Get quadruple Accor Live Limitless points at selected new hotels

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• Chechire Pete says:

  26 Jan26 January 09:36

  Wow, only once per hotel! That’s such a downgrade by Accor. The other year when this promo ran I used the newly open Novotel at T123 and made a fortune in points over a couple of months.

• Roy says:

  26 Jan26 January 09:49

  My dictionary days “mal” means bad or evil and “maison”, of course, means house. Evil House seems like an odd way to market a hotel!

  • Shoestring says:

    26 Jan26 January 09:54

    [The chain is named after the Château de Malmaison on the outskirts of Paris, which inspired the design and style found within its hotels.]

    • Roy says:

      26 Jan26 January 10:16

      Thanks you, that’s interesting.

      And Wikipedia tells me that the Chateau’s name comes from medieval Latin and means “ill-fated domain” or “estate of ill luck”. Still not convinced it’s a great name for a hotel 🙂

• shd says:

  26 Jan26 January 10:17

  OT, any suggestions on how to find a good (premium) fare to DXB (or AUH at a push) for second half of April? All the ex-EU start points I’ve checked give somewhat underwhelming CW fares, even in WTP the best fare seems to be the ex-LON one! Avios redemption availability on my dates seems to be more or less completely absent.

  My plan B is to try and redeem AA miles on EY J or F.

  • Andrew M says:

    26 Jan26 January 10:47

    AA Miles for EY First would be a very good use of those points. I think you could also go as far as India with a stopover in Abu Dhabi for the same number of AA miles. Using Krisflyer points to book LH Business class to Dubai is a well known sweet spot in that program. Transfer Amex MR if you don’t have enough Krisflyer points.

    • shd says:

      26 Jan26 January 12:16

      > Using Krisflyer points to book LH Business class to Dubai is a well known sweet spot in that program

      Perhaps a bit too well-known by now?! There appears to be absolutely zero availability that I can find on LH from FRA-DXB anywhere remotely close to the dates I need. All I’m getting at SQ is options via CAI and via IST… 🙁

      Q: Do LH open up reward seats in J a bit nearer the time?

      • Rob says:

        26 Jan26 January 12:23

        Odd. I booked for October recently and was offered both LH and SWISS for 4 people, albeit I booked this via LH. Marginally more expensive but Miles & More has a 25% child discount and I’m earning 1.25 M&M per £1 on their Mastercard so it balances out.

        Assume you’ve checked SWISS too?

        • shd says:

          26 Jan26 January 12:51

          > I booked for October recently and was offered both LH and SWISS for 4 people, albeit I booked this via LH

          I’ve just checked at LH and there are indeed LH J award seats available around my dates.
          Neither SQ nor Avianca can see any of those seats.

          Seems LH rev mgmt not so keen to release award seats to partner airlines, they’d rather keep them for their own M&M customers.

          Am leaning heavily towards EY with AA miles now!

        • Spk says:

          26 Jan26 January 21:51

          LH releases premium inventory to partners only 15 days before departure.

  • Andrew M says:

    26 Jan26 January 14:03

    If you decide to go with EY First make sure you book a flight with the A380 so you get The Apartment. Not all EK LHR-AUB flights use the A380 now.

• koroleon says:

  26 Jan26 January 10:39

  OT but bits. We are traveling to Asia (Taipei, Osaka) in about a month and given the coronavirus scare I am trying to figure out what is the best travel insurance to have (to cover any medical costs). It’s 3 of us (2 adults + 1 infant) and we get free travel insurance from various sources: Amex platinum, HSBC premier, Lloyds. Would you say one of them is better than the others? Or is it worth paying for some other insurance?

  • Harry T says:

    26 Jan26 January 12:07

    I would carefully check the terms and conditions of the travel insurance you have. I reckon there’s a good chance you won’t be covered if you are travelling to an area against UK government guidance either, so check Gov.uk for travel advice. If in doubt, ring your insurers and ask.

    If they can’t cover you, my personal recommendation would be to evaluate the beta packages on MoneySavingExpert. Traditionally they recommend Liverpool Victoria, who have a history of paying out during exceptional circumstances. Though of course it complicates things if you take out insurance after being aware of the risks of travel (if there are some – I am unsure about Taipei!).

    • Harry T says:

      26 Jan26 January 12:08

      *best packages

      • Benilyn says:

        26 Jan26 January 12:18

        Would it help if those bookings have already been made, before anyone had heard of the virus?

        • TGLoyalty says:

          26 Jan26 January 12:49

          Isn’t the only advice against travel to Hubei province in mainland China? Is any other part of Asia especially completely different islands like Japan and Taiwan on the advice list?

          If the answer is no then I can’t see any effect on your travel insurance.

