[danfog]

Thanks Stu, an enjoyable read. I’ve just bagged return Avios tickets to Joburg in CW on the A380 to join my dad in Cape Town for Easter weekend (and sticking around for a few days afterwards) so appreciate the recommendations!

[danfog]

I had an 8 hour overnight connection when flying CPH->BKK last November and used the STPC service. I don’t think there’s a specific carveout for reward tickets for the free transfer accommodation, but most fall foul of the rules regarding there being a connecting flight that you *could* have taken. In my case, there were 2am departures DOH to BKK but no award availability on those flights. The service costs $100 and you invariably get put up in the Oryx Garden Hotel, which retails for ~$250/night normally. If I had 11 hours, I may have considered a night outside the airport, but by the time you got taxis both ways, I didn’t feel it was worth losing the extra couple of hours in a real bed. As it happens, it made for a very pleasant journey (two ~7 hour flights with a night’s sleep in a proper bed) and I might look to do this again in future.

[danfog]

anth_85 wrote:

What I don’t understand is logistically how do I pay for it? I am happy to pay for the room reservation in advance through the amex FHR website. I could then charge the meal to our room, or I could pay for the meal there and then. But which is the correct way to trigger the $100 credit? If that makes sense. I got stung placing an order at Dell on my old Gold card where I had not added that offer to it and therefore didn’t get the credit back for that. I would rather not make the same mistake again.

Charge everything to the room and $100 will be taken off your bill at checkout. If there are any exceptions (like laundry or parking mentioned above) these should be explained to you while checking in. Dining in the hotel restaurant has always been a valid use of the credit in my experience.

[danfog]

Is there any particular reason you’re worried about being downgraded? It’s quite unlikely to happen. If you’re happy to share dates and flight nos I can check how many tickets are still on sale to allay your concerns.

[danfog]

proudster wrote:

When I phoned The Times to switch my subscription to the Amex offer, they explained that my bonus account would be lost. Instead they convinced me not to switch to the Amex offer by reducing my monthly subscription from £30 to £3 a month. Good result in my opinion.

Surely this was only a limited-time offer, say for 3 months? There’s only so many times I can call up to do that dance

[danfog]

Offer triggered on a prepay at Hilton Belfast

[danfog]

Name: Radisson Blu
City: Sheffield
Upgraded? Yes, booked base room and I appear to be in a Premium City View (highest category available), though no fanfare made about this at check-in so not 100%.
Lounge Access: N/a
Breakfast: Yes, quite good it was too
Welcome gift: Two packs of cookies and a handwritten welcome card
Late checkout: 2pm, pushed my luck with 4pm but politely denied
Stay duration: 1 night

Check in took all of 2 minutes – perfect. All the staff are lovely and I paid an outrageous £43 + 13000 points (I think the points knocked about £20 off). Very happy yet again to be a VIP.

[danfog]

Welcome to the forum Habib. I’m afraid that what you’re looking for doesn’t exist, and those that have tried have had their relationship with Amex terminated (Curve, Bluechain). Amex understandably doesn’t want third parties inserting themselves into the value chain between their customers and their vendors. The only slight workaround in these situations is where online retailers don’t directly accept Amex but do accept Paypal, where you can set your Amex as the preferred payment method.

[danfog]

@Hbommie 9600 Avios + £130 in business, on one of their A350 services so AirLounge seats. Cash fares seemed high on the day I was travelling so I got over 1p/avios on that. If I was to do it again, I would probably book economy and paid the small seat reservation fee (~£30 from memory) to sit in the Premium Economy section on the A350. I flew same day allowing a 5 hour connection time for the 20:50 departure from HEL->BKK. As it happened, we landed early so I got a bit bored in HEL, even with access to the AY lounges.

[danfog]

I recently flew Finnair HEL->BKK in Business for 62500 Avios + ~£90 taxes, then returned Qatar HKT->LHR for 75000 Avios + ~£230 taxes. Booked last year so may have changed since then but hopefully a helpful guide! Given BA only flies old LGW-based 777s to BKK with no club suite, and charges 200k Avios + £475 return (IIRC), it seemed like the much better option, even if a companion or upgrade voucher could reduce the Avios to 100-120k.

[danfog]

Hotel: Park Plaza Soi 18 Bangkok
Room Booked: 2x Superior rooms (lowest grade)
Upgraded? Yes : 2x Deluxe rooms (highest non-suite grade), neighbouring on a private corridor
Lounge Access: No lounge.
Welcome gift: Fruit plate & 2 bottles of water in room.
Service: very good
Would we stay again?: yes if you need something at this price point (<£60/night)