Excellent Nectar redemption deal with LNER trains – get 1p per point

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• Claire says:

  27 Jul27 July 04:11

  Do we think the unions will go for single day strikes. We are due to fly to Washington on the 14th. We have a 2 for 1 ba voucher and a lloyds upgrade for our club class tickets. If we are affected should ba be offering us business tickets with aa or aer lingus as they look to have some availability or do you think they will try to downgrade us?

  • Roberto says:

    27 Jul27 July 05:47

    Its a “how long is a piece of string question” but you should find out soon enough when (if) the strikes are.

    And yes you will be rebooked however only if there is availability.. Which from a personal point of veiw ( I am at LHR and have been delayed 48hrs ) is probably going to be a issue as most flights are already full.

    Fingers crossed..

    • Claire says:

      27 Jul27 July 06:16

      Thanks. I hope you manage to get a flight soon. It must be grim and not something i would wish on anyone.

      • Roberto says:

        27 Jul27 July 06:33

        Thanks..
        Seated on the plane as I type. Heathrow to Amsterdam and then a connection to Oslo later this morning.
        BA have looked after us and spent a night at the Hilton and one at the Crowne Plaza on thier tab. All the flights were intsantly full and we were lucky to grab todays indirect option.

        It was chaos with some people queuing for 5 hours for assistance. We booked our first nights hotel on my mobile straight after the flight was cancelled which was fortunate as everything sold out with half an hour.

        • BJ says:

          27 Jul27 July 06:38

          Hope you gave them your IHG and Hilton numbers 🙂

        • Shoestring says:

          27 Jul27 July 07:24

          when you say BA looked after you, do you mean they already know about the hotel/s you booked & have paid the bill?

        • Roberto says:

          27 Jul27 July 08:33

          BJ and Harry…

          I booked the Hilton myself as I knew it would be a bun fight for rooms and wanted to get in quick. The Sofitel was full. Ba said that they would refund the hotel and food so getting in quick was a no brainer.

          The next morning we checked out and wandered over to T5 when Ba rerouted us via AMS, gave us £30 lunch vouchers ( spent on booze in The George ) , a voucher for the Crown Plaza and four hopper bus tickets.

          We were also offered vouchers for a free evening meal and breakfast at the Crowne Plaza when checking in at the hotel.

          I did offer my frequent flyer numbers and paid our drinks bills with the correct hotels card ensuring all the points I could gleen. Both hotels were great and the CP/HIEX next doo had 500 ba pax rooms.

        • BJ says:

          27 Jul27 July 10:05

          I’ve had to overnight at LHR twice in the past and to be fair to airlines I feel they did well. The downside is using the Hoppa buses but appreciate that without them traffic around the airport would be even more chaotic. The other issue is that, in an effort to be helpful, airlines usually book you on first connection the next morning resulting in lack of sleep, little opportunity for dinner due to late arrival at hotel, or for breakfast due to early departure. All a bit to much if this follows a longhaul flight.

        • RussellH says:

          27 Jul27 July 10:16

          When we were delayed into LHR last year, missing our NCL connection they put us in the HIE T5 (otherwise known as Slough). Long trek on the Hoppa, Dinner was mostly gone and what there was was dried up. Staff gave us a very blunt ‘NO’ when we asked about registering one of our IHG numbers. Had to pay for our own drinks too.
          Hotel was far worse than I remembered from a reward stay (10 000 points when cash prices over £100) from about five or six years ago.

          BA did book us on the first flight of the day to NCL, but they were happy to change it to a later flight. Only plus point, the rebooked flights were in a higher class and so we did get twice as many avios for the LHR-NCL connection.

        • Lady London says:

          27 Jul27 July 12:01

          Did you request distressed passenger rate? Those rates can be closer to condolidator rates.

          Er…. come to think of it, distressed passenger rates dont usually earn points. But if someone is struggling if they end up having to pay their own hotel rom and then claim back, asking the hotel for a ‘distressed passenger rate’ (sometimes might still need a code from the airline but not alwys) might enable someone who is stuck at an airport because there isnt a flight for them, to book a hotel room.

• BJ says:

  27 Jul27 July 06:21

  I cannot see any happy ending to the industrial action for BA. Even if they win the appeal all it will achieve is to aggravate BALPA and its members still further, delaying but escalating the action. I think it’s decades since the last strike, BA should think of its passengers and engage in serious negotiation with BALPA instead of resorting to the the common contemporary practice of nit picking every minor detail of Union actions in courts.

