Save 30% on No1 Lounges airport lounge gift vouchers

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• Chas says:

  12 Nov12 November 09:49

  Massively OT, but am after some advice on Costa Rica for next Summer.

  Our draft itinerary is:
  – 1 night stop outside of San Jose (Alajuela)
  – 2 nights in Tortuguero
  – 4 nights in La Fortuna / Arenal
  – 2 nights in Monteverde
  – 4 nights on the beach

  My queries are:
  1) Is this balance right? We also have a spare night to allocate to one of these places.
  2) Beach – we are debating between Manuel Antonio National Park, and Samara / Nosara. Which is best for beach plus activities?
  3) Hotels (obviously….!). My wife has a short-list. Are there are any stand-out hotels you’d recommend? Good points earning opportunities are welcome (I have the usual statuses from the Plat card, but nothing on the short-list is from those chains), but am happy to use hotels.com and collect towards a free night instead.
  4) Finally, transport – how did you get around? In developing countries I don’t normally hire a car, but am toying with it for Costa Rica. Am I crazy?

  • toddy says:

    12 Nov12 November 10:27

    I spent a few days in the country last year and the most outstanding hotel was the Peace Lodge (waterfall gardens) – an incredible place.

    We booked private transfers with Rainforest Explorers – was more expensive that I presumed but the service was top notch (it takes a surprising amount of time to move around the country).

    • Chas says:

      12 Nov12 November 10:49

      That hotel looks lovely – am tempted to use our spare night to go there as an additional location.

      With Rainforest Explorers, did you use them to organise your itinerary, or just for the transfers between your locations? From their website all I can see is a number of different 1 day tours which they operate in different areas across the country.

      • Jill (Kinkell) says:

        12 Nov12 November 13:12

        Hi
        We were in CR a couple of years ago. we had 2 nights outside San Jose( Alejuela) at a quirky small hotel Villa Rosa Blanca, which we thought was nice and different.. The 2 days allowed us to go on a coffee tour and visit LA Paz gardens and waterfalls. Our transfer to La Fortuna was a private 3 hour drive and we stayed at the Nayara Springs Hotel for 2 nights…lovely hotel and gardens, huge suite, with complimentary laundry . We did the hanging bridges, cocao plantation, waterfalls. 2 nights in La Fortuna was fine for us, then on to Monteverde. Our transfer was via boat across the lake, then almost 2 hours in a minibus on unpaved potholed roads…certainly an experience! In Monteverde we stayed at the Hotel Belmar , which was nice and informal, . We had a guide for the Cloud Forest and I have to say what he spotted we’d never have seen in a million years if we had been on our own.
        We didn’t go to Tortuguero as we were time limited, and no beach as we were heading to the port on pacific side to connect to a cruise which was heading up to San Diego.
        We liked CR and it is the most developed of the central america countries. Have a great trip

        • Chas says:

          12 Nov12 November 14:38

          Thanks Jill – it sounds an amazing country and I can’t wait. How did you organise your private transfers – was it via the hotels you were staying at in each place, or an independently company? I’m inclined to let someone else deal with unpaved and potholed roads!

        • Jill (Kinkell) says:

          12 Nov12 November 15:21

          Hi Chas…I booked our 6 day itinerary with Trailfinders..there were options of private or group transfers..we did private and glad we did as a couple we met in Monteverde did a group transfer and found it challenging. Not sure in what way. I’m sure there are lots of other companies and tour operators, both UK and in CR who can do ‘the business’ and would be fine. We were very happy with TF

      • toddy says:

        12 Nov12 November 18:39

        We booked a 1 day tour with them and as part of my communication with them, we got speaking about private transfers. They are a small family business – drop them a note and I’m sure they would be happy to help 🙂

  • Yorkieflyer says:

    12 Nov12 November 21:49

    Couple of years ago we hired a car from Avis one way car hire from airport, San Jose to Jaco on the Pacific then got a transfer to a cruise. Picking up the car took over an hour, endless paperwork but driving was fine, roads a bit poor off main routes but not busy and road etiquette ok, I wouldn’t plan on driving after dark though, great for seeing a bit more of the country under your own steam. Many comments you see on Costa Rica are from Americans who obviously consider the country to be a scary third world destination, not at all true!

  • Chas says:

    12 Nov12 November 21:51

    Thanks all – appreciate your feedback and further responses.

• Spaghetti Town says:

  12 Nov12 November 10:23

  Anyone else had the curve survey over the weekend?

  • memesweeper says:

    12 Nov12 November 10:32

    Yes. Perhaps the entire user base. Maybe only those that previously used HMRC…

    • Chas says:

      12 Nov12 November 10:49

      I didn’t get it. I use HMRC loads…..

    • Nick_C says:

      12 Nov12 November 11:05

      I did very it. And I’ve never paid HMRC. So random.

  • Scallder says:

    12 Nov12 November 11:14

    Yes – would not be happy if that route got closed down or started charging for it…

    • EwanG says:

      12 Nov12 November 11:32

      Agreed, but there are other ways. I thought it interesting for them to fish in that survey for who we’d use as an alternative!
      I suspect with the upcoming PSC changes in the private sector there will be a significant reduction in people paying HMRC, so if Curve do make these changes the benefit will be limited.

      • Lady London says:

        12 Nov12 November 15:13

        OT what is PSC ?

        • Genghis says:

          12 Nov12 November 15:15

          Personal Service Company. Relevant for IR35.

• Benilyn says:

  12 Nov12 November 10:32

  Ahhh I miss my free Amex Platinum & PP…. now paying for lounge seems a pain….

