Asia from £965, Sydney / Melbourne / Auckland / Brisbane from £1,275 with Air China Business

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• meta says:

  11 Nov11 November 09:39

  That shop should sort out their IT first before offering any incentives for people to go through them! It is now 14 days + for awarded Avios to reach my Exec Club account!

• Lady London says:

  11 Nov11 November 10:54

  Does anyone have experience of flying the three main China Airlines on these longhaul routes? (China, Southern, Eastern). I gather for internal China flights some safety records are questionable. But wondered about the experience and any safety info longhaul (Oz).

  • Rhys says:

    11 Nov11 November 10:55

    There’s a review in the article!

  • Rob says:

    11 Nov11 November 11:04

    The EU has a long list of airlines which are banned from flying into the EU on safety grounds and obviously these guys are not on it.

  • John says:

    11 Nov11 November 12:35

    Safety wise still safer than driving, but as a British Chinese person I would wait for a sale on better airlines.

  • Cam says:

    11 Nov11 November 13:05

    I flew China Southern PEK-SZN/CAN-MEL return last year, on A330 for all segments. We were pleasantly surprised, on the upside. Food was very good and seat comfort good; IIRC the domestic segments were angled lie flat (not true flat), but for the 3 hour flight it was fine. The English skills of some of the crew very limited, and the service uneven (in the not polished / inexperienced sense – even the errors were just amusing), but considering the price we paid we were happy. Overall it was a far better experience than BA LHR-PEK. The food in the China Southern domestic lounge in CAN (before the CAN-PEK) was very impressive.

• The Original David says:

  11 Nov11 November 11:05

  I’ve flown Air China 8 times this year, both long-haul and domestic short-haul, and haven’t died yet, if that helps.

  • Simon says:

    13 Nov13 November 09:40

    Tears almost streaming this end, David — hilarious 😆

• RussellH says:

  11 Nov11 November 11:14

  I am sure that all the advice regarding HK riots is pretty sound.
  Just remember that things can kick off in the most unexpected places. I have been on the receiving end of police tear gas once, fortunately I was only on the edge of the disturbances. And I was not where you might expect it… Easter holidays 1982 in Bern (capital of Switzerland), walking back from the opera house, where my friend had been performing, to her house.
  No warnings of anything as I left the building. Came out and you could hear crashing and smashing, but nothing to see. Walked a few 100m and there it was all happening – shop fronts smashed, street inches deep in rubbish, fruit and veg. I was able to walk round the edge of most of the rioting.
  The performers did get warned and taxi were called.
  In a way, the most alarming thing was how normal things were by the morning. No rubbish in the streets, many shop windows had been repaired – just a couple left boarded up. So Swiss.

  • Bagoly says:

    11 Nov11 November 18:29

    Yes, in Geneva about 15 years ago I passed a jewellery shop which had bullet holes through the window.
    My local contacts found it not at all shocking.
    No doubt repaired by the end of the day!

• Harvey says:

  11 Nov11 November 11:30

  OT
  What is if any the best card with 0% fx, yet earns some sort of points?

  • Rhys says:

    11 Nov11 November 11:35

    Curve has 0% fx now, if you can use it in conjunction with another points-earning card

    • Matt says:

      11 Nov11 November 13:14

      Have they got rid of the charge at weekends?

      • Rhys says:

        11 Nov11 November 13:22

        Sadly not

      • Nick_C says:

        11 Nov11 November 13:29

        Thats the advantage of Revolut. Load it in advance and lock in the exchange rate. Forex charges come off the appropriate forex balance.

        https://headforpoints.com/hfp/revolut-home/

  • John says:

    11 Nov11 November 12:22

    Tandem is the same as aqua

    • Nick_C says:

      11 Nov11 November 12:35

      Just got Tandem with a £4k credit limit, which will do just fine as a back up to Curve. I also made proper use of Revolut for the first time last weekend, and I really like it. So many options.

• jason says:

  11 Nov11 November 12:08

  OT Marriott moments Man utd
  Has anyone got experience of these so far, there seem to be 3 offered regular: all include food and drink

  Marriott Hotels M Club suite at Old Trafford – I assume this is their box
  Ambassadors’ Lounge access with VIP seats – usually the most expensive
  Warwick Suite access with VIP seats – usually the cheapest

  thanks in advance

  • Matthew says:

    11 Nov11 November 12:12

    I think a HFP reader has been to Man Utd with Marriott points and compared the packages available. I will see if I can find it…

    • Rob says:

      11 Nov11 November 12:42

      Inded: https://headforpoints.com/2019/03/04/redeem-marriott-points-for-a-vip-manchester-united-package/

      • jason says:

        11 Nov11 November 13:11

        Thanks both, any one been to the Warwick suite yet ?

