Last chance: Virgin, Etihad and United credit card bonuses

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• Peter says:

  13 Jul13 July 09:36

  Thanks for the post HFP! I just relocated for work from the US to the UK and was wondering if you have any advice on how the points worlds differ? I’ve noticed a few glaring differences (pittance of sign up bonuses here!), but curious if there is more I’m not noticing. i.e. How credit reports work, churning best practices, etc.

  Also, do you know if those 12k United points can be deposited into my US account? Or must I open a new UA account in the UK?

  • Rob says:

    13 Jul13 July 13:22

    Same UA account as long as you have changed the address on it to a UK one.

    Credit scoring in the US sense does not happen here. No FICO etc. it is a more subjective process with no hard rules. However you are unlikely to get a card until you:

    A open a UK bank account
    B have some utility bills in your name
    C register to vote in the UK (or at least fill in the form to tell them you cannot vote)
    D have a council tax bill in your name

    Once you have 3 of those 4 you will ‘exist’, ie you will have a credit record, which card companies can look at.

    If you had an Amex in the US it is easier as Amex can pull your US data and will be less fussy.

• James says:

  13 Jul13 July 09:54

  I currently have 3x MBNA cards (BMI,AA,EK), before applying for the 3rd card I called them and asked what the policy was on the number of cards per person.

  I was told that they allow you to have a max of 5 cards (accounts) and that I could have an £18k limit spread across the 5 cards.

• James says:

  13 Jul13 July 11:25

  Alas because virgin only let’s you upgrade full fare tickets from all classes Flying Club miles seem less useful than avios?

  • Rob says:

    13 Jul13 July 13:17

    This came up before. Apparently semi flex tickets are upgradable and, in Premium Economy, the cheapest is only £150 or so more expensive than a non-flexible one. You would need to call Virgin to book that because you need a particular fare class. I am sure someone can jump in and confirm.

    • Alan says:

      13 Jul13 July 13:20

      I haven’t booked one yet myself (although investigated it a bit before getting their credit card!), but my understanding is the Flying Club part of their website is clear which fare codes are eligible and their booking system let’s you search for fares based on those codes if you want. Agree calling to confirm makes sense though.

• Jason says:

  14 Jul14 July 08:08

  Raffles

  After BA( Avios), what would be the next best reward scheme, for families travelling to the middle east( in business or first)
  Although Avios availability, as it gets worse with BA, is still pretty good with other one world airlines are their other better options people should be looking at?

  • Rob says:

    14 Jul14 July 12:11

    Not Etihad because they restrict premium seats to 2 per flight.

    Emirates is VERY easy at Flex level, I would guess you can get 4 seats in business on 80 per cent of flights to Dubai even at Easter, half term etc (because I do it myself).

    Downside is that this is very expensive – 125000 per person, so 500,000 miles for a family of 4. Unless you spending huge amounts on an Amex or Emirates credit card or flying with them a lot you will not reach this.

    Lufthansa availability in J is generally OK. Buying Avianca Lifemiles could get you these seats cheaply but you need to know what you are doing (if you Google Aviance Lifemiles you will find some US blog articles.)

    Qatar from Manchester, Paris, Amsterdam etc may also be an option depending on where you live.

    • Jason says:

      14 Jul14 July 19:43

      Thanks Raffles

      Looks like I’ll be sticking with Avios for a while, at least the qatar option is a good substitute if BA isn’t available.
      There are worse places to spend overnight, than Doha!

• David says:

  17 Jul17 July 21:57

  Can someone please confirm if, for the Virgin Atlantic Black Card, the £3000 spend requirement can be achieved with spend on both cards or rather just the Amex OR the Visa?

  The T&Cs stated (abridged): “A further 11,500 bonus miles will be credited to your account when you apply by 14 July 2014 and spend £3,000 on either card in the first 90 days of your account opening and supply your Flying Club membership number”

  So is this £3000 across the two cards, or £3000 on the Amex OR the Visa? I would like to think the intention was for it to be across both cards, but I wonder if anyone is able to confirm?

  I appreciate for the ongoing vouchers the spend is required on the Amex only, but the account opening bonus is written differently. Thanks.

  • Rob says:

    18 Jul18 July 09:33

    Both cards. You only actually get one statement and one bill anyway.

    • David says:

      18 Jul18 July 10:10

      The PE upgrade and companion flight voucher eligibility is based on Amex spend only, so the fact it is just one statement may not be key (and there are different earning rates so they have to add up the spend on each card separately). MBNA don’t seem to know anything about any signup bonus, can’t see any promotional offers on the account, and refer me to VFC. VFC thought the offer ended at the end of June and was based on Amex spend only – which is clearly incorrect – so getting confirmation of this seems like hard work. Also the paperwork that arrived with the cards only mentioned 18500 bonus miles, which is a little confusing! I have kept a print out of the offer page in case I need it later.

• David says:

  18 Jul18 July 13:23

  Just as a quick follow up I have spoken again to MBNA and they have confirmed that the required spend can indeed be across both cards, .e.g. £1500 Amex and £1500 Visa.

• Ryan says:

  28 Jul28 July 20:37

  Does anyone still have the original email for the Virgin Credit Cards offer? I have spent the qualifying spend (£1k) for the white card and no bonus 7000 miles. I have queried it, and now have a very formal letter from the ‘Contact Centre Site Lead’ stating there was no such promotion. I need some proof!

  • Rob says:

    28 Jul28 July 20:53

    Have emailed you

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