The British Airways Special Services team is now the Concorde Team

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• Lumma says:

  28 Mar28 March 04:51

  Is that the same M&S that sells the Percy Pigs on the buy on board menu?

  • Jamesay says:

    28 Mar28 March 08:57

    Lol. Think Percy designed those “uniforms” or was he cheerleader of the design committee ?

  • ankomonkey says:

    28 Mar28 March 10:12

    Haven’t you ever noticed how well dressed Percy is?

• Lux says:

  28 Mar28 March 05:10

  Looks like the Special Services team has dropped in age by about thirty years in the transformation to the Concord Team! Or possibly ‘posed by models’. That is not a dig: when I was once deemed worth of SS support, they were supremely helpful and knowledgeable. “Computer says yes” mindset. Hope it’s still the same now.

  • Matt says:

    28 Mar28 March 07:03

    The guy in the middle certainly isn’t a model as he was the aspiring young manager featured on the documentary about BA (A Very British Airline) broadcast by the BBC in 2014. He was the guy who was sent to JFK if you watched the program and have a good memory!

    • Dev says:

      28 Mar28 March 07:26

      Still wondering what the outcome was wen when he told a pax “don’t worry, we’ll sort you out” during the snow storm in JFK…

    • LB says:

      28 Mar28 March 08:22

      Wow…with a memory as good as that you should be the new Chaser 😉

• Catalan says:

  28 Mar28 March 05:27

  Well I think they look very smart in their new outfits. Let’s hope they continue the courteous service provided by the former Special Services team.

• Prins Polo says:

  28 Mar28 March 05:29

  “Luxury tailor M&S” – really?

  I associate M&S with a below-average quality Ploughman sandwich, not luxury.

  • John says:

    28 Mar28 March 06:00

    Suspect that’s a tongue and cheek remark.

    But whilst clearly Marks has lost its spark (especially in socks, underwear) some of the men’s shirts and suits can still be surprisingly good.

  • Adam says:

    28 Mar28 March 07:49

    Got to agree, when I saw that comment I thought how did a luxury tailor get away with ripping off marks and spencers name or initials.lol..

• Prins Polo says:

  28 Mar28 March 05:32

  I recall you get a good discount on the ice hotel entry if you buy it as a package with buffet lunch at their restaurant across the street (and food was really good there!).

  • Rob says:

    28 Mar28 March 08:16

    Lunch was £40 each and did not seem to include the hotel but it could have been bad translation.

    • jo says:

      28 Mar28 March 16:42

      I actually recommend a walk down to the church/ reindeer farm and get lunch there. the reindeer burgers are incredibly good and really cheap.

• Scallder says:

  28 Mar28 March 06:31

  OT – renewed my car tax last night and was pleasantly surprised to see that Amex is now accepted!

  • Tilly says:

    28 Mar28 March 08:22

    That’s good to know!

• Mark says:

  28 Mar28 March 06:44

  Has anybody had any problems with skyscanner recently.

  Twice in a month I have overpaid because it didn’t show all the flights.

  Just recently showing only Thai airways 1 flight from a Thai island to Bangkok. Booked it straight away for £200 only flight that day. Then this morning showing 4 additional flights with Bangkok airways for £100 any of the 4 times.

  Twice in a month as it done it with me in Vietnam. When your out these parts you rely on things like skyscanner to show you who and what’s available.

  Becoming a bit of a let down.

  • Roger says:

    28 Mar28 March 07:15

    Skyscanner is now owned by Ctrip (IIRC).
    I would not rely on one source, always try Kayak, Google Flights, Momondo etc. once you have zeroed down on your option before making final booking.

    • Thomas Howard says:

      28 Mar28 March 11:34

      Momondo and Kayak are the same company and seem to produce identical results. Kiwi is worth a look if you’re just looking for a cheap flight to anywhere to fill a weekend.

  • Lumma says:

    28 Mar28 March 07:16

    Used to to search for Berlin to London recently. Cheapest was 2 Ryanair flights but at awful times (1 really early and the other around 2230) there was a 3rd departure that was much more expensive in the evening.

    Checked the Ryanair app and there was a 10am departure for the same price as the other 2 cheapies that didn’t exist on Skyscanner.

    So I’d definitely suggest checking other sites too

  • David says:

    28 Mar28 March 07:17

    It’s always been a bit dodgy – use Google Flights instead, to find out what flights you want to get. Once you’ve done that, use Skyscanner to find the cheapest OTA for the ticket you want, but don’t only use Skyscanner from the start.

  • Callum says:

    28 Mar28 March 07:45

    I’ve never found Skyscanner good for anything other than a basic overview of what’s there.

