Bits: more luggage on BA via a travel agent?, Qatar Airways launching Dublin flights

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• Lady London says:

  2 Nov2 November 04:45

  Very happy to see QR doing Dublin. Trouble is, by the time the route starts, if the UK pound keeps going down against the Euro, it might even be cheaper to pay the ridiculously large APD costs and fly out of the UK instead! 🙂

• Polly says:

  2 Nov2 November 04:53

  Dublin would be a fantastic help. Two birds with one stone, see the family and do our Asia trips. And retain sliver.. All good. You have a good point there about conversion rates. However, the current QR sale has good prices from HEL.

  • Nick says:

    2 Nov2 November 06:27

    I jumped onto the QR sale last night. 2 people AMS-BKK, RTN in March.. £1146pp in J. The same tickets have been sitting around £1500pp for the last 3-4 weeks..

    • James67 says:

      2 Nov2 November 07:24

      You could have got a choice of flights exUK for £1150–1500pp with one stop versus two, uninteruoted sleep and no stress with positioning flights or baggage. Still, a good deal exAMS if you want TP or break in AMS. ExAMS I would normally expect AY to beat this (with added advantages of shorter journey time and less restrictive fare) but might now be similar, or a bit more expensive due to falling £ as I have not checked recently.

      • Nick says:

        2 Nov2 November 11:08

        Thanks James for the advice.. We’ve a late afternoon flight out of AMS so as it’s Tier points we need we thought we’d spend a night in Amsterdam too.. I was watching AY and comparing them with QR over the last month.. AY were about £80 less pp.

        • James67 says:

          2 Nov2 November 17:16

          Clearly you made right choice if TP key, and I think the overnight or longer break is what makes exEU more worthwhile. Enjoy.

    • Damien says:

      2 Nov2 November 08:09

      I was a bit tempted by the SOF-SIN flight for £860pp. Thought it might have been a good tier point run. Though I’m not sure if the SOF-DOH stretch is long enough to get 140 tier points. Would need someone to confirm, but think it’s only 40…. Still Singapore bit is 140 for sure, and a wee stopover in Bulgaria would be nice.

      • Rob says:

        2 Nov2 November 08:38

        2002 miles I read yesterday so long haul TP.

        • Rob Clark says:

          2 Nov2 November 22:17

          So, there’s a lot of chatter online about R class fares with QR no longer attracting TPs in the BAEC. It’s still on the calculator although many being told by the EC that R class no longer a valid TP earning fare class! Any clue?

      • Polly says:

        2 Nov2 November 08:48

        Damien, did you look at the HEL departures? That would def be 140×4 nearly gets you to sliver. Some good ex eu prices out there. Def can’t wait for the DUB option.
        James67 one of these days we will try your AY suggestion, almost as good as direct from LHR. BTW, on Vietnam in Jan, did you ever do the train or VIP bus from Ho Chi Minh city to KUL? Looking at options ATM.

        • Brendan says:

          2 Nov2 November 17:30

          Strong rumours on FT that R class on QR has been completely removed from earning avios and TPs as part of the new BA code-sharing agreement. Might be wise to hold off for confirmation before booking trips if TPs and avios are a deciding factor.

        • the real harry says:

          2 Nov2 November 17:41

          any changes wouldn’t normally be applied retrospectively

        • Genghis says:

          2 Nov2 November 17:43

          Just like the ET catering? Oh wait…

        • the real harry says:

          2 Nov2 November 18:42

          when we had the big BA points devaluation and my ET tickets only got 25% of miles, BA honoured the old rate for old bookings

        • the real harry says:

          2 Nov2 November 18:50

          F&B is obviously more difficult to manage that way because you can’t go giving free F&B to old bookers and charging new bookers M&S prices, on the same flight that would look terrible

          BA have cocked up in terms of disappointing nay outraging loyal customers because they have not found a decent solution

          1000 Avios compo per flight might have been barely/ minimally acceptable but I understand from FT that BA are now saying once only per PAX booking, on 1 booking only (though others have received nx 1000 per flight).

          still considering my position

          we burn 9 redemptions at Xmas ie before F&B changes but that makes about another 30 flights booked under the old regime

          like I said, 30,000 Avios and I would have been disappointed but walked away with a handshake & a grimace – looks like I won’t get that – not that I have tried yet – so I am thinking about it & what to do

        • James67 says:

          2 Nov2 November 19:30

          No, never did that Polls, sorry. CV3V may know something though, he’said headed to VN soon I believe. Don’the forget cheap TP can be picked up on MH. I had great experience in VN with Tung at levietnamcycletoursNo rip offs, great guides and tours. They can organise car tours , not just cycle tours. Prices were great value.

  • James67 says:

    2 Nov2 November 07:10

    You should consider sandwiching an Asia-UK revenue rtn between a long-duration exDUB rtn then. easy to pick up great fares on AY, MH (especially exThailand), UL and even CX at times. Not as good as it once was due to £ but still good. ExAsia-UK rtn fares often seem to ‘absorb’ the APD for the rtn exUK leg into overall competitive fares so it seems to be not a factor any more if you understand what I’m getting at. I suppose it all comes down to how often you want to visit family in Dublin. Just be aware that if booking fares exAsia TA can often be cheaper than the airline websites. For you the real saving might be to do this uding your BA 241 in F for a rtn exHKG-UK.

