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Andrew. wrote:

Avios 25th Anniversary Bonus.

Spend £2,000,in one or more transactions, by 4th April, get 25% more Avios.

my offer is spend £4,000 to get the 25%

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NorthernLass wrote:

@LTFlier99, If you use a different combination of avios and cash on the inbound you risk the agent you connect with refusing to refund the 50% avios. Anecdotal evidence here suggests that more often than not agents are sticking to this policy.

You seem to have been lucky not to be charged the £15pp phone fee as you could have booked the GLA-LHR sector online with your long-haul leg.

in April 2024 I was able to mix Avios /cash amounts. 180k Avios tickets way out (off peak mco) and 168k Avios tickets return (peak tpa). So can be done, but as per other reports I may’ve been lucky. And that was some time ago. This year, I’m aiming for enough Avios to use the same Avios for both out and back. Booking online and getting 50% refund on return leg.

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Just wondering if anyone who’s stayed can comment on the temperature of the pool please? Is it a keep moving lap pool, or is it a warmer affair? Thanks

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The standard is also on the separate Hyatt offer list. Should trigger both credits

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Swiss Jim wrote:

ed_fly wrote:

I tried using my PayPal+ debit card yesterday. Transferred funds into the account tried to make a $2.5k purchase, it failed. So attempted to move the funds back to my account to pay a different way, blocked. Support eventually facilitated the withdrawal. Very frustrating, suppose I’d be glad if someone was had hacked my account.

Do you need to ‘pre-load’? I thought if you had insufficient funds it just charged back-up (ie linked debit card or bank account).

not sure? Oh well. I’m sure I’ll try it again another time.

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I tried using my PayPal+ debit card yesterday. Transferred funds into the account tried to make a $2.5k purchase, it failed. So attempted to move the funds back to my account to pay a different way, blocked. Support eventually facilitated the withdrawal. Very frustrating, suppose I’d be glad if someone was had hacked my account.

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Think it’s new, I have a £75 off £300 for Hyatt on my BAPP

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I was very happy with the price I paid for summer 26 flights, buying virtually all the points required in the recent 70% sale. That’s how I intend to use the virgin scheme going forward.

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I don’t have any intentions to try and MS some benefits. So will wait for the HfP article to see if there is any immediate benefits that I can get from signing up now, otherwise will wait and see if there are any SUBs or referral benefits down the track.

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I think the only way to sync your accounts would be for one person to cancel and then reapply. The limitation of the free card is timing your voucher efficiently, due to the one year validity (you’re correct the clock starts on voucher issue date). If you’re planning on using the voucher for summer holiday flights, then you’d need to trigger both ideally on the same day in July/august. And be ready to book very shortly afterwards. So depending on your spending power, would lead to both cards having anniversaries sept/oct/nov time, to allow you to hit the spend target for both cards.

Unless you’re happy to fly 2 in economy and 2 in club, I’m not sure having 1 free and 1 paid card makes much sense. Edit- obviously a single paid card enables a family of four to travel club, by using two vouchers

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phantomchickenz wrote:

Travelling by myself. Should have mentioned that, as this is probably the only long haul trip I’m likely to make by myself for the next decade until the kids have fled the nest, so the only chance to try ‘something different’

Why would you choose option 2 @ed_fly?

gives me a day to (re)visit HKG, try-out the al safwa lounge in Doha. I’d quite enjoy trying out the different J & F products.

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Travelling with P2 (and/or the kids) option 1. Me travelling by myself option 2.

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JDB wrote:

Matt wrote:

If you are asked to produce the card used (very unlikely on BA) then that card doesn’t need to be valid still – no reason there not to close the account.

Apart from the fact that you have undertaken to destroy the card upon cancellation. You do need to keep an Amex in case of any changes and BA will likely insist on the original card.

Agree with JDB’s point, making changes to the booking is probably most likely to cause you an issue in ditching the card used to make the booking. I’d suggest the best strategy in future is to pay on any Amex that you anticipate holding until you travel.

This is especially true with the 241, as the terms can readily be interpreted to suggest holding the BAPP at point of travel is necessary. A point that has been argued over on many occasions by various armchair lawyers on these forums.

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LSTNVS wrote:

Hi all,

Managed to book my outbound 241 voucher flights online at 1am for 2 people LHR-HND, just had a general query regarding booking the return leg.

I currently have 120,000 Avios left in my account to book the return leg, but would need 220,000 to book and then refund. Is it possible to book with the lower Avios options (54,000 per person + cash) and then get the cash refunded instead once the bookings are merged?

I would imagine not but haven’t been able to see anything saying either way if this is indeed possible.

Any information is very much appreciated.

AndrewT wrote:

That’s a negative. Both legs must be booked using the same cash/avios combination.

it’s possible, but not guaranteed, to book two separate legs at different points/cash levels, and have the 241 applied to the 2nd leg booked, and thereby getting an Avios refund.

I don’t think I’ve seen any reports of the cash being refunded, to in essence adjust the Avios/cash ratio post booking.

What you could try is booking online at the lower Avios option (54,000 per person) and then calling within 24 hours to cancel penalty free (I think this is possible with Avios tickets as with cash), and hopefully the seats are returned to inventory and rebook immediately with the agent. Some risks – reward seats aren’t guaranteed to return to inventory & Avios may not instantly return to your account.

I’d recommend trying to get through on the phone

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lucamacro wrote:

Just as a DP for future readers. I did everything on the phone: the agent purchased the points for me and I transferred from AMEX while online. It all worked out and the price in points was the same saver rate I was seeing on Sunday. So four seats in UC for 224k + 863£ in fees. Quite happy for my first big redemption!

further data point, recently paid for virgin points online during the online seat booking process landed immediately. There is a 14 day cooling off period for points acquired online, though do check the t&c’s.

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freckles wrote:

No points (but FX Free overseas spending), Starling Kite card. Think it needs a main adult account to attach them to, but you’re in control of what they get

also using starling.

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Thanks all, lots of helpful views.

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I’m not sure the upcoming bonus of up to 70% has gone live yet, keep an eye out on Monday.

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Aston100 wrote:

Uber

uber is a great option. you can book train tickets on uber. A £1+ train ticket should trigger Avios quickly, without the need to leave your sofa.

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Yes it’s the ‘Avios’ app. Not a large amount of Avios by any means, but every little helps.

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Also price up JetBlue through Qatar as well

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When booking outbound and return separately, it was possible (April 2024) to book at two separate Avios/cash levels and get the 50% reduction on both legs. Though certainly have been reports of some (possibly majority) of agents not allowing this.

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I had some grief trying to check into my BA flight to USA earlier this year due to having two separate tickets. Took a few minutes to sort, I had to show the agent my return flight info, the check in agent having to contact a colleague, for instructions of how to remove what appeared to be a block on the computer system. All got sorted fairly quickly. As others have said, keep a copy of your return flight details to hand. If you’re asked, it should expedite the process.

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Likewise flights flown a few months back, no sign of the bonus tire points yet. Has anyone had success chasing these?

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Try Hyatt points, probably a bonus due soon.