Qatar Airways opens a new airport lounge at Singapore Changi, open for British Airways flights

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• BJ says:

  31 Jan31 January 08:31

  OT @Rob/Rhys: any sign of a Hilton sale of some sort before the current amex Hilton offer ends?

  • Rhys says:

    31 Jan31 January 10:10

    None that we’re aware of…

    • BJ says:

      31 Jan31 January 10:52

      Thanks, I guess it will be a Flash Sale or nothing as the summer sale is not usually launched until spring.

      • Lady London says:

        31 Jan31 January 11:24

        If it’s there the other LL will have it. Could be worth a sweep over there, indexing is excellent (RHS)

        • BJ says:

          31 Jan31 January 12:07

          Along with HFP, only blog I read routinely these days. Combined they seem to provide all I need to keep the hobby floating along nicely for me.

• Andrew says:

  31 Jan31 January 08:58

  Virgin Offers…

  Always a good idea to check the same package for both a Virgin Flight & Hotel package and Virgin Holiday. The prices for identical packages are often different.

  Also, if you have the right employer 5% will come back your way on a F&H package courtesy of Corporate Perks this weekend.

• MrAnonymous says:

  31 Jan31 January 09:09

  Does anyone know what a payment to Brighton using Curve on a Virgin Atlantic Mastercard will code as? Understand it’s against Ts&Cs but I know people have been using Curve to pay off cards.

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    31 Jan31 January 09:47

    C’mon – have some fun!

    Just put through a £100 payment – maybe make it a random sum like £97.34 – and see what it codes as?

    If you get a complaint, say – oops, I made a mistake, it was some other fee I was meaning to pay!

  • Si says:

    31 Jan31 January 10:20

    On the 29th, still Merchant category code (MCC): FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS-MERCHANDISE AND SERVICES

    • MrAnonymous says:

      31 Jan31 January 11:01

      Thanks. No cash advance fee?

      • memesweeper says:

        31 Jan31 January 13:20

        No, but an IHG imposed limit on what you can put through… two or three hundred a day, seven a week I think.

        • MrAnonymous says:

          31 Jan31 January 15:56

          Thank you, much appreciated.

        • tracy says:

          31 Jan31 January 20:20

          how do you check the mcc on ihg?

  • jc says:

    31 Jan31 January 11:19

    Whose terms do you think this breaches? Any of the parties can shut you down without reason, if they fancy… but I can’t see a terms breach

    • memesweeper says:

      31 Jan31 January 13:21

      Curve terms prohibit this. The receiving financial institution could also block it, but as far as I know only Barclaycard actually do.

      • jc says:

        31 Jan31 January 17:54

        Care to quote where? Happy to stand corrected… but the closest thing I see is a clause against recycling money through cash machines, which this definitely isn’t.

        • Chas says:

          31 Jan31 January 19:37

          See the section Paying off your Credit Card with Curve
          http://www.curve.app/en-gb/fair-use

          I had this section highlighted to me by the CS when I asked for my limits to be extended this time last year…

• Dave says:

  31 Jan31 January 09:17

  Could you using this lounge if you are an on arriving business class flight but departing in economy whilst transiting?

  • Darren says:

    31 Jan31 January 09:36

    This is from the comments in the linked article…

    access on arrival under oneworld rules requires you to be in transit and departing on another oneworld flight the same day having arrived on a flight exceeding 5 hours duration in First or Business Class.

• Spurs Debs says:

  31 Jan31 January 09:39

  What lounge do people recommend at Narita airport departures flying BA First in April ?

  • Dave says:

    31 Jan31 January 10:04

    JAL first lounge, they have a sushi chef that makes fresh great sushi for you

    • Spurs Debs says:

      31 Jan31 January 10:35

      Thanks Dave

      • Jeff says:

        31 Jan31 January 16:20

        Love it in there – sushi in great (other good food food on offer also of course)

        They also polish your shoes/boots 🙂

• James says:

  31 Jan31 January 09:39

  OT: is PO dead for Monese?

