European-issued card.

  Also upstairs is much quieter: although still quite busy there are a few tables free.

  • MarkyUK says:

    11 Jul11 July 08:16

    Thank you! Our comments crossed in cyberspace – appreciate the update 🙂 Looking forward to using the lounge (for the first time!) in a few weeks time… and then every week for the rest of my working life as I have bought a place over there and will be commuting! From planes to trains for the bulk of my travel from now on…!

    • Andrew says:

      11 Jul11 July 08:30

      Shouldn’t be too long before you’re Carte Blanche and can get in sans Amex if you’re doing the journey weekly then I guess. Enjoy!

  • Anne says:

    11 Jul11 July 19:29

    Thanks Andrew, much appreciated – we’ll definitely be popping into the lounge on our way to Amsterdam on Saturday in that case. Agree about upstairs as well, was much quieter there last time we visited and also better magazine selection than downstairs – actually publications you might want to read as well, BA lounges take note!

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