    • Genghis says:

      2 Nov2 November 07:16

      BA 241 is ex-British Isles exl ROI only

      • James67 says:

        2 Nov2 November 07:26

        Ah thanks, didn’t know that, never used one myself.

      • SoloFlyer1977 says:

        2 Nov2 November 12:23

        RoI is not in the British Isles…

        • pauldb says:

          2 Nov2 November 12:54

          Oh yes it is! Politics trumped by geology.

• Rob says:

  2 Nov2 November 06:13

  Looks like we got bumped from Money Mail again this week …. I appear to be filler for a quiet week 🙂

  • Alan says:

    2 Nov2 November 07:44

    Looks like you’re their equivalent of ‘bits’ 😉 Am sure they’ll be going mental with their coverage of Trump anyway, he’s their sorta guy!

  • Lady London says:

    5 Nov5 November 00:16

    And I even bought the Daily Mail in eager anticipation to read on a flight last Wednesday.

    Cough….I had to buy it because BA seems to no longer provide newspapers out of outstations.

• James67 says:

  2 Nov2 November 06:47

  OT: Just moved £5 from clubcard to avios for first time ever to get 1000 new partner bonus. Does it match accounts with email address, noavios account number was requested? Thanks.

  • Alan says:

    2 Nov2 November 07:46

    Yes, although their automatic system often mucks up – if so you need to contact Avios (webchat is fine) and get them to merge the accounts. Stupid system, wish they just let you put your Avios account number in!

    • Alan says:

      2 Nov2 November 09:10

      That will be interesting when i go to do my first Clubcard > Avios redemption as the email accounts don’t match.

      Anyone any idea how I can keep my daughters BA Avios account live without taking any flights? It’s easy enough for us 18+ but she’s 13 so many options aren’t available to her.

      • Alan says:

        2 Nov2 November 10:34

        Ah, brilliant thanks.

      • pauldb says:

        2 Nov2 November 12:56

        Presumably she’s in your household account (as under 18). Any redemption from your own account will take some avios from each account including hers, and keep them all alive.

        • AndyGWP says:

          2 Nov2 November 14:55

          Thanks for the reply.

          Incognito just (effectively) clears all previous history / cookies and is an good way of stopping previous visits to a site “contaminating” the tracking info

          It only clears the cookies when you close the browser window so doesn’t lose them during the session 🙂

        • Alan says:

          3 Nov3 November 07:57

          That’s interesting pauldb, thanks. However, we are not currently planning on making any redemptions we are in “collection” mode. Our family situation isn’t one where we manage to get lots of Avios collecting possibilities (no business travel etc) so it takes a long time to collect enough to use – probably more than 3 years from our previous flight, so I want to keep what points she has, alive.

        • Genghis says:

          3 Nov3 November 08:07

          @Alan. I’m just thinking aloud but how about booking a JAL one way flight something like KIX-TYO and then cancelling. I think avios are refundable on these but you’d likely lose the £1 taxes.

  • John says:

    2 Nov2 November 11:06

    Think they match post codes rather than email addresses.

    You’ll know things have gone wrong if you get a welcome to Avios pack in the post!

    Their customer service team are well used to sorting this out.

• the real harry says:

  2 Nov2 November 06:59

  Bits: Don’t miss this amusing article: Half of Heathrow’s 25,000 noise complaints made by the same 10 people http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/half-of-heathrow-noise-complaints-made-by-just-10-people/

  ‘Heathrow told Telegraph Travel that it had received 87,201 noise complaints for the year to date – or one every five minutes – from 4,282 people, and that 46.8 per cent of those (40,829) came from 10 people. That means that, on average, those 10 people made a complaint every 90 minutes.
  “We do take every complaint seriously and each one is logged,” said an airport spokesperson.
  In January last year the airport unearthed a scheme whereby campaigners were using automated software to generate complaints against the airport. Officials caught out the set-up when the two anti-Heathrow enthusiasts forgot to take into account the hour going back in October, and began complaining about flights that had not yet taken off or arrived.’

• Nick says:

  2 Nov2 November 08:18

  The QR sale ex germany has some good fares as well in the two for one offer….Dubai was sub 1000 euro from munich….

  • TGLoyalty says:

    2 Nov2 November 08:27

    Dubai was £900 from UK for a while don’t know what the latest sale price is

• mark says:

  2 Nov2 November 08:19

  Great news about Dublin for QR – I am guessing that feeder flight from DUB to MAN never worked out that great or was very popular. I never saw the feeder flight advertised apart from on an odd search direct on the QR site.

• FIRSTclstraveller says:

  2 Nov2 November 09:11

  I have a forthcoming trip to Nairobi, booked by a travel agent in the USA and also got 2 x 23kgs bags.

  • Keith says:

    2 Nov2 November 14:53

    I guess this only applies to long haul – anyone? Would be useful for economy positioning flights with on onward flight in J. Currently have this issue with 1 x 23kg bag on positioning flight and 3 x 23kg onward. Unfortunately, I can’t see the Mrs managing with 1 x 23kg 🙁

    • Gavin says:

      2 Nov2 November 17:03

      would be interested to know if it applies to other destinations (ICN specifically)

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