Aspire to manage the British Airways lounge at Belfast City Airport

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• Clive says:

  6 Mar6 March 08:51

  Talking about Zombie Apocalypse wish me luck as off end of this month:

  LHR-HKG-DPS-KUL-PQC-HKG-LHR

  Just had my flight to PQC cancelled (Vietjet) airline did not advise just lucky I went in to check. What I have found is that some companies are compassionate when discussing issues regarding being flexible with bookings and others just don’t give two hoots!

  See you on the other side !

  • BJ says:

    6 Mar6 March 09:07

    Good luck, but you might be safer there than here. Provided we can believe the data things don’t look too bad in SE Asia at all, even lately in HK and Singapore. Guess it might have something to do with the hotter climate.

    • Cat says:

      6 Mar6 March 18:23

      In the case of Indonesia, I suspect it’s more to do with the absence of scanners at the airport, and the lack of testing (was it only 140 tests done by last weekend in the whole country?), given that they had direct flights to Wuhan until late January, and given that several people have returned home from trips to Indonesia, and immediately tested positive when tested…

• Andrew says:

  6 Mar6 March 08:57

  Bits. Amex had a few Princess Cruises offers last year, so this may be of interest:-

  We continue to implement increased monitoring, screening and sanitation protocols to protect the health of our guests, crew and the residents of the destinations we serve. Our measures are designed to be flexible to adapt to changing conditions and recommended best practices. For your reference, you can read our Guest Travel Advisory.

  Nevertheless, we know you have questions about your upcoming cruise. Princess would like to share some policy updates that provide options and flexibility should you want to reschedule your currently booked vacation that sails between now and May 31, 2020.

  Sailings departing between March 9 and April 3*: booked guests can cancel up to 3 days prior to departure, receive a Future Cruise Credit for 100% of the cancellation fee amount, and move your booking to any voyage that departs by December 31, 2021.

  Sailings departing between April 4 and May 31*: booked guests can cancel by March 31, 2020, receive a Future Cruise Credit for 100% of the cancellation fee amount, and move your booking to any voyage that departs by December 31, 2021.

  *Date of departure is from the start date of your cruise or cruisetour, whichever is earlier.

  If you choose to keep your booking as currently scheduled for departures between March 9 and May 31, you will receive the following Onboard Credit amounts:

  $100 USD/ $150 AUD per cabin for 3 and 4 day cruises
  $150 USD / $225 AUD per cabin for 5 day cruises
  $200 USD / $300 AUD per cabin for 6 day and longer cruises

  For our guests booked on Crown Princess Mediterranean itineraries, we are finalizing some itinerary changes and a special offer that we will be sharing early next week.

  Please note that Future Cruise Credits will automatically be applied to each guest’s Captain’s Circle account after they have cancelled. The Future Cruise Credit will not be available instantly and may take up to 10 business days to be processed. Guests with Princess Vacation Protection should file a claim via http://www.aontravelclaim.com in the first instance.

  • xcalx says:

    6 Mar6 March 09:19

    Interesting reading. Hopefully we have RCCL cruises booked from mid April a 7 night Caribbean followed by a 13 night Caribbean/Trans Atlantic. Same ship. Would love the extra OBC

    • roberto says:

      6 Mar6 March 10:18

      We have a Crown Princess Fjord cruise booked in August out of Southampton. This thing is like Brexit and will drag on well past then so interested to see what our options are/will be. Its the least likely of all our current trips booked this year to actually go ahead in my mind if nothing improves.

      Supposedly off Cuba next week and the good news its thats its still on the (current) virus free list. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/lists/beautiful-countries-without-coronavirus/

      • Anna says:

        6 Mar6 March 11:04

        We are booked to go to Grand Cayman in April and my concern is that the Caribbean islands might start refusing to allow entry to visitors coming from countries where there are cases of corona virus. (Cayman turned away 2 cruise ships from Miami recently as they weren’t convinced they were free of infection) Although that would have to be weighed up against the loss of tourist revenue, which would be huge.

        • Anna says:

          6 Mar6 March 11:05

          But even if the entire trip gets cancelled it’s a first world problem, obviously!

