Save 10% on BMI Regional flights

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• Mikeact says:

  9 Mar9 March 09:25

  Not particularly good value for points ‘value ‘ on shorter runs. Brisbane to LAX is far better ‘cost’.

  • Genghis says:

    9 Mar9 March 09:32

    Never been to AUS but I thought the shorter domestic runs are extortionate in cash terms?

    • John says:

      9 Mar9 March 10:14

      Prices are extortionate for J (at least when compared to CE), but there is no point flying J except PER and possibly DRW to the east coast.

      For everything else there’s Jetstar and Virgin.

      I did a 45 minute JQ flight last month and their BOB put BA to shame, the FAs knew exactly who had food included in their ticket, and were so efficient (though there were 4 of them on an A320), managed to do two runs with ~25% takeup and accepted cash and card without reducing the speed of service. Apparently they will stop accepting cash from May this year, which I think is a mistake as almost everyone paid with cash (and let’s just say the type of people who bought things were those who go round with pockets jingling full of coins).

    • Mikeact says:

      9 Mar9 March 10:15

      Not necessarily, can be a bit like the rest of the world…last minute, pricey , but with careful planning, dependant where you’re going, and the seasons, (numerous people make for the warm/hot Northern Territories when it’s Winter down South.)
      The other thing with Qantas awards are the pretty much, out of proportion, ‘taxes/charges ‘, (sound familiar ?) they add on.
      Don’t let that put you off…you must visit.

    • David S says:

      9 Mar9 March 10:36

      Depends. The last few times we have been, we did a lot of domestic flights and we bought the tickets well in advance (4 months +) and flew with Qantas economy on their red e-deals which are reasonably priced but obviously restricted tickets. Virgin were closer in price to Qantas but Jetstar were definitely cheaper but by the time you add luggage etc, Qantas was reasonably priced and being Emeralds, gave us lounge access.
      If tickets were bought nearer the time of departure, they are certainly ridiculously priced.

    • Lady London says:

      9 Mar9 March 11:21

      If you go get close to departure when you need to buy tickets so they are ridiculously priced (and I could have flown to London for some prices I saw for internal Qantas flights bought close in to departure date in the past) then remember Avios is exceptionally good value for internal Oz flights and not bad for internal US flights if you get caught there too.

• JamesB says:

  9 Mar9 March 09:59

  OT Marriott Travel Package: I am thinking about transferring my Marriott points to a United Airlines travel package. However on travel package page it refers to RewardsPlus. Do I need to be a RewardsPlus member to transfer or just a UA member? I have not used my UA account for ovef 11 years so I have lost track of all the rules and I’m trying to get to grips with the current ones.

  • Lyn says:

    9 Mar9 March 19:29

    JamesB, it looks as if they are using RewardsPlus as a marketing name (Marriott Rewards + MileagePlus?) to encourage United elites to stay with Marriott.

    You certainly don’t need to be a RewardsPlus member to transfer Marriott points to United with the 20% discount (relative to other airlines such as AA) as reflected in the tables of how many points translate into how many miles in the different airline programmes.

    I imagine this would be the same for travel packages, but I don’t actually know.

    • JamesB says:

      9 Mar9 March 22:06

      Thanks Lyn, I tried signing up with RewardsPlus this evening but got an error. I will call VS tomorrow and ask them to do it for me. From a few things I have read today I believe you are correct but will still join if I can.

• NIck_C says:

  9 Mar9 March 11:08

  OT. Just received my first ever Amex PRGC (never bother with churning up until now, but I thought I should do it while it is still possible!). I tried to add it my existing Amex on-line account (BA) but it would not allow this. I had to set up a new on line account with a new user ID. Is this normal for Amex? (Also tried adding the BA card to the new account, but couldn’t do that either).

  • Rob says:

    9 Mar9 March 11:14

    Not normal if you have never had the card before. Can often play up if you have. Pain as you cannot use the app fully now.

    • NIck_C says:

      9 Mar9 March 11:38

      First Charge Card. Only had the BA card before. Its an inconvenience but I can live with it.

      But on a positive note, I’ve received 4000 Avios on my BA account for referring myself! Not sure who posted that tip, but it was a good one! (I’m using the free BA card currently as I have a couple of vouchers banked).

      • Luthar says:

        9 Mar9 March 13:21

        Does this work with all Amex cards? Can I refer myself for a BA card if I have the Gold card?

    • john says:

      10 Mar10 March 15:46

      My wife had this with BA card but it’s in her married name rather than maiden name of her previous cards so assumed this was the reason.

  • sunguy says:

    9 Mar9 March 12:33

    When we changed from corporate AMEX to M/C I got a personal BA (Free) AMEX card.

    The card refused to be added to my online account, despite the fact that the AMEX was now showing as closed….(and had been for > 3 months).

    I was told by Amex that certain types of cards cannot be mixed in the online portal and I needed a new online account…..