  • BJ says:

    12 Nov12 November 12:34

    If you need 12 nights at an independent hotel then booking with ebookers will get you Bonus+ latinum status which comes with two lounge passes per year. I also found that this status lasted longer than it was supposed to.

    • Benilyn says:

      12 Nov12 November 14:41

      wonder if they status match my Expedia Gold status LOL

      • BJ says:

        12 Nov12 November 15:31

        No harm in asking, I think they are the same group.

• Coucou says:

  12 Nov12 November 10:35

  Which lounge will be the best option for a morning visit after 9am on a Sunday? Flying Norwegian on 20 December. TIA

  • Coucou says:

    12 Nov12 November 10:36

    LGW South

  • Rhys says:

    12 Nov12 November 10:53

    I assume you don’t have priority pass or status? The My Lounge is decent and cheap. Obviously not super premium but good to get away from the crowds at Gatwick
    https://headforpoints.com/2019/08/26/my-lounge-london-gatwick-south-terminal-review/

    • Coucou says:

      12 Nov12 November 11:11

      No priority pass but I do have *G status which is not helpful when flying Norwegian.

      Is it worth spending extra for the No1 or Clubroom? Which one would you go for?

      Thanks for your time Rhys.

      • Robertr says:

        12 Nov12 November 21:35

        If you use these vouchers the price difference between No1 and Clubrooms is minimal, so I’d go with Clubrooms. Every time I’ve been there it’s been near empty while No1 is usually at capacity. There’s a better food offering too

• Gringo says:

  12 Nov12 November 10:50

  I want to book a trip for my parents on their BAEC account (because they’ve got their 241 voucher on there). Can I transfer avios to their BAEC account?

  • Rhys says:

    12 Nov12 November 10:52

    Not unless you’re gold or pool Avios via House hold account (if you live at same address….)
    https://headforpoints.com/2019/01/02/can-you-transfer-avios-points-to-someone-else/

    • Gringo says:

      12 Nov12 November 11:07

      Thanks Rhys.

• BJ says:

  12 Nov12 November 12:29

  O/T @EwanG, Andrew, Alan and others in Edinburgh and East Central Scotland: Just paid a car with amex at an Eastern Group Dealership so there is a good chance it works across all their garages. As you probably already know many, if not most, of the garages in Edinburgh are owned by this group. Didn’t ask, just popped my card in the reader and it worked.

  • Michael says:

    12 Nov12 November 13:10

    Full amount or deposit/balloon payment? I know that Western Volkswagen at Fort Kinnaird allow it as I tried with success recently.

    • BJ says:

      12 Nov12 November 13:27

      Ah good news, sounds promising, my payment was £6999 at Eastern Mercedes.

      • EwanG says:

        12 Nov12 November 15:01

        Thanks BJ and Michael – I’ll bear this in mind for the future as no current plans to change cars.
        It would be a great way to hit the Business Amex spend thresholds.

• AndyK says:

  12 Nov12 November 14:27

  OT. I did a referral and though the application was accepted I did not get the referral bonus. Used chat to talk to an agent and the answer is that the referral bonus takes up to 10 weeks to be credited even if normally much quicker.
  Anyone with similar experience?

  • Rob says:

    12 Nov12 November 14:33

    That is a lie. The rules do say that, but it has never actually happened. They post immediately (ie within 72 hours of acceptance) or not at all.

    • AndyK says:

      12 Nov12 November 14:56

      I thought as much. I need to consider my next move

  • Jill (Kinkell) says:

    12 Nov12 November 15:13

    My husband had a long protracted tussle with Amex earlier this year over my son not getting his referral points. Amex stated hubby hadn’t used the link…which ,of course he had ( well, why wouldn’t you!”) Eventually a senior CS listened to all calls, looked at all letters/emails and eventually son got the points. But is was a real demonstration of persistence!

    • Rob says:

      12 Nov12 November 15:18

      Two people I referred for Plat Business have had issues. It’s weird because historically they have worked literally 99.9% of the time.

      • AndyK says:

        12 Nov12 November 17:57

        It was a referral for a business card and like for like in this case so no fiddling with selecting other cards

      • BJ says:

        12 Nov12 November 17:58

        Suggests amex are already tampering with their systems. Did you get your referral bonuses or did you all miss out?

        • Rob says:

          12 Nov12 November 18:02

          No idea – I keep sending referrals out even when I’m over my own cap.

        • BJ says:

          12 Nov12 November 19:05

          Huh, you mean to say that after all the business you’ve pushed their way amex applies a cap on your referrals just like the rest of us?

        • Rob says:

          12 Nov12 November 19:45

          Yes

      • The Savage Squirrel says:

        12 Nov12 November 17:59

        Their IT here seems ropey in this area (even more than normal). An agent stated I had the standard 40k BusinessPlat bonus on a recent signup, but I actually received the recent offer one of 60k (correctly) while any sort of Email/counter/anything-to-show-it-even-exists has never appeared in my account.

      • Nick says:

        13 Nov13 November 19:14

        I referred my mum earlier this year and never got the points. She did use the link. I didn’t chase it up but probably should have. Definitely getting less reliable than it used to be.

• Shoestring says:

  12 Nov12 November 18:26

  The 737 Max jet should fly again in January, Boeing said yesterday.
  The aircraft maker said that it expected the US Federal Aviation Administration to rescind an order grounding the jet next month, with commercial flights resuming in January after pilots receive additional training.
  https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/business/boeing-737-max-jet-set-for-january-take-off-ccblsddvf

  [3 months of The Times & The Sunday Times for £1/ month & no further obligation, if anybody’s interested – thought I’d give it a try after all these years since it went behind the paywall 🙂 ]

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