[Misty]

terry1968 wrote:

I transferred some Amex MR points to my Avios account then immediately boosted by x 3 . After the boost went through I was hoping to double dip (as I previously have ) by repeating the purchase but my screen froze after i paid. I could only clear the screen by shutting down the Avios App. Is this Avios’ s way of stopping double dipping? Anyone else noticed this ?

How do you double dip ? Never noticed the option to do this and I boost quite a lot of my Avios at x3.

[Misty]

@NorthernLass @polly @yorkshireRich

thanks for your replies. I think the only way I am going to find out if I like it is by going there. It will probably be my Daughter and I.

I’ll check out Cape Panwa and its lower key sister long stay hotel Kantary Bay, Polly, I am still keen to go.

I know you’re right NorthernLass about the Insta crowd it’s the trend of the day, so difficult to avoid. A very low key Greek Village we stay in, had a Shushi restaurant turn up in a prominent position last year, where there had been a traditional Greek taverna, not sure if it will do well or not. I do remember Rob once posting that Thailand was a cheapskates’ destination, and he had only ben once in the last 15 years which made me LOL.

We hardly take any photos yorksireRich and even if we do they are of beautiful scenery etc. done this for years so will not change now. I remember showing my late Mum some holiday photos years ago, and she said why are there no pictures of you !

[Misty]

yorkshireRich wrote:

I may be old before my time but can someone please help me out here.
I’m currently at the Ic in Phuket and there are 3 women by the poolside. I think it’s a mum and 2 daughters and the mum has just posed and posed and posed. I’m sure they are Russian (I know that’s not that relevant), but they have been milling around the pool area for almost 2 hours. I am not exaggerxating when I say they must have taken thousands of photos of the older lady posing in various outfits. I’ve had to endure them coming over to my cabana, and I got to the point I tried to put them off. Although there is so much more going on in life I just don’t understand the need for it. Surely even the most instagrammable people only need one photo in a few different places.

I don’t think you are old before your time. I would find this a bit of an endurance test as well, even if as you say there is much more going on in life. I had to cancel a holiday to Phuket that should have happened last year and was thinking of rescheduling for later this year. I know this is a broad strokes question, but what kind of tourists does Phuket attract? Is it full of the Insta crowd? Maybe I should consider other places in Thailand.

[Misty]

JDB wrote:

NorthernLass wrote:

Well, someone’s birthday reservation at Pizza Express has just been cancelled 😱

It’s just desserts; I think he may have been involved in the theft of my teddy at prep school and more recently he delayed my lunch although our hostess ultimately decided to start without him. He made a big fuss about that when he eventually arrived with GM. Serious matters. Hopefully they have enough evidence to get him for the less serious offence.

Very bad timing on his behalf, does he not realise that Pizza Express Clubcard vouchers are at 3x rather than 2x at present? He will have to get someone to flog them on ebay for him or give them to his girls to use.

My son also had something nicked at prep-school but not a teddy so I guess the culprit is still out there.

[Misty]

NorthernLass wrote:

Well, someone’s birthday reservation at Pizza Express has just been cancelled 😱

strickers wrote:

@NorthernLass Don’t sweat about it.

ROFL 🙂

Amex have just sent me a letter by snail mail, with an unsolicited increase to my credit limit, which has doubled it.

Perhaps they think I am not spending enough money with them,

[Misty]

Greg wrote:

Just had an email from Chase offering me worldwide travel insurance, phone insurance and AA cover for £12.50 a month.

Travel insurance is provided br Collinson who I haven’t heard of and they don’t seem to have any Defaqto rating.

Has anybody had any experience with them ?

In summer 2023, my husband ended up in a Greek hospital for 10 days due to medical emergency, our Insurance was with Post Office Travel, mid priced policy, who are Collinson.

All his medical treatment was covered by his GHIC card, however we had a claim of aprrox. 2,500 Euros for hotels, flights back to UK, medications, taxis and food. Won’t bore you too much with the details.

It took about 3 months for them to settle the claim, and it was a bit painful in terms of sending things off to them that they requested, despite scanning and sending off every bit of paperwork we had, when I put in the initial claim. We eventually got about £2000 back.

They wouldn’t pay out for food and drink (made sure not to have any alcohol) as apparently ‘we would have had to eat anyway’ lol, and also my taxis too and from the hotel to the hospital every morning, guess they thought I should have walked the 25 mins in 40 degrees. I gave up at that point and accepted.

I’m not sure if this makes them a good company or not as I have no other comparators in terms of paying out.

[Misty]

Retron wrote:

Garethgerry wrote:

I do believe it is becoming a victim of own success.

When avios (airmiles) were launched in 1988, it was a simple way for BA to utilise empty seats to reward frequent flyers and for years it worked like that. Avios seats cost BA almost nothing .Avios was liabilities on books but no problem, in an era of lower load factors.

My dad took my mum and me on a trip to Brussels in 1989 – using his airmiles to book us flights on BA, a scheduled flight as he so proudly said. (I was 9 and a bit nonplussed).

My dad got at least some of the miles from his NatWest credit card, 1 airmile per £20 spent, IIRC – or 0.5 Avios per pound in modern terms, as an airmile converted to 10 Avios.

Right from the word go there were non-flying ways of getting them, but nowhere near as many as now!

Nostalgia moment for me. I had one of those Nat West airmiles credit cards, back in the day. I think they were pale blue in colour. Yes the scheme is a victim of it’s own success.

[Misty]

The real Swiss Tony wrote:

BA Flyer IHG Stayer wrote:

And BTW all of you just cancelling now could also be putting @Robs affiliate referral payment at risk.

