Get Rugby World Cup tickets with Emirates Skywards miles

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• Craig says:

  18 May18 May 08:38

  OT: Does anyone have any experience/recommendation for a Halong Bay overnight cruise?

  • Alex Sm says:

    18 May18 May 09:08

    We decided against it whilst there – a day one is sufficient

  • bsuije says:

    18 May18 May 09:25

    I would disagree with the comment above. I did a day trip and it felt extremely rushed; vowed to do an overnight one on my next trip!

    I remember reading in the Sunday Times Travel magazine that there are 5 routes that the boats take around the bay. Two are shorter and used for day trips, with the other 3 being longer. The longer the route, the fewer the boats that tale it, so if you are looking for something less crowded, I would suggest doing some research into these 3 routes.

  • GeoffGeoff says:

    18 May18 May 10:16

    Had a great trip with Indochina Sails a few years ago. Just over one night but the food , service and staying on board was all part of the experience.

  • Craig says:

    18 May18 May 11:44

    Thanks all.

    • Zoe says:

      18 May18 May 16:45

      Most offer Tai Chi on deck at dawn, hard to get out of bed for but worth the effort.

• Shoestring says:

  18 May18 May 08:47

  Citigroup downgraded [Thomas Cook’s] stock to zero pence following Thursday’s shock announcement that half-year losses had hit £1.5bn and Thomas Cook had been forced to ask lenders for £300m in emergency funding. Losses were driven by a £1.1bn writedown of its UK business.

  Citi said there was “option value only” left in Thomas Cook’s shares, which tumbled 40pc to 11.8p yesterday after the remarks. They sparked a further sell-off of the company’s bonds, which are now trading in the mid-40 cents in the euro, raising doubts over whether they will be repaid in full.

  • Clive says:

    18 May18 May 08:56

    Two other Brokers came in with 18 and 24p

    • Shoestring says:

      18 May18 May 09:06

      Everybody’s laughing at the idea the airline arm could go for £1b, though. They’re saying a net £300m or so once associated debt is factored in.

    • Rob says:

      18 May18 May 09:15

      It is more likely to be nil. Self fulfilling prophecy now – would you book a Cook holiday this weekend?

      • TGLoyalty says:

        18 May18 May 11:47

        Exactly. Once news of trouble hits a travel firm bookings dive and cash flow is hit leaving you with only one way to go.

        • Chrisasaurus says:

          18 May18 May 20:49

          *looks nervously at DY bookings*

• Shoestring says:

  18 May18 May 08:54

  BOEING has completed a software update for the 737 Max, which has been grounded since the model had a second fatal crash two months ago.

  The aircraft manufacturer said the software had been tested for more than 360 hours on 207 flights. Boeing is giving further details to the US aerospace regulator on how pilots interact with the plane’s controls in different scenarios, before scheduling a test flight and submitting the final documentation needed for the airliner to be certified.

  • Peter K says:

    18 May18 May 09:12

    I’ll still be avoiding them though. Why take a potential extra risk when there is no need to do so?

    • Shoestring says:

      18 May18 May 09:32

      Probably a good idea to let them operate for a year or so before you use them again, as long as you have decent alternatives.

      As it was, there were 350x 737 Max in service, assuming they all flew 200 times a year (conservative), I guess your risk was about 2 in (350 x 200) of aircraft going down!

      ie 1 in 35,000

    • BJ says:

      18 May18 May 11:06

      +1, doubt the pilots and crew will be happy either.

  • Marcw says:

    18 May18 May 16:36

    This plane is not gonna fly until final crash reports are released. Otherwise Boeing knew what was wrong with the plane, but did not bother to take action earlier. Clearly, many civil aviation authorities don’t bother what Boeing says/has done about the fix (in the last meeting Boeing held to authorities, the highlight was: no-shows…).

• Liz says:

  18 May18 May 09:08

  Our Safari tour flights for later in the year have been changed from Kenyan Airlines to Qatar now flying LHR-DOH-KIA. We don’t have any status and these flights are economy only. Can we earn Avios and/or tier points and if so how do we get them. We don’t have our tickets from the travel agent yet.

  • Shoestring says:

    18 May18 May 09:21

    Sure – go to a friendly site such as Finnair, —>MMB and switch in your BAEC membership details

  • Daftboy says:

    18 May18 May 12:11

    You can provide your BA Exec Club number when you check in, you don’t need to do anything in advance

• Shoestring says:

  18 May18 May 09:38

  Green card just hit the doormat. 2 working days start to finish.

  • Tom1 says:

    18 May18 May 09:56

    If I have plat now, can I self refer to green, cancel plat, wait a few months and upgrade from green to play for the bonus?
    I realise that will be on the new terms/fees, but would then cancel to start my 2 years clock ticking.

