British Airways trialling short-haul food pre-ordering in Europe

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

• letBAgonesbe says:

  28 Jan28 January 08:54

  OT

  I have booked a stay at W Shanghai in May for £35 a night instead of £240 through the Hopper app. It was a “Secret” deal.

  I am worried, as it is unlikely that W Shanghai would be selling rooms at this price, but Hopper customer services checked and they said the booking is confirmed.

  What do you suggest I do? The app has a good reputation on the app store but as they are only “brokers” if they made a mistake, they can cancel the reservation and not be liable.

  • Shoestring says:

    28 Jan28 January 08:56

    check with the hotel, you could add something such as is breakfast included for free?/ lounge access? etc

  • TGLoyalty says:

    28 Jan28 January 09:00

    Make a back up fully refundable booking that you would be happy paying for so if it is cancelled in the days before your stay you have a back up?

    • letBAgonesbe says:

      28 Jan28 January 09:22

      This deal is one of the main reasons why I am going so it would be good to get a definite answer but I don’t think thats possible.

      Because it is booked via third party, hotel may not have my name yet anyway.
      But I will try and book a second option – though because of the coronavirus, I don’t think I will have a problem finding a hotel last minute.

  • marcw says:

    28 Jan28 January 11:01

    It could be that the hotel may even close down temporarily.

• Tony says:

  28 Jan28 January 08:55

  As a regular user of Malaga to Gatwick I have always found the buy on board service well executed and decent M & S food served with a smile.
  Pre order might mean BA looking at introducing some hot food.

  • Shoestring says:

    28 Jan28 January 08:58

    top 3 things to do in Malaga? my wife & daughter are going there in a couple of weeks, my wife likes the old town/ historic stuff, obvs a favourite tapas bar recommendation would be useful!

    • Ian says:

      28 Jan28 January 09:17

      Yes the Cathedral and historic centre of Malaga are well worth spending time in. Azahar tapas bar gets mixed reviews but we’ve always enjoyed our meals there. It’s a bit of an Andalucian version of Wetherspoons: microwaved food and cheap beer but it’s a pleasant environment, quiet earlier in the evening and we’ve always had good service.

      • Ian says:

        28 Jan28 January 09:20

        … can’t seem to modify and existing post but forgot to add that a visit up to the Gibralfaro gives great views over the town and sea. You can get a bus up there which drops you off just outside the entrance then walk back down. When you get to the bottom there is a Roman theatre which they were doing up when we last saw it.

    • Colin MacKinnon says:

      28 Jan28 January 09:35

      If you’ve never been, a day trip to Gibraltar? The Lower St Michael’s Cave is one our our worldwide top tips!
      Not to be confused with the Upper one.

    • MrHandBaggageOnly says:

      28 Jan28 January 11:46

      I had a great tapas meal at Nacalu Restaurante Tapas (not as highly rated on TA as I feel it should be) in December and it is close to the cathedral if you’re already in the area. Walking up to the castle takes time, but is worth it for the views on the way up. If you want views without the walk head to the rooftop bar at the AC Hotel.

      You can also get good tapas at Tano’s opposite the Museo Automovilístico de Málaga. Far from posh, but plenty of locals happy to queue for a table on a Saturday afternoon.

    • Pangolin says:

      28 Jan28 January 12:04

      1) Take a tapas tour on the 1st/2nd day of your stay. That way you will get some good restaurant/bar recs for the remainder of your stay. This is standard practice for me when I visit somewhere in Spain for the first time.

      2) Walk up the hill to get some excellent views – or take a Segway if you feel brave!

      3) There’s a great rooftop bar in the centre of town (more suitable for evenings). I don’t remember the name but locals should know.

      4) Take a short trip to Pedrogalejo (Bus/Uber). Eat some grilled fish on the beach. Lots of bars there also, which face onto the beach. Some nice colourful houses for those Instagram-friendly pics.

    • Anna says:

      28 Jan28 January 13:30

      If you like historic sites you can’t beat Malaga castle and the Alcazaba. The Alcazaba is like a smaller version of the Alhambra without the crowds; there is a very pleasant short walk between the two sites with great views over Malaga city and the coast.

    • Shoestring says:

      30 Jan30 January 07:53

      Thanks all

• James 1 says:

  28 Jan28 January 09:02

  Totally OT but looking for family resort options (Domes of Elounda type places) this year. Kids are 7 and 5 so a good club for them would be great. I’m Hilton/Radisson gold. I thought HfP folks may know of good places to recommend?

