Chat thread – Thursday 25th May

[Rob]

This is today’s chat thread.

If you have specific questions about Avios, hotels or credit cards, please ask them in the appropriate forum and not here. This thread is a good place to post interesting deals you have spotted or your general thoughts on travel and all things miles and points. Thank you for contributing.

[gtellez]

A couple of weeks ago, I noted that the Kimpton Manchester was cheaper in Hotels.com than in IHG (just few pounds less), so I filled the Best Price Guarantee form. Few hours later they confirmed the cheaper price, so they matched the rate and give me 5x bonus points for that stay (around 12k bonus points, added to another 7k for base, status and current promo points).
This week I had to book 3 more stays in Manchester and again noted that in every night (Kimpton and Crowne Plaza) the daily rate was cheaper at Hotels.con and Booking.com. So I proceeded to book non refundable rates and fill the BPG forms. All approved in few hours.
Conclusion, a good amount of extra points for little effort. Furthermore, I got prepaid rates in all the stays to use the last Amex offer I had (at least the Kimpton always charges me a couple of days after booking prepay rates).
Almost every single night in the calendar seems to be cheaper in these third party websites than in IHG for those two hotels, so it is very worth it to check before booking.

[NorthernLass]

That’s a good result – quite often hotels will try and wriggle out of matching due to some tiny discrepancy in what’s included in the hotels.com rate.
Does the form go to the hotel or to IHG?
I once found the DT MAN £40 cheaper on hotels.com – I contacted the hotel directly and they said they couldn’t match it but would still give me my gold benefits if I booked via hotels.com.

[gtellez]

You need to fill the form in the IHG website: https://www.ihg.com/hotels/gb/en/customer-care/forms/claim-lowest-internet-rate
You also need to first book the hotel in the IHG website (as the form asks for a booking reference). I don’t know how it would work for flexible rates (as the terms can be slightly different), but for non refundable rates it was really straight forward in my case. I was going to book the stays anyway, so the risk was zero for me. The difference was never more than £5-10 (so I would have also gone for IHG anyways, to enjoy free breakfast, points and upgrades), what was more interesting is the additional points, rather than the price match. In all 4 cases, I got a reply in less than 24h and the rate was adjusted in the reservation (and I can see the new rate in the app). The 5x bonus points arrived around 10 days after the stay (not at the same time as the regular points).

[jingtan]

A question here

It seems like BA is charging 100k or 110k avios for a one way redemption business class flight to Shanghai, while Virgin charges about 47.5 or 57.5k points. Both have similar tax and surcharge.

Does this mean that virgin points are more valuable than BA Avios? I guess my assumption is that both products are similar standard

[aviosnewbie33]

Does anyone know if it’ll be possible to split the 5-night IHG suite upgrade voucher into two rooms? I don’t think we’ll end up doing a 5N stay soon, but I have booked 2 rooms at IHG Dublin this summer, for two nights. So can I ask them to give me a suite on both rooms for 4N total?

thank you!

[PeteM]

gtellez wrote:

A couple of weeks ago, I noted that the Kimpton Manchester was cheaper in Hotels.com than in IHG (just few pounds less), so I filled the Best Price Guarantee form. Few hours later they confirmed the cheaper price, so they matched the rate and give me 5x bonus points for that stay (around 12k bonus points, added to another 7k for base, status and current promo points).
This week I had to book 3 more stays in Manchester and again noted that in every night (Kimpton and Crowne Plaza) the daily rate was cheaper at Hotels.con and Booking.com. So I proceeded to book non refundable rates and fill the BPG forms. All approved in few hours.
Conclusion, a good amount of extra points for little effort. Furthermore, I got prepaid rates in all the stays to use the last Amex offer I had (at least the Kimpton always charges me a couple of days after booking prepay rates).
Almost every single night in the calendar seems to be cheaper in these third party websites than in IHG for those two hotels, so it is very worth it to check before booking.

This is good to hear. My success rate with hotel price matches across all the major brands is zero – they always seem to weasel out somehow! The BA price match, however, I have 100% success with!

