Jet Airways abandons Heathrow Airport, and Etihad gets the landing slots

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• Chabuddy geezy says:

  13 Apr13 April 06:35

  I tried to get into the No1 lounge at Gatwick using a Lounge Club card which they said was fully booked. Interestingly they let me use My Lounge but I had to sign in at No 1. My Lounge is still not listed on the Lounge Club website so maybe this is their way of bypassing the Collinson rules.

  • Sam G says:

    13 Apr13 April 07:02

    Don’t forget you can prebook for a fiver which includes priority security

• KBuffett says:

  13 Apr13 April 07:18

  OT – I’m experiencing very poor service from John Lewis. I purchased a washing machine and dryer online, paid partly using AMEX and partly using gift cards. The washing machine doesn’t have a feature listed on the website, the dryer doesn’t dry. Repeated calls to JL and not being returned, neither are emails to the complaints department.
  Will AMEX help with a chargeback or similar for the full amount I’ve paid including the amount paid on gift card?
  I’m tired of chasing JL. I called for a 6th time yesterday and was promised a call back with resolution, alas no call.

  • Shoestring says:

    13 Apr13 April 07:53

    let us know how you get on 🙂

  • JPa says:

    13 Apr13 April 08:05

    If is over £100 in total price then the credit card is jointly responsible (if only £1 is on the card). That covers not receiving the item or the company going broke etc, so can’t return it. Whether the covers it missing a feature I am not so sure. I have had the washer/dryer’s before and the dryer’s never seem to be any good.

    Have you tried just going into a branch to sort it out?

    Also try https://www.resolver.co.uk/

    I would say Amex should be the last resort, and probably will not help unless you have exhausted every angle with JL.

    • Bonglim says:

      13 Apr13 April 09:55

      I am pretty sure they are responsible in exactly the same way as John Lewis, as long as it was a CREDIT card. I am not sure about charge cards? I would however keep pursuing JL.

      I had a similar, in fact much more flimsy, problem with my purchase and they were fine (eventually).
      I bought a dryer with the door that opens the wrong way, because it has a small space to fit in to, it had to open from the right side, and I accidently bought one which opened on the left! So TOTALLY my fault. I bought it at the same time as a washer and the dryer had to be put in first because of the small space.

      They said they would collect/ replace it and turned up with a new dryer. When they turned up they would not touch/ move the washer to get the dryer, so left it behind and we sent the replacement dryer back with them. They also said we needed the packaging for the dryer, that was the packaging they took with them when they installed the dryer. Queue my partner complaining (a fair bit – she likes complaining). She suggested we would have to return both and then re-buy the washer and new dryer – but they agreed that was stupid and said they would re-deliver the dryer with their ‘A-team’ delivery team with instructions that they would move the washer etc.

      They did that.

      They called up a couple weeks later to make sure it went well….. and gave up some compensations…. of 300 pounds. Which we thought was pretty good – although it was annoying at the time.

      My advice is keep complaining to JL and they will eventually sort it and compensate you. We also separately had compensation from them because they drove on our lawn on a different delivery (150).

      • Lady London says:

        13 Apr13 April 10:10

        Most people that now sell white goods are drop shipping them. I’ve noticed this can lead to more problems than a direct ship. TBH with this kind of problem you are probably in much better hands with John Lewis group than with others.

        A small tip I’ve often found a Tuesday morning can be a good time to complain or follow up a complaint.

  • Olly says:

    13 Apr13 April 10:21

    This follws on from my question earlier this week as to whether i am safer using a credit card or Amex Platinum charge card for goods that potentially might have problems, such as white goods, TVs etc. I would love to hear how people have got on with Amec intervening in a dispute on a charge card which is not covered by S75. One of the reasons I used to but things on the Amex was the reputation of it sorting things out for their customers but is this all just urban myth?

  • the_real_a says:

    13 Apr13 April 14:51

    One of little known benefits of AMEX cards is “refund protection” insurance (AXA benefits) offered certainly on the Plat card but might be on the others. It offers a total refund within 90 days if the retailer will not accept a return of the item without any fancy clauses. I have used this ironically with a JL purchase that i didnt want and JL refused to accept the return as the 30 return period had ended. AXA paid immediately and whilst they initially wanted the item posted to them, we agreed i would drop it off at a charity shop as its was impractical to post – and i would send them a receipt.

