[PJJ]

Michael C wrote:

Man of Kent wrote:

Last couple of days for us in Qatar, off to see some Qatar Open tennis later today.

Very envious – would love to hear what the facilities are like! I’ve done 3 Grand Slams
and dozens of Madrid/Barcelona, but hope to expand my tennis locations a little more.

Which Grand Slam are you missing ? Done all 4

Monte Carlo is worth it if you can get the tickets, they go on sale in October. With train from Nice to ‘special’ station a 10 minute walk away with an exclusive entrance, very quick to get in

Rome was enjoyable but the tickets nearly double the price of Madrid

Enjoy Qatar

[PJJ]

AVIOS HOTELS BONUS

15 Avios per £ for bookings made before the 27th February and taken before the 31st August

[PJJ]

Not aware where you are based or if wanting to use a BMW Dealership
HOWEVER
I purchased a new Toyota last year from Steve Eagell in Ipswich via PCP
They took Amex for the deposit and the monthly payment could be made with a Mastercard Credit Card
After a few months you could then request to pay in full
Steve Eagell have a number of dealerships, but not sure how far and wide they go

[PJJ]

@Suffolk Girl
Thanks for the update
Will try a couple of months at a time

[PJJ]

SuffolkGirl wrote:

samw wrote:

I tried at one stop who declined before going to local east of England coop who were happy taking £371 in one tx. I wish I’d known about this before

Was this in Suffolk by any chance, I’m struggling to find a Payzone that accepts AmEx in Ipswich.

I am on Grange Farm, Kesgrave under East Suffolk Council.
Checked out the small Tesco which is listed on the Payzone website
Yes they take Council Tax bill
Yes the take Amex
They are no sure if or what the limit is
I paid 3 months at the end of March but will be trying this way next time
If you try before me let me know if it works

[PJJ]

Toyota / Lexus both allow monthly payments (not AMEX unfortunately) and the final balloon payment by credit card

[PJJ]

I haven’t had the offer via email

HOWEVER

After logging into my account the offer is mentioned there

Presume it would count for me ????

I need 95k points and points.com are quoting $900

[PJJ]

sm wrote:

Just noticed a 2500 reward points on my gold Amex under an entry ‘rewards as you go’ – not complaining but I wondered what this was for? 🤔

2500 points will be for spending £5k on the Gold card

[PJJ]

Am I not right in thinking that the 3 Nectar Points per £ you get for shopping at Sainsbury’s includes the 1 Nectar Point you would get whichever card you used to pay. So it is actually 2 Nectar Points per £ for using the card.

[PJJ]

Just been on the BAEC Boost page and it now shows the maximum as ‘UNLIMITED’

Still showing 200k for ‘Buy’ and ‘Subscription’

[PJJ]

dundj wrote:

PJJ wrote:

degsy wrote:

Worth saying from a tennis perspective the US Open is a far better fan experience than Wimbledon – it’s so much easier to get tickets (which are generally cheaper), and then move around all the (non-show) courts once inside.

Would have to disagree with regards to the ticket prices at the US Open. There appears to be a policy where people can hold onto their same seats for the following year, thus they buy the complete 2 weeks and split them up for daily resale. I saw one Men’s Final ticket at a ‘reselling’ price of over $12.500. No doubt the semi final tickets were around the same price.

When I went in 2019 I bought a ticket for the first 5 sessions (2 1/2 days) which I thought at a reasonable price only to find I was in the ‘lap of the Gods’, bearing in mind the Arthur Ashe Stadium holds nearly 25,000 and ended up watching the big screen most of the time.

Free Grandstand seats in their number 3 court was good and free access to all lower numbered courts, plus partial access to their number 2 court.

But it is the reselling that gets me angry !

Try the Monte Carlo Masters in April, now they are reasonably priced

I agree with the Monte Carlo Masters, except for the finals weekend on pricing. However, I disagree on the season tickets at the US Open.

When I had them for the final week of 6 day and 2 night sessions, we would sell a maximum of one session in the second week in the Loge level on Ashe, generally because it was a day session on the day of arrival, otherwise we attended all the sessions. But, maybe because of fairness in my upbringing I would sell the pair at cost and actual postage to the buyer. I do agree that those selling over the price can be extortionate though, and Wimbledon has the same with the debenture seating anyway.

Never checked the Wimbledon Debenture site so you are probably right

Have you tried….

Dubai – about £550 for the week last year

Booked Madrid for next year, 2 sessions on the Saturday and 2 on the Sunday with just the day session on Monday – 340 Euros

The same 5 sessions for the Rome tournament are 851 Euros

Both 1000 Masters series

Happy travels

[PJJ]

degsy wrote:

Worth saying from a tennis perspective the US Open is a far better fan experience than Wimbledon – it’s so much easier to get tickets (which are generally cheaper), and then move around all the (non-show) courts once inside.

