Bits: 25% off No1 Lounges, Amex finally supports Android Pay, new BA celebrity safety video

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• Caro says:

  21 Jul21 July 08:10

  Where’s Jess Glynn?

• Wally1976 says:

  21 Jul21 July 08:25

  OT – quick question – does the Grain Store at Gatwick South do food for takeaway (e.g. sandwiches)? Thanks.

  • James says:

    21 Jul21 July 08:44

    Yes it does, I was in the no1 lounge Gatwick just before the flight popped into the grain store and grab £15 worth of food and drink for the flight.

    • Wally1976 says:

      21 Jul21 July 09:25

      Thanks James. I was thinking Grain Store for breakfast, No1 lounge for a few drinks then back to Grain Store for food and drink for the flight (all with PP via Amex Plat). Is that taking the mick?

      • Klaus-Peter Dudas says:

        21 Jul21 July 14:15

        Can you enter the same “lounge” twice on the same day? If you can, why would lounges not let you scan “you + 1 guest” twice if you have two guests? They’d get paid for four people (rather than three) and you don’t have to pay anything…

        • Alan says:

          22 Jul22 July 17:44

          Indeed – I’ve done multiple lounges on one trip but not multiple visits to same lounge, agree with Klaus-Peter than this could be considered as extra (chargeable) guests rather than free entry again.

  • ankomonkey says:

    21 Jul21 July 09:37

    Yes, we used the PP credit (x4) to buy lunch (sandwiches, apples, packets of popcorn, bottled water and soft drinks) which we then ate of our flight. Cheap, healthy, quality lunch!

• rgn says:

  21 Jul21 July 09:26

  Funnily enough, having tried all possible payment methods, Android Pay works out to be roughly as fast as a contactless card. Unlike iPhones, all you have to do is unlock your phone and hold it to the reader, which is much faster than Apple Pay’s system of bring-up-the-app-hold-your-finger-on-the-home-button-wait-for-the-OK-hold-it-to-the-reader, which every time I’ve seen anyone use it, takes about as much time as a paper ticket.

  • BrianDT says:

    21 Jul21 July 09:43

    My Lloyds Debit card, supported, my Lloyds/AmexAvios card,not supported, my BA Amex card, supported.?

    • Martin says:

      21 Jul21 July 12:48

      Only Amex-issued Amex cards are supported.

  • Alan says:

    22 Jul22 July 17:45

    Didn’t realise it was that much faff on iPhone – must say Android Pay worked very well for me whenever I used it previously, esp when used with a phone that has fingerprint unlock.

• Charlie says:

  21 Jul21 July 10:09

  Well I thought the video was rather good. It’s for a worthy cause and I don’t understand how Rowan Atkinson just simply being Rowan Atkinson/Bean is still funny :). Nicely done.

• Yuff says:

  21 Jul21 July 10:10

  We may get to see the video on Sunday, on a CE flight, it wasn’t shown last Sunday.
  Have to say I thought the Qatar safety video we watched on several flights last year was great with the Barcelona football team. I actually started to look forward to the video before each fligh as did my wife and son, my daughter didn’t get it 🙂

  • Rob says:

    21 Jul21 July 10:13

    That one was good. Air New Zealand goes to the most trouble as a quick YouTube search will show.

    • Ricardo says:

      21 Jul21 July 10:32

      I actually quite like the new(ish) American Airlines one – the slick choreography appeals and I find still holds my attention on repeat viewings

      • paul says:

        21 Jul21 July 20:41

        Tend to agree with you the AA video is very slick. I didn’t find the BA video at all funny.

        It came across as a rather desperate attempt to be diverse and inclusive. It did not feel natura, which the AA video and the Air NZ videos clearly are.

  • mark2 says:

    21 Jul21 July 10:57

    I still prefer this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F99x4ngp6w from Icelandair.

    • Rob says:

      21 Jul21 July 12:36

      There is a good Virgin America one too.

      • Yan says:

        21 Jul21 July 17:01

        also like the new one from Air France

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    21 Jul21 July 11:38

    Agree it’s a great video, but got a bit painful watching it twice per flight when (unless you’re going to or from Doha) you’re taking two flights per trip!

  • Ro says:

    21 Jul21 July 14:00

    yeah the air NZ MiB with the rugby team is awesome.
    is it Turkish that have the one with the little kids? that’s kinda cute

  • Alex W says:

    21 Jul21 July 16:19

    Can’t stand FC Barcelona. Worst part of our Qatar Airways flights.

