Bits: funky Platinum cards, BA and Virgin close Arrivals lounges, United Airlines resumes Edinburgh

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News in brief:

Funky new American Express Platinum designs …. but not for the UK

Perhaps aware that the design of The Platinum Card has become a little staid, American Express is launching two new designs in January.

Unfortunately, these will only be available to US customers for now. I thought they were worth sharing, however, because I do find them quite attractive.

The first is by Julie Mehretu, which “evokes the abstract modernity for which she is known”. Click to enlarge:

The second design, below, is by Kehinde Wiley, which “wonderfully captures the essence of his profound energy and worldview”.

What do you think?

BA and Virgin Atlantic close their Heathrow arrivals lounges

This shouldn’t really be news to anyone, although as it seems to have caught a few people by surprise I thought we should mention it.

British Airways has temporarily closed its Arrivals lounge in Heathrow Terminal 5. Virgin Atlantic has temporarily closed its Revivals lounge in Heathrow Terminal 3.

The reason, of course, is that all arrivals into the UK must now quarantine immediately until they receive the results of a PCR test. Unsurprisingly, there is no leeway to allow you to have a champagne breakfast and a quick spa treatment before doing so …..

United Airlines to resume its US services from Edinburgh

United Airlines has announced the resumption of its Edinburgh flights for 2022, in a move which will make it the largest airline flying between Scotland and the US.

First up in New York Newark, which will launch on 5th March. This will be a year-round service.

There will be one flight per day using a Boeing 757-200, which is a narrow bodied aircraft. These aircraft have 16 flat-bed business class seats, 45 Economy Plus seats and 108 economy seats.

Summer services to Chicago and Washington DC will begin on 7th May.

Both routes will have a daily service, and both will use a Boeing 757-200.

Whilst United Airlines is a Star Alliance member, you can earn Avios when you fly United by signing up to Aer Lingus AerClub and crediting your flight there. You can then use ‘Combine My Avios’ to move your points into your British Airways account.

We will take another look at this feature over the weekend as it is something that many Avios collectors do not know about. You cannot, unfortunately, redeem Avios for United flights via AerClub.

Category

American Express Platinum card, United Airlines and MileagePlus, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

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

Mark J says:

3 Dec3 December 08:41

Re. Lounge closures; looks like it’ll have to be a glass of prosecco and a once-over with a wet wipe on the Piccadilly Line before quarantining then.
Steve L says:

3 Dec3 December 08:41

I have been victim of what I can only describe as Avios fraud. I can’t seem to get through to BA. I filled in a web form and also tweeted them, but got no joy. Does anyone know of any routes in for a lowly Blue member?
- sayling says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 08:50
  
  Fraud/theft might be better handled in the first instance by the Boys (and Girls) in Blue… get in touch with the Police
  - Steve L says:
    
    3 Dec3 December 09:18
    
    I need BA to confirm something first though. All I can say at the moment is a substantial volume of points have been redeemed by something called ‘ezrez’. This happened when I was out of the country on holiday (via BA, oh the irony).
    - Andrew says:
      
      3 Dec3 December 10:16
      
      ezRez is the old name for Switchfly who are suppliers of loyalty programme software to BA and Avios.
  - Anna says:
    
    3 Dec3 December 09:55
    
    There’s only an offence if your account has been hacked, avios and other loyalty points have no monetary value so can’t be stolen – and in any case, they remain the property of BA at all times, so they would be classed as the victim, not the account holder.
    - Rui N. says:
      
      3 Dec3 December 10:25
      
      You can freely steal stuff that doesn’t have a monetary value?!
- G says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 10:18
  
  If you need avios refunded or something to that tune, call the Executive Club line directly. Not BA. You may have a long wait but the chap who helped me out refunded 38,000 aivos no questioned asked (well, some).
  - Steve L says:
    
    3 Dec3 December 14:06
    
    Yep, I just need to get them to answer the phone/emails/tweets
revlou says:

3 Dec3 December 08:49

The flower design is a bit too busy for my liking but I’d consider the abstract one.
Alistair says:

3 Dec3 December 08:52

I’m due to fly JFK > LHR > MAN. I presume I’m allowed to take the LHR to MAN flight to allow me to get home and self isolate until the PCR test returns a negative result?
- Rob says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 09:01
  
  Yes
Oh! Matron! says:

3 Dec3 December 08:54

Isn’t this all, you know, a bit pointless? I can’t remember having used a card in three years. I use my watch to pay for pretty much everything, given that there’s no limit
- John says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 09:02
  
  Amex presumably has the data on the proportion of payments using the actual card versus a device
- Dominic says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 09:05
  
  RIP for all those with fantastic in every other way Garmin watches 🙁
- Rui N. says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 11:57
  
  On my day-to-day I think I see less than 1 in 10 pay with their phones, and I think I’ve never seen anyone paying with their watch. Physical cards are very much still a thing (there’s a reason the government was so keen to increase the contactless limit…).
Pete M says:

3 Dec3 December 10:31

I quite like the abstract one and will order it in January when it becomes available, although rather torn about whether not to swap the US card for a UK one… The US one is way more generous and cheaper, but a lot of the benefits are not worth much when you don’t spend a lot of time there…
Richard G says:

3 Dec3 December 10:38

Not a fan of either of those, but if I had to pick I’d probably go for the flowers. Hopefully some better designs to come.
- Jill (Kinkell) says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 14:10
  
  Agree… not too keen on either design. Classic grey for me please. Abstract one looks splattered with bolognaise sauce. Love flowers ( see pink splodge on left… peony rose in my garden) but not in my credit card. I’m just a boring mature woman.
Sandgrounder says:

3 Dec3 December 11:44

I prefer the sensible standard Plat tbh. I’m sure that the alternate designs will have a decent fanbase though. I think the age profile of the average Platinum holder might a little bit younger stateside.
Slightly OT but is anyone tempted by the 24ct gold plated Revolut? I think it looks great, apart from the ‘Revolut’ bit on the front.
- MD says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 11:58
  
  I am actually considering it! Makes me ridiculously vain and shallow, I know 😂
  
  I actually have a gold metal one already, but the cheap laminated one. Already had a black metal one, and when they introduced the new metal colours they (quite generously IMO) offered existing metal holders an extra free card in one of the new colours. Preferred the gold to the rose gold. I like the look, and of all my metal cards it gets the most positive comments. Getting a bit scraped up though, which makes me worry about the durability of a real gold one.
  - Sandgrounder says:
    
    3 Dec3 December 12:21
    
    It does look like a nice thing. I would probably pay the fee if it was with a provider I used regularly, but for holiday use only doesn’t do it for me.
    As you say, the gold plate might not last long though…