This is why we can’t have nice things…

I mean each to their own, but churning like this is one thing. Bragging about it on social media is another level in my book.

Although admittedly, the UX is nothing short of rubbish especially when it forces you to use an authenticator to read even the most benign direct messages.

+1

[Misty]

@BA-Flyer-IHG-Stayer

I agree with all the ‘don’t beat yourself up about this’ comments, scammers seem a lot more sophisticated and plausible that they did some years ago. It is good of you to post your experience as it is a salient reminder to us all to be on our guard for this kind of thing.

[Misty]

@Ihar my subscription seems to have rolled over into this year at the same rate as it was last year. I didn’t take it out when it was at a better rate so I am probably paying a bit over the odds for it. I like the way it drip feeds into the BAC account monthly, rather than paying a large lump sum in one go, I seem to notice it less this way.

I do boost as well when it makes sense to me.

[Misty]

@aahpub I think this is what I will do, I cancelled the supplementary Gold I took out for my husband a couple of years ago as he doesn’t use it as he now has a BAPP.

@John I haven’t actual;;y checked it on the BA site, as I can never seem to find the partner airline flights, which is obviously a failing on my part. I was checking on my Qatar Privilege club account, also that is where I have a lot of points due to having to cancel a flight to Thailand.

@JDB I think that is the route I will be taking, I cancelled my husbands Gold supplementary as they seemed to want to charge me £45 for a second one, but I should be good to go now as it’s been over a week since cancelling.

[Misty]

If you boost at the x3 level the cost is 0.9p per Avios, so works out cheaper than just buying, this of course relies on you having Avios in you BA account to boost.

[Misty]

Hi folks thanks to all of you for sharing your information and experiences.

I’m a bit torn about this as the full retail cost of flights for his dates are between 1K and 1.2K on various different airlines, whereas using a shed load of my points it comes down to about £500 on QR, I would really like to do this for him, as £500 is a lot of money to him.

But the idea of him being questioned at the gate and asked for my card is worrying and I want to eliminate any stress possible as he has never undertaken this kind of flight/journey before.

I’m now wondering if I could book the flight on my QR account but use his bank card to pay, which he will have on him to travel. He doesn’t have any credit cards. Even if I get him a sup on my Amex Gold it will still have the incorrect initials, and a different card number.

[Misty]

Thank you to you both for replying. I am thinking of getting him a supplementary card on my Gold Amex to take with him, do you think that would suffice if he was asked to show a card at the gate or extra charges arose ? I don’t fancy him going to the other side of the world with my Gold Card.

I could then book the QR flight with my gold card on my QR account and presumably to all intents and purposes if he is asked for a card the supplementary will be on the same account, although I appreciate they will have a different card number.

I’m sure when I collected airmiles light years ago I used to book my Daughter flights to Geneva on my Avios account and I didn’t travel with her, and she never had any problems, but I guess that is different. Son and I have the same surname but different initials.

[Misty]

Cheers @SteveJ, explains why I couldn’t find anything.

[Misty]

Hi @AndrewT have you any idea whereabouts I go on the Amex site to cancel a gold supplementary card or is it better to call? I’ve had a look on the site via your link to supplementaries, FAQ’s etc but couldn’t find it.

[Misty]

But @JDB surely one of the main points of this site is ‘arsing about with credit cards’, at times Rob seems to positively encourage it, and I am speaking as someone who is paying annual Amex fees.

@squishsquash maybe leave it for a few of weeks and try for a Gold Amex, the algorithm might be different at that point or for that card.

@NorthernLass have a wonderful holiday.

P.S. Missed a few of the posts, am loving this thread, apart from the OP not having an Amex of course

[Misty]

What I find very odd, is that some of the posters appear to think that they are actually talking to BA, rather than a member of a Facebook group who is actually trying to help them solve or help with their problem. When they get a response they don’t like they then start having a go at the person who is trying to help. I guess that’s the internet for you.

[Misty]

Whatsthepoint wrote:

Facebook is full of people saying they’ve got 50k Avios and a CV from the free card asking how do they get their family of 4 to Orlando or Male or Tokyo in peak times. Also it’d be nice to go PE or business class. Or similar combinations. I try to help but they get cross when the reality is pointed out to them and it is suggested they should have done some research and planning first.

I seem to get many updates on my page from HeadforPoints I guess I must have either followed at one stage or AI has sent it to me. I also get the page with BA complains advice, I am always impressed by folk like yourself who try to help the posters on there as I suspect it is a thankless task.

@Saltrams I would go ahead and boost what you have available to Boost as they will eventually ‘drop off’ provided you have a plan B if plan A doesn’t work out.

[Misty]

You can either refer your wife for Gold which will give you some kind of referral bonus, and/or take out the BA Amex PP yourself and work towards a companion voucher, your wife could also go for the BAPP if you feel you can meet the spend. If you both have a BAPP you will each earn companion voucher in your own right.

Well done on the 25,000 MR points retention bonus for a 1K spend. I think that is the largest one I have ever seen on here. Sometimes Amex seem bonkers

[Misty]

@Retron thanks for the conformation, at least when they are added to your total that means they remain there. it would be a huge faff for BAC to remove them and do an appropriate monetary refund, their IT is probably not up to it.

[Misty]

@davefl thanks for the reply, I was thinking that as the IT is a bit of a shambles, I would imagine they will stick, perhaps the only ones that become boostable are the confirmed ones.

[Misty]

Hi All, does anyone know if you boost a BA E-store purchase and they are subsequently revoked by the company/BAC what happens? Do the extra boosted points stick, or have you wasted your money ?

[Misty]

Cheers @AndrewT, I thought that might be the case, but wanted to be certain.

[Misty]

Ignore me, I’m losing the plot.