• Ian says:

  21 Jul21 July 10:13

  “Watching safety videos on airplanes can be boring ”

  You are right but I believe there is no excuse for not watching the safety video. I fly several times per month and I make a point of taking off my head sets, putting down my newspaper or what ever and at least looking at the video or cabin crew during the safety brief. We are asked to do it , yet many, many frequent flyers not only do they ignore the video, they make it so obvious by rushing their large free papers.

  Working in the oil and gas industry for 20 years I have learnt that although we find any safety talk boring we at least ..at the very least pretend that we are interested if for nothing else, but to show respect to the person carrying out the safety brief.

  If anything the cabin crew deserve much more respect during this time that they get from frequent flyers.

  • Mark Priest says:

    21 Jul21 July 10:29

    here here!

    • Mark Priest says:

      21 Jul21 July 10:30

      poxy spell check! hear, Hear!

      • Yuff says:

        21 Jul21 July 14:08

        We knew what you meant 😉
        I totally agree with the sentiment as well 🙂

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:

    21 Jul21 July 11:28

    I’m personally a fan of the manual demo but unfortunately even when one of those is done many people still ignore it.

    I do agree frequent travellers should watch it even if they believe they know all of it completely. Respect for the cabin crew is one reason, but also it sets a good example for others. No one knows whether the other passengers are frequent travellers or it’s their first flight. If others on the plane see people ignoring the demo they may dismiss it as unimportant themselves. Also I don’t want people around me thinking that I could be putting their life in danger by not knowing what to do in an emergency.

    • the real harry1 says:

      21 Jul21 July 19:55

      omg pass the sickbag SECR! (I’m sure you’ll take this as banter!)

      the only serious use of a seatbelt is in airpockets – if it’s a crashy situation you’re going to die anyway

      more people get seriously injured (broken bones etc) in false emergencies than in real ones, sliding down those very dangerous chutes

      in a real emergency (eg plane on fire, heavy smoke), animal instinct takes over many people & they basically punch & bludgeon their way to the escape route, leaving others to die instead and maybe helping family escape too

      • Fenny says:

        21 Jul21 July 22:07

        … punch and bludgeon their way past the morons trying to get their bags out of the overhead lockers to get to the escape route, leaving less mobile people to be stuck behind the morons trying to get their bags out of the overhead lockers.

  • Leo says:

    21 Jul21 July 11:57

    I just do it out of politeness.

  • Callum says:

    21 Jul21 July 12:05

    If they’re hurt because I don’t pay obvious attention to their tedious and repetitive safety demonstration then they have far bigger problems with their life!

    • Ian says:

      21 Jul21 July 12:55

      Callum your response is a classic example of an ignorant frequent flyer.

      The cabin crew do not get hurt by it. They are used to the ignorance, however that doesn’t mean it is okay. The cabin crew go through extensive training to ensure your safety. Why not just be polite and show them some respect? The captain on occasions also kindly asks that you put down your papers just for a few minutes. I guess doing what the captain asks is also too much to ask for you. I also assume your phone calls are far too important to put your phone into flight mode.

      It’s not just you though Callum. People break safety rules in all walks of life on a daily basis because they assume to know better.

      • Yuff says:

        21 Jul21 July 14:09

        Ian, you shouldn’t be surprised at Callum’s response if you’ve read his previous posts 😉

        • Genghis says:

          21 Jul21 July 19:42

          I’ve actually agreed with quite a few of Callum’s recent posts…

      • Mzungu says:

        21 Jul21 July 14:26

        +100

• JamesB says:

  21 Jul21 July 11:23

  OT: The lead news story on BBC today about UK airspace capacity and control is quite interesting. I wonder what would happen if growth in air traffic from the regions is constrained by existing capacity in the London area? Also, what’s the point of a third runway at LHR or a new runway elsewhere in south east if we are aleady close to capacity? What if Scotland becomes indepebdent? Writing off large aircraft such as a380 and 747-8 too soon? There are many interesting implications.

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40669144

  • Fenny says:

    21 Jul21 July 13:21

    +1

• F says:

  21 Jul21 July 11:38

  Have always been able to use amex contactless on android by using the amex app as your default contactless app. But it requires you to unlock your phone unlike the default android app so definitely an improvement / timesaver 😉

  • Alan says:

    22 Jul22 July 17:48

    Plus you could only use Amex with it and would have to change default NFC app to use a Visa/MC – this way you can easily just change default card.

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