Buy British Airways Silver Card for £600 in their sale
British Airways has announced yet another sale, and as usual it offers an opportunity to earn cheap tier points and thus elite statuses.
The easiest way to view all rates is via their Low Fare Finder. From the tier-point perspective, it’s most cost-efficient to fly Club Europe (short-haul European flights in business class) and here are some headline prices (return trip):
- Belfast £156
- Catania £264
- Dublin £166
- Edinburgh £152
- Glasgow £146
- Istanbul £300
- Luxembourg £136
- Reykjavik £292
- Sofia £240
- Tirana £278
Destinations in bold earn you 80 TP per way, otherwise it’s 40 TP only. Note that there will no longer be any qualification discount in 2023, plus airfares are getting more expensive now so it’s not as cheap to earn status as in the last two years. You can earn BA Silver (Oneworld Sapphire), which requires 600 TP, in four trips to Sofia which will cost you almost a thousand pound.
There’s a way to reduce your cost though, as BA Holidays has extended their double tier points offer till the end of 2023. All flight+hotel and flight+rental bookings earn double tier points, which means you only need two return trips (instead of four) to earn your Silver card.
For a two-night trip to Sofia, the minimum cost is just over £300 pp for two people, which is a great deal. (EDIT: apologies that my calculations were wrong. You need 5 nights minimum to earn double tier points – car rental should be cheaper).
My Gold card is expiring soon but thanks to the soft landing policy I’ll remain Silver for one more year, so I’m not rushing to any mileage run right now. But if you are interested you should considering booking some flights or holidays.
Warning: Marriott to remove redemption cap in 2023
(Writing this from a two-bedroom apartment in St Regis Shanghai Jing An.)
Marriott introduced Flexible Redemption Pricing in March 2022, and we have been getting used to how it works in the last nine months. However, there’s a snag that most people may have forgotten or overlooked.
When the new policy was introduced, the price cap of most hotels (i.e. the peak pricing from the old system) were respected, with the exception of a few properties that added a new premium. However, no caps are to be enforced for 2023 stays at any Marriott hotel.
Should we expect a huge increase across many hotels globally? Probably not, as the redemption rates have been adjusting themselves in the last nine months so that they already reflect what Marriott thinks it’s appropriate to charge you for now, more or less. Therefore I don’t think a big devaluation is due anytime soon.
However, there are hotels that represent outsize redemption value which makes them really popular, and they are the ones more likely at risk. For example, Courtyard Oxford City Centre used to be the best redemption option in the UK, starting from only 10,000 points per night.
When the dynamic pricing was introduced, its cap was raised to 20,000 points. For some 2023 dates however, the rate goes to as high as 21,000 points now:
It’s not a massive devaluation, but more are to come. If you have speculative travel plans for next year, and are not short of Marriott points, consider locking in some rooms now.
My review of Oneworld Business Lounge, Los Angeles
In my last post I briefly reviewed the Alaska Air Lounge, which as I had suspected had nothing to write home about. In just three minutes I started making my way to the Oneworld Business Lounge, and I’m really excited!
The Oneworld Business Lounge is located inside the Tom Bradley International Terminal. It’s connected to all other terminals airside though so it’s possible to visit it no matter which terminal you fly from. But from Terminal 2 or 3 you need to take a shuttle.
Alaska is based in Terminal 6, and it took me, a fast-walker a good ten minutes to reach the lounge. Terminal 4 is right next to Tom Bradley but all other terminals require a long connection.
It’s the first time I see a lounge named after the Oneworld alliance. You can see the names of Qantas, Cathay Pacific and British Airways inscribed on the wall which presumably are the main sponsors of the lounge. I’m surprised that American Airlines isn’t one of them.
As a reminder, you cannot access the lounge by being an elite member or flying business / first class with American or Alaska, with the exception of select long-haul flights. However, if you are a Sapphire or Emerald member with any other Oneworld airlines (in my case BA), you can enter the lounge as long as you are on a Oneworld flight.
A very long sofa is behind the entrance. On the left-hand side there’s a business area, with armchairs, hot desks and a printer.
The bar shares the same design with the one in Qantas Lounge at Heathrow. You can help yourself to the wines and beers, but champagne is not offered.
A nice, warm circular bar lounge is further down the aisle.
In the dining area there are many dining tables and buffet counters.
It’s about 10am so breakfast is served. In addition to the traditional English breakfast there are some unusual options such as noodles with cheese, red bean curry and ratatouille.
The biggest impression on me is how huge the lounge is. There are a lot of atrium-facing seats available if you fancy more light.
The best Oneworld airline lounge I’ve visited is the Al Mourjan Lounge at Doha, without any doubt. The Oneworld Business Lounge at LAX is probably the (not-so-close) second, beating Cathay’s The Wing at HKG and BA’s Galleries First at LHR.
If you depart from LAX and have sufficient time, skip the Alaska Lounge and Admirals Club and come straight to the Qantas lounge, as it’s at a totally different level!
Claim your free flight from Bamboo Airways
Bamboo Airways, a Vietnamese airline, is giving away their loyalty points which you can redeem for free flights.
You can view the offer details here. Until March 31, you earn 50 Bamboo Club points for taking any of the following actions:
- Log in on the website
- Log in on the app
- Open a promotional email
You can earn the bonus once per platform per day, so max. 150 points a day. During the promotional period your earning is capped at 4,000 points – if you don’t want to receive their emails, you need to log in on their website and app for 40 days to reach the cap.