[gtellez]

@PeteM my success ratio with Marriott would be around 50%, but most of the time the rates are cheaper through Marriott anyway. Once I got a good discount in a Courtyard in San Francisco thanks to it.
For IHG, I just tried once before for a CP in Amman, but it was rejected because it was displayed in the local currency (?) and they said that only rates in USD were valid (what is completely non sense, good example this time that the rate is in £).
I didn’t know about BA has similar program, omg even more time researching fares from now on hahaha

[davefl]

Hello from 51st and Green at Dub. Following the usual hell at MAN, 50 mins to drop a bag, zero wait at T1 security but 50% of bags rejected. The inspection team found nothing to breach the rules in a single one of the 20 in front of me, and then mine was duly swabbed and they found nothing as usual. Around half the rejects were apparently due to “faulty trays”. That wasted another 50 mins.

Dub smooth as silk, US security and immigration was less than 15 mins total. More desks open than at ATL last year. Global entry lane is open for those that have it. Looking forward to arriving as a domestic passenger

Proper business class seats in Aerspace for the 40 min flight to Dub as well. 1-2-1 layout.

[NorthernLass]

FFS, only at MAN could they have “faulty trays”! On our BER trip in Feb it was the same at T1 – and apparently the machines had managed to detect a non-existent e-cig in our bag 🙄

[davefl]

I was almost impressed before the bag stop, that’s the 1st time in 8 years that they haven’t pulled me aside at the body scanner for a pat down and shoe re-scan at T1 because of a mysterious issue with my left leg.

I fully expect my left leg to drop off next week.

[TooPoorToBeHere]

davefl wrote:

Proper business class seats in Aerspace for the 40 min flight to Dub as well. 1-2-1 layout.

Is that the A321? I thought that was supposed to just do US flights.

I’ve only ever had the A320 on which all seats are the same (and row 1 has a divider in front of it so no legroom – very duff seat) and I’ve a booking on the ATR (all seats the same) which I’m not looking forward to.

[NorthernLass]

My OH’s knee often sets them off, we have no idea why but now I’m wondering about those scanners …

[davefl]

@TooPoorToBeHere Yes it was a 321Neo. Looking on flightaware the 8.10 seems to be that bird most days with an odd 320 on from time to time

[John]

Thanks to Rob and team for the article about the LM LHR-LDY flights, I wouldn’t have known they existed otherwise. It was perfect for a meeting I had yesterday and only cost me £54 rather than a much higher amount to go to Belfast plus 2 hours on a bus/train.

Flight was about 50% full, obviously a bus gate for the Embraer 145, free coffee/tea and biscuit, no enforcement of hand luggage but overhead lockers are small so larger ones can be stored in hold and returned on the runway. Usual Heathrow delay with queuing for take off.

Oddly someone did a b2b as they went straight back into security after arriving… With the only flight being back to LHR unless they were waiting for 6 hours in a tiny airport…

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

aviosnewbie33 wrote:

Does anyone know if it’ll be possible to split the 5-night IHG suite upgrade voucher into two rooms? I don’t think we’ll end up doing a 5N stay soon, but I have booked 2 rooms at IHG Dublin this summer, for two nights. So can I ask them to give me a suite on both rooms for 4N total?

thank you!

No not possible.

The upgrade is for a single stay of up to 5 nights not for 5 individual nights.

In any case once it’s been used it’s removed from your account so the IHG phone agent can’t access it again.

[ExpatInBerlin]

QQ re credit card elgibility and electoral roll pls. Planning on applying for the Amex plat for either my OH or I before the current sign up offer ends – will it be flagged as a problem by Amex if the home addresses on our individual electoral roll registrations don’t match the address we give as our home address? When we moved to Germany we both changed our electoral roll registration to our respective parents’ addresses (outside London) but we are moving back to the UK and into a new flat in the London next week (it’s only a few days before the offer ends so don’t think there will be enough time to re-register in our new address). Is the electoral roll check just to confirm actual identity or does it need to match the address you give as your home address? If the latter, would it be better to apply giving our parents’ addresses as our home address and then change it to our new address if we get accepted?