Would have to disagree with regards to the ticket prices at the US Open. There appears to be a policy where people can hold onto their same seats for the following year, thus they buy the complete 2 weeks and split them up for daily resale. I saw one Men’s Final ticket at a ‘reselling’ price of over $12.500. No doubt the semi final tickets were around the same price.

When I went in 2019 I bought a ticket for the first 5 sessions (2 1/2 days) which I thought at a reasonable price only to find I was in the ‘lap of the Gods’, bearing in mind the Arthur Ashe Stadium holds nearly 25,000 and ended up watching the big screen most of the time.

Free Grandstand seats in their number 3 court was good and free access to all lower numbered courts, plus partial access to their number 2 court.

But it is the reselling that gets me angry !

Try the Monte Carlo Masters in April, now they are reasonably priced

[PJJ]

I went to the first 3 days at the US Open in 2019 (completed all 4 Grand Slams then)

Stayed at The Dylan on 41st Street and about 3 minutes walk to Grand Central using Line 7 direct to Flushing Meadow

Hotel chosen for location as this was the first time to New York

Solo male traveller for the tennis so location was much more important than the hotel (so won’t comment good or bad)

Want to go back but hotel prices through the roof

Enjoy it

[PJJ]

ttstest wrote:

Source:

https://www.americanexpress.com/amex/en-gb/benefits/upgrade/platinum/

Does not the page on the link suggest ‘Charge Card’, is it the same for ‘Credit Card’

[PJJ]

I came back from Nice middle of last month to LCY and we were bussed to a remote stand at Nice

[PJJ]

Would the ‘Boost’ feature on BAEC help.
If you are getting more than 1p of value when booking it would help you to get a larger pot of Avios

[PJJ]

I guess I might have been lucky, however, after linking my BA and Qatar accounts, found economy to Melbourne out on the 11/1/24 and business back on the 21/1/24 travelling on Qatar. Booked on the 31/1/23. Cost of 135k Avios plus around £440

[PJJ]

Totally agree

If you check Virgins Shopsaway there is a section marked ‘New Retailers’

And after all I do believe they are both run by Collinsons

[PJJ]

My first BA LH points booking.
LHR-DOH-MEL booked 31st January for outbound 11 Jan 24 ret 21 Jan 24
Economy out and business back (Business not available out)
135,000 points plus £440.31
BA and Qatar accounts linked with Qatar taking the points
I worked out value at £0.034 per points as the cost on that day was £5036.71
Since seen it at around £4,400.00
Chuffed to say the least

[PJJ]

I managed to book LHR to Melbourne direct on Qatar at the end of January this year for early next year.
Had linked my BAEC to Qatar so the points were taken by Qatar
Couldn’t get Business both ways, got Economy out with Business return
Cost of 135,000 Avios plus £440 in taxes
Cost at the time was approx £5300

[PJJ]

@Annie
BAEC – Discover – Collecting Miles – Hotels and Accomodation – Avios Hotels
Make sure it is set to ‘Collecting Miles’ and not ‘Spending Miles’
or
https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/collecting-avios/hotels/avios-hotels

[PJJ]

@Rivo
Have you tried Avios Hotels on the BAEC site, they offer 15 Avios per £ spent
I booked out of a Rome (Independant) hotel on Saturday and my 12,270 points have posted today (Friday)
Considering an Off-Peak flight to Rome is 15,500 Avios plus £35.00 that practically paid for my flight
I know cost might come into it but always worth checking

[PJJ]

I spoke with Toyota Finance regarding the same and they came back with this……

Regarding your deposit – you will have to speak with the dealership as this depends on them.

You can ring us every month to make the payment manually using a credit card.

We will not charge you but we would advise to contact your card provider to ensure they will not add on any extra charges for doing this.

You can make the final payment using a credit card, again, we will not charge you but we would advise to contact your provider to ensure they will not add on extra charges for doing this.

We do not accept American Express credit cards.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

[PJJ]

I have been considering changing to a new Toyota or Lexus and got in touch by email with both their own Finance Dept (probably the same) and asked about paying with Credit Card. They didn’t accept Amex but would take the monthly payment and final PSP payment by credit card.

[PJJ]

Where are you looking ?
If you look on the Virgin Red site it shows as a line entry
If you look on the Virgin Atlantic site under ‘account’ it doesn’t show as a line entry, however, it add the points on
Confusing yes
I still keep a paper list so notice if the miles accrued changes
Hope this helps