          I’m not medical expert but from what I’ve read on balanced websites not sensationalist news is it’s a cold/flu like virus and unless you have underlying health issues and you fail to get medical treatment early then the risk should be low.

        • Polly says:

          26 Jan26 January 14:26

          We are heading right into Bali and hkt today, and fully expect our travel insurance to cover any repat if ness. No gov warnings atm, only into the actually affected China areas. So think you will be ok.
          Order your face masks from amazon now tho, none in any U.K. pharmacy atm. We have decorators masks packed, only for intra Asia flts tho! Will look a sight, but who cares.
          We have used Lloyd’s and plat perfectly fine in the past, once hols have been booked in advance, as they usually are anyway.

        • AJA says:

          26 Jan26 January 19:32

          I think insurance terms are only effective from the date of purchase. You will be covered for your itinerary already purchased but any travel restrictions already announced, if any, will not be covered as they were in existence before you take out the policy.

          In the case of the OP since there are currently no advisories against travel to their destinations they should be covered if subsequent notices are issued.

          It is often better to buy insurance as soon after purchasing flights and hotels. Or buy an annual policy which means you’re automatically covered when you buy any travel itinerary. But some annual policies are better than others, cheapest isn’t always wisest.

        • koroleon says:

          27 Jan27 January 09:24

          Thanks for the tips, especially around checking the advisories and getting masks early. Having never used travel insurance before, I need to spend a bit of time to get informed and be prepared if anything happens.

          Do transit airports matter? At some point we were considering to transit at Shanghai (without leaving the airport) – we avoided that in the end, but I am curious about it.

  • AJA says:

    27 Jan27 January 13:24

    This may be obvious but I think worth reiterating: the masks only help you from spreading to others any viruses you may have. They don’t stop you catching any viruses. If you’re not sick there is no point in you wearing a mask. Someone without a mask sneezing on to you will expose your skin and eyes to a virus.

    Best way to avoid catching this is to avoid others who have been in affected areas, and the areas themselves. Take antibacterial wipes and preferably wash your hands thoroughly and often. Don’t rub your eyes or touch your mouth after touching surfaces.

• Nadeshka says:

  26 Jan26 January 12:14

  OT: does anyone know the time frame for receiving compensation avios from an onboard issue where staff filled in a form on the iPad?
  I got a confirmation email a couple of days later but it’s been a month and no sign of the avios. The email suggests not to chase because they’re busy but wondering if it is lost in the ether now or is this sort of timeframe usual?
  If anyone is curious it was because they failed to load any bassinets on our 10 hour flight to India. CS extremely apologetic and suggested 10K avios. Essentially refunds the avios used for baby.

  • Shoestring says:

    26 Jan26 January 13:55

    that’s too long, fill in another online complaint form & it it were me I would start from fresh (ie not give any reference number for the other case)

    for that kind of service recovery a few days is more normal – it was running into several weeks/ couple of months with the EC261 compo after the September strike but that’s done & dusted now

• Shoestring says:

  26 Jan26 January 14:46

  Flight paths overhaul ‘to ease air congestion’
  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/25/flight-paths-redrawn-first-time-60-years-cut-air-congestion/

  extract: [Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, said: “Passengers returning home will face fewer frustrating delays by doing away with the polluting practice of ‘stacking’ aircraft in the skies near airports.
  “Plus the new legislation will reduce noise for those on the ground by taking advantage of modern aircraft’s ability to climb and descend more steeply, meaning fewer residents will suffer from aircraft noise in future.” Under the current plans, every major commercial airport in the UK will have to draw up proposals for new flight paths to and from its runways.

  Then NATS (formerly the National Air Traffic Services) will redraw all the flight paths from higher than 7,000ft. All the proposals will be coordinated and approved by the CAA]

• John says:

  26 Jan26 January 14:51

  Offer of the year (no purchase necessary):

  https://www.latimes.com/travel/story/2020-01-24/medmen-dispensary-free-lax-uber-pickup

• letBAgonesbe says:

  26 Jan26 January 15:29

  OT.
  I am planning to visit Shanghai in middle of May.
  I found rates on 2 different website for £43 or less. The usual rate is around £200 per night. Booked it via stayforlong.

  I wonder if it is an error fare. I know that there is this coronavirus situation but for a hotel to slash its prices so much seems to be hard to believe.

  What shall I do?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    26 Jan26 January 15:45

    Book your hotel room and maybe something flexible as a back up. If you don’t hear anything within a week of your stay I’d say you are fine.

  • letBAgonesbe says:

    26 Jan26 January 17:02

    I forgot to add that this was for the W Hotel in Shanghai. Booked it via stayforlong.

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