    • Rob says:

      18 May18 May 10:45

      In theory, yes.

  • BJ says:

    18 May18 May 10:58

    Got mine yesterday, definitely going to leave it at least a month, possibly two before upgrading (if the deal”s still around).

    • Shoestring says:

      18 May18 May 11:06

      Mine didn’t get online approval but application was within normal working hours, I guess somebody sitting at a desk gives it the OK (or not) in about 20 seconds – but if you apply in the evening you have to wait until next day. Or Monday.

      • BJ says:

        18 May18 May 11:29

        I think they mostly go to further consideration where people are pushing the limit of credit Amex is happy to extend to them. I got that impression from discussions with them when I failed to get automatic approval in March. The agent was happy to let it go through when I reduced credit across my other three cards by £10k. Currently I have 3x credit and 1x charge,

        • TGLoyalty says:

          18 May18 May 11:51

          I’m not so sure I decided to go for Gold for the extra point on travel / fx transactions and yearly bonus and was referred rather than instant. Card just landed with 5 figure credit limit.

        • BJ says:

          18 May18 May 13:11

          I suppose it’s possible there might even be an element of random selection whereby even applications that might otherwise be accepted undergo further scrutiny.

  • The Original Nick says:

    18 May18 May 14:10

    Harry, what is your plan with the Green card? I currently have the Platinum card but I’m unsure wether to cancel it as my renewal is up in July. I have a big amount of MR points currently but don’t want to transfer them anywhere at the moment.

    • Mr Amazon says:

      18 May18 May 14:50

      Give him time Nick, he’s busy trying to get this new card rocking the AMEX25OFF discount across his numerous Amazon accounts!

      • Shoestring says:

        18 May18 May 15:09

        heh heh!

        no need, still got Gold charge

        • Shoestring says:

          18 May18 May 15:58

          The £10 off £30 offer when you install Amazon app offer is still available – must install by May 31st, use by mid June

        • Harry says:

          18 May18 May 17:40

          If you already have the app, can you delete it and reinstall it and use the code again?

          And how are you getting the AMEX25OFF code to work again and again? It’s worked once for me.

        • Shoestring says:

          18 May18 May 17:52

          1. no (Amazon track this) but no problem having more than 1 family Amazon a/c
          2. variants of AMEX25OFF have appeared at least 3 times in the last 3 years or so, we had 6 family a/cs so have used it nearly 18 times – then it was working on new a/cs so used it twice more as cat & my bro wanted a/cs, the cat ordered 2 bottles of malt whisky & generously gave them to me for all the aggro she has caused. So it’s actually only ever once per a/c but gets recharged from time to time, no excuse for not taking out a/cs for all your family members as there’s no age limit, the same Amex charge card works on multiple a/cs.

        • Harry says:

          18 May18 May 17:56

          Thank you for the advice, much appreciated.

          You have a very generous cat. I wonder if my cat will also be that generous?

        • Shoestring says:

          18 May18 May 17:56

          you could use the £10 off £30 on malt whisky as well – a £20 bottle of malt plus £10 of essentials such as loo paper & you can argue you got £10 off the whisky, making it half price

          or gin

        • Harry says:

          18 May18 May 18:05

          I shall make a toast to you if it works.

• Maty8 says:

  18 May18 May 09:44

  The cheapest city for Sydney is Copenhagen.

  • Shoestring says:

    18 May18 May 11:07

    You mean right now, today, this week – or always?

    • Rob says:

      18 May18 May 11:11

      Probably varies by the exact date you want and the FX rate on the SEK but it generally Norway / Sweden / Denmark has been best for a few months.

      • BJ says:

        18 May18 May 13:24

        I think the reason for this is because a substantial chunk of QR business is to se Asia, and Thailand in particular. From CPH, ARN and OSL TG have a good grip on the market, and from ARN and OSL I believe they are still selling J cabin as PE even though the old 747s are long gone. I am sure some Scandinavian readers can confirm or otherwise.

• NigelT says:

  18 May18 May 09:51

  Just booked QR GOT to SIN for €1271 each. Cheapest start point I could find.

  • Henrik says:

    18 May18 May 11:21

    What dates? Cheapest I see on Google flights is £1455

• Paul says:

  18 May18 May 09:52

  Real shame for st Petersburg and Kiev as both are amazing cities to visit

  Hopefully BA won’t replace them with routes to cities in countries and cities already served by a dozen other airlines

  • Judge says:

    18 May18 May 11:05

    Entirely agree. A great loss. Silver lining could be other interesting new short-mid haul destinations not served by others, but I don’t feel very optimistic.

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