Get a good Australia and New Zealand business class flight deal on Singapore Airlines

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• Heathrow Flyer says:

  22 Jan22 January 16:49

  OT: Free Destinations – Holiday and Travel Show (Olympia 31 Jan – 2 Feb) tickets use code EXSILFER on SeeTickets

• Tim says:

  22 Jan22 January 16:51

  OT:
  Has anyone got any experience of Delta Basic Economy. Booked as they were cheap as chips and see seats are allocated at check in.

  To attempt to sit next to each other do you think there is more chance by checking in online or leaving check in to the airport?

  • Liam says:

    22 Jan22 January 16:57

    My only experience of Delta basic economy was a few years ago on the first ever domestic flight I took in the US (FLL to JFK) and, because they overbooked the flight, I nearly didn’t get on the plane. Eventually enough other passengers took whatever compensation Delta were offering and I got literally the last available seat on the aircraft, in the back row. Hopefully if it’s an international flight the chances of this are much slimmer!

  • Andrew says:

    23 Jan23 January 11:39

    Delta is my first choice for transatlantic nowadays, and it’s always in Economy. The service and entertainment is miles ahead of BA. Hand luggage is a bit smaller than BA, but that’s what hotel laundries are for.

    I haven’t been on a Delta flight that wasn’t overbooked though. But then they have attractive packages if you are willing to adjust your plans. If someone is waving a $500 Gift Card and willing to pay for an extra night in Boston, then you’ll find me at the front of the Queue.

    • Rhys says:

      23 Jan23 January 12:35

      Delta doing a lot of work to improve their economy offering, so this doesn’t surprise me. Looks genuinely quite good.

• A270 says:

  22 Jan22 January 16:54

  OT: Looking for some hotel recommendations in Amman (Jordan) for a 50th birthday celebration. We are a group of 5 women.

  • memesweeper says:

    22 Jan22 January 19:46

    We stayed in the Amman Marriott Hotel last Autumn and couldn’t fault it, although the location is just *too* far to be walking distance from the main sites. Would definitely book again.

    • A270 says:

      22 Jan22 January 21:02

      Thank you.

• MJ says:

  22 Jan22 January 16:55

  OT: I have recently referred my partner to BA Amex Premium. She has received the card and I have received the 9k bonus. I will soon cancel my card as I’ve acquired the 241 BA offer with 6 months to spare. Now this got me thinking – what would happen if she referred me back to get another 9k after I cancelled the card? Would Amex look at this unfavourably? Any repercussions?
  Many thanks

  • Oli says:

    22 Jan22 January 17:58

    Not an issue, I’d give it a month or two before you reapply for the same card, you wouldn’t get a sign up bonus of course, but your wife will be fine to get a referral bonus. Keep in mind, your wife doesnt have to refer you for the AMEX BAPP card, you can choose a free card like Gold (free first year) or the free BA card, just click other cards when you go through the referral link.

    Also, im sure you know, if you hold a higher referral earning card like Amex Platinum, best to start your referral from there and earn 12,000 amex points instead.

  • Rob says:

    22 Jan22 January 19:28

    Should be fine.

• Dorothy O'Sullivan says:

  22 Jan22 January 17:01

  Return Cape Town 1st May and open return

• Charlieface says:

  22 Jan22 January 17:45

  From what I heard, Amex Global Transfer will even pass on your UK Amex history to the agencies in the US. Contrary to popular opinion, you do not need an SSN to get credit history, but some banks require it to open an account. Others are ok with an ITIN and some don’t even require that. Amex do require a checking account. Don’t forget to ask for the signup bonus to be honoured.

  • Boi says:

    22 Jan22 January 18:25

    This has given me some food for thought. Moving to Canada in the summer? Am I right in thinking I am better off holding to my MR to benefit on exchange rate?

  • Simon says:

    22 Jan22 January 22:08

    Charlieface, thanks a million for this. Good to know.

• Shoestring says:

  22 Jan22 January 17:46

  Free £5 on Monese with code ONETAP – put it into promotions (tap the head) to see if you are eligible (i wasn’t! so it’s targeted)

  if you get it:
  How does it work?
  1. Add the promo code ONETAP in your Monese app.
  2. Use your Monese card to make a payment before 31 Jan.
  3. We’ll top up your account with £5 after the end of the month

  • Shoestring says:

    22 Jan22 January 17:48

    and PREMIUMPLEASE gives you free Premium membership for 3 months, meaning you get free top ups and can get a free debit card if you don’t have one yet

    • MattB says:

      22 Jan22 January 20:02

      Is the PO a no go for top ups on all CC or just those from Brighton?