  Are they blocking accounts?

  • Neil Donoghue says:

    31 Jan31 January 11:42

    Yes & yes

  • Alex Sm says:

    31 Jan31 January 11:55

    What is PO?

    • Rhys says:

      31 Jan31 January 12:58

      Post Office

  • The Urbanite says:

    31 Jan31 January 12:34

    Yes, fully dead.

    You will eventually get your account suspended and reviewed if doing too many topups that are expensive for them to process. It doesn’t necessarily lead to closure however – that depends on what you say to them.

    • BJ says:

      31 Jan31 January 14:56

      How do I know if my account is blocked or suspended? I cannot top up at paypoint but when I queried this they replied the next day that my account and card were fine despite three consecutive failures. It still works fine for payments and I was above to buy the giftcard recently.

      • James says:

        31 Jan31 January 17:09

        I would imagine its the paypoint terminal that is the issue for now..

    • James says:

      31 Jan31 January 17:10

      Cash top up at post office I assume are fine?

      • BJ says:

        31 Jan31 January 17:38

        A cash top up at paypoint and/or PO is next on my list to try. Should get around to it over the weekend.

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    31 Jan31 January 18:33

    Use Co-op for top ups instead as still working.

    • BJ says:

      31 Jan31 January 20:02

      Unfortunately not for me.

• Harry T says:

  31 Jan31 January 09:44

  OT:
  Has anyone recently upgraded from the green AMEX charge card to the platinum card and received the 20k bonus points for spending £4000? Thinking of referring my partner for a green card so we can upgrade to platinum and obtain the upgrade bonus.

  • SimonW says:

    31 Jan31 January 10:04

    Referred my wife start of Jan for the green, immediately upgraded to Plat via the link, when the green arrived….. Counter shows the £4,000 spend for 20k bonus….plus the 12k referral, plus the 5k for adding me as a supp. plus the 4k for the actual spend…… 41k points by end of February…..

    • Alex M says:

      31 Jan31 January 10:15

      why didn’t she go straight for plat to get 35000 sign up bonus? To save on the fee? I thought this stopped working some time ago.

      • SimonW says:

        31 Jan31 January 10:20

        She had a Plat last year, so I assumed the direct route wouldnt work for the better sign up. The “20k upgrade” route seems fine though.

        • Trickydic says:

          31 Jan31 January 10:25

          Does this only work if referred from a Platinum, or would any referral from another Amex work fine?

        • Alex M says:

          31 Jan31 January 10:30

          ah, of course…

        • SimonW says:

          31 Jan31 January 10:30

          I’d assume any referral to the Green works.Then you upgrade etc as you want.

        • BJ says:

          31 Jan31 January 10:45

          You can refer from most amex cards but the referral bonus received will vary depending which card you refer from.

        • Josh O says:

          31 Jan31 January 13:25

          Is the 20k upgrade from green to plat guaranteed? Or do you need to be invited or something? Many thanks in advance any advice

        • Shoestring says:

          31 Jan31 January 13:29

          no g’tees, a couple of people reported *not* getting it but nearly everybody else got it once the spend requirement was met

          (you always have to wonder if there was user error with the ones who didn’t get it, it is possible to mess up by not sign up using the link within a reasonably short timeframe)

          and there’s usually no counter, ie you need to spend the £4000 to see if you get 20K points or not, wouldn’t be any harm in asking CS if it was noted in your a/c I guess, just say yes you got an email invite

        • Josh O says:

          31 Jan31 January 13:57

          Thanks for this Shoestring, appreciate the reply – although I probably wasn’t clear enough. Once my wife has the green will she definitely be offered the 20k upgrade to plat? Or is there just a link on everyone’s green to upgrade, so it’s a given for everyone? I think from what you are saying, it’s the latter – and then it’s just a case of spending the 4K and hoping the points come thru.

