What will we see from British Airways and Virgin Atlantic in 2020?

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• LondonFoodie says:

  2 Jan2 January 09:30

  OT: I would be highly appreciated if someone could remind me what are the numbers to call it midnight for the 2-4-1 voucher? Is it the number listed as Japan call center? Did anyone have luck calling the GGL number as non-GGL at midnight?

  Looking to book XMAS 2020 and already tickets were gone last night at 00:00:01…

  Thanks!

  • Tanya Wade says:

    2 Jan2 January 09:36

    18004521201

    • LondonFoodie says:

      2 Jan2 January 09:53

      Thank you Tanya!

    • aston100 says:

      2 Jan2 January 13:59

      What is the preferred method / tool for phoning overseas BA numbers, in order to minimise the cost of the phone call?
      Thanks.

      • Shoestring says:

        2 Jan2 January 14:02

        presumably depends on where you’re calling but isn’t 1800XXXX under 1p/ minute on Skype (and some others)?

        • Alan says:

          3 Jan3 January 00:14

          1800 numbers are free on Skype IME

  • Anna says:

    2 Jan2 January 09:43

    Don’t forget that there’s an extra day to take into account for when redemption flights are released at the moment (probably due to the leap year) – if you haven’t checked the BA calendar seats are now available up to and including 21/12/20.

    • Anna says:

      2 Jan2 January 09:50

      Also, where do you want to go? There is some availability for 2 in CW to some fabulous destinations leaving on 21/12, Caribbean, Middle and Far East. I wish I had the time off!

    • LondonFoodie says:

      2 Jan2 January 09:54

      Thanks Anna!
      Indeed Carribbean, there are a few good ones available but the one I wanted (Cancun) somehow got away…

      • Simon says:

        2 Jan2 January 19:16

        Try via Mexico City. Usually loads of space.

• STJ says:

  2 Jan2 January 10:10

  OT. Which is the best priority pass Gatwick North lounge? Will I need to reserve to get in for a 1330 flight in Feb? Thanks

  • Rob says:

    2 Jan2 January 11:04

    You can only reserve for No 1, and it is usually mega-busy anyway. I’d be tempted to save the £5 and go down to the (windowless, virtually) Club Aspire downstairs.

    • Shoestring says:

      2 Jan2 January 14:05

      I personally would prefer certainty of getting in to saving the £5 reservation fee

  • Lady London says:

    2 Jan2 January 11:39

    Its called The Grain Store. But only if your PP is a direct issued one and not acquired via Amex Plat 😉

    • Lady London says:

      2 Jan2 January 11:44

      Er…scratch that. I didn’t see your question was for Gatwick North not South.

      In North, Aspire most of the time for me now. No.1 has dropped in quality but they still do a fair job when its not over busy and No.1 has more light and newspapers to read there.

      • Lady London says:

        2 Jan2 January 11:47

        Aspire LGW North now has the Qatar contract so you might get turned away at some times even if it is virtually empty.

      • Tom H says:

        2 Jan2 January 21:26

        also Grain Store is still valid with PP from plat, used it last week no problems and still listed on the UK amex plat lounge finder.

    • Alan says:

      3 Jan3 January 00:16

      I thought Grain Store was one of the few exceptions for non-lounge places an Amex-issued PP *would* still work at?!

      • Rob says:

        3 Jan3 January 00:44

        It is.

• Simon says:

  2 Jan2 January 10:35

  O/T there was some recent talk on here that Virgin may have started treating Revolut top ups as a cash transaction. Can anybody clarify if this is now the case?

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    2 Jan2 January 13:19

    Revolut has changed the MCC for some people, not all it seems. The new MCC is 4829 (Money Order / Wire Transfer) which incurs a cash fee.

    I did a top-up over Christmas and it was, thankfully, still 6012 (no cash fee).

    • ali says:

      2 Jan2 January 16:38

      How do you find the MCC code attached to a purchase?

      • thehornets says:

        2 Jan2 January 16:44

        Check your online Virgin credit card transaction log

    • Alan says:

      3 Jan3 January 00:17

      Interesting, will need to dip a toe in the water…

  • paulm says:

    2 Jan2 January 13:33

    Did one a few days ago and still no charge for me

    • Chas says:

      2 Jan2 January 14:00

      Ditto (no cash fee) for me. There was a follow up post where the person who originally highlighted the issue further explained that immediately prior to that he had been in contact with Revolut to query a declined transaction, and this manual intervention caused them to spot his high volume of MS related activity and to change his coding for those transactions.