4,000 points is enough for a one-way off-peak domestic flight under 460 miles. Some city pairs are:
- Ho Chi Minh City – Phu Quoc / Da Nang / Nha Trang
- Hanoi – Da Nang
You still need to pay the taxes and charges, which is about $20.
If you may visit Vietnam in the next year or so, consider sparing a few seconds every day to win your ticket.
Save £££ on your airfare with rail / bus hidden-city ticketing
You might have heard of “hidden-city ticketing”, a trick to purchase cheaper air tickets by adding one or more segments to your desired itinerary. For example, Flying New York – London – Paris could be cheaper than New York – London due to its indirect nature, so in this case it saves money to book the first route and drop the second leg if you only intend to travel to London.
There are complications of course, which I will discuss later in this article. There is an advanced and safer approach though which is less-known, that takes advantage of the interlining agreement between airlines and rail / bus companies.
Actually I’ve been aware of it since a long time ago. I was studying in Switzerland and my Mum was coming to visit me. When looking for an air ticket Swiss’s website offered the following route: PEK-ZRH on Swiss, and then Zurich-Basel on a SBB train. It’s cheaper than flying to Zurich only!
Similar arrangements can be found on Lufthansa’s website between them and DB:
Apparently it’s not necessarily cheaper so you need to do your research.
Most practically, the trick works best if you are looking for a one-way flight to the UAE. A direct flight from London to Abu Dhabi on Etihad costs around £500:
Whereas adding a leg to Dubai reduces the price by more than half!
The trip from Abu Dhabi airport to Dubai is undertaken by a coach. If Dubai is your final destination, you could take the coach or make your own travel arrangement; otherwise just leave the airport and enjoy Abu Dhabi!
Traditionally there are two complications with hidden-city, but they are very unlikely to hinder the novel approach:
- Luggage check-through to the final destination – your luggage won’t check through onto the train or bus so you’ll have to collect them yourself anyway
- Airline blacklisting you for the behaviour – contrary to a flight, it’s technically very difficult for the airline to know if you’ve taken the train / bus journey or not, which prevents them from taking any actions against you
Cathay Pacific 1,500 miles sign-up bonus
Cathay Pacific has joined Aegean in giving away free miles, although it’s available to new sign-ups only.
You can view the offer details here. Simply create your account between December 14 and 31 to earn the 1,500 welcome miles, no flight required. It’s limited to the first 15,000 sign-ups but I don’t expect it to fill up anytime soon.
If you travel to Asia from time to time you have a decent chance of flying Cathay, although my recent trip with them in business class failed to impress. They are a conversion partner of American Express Membership Rewards.
Compared to booking an award ticket with Avios, Cathay’s inventory is much better and pricing also a lot lower.
My review of W Hollywood
After a one-night transition at Courtyard Santa Monica I’m continuing my journey at the W Hollywood hotel. Although my friends recommend me to stay at the Beverley Hills / West Hollywood area, hotel rates there are extortionate and it’s hard to find reward availability, so I’m taking a compromise.
The W is very conveniently located on the Walk of Fame, and about 20 minutes walk to the Chinese Theatre. It’s built above a metro station, and with public transport you could visit places of interest like LACMA, Griffith Observatory and Beverley Hills rather easily.
If you arrive in car you’ll enter the hotel through its car park and back door. The logo is as flamboyant as the W brand usually implicates. The reception and lobby bar look very nice too.
My suite night award was declined… again! I’m upgraded to a corner room with Hollywood Hills view instead. However my room key suggests it’s located on the fourth floor, and I doubt I could anticipate any view from that height.
The room is just white and cold. I’m not saying it’s bad, but it’s totally the opposite of the standard W vibe which should be radiating passion and lust from every corner of the room.
The bed is unusually low, and comfortable enough. There is another… bed? on the windowsill which I assume is for kids.
As I suspected the room hardly has any view to sell, although higher floors (the hotel has 12 in total) should have a better chance of seeing the hill. The room doesn’t proof sound very well, but most of the time there aren’t many noises.
There’s no bathroom. The shower’s knob was stuck and I had to get someone to fix it.
They don’t have the most attentive cleaning team either. I had a coffee from the espresso machine, and neither was the paper cup replaced or capsule refilled the next day.
The rooftop pool and viewing deck is named WET.
Facilities are great – there are chaise lounges, cabanas and even beds, take your pick! You need to pre-book (not sure if for free) in peak seasons, but it’s getting cold in November already so not a lot of guests are around.
View is awesome. To my disappoint they don’t have a jacuzzi – I should have enjoyed my time back in the Courtyard!
By the way, the hotel charges a $29 daily destination fee, a notorious U.S. custom that you have to put up with. It includes $29 credit to spend at the WET bar so feel free to order a drink here. Other potentially useful perks include tickets for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Big Bus (red line only).
Titanium members get breakfast vouchers to use at the Daphne restaurant.
According to the voucher you must choose from a certain set menu. However you could also order anything from the “normal” menu instead, and have a $30 credit per person.
The eggs benedict and croissant are very good quality.
The hotel is located conveniently in Hollywood for tourists, and has a beautiful lobby, bar and swimming pool. The guest room may let you down though, but in general I keep my expectations low when staying at U.S. hotels.
IHG Q1 offer: 3,000 points for every two nights
IHG has revealed their Q1 offer (possibly targeted), and you can register now.
- Stay between January 1 and February 8
- Earn 3,000 bonus points for every two eligible nights
- Valid three times (i.e. maximum 9,000 bonus points)
As usual, an eligible night is a paid night that costs at least $30 booked via official IHG channels.
I received this offer via email, and the wording suggests it might be targeted. Anyway, don’t expect another global promotion from IHG until February 8.