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• Will says:

  13 May13 May 09:32

  Another OT….has ANYONE actually received a card from Llloyds to replace their Avios AMEX card? I had a letter in Feb saying that my card would be replaced in two months but since then…nothing. My AMEX still works and I haven’t received any further correspondence or cards.

  • Liam says:

    13 May13 May 09:55

    No, not yet. I got an email last week saying I’d just qualified for a new upgrade voucher (I thought I was quite far off, as I barely spend on this card any more). Does anyone know what will happen to this voucher if I cancel the Lloyds card when the existing Amex/Mastercard combo is replaced?

  • Anna says:

    13 May13 May 10:36

    I’ve not even had the letter! I spoke to them a few weeks ago and they said they were withdrawing the cards at the end of June but that can’t happen now as they have to give 60 days’ notice of changes. Enjoy it while it lasts – if it can be eked out till the end of August that will suit me fine as I’ll have done my major foreign spend for the year at that point.

  • paulm says:

    13 May13 May 15:09

    Was going to ask the same! My letter was from March with 2 months time mentioned but nothing so far. Long may it continue!

    • 1DES1 says:

      13 May13 May 16:35

      +1 Got my letter two months ago, no sign of any replacement card.

• LewisB says:

  13 May13 May 10:14

  OT: Does anybody know when the first flight commences for the new BA J from Toronto in October? I have a J class flight from Montreal on Oct 16th. May have to move the date back a day… I’m sure I could easily position myself in Toronto instead.

  • Rob says:

    13 May13 May 10:32

    No-one knows because the plane hasn’t arrived and BA only gets 30 days notice anyway.

    • LewisB says:

      13 May13 May 10:37

      Fair. There’s no availability on the 15th anyway at the moment, only the 14th. Will keep my eyes peeled! Thanks, Rob.

• Liam says:

  13 May13 May 10:52

  Small OT — FT reporting today that Finnair is adding an extra London to Helsinki daily flight.

  “Topi Manner, who took charge in January, told the Financial Times the airline had added a daily return flight between London and Helsinki, taking its total to six. It has also introduced a larger twin-aisle plane on one of its return flights, lifting the number of seats by 20 per cent across all flights on that route.”

  • Dev says:

    13 May13 May 11:55

    That is correct. They have an A330 in the afternoon nowadays, but on a couple of occasions recently, they put an A350 on instead.

• BrotherBear says:

  13 May13 May 11:55

  On a flight that is likely to be busy and one which we need to be on, is there any benefit to paying £12 to choose a seat in terms of that stopping any risk of us being bumped off the flight eg due to overbooking?

  Thanks

  • BrotherBear says:

    13 May13 May 11:55

    Also, would we be able to check in at that point and download boarding passes?

    • Genghis says:

      13 May13 May 13:43

      I assume BA? Paying for a seat does not guarantee you’ll be on the flight. Even those with seats can only check in 24 hours before and download boarding passes.

      • BrotherBear says:

        13 May13 May 14:05

        Yes BA.

        So only way to “guarantee” a seat is to get the boarding pass issued at 24 hours before the flight?

        Was told by a friend of a friend that paying for seats would lessen the chances of being bumped off the flight.

        • Rob says:

          13 May13 May 17:27

          That doesn’t guarantee you a seat either, to be honest. ‘Last to check in’ is NOT how BA chooses who to kick off.

        • BrotherBear says:

          13 May13 May 17:48

          Thanks Genghis / Rob

          So if we are not fussed about where we sit, there is no benefit to choosing seats before the 24 hour mark and best to just check in as soon as possible although no 100% guarantees about being safe from being moved?

        • Genghis says:

          13 May13 May 17:51

          Put it this way, if I didn’t have status on BA I wouldn’t pay to reserve seats

        • Shoestring says:

          13 May13 May 17:55

          Paying to reserve a seat isn’t that useful – but checking in @T-24 is your best guarantee of getting on the plane. Not an absolute guarantee but the best you’ll get.

          Once 100% of seats have been taken ie checked in to, you’re in a very poor position.