        • memesweeper says:

          31 Jan31 January 13:59

          Datapoint from summer 2019 — I wasn’t invited and didn’t get it

        • SimonW says:

          31 Jan31 January 14:04

          https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/benefits/upgrade/platinum-charge/

        • Shoestring says:

          31 Jan31 January 14:10

          I reckon most people didn’t get the invite – I did, as it happens, on my Gold – which is potentially handy (not used yet) – there doesn’t seem to be an apply-by date – you get sent to the same link as SimonW posted

        • SimonW says:

          31 Jan31 January 14:30

          And to follow up, we didnt get sent an invite, but used that link. But then, my wife only had the Green card for about 12 hours before I used the link, so maybe was unlikely to get an invite in that time!

  • Andrew says:

    31 Jan31 January 10:09

    Yep – all very easy and painless

    • Harry T says:

      31 Jan31 January 10:43

      Thanks everyone who replied. I managed to do one of these last year when it was still 20,000 MR for only spending a grand. Just wondered if it was still working. Will put my council tax through coop paypoint in March to help hit the spend!

      • BJ says:

        31 Jan31 January 11:00

        Are you burning them or just hoarding them Harry? Last we heard you were cancelling 241 redemptions for cash tickets. Talking of which, I would have thought the ultra cheap trips on TAP to Rio might appeal to you (see Loyalty Lobby for details).

        • Harry T says:

          31 Jan31 January 11:18

          @BJ
          Mostly burning them. Just redeemed for Cathay First from Hong Kong to Beijing (want to try First and their HKG lounges) and JAL J from Beijing to Tokyo, and Tokyo to Hong Kong, all for this November (Swiss companion fares to HKG). Also used some for QantasLink flights from Sydney to Hobart for March. I’m finding that short haul is where the sweet spot is for us. I’m interested in the small amount of RFS flights to Europe from Manchester and Edinburgh. So I’m looking at doing the upgrade bonus to build some more Avios for RFS.

          Also getting to get my partner to refer me for the SPG AMEX before 26th Feb in case I’ve been favoured by the IT – would be eligible for a sign up bonus under old rules.

          Thanks for the heads up on the TAP flights. I think my partner might kill me if I book another holiday this year, though haha.

          I was considering pushing for Silver with BA this year but it’s a difficult value proposition in the North.

        • Cat says:

          31 Jan31 January 11:37

          Enjoy Cathay first and the lounges! Its really is quite the experience – I felt very pampered and well fed!

        • BJ says:

          31 Jan31 January 11:43

          Sounds like a good trip, hope you enjoy. Some good options on RFS. I have problems too, my partner is not crazy about travel these days so it’s always a hard sell. He much prefers to spend his time in the Highlands while I still like to discover sone new places.

        • Cat says:

          31 Jan31 January 12:02

          It’s hard to argue with wanting to spend more time in the Highlands (although I have to admit, I’m usually more keen from March to October!).

        • Anna says:

          31 Jan31 January 12:58

          +1 on the Highlands, but would that not be perfect for a break before or after an APD-free flight to somewhere further afield?

        • Lady London says:

          31 Jan31 January 13:00

          My partner didn’t like to travel at all either. I,be been at so many romantic spots missing him. That’s my only consolation after we lost him… mostly he wouldn’t have wanted to travel to there anyway! So romantic spots feel the same now!

        • BJ says:

          31 Jan31 January 14:12

          @LadyLondon, sorry to hear that, for your loss and missing out. Not everybody is the same though and we just have to accept that and make the best of it and enjoy the good stuff. FWIW, not all these romantic spots are what they are made out to be. A few years back my partner and I observed young newly weds enjoying a carriage ride in Vienna, only for the horse to develop a sudden bout of flatulrnce … think cannons, shrieks, freshly fertilised fields and looks of disgust and you can picture the scene!

          @Anna, we usually have at least an overnight in Inverness before departure which is good as it doesn’t make exINV seem like any extra hassle.

