IHG’s voco Reading hotel opens

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• Charlie says:

  21 Dec21 December 10:20

  There’s an added irony that for every £1 that Heathrow spends in demolishing BA’s HQ, it can charge users for that… when the largest airport user is BA itself.

  • Shoestring says:

    21 Dec21 December 14:37

    it *is* something of a licence to print money

    ie no matter what the outgoings, Heathrow can charge airlines more & more to ensure constant increasing profitability/ return on capital

    • memesweeper says:

      21 Dec21 December 16:39

      … and because all the airports in the SE are owned by different operators, each has an incentive to expand even if that makes no strategic sense. Expansion at STN and/or LGW along with high speed rail to STN is a more sensible approach IMO, the only smart thing to do with Heathrow is maybe follow the ‘extend the runway’ plan as a least-worst option, or ideally expand extensively elsewhere and run it down and then close it. The airports commission completely failed to hit their brief, all big / good ideas ruled out as too ambitious for the UK to deliver on.

• Oli says:

  21 Dec21 December 10:28

  OT – Anyone else having trouble seeing AA partner award availability online with the likes of Qatar and Etihad?

  • Lady London says:

    21 Dec21 December 12:45

    Anecdotally they pull it now and again.

    The best technical solution us to use it’s matrix and search on the relevant airlines in the fare classes for awards.

    • Lady London says:

      21 Dec21 December 12:46

      ******g text editor. Ita matrix.

      • Oli says:

        21 Dec21 December 15:50

        Thank you both!

• Anna says:

  21 Dec21 December 12:59

  OT – After a successful redemption at the start of the year I seem to have fallen foul of the issues affecting the Lloyds voucher these days. I received a letter recently saying I had earned another voucher but when I called BA but none of the departments I spoke to could “see” the voucher in my account. The only way to contact avios.com seems to be to call them and wait interminably on the phone at 7p per minute – I thought companies had to provide a landline number for customers now?
  The old online chat facility seems to have disappeared.

  • Lady London says:

    21 Dec21 December 13:12

    Yes since October 1st 2 or 3 years ago companies are not allowed to provide only number(s) that are charged any more than local rate. So Premium numbers must not be the only ones provided to existing customers.

    Before you report Avios.com to the telecoms regulator Oftel – or is it called Of com now? you could get around this by using Skype.

    • Anna says:

      21 Dec21 December 13:31

      Thanks LL, I have only ever used Skype from abroad so this option hadn’t occurred to me!

  • jc says:

    21 Dec21 December 23:25

    The number they provide (0344 49 333 49), like all 03 numbers, IS a landline-price number, and is required to be included in any inclusive minutes package you have.

    I have no idea why their small print is so misleading – yes it could be 7p/min, but only if that’s the cost your phone bills you for 01 and 02 numbers as well!!

    • Anna says:

      22 Dec22 December 10:12

      Thanks for clarifying, I knew that applied to some 03 numbers but as you say this is not made clear at all by avios.com. Maybe they hope the perceived cost of the call will deter people from calling them in the first place!

• Anna says:

  21 Dec21 December 13:00

  OT 2 – has anyone heard any more about the Curve credit/loan facility? I would have thought January would be the ideal time to launch it when people have large credit cards to pay!

• Benilyn says:

  21 Dec21 December 14:04

  OT: MS idea, anyone used Starling Request money from friends link, the person can then pay via Debit Card, or Google Pay? (Could your cc be linked to Google Pay?) Or curve via debit card.

• meta says:

  21 Dec21 December 14:31

  O/T Just waiting on a BA in 747 to take off. Delayed as most my flights this year have been. My partner and I wanted to do buddy dining, but apparently with the new service it is not possible. Anyone knows if that is only on 747 or is this case across the fleet?

  • Buddy Diner says:

    21 Dec21 December 17:05

    You’re flying F in a 747? Of course you can do buddy dining. What would stop you? I flew to LA recently in F on a BA 747 and did buddy dining (and a lot of drinking) with no issues in a full cabin.

    • meta says:

      21 Dec21 December 22:56

      Yes, in the end I talked to someone else and they were surprised, so went and talked to the the crew and they set it up for us.

