News in brief:
New British Airways routes with Do&Co catering
Last September British Airways surprised us by announcing that all outbound long haul catering at Heathrow would be switching from Gate Gourmet and DHL to Austrian group Do&Co.
This is a significant upgrade since Do&Co is considered the most prestigious airline catering company in the world. This new contract also includes Iberia’s long-haul catering.
Of course, a change in supplier is a big undertaking. If you are driving to Terminal 4 at Heathrow you will see the new Do&Co facility currently being constructed. It is huge – 172,000 square feet to be precise.
British Airways is currently switching over route by route, using Do&Co’s existing capacity. BA does not like to publicly state which routes have the new catering since that necessarily puts off customers flying elsewhere. We have therefore been relying on word on the street and our own in-flight experiences!
A BA employee got in touch this week with the latest position as he understood it:
Do&Co food has already been launched on routes to New York, Chicago, Tokyo (both airports), Pittsburgh, Charleston, Amman, Beirut, Cairo, Moscow (both airports), Tel Aviv and Hong Kong.
From the 29th May:
Lagos and Abuja
From 1st June:
Seoul
From 2nd June:
Islamabad (this is a new route starting 2nd June)
The full roll out should be completed by March 2020.
Additional Club Suite flight to Dubai from March 2020
We are slowly getting to see how British Airways will be utilising its new A350 aircraft, which is where you need to look if you want to guarantee an aircraft with the new Club Suite business class product.
The first two routes were announced as Dubai and Toronto at the time the seat was launched (plus test flights to Madrid). Recent weeks have seen Bengaluru and Tel Aviv added as routes three and four.
We now know what route five will be – another Dubai service!
From 1st March, BA105/104 from/to Dubai will be operated by an A350. This is as well as BA107/106 (the day flight) which gets Club Suite – assuming the aircraft arrive on schedule from Airbus – from 8th October this year.
About Head for Points
Off topic, is there a lounge at Palma de Mallorca airport I can use if I have a BA Gold care but only travelling economy?
Yes. But only if you’re travelling on either BA, Iberia or S7 oneworld airlines.
Sala Valldemosa(PMI) Palma Mallorca Airport Departures
Welcomes oneworld sapphire and emerald status members as well as biz and first class passengers travelling on either BA, Iberia or S7 Airlines. I believe you can also take a guest in with you.
Save this website in your favourites and you can search for airport lounges worldwide:
https://www.oneworld.com/airport-lounges?location=PMI
Don’t use this one – use VIP Formentor instead which has recently been refurbed. Although it’s not included in the oneworld list you can access it too as they are from the same contractor.
Good to know – my wife, son and I will be going there soon! Thanks.
Thanks everyone for advice.
There are now 4 lounges at PMI with a new one having just opened at the A gates (non-schengen flights beyond passport control). I am based in PMI and fly weekly so have used them all. I generally prefer the one in D gates (mostly flights to mainland Spain) then C (also mainland and other shengen). Valldemossa is under the shops as you come into the main shopping area after security – take the escalator down to your left by hard Rock cafe then it’s behind you. The food is all identical (OK lounge fare, hams/cheese, baguettes/pastries plus a couple of other dishes on small plates – normally meatballs and a Russian salad). Drink selection is reasonable too. The worst one for ambience is probably the “new” A gates lounge, feels like a trucker cafe! I’d only go to this again as a last minute delay option.
OT – I went to upgrade my green card to the platinum for 20,000 points (the offer doesn’t show up in my offers – not sure if it’s elsewhere in my account, but when I click through https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/benefits/upgrade/platinum-charge/index.html it lets me go all the way to the submit upgrade page, which CS said means I’m for sure eligible. However, when I click submit, it says something along the lines of ‘We are unable to upgrade your card at this time, please try again later’. Has anyone had this issue before? CS couldn’t really help, so I don’t know what the issue is.
i found it only worked on safari mobile browser
Did you get the same error message? Did you get an email offering the upgrade? Thanks!
