Bits: 2400 Avios with £99 tablet, Norwegian adds Singapore, more Amex Platinum lounges

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News in brief:

2,400 Avios with a £99 Samsung tablet

Tesco Direct is running an interest Samsung Galaxy Tab offer this week. Until April 24th, these four tablets – all priced at £99 or £119 – come with 1,000 bonus Tesco Clubcard points.

That would get you 2,400 Avios or 2,500 bonus Virgin Flying Club miles, on top of your base points. Full details are in this Shopper Points article.

Norwegian adds Singapore

Low-cost long-haul airline Norwegian turned up the pressure on British Airways yesterday with the launch of a new London Gatwick to Singapore service.

Services start on 28th September using a new Boeing 787-9. It will initially operate four times a week before stepping up to five. Headline entry fares are £180 one-way in economy (although checked baggage and meals are extra) and £700 one-way in Premium.

This is an aggressive move by Norwegian which has focused on UK to North America routes to date, and it remains to be seen if such routes will remain viable if fuel prices rise from their current low-ish level.

There will now be 50 flights per week between London and Singapore over Winter 2017.

Our recent article outlining the Norwegian Reward programme is here.

Norwegian 787

More Amex Platinum lounges – Bradesco lounges in Brazil

Two days ago I ran an article on the long list of airport lounges which can be accessed with an Amex Platinum card but which Amex doesn’t tell you about.

A reader pointed out that I missed one group. Amex – in conjunction with its local issuer Bradesco – has a network of lounges in Brazil. These can be accessed with a Platinum card or, it appears (my Portuguese is a bit ropey) a Gold card. Full details, in Portuguese, can be found here. Here are the lounges:

Sao Paulo Terminal 2 – Bradesco Lounge – airside – 1st floor
Sao Paulo Terminal 3 – Star Alliance Lounge – airside – mezzanine
Sao Paulo – Amex Centurion Lounge – airside – opposite gate 5
Rio De Janeiro – Amex Centurion Lounge – landside – 1st floor
Recife Terminal 2 – Sala VIP PontesTur – airside – ground floor

…. and Plaza Premium lounges

Amex Platinum cards issued in Hong Kong – but which look very similar to the UK version – can be used to access a large number of Plaza Premium airport lounges. You can learn more here.

Most Plaza Premium lounges are in Priority Pass, which means that you can enter anyway by using the Priority Pass card which comes with Amex Platinum, but this is a fall back option if you don’t have your Priority Pass with you.

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:

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.

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.

Category

American Express Platinum card, British Airways American Express, British Airways and Avios, Tesco Clubcard, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

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

Alexey says:

21 Apr21 April 10:55

OT and question :

I’ve used Lloyds Avois upgrade voucher first time yesterday and was surprised that savings of avois are not as great I thought … Business class ticket was about 40000 avios at the time and economy was 20000 … so I was expecting to get business for 20000 … but to my surprise they only allowed me to save about 10000 and seems used different / higher base cost for economy i.e. not reward saver …

so just wondering if that new policy or I have missunderstood something …that makes voucher not worth …
- Polly says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 11:09
  
  Did you go from premium Y to biz then? As those figures are more likely?
- AndyR says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 11:37
  
  Which route did you book? If short haul then you can upgrade from economy to business but if long haul then it is from premium economy to business.
  - Anna says:
    
    21 Apr21 April 13:54
    
    I can only think of a few destinations where return economy is 20,000 avios and business 40,000, like the Canaries or Malta. Interested to hear where Alexey is going, though now I’m thinking maybe Moscow, so yes, you would be charged the PE rate to get CE with the upgrade voucher.
    - Anna says:
      
      21 Apr21 April 13:57
      
      Still a good deal, though, as I hear they have flat beds in CE to Moscow!
      - Genghis says:
        
        21 Apr21 April 15:39
        
        MOW is CW and they run 2-4 class services depending on the aircraft so that could play a part
      - Really? says:
        
        21 Apr21 April 18:14
        
        Nobody uses the ‘bed’ on that short flight
        
        Unless they’re lie-down drunk….or ill
      - the real harry1 says:
        
