[icemankaka]

If I dont have enough luggage that warrants a cab/uber, I don’t mind taking the train into Penn station from EWR. Often I can pick a hotel that’s reasonable walking distance from Penn station. Can’t say the same for LIRR to Grand central with the Jamaica transfer.

[icemankaka]

Checkin cutoff (well, conformance in reality) is 20 minutes and the trip to airport from shinjuku station is 45 minutes by train or 55 minutes by bus. So Alex G has at least 15 minutes buffer there. As mentioned if you’re not going to Shin-Osaka you wont save as much time as it seems.
I had a 0522 Daimon departure and 0834 IC Osaka arrival using the plane (JL101), 3 hr 15 mins and I didn’t take bus from ITM which is faster than the train.
Shinkansen option is 3 hrs +-1 mins on google maps so I see the 2 options comparable in time. Not to mention flying is usually cheaper than 14000 JPY JR charge if you dont have a JR Pass.

meta wrote:

It will take longer than 3h40 by plane, you won’t be arriving at exactly the check-in deadline (you phyiscally can’t time it that way), recommended minimum is 60 minutes. You also don’t account for getting off the plane and exiting airport. I’ve done this journey by plane hundred times and it takes a minimum of 4h30 if not 5 hours.

Shinjuku to Tokyo station it’s 25 minutes maximum. That’s in total less than 3 hours. And if you flew JAL or even ANA, it’s significantly narrower seat with significantly less leg room than Nozomi.

[icemankaka]

https://www.curve.com/en-gb/blog/how-to-maximise-cashback-rewards-with-curve
E.g. paying off your American Express bill with a Barclaycard Avios card.

tee hee hee

[icemankaka]

iirc some benefits are, on paper, required to pay entire trip w the plat amex.

which insurance benefit are you after?

[icemankaka]

I would worry about HMRC as well if you cycle credit like that… but seems like 10k isnt a big enough fish for them to fry!?

[icemankaka]

I would vouch for any of them. All the hotel ones are fine if you can make a rez. I can vouch for Sky Boss if you want canto food (they have dim sum). I can also vouch for HEXA if you want fusionish canto food. I can vouch for Mott 32 if you want canto food where they have international presence.

Yong Fu has a Shanghainese menu so I think is not what you are looking for.
That said, Out of the list, I’d say Xin Rong Ji would get you the “strangest” menu of all.

Ok, if you want the most genuine canto food out of the list, I would say either Sky Boss, or Icon Hotel has the most genuine menu. If you are on the HK Island and don’t want to cross over, Mott32 or Grand Hyatt is very nice too.

My gripe with Lung King Heen and Man Wah, it’s a little foreign catered to my liking.
And yes, I grew up in Hong Kong and have been to most on that list.

[icemankaka]

I’ve asked for a retention bonus some 13/14 months ago (cant remember how much it was) and got offered 35k points today – annual fee due in 2-3 weeks.

[icemankaka]

icemankaka wrote:

didnt exactly want to open a new thread and as this thread is about AMEX travel/Plat benefits…

I have the legacy plat charge card, and am planning to buy a ticket on amextravel uk.

Now they 2x points on amextravel uk, but is that only for the new credit card or also the old charge card too? (Not exactly the benefits I normally look at so I don’t remember if it used to be there)

on top of the plat card offer (1x bonus on Amex travel UK), the GOLD has a 2x bonus on Amex travel UK. first year fee free. maybe i will do just that, and probably cancel the card later on.

I assume I cant get a Gold supplementary card from my partner’s Plat and get the same benefit? Also, should I assume one may transfer the MR of a Gold card to the MR os plat card if i were to cancel the Gold card?

[icemankaka]

didnt exactly want to open a new thread and as this thread is about AMEX travel/Plat benefits…

I have the legacy plat charge card, and am planning to buy a ticket on amextravel uk.

Now they 2x points on amextravel uk, but is that only for the new credit card or also the old charge card too? (Not exactly the benefits I normally look at so I don’t remember if it used to be there)

[icemankaka]

I would say, do you normally travel withOUT travel insurance (Or you have a seperate policy).

For me, I wouldnt think of not having a policy and whilst I have never really used the AMEX policy, I’ve used the HSBC one quite a bit – because some benefits work better on one but not the other. Yet if I have a car rental, I’ll def be using the AMEX policy if something goes wrong (and I use the hertz benefit a bit).