[NorthernLass]

I’ve never heard of Amex doing an electoral roll check. I think a bigger problem might be that you won’t have any credit history at your new address.

[ExpatInBerlin]

Thanks @NorthernLass – that’s why I was wondering if it might be better to apply using parental addresses as we both changed all our credit card/bank addresses there prior to moving abroad so we do have credit history there (e.g. for me, my BAPP and Avios Barclaycard Plus)?

[louie]

@ExpatInBerlin – do you have an Amex in Germany? If so, you could make use of their facility where they use your overseas history – https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/company/about/moving-abroad/?intlink=us-CMS-GCRunitedkingdom.

[PeteM]

gtellez wrote:

I didn’t know about BA has similar program, omg even more time researching fares from now on hahaha

Book on BA, check the usual comparison portals, find the cheapest OTA, take a screenshot of the fare (usually lower by £10-50pp) file the claim and they’ll normally respond with an evoucher within 24hrs. I’ve never even had to send the screenshot. They double the difference for Executive Club members. You get a standard evoucher valid for a year. You can’t claim for the guarantee in the future if you use an evoucher, so I tend to stack them (up to five).

[u07ch]

NorthernLass wrote:

FFS, only at MAN could they have “faulty trays”! On our BER trip in Feb it was the same at T1 – and apparently the machines had managed to detect a non-existent e-cig in our bag 🙄

I see airport security as a random piece of performance art. Its the same play but a different director at each line.

Flew out to meetings in AMS and then on from AMS to FRA at the start of the month. Both T5 and AMS security stopped me for carrying a CNC’ed almost solid Aluminium camera support… Never had them stopped before; both let a bag of cameras and lenses and associated cables and chargers through with no issue; something the TSA loves rummaging through

[Aston100]

gtellez wrote:

A couple of weeks ago, I noted that the Kimpton Manchester was cheaper in Hotels.com than in IHG (just few pounds less), so I filled the Best Price Guarantee form. Few hours later they confirmed the cheaper price, so they matched the rate and give me 5x bonus points for that stay (around 12k bonus points, added to another 7k for base, status and current promo points).
This week I had to book 3 more stays in Manchester and again noted that in every night (Kimpton and Crowne Plaza) the daily rate was cheaper at Hotels.con and Booking.com. So I proceeded to book non refundable rates and fill the BPG forms. All approved in few hours.
Conclusion, a good amount of extra points for little effort. Furthermore, I got prepaid rates in all the stays to use the last Amex offer I had (at least the Kimpton always charges me a couple of days after booking prepay rates).
Almost every single night in the calendar seems to be cheaper in these third party websites than in IHG for those two hotels, so it is very worth it to check before booking.

Well done.
IHG have always rejected my BPG claims to the point where I have stopped checking cash prices elsewhere after booking.

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

davefl wrote:

Hello from 51st and Green at Dub. Following the usual hell at MAN, 50 mins to drop a bag, zero wait at T1 security but 50% of bags rejected. The inspection team found nothing to breach the rules in a single one of the 20 in front of me, and then mine was duly swabbed and they found nothing as usual. Around half the rejects were apparently due to “faulty trays”. That wasted another 50 mins.

Dub smooth as silk, US security and immigration was less than 15 mins total. More desks open than at ATL last year. Global entry lane is open for those that have it. Looking forward to arriving as a domestic passenger

Proper business class seats in Aerspace for the 40 min flight to Dub as well. 1-2-1 layout.

Hi Dave, why on earth the 50 min wait to drop a bag with EI in T1? There’s a dedicated line for AerClub elites and business class.

[ExpatInBerlin]

@louie thanks for that but we didn’t bother getting new Amexes here, we just kept our UK ones – we always knew it was a temporary rather than long-term move and we have still spent plenty of time in the UK whilst living in Berlin so it didn’t seem worth the faf (especially as our big Amex spending comes from flights/holidays/leading the booking for big group ski trips etc, so that has mainly still been in £ anyway.)