        21 Apr21 April 18:17
        
        what if they’re jet-lagged?
      - Alexey says:
        
        21 Apr21 April 20:17
        
        one of the flights is overnight .. departs 10 something pm .. arrive 4 something am local time ( 4 hours flight) … so flat beds are definitely useful … that however not making Lloyd voucher worth it for me , with saving 9K avois only for 24 GBP fee and 7K spend … I think I can find better return on that spend
    - Alexey says:
      
      21 Apr21 April 19:41
      
      It is Moscow flight ..
      I don’t think they sell premium economy on that …
      Only saw economy and business available …
      what is also strange … I got ~30K deducted and on confirmations , but in on of the emails with sort of invoices it say ~20K …
      - Alexey says:
        
        21 Apr21 April 19:49
        
        Flight BA234 Moscow Domo. to London Heathrow
        BA237 London Heathrow to Moscow Domo. (1 adult)
        
        Subtotal 37,000 50.00
        Booking Fee 0.00
        Booking Voucher discount -9,250 0.00
        Received 27,750 50.00
        
        but in another email … from avios …
        
        Thanks for your booking with us.
        
        Summary
        ——————————————————————————–
        Reference number(s): ISS XXXXXXX
        Avios: 18500
        Cash: £50.00
        
        …
        
        and still got 27,750 deducted from my account
Leo says:

21 Apr21 April 12:47

I think the thing which is interesting about the Norwegian flights is the premium cabin. Theses flights offer daytime options where to be frank you do not need a flat bed – what these premium seats appear to offer is plenty of room – so they would price up at about £1300 return. Now in the past you have been able to get Finnair business seats for not much more than that and these get avios and TPs etc. As has already been said they probably really come into their own as a oneway paid ticket when using with a redemption.
- Leo says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 13:08
  
  Just checked BA premium economy in October – price up the same as Norwegian but are “red-eye”s and you’d possibly want a bed. SQ premium economy is over £1500.
- Kevin says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 14:24
  
  I’ve flown Norwegian premium. It’s all most people would need for a day flight with plenty of room. Food’s nothing amazing and entertainment options are limited.
- Rob says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 20:59
  
  We might be getting to try this out soon …… stay tuned.
axel says:

21 Apr21 April 14:03

January Economist subscription + 10200 bonus avios.

Accepted a refund of £110 today over phone as points never posted and it seems Economist are unable to get Avios to post the points. Not much better than a kick in the teeth on that deal.
- Kathy says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 14:36
  
  Oh dear. Has anyone got the points to post at all? I was counting on them coming through *eventually*.
Liz says:

21 Apr21 April 16:18

Received an email from sainburys today saying that My Coupons is closing on 6/5 – I liked to use this every few weeks to boost my Nectar pts. Another points earning thing bites the dust.
Sussex Bantam says:

21 Apr21 April 17:11

Thanks Harry – could you post a summary of the rules please ? Is there a min/max amount allowed ?

I didn’t get the email but your link allowed me to register.
- the real harry1 says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 17:22
  
  careful, might be invitation only, check you got the email
  - Sussex Bantam says:
    
    21 Apr21 April 17:27
    
    Your link takes me to a screen confirming my account is registered – I just don’t know what I’m registered for !!
    - the real harry1 says:
      
      21 Apr21 April 17:39
      
      it’s a deal where when you redeem your Nectar points on Ebay (by buying something), you’ll get 50% of the points back later
Liz says:

21 Apr21 April 17:37

OT has anyone heard of an app called Spot Hero for find parking deals abroad. Our HIX hotel in Chicago is charging $47 per night for car parking but we have been told if we download the Spot Hero app we will get it half price. When I search on my iPhone and iPad it doesn’t appear yet it says available via android and iPhone. Will it only work when we are actually in the USA or am I being a bit dumb…..
- Ro says:
  
  22 Apr22 April 04:07
  
  Hey Liz, if its an american app, it will often only be available if you are using the USA app store. im assuming you are on the UK app store.
  With apple its very easy to change country app store (not on apple myself but a quick google should tell you immediately)… with android its a bit of a faff.
- Scallder says:
  
  23 Apr23 April 03:49
  
  Hi Liz – not sure whether still applicable but might help for any other cities. Spot Hero can also be done online (ie desktop) as I looked at it for as my wife and I are heading into NOLA tomorrow and the hotel wanted $50 plus tax per night and we’re there for 5 nights!
  
