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News: Virgin Atlantic upgrades, save 20% on PremiAir, IHG’s credit cards get an app

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News in brief:

Virgin Atlantic to upgrade elderly passengers this Christmas

Following a social media story which went viral, about a Virgin Atlantic passenger who gave up his Upper Class seat for an 88-year old passenger in Economy, Virgin has decided to run a special campaign over Christmas.

Between today and 1st January, Virgin Atlantic will offer an upgrade to the eldest customer on each of its flights.  This doesn’t automatically include the rest of the family group, although I am sure the airline will be accommodating where it can.

Save 20% on PremiAir at Manchester

Save up to 20% on Manchester Airport’s PremiAir VIP terminal

PremiAir, the new private terminal at Manchester Airport, is offering a special short-term discount.

You will receive a 20% discount if you book for a flight in January.

You will receive a 10% discount if you book for a flight between February and June.

A 20% saving takes the service down to as little as £40 (£80 if you want to use lounge) which makes it well worth considering.  My very positive review of PremiAir is here.

Sainsbury's Nectar credit card

IHG’s credit cards finally get an app

If you have either of the IHG Rewards Club credit cards – and I am a big fan of the £99 per year Premium Mastercard – you finally have an app.  See the image above.

You will find it in your local app store, under the name ‘Creation’ which is the company – part of BNP Paribas – which issues the card.

Feedback so far seems to be good, even though this is only the first version.

Here is our review of the IHG Rewards Club Premium Mastercard.  You pay a £99 fee but you get 20,000 points as a sign-up bonus, 2 points per £1 on your spending – and they count towards status, Platinum Elite status and a voucher for a free night at any IHG property for spending £10,000 per year.

IHG One Rewards update – April 2024:

Get bonus points: IHG One Rewards is offering 2,000 bonus points for every two cash nights you stay (not necessarily consecutive) between 1st April and 31st May 2024. You can read our full article here and you can register here.

New to IHG One Rewards?  Read our overview of IHG One Rewards here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on ‘What are IHG One Rewards points worth?’ is here.

Buy points: If you need additional IHG One Rewards points, you can buy them here.

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from IHG and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Category

IHG One Rewards, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (214)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • John says:
    24 Dec24 December 05:45

    Does anyone know if the IHG Credit Cards will support Apple Pay yet? I’ve always found the card very good but behind most other issuers with their technology.

  • Gary says:
    24 Dec24 December 06:11

    Can anyone get the Creation app to work? I’m getting a ‘Forbidden’ error message

    • Chris says:
      24 Dec24 December 06:21

      Doesn’t work for me either. Just “Forbidden” message when opening app.

    • ChrisD says:
      24 Dec24 December 09:08

      I get the same and I’m abroad. What’s the point having a mobile app if it doesn’t work when you’re mobile!?

      • ChrisD says:
        24 Dec24 December 09:09

        Connected to my VPN at home in the UK and it now opens and works 🙄

        • meta says:
          24 Dec24 December 11:15

          Thanks. It works for me too now using VPN. But seriously what’s the point of having an app for travel rewards card when it doesn’t work when you travel? I get that they have other products, but still…

  • Ant says:
    24 Dec24 December 06:39

    App works perfectly on my iPhone. Very pleased with it.

  • Anna says:
    24 Dec24 December 07:01

    PremiAir was offering 30% off a few weeks ago so it look like it may not ever be necessary to pay full price…

  • Paul says:
    24 Dec24 December 07:15

    IHG Credit card app!

    Has their customer service got any better? I dumped them as contacting them was dire and service was appalling particularly if there were issues with purchases.

  • Mr. AC says:
    24 Dec24 December 07:30

    Question to people knowledgeable about credit ratings. I’m about to close all my Amex cards (to start the 24 months), which will drop 85% of the credit limit available to be. Should I apply for other cards I want (e.g. IHG) before or after?

    • Chrisasaurus says:
      24 Dec24 December 07:45

      Its impossible to say, but provided you have cards that are older than the Amex ones, I’d say close first then apply. Total available credit more likely to be a risk factor than a bunch of satisfied agreements…

    • memesweeper says:
      24 Dec24 December 07:47

      Wait at least a month if you want to see the benefit of the closures.

    • John says:
      24 Dec24 December 14:13

      Depends on whether they think your total existing limits plus any new limits to be offered, are unsustainable for someone of your declared income.

      If your Amex limits are £85K out of £100K and income is £50K, probably less likely to offer you another £10K of credit, but when your total limits are reduced to £15K then should be successful. But if income is £200K then might seem odd when you only have £15K limits with £85K recently closed.

    • Mr. AC says:
      25 Dec25 December 12:55

      Thank you everyone for thoughtful advice. Happy Christmas!

  • SammyJ says:
    24 Dec24 December 07:32

    The Creation website is a shambles, and the app currently has one review of one star. This bodes well.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      24 Dec24 December 09:10

      App looks good to me.

      • Rob says:
        24 Dec24 December 09:36

        The one star review is from someone who couldn’t open it – not sure that counts!

        • Doug M says:
          24 Dec24 December 09:56

          Perfect. So many review systems and responses are driven in a timeframe where meaningful review is not possible.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          24 Dec24 December 10:18

          Why is dont just trust star ratings on review sites and actually read what’s being said.

          • aston100 says:
            24 Dec24 December 10:53

            Indeed. On any review site, I generally focus on 2 star and 4 star reviews as I find these are often accompanied by useful remarks. I always ignore 1 star and 5 star reviews.

    • mark2 says:
      24 Dec24 December 09:46

      I use the Creation website most days and am very satisfied.
      The only problem is the limit on financial transactions.

    • Alex Sm says:
      24 Dec24 December 10:02

      Apple is too slow to update the rating in real time. Now it has a handful of reviews if you check properly, ranging from 1 to 5. I gave 4*

  • BJ says:
    24 Dec24 December 07:32

    Good move from Virgin, hope others will follow but why only for Christmas? Any empty seats left in premium cabins at the gates should be offered to the eldest and/or most severely physically disabled passengers.

    • Callum says:
      24 Dec24 December 07:52

      Because then old/disabled people will be less likely to purchase an Upper Class seat if there’s a good chance they can get it for free?

      Not that all old people are decrepit… I’ve seen plenty of retired people in better physical condition than the majority of young people!

    • Peter K says:
      24 Dec24 December 08:47

      Wouldn’t age discrimination law stop them doing this? They would be effectively discriminating against younger people.

      As for the “most disabled’, that would be great, but opens a whole can of worms as to the criteria used to judge that (e.g. is a child with severe Downs more disabled than an adult with terminal cancer).

      • Peter K says:
        24 Dec24 December 08:49

        Sorry, you said physically disabled (I tried to check but WordPress had moved me to the next page when I started to reply). But the same conundrum applies.

      • Andrew says:
        24 Dec24 December 09:07

        Technically, providing good and services on less favourable terms based on a protected characteristic (of which age is one) is unlawful. However for that to be unforced, an individual who received less favourable terms (in this case a younger person) would need to take a civil case or the Equality and Human Rights Commission would need to use its powers for judicial review. Neither of which is likely to happen!

    • BJ says:
      24 Dec24 December 13:59

      Appreciate all the thoughts and discussion surrounding this here and on the next page. Just think it would be nice if there was a way to give some people a break once in a while without worrying about all the implications. Would,n’t be a great lot of people in my experience of empty J seats, there are usually only one or two on most flights.

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