Xiamen and Kenya redemptions live on Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Atlantic has been working very hard since it joined Skyteam at the beginning of this year, and more and more partner awards are available for redemption online which makes our life easier.
Following ITA Airways and AeroMexico, Kenya Airways is now the latest addition. With its hub in Nairobi Kenya Airways gives you some connection options in Africa.
They have a fifth-freedom route in Asia, between Bangkok and Guangzhou.
China’s Xiamen Airlines is also worth a mention. They are notoriously stingy about reward availability and rarely release any seat to their own members, let alone to its partners. Therefore although Xiamen’s redemption has been available online with VS from the beginning, availability is near non-existent.
Xiamen seems to have made a turn in its business strategy recently and launched a few very aggressive sales. Considerable amount of award seats are now bookable as well.
Beijing:
Hong Kong:
Singapore:
Taxes and fees are very low as you can see from the pictures above, but airfares tend to be cheap in China / Asia so it’s still worth comparing both options. Availability appears to be in economy class only.
Free LoungeKey pass with AirHelp on flight delays
We wrote about AirHelp Plus recently, which is an interesting insurance option that offers direct cash payout on flight and baggage delays. My recent Ryanair flight was delayed by more than one hour, and I already have a first-hand experience with one of their benefits.
Upon landing I received an SMS from AirHelp telling me that they’ve issued me a lounge pass. It’s a pass from LoungeKey valid for the next three months at any location globally. You can search available lounges here.
Like Priority Pass, LoungeKey also belongs to the Collinson Group, so you’ll see a lot of coverage overlap between them. Remember that however, Priority Pass issued by American Express is longer valid at non-lounge experience, and that’s where LoungeKey has its edge. For example:
- Hong Kong – Putien Restaurant, dining menu set
- Singapore – TranSpa, head massage etc
- Kuala Lumpur – Travellers Bar & Grill, all-you-can-eat for three hours
- Tokyo / Osaka – Botejyu, 3,400 JPY credit
- London Heathrow – Big Smoke
- London City – Cabin Bar
- Paris CDG – Yotel three-hour stay
- Frankfurt – Be Relax Spa, 30-minute massage
Since the pass is valid for three months you should have a good chance of using it. There’s an ongoing promotion for the AirHelp Plus Complete subscription: use code AHPCXMAS for €5 off until January 7th.
Emirates Skywards 2,000 miles sign-up bonus
Emirates started a strategic partnership with China’s Ctrip just days ago, and launched a couple of inaugural promotions:
Eligible Ctrip members can fast track to Emirates Silver / Gold status after just one flight. I’m afraid this is probably irrelevant to the majority of our readership.
If you aren’t an Emirates Skywards member yet however, you could sign up using the invitation code CTRIP, to earn 2,000 miles immediately upon registration.
My review of The Grand Hotel Eastbourne
Thanks to a generous promotion from Hyatt, I received a Category-4 free night voucher but it was only valid for 6 months. Hyatt has few properties in the UK. There are a handful of nice SLH properties but reward availability is difficult to find and many of of them are hard to travel to.
My persistence paid out eventually though, as I managed to book The Grand Eastbourne for the August bank holiday. The Grand Eastbourne is, to quote them, the finest 5 Star hotel by the sea in Sussex. I haven’t been to Eastbourne yet so it works out perfectly.
The hotel is 30-seconds’ walk from the beach, right next to the Ferris wheel and easy to find. The hotel is also known as “The White Palace”, and that name does justice. Compared to Brighton I find the urban plan much newer and prettier in Eastbourne.
We arrived at 1pm and the room was not ready yet. The sightseeing bus stop is just in front of the hotel, which brings you to the beautiful coast.
The hotel was purposely built in 1875. It’s maintained very well considering that history, and you barely see wear and tear anywhere.
Upon entering the lobby, there’s the Palm Court Strings restaurant on the left-hand side that serves afternoon tea.
And a lounge bar at the end of the hall.
The receptionist thanked me for being a World of Hyatt member. As it’s a bank holiday I wasn’t expecting any upgrade at all, and it really surprised me when they mentioned an upgrade to the sea-view room. The sea-view however, needs to be taken with a pinch of salt:
As a lowly Explorist I’m not really disappointed.
The room is up to the standard of an old five-star hotel, except for that tiny TV from the last century.
Nespresso machine and tea kettle:
I don’t like the single bed or the stiff mattress so much. The key holder looks classy:
World of Hyatt bookings all come with complimentary breakfast, served at the Garden Restaurant.