        • Harry T says:

          31 Jan31 January 17:08

          @BJ
          Thanks, it looks like an amazing part of the world. My partner is very keen to travel but constrained by budget because she is a PhD student. So I don’t think we can manage another substantial trip this year. Must be frustrating for you if your partner prefers the Highlands – a beautiful part of the world in my experience but I would rather explore further afield too.

          @Cat
          Thanks, I think it was your reviews of the Wing and the Pier that inspired me to try Cathay First. I’m looking forward to seeing the pinnacle of premium travel. My dear partner hasn’t even travelled business class before, so she will be blown away.

          @Lady London
          Very sorry to hear about your loss.

        • Lady London says:

          31 Jan31 January 17:12

          I’m just hoping she wasn’t wearing her wedding dress and right behind the horse @BJ !

        • BJ says:

          31 Jan31 January 17:51

          @LadyLondon, first it was the noise which I thought was a gun, then I saw the carriage driver, bride and groom looking away to the rear, the smell followed and it then dawned on me what had just happened. Fortunately, no mess as far as I could tell 🙂

        • Cat says:

          31 Jan31 January 20:40

          Can I ask how long it’s been since you lost A Lady London? I know my sister-in-law found it very difficult travelling again without my brother after he passed.
          I often find myself in typically romantic spots solo too. The Seychelles is the most obvious example, of all of my semi-regular haunts. It’s an interesting place to see on your own, because hardly anyone else does. Many people are on their honeymoon, some people go with their young kids, and occasionally you encounter a young couple on their first holiday away together, already experiencing buyers remorse on day one…
          I’d just arrived into Mahe, and being aware that taxi drivers like to rip off new arrivals at the airport (big time) , I had a bit of a “Harry moment”, and decided to save some money by finding some other people staying in Beau Valon to share a taxi with. After a bit of asking around at the luggage carousel, I found a couple staying about a hundred metres away from me, we found a taxi, haggled over the price, then got in the taxi, at which point the young lady informs me (with no small amount of attitude) that I will be paying half of the fare. I’m trying to work out whether it’s worth objecting to paying twice the amount per person for a shared taxi to their share of the fare, almost as if it’s a solo traveller tax, when the boyfriend immediately stands up for me, they get into a blazing row about everything from her lording it over all of the single women they ever encounter (I wasn’t, but didn’t like to interrupt), to her frequent unreciprocated PDAs. I ended up chipping in about 40% of the fare, just in an attempt to negotiate some sort of a truce.
          Whenever I found myself missing my OH, I would watch all of the “Boyfriends of Instagram” contenders in action on Anse Source d’Argent, and I’d laugh.

        • Cat says:

          31 Jan31 January 20:46

          She’s going to love it Harry! Don’t forget to find the Haagen Daaz freezer, and remember that the Wing has fantastic buffet food in the restaurant (people were shocked that I missed it), as well as the lovely cabanas!

        • Lady London says:

          31 Jan31 January 21:20

          @Cat have to laugh about the couple spat in the taxi! Even when I did manage to get my other half to travel we’d avoid ‘couples’ places – and I’ve always stayed well clear of them singly. Your experience being a hazard that is often there even not so overtly. Apparently single women are viewed as disruptors in many contexts.

        • Liz says:

          31 Jan31 January 22:13

          Or do what what we did and buy a caravan for UK travels. We are so chilled out when we get away in our van – different kind of holiday experience and we love exploring our own country. Managed 51 nights away in 2019 which we would never do in hotels or BnB’s. Still love our USA road trips though.

        • Cat says:

          31 Jan31 January 23:01

          Oh, I did @Lady London, but only after I was safely out of the car and away from the spatting couple! It wouldn’t be the first time I got the evil side eye from a woman travelling with her boyfriend, who clearly objected to my presence because she saw my solo status as a threat (yes, absolutely, I came on holiday with the sole intention of stealing your boyfriend). Generally I see these moments as a way to avoid wasting time – I immediately know that these are not people I want to chat to by the pool or in the bar.
          Suddenly I feel less European, BTW :'(

        • BJ says:

          1 Feb1 February 06:28

          @Cat @LadyLondon very amused and a bit shocked to read your tales. I didn’t realise that female solo travel was such a case of survival of the fittest, and that other women were one of the main hazards. Always though that the greatest travel experiences could be best realised when travelling solo so I hope you will continue, and enjoy doing so. Just take care and stay safe.