• Shoestring says:

  21 Dec21 December 14:34

  & in at No1 T3, x5, didn’t bat an eyelid that we are earlier than booked & didn’t press the point it’s 3hrs max 🙂

  LHR sort of deserted at the mo, though they told me it was busy as Hull this morning (No1 humming, though)

  now this is no time to berate people who have Priority Pass for not ponying up the £5 reservation fee to secure admission, but I’d sooner pay £5 & be in here in the warm with decent wifi than be sitting out there in the cold 🙂

  • meta says:

    21 Dec21 December 14:42

    I missed you then. My partner and I were there since 8am this morning starting our lounge crawl with excellent breakfast in Cathay lounge.

    • Shoestring says:

      21 Dec21 December 14:47

      honest, I exist! 🙂

      • Shoestring says:

        21 Dec21 December 15:04

        I gather Rhys is setting up a live feed for the January party so that we can hear Raffles’ wise words?

        did I get that right?

        if so, we could make it a conference feed and those of us stuck in the sticks could join in the jollity, alas from afar – but there in spirit if not in body

        • Shoestring says:

          21 Dec21 December 15:47

          we could get baby Anika junior to contribute a beautiful face and a wee gaga! 🙂

        • Shoestring says:

          21 Dec21 December 16:35

          now some of you have said: Raffles will not wish his wise words to be broadcast! he is shy; his voice needs voice tuition (apparently according to some bugger out there; sounds fine to me but I always loved honest Yorkshire vowels and lack of consonants, grammar, making your voice heard clearly and coherence).

          but I implore Raffles to listen to Rhys: the voice of 2020 and a younger man than us

          Raffles can get ‘woke in a stroke’ and I’m not talking dirty

          just a live stream of the wise words come HfP part 2020 – that’s all I ask

        • Rob says:

          21 Dec21 December 18:06

          Er, no.

        • Lady London says:

          21 Dec21 December 18:31

          Nothing personal, but now I’m going to puke ! 🙂

        • SlothFace says:

          21 Dec21 December 23:29

          How about a cardboard cut out of Alex Cruz and attach an iPad on it for a live feed from the shoestring house

  • Benilyn says:

    21 Dec21 December 15:42

    Where are you off to?

    • Shoestring says:

      21 Dec21 December 15:50

      that place of ours in the sun! slightly wintry

      here’s the thing: when snow lies thick upon my 4000m sq garden, there are good points facing south but with a ‘sun trap’ bit of wall & wind protection, in the midst of Xmas/ New Year, when you can sunbathe and get a decent tan! the snow seems to double the effect of the rays

      • marcw says:

        21 Dec21 December 16:10

        I haven’t figured out where your place in the sun is.

        • Shoestring says:

          21 Dec21 December 16:13

          yours is in Spain, right? 🙂

        • Shoestring says:

          21 Dec21 December 16:22

          [marcw through grated teeth] er yes, how did you gather that? my place in the sun friend?

          er – when you thought I was merry in August! I still absorbed facts

        • Shoestring says:

          21 Dec21 December 16:53

          OK if somebody wants to come up & say hello – no problem No1 T3

          I’m the guy who looks like Marco Van Basten when he was 30 – long hair and a devilish smile – do you fancy a drink on DragonPass? lol

        • marcw says:

          21 Dec21 December 17:00

          Wasn’t it in a heat-wave (Off) topic? Yes Spain, but just administratively. Goign there tomorrow – not excited to take an intercontinental flight with Iberia Express. Thanks god emergency exit seats are free on Avios redemptions.

        • Shoestring says:

          21 Dec21 December 17:14

          I hope you have a great Xmas!

        • Roberto says:

          21 Dec21 December 21:32

          Our place in the sun is so wet I been thinking of buying a canoe..
          Andalusia has been hammered for the last 2 or 3 days. Its drab and grey currently, but as Harry flys from T3 ( and probably not to GIB ) I doubt he is with 200 KMS of Casa Bob.

• Waddle says:

  21 Dec21 December 15:46

  OT: Amex Offer & HSBC WE
  I’ve a £1,000 off for £2,000 at Yoko Jewellers. Might be useful.

  Reached the 1st anniversary of my HSBC World Elite. The bonus 40k points posted same day I received the statement and second fee.

  • Shoestring says:

    21 Dec21 December 15:52

    Yoko? Oh no! 🙂

    • ankomonkey says:

      21 Dec21 December 17:20

      🙂

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.