Bits: BA US Club World sale, Air Passenger Duty hiked, Surf Air moves to London City

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• Mark says:

  23 Nov23 November 08:54

  O/T

  If I was land to from Gatwick in Barcelona at 7.35pm what do you think my chances are off my collecting and leaving the airport and checking in for a 22.05pm emeriates flight to Vietnam. Possibly too tight ?

  • Lady London says:

    23 Nov23 November 09:01

    I wouldn’t even think of trying that. Too many things can go wrong particularly at the end of the day. Even if you didn’t have luggage to collect and re-check in to the next flight.

    • Graeme says:

      23 Nov23 November 11:22

      I’d happily do that – without the luggage.

  • C77 says:

    23 Nov23 November 09:12

    If you’re flying an airline that uses Barcelona T3 then you stand a good chance of making the connection but ANY delay is going to have you clock watching and being unable to relax. BA tend to use contact gates but Vueling tend to do a lot of bus gates. This may have an effect on available time also. If you’re using an airline that uses Barcelona T1 I’d say forget it – not enough time. Barcelona to/from UK is always affected by French ATC strikes. Are you comfortable with such a short connection in a city that has this potential implication?
    If it were me, I’d be building in an overnight stay – just to be sure.

    • Mark says:

      23 Nov23 November 10:08

      thanks – looks like I’m going via AMS with the 8 hour wait then.

      • Polly says:

        23 Nov23 November 10:36

        Much smarter…

• Alan says:

  23 Nov23 November 09:28

  Well at least limiting the change to long haul means BA can’t use it as an excuse to get rid of RFS!

  • Polly says:

    23 Nov23 November 10:38

    We can all breathe a sigh if relief then..good old RFS. Am sure Harry you are pleased no apd increase in Y…

• Michael C says:

  23 Nov23 November 10:00

  Excuse the OT with only a very tangtial link to the BA Xmas offer!
  I need to be in BKK Easter w/end, but am free to fly anywhere in SEAsia/HKG etc. leaving a few days before & coming back a couple of week later. I currently see (in Business) Garuda for 1300 GBP and Finnair (not fantastic reviews?) for 1500. Oh, and Cathay 1100 on PE.
  -Based on other years, might there be other Dec/Jan sales on airlines that might cover my period?
  -Despite no Avios, Garuda business is now meant to be pretty good, right?
  Cheers!

  • Rob says:

    23 Nov23 November 10:25

    Finnair is claiming to have a big Black Friday sale which in theory will preview today.

    BA has has good fares out of Amsterdam recently, I would do an ITA Matrix search and see what comes up.

    Or come to the HFP Christmas Party, win the raffle and you can book a free trip on Qatar!

    • Michael C says:

      23 Nov23 November 10:48

      All 3 ideas sound great, Rob, cheers!
      Any backroom crèche at the party?! ;o))

• Polly says:

  23 Nov23 November 10:33

  Michael..if you are not in a hurry to book l would wait on another Qatar sale in January. Usually one then. That would get you near ba silver and lots of avios plus 560 tier points. You would probably have to hop to Europe to depart like we often discuss on this site. Sounds like you are time positive and flexible. Probably pay between £800 to £950 return plus your positioning flight and eu overnight hotel (much advised) the night before your eu departure.

  • Michael C says:

    23 Nov23 November 10:49

    Polly, thanks a million for that: even with the extras, that sort of price would be fabulous.

    • JamesB says:

      23 Nov23 November 19:57

      Not sure what it is at the moment but TK were selling BKK in business from LHR for £1180 return over Easter about 1-2 months ago. There was also the opportunity to stopover in IST reducing APD.

• s says:

  23 Nov23 November 11:06

  I heard Private jet APD is going up by only £47 is that correct??

  • Lady London says:

    23 Nov23 November 22:12

    Is that because MP’s are big users of private jets?

• Roger I* says:

  23 Nov23 November 11:13

  Add code DOUBLE at checkout for 10% off. (May require previous purchase so not guaranteed.)

  • the real harry1 says:

    23 Nov23 November 18:57

    DOUBLE takes off £4.35 for new customers

    might be worth waiting for £10 off for new customers to re-appear

• John says:

  23 Nov23 November 11:37

  Dragonpass absolutely huge improvement on Airport Angel.

  It genuinely helps keep me loyal to the Barclays Travel Plus add on pack.

  Perhaps unusually I find that the insurance etc in the add on works well for me financially.

  But even if I shopped around and found marginally cheaper alternatives, the hassle free and very useful Dragonpass feature would probably keep me with Barclays.

  I’ve a suspicion that good loyalty programmes are supposed to work for the promoter as well as the customer.

  Incidentally Rob, I find that the list of available Dragonpass lounges is kept up to date on their website and app, and that they regularly cull substandard ones.

• Graeme says:

  23 Nov23 November 11:46

  OT – last week I mentioned being declined by Amex for a BAPP which when I called they said was declined in error. Well, after being told to call back several times with no resolution, the card just turned up at the weekend. Then last night I received a ‘You were declined – did this upset you?’ questionnaire e-mail from Amex – so I let them know.

  As no-one at Amex can answer me – does anyone know if this is likely to impact my credit rating? I smell compensation Avios if it does….

  • Polly says:

    23 Nov23 November 12:28

    You must get sorted. Get a manager involved as you don’t want a decline card on your credit record. And you will get 1000s of me s compo!

  • Wivus says:

    23 Nov23 November 12:53

    Having the similar problem with the SPG card. In a ”he says/she says” loop. Neither Amex or Experian will tell me why. They both say it is down to the other to explain.

    Not had time to chase it properly but will this weekend.

    • YB says:

      23 Nov23 November 13:53

      Had the same decline for the SPG card recently, despite having a great credit score and various Amex cards in the past.

      • Rob says:

        23 Nov23 November 15:21

        This seems to have been an IT wobble. After having a lot of people I referred being refused, I have now had a run of acceptances which is back at the usual level.

      • Alan says:

        25 Nov25 November 16:39

        Interesting (and good to hear), Rob! Wonder if they applied some over-strict criteria without meaning too or just totally mucked things up?!

    • Graeme says:

      23 Nov23 November 15:38

      My rating is a couple of points off the maximum with Experian, so it wasn’t them – it was definitely a mistake on the Amex end, as they said.

    • xcalx says:

      24 Nov24 November 18:43

      Just got accepted online for SPG 7 month after cancelling. Was a bit nervous after reading of all the refusals of late. Very close to the Marriott TP. Now its time to decide United, AA, Alaskan or Singapore. One thing is for sure it will not be Avios.

  • johnny_c-l says:

    23 Nov23 November 13:32

    No idea if this will impact your credit rating; my guess is that other lenders would only see a search, but seeing a new account opened shortly after would imply you were accepted if they’re bothered to look into it.

    I was also declined for BAPP a couple of weeks ago and had the rejected Experian letter. When I rang Amex they said it was internal systems which stopped the application, and I suggested they take a credit limit increase they’d given me and put it on a new BAPP instead. Rang back a few days later and it had been approved with a credit limit 10x my request!

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