Very OT – well travelled HFPers, I wonder if I could ask for your travel advice. We’re visiting the other side of the globe in October, (all on avois/virgin points, of course – thanks Rob), stopping Aus (Sydney) for a few days before flying home. We only have five nights, and I’d like 2 in the city to explore a little, but living in London we like to avoid the cities too much whilst away, and would rather escape to see some nature for the other 3 nights. We’re happy to drive a couple of hours, but probably not much more. Could anyone recommend a nice beach area to stay, that is outside of the city? Is it good to head North to Central Coast or South to Wollongong, or would you recommend other areas? Options to use points (IHG, Marriott) would be a bonus.! TIA
Not with a beach but definitely lots of nature and lots to explore at the Blue Mountains, just west of Sydney. If your heart is set on a beach destination, then have a look at the Entrance (Central Coast) and Toowoon Bay beach. Terrigal and Avoca beach are lovely too (Central Coast). Not many big chain hotels outside of Sydney but someone else might know more on that. Just bear in mind, aussie October is equivalent to europe’s April (where even in the mediterranean the sea is cold) and the ocean can still be on the chilly side. Have fun wherever you end up!
Is the idea to sit on the beach or to go exploring? How much luxury do you like? Are you a couple or family?
If you want real nature and a bit of adventure, I’d hire a motorhome and head south. One night visiting Jervis Bay (Hyams Beach is IMO the second whitest beach in Australia, good chance of seeing dolphins. Maybe stay at White Sands Caravan Park in Huskisson, dinner at the Husky pub), one night at Potato Point (Beachcomber Holiday Park, middle of nowhere, hundreds of kangaroos, maybe a goanna, another fantastic beach but more for bodyboarding or surfing), one night at Kangaroo Valley (free camp at Bendeela, wombats and more kangaroos). That would be a couple of hours driving each day though and it won’t be that warm in October unless you are lucky.
If sitting on the beach all day is more your thing, I’d go north as it will be warmer. There are plenty of pleasant places on the Central Coast. Can’t help with hotels other than to say that Bells at Killcare has a great reputation but is not a budget option, nor available on points.
Whilst in Sydney, do the BridgeClimb if you can. Expensive but worth it. If not, go up the top of the pylon on the south side, also excellent views of the harbour past the Opera House and out towards the Heads.
Many thanks both for your detailed replies. Super helpful. Would love to travel further and visit potato point etc., but I think maybe be for another time, with longer to spend travelling and staying at different spots. Given your helpful point RE weather too, we’ll likely spend a couple of night in the blue mountains instead. Can also redeem some Accor points there 🙂 Will check out harbour bridge climb too. Thanks again
O/T – Amex Plat cancellation: is the refund still pro rata on a per day basis, or per month/billing period as some recently suggested? Thanks
Recent reports suggest it is now monthly.
As BJ mentioned some people have said monthly but I just cancelled my plat and got a refund of £352.60 which isn’t a multiple of £37.50 (the monthly fee for plat).
The prorated fee I paid was £97.40 which = 79 days.
I applied on 2nd March and didn’t get an instant decision but looking at my first statement transactions started on 8th March and I cancelled on 24th May =78 days. So my account must have gone live on 7th March.
So I think it’s still daily
Also just cancelled my Amex plat and was told the amount of the refund, which is def not a multiple of £37.50 implying the refund pro rata is per day for me also
did the gold to plat upgrade and had £411 back. Had the card for probably about a month.
I have Amex Plat with a small balance of points that I want to keep as MR points if poss.
If I apply for a new Green, then cancel my plat, will that work?
Yes but you might need to get them to combine your MR accounts first.
Basically just check your MR balance is visible under both the plat and green before cancelling the plat.
good idea, thanks.
O/T: Is there a First cabin in the London-Muscat BA flights? I’m reading contradictory things on different websites – we’re looking to go in November but Rewards Finder is showing no flights (not just no availability).
I believe if the aircraft scheduled is the 787-9 then it’s a yes