        • BrotherBear says:

          13 May13 May 20:05

          Thanks all.

          Off to the champions league final so want to make sure we get there ok.

          COYS

        • Shoestring says:

          13 May13 May 20:09

          What’s your flight – route? operator?

          if it’s BA to Madrid there are a couple of tricks you might want to use

        • BrotherBear says:

          13 May13 May 20:26

          Is BA to Bilbao. Back is Vueling but less fussed about the return.

        • Shoestring says:

          13 May13 May 20:36

          OK. When you check in @T-24, don’t print off your boarding pass or get the PDF, just say collect at airport (for now). This leaves you free to keep checking for a better seat, eg a window further up the plane if that’s what you like. The seat availability is dynamic and changes by the second/ minute so you can check again regularly and move yourself to a better seat. Not possible if you print/ PDF your boarding pass as this finalises your check in.

          Arrive at the airport early and go to the BA self check in machines, do it. View/ change seat option. This gives you a view of all the free seats remaining (you often don’t get to see these otherwise) including Exit seats, which you can now choose for free (instead of £24). You can actually do this @T-24 if you are close to an airport with BA self check in machines.

        • Shoestring says:

          13 May13 May 20:48

          and good to see a fellow Spurs supporter, that’s one of my teams what I support

        • RTS says:

          14 May14 May 14:50

          One of? Bit of a glory hunter are we? 😉

      • BrotherBear says:

        13 May13 May 20:53

        Thank you.

        We are due a bit of fortune so fingers crossed.

• Chrisasaurus says:

  13 May13 May 12:40

  Interesting OT:

  Quantas to trial a redemption-only flight, a one off a380 from Sydney to Tokyo on which no cash tickets to be sold

  https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2019/05/13/qantas-dedicates-entire-a380-flight-to-frequent-flyer-redemptions/

  • Memesweeper says:

    13 May13 May 13:08

    Wow. Are you reading this BA? You shift planes around for operational reasons all the time! Just drop a crew onboard and let us freeloaders join in the journey 🙂

    • Rob says:

      13 May13 May 13:14

      I don’t believe they are sending a plane to Tokyo for operational reasons to be honest.

      I suggested this to Eurostar once as a marketing idea, running a special Paris weekend trip out Fri / back Sun just for members.

      BA is refurbishing its 777 fleet in Singapore so in theory they do a redemption flight down there once a month!

  • Danny says:

    13 May13 May 13:53

    Cathay Pacific has also been doing redemption only flights to from Hong to Kong to Japan (Sapporo) recently.

  • Mikeact says:

    14 May14 May 10:41

    It’s a pretty long way to start for us to hop on board from the UK , unfortunately!

• BJ says:

  13 May13 May 13:25

  OT @Rob, without breaking any confidence are you able to tell us if there is still more to come from amex or is today’s news the end of it?

  • Rob says:

    13 May13 May 17:29

    There is still more but I don’t know the details.

    • BJ says:

      13 May13 May 17:39

      Thanks, will keep things exciting if nothing else 🙂

• BSI1978 says:

  13 May13 May 14:08

  Stayed at that hotel on Murano back in 2016; absolutely loved it and at the time they arranged complimentary pick up and return in one of their 2 boats, and you could also arrange travel to the main island if you pre-booked with the front desk.

  Given what some of the other operators were charging for boat rides, this was exceptional value (IMO) and it was honestly no issue not being on the main island. If anything it was nice getting away from the mid-August mania and heat to somewhere which was a bit more chilled out and quiet.

  Surprised to read it has undergone a refurb – recall it being in pretty good nick at the time.

  • Rob says:

    13 May13 May 17:26

    There are hard and soft refurbs …. may just be new beds etc.

• BJ says:

  13 May13 May 16:13

  OT: Not sure if it is new or ongoing but there’s 2500 clubcard points available for new combined home insurance policies at Tesco Bank through 28/2/20.

  • Spurs Debs says:

    13 May13 May 19:25

    Think the current promotion for that finishes 16/5/2019 …. so it must be extended.

  • Louise says:

    13 May13 May 20:36

    I did this and mine paid out fairly quickly

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