        • xcalx says:

          6 Mar6 March 11:50

          Carnival claim they decided not to go to GC which was confirmed by The Acting Port Director of the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands

          The Acting Port Director of the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands contacted our Cruise Law News Facebook page yesterday evening and made it clear that it was Carnival that dropped the Cayman from a port for these recent sailings:

        • Anna says:

          6 Mar6 March 14:50

          Hmm you neglect to mention that Carnival thought they might be turned away (also from Jamaica), because of illness on board the ship!

        • Anna says:

          6 Mar6 March 14:52

          So very possibly jumped before they were pushed.

        • xcalx says:

          7 Mar7 March 07:16

          @ Anna No neglect here . It wasn’t mentioned in the forum I was on. Just a copy and paste from a reply I read. Sorry

• xcalx says:

  6 Mar6 March 09:08

  I got the extra 10k spend bonus Yesterday on the free IHG card. I also received 2 points per £ for a UK travel booking

  • xcalx says:

    6 Mar6 March 11:55

    Should have mentioned this was the extra 10k = 20K total bonus.

• jc says:

  6 Mar6 March 09:13

  Following from the conversation started yesterday, does anyone know whether Amex are still charging their 2.99% non-sterling transaction fee on EUR payments in EEA?

  (They advertise that they are, but it’s been illegal to apply a fee on top of your chosen exchange rate since 15 Dec 2019…)

  • Jack says:

    6 Mar6 March 10:00

    Amex are still charging on my card (UK issued, when charging in Euros)

    • roberto says:

      6 Mar6 March 10:01

      ditto..

  • Anna says:

    6 Mar6 March 10:34

    Is it to do with which type of Amex it is, Rob has written about this I think?

  • Lady London says:

    6 Mar6 March 11:18

    Surely the cards will just weight the exchange rate by the 2.99% instead? Then they won’t have to declare any separate charge.

    After clarifying before I opened my business account, that no extra charges nor FX weighting would be applied to incoming European FX amounts, they weighted the FX rate by 3% last year. After much time wasted last year I got that fixed and compensated.

    At that time I had an FX bad debt to chase up and requested the same treatment as and when it was recovered. 10 months later I recovered it and they weighted the FX by 3%. I referred to my earlier conversations with them and politely requested them to honour the original agreement as this payment had been specifically mentioned as due but late when they did honour the original agreement when I reminded them last year. They refused to make the correction this time.

    In between they’d royally f****d up on another account I’d held with them so 15 minutes after they refused to honour the original no weighting of FX (as it’s really a hidden charge) I called them back and closed the account.

    • jc says:

      6 Mar6 March 12:34

      They may well do, though from my very quick reading of the regs it isn’t that simple. In any case, for the time being they haven’t [baked the fee into the rate], which surely means they’re in breach.

• Kbuffett says:

  6 Mar6 March 09:22

  OT – Can anyone summarise points offers for signing up for ISA’s etc.
  I’m looking at doing this before the end of this tax year.
  Many thanks

  • Kbuffett says:

    6 Mar6 March 09:40

    Or which providers can we paid via Amex or HIlton either directly or indirectly!

    • Genghis says:

      6 Mar6 March 10:23

      All I’d say is to choose the right ISA account based on the account itself, not points earning opportunities. Some things are way more important than points (i.e. ££££).

  • Shoestring says:

    6 Mar6 March 10:27

    The AJBell Stocks & Shares ISA is giving £105 = 10,500 Avios

    Much better bet than Nutmeg, who are exceptionally slow to set up as they go down the direct debit route rather than debit card/ bank transfer – you possibly wouldn’t get in before 5th April.

    • Rob says:

      6 Mar6 March 10:31

      I wouldn’t rush into a non-Nutmeg offer in the next 10 days or so ….. 🙂

      • Genghis says:

        6 Mar6 March 10:33

        Because overpriced Nutmeg releasing an avios offer? No thanks.

        • BJ says:

          6 Mar6 March 11:30

          I’m still convinced Edinburgh property is the best place to be. Still many great buys around £200-250k.

        • Jack says:

          6 Mar6 March 12:38

          Which areas BJ? Old or new build?

        • Colin MacKinnon says:

          6 Mar6 March 13:17

          BJ, have an Edinburgh flat that cost £215k and am really happy with it. But….

