Heathrow Rewards mega-bonus on electronics, watches and jewellery is back

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• Alex W says:

  31 Oct31 October 07:56

  I’ve no flights planned this year 🙁 so are any of these shops landside? Thanks

• Tilly says:

  31 Oct31 October 08:07

  Oh dear. Rest of my travel this year is from Gatwick.

  • chris says:

    31 Oct31 October 08:19

    Could be worse you could be flying from Turku Finland – http://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/flight-spins-180-degrees-during-landing

  • Lee says:

    31 Oct31 October 08:24

    Just book a cheap flight to the continent. Who says that you have to fly, just leave the airport once purchased 😉

    • Tilly says:

      31 Oct31 October 08:32

      Hahaha! If only I had the time. Can barely fit in a meal with a mate before the new year let alone an additional trip to Heathrow to go shopping. Temptimg though, do like the T5 shopping centre. Think the husband likes it when we have lounge access as it keeps me out of the shops.

    • Andrew says:

      31 Oct31 October 09:29

      How do you do that at Heathrow?

      I’ve never spotted a way out. Although my old boss was terrified of flying and would only manage to board, on average, one flight in four – so it can’t be too difficult. (His wife used to divi up his clothes between the rest of the family as she was fed up of her holiday being delayed as the ground crew recovered his luggage.)

      • Rob says:

        31 Oct31 October 09:31

        You ask the info desk in the middle of the terminal to be escorted out. They do a ‘walk’ once an hour. Happens to loads of people whose meetings get cancelled or flights get delayed and they decide not to go.

      • Gavin says:

        31 Oct31 October 11:02

        Get the transit to 5C and stay on until it moves round to the arrivals side and exit via the UK Border

        Don’t forget your passport!

      • Nick says:

        31 Oct31 October 18:55

        Much easier at T3 as there’s an ‘arrivals’ chute from the main departures area where you can self-arrive before you’ve even left. Try to do it with an airline you don’t like though, as they’ll run around trying to page you before offloading!!

• Lee says:

  31 Oct31 October 08:22

  I suppose any purchase of less than £3,000 is better done on a new card with the Avios bonus code than on a card that has previously triggered the double bass points. I assume that the double Base points option does not expire and you are not downgraded.

• Genghis says:

  31 Oct31 October 08:29

  OT. Interesting perspective on BA and private jet travel in GQ (referenced on FT)
  http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/british-airways-private-jet-service

  • Alan says:

    31 Oct31 October 09:32

    Unfortunately, I am one of the HFP readers that can’t afford Business/First flights. That said, I used to be happy to spend the premium for economy on a major carrier over the budget airlines. I used to actively seek to fly economy on BA rather than Ryanair or Easyjet. Unfortunately, BA’s race to the bottom in economy has meant that this is now no longer an option.

    I guess there aren’t enough people like me (can’t afford business, but happy to pay a bit more for decent economy) to base an airline structure around.

    I used to enjoy flying. Now, with crap flights and horrendous airport queues everywhere, I dread the thought of actually departing these shores.

    • TripRep says:

      31 Oct31 October 13:57

      Alan, I’ve never paid just ££££ for premium or business class, always combined with using miles, that’s why I visit here…

    • JamesB says:

      31 Oct31 October 14:41

      Where are you flying Alan? It sounds like shorthaul; if so you can have an experience akin to CE on easy jet for a lot less excepting blocked middle seat. Longhaul, there are always possibilities to get premium seats at less than BA WT but not as easy as it once was due to the low £.

      • Alan says:

        2 Nov2 November 12:24

        Thanks for the responses guys. I do both short haul (most commonly) but also the occasional long haul holiday.
        Think I might look into the Easyjet option, thanks for the tip.

        My last 2 short haul holidays were with BMI out of Bristol. Have to admit the experience was much better than the current BA economy offerings.

• Wally1976 says:

  31 Oct31 October 08:42

  Not sure I’ll be partaking in this. I think my entire lifetime spend in airport shops probably comes in under £150!

  • LB says:

    31 Oct31 October 10:15

    +1. Am I the only person who cannot see the “savings” from buying stuff at the airport? Granted, “exclusive” whiskey/ drinks packages may tempt a collector but for me it seems a waste of effort and money.

