Flybe to close or shrink four UK bases as it cuts back on jet aircraft operations

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• Dave Barron says:

  4 Apr4 April 07:40

  Previously not preciously ha ha

• TokyoFan says:

  4 Apr4 April 07:43

  OT: So I’ve finally managed to persuade my parents in their late 60’s that flying Club World will make their longhaul trips far more agreeable (my Dad doesn’t like flying at all really, but mostly down to space issues etc).

  So off to SFO they go in the autumn on the a380. Of course sadly they have no status and therefore BA wants to charge them an arm and a leg to choose seats. There’s 4 of them on the booking. What would HFPers suggest?

  Part of me thinks that they needn’t bother, the likelihood of them being sat together is high etc. But part of me thinks they should shell out and guarantee the best CW experience they can get (which in my book is a window pair). I don’t think they’d want the four across the middle, and it’d have to be compelling to persuade their companions to also spend on seat reservations.

  Thoughts anyone?

  • John says:

    4 Apr4 April 07:50

    You pay for all four seats

    • John says:

      4 Apr4 April 07:51

      As it was you who suggested CW. Why didn’t you suggest an airline which doesn’t charge

      • TokyoFan says:

        4 Apr4 April 07:52

        Ha. I thought you were going to ask why don’t I offer to pay for the seats 🙂

  • Matt says:

    4 Apr4 April 08:00

    Would that be (£80 x 4) x 2? Drop partnercard an email – he may not be the bigger villain!

  • The Savage Squirrel says:

    4 Apr4 April 08:02

    Thoughts? If they’re not bothered enough about where they sit to spend that money and would rather take their chances then that’s fair enough. Let them make their own choices!

  • Chris L says:

    4 Apr4 April 08:17

    I would say it’s worth paying if you can get one of the ‘prime’ pairs on the upper deck (e.g. 53AB/JK or if not then 59AB/JK) as these give you both the additional storage and direct aisle access. Otherwise, I don’t reckon it’s worth paying the extra, though if they’ve not been to San Fran before, the views on approach are often spectacular so you may consider it worth paying extra for a window.

  • Michael says:

    4 Apr4 April 08:19

    Wouldn’t bother paying myself. Especially on the overnight sector back. Day times a little different but i’d probably just wing it.

  • Peter 64K says:

    4 Apr4 April 08:25

    The step up from economy to business long haul for the first time is enough by itself irrespective of seats sat in I reckon. They’ll enjoy it whatever seats.

  • Memesweeper says:

    4 Apr4 April 09:10

    If it’s their first long haul business trip they’ll be so wowed by the seats they’ll not care where in the plane they are. It’s the ‘regulars’ who start obsessing about the most optimal seats.

    You can do the seat selection online 24 hours ahead for free, set an alarm and be quick. If they’re not sat together then ask at check in, the gate and on the plane about a reshuffle. Bound to be fine.

  • RIccatti says:

    4 Apr4 April 11:16

    Depends on route/day/how busy it is.

    But it is reasonable to request and expect at check-in that a couple will be seated together.

    CW has PLENTY of seats on each plane config.

• Phil says:

  4 Apr4 April 07:53

  “Dinosoar”?!

  Does it fly? 😮

  • Rob says:

    4 Apr4 April 07:57

    Fixed. The spell checker doesn’t do headlines!

• Grant says:

  4 Apr4 April 07:57

  Way OT, but would anyone with with an Amex Plat mind doing a price and ‘benefits’ check for me through FHR?

  I’m looking at The Beekman in NYC from 06/05/19 to 11/05/19 in a King Deluxe.

  Thanks

  • paulm says:

    4 Apr4 April 08:11

    £467 per night

    FINE HOTELS & RESORTS complimentary benefits:
    Room Upgrade upon arrival, when available.
    Noon check-in, when available.
    Daily breakfast for two people.
    In-Room Wi-Fi, exclusions apply.
    Guaranteed 4:00 pm late check-out.
    US$100 Food and beverage credit to be used during your stay

    • Grant says:

      4 Apr4 April 08:12

      Great, thanks very much. Is that inc. of taxes?

      • paulm says:

        4 Apr4 April 08:21

        Yep incl tax – £2335.11 total

  • pauldb says:

    4 Apr4 April 08:12

    Room Upgrade upon arrival, when available.
    Noon check-in, when available.
    Daily breakfast for two people.
    In-Room Wi-Fi, exclusions apply.
    Guaranteed 4:00 pm late check-out.
    US$100 Food and beverage credit to be used during your stay
    USD3,052.63

• Matt B says:

  4 Apr4 April 08:01

  OT – anyone received the Tesco Mobile 2000 points bonus from more than 2 sims against a single clubcard account?

  • Mikeact says:

    4 Apr4 April 08:23

    Yes..this came up last week..I must have received mine 2/3 weeks back.

    • Grant says:

      4 Apr4 April 08:35

      I think the query is whether it works more than twice per account, e.g. could you get 2 x 2,000 points per card for as many cards as you have registered to the account.

      I’ve used it twice per card across two different accounts but I have additional cards on each of those accounts that it would make use of it if it worked more than twice per account.

      • Matt B says:

        4 Apr4 April 08:45

        Yes that’s right. I have received 2 x 2000 points from one of the clubcard numbers in my account. However I also have another 4 clubcard numbers linked to the same amount.

