Get great value for your Marriott Bonvoy hotel points in Oxford

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• David says:

  25 Jul25 July 09:29

  Booked Oxford so I can stay for my uncle’s memorial service at an Oxford college in the Autumn. The post was perfectly timed for my needs.

• koroleon says:

  25 Jul25 July 09:37

  OT: Did the upgrade from Green to Platinum Amex. I don’t see the spend target counter in my account, is this normal?

  • Dave says:

    25 Jul25 July 09:45

    Yep, that’s normal. If you message Amex they will let you know how much qualifying spend you have achieved.

    • fivebobbill says:

      25 Jul25 July 10:27

      Not sure about that, the wife upgraded from Green to Plat 2 weeks ago and the £4k spend / 20,000 bonus counter is showing in hers…

• Lee says:

  25 Jul25 July 09:39

  OT – Need suggestion on positioning ticket choice.
  Booked family trip to Korean & Japan this Christmas with Czech using Etihad points, thanks to Rob’s article. OK190 depart PRG at 18:30. I now have two choices for positioning ticket.
  BA 858 – 19:50 22:50 arrive the day before but last flight out or,
  BA 852 – 10:35 13:35 about 5 hours to re check in.
  Considering it’s winter, which flight will you choose to minimise the risk of missing my long haul flight?
  Really appreciate any suggestion.

  • Neil Donoghue says:

    25 Jul25 July 10:03

    Isn’t that Czech flight notorious for getting cancelled around Christmas? I would suggest arriving the day before due to the time of year. It’s never worth the risk.

  • Optimus Prime says:

    25 Jul25 July 10:12

    There are some threads in FT with tips about this. It’s all about minimising risk of losing your flight, so you need a plan B or even C in case $hit hits the fan. What if your flight is cancelled due to snow in LHR?

  • RussellH says:

    25 Jul25 July 11:10

    Given just how much there is to see and do in Praha at any time of the year, I would see this as an opportunity for a cheap citybreak rather than a problem.

  • Lee says:

    25 Jul25 July 12:20

    Looks like we will have a day trip in Prague, thanks!

    • Bagoly says:

      25 Jul25 July 13:44

      Prague at Christmas is magical.
      Or for something even more distinctive, go on the morning flight the day before and visit Seiffen at dusk.
      It is the German town where they make wooden toys.
      I have never seen a town with such a high proportion of houses having Christmas lights.
      It’s under 2 hours from Prague airport.
      (also 1.5 from Dresden airport, but from the UK that involves Ryanair)

• Joe says:

  25 Jul25 July 09:49

  Re Etihad. Reports on the 787 in Y are of hard seats and the new menu on all flights is leaving passengers hungry. This is a shameless ploy to get pax to buy the new “snack” menu, which used be free.

  You now no longer get a standard tray, but just a supposedly enlarged hot option with a bread roll of sorts, but I’ve had reports that people are not getting this. Similarly afterwards they are supposed to serve you a dessert with your tea/coffee, but this was also absent on the accounts I heard from people on different fights.

  • Peter K says:

    25 Jul25 July 14:58

    Clicking on the link in your username, is this a sneaky plug for your own website?

    • Joe says:

      25 Jul25 July 19:31

      No, I contribute to it, but it’s not my site.

• Cat says:

  25 Jul25 July 09:58

  O/T possibly a useful datapoint for some.

  After posting yesterday about Iberia’s abysmal customer service, and after many, many emails, Facebook messages, tweets etc and many appallingly inadequate responses (including one that included the merge fields as <>, and made no reference whatsoever to the actual incident), I finally got an email from someone apologising and saying they’ve put 10,000 Avios in my Iberia Plus account, as a goodwill gesture.

  Be persistent people, sometimes it pays off.

  • Lady London says:

    27 Jul27 July 18:26

    Well done Cat! I am still squirming at the thought of what happened to you on that Iberia flight !

• Hg333 says:

  25 Jul25 July 10:03

  OT – Preparing for a potential denied boarding / overbooked flight…and wanting to cover all bases / compensation (please bear the lengthy post!)