    • Cate ⛱️ says:

      9 Mar9 March 13:07

      I was told the same. I said thank you, put the phone down, called back later and the next CS operator added it ????

• Karen says:

  9 Mar9 March 13:17

  OT. Has anyone else had any issues with the bonus points from the Membership Rewards to Hilton posting? I did the transfer on the 31st January and deleted the email and now Amex are saying the offer doesn’t exist.

  • Tracy says:

    9 Mar9 March 16:54

    Mine posted fine, got last lot of bonus points on 15th Feb for a transfer on 31st Jan.

• Ade says:

  9 Mar9 March 15:20

  OT – Marriott Travel packages,
  Just had email from Marriott, that they are offering 10% bonus miles on travel packages, I guess this will stack with the 35% miles bonus that BA are offering, so their usual 120k miles become (120 x 10% x 35% ) 178k

  Seems a very generous offer

  • New Card says:

    9 Mar9 March 16:13

    Nooooo I’ve just redeemed for 2 of these for the 35% bonus (without the 10% uplift)…
    Interesting that they’ve decided to do a promotion on these – am hoping this signals they’re not going away after the SPG merger

    • Roger says:

      9 Mar9 March 16:34

      Saw this too.
      Not too sure, if it not for UA (United Mileage Plus only)?

  • JamesB says:

    9 Mar9 March 16:38

    Did your email say avios? Mine is for United. Hence my earlier question. I heard about it yesterday before receiving email confirmation this afternoon. I thought it was for the RewardsPlus scheme.

    • JamesB says:

      9 Mar9 March 16:43

      I should add that RewardsPlus seems to attract a 10%bonus anyway so it is ubclear if email just refers to that or if it is an additional 10%.

  • New Card says:

    9 Mar9 March 16:51

    Ah, that would perhaps explain it. I think UA RewardsPlus always has a 10% bonus offer from Marriott.

• Michael Jennings says:

  9 Mar9 March 15:34

  There are either two or four major airlines in Australia, depending on how you look at it. Qantas and Virgin are full service, and Jetstar and Tiger are low cost subsidiaries of the two larger airlines. Virgin is usually a few dollars cheaper than Qantas, and the discount subsidiaries are usually cheaper than the full service airlines, assuming that it is a busy enough route for all four airlines to operate on.

  Australia is much bigger and much less densely populated on average than Europe or the UK, but the populations is much more concentrated. There are five very large cities, followed by about 10 medium sized cities and after that little more than would count as a small town over. here. For aviation purposes, this means the following (discounting Perth perhaps, because it is so far away from everywhere else):
  – flight frequencies and competition are extremely high between Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. As a consequence, there is plenty of competition and flights can be extremely cheap if you book a long way in advance and/or can fly at off-peak times. (I have flown Brisbane-Sydney for $30). A flight at a peak time booked at little notice may be expensive, but that is true anywhere.
  – for flights between one of those large cities, and a second tier city (Gold Coast, Newcastle, Canberra, Hobart, Townsville, Cairns, Darwin) frequencies are less and bargains are a bit harder to find, but they are still there. (I have flown Gold Coast – Sydney for $40).
  – for flights between two second tier cities, you have to be really lucky to find something cheap. It’s not unheard of, but you probably aren’t going to get it. My parents live on the Gold Coast and my sister in Canberra, so I fly this route every time I visit Australia. If I pay cash, it normally costs me about $200. (It’s a very good value redemption using Etihad Guest miles on Virgin Australia, however).
  – any flight to any city smaller than these is going to cost you.

  So what comes from this: as redemption costs are based on distance, they can be good value if you are flying routes in the third or fourth categories, or if you need seats between major cities at should notice. If, on the other hand, you need to fly between the big cities and are flexible and/or are booking months in advance, cash is going to be a better option.

  • Lady London says:

    9 Mar9 March 16:20

    @Michael thanks for this explanation of why we see the pricing patterns in Oz that we do.

  • Genghis says:

    10 Mar10 March 07:20

    Excellent explanation!

• Tracy says:

  9 Mar9 March 16:56

  O/T I know this is asked just about every day but is there a current gold to platinum upgrade link? Thanks 🙂

  • Tracy says:

    9 Mar9 March 20:46

    Thank you

• Tracy says:

  9 Mar9 March 17:09

  Sorry another O/T, I am trying to transfer MR points to Starwood, what is the work around for inputting your SPG number? I sort of remember something about adding zeros…….?

  • Roger says:

    9 Mar9 March 17:27

    IIRC, it is four leading zeros before actual numbers

    • Tracy says:

      9 Mar9 March 20:45

      Lol, I tried four zeros at the end earlier in the week and the points have been returned to my MR account. Will try zeros at start….

  • JamesB says:

    9 Mar9 March 18:02

    I recommend you call them Tracy. I called yesterday to both register and transfer. I was told it would take up to two weeks but points hit my SPG account today.

    • Tracy says:

      9 Mar9 March 20:46

      Will try a few zeros at start of account number, if no luck I will give them a call, thanks

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