Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Bits: is 10,000 Avios from Nutmeg a good deal?, No 1 Traveller’s plan at Gatwick North

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News in brief:

Nutmeg offering 5,000 – 10,000 Avios if you are referred

Nutmeg is an innovative online wealth management service which offers a fully managed, discretionary, investment service at a far lower cost than its competitors.  If you are using St James’s Place, Hargreaves Lansdown etc then the Nutmeg fee structure of 0.3% – 0.95% should be of interest.

Using exchange-traded funds, Nutmeg offers no set fees, no transaction fees, no trading fees, no exit fees and no commission.  You only pay your annual management fee.  Your Money voted them the ‘best online Stocks and Shares ISA provider’ for 2015.

Nutmeg has launched a special bonus with Avios which can earn you up to 10,000 Avios for opening an account.  Full details are here.

What No 1 Traveller is doing at Gatwick North

There has been some confusion online about what is happening underneath the No 1 Traveller lounge at Gatwick North in the old Delta Airlines lounge space.

This confusion wasn’t helped when HFP stated, incorrectly, on Sunday that British Airways was fitting out the space as a temporary lounge to relieve pressure on the No 1 Traveller facility.

This is what is actually happening.  No 1 Traveller has taken over the space previously occupied by Delta.  This is being converted into its Clubrooms concept – you may remember that I was very enthusiastic when I reviewed the Clubrooms in Gatwick South last year.

Clubrooms allow both large and small groups, from families up to large tour groups, to book a private lounge space of their own or share an exclusive small communal lounge.  The full range of No 1 Traveller food and drink is available to order.

As per their website:

The Clubrooms provides the ultimate jet set departure with its hosted table service, hot seasonal dishes freshly prepared in the kitchen, and wide range of wines, beers and spirits. It’s a tranquil retreat with a personal service to match.  As the highest tier lounge in the No 1 collection, Clubrooms offers a sophisticated and understated elegance which is perfect for individuals or groups jetting away for a special trip.

The Gatwick North facility is due to open in early April.  Some British Airways passengers, presumably ticketed First Class and possibly Gold card holders, will be allowed to use the Clubrooms.  It is worth noting, at Gatwick South, that children under 12 are not allowed unless a private room is booked.


Getting airport lounge access for free from a credit card

How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, here are the three options to get FREE airport lounge access via a credit or charge card:

American Express Platinum card Amex

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here

You also get access to Plaza Premium, Delta and Eurostar lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

Nectar American Express

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with two free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here

Additional lounge visits are charged at £20.  You get two more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard

A huge bonus, but only available to HSBC Premier clients Read our full review

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free LoungeKey card, allowing you access to the LoungeKey network.  Guests are charged at £20 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.

Comments (16)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • h2d says:

    Happy to refer anyone if helpful. The Nutmeg interface is very slick though as one may expect given recent market performance in general, Nutmeg performance has been anemic (read negative). As with other similar investments definitely something where a long term investment horizen is prudent.

  • Modern Day Sinbad says:

    Happy to help with a Nutmeg referral. Steveuk75 [at] Gmail [dot] com

    • tony says:

      The Nutmeg fee structure, even though recently revised, is still considered expensive in the industry.

      • Emma says:

        Yep, the 0.3% management fee is only triggered at £500,000, and fund fees are on top of that.
        0.95% is steep when there’s no advice.

  • Francesca Tuckett says:

    Happy to refer anyone. For iSA wrappers etc nutmeg is a v economical option – low fees and easy to use

  • MadMike says:

    Well its about time BA did something for First Class passengers travelling vis Gatwick, the current arrangements are a joke and their attitude towards anyone who says they are not happy is appalling. How they can can have the gall to claim that the vastly overcrowded (thanks to BA!) No 1 Lounge is anything like a First Class experience is beyond me.

    • Mike says:

      Yeah, I got in the lounge at 5:50 this morning and it was already pretty crowded. By 6:30 it was full! One passenger asked about needing to pay for champagne – the guy at the bar said that BA chose not to include it in the contract! Could have at least given out vouchers to F/GCH passengers…

  • Genghis says:

    As an investment the nutmeg fees are expensive. As an avios earning opportunity, it’s risky as a less than 2% decrease in the market over the year would mean you’ve lost out (assuming min investment, nutmeg fees, av. underlying fund fee and avios at 1p). I’m not a taker.

  • ringingup says:

    Not sure if you knew already before my comment on the previous article, but glad to see you got your story straight. 🙂

    • Rob says:

      I saw that comment, didn’t respond but the No 1 dropped me a note.

  • Scallder says:

    OT (apologies) – not sure if this has already been mentioned by someone else but the charge for my Curve Card hit my credit card on Sunday (showing at the moment just as ‘WorldPay’).

  • Kathy says:

    Looking for opinions: is the Virgin Money Stocks and Shares ISA a better deal, if your main objective is earning some miles?

    • Rob says:

      Yes, purely because you can pop in £1000 and get the miles within a week – although you still have some risk of capital loss.

      • Lawro says:

        OT: Rob any info on the ‘regular’ every 9/10 months hotel points to BAEC bonus? I’m pretty sure the last one was in May last year.

        Secondly, is anyone aware if the one change every 6 months rule with BAEC HH accounts is the same with avios HH accounts?
        Thanks

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.