  Flying to BCN tonight with Vueling from LGW, and I suspect it’s overbooked though I haven’t received any comms. I’m trying to check in but it won’t assign me a ‘free seat’, and is asking to me to pay EUR 17 for a seat or check in at the counter. A close relative \recently was unable to check in, and was denied boarding.

  Out of principle I do not want to pay them EUR 17 for the luxury, and want to ensure I’m right-footed should this happen – I have a few questions regarding my rights / what they can challenge / what I can recoup:

  1) If they try to offer me another flight on Vueling which is unacceptable (e.g. tomorrow midday or something) when I can clearly see early morning ones with BA from LHR (a lot more costly of course), can I “force” them to ticket me through these? Or should I buy it myself once they tell me no, and then try to claim it back? Would this still be valid if let’s say there’s a 7am BA flight, or 830am Vueling flight? I still want to get to BCN as soon as possible…

  2) Do any of the different ways in which point #1 above unfolds have an impact on EU261 and my right to EUR 250? E.g. if they offer me another flight with Vueling but I refuse because the times don’t work, try to buy my own tickets, or if I accept any compensation (e.g. a hotel night, dinner vouchers)?

  I know it sounds quite petty over EUR 17 to choose a seat, but I just hate how these airlines do whatever they please, and want to make sure they don’t get another penny from me.

  Any input appreciated.

  Thanks,

  Hg

  • ChrisBCN says:

    25 Jul25 July 10:21

    I wouldn’t worry about it, just turn up at check in 2 and a half to 3 hours before if you are worried.

    • Chabuddy geezy says:

      25 Jul25 July 12:02

      I have had this before, vueling have a limited number of free seats to check in online to. I checked in at the airport and they gave me a row 1 for free.

  • marcw says:

    25 Jul25 July 10:54

    Nothing to be worried about. If emergency seats are remaining and you don’t want to pay for them, you will get the free emergency seat at desk check-in. Just get in time to the airport. And if you are worried and want to get in-time to BCN, just pay the 17 EUR.

    • Hg333 says:

      25 Jul25 July 13:35

      Thanks for the responses everyone, much appreciated.

      Just for general knowledge, can anyone provide clarity on my rights as per points 1 & 2? If I accept the 250 EUR can they force me to a sign a document of ‘conditions’ stating I won’t pursue another flight at an earlier time than one they offered me?

      Is the 250 EUR subject in any way to how those events unfold?

      Please, any help appreciated. I suspect this may happen again in the future…

      Thanks.

      Hg

      • marcw says:

        25 Jul25 July 14:06

        I’m not sure you are trying to gamble this… But be aware that overbooking is most of the time resolved at the gate with “voluntary denied boarding” offering vouchers/cash + (usually) duty of care to any pax that kindly agree to be off-loaded. Therefore, it’s rare to have “involuntary denied boarding” due to overbooking… and only occurs when no pax agrees to be off-loaded. In that case, if it’s involuntary, then you are entitled to compensations and rerouting/travel at the earliest opportunity or reimbursement. However this only occurs if you are off-loaded involuntarily.

        The key issue is whether it’s voluntary vs involuntary. If it’s voluntary, EC261 does not apply.

        • Hg333 says:

          25 Jul25 July 14:22

          Thanks – definitely not trying to game this as I’d rather be in BCN, and will make a decision within the next hour or so whether I succumb I pay up.

          I’m referring to the case of involuntary denied boarding, e.g. my friend who was told they had overbooked the flight, and she was #10 on the waitlist so not getting on board no matter what. In this case “compensations and rerouting/travel at the earliest opportunity or reimbursement” apply.

          My question specifically is regarding the rerouting at earliest opportunity AND/OR(?) reimbursement. They may try to re-route me on one of their planes the following day, but a later time than say the earliest flight (which is a diff airline and costs more). I may push for that, and they’ll say no.

          What happens then? Do I forfeit my right to EU261 if I opt to buy my own ticket and claim back?

