Bits: £100 off £500 BA spend, 4000 Miles & More miles with a hotel, Troy Warfield leaves BA

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News in brief:

£100 off a £500 British Airways spend deal with Amex

American Express is offering a very limited number of cardholders a £100 statement credit with their next £500 British Airways purchase.

If you are targetted, it will appear on your American Express online account under ‘Offers’. It is limited to the first 7,000 people to save the offer to their card and the £500 transaction must be made by 12th June.

Neither my wife or I have this. If you have put British Airways transactions through one of your Amex cards recently then you will probably be out of luck. Some – but not all – HfP readers who have contacted Amex Customer Services have managed to get this offer added to their accounts even though they were not targetted.

Helpfully, £500 just covers the taxes and charges on a Club World or First Class long haul Avios redemption.

British Airways A350

4,000 Miles & More miles with any hotel booking

Lufthansa is again offering a generous bribe to encourage you to try its new hotel booking website.

It is only valid for first-time bookers via the Miles & More Hotels portal which you can find here. There is no minimum stay and no minimum spend. You need to book by 23rd May but the stay can be for a future date. All bookings must be pre-paid.

The 4,000 miles is the minimum you will earn – this consists of a 3,000 miles bonus and 1,000 base miles. You may receive more than 1,000 base miles based on the cost of your room.

Troy Warfield

British Airways loses its second ‘Director of Customer Experience’

British Airways staff were told last week that Troy Warfield, BA’s ‘Director of Customer Experience’ is leaving the company after 18 months.

The announcement:

Troy Warfield, Director Customer Experience, has decided to leave British Airways. Since joining the airline, Troy has led many customer improvements including the Gatwick and Boston Lounges, First Wing and forthcoming transformation of Club World catering, service and sleep proposition. The process of finding a successor is now under way and an announcement will be made once an appointment is confirmed.

…. seems to be lacking the usual ‘leaves with our best wishes’, ‘we wish him success in his future career’, ‘I am sad to leave behind such a hard working group of colleagues’ etc platitudes normally found in such wording.

There were raised eyebrows when Warfield was hired, given that his previous employer (Avis Budget) is not exactly known for its outstanding customer service. His job before Avis was running Andrex, Kleenex, Scottex and Velvet for Kimberley-Clark in Europe ….

That said, Warfield’s departure mirrors that of Frank van der Post. van der Post was Warfield’s predecessor and the first person to have this role. He came from a successful stint at Jumeirah Hotels – which does have a good reputation for customer experience – but he did not last too long either, albeit he went on to a senior role at KPM Royal Dutch Telecom.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

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

The Platinum Card from American Express

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

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Category

British Airways and Avios, Lufthansa and Miles & More

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

Nick says:

16 May16 May 13:24

I just called Amex to ask about the £100 statement credit.

I was told that the offer does not start until May 22nd and that no Amex customers should be receiving the offer on their account until then. I was also told that the offer is limited to the first 10,000 people (not 7,000).

I was also given this useful link, that shows all of the offers that are currently open to Amex customers:

https://network.americanexpress.com/connect/uk/en/default.html
- mark2 says:
  
  16 May16 May 17:30
  
  That is the offers available on Amex cards issued by other banks. It is only a small subset of the offers on Amex cards which vary enormously between card types and card holders.
  - Nick says:
    
    16 May16 May 19:10
    
    Not what Amex told me.
    - the real harry1 says:
      
      16 May16 May 19:25
      
      but you got 2 bad answers out of 3 – Mark2 is correct, just try putting one of the offers on your Amex Amex card from the Connect site & you’ll see
      - Nick says:
        
        16 May16 May 19:37
        
        I wasn’t saying he was wrong, I was saying that wasn’t what Amex told me. Always has to be a smarty pants…
Jovanna says:

16 May16 May 13:25

My next flight is £199.57. Anyway to bump this over £200? On BA I could add the carbon tax. Is there a booking fee on the Amex Travel site? That would do it.

