Bits: Cathay boosts Gatwick and Manchester, BA schedule changes, MOXY Aberdeen opens

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News in brief:

Cathay Pacific boosts Gatwick and Manchester

Cathay Pacific has announced a further boost to its UK operation following the successful launch of its Gatwick service this year.

The Gatwick flight will increase to a seven day service from 1st June. It currently operates four times per week. In the same week, the Manchester route will move from four to five flights per week and will gain a brand new Airbus A350.

Cathay A350-900

British Airways announces Summer schedule tweaks

British Airways has announced some minor tweaks to its Summer 2017 schedules.

The main reason for mentioning this is that – irrespective of how tough it is to find Avios redemption seats on existing flights – all of these new services will have been loaded into ba.com with at least two Club Europe and four Euro Traveller seats available.

This is what is new:

Mykonos – additional Heathrow Thursday flight in June, July and August

Malaga – additional Heathrow Saturday flight in June, July and August

These are offset by cancellations to Athens, Bucharest and Rome.

Additional ‘shoulder season’ flights (26th March to 14th May, 10th September to 22nd October) added to Pisa (Saturday), Copenhagen (Tuesday), Basle (Sunday), Venice (Monday and Thursday), Porto (Wednesday), Edinburgh (Saturday), Hamburg (Tuesday), Munich (Tuesday)

The new services are already bookable at ba.com.

moxy-aberdeen

MOXY Aberdeen Airport opens

Finally, the first UK outpost of Marriott’s new ‘funky’ chain, MOXY, has opened at Aberdeen Airport.

MOXY, which is a joint venture with IKEA of all people, is decribed as “a budget hotel with the soul of a boutique hotel.” The photos of the public areas do look impressive, see above.

Aberdeen is proving to be a hotel graveyard at the moment. When oil prices were at their peak and hotel rates were through the roof, every major hotel chain decided that it needed a project in Aberdeen. These are now starting to hit the market but – with the oil industry in a downturn – it is virtually impossible to see all these beds being filled.

The MOXY Aberdeen Airport website is here if you want to find out more.

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (December 2021)

There are various ways of earning Marriott Bonvoy points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

The official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card usually comes with 20,000 points for signing up, 2 points for every £1 you spend and 15 elite night credits per year.

You can apply here.

American Express Marriott Bonvoy credit card

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points sign-up bonus and 15 elite night credits Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points by converting American Express Membership Rewards points at the rate of 2:3.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Marriott Bonvoy Gold status for as long as they hold the card? It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Gold and MeliaRewards Gold status. We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

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

You can also earn American Express Membership Rewards points with American Express Gold (20,000 bonus points), the American Express Rewards Credit Card (5,000 bonus points) and – for small business owners – American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus points) and Business Platinum (40,000 bonus points).

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Marriott Bonvoy points.

(Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Category

British Airways and Avios, Cathay Pacific and Asia Miles, Marriott Bonvoy

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

N says:

14 Dec14 December 09:06

OT – Amex offer of £20 off £79 at Amazon when purchasing a year of Amazon Prime.

I wonder if this will work with a normal Amazon purchase or if Prime subs get billed differently? If anyone is buying anything £79+ on Amazon today, could they experiment?
- Alan says:
  
  14 Dec14 December 09:35
  
  They definitely show differently on Amex, with PRIME in the transaction text.
Chris says:

14 Dec14 December 09:07

The downturn in oil certainly hasn’t put off hotel development in Aberdeen. Hilton got approval a couple of months back for a new build 200 room full service hotel with lounge next to the AECC and apparently work has started on the site.

As others have said the CP at the airport is a nice hotel and can be an absolute bargain, however having stayed here quite regularly when it opened the cutbacks have been significant and instead of being amazing it’s now good to really good and the staffing has been seriously scaled back.

The car park is a disgrace as they have turned it into an airport car park and at £5 per day it’s significantly cheaper than using the airport and you struggle to get a space at 3pm on a Saturday when they are selling rooms at £35.
- Fraser says:
  
  14 Dec14 December 09:22
  
  I was thinking the same about Aberdeen when booking yesterday. I got the Mercure on a Friday night for £28.80. Can’t argue with that and was cheap enough to sway me from the Doubletree which seems not to have an executive lounge 🙁
  - Chris says:
    
    14 Dec14 December 10:34
    
    Which Mercure?
    
    If it’s Ardoe House it’s really nice. They started to refurbish it with a view to switching it to an MGallery but that never happened in the end.
    