        • marcw says:

          25 Jul25 July 15:13

          You can choose between the following three: travel at a later date, travel at the earliest opportunity or reimbursement.
          Again, it all depends whether you are able to convince the VY ticket desk at LGW to book you on a BA flight (or whatever connection you want). They may tell you: book it and we’ll reimburse it.
          As long as you’ve been involuntarily denied boarding EC261 applies. But you can’t have reimbursement AND re-reouting. You have to choose.

          IME I have never been denied boarding due to overbooking. Only once my easyJet flight got cancelled. It was past 10 pm, easyJet ticket office already closed, hotel was booked via the easyJet app (very easy) and on the phone lines were already closed. The following day, at the earliest opportunity, I went to the easyJet ticket desk at STN… the only solution was to pay for a Eurostar ticket to Amsterdam and then claim it (which they reimbursed very quickly).

        • Lady London says:

          25 Jul25 July 15:23

          Put it this way if I was going to Barcelona I am sure I would probably only be going for a maximum of 1 or 2 days, and I would for sure have an early appointment I needed to make for which I was flying out the day before.

          You need to be reasonable about alternatives but there’s on point travelling if there would be no purpose to your trip in the case of a significant delay. For me an overnight is a significant delay and I would expect to be on a flight out at 7am or earlier to make the sort of appointment I would need to attend. Whatever you do, if you get into bother keep careful records of who said what when. But you do need to make it clear you’re being reasonable however I do not believe sacrificing very significant chunks of a break, or missing an appointment which is a key part of the trip, should be required. That;s just what I think, others may think different.

        • Lady London says:

          25 Jul25 July 15:32

          PS if the plane turns out to be overbooked then even if you do book a seat your getting onto the plane is no way guaranteed. Not being able to book a seat is only a potential indicator of overbooking and not always an indicator of that.

          personally I’d follow the other poster’s advice just in case if I was worried and would turn up at the airport 3 hours ahead. meanwhile I wouldn’;t be giving them 17 euros even if they would take it.

  • Sandra says:

    25 Jul25 July 15:13

    Not wishing to add worry but in June my daughter and I were denied boarding on a flight from Palma with BA as they had sent a smaller aircraft. We had prepaid the emergency exit seats nearly a year in advance. We were given no option but to be rerouted via LHR-EDI (squashed) arriving nearly 8 hours late. They even took us the whole way down to the gate with another couple, to be told there was one seat free. All had onward travel plans so couldn’t split up. Security and bags in, security and bags out and security and bags back in again. Having previously worked at an airport I understand we were targeted because we were singletons and not a family. The fact that it caused severe inconvenience as I had an elderly mother left alone till after midnight, held no sway. Had covered a 4 hour hold up in planning but didn’t foresee this. Good Luck and if necessary dig your heels in. A lesson learnt.

    • Lady London says:

      25 Jul25 July 15:30

      For that I’d go after them for everything.

      However the airline I fly most with now, most of us who are regulars on my route agree, we are tolerant of problems and actually we all agree we would never claim unless it was a catastropic delay and we got treated very badly, even if we could. I have declined accommodation due to me under EU261 more than once because I am happy with them, did not feel that the EU261 was their fault (it was ATC or similar) and quite capable of sourcing reasonably priced accommodation at both ends of my trips if I need to.

      But as above, yes it was profit that made British Airways oversell your flight/use a smaller aircraft, and you suffered and there was risk to a family member dependent on you, they couldn’t care less by the sound of it and I’d go after them for everything I was entitled to.

• Rob says:

  25 Jul25 July 10:31

  Thanks!

  • BJ says:

    25 Jul25 July 11:10

    Not been working so far this week though, at least for me. Worked ok around prime day so I guess it still comes and goes.

• BJ says:

  25 Jul25 July 11:15

  OT: Double avios on LGW-DUB booked and flown today through 21 August.

  • BJ says:

    25 Jul25 July 12:46

    *31

    • QatarFan says:

      25 Jul25 July 18:40

      Aer Lingus only though?

      • BJ says:

        25 Jul25 July 19:17

        Sorry, I missed that detail and I already trashed the email. Probably, as it was from AerClub.

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