    Unfortunately using gift cards would of course invalidate this…

    • john says:

      15 Apr15 April 09:47

      Only up to £x00 and there are some limitations. Read the small print on this for the BAPP recently with something we bought from Mothercare but luckily they took it back without quibble. Note it excludes ‘healthcare items’ which is a rather vague description. Would electric toothbrush come under that for example?

      There is also purchase protection upto £2.5K for stolen / damaged items although that has £50 excess.

  • Andrew says:

    14 Apr14 April 11:26

    What is the “feature” of the washing machine? Is it reasonably covered by the usual clause that “equipment is subject to continous improvements”?

    What about the drier? You’re not doing anything stupid like putting a heat-pump drier outdoors or in a unheated room? Sometimes, with the more expensive ones, you can reprogram the sensors to stop drying at a more refined moisture level.

• Andreas says:

  13 Apr13 April 07:21

  My goodness, Etihad sure did make some dodgy investments in airlines… it seems that not a single one has turned out well.

  • Jovanna says:

    13 Apr13 April 07:36

    They lost around $72 (USD) per passenger that flew with them in 20018.

    • BJ says:

      13 Apr13 April 12:28

      🙂
      Was that for their time travel services?

      • Peter 64K says:

        13 Apr13 April 13:01

        😂

• Chelseafi says:

  13 Apr13 April 07:58

  Flying out of Gatwick South Fri in June flight 7.15am, 4 adults with 2 PP cards, Can we use No1 lounge (assume we should get in ok around 5am) and then get take out for plane from Grain Store too?

  • Shoestring says:

    13 Apr13 April 08:02

    yes

• Lyn says:

  13 Apr13 April 08:10

  OT re BA. I flew BA First transatlantic back into Heathrow a couple of days ago on a 747 with the new service. . It was my first BA First flight of any kind so I can’t compare to the old service, but can comment on a few things.

  I got the impression BA seem to have rushed into this a bit. The printed menus bore no relationship to the food and wine that was actually loaded, so the cabin crew were scrambling to write down what was available before taking orders, and also to apologise for only having the tops of the new sleep suits on offer, after searching in vain for the bottoms. The champagne was lovely, but the wines were a bit hit and miss in that they thought the white wine list was correct, and took orders accordingly, but the wines turned out to be completely different, even from different countries (e.g. a sauvignon blanc from New Zealand instead of one from Chile). The canapes were good (especially the scallop) and also the cheese plate, but nothing in between was very impressive.

  I felt sorry for the helpful cabin crew. Apparently they were initially surprised by all the changes. They expected only minor tweaks since they didn’t receive their normal training (only given things to read) and it turned out to be a lot more than that, with a total change in the way they are expected to serve meals.. In some ways it seemed rather inefficient, e.g. having to pour olive oil into little bowls alongside the butter, which was a waste if one didn’t choose bread. It was probably a good thing there were a few empty seats. I was given a bottle of the Rose champagne by way of apology for the the mismatch in menus and sleep suits, which I thought was a nice gesture.

  I was disappointed by the Temperley amenity bag itself, but that is because I had been looking forward to the Liberty one. It has the one advantage of being squashy, so easily packed. The women’s bag looks like the photos, for better or worse, but the men’s bag is a rather cheap looking black velvet. The actual contents seem well thought out, and the Elemis products nice (especially the rose mist). Several of the other passengers were apparently unimpressed and just left theirs, unused, on board.

  • Anna says:

    13 Apr13 April 18:58

    Got my first F next month – I’m going to hold out for a bottle of LPGS if they mess up, especially as i’m flying on my birthday 😂

  • ChrisC says:

    14 Apr14 April 02:43

    A different menu to what was actually loaded actually happens quite frequently.

    It’s not a sign of poor staff training or a botched rollout of the new service but just something that happened to occur on your flight

    Some of your other comments are down to your personal taste and nothing else.