          There have been a lot of AirBnB hopefuls pushing up prices in Edinburgh – and if they’ve used borrowed money they may get a price shock if the demand side collapses (which looks likely with the aircraft loads being reported)

          Perhaps a bit late to cash out the ISAs and invest in property?

        • BJ says:

          6 Mar6 March 15:54

          @Jack, anywhere within a 20 minute direct bus ride to Princes street during rush hour will do it. That limits new builds but there are pockets here and there from time to time. Five years ago you would have got new builds for that around Fettes and McDonald Road for example. Not any more but you can pick up old tenements in poor condition and spend some cash on them and have a nice place to stay in a great location. At the moment I actually prefer north central Edinburgh to south central simply because it cannot grow while most of the development to the south will cause increasing congestion issues in south central Edinburgh. So, Stockbridge, Comely Bank, Inverleith, North Werber Park and Kimmerghame are worth a look.

          @Colin, don’t see the Airbnb issue resolving itself any time soon as long as there remains a shortage of hotel rooms in the centre. Any trouble is presumably going to be short term but those faced with it will just switch to long term lets to ride it out and then cause more community agro again when things recover. Personally, I dislike this trend towards airbnb, really changing the vibe around much of the popular student areas near the centre.

      • Kai says:

        6 Mar6 March 11:07

        Pointless offer – For 1% return I can open a better ISA and top up via Curve.

• xcalx says:

  6 Mar6 March 09:52

  OT any way to pay IHG bill and earn some points/miles

  • Anna says:

    6 Mar6 March 10:35

    There are several curvaceous and revolutionary options…

    • Anna says:

      6 Mar6 March 10:36

      Though actually Creation accept pretty much anything so you don’t always need a third party option.

      • stevenhp1987 says:

        6 Mar6 March 15:14

        +1 It’s even advertised that they accept Credit Cards on their site.

    • xcalx says:

      6 Mar6 March 10:45

      Thanks Anna good to know. I do pay Brighton this way but have just renewed my season ticket (MOT) and no amex option.

      • Brighton Belle says:

        6 Mar6 March 12:02

        My curvaceous attempts to pay the seagulls always results in a no-no digital finger wag.

        • xcalx says:

          6 Mar6 March 12:37

          Behind the scenes Branson has worked for me fine

        • Anna says:

          6 Mar6 March 13:07

          I keep feeding the seagulls £300 max at a time, not been pooped on so far!

• Tamara says:

  6 Mar6 March 09:56

  OT Hi, I’m planning to cancel my IHG Premium card after anniversary. CS confirmed they’ll notify IHG to apply my free night voucher, but said it may take 6 weeks? Is the information in this article still valid, so I can cancel? https://headforpoints.com/2017/07/04/ihg-rewards-club-premium-mastercard-free-night-question/

  Thanks

  • Rob says:

    6 Mar6 March 10:32

    Article still valid.

• rams1981 says:

  6 Mar6 March 11:35

  OT lost track of Revolut charges. VISA (e.g. Hilton) back to being treated as purchases? If IHG is back to £300 per time I assume mastercard is also being treated as purchases for now?

  I used HSBC WE and paid off same day and accrued no interest charges, waiting on IHG bill to see if same applies.

  • Grant says:

    6 Mar6 March 11:49

    I’ve seen nothing to suggest that the MCC for Mastercard top ups is back to 6012. That being the case it would be down to the way the card issuer treats the cash advance transaction. Creation / IHG seem to have been applying interest but no fee, hence paying off same day = minimal cost. AFAIK Virgin will still sting you with 5% cash advance fee as well as interest which means it can get expensive.

  • Anna says:

    6 Mar6 March 13:13

    I think IHG is back to “normal”, certainly the £700 pw limit is back. While it was awry I just paid off top ups as I went along and didn’t get any interest charged.

    • thehornets says:

      6 Mar6 March 17:37

      Anna, apologies I am a little confused. Is this correct…?
      (1) I can pay seagulls with IHG but only in small increments
      (2) I can be REVOlutionary with IHG but only up to 700 per wk and only if I pay off IHG quickly.

      Thank you!

      • Anna says:

        6 Mar6 March 19:59

        1. Yes via Curve or Revolut
        2. Yes and there may not even be interest charges now.

        • thehornets says:

          6 Mar6 March 22:32

          Thankyou!

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