No more Avios from mortgages as Tesco Bank puts its portfolio up for sale

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• Mr Entitled says:

  22 May22 May 07:32

  “Tesco Bank quietly entered the mortgage market back in 2014. We never covered it much because there are many factors to consider when taking out a mortgage. Whether or not you will earn Avios or Virgin Flying Club miles via Clubcard points should be very much at the bottom of your list of considerations!”

  I wish this stance also applied to equally important items such as pensions whenever nutmeg start throwing incentives around.

  • Shoestring says:

    22 May22 May 07:47

    Hard to miss the warning:
    Advertorial

    This is an advertisement for Nutmeg Saving and Investment Limited (“Nutmeg”). Nutmeg has agreed to pay the publisher an award for new customers acquired via the promotion of its services on this site. Head for Points is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Recommendations are based primarily on the ability to earn miles and points. Robert Burgess, trading as Head for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority

    • Mr Entitled says:

      22 May22 May 08:11

      The point was more about the apparent editorial stance taken to Tesco Mortgages not being universally applied for some reason.

      I accept that Nutmeg, for example, now comes with a warning but that was not always the case. And certainly was not post 2014 which is inconsistent.

      I just felt the statement, as it pertained to editorial practices, was a bit glib. It paints a picture I have not found to be true but if decisions are to be made on such sound reasoning, and not commission, then I am all for it.

      • Rob says:

        22 May22 May 08:21

        There is a substantial difference. The Nutmeg incentive is huge (1.5 Avios per £1 at the top end) and easily outweighs any fee difference between Nutmeg and the rock bottom market provider (before we look at service levels etc) for the 12 month minimum hold period. That is clearly not the case with Tesco Mortgages where the incentive is puny at best.

        There are LOADS of truly rubbish Avios deals we never write about – look at the partner list on ba.com.

• Sharon says:

  22 May22 May 07:36

  Phoenix has also changed to a 787-9. Real shame in a way as I had great CW seats out and back on the Upper Deck of the 747 and now I don’t know where to sit! Row 6 looks good but is missing a window, row 7 is taken…do I go for tow 13 or somewhere in the middle?

  • Nigel the pensioner says:

    22 May22 May 08:28

    The small club area of 2 rows – 6 and 7 – before the galley is perfectly good. Slim the hips before squeezing out to the aisle from A or K though!!

  • Frankie says:

    22 May22 May 08:41

    I’m flying to Phoenix BA289 on 31st August and still a 747. I booked 62a last October and still showing as valid. Do you know something I don’t?

    • Michael says:

      22 May22 May 10:16

      Doesn’t take effect until November i believe

    • Sharon says:

      22 May22 May 12:15

      Yep, we fly out 29th Oct and back on 6th Nov so the change has it the winter timetable

• JamesLHR says:

  22 May22 May 07:44

  Another key point for the immigration arrivals changes are that all landing cards have now been scrapped for non-EEA passport holders.

  • Michael says:

    22 May22 May 08:43

    I’m tempted to say this is a bad idea but i’m not sure they really did anything anyway?

    • David says:

      22 May22 May 09:32

      I dunno, it all kicked off after it emerged that the Home Office had recycled the Windrush landing cards, so presumably they mean something to someone… Unless the tabloids were getting rich off an “office recycles paper” shock revelation!

      • John says:

        22 May22 May 10:33

        That was before everyone had a computer. At the time those people arrived in the UK, they were usually granted indefinite leave to enter by the immigration officer on the spot. The only record of this would have been on the landing cards. In 1983 most of their acquaintances automatically became British citizens, but because they weren’t born in the UK they didn’t. The people who are having problems, for whatever reason, never wanted to leave the UK since the time they arrived, otherwise they would have applied for passports and clarified their immigration status, perhaps registering or naturalising as British.

        Since the Blair days they are just summaries of the chat/interrogation by the immigration officer but all the important information would have had to be given in advance. As you can no longer turn up in the UK with no visa in advance, if you intend to live in the UK rather than just visiting, unless you are a refugee (in which case you won’t use a landing card and there will be lots more documentation kept) or using EEA treaty rights in which case the lack of documentation does not abrogate your rights.

  • Nathan says:

    22 May22 May 09:12

    Yay! A victory for trees. As if anyone on either side has done anything other than chuck them in the bin.