  • Alan says:

    27 Jul27 July 07:00

    Agreed – surely the legal and disruption costs will be enormous, wouldn’t they be better taking this into account when making an offer? It was a seriously strong response to the ballot on a very high turnout!

    • Callum says:

      27 Jul27 July 08:01

      What makes you think they aren’t taking it into account?

      If it was as simple as “pay rise costs X, disruption costs X+Y so we’ll just pay them what they want”, what would stop them doing the same thing in 6 months? Then a year? Then two years?

      • BJ says:

        27 Jul27 July 09:42

        Probably because Alan, like nearly everybody else, knows that in reality this is just a p****** contest for WW and IAG. Sadly, all too often, this is what management resort to and unfortunately it is the customers who suffer and ultimately pay the price. It is true that in the past, Unions were often equally guilty but in more recent times industrial action has become less frequent, and usually has been motivated by genuine grievances as opposed to ideological or political goals. When was the last time BALPA took industrial action; does their record in any way indicate they are going to resort to frequent recurring claims and action? By contrast, what of IAG, what has their response to industrial disputes been?

  • RussellH says:

    27 Jul27 July 10:30

    People also often forget that people on strike end up with less cash in their pockets too.

    As a former union rep (on a very small scale) I have given a lot of thought over the years as to the effectiveness and appropriateness of strike action in businesses that directly serve the public, in which I include all forms of public transport.

    The ideal strike is one where the action **directly hits the bosses in the pocket**, which does not apply in the case of a PLC, and where the union is wealthy enough to cover the loss of wages/salary to those on strike, which is never going to be the case.

    I would like to see some way of making it illegal for transport staff to strike, while still maintaining an effective way for them to be able to negotiate on equal terms.
    But in the meantime, it would be good to see a clause in the employment contracts of senior management that saw them lose a days pay for every day that they had driven their staff to strike action.

  • Lady London says:

    27 Jul27 July 12:16

    It’s a delaying tactic BJ. Every day BA can delay the strike at peak holiday time keeps millions in their pocket.

    Delaying also reduces the number of families who can tell the Daily Mail ‘BA ruined my holiday and made my children sleep on an airport floor’.

    • Rob says:

      27 Jul27 July 12:45

      They lose more money in September though. Trade off is £ vs PR. One banker paying £4k to New York is more valuable than 15 holidaymakers paying £250 in August, but the banker won’t be sleeping on the airport floor if his business trip is cancelled.

    • BJ says:

      27 Jul27 July 13:45

      Delaying and escalating the inevitable to the next big holiday, or until the main holiday season is over and business travel increases, is hardly a sound strategy. It reallly is just a P contest in which they know they will win some friends in high places as it provides the Conservatives and their mouthpieces a free stick to bash the unions, the Labour Party and JC in particular even though it is all the fault of IAG.

• Oli says:

  27 Jul27 July 06:47

  OT- is BA criteria to obtain the Silver card, on top of getting 600TP, to fly 4 flights with them in the year, or 4 flights since obtaining Bronze status?

  • Alan says:

    27 Jul27 July 06:58

    4 in the year.

    • Oli says:

      27 Jul27 July 07:09

      Thanks, that’s what I thought but the BA app says – Progress to Silver: 2 of 4 flights completed – even if I flew 6 times BA this year, including twice after getting Bronze status. Good news, so I can fly Qatar to Asia and still obtain Silver.

      • Alex W says:

        27 Jul27 July 07:14

        The 4 flights must be paid, not redemptions.

      • Shoestring says:

        27 Jul27 July 07:16

        Eligible flights are defined as those flights marketed or operated by British Airways and those flights marketed and operated by Iberia.
        ‘Marketed’ means the flight will have a BA flight number (in your itinerary or on your ticket).
        ‘Operated’ means the aircraft that you travel on is a British Airways aircraft (including franchises and BACityflyer).
        ‘Marketed and operated by Iberia’ means the flight will have an IB flight number and the aircraft you travel on is an Iberia aircraft (including franchises).
        Reward bookings and agency or industry discounted bookings are not eligible.

      • Paul says:

        27 Jul27 July 09:23

        I feel there may be an app issue. On the app, i still need 2 qualifying flights and tier points, on the website, I only need the tier points. Similarly, last year, despite having qualified for silver, the app still believed I needed 4 qualifying flights.

        • Lady London says:

          27 Jul27 July 12:23

          I’d phone the Exec Club if I’d got the tier points and flown the 4 correct flights and i’d do it promptly. Because if there is a problem and they fix it, your year at the higher level will still be backdated to start when it should have, i.e.you will have lost time on status.

• Bernie says:

  27 Jul27 July 07:20

  However you interpret the 14-day rule, I don’t see how you can come to a strike date of Monday, 12th August.

