Bits: Travelex / Avios, 20% bonus on transfers to Etihad, £4 Manchester passport control fee

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• Scottydogg says:

  11 Oct11 October 10:12

  OT .
  I’m looking for ideas how to get lounge access in Gatwick North terminal . I’m currently between Lounge Club / Priority Pass memberships .
  We have a few hours there after flying home from italy whilst we wait for our connection .
  Ideally , we wouldn’t want to use the No1 lounge as have found that too busy the past few times we have been there , and too many kids ! 🙂

  • Billy says:

    11 Oct11 October 12:05

    There is an Aspire lounge at Gatwick North. However it too can be very busy.

    • Rob says:

      11 Oct11 October 12:06

      Have you been since BA changed terminals? I assume the dynamic has changed a bit, and of course kids are in school now – at least for another 2 day or 9 days depending on school ….

    • Scottydogg says:

      11 Oct11 October 14:46

      So is the Aspire lounge a ‘pay as you go’ ? any sites for booking this to get a cheap deal , i remember reading something about Dragon lounge website ?

      • the real harry1 says:

        11 Oct11 October 14:59

        https://thetelegraph.dragonpassuk.com/
        £18
        code TELEDP16

      • Rob says:

        11 Oct11 October 15:00

        Yes, it is PAYG. Accessible via Priority Pass, Lounge Pass, Dragonpass. The only easy way to get one of these (unless you have a Barclays bank account for Dragonpass) is via Amex Gold for Lounge Club.

        However, the No 1 / Avios deal is pretty good – https://headforpoints.com/hfp/no-1-traveller-avios/

• Katie says:

  11 Oct11 October 11:01

  The UK government should legislate against fees for ‘fast track’ passport control. I’m a capitalist through and through. But: first, there is NO competition in airports. It’s a myth. The whole lot should be nationalised or run as one non-profit making company. Airlines compete. Airports in the UK don’t compete with each other. They compete for airlines. Second, I can CHOOSE to use fast-track security or not, wither by paying or by using status or ticket. I can’t CHOOSE whether or not to use passport control. It is a shambles. MAN are like a computer virus protection company selling virus protection software – whilst simultaneously releasing computer viruses.

  • Rob Brown says:

    11 Oct11 October 11:21

    Surely you have as much choice in using fast track inbound as you do outbound? Neither Passport Control or Security are optional.

  • Billy says:

    11 Oct11 October 12:04

    No one is forcing you to pay. Join the usual queue and it’s free.

    • Rob says:

      11 Oct11 October 12:06

      I am more surprised that the Border Agency go along with it.

  • Billy says:

    11 Oct11 October 12:06

    Try telling BFS/BHD that they don’t compete. Or BFS/DUB, GLA/EDI, LHR/LGW etc

• Billy says:

  11 Oct11 October 12:03

  I paid £9.99 at Gatwick for fastrack passport control. Prebooking is necessary, its limited to 50 pax per hour and it was fast!

• dirtyneedlebluesky says:

  11 Oct11 October 12:21

  I’ve used the Fast Track twice since the introduction in August in two different terminals at MAN.

  One was pointless as no standard queue anyway but I had prebooked. So I never used again between August and last week. Then T3 was just plain silly. Lines that would make US immigration look good!!

  So I sat down and booked for Fast Track..although the t&cs state you have to book so many hours ahead I just put in a time for the end of the day. Once I received my email I just showed this and my surname was added to a list of people. I was congratulated on my tenacity!

  For those that don’t know with FT you get to see an agent. No egate messing. On a personal note I dislike the use of egates and the forced push to use them despite no legal requirement to do so.

  • Canuck says:

    11 Oct11 October 16:28

    Am I right in saying that if you see an agent, they’re simply manually submitting the same data that the eGate would capture?

• the_real_a says:

  11 Oct11 October 12:33

  OT – who destroyed the AMEX website with a redesign. Its awful!

  • the real harry1 says:

    11 Oct11 October 12:43

    probably the code-breakers

    • Kinkell says:

      11 Oct11 October 15:05

      It’s dreadful. Surely they must pilot any changes before it happens? Can’t imagine anyone thinks it’s an improvement.

  • Johnny_c-l says:

    11 Oct11 October 16:23

    Ghastly, so slow too.

  • Mzungu says:

    12 Oct12 October 14:12

    +1 Only shows 3 of my cards along the top, and no scroll arrows to view the other cards. Have to go into transactions on one of the cards, then it shows the other cards and scroll arrows (probably as this section looks like it’s the old site!).

• dirtyneedlebluesky says:

  11 Oct11 October 12:42

  Forgot to add to my earlier post…. No verification of this but a taxi who dropped me off at MAN recently said it was going to soon to undergo a major refurbishment which would include US immigration.

  Just done a quick search and it appears true:

  http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/business-news/future-manchester-airport-featuring-showcase-12632801

  • ChrisC says:

    11 Oct11 October 13:31

    Hold your horses. it is ‘HOPED’ to get pre-cearance.

    Neither the US or UK Governments have given their approval.

    • Rob says:

      11 Oct11 October 15:03

      Would be very surprising if MAN was willing to pay for this. I believe that Dublin has to cover all of the expenses of the US border patrol staff including housing etc.

• AndyGWP says:

  11 Oct11 October 13:16

  OT – is there an easy way to search for ‘anywhere’ to travel using Avios (specifically, RFS) on set dates??

  • Rob says:

    11 Oct11 October 15:02

    Nope ….

  • johnny_c-l says:

    11 Oct11 October 18:14

    On the BA Redemption Finder website you can be a little quicker by just amending the destination airport IATA in the web address to save going back and forth…….this saves a bit of time if you have a list of potential destinations to try.

• Trickydicky says:

  11 Oct11 October 15:46

  Fast track security- Does this mean the bags get screened faster too? If so how do they know who’s bags are fast tracked or do they give you a label?

  • Nick says:

    11 Oct11 October 20:30

    You just get a ‘bye’ to the front of the queue, so your bags go in faster, but it’s no faster if they need a ‘rummage’. However, this is entirely within your control if you take responsibility for your own packing and know the rules and what the machines pull it out for. No liquids, however well hidden. All electronics presented separately. Care taken with cables (ideally check them in, but at least have them in different parts of the bag going through x-ray), care taken with metal items as these can flag. It sounds stupid but learning the rules has changed my life, my bag never gets pulled out at any airport in the world. So those whose do have only themselves to blame.

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