      • thehornets says:

        2 Jan2 January 16:49

        Mine changed and I had not contacted customer service.

      • Alex W says:

        2 Jan2 January 21:28

        There’s always one that spoils it for everyone else!

        • Shoestring says:

          2 Jan2 January 21:39

          I don’t think that’s particularly true (generally) – the various CS and Finance Depts are not stupid to what is going on – they take the chancers with the mug punters and are happy with the balance

          I think Virgin were pretty silly with MS but maybe that’s lack of experience & stopping things early

• Martin says:

  2 Jan2 January 10:36

  OT: I’m relocating to AUS and want to find the best credit card to start collecting Qantas points. There are so many options (including from my bank, HSBC) but there is no HFP equivalent that can provide the same level of advice. Any thoughts and suggestions? Much appreciated.

  • Lady London says:

    2 Jan2 January 11:28

    My first thought would be don’t save your points in QF. VA is also a main choice there depending on who you fly.

    I would either retain your existing account (yes I know technically…but) or find another scheme to credit to that gives you what you need based on your flying patterns.

    I am sure a lot of people in Oz might automatically make QF their scheme in the same way as someone flying in J on BA might automatically use the BA lounge when there are other choices.

    Up to you…

  • Lady London says:

    2 Jan2 January 11:30

    PS you do have Amex Plat available in Australia and I am sure Amex would help you transfer but the annual fee is eye-watering.

  • Harry T says:

    2 Jan2 January 12:38

    I used the Amex Explorer when I was out there and was impressed with it but I believe they have reduced the sign up bonus and devalued the transfers to air miles since then. The bonus was 100,000 MR when I signed up for it. It used to be that they gave you an Amex travel credit that covered your annual fee of 400 AUD if you used it.

    I wasn’t convinced the benefits of the Aussie Amex Platinum card justified the annual fee.

    • Harry T says:

      2 Jan2 January 12:49

      I recall you couldn’t transfer to Qantas from the Explorer though. Tbh Qantas FF seems pretty awful and loads of Aussies are members. May be worth exploring Virgin Australia or trying to earn SQ miles which can be used on flights to and around Asia, plus on VA metal I believe. Most of the credit cards I looked at seemed to allow you to transfer to Qantas alone or several other schemes but not Qantas.

    • Martin says:

      2 Jan2 January 12:49

      Thanks for the replies. Since I have a HSBC Premier account opened there I’m thinking of getting the World Mastercard (Qantas version) with $99 annual fee.

      Then hopefully Amex can also help use my UK credit history to open up the Qantas American Express Ultimate Card. This card has $450 annual fee but also gives $450 travel credit when booking at Amex Travel.

      There are other cards but maybe I will struggle because I have zero credit history in AUS.

      • Harry T says:

        2 Jan2 January 13:37

        @Martin
        I managed to get an Australian AMEX within two months of landing in Perth. I had no previous Australian credit history. I did not transfer my history from UK Amex (perhaps I should have done!).

        They do have income requirements for Australian AMEX cards and my salary significantly exceeded the required minimum for the Explorer card (not sure if being a doctor helped too). If you are earning a good wage over there you might be surprised by how readily they will give you a card.

        • Martin says:

          2 Jan2 January 15:12

          Good to know – thanks. This is encouraging.

    • Lady London says:

      2 Jan2 January 15:56

      I think it’s about AUD 1400 annual fee for amex plat now?

  • Lyn says:

    2 Jan2 January 19:15

    Martin, hopefully you will also get replies from commenters who are currently living in Australia re credit cards and also the Qantas vs Virgin question. My comments are just from the viewpoint of someone with family living in Australia.

    Australian business traveller, which has changed it’s name to something I’ve forgotten, isn’t nearly as useful as HfP but they do have articles on Australian credit cards, Qantas and Virgin Australia.

    Yes, Qantas isn’t the best FF programme out there, but you may as well take advantage of the many ways of earning points when you actually live there, including shopping (Woolworths and the Qantas shopping portal), petrol etc. as well as the credit cards.