  • ankomonkey says:

    28 Jan28 January 10:14

    Hilton Dalaman (Turkey). Been 4 times. Kids loved it each time.

• Daniel says:

  28 Jan28 January 09:07

  How does the Finnair service/product compare to BA? In Economy and in Business?
  Is Finnair BoB like BA in Economy?

  • The Original David says:

    28 Jan28 January 09:15

    Free soft drinks in Y, so better than BA. I prefer Finnair business to BA, especially long-haul. They do a great “double bilberry” cocktail!

    • Lumma says:

      28 Jan28 January 10:34

      Finnair always seem to be more expensive than BA. And forget about them if you want to book a one-way cash fare

      • Lady London says:

        28 Jan28 January 10:40

        ideal good use of avios then 🙂

• Shoestring says:

  28 Jan28 January 09:08

  [Harry T says:
  27 January 2020 at 21:21
  @Shoestring
  Likely going to be renting a car in Tasmania later this year, and would be cool to get a nice upgrade to a big ute. What was your trick for getting top tier status with Hertz and co?]

  You start by getting status with National here https://legacy.nationalcar.com/en_US/car-rental/partners/partner-details/affinity/AmexExecElite.html

  then use that to get status/ status match with others, Sixt, Europcar and Hertz were easy and you can find their status match links by googling or if you’re struggling I can look them up

  • Harry T says:

    28 Jan28 January 10:37

    @Shoestring
    Thanks, much appreciated.

• Anna says:

  28 Jan28 January 09:22

  OT – is anyone else having issues with the Bonvoy app? Although it’s not saying it needs updating, it’s not showing all my booked stays and also doesn’t show the same range of rates I get on my desktop (it shows standard and pre-paid prices, but not deals).

  • Grant says:

    28 Jan28 January 11:07

    Working fine for me. Not experiencing either of those issues

• Ey oop duck says:

  28 Jan28 January 09:23

  OT: does a BA holidays booking with the Amex Gold qualify for 2MR/£ as if it were an airline?

  • Phillip says:

    28 Jan28 January 09:53

    I haven’t tested it but given that it credits as double on the BA Amex, I’d be surprised if the Gold card didn’t do the same. The transactions show as BA.com, identical to flight only bookings.

• BlueLabel says:

  28 Jan28 January 09:26

  Blue Circle Parking meet & greet crashed our car while we were away over Xmas. Appalling customer service – we got a shoddy handwritten note admitting liability at the time, but no resolution since (we got 3 repair quotes and asked them to pay). Can’t speak to anyone by phone, and replies to emails take a week.

  Car not legally drivable so after 3 weeks we’ve had to go through our insurance co, who may or may not recover our excess. Can’t believe such cowboys are able to operate at Heathrow!

  • Lady London says:

    28 Jan28 January 10:02

    You can recover your excess and any other detriment (such as no claims bonus years lost) by suing them. Also you can expect your future insurance renewals to be higher each year for about 5 years. This you can claim off them too.

    • Lady London says:

      28 Jan28 January 10:03

      Get in quick because it looks like they might have lots of claims that will come against them if they are handling cars like this. Claim and get paid out before they (or someone) makes them go bust.

    • Anna says:

      28 Jan28 January 13:20

      +1, one of the things you pay your insurer for is so that you don’t have to chase the other party. I am assuming whoever crashed your car was properly insured though!

      • Lady London says:

        28 Jan28 January 14:11

        Insurers forget to get compensation for the things I mentioned which are real and longlasting effects. Can affect the quotes you get for other vehicles too. A lawyer should be able to advise. Access to one may be included in the policy.

      • Will says:

        28 Jan28 January 16:22

        Often an insurance company won’t chase the other party up as the cost of doing so will exceed the recovery. It’s in cases like this that you really need to do the heavy lifting in my experience.

        I reported my car broken into to the insurance company once, wasn’t worth claiming because the excess was high so I paid to have it fixed (nearly £500). Next renewal my premium doubled on the basis that is reported a break in.

        • Lady London says:

          28 Jan28 January 17:23

          Yes. Even if you have protected no claims bonus and even on an incident that is clearly caused by a third party, even just reported not claimed, you will be asked to pay more for that type of vehicle policy for the next 5 years or so.

          This is a very real cost and is claimable off the third party (where identifiable). Your insurer is quite likely not to do this for you but it’s a loss you should claim

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