The buffet’s spread is quite limited and I don’t praise its quality either. I find the breakfast at UK five-star hotels below average in general.
We ordered the traditional breakfast, porridge and pancake from the menu, which are so-so.
There’s an outdoor swimming pool and it is heated – have to give the hotel some credits for this.
In addition there’s an indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi and steam room.
Gym:
In a word, The Grand Eastbourne is a decent five-star hotel that gives you a resort experience to some extent. If you have a World-of-Hyatt Cat 4 free night certificate to redeem, it is probably one of your best options in the UK.
Earn double IHG points in January 2024
You can now register for IHG’s new promotion which is valid for the January of 2024.
- Stay between January 1st and 31st
- Earn double points for all stays
It is quite straightforward and needs no further explanation. It’s not the most interesting promotion but there’s unlikely to be anything else on the table until February at least.
Red by Dufry Platinum upgrade via status match
This is an interesting and unusual status match opportunity. Red by Dufry is inviting many eligible members to match to their (top) Platinum status.
The offer’s landing page is here, which is hosted by statusmatch.com.
- You need to have qualifying elite status with a hotel or an airline
- If approved, you will be granted Platinum status for one year
- Application is free
- There’s no deadline currently
You can find qualifying programs and statuses here.
- For airlines, all elite tiers are included. For example BA Bronze and AF Silver are both accepted.
- For hotels, the lowest elite tiers are excluded. For example Hilton / Marriott Silver aren’t eligible, but Gold and Platinum are.
In summary the match is very easy, but to be honest I still don’t understand what the requalification criteria are – I barely used Red but was never downgraded from Platinum although it’s been a few years now.
Red by Dufry owns hundreds of duty-free airport stores all over the world, mainly in Europe and Americas. As a Platinum member you are entitled to 10% discount on your purchase, and you can also earn 1 Avios per £1 / €1 spent.
You also get free lounge access at Zurich and Basel airport.
New Marriott / Singapore partnership that fast tracks you to Star Alliance Gold (but with a catch)
Marriott Bonvoy has had long-standing partnerships with airlines including United and Emirates. A new name has just been added to the list – Singapore Airlines. You can view the promotion details and link your accounts here.
[Marriott Bonvoy]
- Gold: Two flights within six months for Krisflyer Silver
- Platinum and Above: instant Krisflyer Silver, and four flights within six months for Krisflyer Gold
- Booking class G and award tickets are excluded
Matched / upgraded status is valid for 12 months. As the challenge starts immediately once you’ve linked your accounts, wait till you have relevant flight plans.
One biggest catch is how a “flight” is defined. I’ve seen at least three response emails from SG already, and here’s one of them on China’s FlyerT forum:
In addition, a few data points concerning the ongoing Infinite Journey promotion they have with Shangri-La confirm that it is indeed based on bookings not segments. This is bad news as you can’t complete the challenge in one return trip of four flight segments.
(Update: we’ve now received a data point and a reader was upgraded after one PNR of four segments.)
If you are based in Singapore / Southeast Asia it is still relatively easy (and cheap).
There’s also a “hack” for European residents, as SQ has a fifth-freedom flight between Milan and Barcelona.
Four one-ways cost about €400 (with the discount offered by Trip.com). KrisFlyer Silver is next to useless. Krisflyer Gold however, gives you extensive benefits including priority check-in, extra baggage allowance and business lounge across the Star Alliance network.
[Singapore Krisflyer]
- Silver: stay three nights within 6 months for Marriott Silver
- Gold: instant Marriott Gold, and stay ten nights within 6 months for Marriott Platinum
If you are currently Marriott Platinum and above, you could complete the Krisflyer Gold challenge, and at some point link back for the Marriott Challenge, if they allow it.
[Shangri-La Circle]
In case you have Shangri-La Jade membership that’s due to expire, you should participate in the Infinite Journey promotion first if you haven’t done so already. Similarly you’ll get Krisflyer Silver and then need to fly three times in four months to upgrade to Gold.
After 12 months you could then re-do the challenge through Marriott’s offer – their terms explicitly say that previous status match promotions don’t preclude you from being eligible.
7,500 bonus points for new Marriott Bonvoy signups
If you don’t have a Marriott Bonvoy account yet, a new offer is available for signups.
You will earn based on the following bonus structure:
- 500 points upon registration
- 2,000 points after the first stay
- 5,000 points after the second stay
- You have 90 days to complete the stays
Note that according to the terms, the offer is targeted and non-transferable, although I doubt they will enforce.