Andre182 wrote:

I wanted to share my experience with the Amex Platinum card over the past 8 and a half months and see if you all think I maximized its value. I would also love to hear how you use it.

Costs:

• Annual Fee: £650
• Pro-rated Refund: £185 (cancelled as I received a supplemental card from my partner)
• Net Cost: £465

Benefits:

1. Membership Rewards (MR) Points:
• 75k Sign-Up Bonus
• 5k Bonus for issuing a supplemental card to my partner.
• 18k Points from referring my partner.
• 50k Points from a retention offer (I texted Amex, mentioned I was considering canceling, and they offered 50k points to retain me).
• 25k Points from everyday spending
• Total MR Points: 173k
Valuing each point conservatively at 1p (even though I got more value from flights), that’s £1,730 in points value.

2. Statement Credits:
• £450 in restaurant credits (£300 domestic and £150 abroad; only used the abroad credit once). I value this at £450 as I would have gone to these restaurants anyway.
• £100 from Harvey Nichols, spent on diffusers I would have bought anyway. Valued at £100.

3. Lounge Access:
• 9 trips in economy, multiplied by 2 (for me and my partner), equals 18 lounge visits.
• I value each lounge visit at £10 per person per trip, totaling £180.

4. Refund Protection:
• Partner bought an item for £420, but only store credit was offered upon return. We raised a claim with Amex, and they issued a £300 credit with no questions asked and my partner retained the item.

5. Hilton Status:
• We only used it once for a free breakfast, valued at £10 per person per day. For 3 days, that’s £60.

6. Travel Insurance and Car Insurance:
• While these benefits were available, I didn’t end up using them, so I’ll value them at £0.

Total Value Received:

• MR Points: £1,730
• Statement Credits: £550
• Lounge Access: £180
• Refund Protection: £300
• Hilton Status: £60
• Travel and Car Insurance: £0

Total Benefits: £2,820

Net Gain:

• Subtracting the net cost of £465 from the total value of £2,820, I ended up with a net gain of £2,355.

What do you all think? Did I manage to maximize the value of the Amex Platinum, or is there something I missed? I’d love to hear your thoughts and tips. Also, if you’ve had experiences with the card, feel free to share how you’ve used it and what value you’ve gotten from it. Let’s compare notes and see how we can all get the most out of these benefits!

[icemankaka]

BBbetter wrote:

John wrote:

I know it doesn’t work with UK/EU and UK/US, but my UK-registered BAEC receives avios from UK Amexes and Hong Kong credit cards

“Hong Kong credit cards“ – don’t suppose any of them are avios cards?
As I mentioned earlier, Amex MR points, Citi points and the like should be all ok. Products marketed with Avios branding have more restrictions.

I still have a HK Avios card and was ok when i last credited that way in a UK address.

[icemankaka]

Alesio wrote:

My local coop have a £150 ceiling and would then have to do another transaction and depending on the shop worker one adds all the transactions onto one payment others do it separately which is very long.

Tesco on the other hand has a £100 ceiling and therefore don’t go there.

I tried recently and it doesnt work. they say it wouldnt machines rejected it

[icemankaka]

Rob Burgess wrote:

South Ken is K&C – at least anything to the west of the station (Onslow Gardens etc, which is my bit).

Apologies my neighbour. how do you pay your council tax effectively?

[icemankaka]

if i cant pay my council tax bill on amex, i’ll figure a way to activate the voucher which i might not use then close the account.
otherwise, this card is done for. if something changes, i’ll get the welcome offer then.

[icemankaka]

it used to all happen at home, virgin, then bend it appropriately. 3 moles a GBP.

now I have to learn something new…

[icemankaka]

BA Flyer IHG Stayer wrote:

Half?

Band H K&C Council tax is £ 3,018

1) Apologies for clicking on the report button instead of quote
2) South Ken is mostly Westminster not RBKC… so council tax is indeed lower there – £1,946.32. not quite half, must a big cut from

[icemankaka]

just curious – as this seems to be the most relevent thread around.

is there RFS for F? I’ve paid 1400 for a US bound 241 in F last month (non RFS) but today i checked it’s 800 for J(241)… I wonder if that’s cuz F has no RFS or the person booking me in messed up

[icemankaka]

Mick S wrote:

I presume this new blocking policy will still apply if Apple pay is used a the middle man?

perhaps, the other one.