    • John says:

      22 May22 May 10:22

      The American ones get shipped to a huge warehouse in Kentucky I believe. The Australian ones get scanned.

• Henry Larsen says:

  22 May22 May 07:57

  re: expansion of eGate eligibility, specifically as it pertains to T3

  I hope Sr Cruz doesn’t see this as an opportunity to cut costs by paring back or eliminating altogether BA’s support of the (invitation-only) Fast Track immigration queue for non-EU passport holders.

  • JamesLHR says:

    22 May22 May 09:14

    It costs over £5 per person too!

• Richard M says:

  22 May22 May 07:59

  Strange decision to allow countries subject to immigration controls to use e-fares. Would be nice if it worked the other way round at JFK or similar but can’t see that happening.

  • Shoestring says:

    22 May22 May 08:11

    the eGates *are* an immigration control, why do you think a human sitting there checking various databases is any better than a computer check of the same databases?

    the human is probably much less effective

    • Brian says:

      22 May22 May 08:13

      Maybe because the human can ask questions?

      • Shoestring says:

        22 May22 May 08:20

        such as ‘where are you coming from today, sir?’

        There’s no need for human intervention in the immigration process unless somebody flags up as dodgy on the databases. Sure, the unions will tell you that humans can get a sixth sense that somebody has stuffed some drugs up their jacksy, particularly true I guess if they don’t like the look of you or they don’t like your attitude or they need to fill a quota

        • Fc99 says:

          22 May22 May 08:29

          Not having to talk to the high proportion of rude scumbags who work at Washington Dulles would be nice

        • Anna says:

          22 May22 May 08:38

          After 2 1/2 hours queueing to get through immigration at Dulles last summer in 90 degree heat I didn’t care how rude they were 😒

        • Aisak says:

          22 May22 May 11:31

          Humans can ask questions. And humans supervising the e-gates can ask the same questions if needed.

          About drugs and stuff… that’s not an inmigration thing, but a customs job. And that is perform exactly as today: AFTER inmigration and AFTER you have collected your baggage.

          Given the Nationals now allowed to use the e-gates: US, Canada, Japan, NZ, AUS, Singapore and S.Korea, I bet these countries posts minimum number of refused or deported people in the reports.

          What was a little weird was implementing the e-gates only for EU e-passports given that a (biometric)passport is generally not needed for a EU national to pass through the UK Border. When the National ID card is enough, most EU Nationals won’t pay to have a passport issued if only travelling within Europe so the “queue population” this solutions was aimed at, is not high enough to reduce queue workload

        • RussellH says:

          22 May22 May 16:03

          From what I have read and been taught on a course on basic immigration law, Australians are by far the most likely visitors to overstay their permission to stay.

      • callum says:

        22 May22 May 08:59

        I can confirm that the humans at the eGates also possess both the power to hear and the power to speak – so should be capable of asking questions should they want to.

        • Michael Jennings says:

          22 May22 May 09:41

          A couple of years ago I made a trip to Iran, and I travelled on my Australian passport rather than my British one because (a) the Iranians tend to consider Britain more of an enemy than they do Australia, and therefore I can get a visa on arrival on an Australian passport but not a British one and (b) the British passport has Israeli stamps in it. To be doubly careful, I left the British passport at home, and therefore entered Britain on my Australian passport when I got home. This is perfectly legal – some countries have laws requiring you to enter on their passport if you are a citizen, but Britain doesn’t have any such law – but when I showed up at the immigration desk and I presented my Australian passport and stated that I was also a British citizen, they insisted on doing some sort of check on me to confirm I was a British citizen rather than just letting me through on the Australian passport. This took ten minutes or so, which was mildly annoying.

          I’m now tempted to attempt to use my Australian passport to enter Britain on the next occasion that I do, just to see what happens.

        • Lady London says:

          22 May22 May 09:49

          Ha! Then my looking into the camera at the gate and telling them to fix the number of e-passport machines that is constantly out if order, which can quite often be as much as 50pc of the machines not working, has been heard then. Many times I’ve arrived at Gatwick in particular and waited far longer than those who have to speak to an officer, due to the giant queues as such a high percentage of the machines not working.

          On one such occasion I decided to visit the manual desks. I was blocked by a burly member of staff (lots policing the queues are subcontracted apparently).He demanded to know did I have a European passport. I said Yes..for now. This was last year and we’re still in Europe, aren’t we? Or were we ever? The ***** would not let me access the manual desks where practically no one was queuing and it was over an hour after being forced to queue for the machines as so many were not working. I remained a lot more civil than he was and
          made an official complaint about him (he was also rude and refused to give his name) after I got through the gates.