  BALPA have committed to not announcing industrial action until the hearing is over. Surely this makes Wednesday, 15th August the first full working day that can be announced with 14 days notice?

  • Claire says:

    27 Jul27 July 07:25

    Thats what i thought too. If the hearing is 5 hours then unlikely to hear the decision until late tuesday. Wednesday 14th would be earliest but whether they would want to try to meet ba before releasing actual dates i dont know. Its all very stressful.

    • Chris says:

      27 Jul27 July 07:32

      Agreed I can’t see the interpretation of 2 weeks being 13 days (12th). You could say Tuesday 14th is 14 days later so could be then, however if it is a full 2 weeks notice (to the hour) it will need to be the 15th I would imagine. When the original high court injunction was announced as Tuesday, the earliest potential strike dates moved to the Tuesday with the news reports.

      This is naturally a minimum not the dates they will necessarily set….also Balpa have confirmed they want to negotiate first, so it’ll depend on the dates of that (if they stick to this of course).

  • Andrew says:

    27 Jul27 July 07:28

    AFAIK it doesn’t have to be “14 clear days”, so Tuesday 13th would be my bet for the first possible action. If BALPA choose to immediately call action, of course (remembering they did have ACAS talks postponed from yesterday… they *might* give negotiation one last chance, assuming BA make that choice, too)

  • Shoestring says:

    27 Jul27 July 07:30

    hearing in the morning on 30th, BALPA win and immediately give 14 days’ notice

    a day can sometimes mean any period where you pass from 11.59 to 00.01

    so the first day could be 30th, add on the 31st + 12 in Aug

    yep I can’t see it as being earlier than 13th Aug

    a bit irrelevant as only when BALPA announce the dates will we know them

    plus one day of BALPA strike is roughly enough in disruption cost to BA to pay for the BALPA demands for the next year, so I imagine BA will be trying hard to avoid a strike anyway

    • Shoestring says:

      27 Jul27 July 07:31

      damn *23.59 to 00.01

  • Bernie says:

    27 Jul27 July 07:45

    Sorry, Wednesday 14th, not 15th

• Shoestring says:

  27 Jul27 July 08:07

  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/07/01/matt-cartoons-july-2019/

• Mikeact says:

  27 Jul27 July 08:20

  Bit annoying if it goes ahead…probably have to move my Lloyd’s/Avios booking once again , if of course, Business seats are available, hey ho, not the end of the world I suppose.

• Scott says:

  27 Jul27 July 08:49

  Re: LNER offer – “You cannot buy tickets for travel on other train operators.” – I can’t see this stated in the T&C’s. Can anyone confirm this is the case? The journey I’m looking at requires a connection with another operator.

  • Lumma says:

    27 Jul27 July 09:02

    I’d be careful with this. When it was Virgin Trains East Coast, you couldn’t use any of the 20%/30% off deals with a connection, even if it was only a tiny part of the journey and wouldn’t usually cost any extra

    London to Sunderland for example, I could only get discount on the 1 train per day that went there direct

  • Rich says:

    27 Jul27 July 09:20

    A comment on Railforums suggests that they will work on Advances which include a connection onto other operators, but I’ve never tested this. I wouldn’t be surprised if it depends on the journey.

  • BJ says:

    27 Jul27 July 09:51

    I can confirm that once applied to your LNER account the voucher clearly states it is restricted to LNER advance tickets. However, like Rich I have also heard, but never tested, their use on multi carrier journeys including LNER. I am sure SaveEastCoastRewards will know if he reads this today or if you want to contact him via his site.

    • Roger C says:

      27 Jul27 July 10:24

      I suspect it’s available where LNER *set* the Advance fare. This is far from obvious. On a trip to Manchester I was able to get an LNER Advance via Leeds as far as Stalybridge but no further.

• Mike Trim says:

  27 Jul27 July 08:56

  “For all industrial action, whether or not the ballot took place before or after 1 March 2017, 14 days’ notice must be provided to all relevant employers (any who employ members who will be called upon to take action) before industrial action can begin, unless the employer(s) and union agree to seven days’ notice. So if action is to begin on, for example, a Wednesday, notice must reach the employer on or before the Wednesday two weeks before.”
  So Tuesday 13th Aug at the earliest.

  • James says:

    27 Jul27 July 10:33

    Flying to Vegas on 11th. I guess this means we are now safe?

    • TGLoyalty says:

      27 Jul27 July 11:33

      On the outbound you would think so but a strike announced for a couple days later could mean BA start shifting around flights a few days before hand?

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