    I rarely find the best fare there and I can’t remember the last time I clicked a date on the low fare calendar and found that price to still be available.

    • Intentionally Blank says:

      28 Mar28 March 08:40

      Found some flights, Economy out, UC back with Virgin to NYC in May. Obviously, difficult to book anywhere. Even Kayak’s ability was poor. The only place I could find anything close to what ITA matrix told me was priceline (via bookwithita.com or whatever it is)

      Disheartened, I popped into Flight centre who got within £50 🙂

      • Lumma says:

        28 Mar28 March 11:16

        Can’t you book that directly with virgin? I know they do so when using points. It’s actually good value too as long as you’re ok with economy in one direction @ 57500 miles plus around £400 in taxes (I’m sure the taxes are even less if you go out in economy and return in upper too)

    • sunguy says:

      28 Mar28 March 11:44

      Ive found that statravel tend to be able to get most of the fares that you can see in itamatrix – however they charge £25 for booking….so not too bad….:-)

  • Nathan says:

    28 Mar28 March 12:46

    Became a bit of a let down quite some time ago IMHO. Quite sad to see what was, to me at least, a truly innovative tool get left behind. Momondo has been my goto for a long while, that and a reference check against google flights.

    • Lady London says:

      29 Mar29 March 00:22

      +1. Looks like whoever bought Skyscanner has perhaps neglected it? Too many non comprehensive results coming back in past 6-9 months or so when previously a much greater range of results was available.

  • Nick says:

    28 Mar28 March 13:14

    Nobody sensible should rely on skyscanner in any part of the world, it’s rubbish and always has been. Remember it’s not a public service, it’s a commercial website out to make money and does so from gullible people like you!
    Kayak is better, particularly if you let the search run to the end before filtering/sorting. But for the most comprehensive search you’ll have to do some leg-work: find out which airlines fly your route, and check them all one by one. Convenience and time-saving has a price!

    • Lady London says:

      29 Mar29 March 00:25

      Skyscanner was my go-to previously and gave really good results. Past levels of breadth and accuracy have not been maintained. It’s almost like the crack team that were behind Skyscanner migrated to another tool?

      • callum says:

        29 Mar29 March 22:16

        I’ve been checking Skyscanner on and off for 10+ years and can’t say there results have ever been accurate – I’ve not noticed the accuracy decrease at all.

        Are you sure it’s not just your “travel sophistication” that’s increased in that time? I.e. it’s always been accurate for easy and common inquiries (e.g. LON-NYC on specific dates), but if you search for London – USA across a month then I’ve never found it accurate.

• Anna says:

  28 Mar28 March 07:14

  Early OT for Amex Platinum veterans. I’ve recently upgraded from Gold and have been wading through all the benefits. Re lounges – it seems you can get in some airport lounges with just the Platinum card, how you do know which ones these are? And if you’re using Priority Pass, do you also need the Amex card (we don’t like travelling with lots of credit cards), i.e. if OH and I use 2 x PP to get 4 of us into a lounge, will we also need 2 x Amex card? Thanks in advance.

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    28 Mar28 March 07:31

    Plaza Premium and Centurion. No to both.

    • HAM76 says:

      28 Mar28 March 18:57

      Delta lounges in the US when on a Delta flight and Lufthansa lounges in MUC when on a LHG flight. Writing this from the SEN lounge thanks to my Amex Plat.

  • Stu N says:

    28 Mar28 March 07:34

    There’s a lounge directory on the site somewhere under member benefits – takes a bit of finding. Basically Plaza Premium and Amex-branded lounges let you in with the Plat card alone.

    Never been asked to show my Amex card when using the related Priority Pass.

    • pauldb says:

      28 Mar28 March 15:28

      Tag-on question: we’re taking a Delta domestic flight to LGA. As I understand it we’d have to pay for guests at the DL MCO lounge so will use PP. But can we get into the pre-security Amex lounge at LGA, as an arrivals lounge? Might be worth grabbing some lunch before heading to our hotel.

  • the_real_a says:

    28 Mar28 March 07:35

    These are the ones i have accessed

    Delta Lounges – when flying delta in any class
    AMEX branded lounges – useful in the states but also there is a nice one in Hong Kong
    Plaza Premium – Most are enrolled with priority pass, however the exception is the lounge in Heathrow T5.

    • Stu N says:

      28 Mar28 March 07:41

      Oh yes, I forgot about the Delta lounge benefit. Used that in Seattle last summer.

    • Rob says:

      28 Mar28 March 08:13

      New Melbourne lounge now too

    • guesswho2000 says:

      28 Mar28 March 09:40

      VA lounges in Australia too…not sure if it’s meant to be for non AU platinum cards, but it’s listed as a benefit on the AU Amex site.

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