Update on yesterday’s British Airways Prepaid Mastercard promotion. We had a slight technical issue yesterday morning with the voucher code box not appearing. This has now been fixed.
Anyone who applied for the card yesterday and did not enter a code will still get the full Avios bonus. The promotion code has been applied manually for anyone who applied before the issue was fixed yesterday morning.
In this post:
US ESTA warning
Vintage classic american car in Havana, CubaThe Independent published a warning for those who have visited Cuba and plan to go to the USA.
One of Donald Trump’s many gifts to the world was to reinstate Cuba as “state sponsors of terrorism” (SST), which he did as one of his final acts as president.
Anyone that has visited “state sponsors of terrorism” (SST) countries is not allowed to enter the US using the ESTA Visa Waiver scheme and has to apply for a full US Visa.
There is a lot of confusion about how far back this applies to with the US Embassay giving conflicting information according to reports. British travellers who have visited Cuba since the start of last year will need a visa to enter the US.
According to the Independent, anyone who has visited Cuba since 2011 will have to apply for a full visa. However, this has now been clarified to say 21 January 2021 according to this official page.
Apart from having to pay £137 for the visa, the main issue is that there is a long waiting list for appointments, which could mean waiting until 2023.
Some travellers report still being granted an ESTA and travelling hassle free after visiting Cuba years ago while some tourists have been stopped by US immigration.
If you are in this situation, I’d advise trying to contact the US embassy to ascertain whether you need a visa or not if you aren’t sure.
Air France/KLM business class sale
ZanzibarAir France/KLM has another business class sale which runs until 11 October and has some great deals from the UK. Air France and KLM still have varied seat types in business class but they have definitely improved to at least have full flat beds on all long-haul flights, with most also having direct aisle access.
Air France new business classIf you are looking for a particular destination, it’s worth looking at both websites as they both feature a different range of destinations. However, if you have an American Express card you should check for the Air France offer which gives you £200 off when you spend £1200 which makes these even better value.
Prices start from:
- Atlanta £1,980
- Bangkok £1,564
- Bogota £1,524
- Boston £1,778
- Buenos Aires £1,819
- Cairo £1,061
- Calgary £2,046
- Cancun £1,660
- Chicago £1,794
- Costa Rica £1,895
- Delhi £1,991
- Dubai £1,290
- Lima £1,667
- Martinique £1,914
- Mexico City £1,931
- Miami £1,994
- Montreal £1,716
- Mumbai £1,712
- Nairobi £1,563
- New York £1,694
- Panama City £1,761
- Punta Cana £1,676
- Rio £1,716
- Santiago £1,918
- Sao Paulo £1,390
- Seoul £1,596
- Singapore £1,945
- St Martin £1,875
- Tel Aviv £672
- Tokyo £2,278
- Toronto £1,723
- Washington £1,823
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Zanzibar £1,840
The KLM offer page is here and the Air France offer page is here.
Virgin points quick transfer
There are various ways to top up if you are short of a few Virgin Points including buying them or transferring from Amex Membership Rewards. Now there is an extra way to top up instantly. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club members who want to auto-exchange their Clubcard points into Virgin Points can now also exchange in-between statements instantly using faster points exchange.
Members can “Request Virgin Points” via their Tesco Clubcard account and the Virgin Points will be available in their Virgin Atlantic Flying Club account in seconds.
Members who chose to manually turn their Clubcard points into Virgin Points can do so from £1.50 in vouchers for 375 Virgin Points. This is better than Amex if you only need a small amount as the minimum transfer from Amex is 1000, although this is also an instant transfer.
5 comments
One of my former colleagues was to visit the US earlier this month from CDG. He and his partner completed the ESTA but was denied boarding due to having visited Cuba last year. There was no indication on the ESTA application relating to Cuba, but he had to cancel the trip at great expense as obviously insurance wouldn’t cover for such an event.He is attempting to challenge the decision, but I suspect it will be a futile task.
Thanks for the feedback. It’s a ridiculous situation given that Biden could easily change it.
As somewhat of a US Visa Aficionado I will be one to break the bad news. This is ‘lived experience’ based on numerous instances,more than a decade and 2 US embassy’s. However I’m NOT giving official advice. More some IRL observations. Also not aiming to scare anyone but as even the official US Gov websites give skant details outside ‘tick box 1,4 & 6’ I know how intimidating and nerve racking I used to find it as there’s a total lack of real world/ non standard occurrences info…..
Costs of the Visa ( even basic tourism ones like B1/B2s) tend to pail related to associated costs. Depending on how State and/or DHE decide to proceed, view or approach the issue then there’s every chance you would need a “Police Certificate” from ACPO which is about £50.plus shipping from memory. It would confirm you don’t have one regarding the SST.issue but would show any other offences ( which if you ever had a custodial sentence then you shouldn’t have been using ESTAs anyway.
It IS a whole day out to visit the embassy in London & may incur a night in a hotel the day before as you have to be there early morning.
Most Visas will be annual for sometime. I have 5 year ones but that took some years & was shortened by my background in security and CT planning/ negation.
IF your application needs/is randomly selected for further screening by DoD, DHS or State then tbh all bets are off. Ive had them take 4.5 months before, for no rhyme or reason. No insurer will cover you for unusable tickets/ bookings if that happens. I had VS transfer tickets to a friend once but that was coz they’d previously messed up.
I’d STRONGLY advise not to book.anything until in receipt of your passport with the Visa in it.
You WILL have a heart attack when you get a letter saying you’ve been rejected and will be denied entry. Its the worst written letter in existence and is automatically triggered when your Visa app is actually being processed.
You’ll invariably run up courier costs of £100.
Now everyone’s mileage will vary and my own Visa is a bit complex ( never been a naughty boy but they like to know where i am when I’m there for ‘reasons’ lol). Bu6 it can be a real pain in the bum. You cam forget just picking up p the phone as well. You’ll be told hours they operate and the website. Thats about it.
I’d hope that some common sense will prevail ( along with a common approach) and they’ll just put Cuba in a subset. Also there’s a chance said paper is stirring the pot for clicks or sales. For starters I’ve been to Cuba twice since 2011 and as someone whose no longer shocked if hes met by the Federales at JFK and I’ve neither had issues or heard anything about it till now having entered the US since the change of Office
Only visits after Jan 21 2021 are a problem
https://fr.usembassy.gov/visas/visa-waiver-program/
Thanks Neil.
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