    If you are really flying a lot it is worth noting that they offer both Lifetime OW Ruby (Lifetime Qantas Silver) and Lifetime OW Sapphire (Lifetime Qantas Gold) to work towards. If you are flying enough in economy to make lounge access really useful, but not enough to earn OW Sapphire, they have a paid Qantas Club membership for Qantas lounge access. Unfortunately you have to pay to join as well as an annual fee, both of which are less expensive while you are still outside Australia, although I suspect they have occasional offers waiving the joining fee or reducing the annual fee.

    I think Lady London may be right, for a while you couldn’t join BAEC with an Australian address and that may still be the case so it could be tricky if you change your address.

  • Alan says:

    3 Jan3 January 00:18

    Lots of cars options, VA as well as QF. Points Hacks website gives excellent coverage. I’d also use OzBargain to find generally really good deals – it’s like a much better version of HUKD!

• TripRep says:

  2 Jan2 January 10:40

  Rob – Sorry to hear about the BA crew, appreciate you sharing the fund raising.
  My following question feels trivial I light of that sad news…

  Do you have any insider info on the timetable for allowing Virgin Red redemptions?

  I’m close to booking Virgin flights back to Florida again for November, ideally I’d love it to be a seemless connection with VR and VS all on one PNR redemption ticket just like BA currently do.

  Question is do I;

  1) book tickets now whilst there’s reward availablity and hope that VS will allow me to tag on the VR leg later on the same PNR

  2) wait for imminent announcement of Virgin Red and hope there’s still availablity for my VS redemption (I’m flexible on exact dates)

  As an aside, I was told by VS UC CS that you have to wait for your rtn leg to become available for you not to be charged as 2x o/w tickets, unlike BA who just do the fees calculation based on the fact you already have an outbound. Personally I think it’s BS. Anyone else had recent experience with this?

  • Rob says:

    2 Jan2 January 11:03

    Flybe redemptions are further away than AF/KLM unfortunately.

  • Scallder says:

    2 Jan2 January 11:09

    I had a CS agent tell me that fine to add 2nd legs in at a later date (although this was slightly different as the return leg was open but the outbound hasn’t been released for the date I need yet (or any date in a two week window around it currently).

    But i reckon you can easily HUCA and find someone who will add them on!

    • TripRep says:

      2 Jan2 January 15:07

      Thanks will give them anther buzz.

      Hoping to tag on Virgin Red connection later…

      • Alan says:

        3 Jan3 January 00:22

        Yep I think safer to lock in the long haul legs whilst there’s availability. Will be good to have connection options back, although in the meantime I’ve been making use of train from Edinburgh to Manchester Airport then flying from there.

• Tamara says:

  2 Jan2 January 10:50

  OT: Hi, couldn’t see in the IHG Premium card review the expiry conditions of the free night voucher? Is it valid for 1 or 2 years? Also does it just need to be booked before expiry date so stay can be after that date or should the stay happen before as well? Many thanks

  • Rob says:

    2 Jan2 January 11:01

    IIRC it is book within the year, stay whenever.

    • Scallder says:

      2 Jan2 January 11:07

      Indeed – booking validity is 12 months (think it’s actually slightly longer as goes to the end of the month that is 12 months from the issue date (i.e. issued 15th Jan 2020, goes to 31st Jan 2021) from memory but can then book paste that date as far as allows on availability which from memory is 11 months for IHG

  • Alan says:

    3 Jan3 January 00:23

    Just be aware that you only get the voucher back upon cancellation if you cancel within the period in which the voucher would still originally have been valid.

• Ian M says:

  2 Jan2 January 11:04

  OT But BA related..

  I remember reading here last year that it was possible to change your BA Tier point collection year dates, I seem to remember you mentioned this Rob? I just called the BA Gold line to ask to change my collection year date by 2 days and they said it is not possible to change it, the date is set when you join and that’s that for life. Does anyone know anymore about this?

  • Roberto says:

    2 Jan2 January 11:13

    Correct. You cant change your date. You could close your account and open a new one of course moving the date. Everyone’s is the 8th of such and such a month.

    You can ask for a 14 day extension if your TP’s will tick you up to a new status level after your year end.