    If it’s the Caledonian some of the rooms can be quite grim (Think a Travelodge at the side of the M6). Most of the rooms to the front have been refurbished in the last five years or so I think although at this time of year there is normally a funfair at the front of the hotel so it may be noisy.
Dale says:

14 Dec14 December 09:28

Snap on CP Aberdeen, it’s an amazing deal at £40.50 with Club Lounge access. Hit and miss with breakfast tho even with Spire I’ve been refused a couple of times, and got it knocked off my bill a couple more.
James67 says:

14 Dec14 December 10:12

OT hotels: Big thanks to those readers yesterday who warned me I would likely not get 5000 visa bonus on a Hampton redemption bar bill. When checking into my plans I also discovered that today, not tomorrow, is last day for IHG accelerate stays so cancelled that stay too. Back to the drawing board 🙂
- Anon says:
  
  14 Dec14 December 12:43
  
  I got the 5k bonus on a 10k redemption at a Hampton in Florida, I booked it via app paid with visa, just got 2x $1 pack of peanuts added to bill to trigger visa spend.
- James67 says:
  
  14 Dec14 December 17:54
  
  Thamks, may give it a try in January when I can combine with a stay for the next accelerate, a bonus if it works but no big loss if it doesn’t. Any idea if the 5000 visa bonus works for points and cash redemptions?
  - Alan says:
    
    14 Dec14 December 18:39
    
    Seems a little variable but reports of success on Flyertalk for all points and cash+points. Worth charging small amount to room if you can.
  - John says:
    
    15 Dec15 December 04:47
    
    The chances are higher if you only have Visa cards in your profile at the time of booking and staying (and don’t and haven’t previously given the hotel an Amex).
Save East Coast Rewards says:

14 Dec14 December 11:28

Which terminal does CX use at LGW and which lounge?
- Leo says:
  
  14 Dec14 December 18:10
  
  South and No1 Lounge but i am presuming you will get access once the new BA lounge opens.
Rob says:

14 Dec14 December 12:58

OT: Cards Galore on London Wall (near Waterstones) is also in Shop Small. First Class (and only First Class) stamps available and without the queue at the Post Office a few doors down as an extra bonus. Had my confirmation very quickly despite using an MBNA Amex and not a proper one.
- jamie says:
  
  14 Dec14 December 13:57
  
  i was literally there in waterstones about 45 mins ago…probably walked past you!
- Johnny_c-l says:
  
  14 Dec14 December 15:17
  
  ‘Journeys Friend’ stores in Euston station, Victoria Station and the foyer of Hilton Gatwick South are also good for 1st Class stamps if you’re passing through.
Boi says:

14 Dec14 December 13:35

OT:
When do Amex transfer points earned from BAPP credit card to BAEC? I want to close my account and wonder about timings….
- Genghis says:
  
  14 Dec14 December 13:48
  
  Around 5 days before statement date
  - Liz says:
    
    14 Dec14 December 18:30
    
    Don’t cancel before the points post – I am currently having trouble getting 9133 Avios transferred to our BAEC account having cancelled the card before the points transferred. We were told they would definitely transfer but BAEC are rejecting the points as the Amex account is closed – just been on the phone again for over an hour trying to resolve it. Need to wait another week to see if it gets resolved between Amex and BAEC – I’ll never cancel before points post again!
    - AndyR says:
      
      14 Dec14 December 19:39
      
      Same thing happened to me Liz! I did get them in the end, but it was a pain in the arse! I was told that when you cancel it removes the ‘link’ to your BAEC account so the transfer fails. The guy I spoke to had to raise a ticket with Amex 3rd line support team to re-instate this link. They then got transferred the following month.
      - Liz says:
        
        14 Dec14 December 19:57
        
        Thanks Andy – glad you got them in the end – I’m sure we’ll get them – just need to be patient. Never again though!
    - Boi says:
      
      14 Dec14 December 20:18
      
      Thanks. I will wait until they transfer across then. I think I may have missed it, didn’t want to pay another month…
      - Liz says:
        
        14 Dec14 December 21:51
        
        I thought I’d save a month – wish I hadn’t – lesson learned! 🙁
the real harry says:

14 Dec14 December 16:18

British Airways cabin crew have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strikes in a dispute over pay, in a move that could result in flights from Heathrow being disrupted over the Christmas holidays.

Cabin crew in BA’s mixed fleet unit – who represent about 15% of stewards at the airline – voted to strike after rejecting a 2% pay offer on what Unite has described as “poverty pay” levels.

Union representatives will meet over the next two days to decide what action to take, with a strike possible at any date from 21 December.

More than 2,000 staff at Heathrow were balloted, with a 79% vote to strike on a 60% turnout. All of BA’s new flight crew members are recruited into the mixed fleet branch, which was set up in 2010 on lower pay and conditions than existing crew.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/dec/14/british-airways-strike-pay-heathrow-christmas-ba
- Talay says:
  
  15 Dec15 December 02:40
  
  I’m not sure about this.
  
  First they join an industry with historic low pay and then complain because the pay is low ?
  
  Any statistics on the percentage of people surviving air crashes whose lives were saved directly as a consequence of cabin crew ?
  
  I tend to see it as them joining up as a “glamour” job and when they realise it isn’t, wanting more cash to offset the lack of aforementioned perceived glamour.