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Bits: limited BA First food for 96 hours, reader loses 220,000 Avios, double Heathrow Rewards

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News in brief:

BA dropping First Class food during the strike

If you were wondering how British Airways is managing to run so many services during the cabin crew strike today and Wednesday, here is one reason.

On many services with a First Class cabin, the number of cabin crew on the aircraft is being reduced.  There will be no First Class meal service provided on these aircraft.  They will receive the standard Club World meal.

Passengers impacted by this are being offered 10,000 Avios as compensation.

BA has also stated that there will be “some changes to our meal service routines” on Thursday and Friday.  This is due to aircraft which flew out on Tuesday and Wednesday being short of crew to fully staff the return flight.

Diamond Club home page

Reader loses 220,000 Diamond Club points

Last year I ran a number of articles reminding readers that BMI Diamond Club was about to close and that they should move out any remaining points.  I also suggested they check old BMI accounts for any forgotten miles.

To be honest, I assumed that no-one would be in this position.  I was very surprised to hear from so many people who had forgotten about Diamond Club balances, some in six figures.

I was also surprised to hear from a new reader yesterday who had not received any communication about the end of Diamond Club.  It turns out that he had 220,000 points (= 220,000 Avios) sitting there which have now gone.  He had kept them in Diamond Club due to the false belief that if he moved them across to British Airways Executive Club they would expire.

I have suggested he raise it with BAEC but I doubt he will get far, especially as IAG will have removed a chunky balance sheet liability from its books when his points were expired.

Heathrow Rewards

Double Heathrow Rewards points on food and drink

Heathrow Rewards has launched a double points offer in all of its restaurants, bars and cafes.

Between 11th January and 28th February you will receive double base points in all of these outlets.  Food and drink bought in Boots, WH Smith etc does not count.

11th January, by an amazing coincidence, is the day that British Airways starts charging for in-flight short haul catering.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Heathrow Rewards

Comments (103)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • @mkcol says:
    10 Jan10 January 03:39

    10K compo seems a bit measly.

    Losing 220K Avios would leave me sick to the pit of my stomach. They clearly totally misunderstood all the communication sent.

    • Jeff says:
      10 Jan10 January 04:19

      The First food has got worse and worse – last tried on 31 Dec. My son who was in Club had better food so I would take 10,000 Avios over the supposedly better food any day. Also 1st food is even worse on return flights to LHR.

      • Save East Coast Rewards says:
        10 Jan10 January 05:04

        It’s not the food you need to worry about, it’s the service. Think about it… the cabin crew are going on strike, not the catering crew so the reason they are cutting back on food is to reduce the on-board service to that of club world so that the extra dedicated F crew can be deployed elsewhere.

        So things like the more attentive service will disappear, you won’t have the option to dine on demand (the CW meal will be part of the CW meal run), it’ll feel like a service where you’re on a plane with F where there’s officially no F cabin so they do the CW service. In these instances you’re charged a CW fare but usually the gold members get first choice at the F seats if they need to open up the cabin.

        I’d argue 10,000 Avios compensation is not adequate if you booked F and get CW in an F seat.

        • BA is Bloomin' Awful says:
          10 Jan10 January 06:21

          Exactly. Nowhere near adequate. £100 of Avios points? BA are laughing at all of us. And they’re currently getting away with it.

        • CV3V says:
          10 Jan10 January 10:09

          its ok, i know what cupboard the Johnnie Walker Blue is kept in #freebar

  • krys_k says:
    10 Jan10 January 04:13

    OT – whilst the Qatar sale is good going East, not so good for West. Last year BA ran a promo where part pay with Avios got me two flights to the US for 60k plus taxes from Dublin. Is this a regular promo or once off? Wondering whether I should wait for something similar to come up?

    • polly says:
      10 Jan10 January 06:33

      Yes we usually wait for the ba sales going west. We did similar in J last July from Dub. Wth avios added it was £660 return in J to JFK . We then, as a birthday treat ug to F from jfk for 20k avios pp. So a fab trip in all. Should show up soon l guess. That lounge was just a great experience. They really know about customer service over there.

      • James67 says:
        10 Jan10 January 08:44

        Polly, there’s a very nice 3 part series on wildlife/culture in Thailand running on the BBC at the moment. If you missed it you will find it on iplayer by searching Thailand paradise. It has some stunning photography including in the lotus flower wetlands of Patalung and Songkhla that I recommended you try to visit on one of your trips.

      • Yuff says:
        10 Jan10 January 18:35

        The service in the Concorde room, at JFK, is superb as is the chocolate brownie they presented to our son for his 10th birthday. They also let him sit in the pilot’s seat before take off.

  • Will P says:
    10 Jan10 January 05:45

    10,000 sounds a bit mean to me….the variance in Avios may not be much more than that on redemptions however cash tickets can / usually will be £1000 plus more!

  • Paul says:
    10 Jan10 January 06:26

    10,000 is laughable for what will be a further reduction of an already sub standard service. BA clearly doesn’t give a Sam and clearly doesn’t care how you feel about it.

  • Krankyfly says:
    10 Jan10 January 06:45

    I think they should just offer ‘First’ meal and service for everyone during strike.
    And then everyone will be happy

  • Concerto says:
    10 Jan10 January 07:10

    Reading this article and comments helped me maintain my boycott of BA. Need to get to LGW and BA have the most convenient timings but booked U2 instead. Makes little difference, for I will say what I have always believed, and that is that BA have a major finger in easyJet…

    • John says:
      10 Jan10 January 11:20

      If BA’s has the better flight time then why wouldn’t you book BA unless U2 was much cheaper?? There isn’t any service on short haul anyway unless you are flying today 🙂

      Remember that after 25 Jan BA will be in LGW S and U2 will be in LGW N (which is marginally less convenient if going to airport by train).

  • Jason K says:
    10 Jan10 January 07:29

    Flying F tomorrow out of LHR on a redemption (with companion voucher). Ill gladly take the 10k avios each for replacement of the sub par meal on the plane. Id rather eat in the lounge anyway, and as long as they’re still serving Grand Siecle, the lady will be happy!

    Hopefully the staff are still attentive though.

    • John says:
      10 Jan10 January 11:25

      You probably paid 30000 avios extra over CW (60k without 241). With a refund of 20k that means it was 5k each to upgrade to F-minus.

      I agree that is a good deal for CCR access plus a better seat than CW (which many airlines use for their J product :))

  • Dominic says:
    10 Jan10 January 08:23

    I’m writing this just before the doors are closed on BA165 to Tel Aviv. Being Gold I checked in at the First desk at LHR, and most of the staff were unaware of the issue with First catering, at the First check-in. Quite extraordinary and hopeless. I flew in F ORD/LHR on Sunday night, and the lounge service was hopeless – BA is really letting its standards slip and manifestly does not care.

    • Allan says:
      10 Jan10 January 09:04

      ORD lounges are overcrowded and needing a refurb

      • Sean says:
        10 Jan10 January 09:34

        That’s an understatement. The Flounge is tiny and regularly packed and the J lounge is ok if you want somewhere crowded for a free beer. The Amex lounge is better!

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