• jtz says:

  13 Apr13 April 08:18

  OT: Still can’t decide on whether its worth it getting another card, we have approx £1k-2k spend coming in the coming weeks.
  OH has spg (spend hit) gold (spend hit) hilton (already gold)
  I have Plat (spend hit) and recently cancelled spg

  After a lot of research on hfp I see our options are
  1) Virgin- we won’t generate enough for the 2-for-1 or upgrade,and have enough hilton points
  2) IHG- the points sign up bonus is not that attractive when it comes to accelerate promos OH gets-works out the same-ish, the 10k spend …ever so slightly…might be able to be met, for the free night (this would have been my go to if we had collected the free nights from Leeds free night promo, but sadly we didn’t)
  3) BA Amex, under new rules we are both eligible for the BA Amex, now I’ve never done this one before because of the high taxes, ideally we would use to it for SIN, or KUL, I just checked on redemption finder that taxes are approx 500pp, again the 10k might be a squeeze but it would be a little comforting knowing I can be on the free one and upgrade later if we meet the 10k, currently we have 60k avios between us and would need at least 200k…so that would need to be factored in.
  4) OH gets green, cancels gold? upgrades to plat?

  We also have 33k in spg each, which I would love to keep in spg and keep for a nice hotel in Malaysia or in the South east, made a sort of list of what redemptions I like and most are around 30k -50k per night

  Would appreciate any help in narrowing down, also would need the card by next week!
  Thanks

  • Peter 64K says:

    13 Apr13 April 08:36

    Julian would say don’t get another card.

  • Mikeact says:

    13 Apr13 April 08:37

    A card for next week ? That sounds pretty impossible to me, what with the run up to Easter.

  • Louise says:

    13 Apr13 April 08:55

    Self refer to BA PP – get the 18k from Plat and spend the 3k on it and get 30k Avios approx if you also add a supplementary at a later date than applying (3k bonus)

    That would be near 50k for Avios if you decide to pursue a 2 for 1 and keep card

    • Mark2 says:

      13 Apr13 April 10:18

      He won’t get the 30,000 Avios as he has already got an Amex card, but will get the 18,000 MR.

      • Bonglim says:

        13 Apr13 April 11:16

        Mark2
        The new rules put BA PP card in a separate category. So if you have not had any BA card in the last 2 years, you can still get the BA PP card signup bonus; even if you have had other Amex cards.

        So, from what he has said, I think he can get the BA PP card signup bonus.
        (The same applies to Platinum card if you have not had any MR account for 2 years).

      • Mark2 says:

        13 Apr13 April 11:30

        I stand corrected!

      • Jtz says:

        13 Apr13 April 18:12

        Thanks all, used up all my plat referrals on family but will look at ba pp from OH gold perhaps

• KBuffett says:

  13 Apr13 April 09:06

  I’m being rather lazy here:
  I’ve got a BA 241 expiring Feb 2020
  As expected availability of flights convenient for me is limited
  Can I use the voucher for two separate pairs of one way flights?

  • Rob says:

    13 Apr13 April 09:29

    No

    • KBuffett says:

      13 Apr13 April 11:25

      Any similar options ?

      • Peter 64K says:

        13 Apr13 April 13:03

        You can use it on one one-way flight starting in the UK and not use for the return.

      • Alex says:

        13 Apr13 April 13:48

        Open jaw (with some limitations) is possible.

• Mark2 says:

  13 Apr13 April 10:21

  Yes you will get the referral points.
  I have just referred my wife for a Green and then upgraded it to Platinum for 20,000 MR with £1,000 spend.

  • The Original Nick says:

    13 Apr13 April 10:36

    Thanks. Has your wife cancelled any Amex cards in the last 24 months?

    • Mark2 says:

      13 Apr13 April 11:32

      loads, so she will not get the sign up bonus on green

    • S says:

      14 Apr14 April 03:31

      Green doesn’t have any signup bonus anyway.

  • Tracy says:

    13 Apr13 April 21:31

    Is there an up to date link for this upgrade? Thanks

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