Also, my partner has the supplementary Amex Plat card. Is there anyway that I can register that card so that she can receive these offers?
- Gavin says:
  
  16 May16 May 13:37
  
  Yes your partner can register and use the offers. I can’t remember how I did this however for my wife. Getting her to make use of the offers is another matter altogether!
- Simon Schus says:
  
  16 May16 May 17:25
  
  £200 with Amex Travel? Is there an offer?
  - Jovanna says:
    
    16 May16 May 18:48
    
    Domestic flight in Club Europe.
- the real harry1 says:
  
  16 May16 May 17:58
  
  I had a look last year and couldn’t find anything small to get us over £200
- the_real_a says:
  
  16 May16 May 21:35
  
  There are some “experiences” in asia for £5-6. Try a cooking class in Chiang Mai
  - the real harry1 says:
    
    16 May16 May 22:19
    
    good tip for the future
xcalx says:

16 May16 May 13:37

Totally OT I am travelling down to London tonight and need to get from Kings Cross to Park Royal at around 21.30. I see that both underground stations are on the Piccadilly line but when I use the TFL route planner it has me changing at a couple of tube stations then a bus. Is Park Royal under ground closed at this time. Staying at the Park Plaza Western Ave which looks to be opposite the underground station.
Any help appreciated.

Thanks
- Genghis says:
  
  16 May16 May 13:55
  
  Nothing to do with the Piccadilly line going the long way round to Park Royal via Hammersmith? I.e. it might be quicker to take a couple of trains and bus?
- bill says:
  
  16 May16 May 14:28
  
  hmm not sure why its done that, if you take away the bus option from journey planner it then gives you the option to go all the way with the Piccadilly line. No engineering works that im aware of
- Lady London says:
  
  16 May16 May 18:00
  
  Hanger Lane on central line is half a mile or less from Park Royal station. Central line is a faster route too. Also North Acton is not far.
  
  For those of us who do not regularly travel in limo’s I have found googlemaps is getting really good at suggesting routings even combining buses, overland rail and underground and pretty accurate too.
  
  Lastly it’s always worth calling a hotel’s reception if you want to find out how to reach them
  - Genghis says:
    
    16 May16 May 18:05
    
    @Lady London I thought you’d have a driver called Parker? “Yes, M’Lady” 🙂
  - Ro says:
    
    17 May17 May 07:19
    
    Google maps is solid but its definitely worth getting the free citymapper app. Found it to be even better and much more accurate for bus arrival times.
    
    Also has that nice feature where it tells you what section of the tube train to sit in so you are nearest the exit
- Rio says:
  
  16 May16 May 19:00
  
  Park Royal is working and you will be able to go directly using Piccadilly line.
  Stayed in that hotel on Sat, good value for a brand new hotel.
Ruth Findlay says:

16 May16 May 13:52

I secure messaged Amex this morning to see if they could give me the BA offer and they applied it straight way…excellent!
- Jimmy says:
  
  16 May16 May 14:24
  
  Once you select your card, what sub-topic did you choose? They have changed the available options, plus they have also removed the ‘complaint’ sub-topic!
  - Stu N says:
    
    16 May16 May 14:29
    
    I went for “other reward programs”, seemed to work.
- Kinkell says:
  
  16 May16 May 14:36
  
  I phoned Amex, and under no circumstances was the agent going to add to my account. Extremely adamant that this was not allowed, was not happening to anyone(!) and there was nothing she could do! I think I will call back later.
IslandDweller says:

16 May16 May 13:55

@xcalx. Direct Piccadilly line will work fine.
I suspect your problem is the default options that the journey planner uses. It always assumes quickest, even if that gives a stupid result that saves about two nano seconds and that no one in their right mind would select. Change your preferences in the journey planner to “fewest changes” and you’ll see the direct option.
xcalx says:

16 May16 May 14:04

Thanks Genghis and IslandDweller

Glad to hear the station is open. I will stay on the tube as am in no hurry. Not familiar with the London transport system.
Sussex Bantam says:

16 May16 May 14:19

OT – Lloyds have finally got round to crediting my Avios (and somewhat unbelievably actually did it correctly !) However I can’t see any sign of the voucher which I’m due – could someone tell me where I would see it in my account before I complain (again) ?

Thanks
- Genghis says:
  
  16 May16 May 15:06
  
  If you go to ‘Your Account’ -> ‘Overview’, under ‘Vouchers’ it should say ‘You have 1 voucher’, with a hyperlink taking you to a ‘Vouchers’ tab with the details.
  - Sussex Bantam says:
    
    16 May16 May 15:15
    
    Thanks Genghis I suspected as much but as there is nothing there I wanted to check before engaging with Lloyds CS again !
    - Genghis says:
      
      16 May16 May 15:32
      
      Good luck! Seems like you’ll need it.
- Alex W says:
  
  16 May16 May 18:19
  
  Lloyds rang me today saying it will take 6 months to resolve the issue…
bill says:

16 May16 May 14:31

Has anybody been greedy and managed to get the offer applied to both their main card and supplementary card? :p