        • Cat says:

          1 Feb1 February 07:41

          🤣
          “Always though that the greatest travel experiences could be best realised when travelling solo…” absolutely they can, you just have to learn who to avoid!

        • Lady London says:

          1 Feb1 February 14:23

          not just travel, @BJ.

          When you dont think a particular way yourself it’s hard to pick up on till you encounter it a few times. I’ve learnt most travelling solo including stuff that was later professionally useful. Travelling as a pair gets you different things but it’s a lot easier.

• LewisB says:

  31 Jan31 January 10:50

  Is it just me or are Virgin flight and hotel deals generally expensive? It annoys me that with BA Holidays I can search for Qatar from London, Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh to non-BA destinations but NOT CARDIFF. Yet Virgin include Qatar from Cardiff but the prices are always really high.

  • BJ says:

    31 Jan31 January 11:04

    Especially considering BA fly loads of empty planes to Cardiff.

    • Nate1309 says:

      31 Jan31 January 13:50

      So annoying driving past those planes on the way to my friends in Rhoose to know I can’t fly on them 🙁

    • John says:

      31 Jan31 January 16:48

      Hi BJ

      Any advice on INV? We’re flying ex-INV (starting EDI) later in the year. Wondering whether one way car hire or train to INV (Are the new trains available yet in the morning, and first class?) – family of four, but kids r young so 2 x train tix prob sufficient. Unsure if one way car hire pricey, probably. thanks!

      • Shoestring says:

        31 Jan31 January 17:11

        £1 rentals INV-EDI https://www.driiveme.co.uk (not the other way) – through June 2020

        • David the 1st says:

          31 Jan31 January 17:16

          l frequently use those for the southbound journey, so should probably encourage all to take one ways northbound.

      • David the 1st says:

        31 Jan31 January 17:14

        Either would be fine – train is a bit meh, but the views are fantastic going over the top, and you can enjoy them without having to watch for the car in front. Not easiest to get from train station to airport either, so on balance would probably advise car and enjoy the journey, of the cash isn’t too far out.

      • Jill (Kinkell) says:

        31 Jan31 January 17:15

        Hi. At least you can leave the car at Inverness airport right next to the terminal. Train will require taxi or bus out. Probably doesn’t cost more than £10-15 . New Courtyard hotel on site opening ‘soon’
        I think if I was coming from EDI I’d take a car hire..easier with luggage etc. All depends on which flight you’re getting from InV.

      • BJ says:

        31 Jan31 January 18:23

        To add to other comments already posted, I would stay at a hotel in Inverness for anything other than the late departure. Be aware Inverness hotels can be very expensive though, even for poor hotels. If you go by train exit station to the left and you can get bus direct to the airport from the bus stop you will see ahead of you. Train from Edinburgh 2019 was about £16 standard advance IIRC. I’m not sure what the latest is on the introduction of the refurbished GWR trains is but I believe they all have First class. Taxi to airport was £20 the last time we used. There are express coaches from Edinburgh to Inverness which don’t take much longer than the train, AFAIK they still sell one or two tickets on each for £1. Citylink Gold has more comfortable seating, beverages and snacks included. With kids I think I would take the car fir flexibility though, but be careful on the A9 as it has frequent accidents. Allow 4-4.5h for the journey even though you could do it in under 3.5h. Be aware that if you are departing INV, you do not need to return there, we always route back to EDI.

        • John says:

          1 Feb1 February 13:32

          Thanks BJ
          yes, late INV departure 15:55 IIRC
          just rem’ed, car would necessitate 2 child seats – which are usually silly price.
          maybe back to train option!

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