  Spot Hero works well but also if you find a parking place you want to use see if you can book direct – doing so managed to save us a bit more on top of the Spot Hero price, so managed to save about $130 over the time we’re there.
Really? says:

21 Apr21 April 17:47

The hotel (a lowly HIX) is

(a) charging 47 bucks per night for parking?!?

(b) actually asking you to download an app from the US AppStore to avail of a 50% discount?!?!?

Really?!?!?
- Liz says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 18:07
  
  Yes Really!!!
  A lowly HIX is fine for us starting our 28 day road trip – we will only be in the hotel for a few hours before moving on – was just asking for some lowly help and yes they are charging $47 as it’s on the Magnificicent Mile.
  - Really? says:
    
    21 Apr21 April 18:23
    
    Sorry Liz. Please accept my apologies. On reflection the ‘lowly’ was out of order but more importantly was certainly not aimed at your choice of hotel. I simply meant the HIX (not exactly a 5*) had the audacity to charge such ridiculous $ and suggest such whacko solutions.
    
    Parking in the states can induce headaches. I was once ticketed for ‘parking facing the wrong direction’ on a one way street once. I genuinely thought someone was extracting urine.
    - Gavin says:
      
      21 Apr21 April 18:29
      
      The number of times I parked the “wrong” way on a street on my US road trip before a local riding with me told me I could get a ticket…
      - the real harry1 says:
        
        21 Apr21 April 18:32
        
        same in either NZ or Aus (can’t remember which, probably Aus)
        
        speaking as the world record holder for getting a NZ road licence – I did the test in about under 2 minutes (30 questions at the time, no road test due to Brit licence)
        
        100% correct
        
        too easy
        
        invigilator thought I was coming up to ask for a new pen or something lol – nope, I’ve finished, please mark it 🙂
        
        easy to memorise all the answers
      - Ro says:
        
        22 Apr22 April 04:09
        
        Yeah wrong way parking in aus gets you a ticket
Tom says:

21 Apr21 April 18:00

Hoorah for this move from Norwegian. Any and all BA alternatives and competitors welcome. Routes East especially welcome!
- Gavin says:
  
  21 Apr21 April 18:34
  
  I am wondering if Norwegian to Singapore, Avios on Cathay or another Miles option to somewhere else in Asia and then back home with a Lloyds voucher could be an option for me and Mrs Gavin next year …
  - Alex W says:
    
    21 Apr21 April 22:10
    
    Doesn’t Lloyds voucher have to start in the UK? They’ve got you by the balls, there’s no escaping the ridiculous surcharges.
    - njbafox says:
      
      22 Apr22 April 00:01
      
      No. Lloyds Voucher can start from anywhere. I live overseas and use it to get home.
    - Callum says:
      
      22 Apr22 April 00:47
      
      You can avoid ridiculous surcharges if you’re flexible. My Club World booking with Lloyds from Hong Kong – London/Spain – London – Chile cost a grand total of £160 in taxes etc.
      - Jerry says:
        
        22 Apr22 April 04:27
        
        So you can book two wholly unrelated one-ways, neither originating in the UK? Nice one. Never used one myself (as obv I don’t have the card)
      - Callum says:
        
        22 Apr22 April 05:27
        
        Ah, now I remember that wasn’t quite true. The Avios voucher was only applied to HKG-LHR-SCL. The extra Spain-London leg was normal price but included on the same booking, so dropped the APD (and possibly some of the fuel surcharge – £130 for BIO-LHR-SCL seems cheap).
        
        Whether that’s a one way with stopover or an open jaw return I don’t know.