Vexed
Member
5% for me on Curve, which I don't think has been mentioned here before. Expires mid June.
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LNER Amex Deals
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RailUK Forums
My Amex has two separate 5% offers, which both stack to create 10%... 
10% today on Amex Platinum. Happy with that one!
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…both for LNER??My Amex has two separate 5% offers, which both stack to create 10%...
I've had that before but one of them was only a single 5% off, the other a multi-use 5%. They stacked to 10% so I made sure to purchase some gift vouchers!My Amex has two separate 5% offers, which both stack to create 10%...
This time round I've got 5% on each of my two AMEX cards.
SWT_USER
Member
Could be the free cards get the less generous offer and any card with an annual fee gets 10%?
Trainbike46
Established Member
My free card gets 10%, so it's not that
I think if you use it too much and too often, you get offered it less. I still seem to be being punished for using it to commute on off peak day returns from Northallerton to York (what I would have bought from the ticket office anyway) a few years ago. I used several such offers in a row and had 10% off my daily commute for a good six months. Then they reduced it to 5% and then I stopped getting the offers when everyone else did. I had a 5% unlimited offer a couple of months ago. Used it once to buy a return to Thirsk at York station and got a whole 60p cashback out of it. Once again nothing this month.
Edit: I just noticed I got another 5% offer.
Edit: I just noticed I got another 5% offer.
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SWT_USER
Member
Possibly. The only reason I book through LNER is the discount, otherwise I'll generally use the forum site or SWR if uploading to smart card.
The incentive is definitely working for me, but I'm surprised it's profitable for LNER
It won't be, I'm sure.
I think it's probably a little more complex than that - I haven't spent a penny with LNER directly for years, yet only have the 5% offer. Logically if they were basing it on spend they'd target the lower spenders for higher incentives?
My guess is that it's forward-looking rather than backward. By which I mean it is not based on what you have spent in the past, but instead they look at the effects of the offer on your future spend
redreni
Established Member
Yes, the purpose of offers like these is to get you to spend money on things you weren't going to buy otherwise. And the way to play the game if you're a consumer is, of course, to find opportunities to get discounts on things you were going to buy anyway. I'm sure if they realised I use the offer mainly for commuting, I wouldn't even get 5%.
If they pay attention they'll notice any increase in my spend with LNER when these offers are running is offset by reductions in spending on TfL contactless fares and (to a lesser extent) on train tickets from ticket offices and other retailers.
I got 10% on one card and 5% on the other. Tried the voucher purchase last night for a journey and worked beautifully and smoothly in the app while running to Marylebone for the last train. I've still never figured out how to load an app-purchased ticket to my Chiltern smart card, so it really makes no difference which app drop the barcode in my phone's wallet to use.
Wallsendmag
Established Member
You have to match the retailer to the Smartcard plus LNER only retail seasons to Smartcards
redreni
Established Member
Yes, and looking at the wording on my latest Amex offer at least, the workaround of trying to persuade the good people at an LNER booking office (e.g. Kings Cross) to load single or return or day tickets onto a Smartcard may no longer work, depending whether the way the offer works in practice has changed or not.
The wording on mine has changed to "Available at participating hotels and online" (though no information is given about which hotels those might be).
Tazi Hupefi
On Moderation
It probably is profitable or neutral overall, this isn't a unilateral LNER promotion, there's a commercial partnership arrangement with Amex sitting behind it. Whilst I don't know the exact terms, it will likely be a significant reduction in card processing fees or a retailer bonus/credit if they can grow the use of AMEX across LNER customers.
What continues to surprise me is the lack of a TOC branded credit card, especially with the advent of loyalty card schemes to potentially tie one to. The only reason I suspect this hasn't happened to date is the lack of a persistent, future proof brand - whereas the likes of British Airways are never going to change their name.
I wonder whether any European TOCs have credit cards.
Fawkes Cat
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Although my understanding is that the discount on branded credit cards is rarely more than 1% (e.g. https://money.asda.com/credit-cards/
How many people would find that appealing? And also consider the following (hypothetical) conversation:
RPI: I see you have claimed a Railcard discount. Please may I see your Railcard?
Passenger; Of course, here's my Made-up Rail Card. I buy all my tickets with this Rail Card - it's such a good credit card...
A branded railway credit card might cause more trouble than it is worth.
Elsewhere, Amtrak has one, but I’m not familiar with any European railway credit card partnerships.
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With airlines, and with Amtrak, you can earn loyalty points which can purchase tickets outright, and earn loyalty bonuses like lounge access or other amenities.
Tazi Hupefi
On Moderation
The co-branded partnership cards aren't generally known for giving discounts /cashback up front - it's more about the underlying loyalty scheme or obtaining "status" perks, some sort of points or miles to be accumulated and exchanged for vouchers or other perks - that way it encourages spend, e.g. I have one at the moment that requires me to spend £10k on it (anywhere and for anything) in the next few months which (optimistically) will get me about £500 in vouchers at a number of retailers I can choose from.
An arrangement of some sort, sure - but given that I'm seeing offers of 8-10% elsewhere on non-Amex cards, I doubt it is as significant as you suggest.
Given how stingy most TOCs' loyalty schemes are - with very limited incentives for really frequent travellers or commuters - I can't really see a case for it.
Puffing Devil
Established Member
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- 3,167
Just found a new 10% on my Amex Gold Rewards valid until 8/8/25. Lovely.
SWT_USER
Member
I'm using LNER at the moment because of the Amex deal. If I order an LNER smart card can any ticket available on smart card be uploaded to it, assuming is is purchased via the LNER site?
In my case this would be an Ashford to London zones 1-6 travel card which I currently upload to my SWR smart card, if I buy this through LNER it currently only offers me the option of a paper ticket.
redreni
Established Member
If it's a day Travelcard then no, I don't think so. Their website only fulfills season tickets to Smartcard.
SWT_USER
Member
Thanks, it's a bit confusing because one part of their FAQ does say that, but then further down:
Can I load other Train Company products onto my LNER Smartcard?
Yes, where these have been made available.
Which I take to mean I should be able to load that ticket, assuming I buy via LNER.
I've loaded a Stevenage to London Zones 1-6 Travelcard onto a LNER smartcard at a GTR ticket machine but as far as I know you cannot do this online.
I'm sure you could do this at a LNER ticket machine which would get you the AMEX deal but that would mean you'd have to do this at Kings Cross or another LNER managed station.
I'm sure you could do this at a LNER ticket machine which would get you the AMEX deal but that would mean you'd have to do this at Kings Cross or another LNER managed station.
SWT_USER
Member
Thanks - had assumed the app would have the same functionality as the SWR app which just does it via the phone. Will just make do with a paper ticket while the cashback offer is ongoing!
redreni
Established Member
The wording of my latest Amex promotion, unlike previous ones, suggests it may no longer be available at LNER ticket offices or TVMs. It certainly used to be, but mine now says "available at selected hotels and online only". It's entirely possible they've just used the wrong wording and the promotion itself is unchanged, I don't know.
If anyone is able to confirm their promotion has the "hotels and online only" wording and that they still got their kickback from a ticket office or TVM transaction that would be useful to know?
If anyone is able to confirm their promotion has the "hotels and online only" wording and that they still got their kickback from a ticket office or TVM transaction that would be useful to know?
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