      • BJ says:

        22 Jan22 January 21:35

        All cc; debit cards and money only. Have yet to try Curve though, it being a debit card.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          22 Jan22 January 23:44

          I did once and was rejected by the PO card machine for some reason. Could ofcourse have been just that machine or my card.

  • BJ says:

    22 Jan22 January 19:50

    Thanks Harry although I was ineligible. Can’t complain, a first for me after a great run.

• Lyn says:

  22 Jan22 January 18:44

  !) Credit cards – I would second the suggestions above to start with Amex if your wife already has an Amex card in the UK and can build on that relationship. Amex has a Hilton card (called Surpass I think) which gives Hilton Gold and a reasonable sign-up bonus and ongoing earning rates for a $95 annual fee. I think it includes 10 Priority Pass lounge visits as well. They also have a free card with a decent sign-up bonus and slightly different earnings rate. The basic Amex Marriott card suffers from the same poor earning rate that is being introduced in the UK, but does at least give an annual free night up to 35K points in exchange for the annual fee. One of the important things to note about the US Amex cards is that their sign-up bonuses are once per lifetime per type of card. So for instance you could earn a sign-up bonus for both the Hilton Surpass card and the free Hilton card, but only once in each case, with no churning.

  Barclaycard is one of two issuers of the American Airlines cards, so perhaps if she has a Barclays account in the UK that might help as well, although this is probably a stretch.

  Someone mentioned that the Chase cards could be harder to get, which I could easily believe. Their Hyatt card gives a good sign-up bonus and the lowest level elite status. Their Chase Sapphire Preferred card has a similar annual fee and sign up bonus with travel insurance and points that can be transferred 1:1 to Hyatt as well as some airlines and other hotels. The airlines include BA but not American, and the other hotel points are worth less than Hyatt, especially since Hyatt points are so hard to earn in the UK.

  In my experience, albeit very limited, there are no US web-sites that are a patch on HfP for editorial integrity and useful content, both in the articles and in the comments.

  2) Transfers. Again this is from limited experience, but based on comments here on HfP I recommended Transferwise to my sister when she had to transfer money recently from Australia to Canada and she found them very helpful, competitive and easy to use. It is easy to see the conversion rates on their web-site. The thing is though that Transerwise provide bank accounts, as I understand it, in Australia but not in the US, so it may be harder to do transfer from the US.

  • Lyn says:

    22 Jan22 January 18:56

    Another thought re (2). A lot of the US travel cards have no foreign transaction fees so perhaps they could be used to pay some expenses in the UK and while travelling and reduce the amount you have to actually transfer. This includes even some cards without an annual fee, such as the basic free Hilton card.

    • Simon says:

      22 Jan22 January 22:09

      Lyn, thanks so much for such in-depth information — that is really good to know and food for thought for sure! All the best

    • Cam says:

      23 Jan23 January 03:40

      If contemplating using a US card to pay expenses in the UK after returning, be certain to check first with your UK tax advisor about the impact of remittances of non-UK earnings.

  • Newbie A says:

    22 Jan22 January 20:06

    On Barclaycard, I did apply for one in the US in my second year. I recall getting rejected and called them up telling them I had a account in the UK for years. Althought pretty sure they were all closed at that point and I didn’t give them any details. They reconsidered and opened it for me, I have no idea what was the driver for the change.

  • Newbie A says:

    22 Jan22 January 20:14

    I disagree re some of the comments on the US sites. Agree in my experience the comments sections are nowhere as good, but the contents can be pretty good. Given HFP doesn’t cover US cards, you don’t really have a choice. I suggest finding a few sites where the blogger travels or think in a similar way to you. Otherwise how else are you going to learn all about the cards?

    Agree with Lyn re the FX fee free as a way to keep using your cards in the UK. Amex let me keep the card when I moved back (I eventually closed it, still wondering if that was a good idea), so I could have kept getting points. (I kept all my Chases cards!) I did find that the rate is always a bit worst than spot rate on the XE app, but I’m happy with getting the points in exchange. Curve works with the non amex cards.

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