        • RussellH says:

          22 May22 May 16:10

          Re entering the UK on a non-UK travel doscument.

          I have been re-entering the UK for years using my Swiss ID card – I find a credit card sized card in my wallet far easier to find and not to lose than a passport (I have lost two in the last ten years) and never had any hassle. Immigration officers never consider that I might not be able to speak much English, though!
          Just this year, though, I have found a total lack of queues at the automatic gates and had to rummage through my carry-on baggage for the UK passport, in order to avoid the queues for the staffed desks.

    • Derek Broughton says:

      22 May22 May 09:41

      And, in any case, foreign nationals (at least Canadians) have been able to use the ePassport gates for years if they purchase a special visa. My wife’s been using one for three years when she comes to visit.

      Seems to me those times that the passport scanner has apparently refused to work, and I’ve been sent to the human inspector, are as likely to be because I’ve been flagged for additional questions as “could not read the chip”. Why would they tell you which it was?

      • Shoestring says:

        22 May22 May 10:15

        sounds like a plan…get wife to work in foreign country…

    • Charlieface says:

      22 May22 May 10:21

      My issue with the eGates is I can’t get through unless I take my glasses off and stare direct at the camera. But with -11 dioptre and astigmatism I can’t see the message telling you to take the passport back, without which the gates don’t open.
      Re entering on a different passport: a relative came to live in the UK with his kids who did not have UK passports, and spent an hour persuading officials they were British because the mother was British by birth, which clearly showed on her passport.

• Nigel the pensioner says:

  22 May22 May 08:33

  I expect Tesco Bank will drop their rate to 3% like TSB have done – shame as was going to swap over!
  Tesco Bank car insurance has also been very competitive for a broad spectrum of vehicles, we have found. Take a look and get some clubcard points if you proceed.
  Nigel the pensioner is NOT regulated by the FSA!!! 🤣

  • Rob says:

    22 May22 May 08:35

    My wife and I both have Tesco savings accounts. Very good rates and, importantly, a good app and very quick and easy to move money around which is key when you have 4 VAT bills, 4 massive school fee bills and 2 tax bills per year.

    • Michael says:

      22 May22 May 08:58

      This blog must be earning you some money if you’re sending your kids to private school 😀

      I’m just joking, you do what you want!

      • Rob says:

        22 May22 May 09:00

        Helps when your wife is one of the leading ship (tanker) financiers in London 🙂

  • Shoestring says:

    22 May22 May 08:36

    yep I earned 3650 Avios yesterday with Tesco car insurance renewal

  • Alan says:

    22 May22 May 09:11

    It’s being dropped to 1% in June

    • Shoestring says:

      22 May22 May 09:19

      offset mortgage with linked savings a/c…tax free…

• Graham Walsh says:

  22 May22 May 09:01

  Think how many more passengers they would get through the egates if they opened more than 6 at a time!! Never seen them at full capacity. In Oslo usually all open (albeit they have less)

• pianist says:

  22 May22 May 09:09

  Yesterday morning at T3 all the gates were open, and still there was a queue stretching back to outside the immigration hall. In contrast, more than a dozen desks were manned by idle officers looking bemused, but when I requested to see an officer (rather than snake back and forth for 35 minutes) I was refused this with “lack of a valid reason” being cited. I can’t be certain, but I think I overheard an official explain to another lady in the queue, that a trial is being run for another 10 days, and that’s why people who are able to use the eGates are being forced to use them.

  In other news, this was my first time arriving in LHR and finding that my suitcase had been removed from the belt before I had the chance to get there myself…

  • Oli says:

    22 May22 May 09:31

    I usually get around that by saying I only have an ID card and hence have to see someone in person 🙂

    • Graham Walsh says:

      23 May23 May 09:17

      Good idea. Always have mine with me 🙂

  • MR says:

    22 May22 May 09:57

    Did you arrive early in the morning? I arrived on the BA 10:25am from Miami at T3 yesterday and no queue at the egates. The whole terminal seemed very quite on arrival.

    • E says:

      22 May22 May 11:06

      Oh, I came in too on that flight! Agree that there was no queue at the eGates then.

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