    • Jonathan says:

      31 Oct31 October 10:43

      I bought my wife a Mulberry purse for John Lewis for around £300 in September. I gave it to her on our anniversary and to her credit she didn’t open it because we were going on holiday the next week to DXB from LHR. I signed up for Heathrow rewards at a time with 3000 bonus points, and in the Mulberry shop it was £50 cheaper. I also needed to replace my sunglasses as salt water had speckled the polarization away so i got some from Sunglasses hut. All in all we only bought what we would of anywhere else. Saved about £100 all in and earn’t 15,000 Avios due to all the promotions that were on at Heathrow – most, i didn’t even know where on. I also returned the purse to JL on our return. So YES, you save money at the Airport you can even be better off too all things considered.

    • Rob says:

      31 Oct31 October 11:09

      There are no real savings on perfume and often very little on alcohol compared to supermarket special offers.

      The real money is from the designer shops, and I think it is less about the saving than about the fact that many highly paid people simply don’t have the time in their day to day life to saunter down Bond Street on a regular basis and like having everything side by side in the airport where they have enforced downtime.

      (Obviously the same applies to less highly paid people who don’t have time to saunter down Oxford Street on a day to day basis, but the reality at Heathrow is that shop rent is based on a % of turnover and it makes sense to put in designer brands.)

      • Wally1976 says:

        31 Oct31 October 11:28

        Sometimes I think I don’t ‘fit’ on this site despite having a job that pays around double the national average (and my wife’s job pays well over national average too). Typically I pay less than £2 for a pair of sunglasses (managed to get some England football ones for 10p once after they’d crashed out of a world cup) and definitely less than £10 for a purse/wallet. I’m a keen runner and have paid £200 for a GPS watch once but that was with money collected from various people for my birthday (and I made my previous one last over 10 years)! Most I’ve paid for a non sport watch is less than £30. Most I’ve paid for a mobile phone is £110; never have a contract that includes paying for a phone and make them last at least 3 years. Most for a computer of any sort: £395.

        Each to their own though. And to be clear I find this site extremely useful and am not being critical, just saying that many on here seem to live in a different world to me.

        I’ll stop rambling now!

      • RussellH says:

        31 Oct31 October 11:30

        They do not have any of the designers I go for at Heathrow.

        Primark, Matalan, George, or perhaps more exotically Neues Kaufhaus Deutschland (pack of 3 pairs Pierre Cardan socks for €2 last September).

        🙂

      • Wally1976 says:

        31 Oct31 October 11:38

        Sounds like you live in my world RussellH 🙂

      • JamesB says:

        31 Oct31 October 14:47

        Have a friend who has got his wife her Xmas present from a petrol station or motorway service centre more than once!

      • the_real_a says:

        1 Nov1 November 01:19

        You are missing the “playing the game” aspect. You can order your electronics to be delivered at Dixons after getting them to beat Amazon via the phone line, you buy 2-3 months worth of supermarket gift vouchers for waitrose at John Lewis. Do the same for boots and M&S… Stamps at WH Smiths. Top up your families phones with credit etc etc.

    • DV says:

      31 Oct31 October 14:59

      There are good savings on electronic goods. Macs and iPads are cheaper in T5 Dixons Travel than on the High Street. Thats before you add the Heathrow Rewards discount, which with a bonus is substantial.

    • Tilly says:

      31 Oct31 October 17:54

      I do stock up on my Clarins skincare as cheaper than in the department stores I normally get them from.

      Also, if there is a product I am wanting to buy from a designer store I try to wait for my hols to get cheaper in duty free. Have saved quite a bit waiting until I’m at the airport. Have to know what you’re buying and what ot retails for outside the airport.

• Phil says:

  31 Oct31 October 11:43

  OT – Is it possible to make a switch from (free) BA Amex to the new membership reward credit card, while getting the bonus and not making a new credit application?

  • Jonathan says:

    31 Oct31 October 11:56

    You’ll get the bonus if you haven’t had a MR card in the past 6 months. It’s debatably if you’ll credit file will take a hit – generally as an existing Amex card holder for me, they use internal details rather than existing agency data.

    • Nick says:

      31 Oct31 October 19:09

      Data point – they check me fresh every time, regardless of whether I hold a card already.

• Anna says:

  31 Oct31 October 12:11

  I’ve got a new Heathrow Rewards account and am planning to spend £150 on L’occitane products at T5 in November (they are marginally cheaper). Will this net me 3650 HR points?

  • Rob says:

    31 Oct31 October 12:14

    No, because the World Duty Free element of this does not apply to cosmetics, ignore what I wrote in the email today. You’ll get 3,150 HR points (actually 3,250 because there is usually another 100 points welcome bonus added).

• Bill says:

  31 Oct31 October 12:16

  OT read elsewhere that IAG Level are coming to LGW using Monarch slots

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