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News: free £15 Uber vaccination ride, Malaysia increases LHR, BA’s French credit card closes

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News in brief:

Get a free £15 Uber ride to a covid vaccination centre

Yesterday we covered a 25% discount code that Addison Lee is offering in London for rides to the main vaccination hubs.

Uber is running a similar deal. It is more generous – you get a flat £15 discount on your ride – and it is valid across the UK. The only downside is that the offer ends on 28th February.

Full details are on the Uber website here. Each part of the country is restricted to 4,000 free rides, so you may find that your area has run out even if others are still able to book.

Malaysia Airlines increases services to London Heathrow

Malaysia Airlines is planning to return to daily London Heathrow flights in July, according to plans released in recent weeks.

This will pick up the slack caused by the permanent withdrawal of British Airways from the Kuala Lumpur route.

As a member of the oneworld alliance, you can earn and spend Avios, and earn Executive Club tier points, on Malaysia Airlines flights. The only downside is that you cannot use a BA Amex 241 companion voucher.

There are also plans to increase its Australia service to daily from July, allowing an easy connection in Kuala Lumpur for anyone wanting to return to Australia from the UK. The medium term plan is to operate 39 weekly flights to Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth by the end of 2021. There are no current plans to restart Brisbane.

Malaysia Airlines A350

British Airways closing its French credit card

For our French readers, British Airways and bank Sofinco have announced that their British Airways-branded Visa credit cards will close on 10th April.

It isn’t clear if the cards will be picked up by a new issuer. One option is American Express Gold or Platinum, converting Membership Rewards points to Avios, but those cards carry a far higher fee than the €24 charged by Sofinco on its basic card.

It is not clear if the Iberia credit card issued by Sofinco is also closing. If not, this would be an obvious alternative, using ‘Combine My Avios’ to move your points across. I don’t hold out much hope, however, given that their Vueling credit card is also being shuttered.

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Category

British Airways and Avios, oneworld alliance partners

Comments (29)

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

  • EwanG says:
    15 Feb15 February 07:30

    @Rob / @Rhys the homepage is still showing the Nectar/Avios ‘500 extra point’ banner at the top on mobile, although this offer expired yesterday.

    • Rob says:
      15 Feb15 February 08:10

      Just pulled it. We were both in bed at midnight and we can’t automate this.

      • R11CHT says:
        15 Feb15 February 08:48

        Some people 🙄

      • JimBob75 says:
        15 Feb15 February 10:18

        I took advantage of the Nectar to Avios promo – in order to get the bonus 500 Avios and double Nectar points. But actually my main plan is to switch the other way (ie Avios to Nectar). I’m afraid my eyes glaze over when reading the Ts&Cs – but am I correct in thinking that, as of today, I can reverse the flow (while still keeping the bonus Avios and double Nectar?)

        • Rob says:
          15 Feb15 February 10:49

          In theory – but unless you really need the Avios or Nectar points I would wait.

          • JimBob75 says:
            15 Feb15 February 11:41

            For what it’s worth – I had a webchat with a Nectar person who said “I assure you that you will receive your bonus points”. Of course, this still might not be right but this IS the way I read the Ts & Cs and I now have a screenshot of this advice, so i will now start the transfer the other way. Given I have a lot of Avios I am keen to shift as many as possible before Avios/Nectar have any change of mind!

  • Bupps says:
    15 Feb15 February 07:50

    Any indications BA will pick up the Kuala Lumpur route again post COVID, or is that withdrawal really permanent?

    • Rob says:
      15 Feb15 February 08:09

      It was on a list marked ‘permanent’. Remember that it has a lot fewer aircraft now that the 747’s have gone and the 77X has been delayed.

  • Mike says:
    15 Feb15 February 08:22

    Thé Vueling Sofinco card is also closing on the same date; we were informed last week.

  • Mike says:
    15 Feb15 February 08:24

    Any suggestions for alternative Visa or MasterCard earning airline or hotel points for French residents?

    • Jean Claude says:
      15 Feb15 February 08:37

      Looking for options too, I moved back to France a couple of years ago after 6 years in the UK and the bank/credit card landscape is not great…

      • Max says:
        15 Feb15 February 09:47

        If you still have a UK bank account and the appropriate credit history / score, the Virgin Atlantic credit cards are your best options… Earns miles without FX transaction fees for spend in Euro

    • Bagoly says:
      16 Feb16 February 22:25

      Miles & More cover a lot of countries with different credit cards.
      In France it’s apparently by Advanzia.

  • Max says:
    15 Feb15 February 09:24

    The BA French cards were so odd, I’m guessing they never managed to attract enough customers and COVID obviously didn’t help.

    I got one of them from their launch some couple of years ago, more out of luck and persistence than anything logical. Sofinco is a essentially a credit facility provider; it lends you money on your bank account and charge extortionate interest for it (the regular APR past any short-term promotional offer is around 20%, and you have to add an “optional” monthly insurance on top).

    99% of Sofinco’s staff have no idea that they also issue Avios-earning cards alongside those credit facilities. From the application process itself you are “forced” to receive the credit facility on your bank account (and be charged the interest) rather than keeping it as a facility on your card…They are just trained to wire you more and more money so customer service comes nowhere close to what you would expect from a credit card in the UK.

    To be fair, this is such a marginal business in France with probably also 99%+ of spend going via cash or debit cards. The only “credit-like” cards are what they call “differed debit”, which are essentially bank-issued charge cards. Amex also quite niche for historical reasons due to their higher fees vs the CB / Carte Bleue payment scheme controlled by French banks.

    Anyway just a poor (but easy) way of earnings Avios now gone, but the whole product has been missing the point throughout its (short) life.

  • Supersub says:
    15 Feb15 February 10:02

    A lot fewer options to SE Asia now.
    With a monopoly on LHR-KUL I hope MH don’t decide to just fill their boots.
    Currently charging £3000 each in business next January, whilst Swiss will get you to SIN for £1100.

    • Aston100 says:
      15 Feb15 February 10:39

      On the summer dates I’m travelling, everyone has pushed their prices up. Qatar are almost the same price as MH – around £4k return.

  • Aston100 says:
    15 Feb15 February 10:31

    ***Uber is running a similar deal. It is more generous – you get a flat £15 discount on your ride – and it is valid across the UK.***
    Not fully accurate.
    The rides are limited to the main hubs only. Not all vaccination centres are included.
    For example, we went to one in South Birmingham, and it is not covered. Only the main one at Millennium Point in the city centre is covered (in the city area proper).

    • Rob says:
      15 Feb15 February 10:48

      The list of hubs is in the article.

    • lumma says:
      15 Feb15 February 19:59

      If you have qualified for the vaccine but can’t use it to get to your site, surely it’s not bad karma to use the Uber discount for a one way trip to Birmingham city centre

  • Scandinavian traveler says:
    15 Feb15 February 11:33

    Danish BA Mastercard issued by Resurs Bank not accepting new applicants either.

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