        I’m sure I read someone was going to test it further.

      • BJ says:

        4 Apr4 April 08:58

        The rule is clear and validated that we can get 2×2000 bonus/clubcard account. However, many of us have 2+ clubcard numbers per clubcard account. It remains unclear if we can get 2×2000 bonus/number giving rise to more than 4000 points per clubcard account. Despite the lack of clarity in t&c , my guess is that it is capped at 4000 points per clubcard account irrespective of how many clubcard numbers we have associated with each account. I am not risking 3+ per account, I prefer to open new clubard accounts.

  • Barry says:

    4 Apr4 April 08:31

    Had one set of 2000 post about 9 days after activation. Activated and topped up the second SIM a couple of days later so hoping these will post any day now.

    If it does, we will be doing the same trick on a different clubcard!

• Polly says:

  4 Apr4 April 08:18

  OT. using 241 voucher, but only outbound seats available today. First time to have to do this…

  1. So do l tick the use voucher box, or leave it, and book the seats at full avios?

  2. When l find, hopefully! the return seats, and call up BA to add them to booking, is that when l ask to apply the voucher?

  Have them on hold for the moment. Thanks for help. Should know this but skimmed over it before.

  • Peter 64K says:

    4 Apr4 April 08:33

    Apply voucher on initial flights.
    When book return flights they get added to the first voucher booking.

    • Polly says:

      4 Apr4 April 10:11

      Thank you v much…

• Marcw says:

  4 Apr4 April 08:21

  I’ve seen many birds inside the terminals and outside. Btw, birds ARE dinosaurs.

  • Peter 64K says:

    4 Apr4 April 08:34

    Depends on your definition of dinosaur.

• meta says:

  4 Apr4 April 08:48

  First, hi everyone from sunny Seychelles! Saw the dinosaur yesterday at Heathrow. Thought it was a bit odd. BA flight to SEZ went tech, so arrived 2h45 late, no compo as under 3h, but hoping I can claim for missed connection to Praslin via Amex Plat. Booked new tickets while waiting at LHR as Air Seychelles call centre was closed. Good that I did as all flights today are full.

  • Lady London says:

    4 Apr4 April 12:30

    Was your connection to Praslin on thé dame ticket? If do then IT is thé delay in tour arrival at Praslin that counts for EU261 not your delay to SEZ.

    • meta says:

      4 Apr4 April 15:00

      Sadly not as BA flight was with Lloyds voucher, so separate ticket to PRI with Air Seychelles. It wasn’t that bad as there was a paid lounge and managed to shower and eat something. Time flew fast…

      • Shoestring says:

        4 Apr4 April 15:08

        sorry meta I think you’re out of luck on the Amex compo as 2.45 hrs is too short for you to allow for a connection

        could be wrong & worth trying /claiming but most missed connection policies kick in at 4 hrs minimum connection time built into your itinerary

      • meta says:

        4 Apr4 April 15:46

        @shoestring. Actually I might be able to. Amex policy documents say the following : « You miss Your connecting flight, train or ship and no alternative is made available within 4 hours of the published departure time ».

        There was definitely no flight available within the four hours! The only flight they could put us on was the 3pm as all other flights were full. I enquired whether we could be squeezed in or on stand by earlier, but no luck.

      • meta says:

        4 Apr4 April 15:55

        And the minimum connection time at SEZ (international – domestic) is apparently 90min, so I should be alright I think. Will keep you updated on how it goes. It was £200, but at least didn’t lose the rent-a-car and 1 night accommodation, so that’s valuable.

      • Shoestring says:

        4 Apr4 April 17:14

        well give it a try by all means but perhaps set your expectations low to avoid disappointment!

        [EXCLUSIONS
        General Exclusions to Card Travel Insurance listed in Section 1.9 apply to all travel insurance benefits.
        The following exclusions apply only to this Travel Inconvenience Section 1.6.
        You will not be covered in respect of the following:
        1) Under missed departure and missed connection, claims where insufficient time has been allowed to arrive at
        the departure point or to arrive to connect with Your ongoing journey by flight, train or ship.]

      • Alan says:

        4 Apr4 April 17:44

        Given you’re well over the MCT I think you can quite reasonably argue that you left sufficient time – do let us know how you get on, @meta.

      • Shoestring says:

        4 Apr4 April 17:52

        actually we don’t know how much connection time @meta allowed! only that his plane arrived 2h45 late and so they missed the connection…

        would be good to hear claim is successful

      • Jon says:

        4 Apr4 April 19:06

        Travelling solo?

  • meta says:

    4 Apr4 April 19:07

    @ I left 2h30, so above MCT.

    • Shoestring says:

      4 Apr4 April 19:13

      yep but obviously an insurance policy will not treat each airport individually: those paying out under the policy will have a defined idea of what is a reasonable minimum time to allow for a connection & apply it to all airports. And as it’s highly unlikely to be as low as 2hrs, the next peg up is 3hrs (and I’ve seen 4hrs on some specific ‘missed connection’ clauses online).

      anyway, we’re all hoping you win the claim so fingers crossed 🙂

    • meta says:

      4 Apr4 April 19:31

      @ Jon, no with my partner.
      @shoestring will see.

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