• Murray says:

  11 Nov11 November 12:10

  Off topic but can anyone confirm? I am looking at a two night stay in San Francisco and am looking at booking an Amex FHR hotel. Is it possible to book the two nights separately so we get two lots of the $100 credit or is this looked down upon? Obviously we have my platinum card and my partner has my supplementary card so we do have two separate accounts. Just wondering if anyone has any experience of this? Thanks.

  • Matthew says:

    11 Nov11 November 12:15

    Pretty sure you can’t do back to back nights as will count as one stay.

    • Murray says:

      11 Nov11 November 13:30

      Even if one is booked on my account and one on my partner’s?

      • illuminatus says:

        11 Nov11 November 17:00

        I have not been tried it myself, but afaik it should work just fine if booked on different accounts.

      • Jonathan says:

        11 Nov11 November 17:08

        Only way this will work is 2 separate bookings on 2 different cards (not sure supplementary will be enough) & person A checks in/out alone for stay 1, person B does likewise for stay 2. Run risk of being rumbled anyway & could you really be bothered having to check out of room A at 11, store bags somewhere then check in for room B at 4 for the sake of $100?!

        It’s not a cash back or points deal, the hotel credit your account at checkout so if they realise I’m any way you’re linked then credit won’t be applied on 2nd room.

        • Murray says:

          12 Nov12 November 13:25

          Thanks guys. Think I will book a night at two different hotels then. As we need two rooms it would work out an extra $200 so we are thinking it may be worth it.

  • Harry T says:

    11 Nov11 November 19:23

    Seems risky to me, and I wouldn’t bother as it would add stress to the holiday. Why not stay in a different property each night and use the 100USD credit at each hotel? Some of the properties might be close to each other.

    • Stu N says:

      11 Nov11 November 21:35

      I’d do this if you’re desperate for to maximise your credit. 4pm check-out from first hotel will help with logistics.

      • Murray says:

        12 Nov12 November 13:26

        Thanks Stu and Harry. Think we may just book a night at two different FHR hotels if we want the extra $200 in credit!

• Matthew says:

  11 Nov11 November 12:11

  Sorry OT for me too. I’ve told a pal of mine that cancelling the BAPP won’t mean they’ll lose the voucher (already in BA account). I’m assuming this still rings true? AMEX will tell you otherwise but as long as you can pay taxes/fees with another AMEX card then all is well? I don’t want to give dodgy advice obviously. Or is downgrading to free BA card better plan?

  Thank you 🙂

  • Rhys says:

    11 Nov11 November 12:27

    Correct, voucher remains even if card is cancelled

    • Matthew says:

      11 Nov11 November 12:27

      Thank you Rhys

      • Nick_C says:

        11 Nov11 November 12:42

        But unless they are planning to go Amex free for two years, I would have thought it better to downgrade. They will need an Amex of some sort to pay the redemption fee when they use the 241. And if they keep the free card, they can upgrade when they hit about £9k spend on the new account year and get another voucher.

        The other reason why I would hang on to BA Amex is it might disappear overnight, but they may have a legacy deal for current cardholders. I’m happy to keep the BAPP on that basis. £195 a year for a 241 and 5000 extra Avios on your £10k spend is a bargain. Get a couple of referrals from it as well and you’re in profit.

        • Anna says:

          11 Nov11 November 13:49

          +1 – we keep my OH’s for all these reasons, and churn mine. Also don’t forget you get 3 avios per £ on BA spend, which can add up to a fair few when paying those carrier imposed surcharges on your redemptions!

        • Harry T says:

          11 Nov11 November 19:24

          However, keeping the free BA or BAPP blocks you from a lucrative sign up bonus every two years (or less, if you’ve been favoured by the IT Gods). The odds of Amex cancelling the BA contract seem low, as people have been forecasting this for some time and it doesn’t seem to have happened!

        • Rob says:

          11 Nov11 November 20:49

          Something must be happening on the financial side because Avios tell me they are going to easily overshoot the 9% CAGR Avios-issuance target in the Investor Day pack last week ….

        • Harry T says:

          14 Nov14 November 04:40

          @Rob for the finance plebs in the audience, what do you mean by that in this context? It’s like another language to me.

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