    • Sprout7 says:

      2 Jan2 January 15:04

      I’m looking to do exactly this to align my wife’s year end date with mine. So, we will cancel her account and open a new one in March (in line with mine).
      Question : does it matter when in March we reopen the new account for her ie before or after the 8th?
      thanks for any help

      • Lady London says:

        2 Jan2 January 16:18

        Hum. Would like to know more about your reasons.

        Could there also be a case for deliberately keeping your and your wife’s end of year dates a full 6 months apart?

      • ChrisC says:

        2 Jan2 January 16:34

        Remember you will lose any avios and Tps and any current status she currently has.

        There really is little point (other than OCD) in having matching year end dates.

        Also the year end days is generated after the first flight not when you open it – I opened my BAEC account in August but have a Novermber year end date because of the date of my first flight.

        • Sprout7 says:

          3 Jan3 January 07:14

          OK thanks – I hadn’t realised it was based on the first flight.
          No current TP’s and avios all moved out to an avios account.
          The aim for alignment is so that we can both have status expiring at the same point so can undertake a couple of TP runs together combined with a holiday.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    2 Jan2 January 11:37

    Even if you could change it it could only be months as it is the 8th of the month for everyone.

  • ChrisC says:

    2 Jan2 January 11:54

    Why do you want to change it? What are you hoping to gain? Tell us that and you’ll get a better answer.

    If you have say a flight on the 15th but your collection year ended on the 8th (as normal);you can ask for flights within 14 days to apply to your old year if it means you can retain or earn a status level (but not if it’s to earn a GuF or GGL)

    But your collection year will still on the 8th – that cannot change.and I do not believe Rob would have said anything other than that.

    • Ian M says:

      2 Jan2 January 12:48

      Hey, ah I’m guessing Rob must have said it was possible to extend your collection year then.

      My tier point collection year ends on 7th Jan. I’m on 620 points now, so not going to make gold. I have a flight on 6th Jan that will earn a lot of tier points which I was hoping I could push into next year’s collection period!

      • Rob says:

        2 Jan2 January 13:46

        You get a 2 week extension if you ask. This does not permanently change your date though – next year runs for 50 weeks.

      • ChrisC says:

        2 Jan2 January 14:13

        Your year ends at midnight on the 8th not the 7th.

        As mentioned BA will allow a grace period to credit points back to your old year but will not allow points in your old year to be applied to your new year.

        And before you think – “but I’ll remove my BAEC number and then do a retro claim so the points will be in my new year” – BA credit based on date of flight not date of claim

      • TGLoyalty says:

        2 Jan2 January 14:35

        That’s a shame it is one of those things flying just before TP years end but it does count towards lifetime gold (just 35k TP don’t even have to have ever been gold as it stands right now) so not completely wasted.

        • Harry T says:

          2 Jan2 January 17:44

          Think I’ll be dead before I hit “just 35k” tier points so won’t make the best of GFL 😉

        • Lyn says:

          2 Jan2 January 19:20

          HarryT, as will most of us! That’s one are where Qantas makes up a little for the shortcomings in their FF programme. They have both Lifetime Ruby and Lifetime Sapphire, but again they take forever to get to,,especially flying in economy.

• Chinafish says:

  2 Jan2 January 11:07

  I’ve never heard of Virgin Red so went off to Google it. Looks like it’s already up and running with a website, twitter feed, iOS and Android apps?

  Should we wait for April with potentially sign up bonuses? Or should I sign up now?

  • Rob says:

    2 Jan2 January 11:16

    Virgin Red used to be the name of the app. It has now been decided that the entire Virgin-wide loyalty business will be called Virgin Red too.

    In theory it will still award Flying Club miles although you can never assume that they won’t decide to scrap that and we all end up with Virgin Red points. This would actually make sense because I’m not sure that your average Virgin Mobile customer wants something called ‘Flying Club miles’.

    The biggest problem for Virgin Red is the loss of Virgin Trains, because Virgin Group had a big stake in that and had a lot of clout. Virgin Money and Virgin Media are not under Branson family control and can’t be bossed around to offer really attractive points deals.

    • Lady London says:

      3 Jan3 January 13:51

      IIRC Virgin Red was not just the name of the app but the name of Virgin’s former domestic airline. I had good experience flying them and there were some highly useful benefits that unusually, I was timely enough to hoover up and still miss.

      Whether the new launch of Virgin Red as an app and a brand will be similarly positive we are all waiting to see.

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