Bits: BA US Club World sale, Air Passenger Duty hiked, Surf Air moves to London City

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• Rob says:

  23 Nov23 November 14:23

  O/T, but some help needed from you experts out there re Amex Platinum and its hotel and other benefits. I currently have PRG card and will use an upgrade link to get the Platinum with 20000 MR points. Can anyone tell me if there is a best time of the year as such to sign up for the Platinum card, i.e. are the hotel benefits only for a year from sign-up or will they go to the end of a calendar year?

  • George J says:

    23 Nov23 November 15:47

    Rob,

    Definitely not tied to sign up as you can cut into the hotel program any time you like. I was a normal Starwood member though I seldom used them. However I did open a Marriot account and linked it to SW and converted both to gold a couple of months ago since I am doing quite a bit of travelling over the next few months where Starwood and Marriot work well. I can’t see anything in the T&Cs as to when the gold offer will lapse but unlikely to be calendar (if it does at all). However if you cancel the card, Amex reserves the right to inform their hotel partners such that you lose the benefit.
    All the programs are slightly different, e.g. for Hilton it will continue to give you status as long as you have the card (this is in T&Cs).
    nb I have the International $ card and its conditions are different from the more normal sterling card (in my experience always in favour of the holder).

    • Alex says:

      23 Nov23 November 22:39

      Pls note it takes up to 8 weeks to get gold status with hotel program through anex plat (so i was told by amex).

  • Genghis says:

    23 Nov23 November 15:57

    Assuming you never apply for another Amex Plat, wait till Jan. Personally though I wouldn’t bother as you (or your partner) will likely have another Plat over the next year or so.

• xcalx says:

  23 Nov23 November 15:00

  Totally OT
  Looking to buy a iphone 8, 64 best deal is techinabasket @ £584 not keen on paying with paypal.(no s75 etc)
  Anyone know of a point earning deal.

  Thanks.

  • Rob says:

    23 Nov23 November 15:19

    Sounds dodgy as I am very sure the profit margin on an 8 is nowhere near that much. Dixons Travel at Heathrow – combined with the current Heathrow Rewards bonus points on technology (and 3000 HR points if you open a new account for the transaction) is an option.

    • xcalx says:

      23 Nov23 November 16:11

      Yeah just checked them out 33% of reviews are terrible ( thought it was too good to be genuine ) Not heading to Heathrow for a while now. Thanks rob.

      • JamesB says:

        23 Nov23 November 17:35

        You can get one for 20% off = £560 from very through a finance deal. Today is the last day. Search for details on the shopping portal with heat and cold applied to the comments..

      • xcalx says:

        23 Nov23 November 17:57

        Thanks James, I did see that but not keen signing up for finance, can it be paid off in full straight after purchase. Not a lover of interest.

  • xcalx says:

    23 Nov23 November 18:30

    Thanks again James. I took another look at the Very deal and set mrs xcalx the task of signing up to Very and buying the phone.

    Result Iphone 8 64 20% off finance deal 10% new customer deal = £503.28 total. Nice one

    • JamesB says:

      23 Nov23 November 19:43

      You’re welcome, glad it worked for you. I prefer android myself and so far not used Very. In the past it had a poor reputation but not hearing problems for a long time already. I would happily shop there myself these days. If you are not already aware of it there seems to be an issue with iPhone from some retailers locking onto the first network used so take care. IPhone users can advise better than me but I think most networks are now happy to unlock phones for a small fee of about £20. Enjoy your new handset.

• JamesB says:

  23 Nov23 November 20:04

  I wish they would add some genuine Cornish icecream too, about 3 scoops and some fresh strawberries or raspberries.

• Graham Walsh says:

  24 Nov24 November 00:51

  OT – On BA this week to Oslo and saw the new flight safety Video. It’s really annoying chopping and changing voices and people. I don’t think the humour works with other people. Suitable for the UK but not for other flights.

  Or is it just me?

  • Alan says:

    25 Nov25 November 16:41

    Watched it once and had headphones on for the subsequent showings!

• George says:

  24 Nov24 November 01:38

  OT

  I hit my PRG card renewal in September and it hasn’t seen much action since then, and was thinking of cancelling, getting the pro-rata refund, and waiting for 6 months to reapply for either PRG or Platinum.

  But now I’m thinking, does it make more sense to upgrade to Platinum, get the extra bonus within a month, then cancel and reapply after the 6 months? I’m only losing one month…

  Am I forgetting something?

  • Genghis says:

    24 Nov24 November 04:50

    Not forgetting anything

  • JP says:

    24 Nov24 November 16:23

    Add in a referral to someone else and refer back again in 6 months.

• Raymond says:

  27 Nov27 November 23:53

  Can you elaborate on the trial flight by Surf Air? Is it off for application by now?

  • Rob says:

    28 Nov28 November 08:59

    Offer now closed. They would have given you a free flight on sight of your BA Gold card.

    • Raymond says:

      28 Nov28 November 19:41

      Was about to send in my application as I saw a colleague of mine on the trial flight…is it because of the massive number of application in? cheers for the reply!

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