British Airways delays Boeing 787-10 aircraft introduction – again

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• T-800 says:

  24 Feb24 February 15:16

  O/T:

  Have a few days (5.5 to be exact) in California coming up, and planning on going to wine country + Yosemite. Any of you seasoned travellers here familiar with the area / willing to give some tips? I’m freeing up in SFO on a Monday morning and departing Sat night. Leaning towards driving to Sonoma. This is what I’ve gathered so far:

  1) Napa is much more pricey and touristy (limousine kind with instagrammers) than Sonoma, which has a laid back feel to it and more space / less traffic. Is it worth putting up with all that or is Sonoma good enough?
  2) Weekdays are a better time to visit than weekends (fortuitous that this is happening) because of traffic
  3) We’ll have a rented car, but I’m weary of drinking-driving in the area as I do not want to appear on an episode of COPS
  4) 2 nights (Mon + whole day Tuesday) should be enough, departing Wednesday morning to Yosemite

  Questions:

  1) Accommodation: Looking to use some points – anyone stayed in any decent properties in the area? I’ve spotted a Sheraton in nearby Petaluma for 35k which could be a decent base but the reviews aren’t great – anyone stayed here?…properties in Sonoma are crazy (60k points per night) which I’d probably avoid.
  2) Transport – has anyone done the Sonoma wineries using Uber/Lyft? I’d like to partake in the drinking but not sure if this would kill the budget…or is there a decent tour of the area?
  3) Yosemite…I know it’s quite ambitious, but any recommendations for a 3 night itinerary would be amazing. I think I spotted some cabins which can be rented (unfortunately we’re past our camping prime) but not sure where is the best base.

  Thank you all in advance.

  T

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    24 Feb24 February 16:07

    I can recommend Platypus tours, which I’ve done twice now. Solves the whole drinking & driving problem.

    There’s also decent bike route between Napa and Yountville as an alternative, orthe wine train lets you see the valley in comfort (but was extortionately expensive last time I looked).

  • Allycat says:

    24 Feb24 February 16:29

    When are you going ? You need to beware of lots of the park / roads being closed by snow if its too early in the year. We did Yosemite last summer (July/Aug). We booked a cabin in Yosemite West through Airbnb. Yosemite West is an unincorporated private neighbourhood technically not in Yoesmite National Park but only accessible by driving into the park ! We stayed 3 nights, arriving from San Jose mid-afternoon on day 1 via the El Portal route. NB We flew F on BA LHR-SJC using a 241 and the 241 and all the points were accrued through HfP tips ! Day 2 we drove down into the valley and parked near one of the campgrounds and did an easy walk up to Mirror Lake. Kids went swimming but it was very cold even in late July. Then walked up to the village and looked around. Walked to the base of El Capitan. 3rd day we did our big walk up the mist trail to the top of Vernal Falls then toward but not all the way to Nevada Falls. Drove to glacier point on the way back to the cabin. 4th and last day we went out of the Wawona gateway and visited the Mariposa Grove giant sequoias. One thing I would really liked to have done was to drive to Glacier Point and leave the car and then hike down to the valley floor on the Panaorama Trail and get the bus back up to collect the car, or leave the car in the valley in the morning and get the bus up and then hike down. We couldn’t book tickets for the bus at short notice so didn’t happen. It’s a wonderful place. Enjoy. NB Google maps shows the glacier point road closed with snow at the moment but other roads open.

    • T-800 says:

      24 Feb24 February 16:58

      Thanks so much for your detailed response! I’m going to have a proper look at the area and I didn’t even realise AirBnB had an offering in the park itself. I’m heading in mid-June so hopefully no snow then…

      • BJ says:

        24 Feb24 February 17:34

        You make the same mistake most tourists do. If you want to do wine and Yosemite then drop Napa in favour of San Joaquin County. That’s where the locals go for wine and it simplifies the logistics. Suggested itinerary: SFO – 17 mile drive – Yosemite – San Joaquin County – Sacramento – SFO.

    • MattB says:

      24 Feb24 February 18:23

      We stayed in Napa itself for 2 nights on our honeymoon. Agree chains etc are very pricey so we stayed at a lovely guest house, amazing food and guidance on tours etc. We drove through Sonoma etc, very pretty looking town but maybe a bit quiet for my liking. We enjoyed wandering around downtown Napa in the evenings. We went in August and the weather was perfect..warm but not hot..ideal after the freezing wind of SF.

      Re Uber/Lyft the main issue is that many wineries have no signal so can’t easily be ordered and speaking to locals they said there wasn’t a huge amount of drivers. Most people seem to book drivers for a fixed amount of time. Etc. As the wife was the wine drinker I drove, but easy to get around the valleys most roads were quiet.

    • Chas says:

      24 Feb24 February 22:14

      +1 for Yosemite West and most of the suggested itinerary in the Park, which we did last July / August. Definitely don’t miss out on Mariposa Grove.

  • RussellH says:

    24 Feb24 February 17:02

    We stayed at the Sheraton in Petaluma for six nights in 2017 (5 on points) when my niece got married and my brother’s house the other side of town was full of my niece’s friends doing all the last minute wedding stuff.
    While nothing special, there was absolutely nothing wrong with it either. And I do not think that there is any question that it is easily the best place to stay in Petaluma – my brother talked me out of anywhere else very quickly. The Best Western is, apparantly both pretty grotty and quite noisy.
    I cannot say anything about the food at the Sheraton, though, as we just made ourselves coffee in our room and then went to my brother’s house for breakfast. The pool is a bit small (and I have no interest in pools anyway), but we invited all my siblings (who were in Airbnbs) over for a swim and they liked it.
    One afternoon one of the local wineries set up a wine tasting in the lobby – no idea if that is a regular thing!
    If you want to visit Napa wineries, it is really not far from Petalume, but there are plenty of nice places in Sonoma as well. Visit Healdsburg.
    HTH

• Renaud says:

  24 Feb24 February 15:16

  So no extra points for Business Premier trips? I have a few business trips planned next months, looks like I’d spend less and earn more points by travelling SP than BP.

  • Rob says:

    24 Feb24 February 18:27

    Nope!

• Craig says:

  24 Feb24 February 15:51

  OT: Has anyone booked Gleneagles through Amex FHR? If so did you get an upgrade?

  • Neal says:

    24 Feb24 February 16:10

    Oh boy! Topical, for all the wrong reasons!
    They are so snooty if you’re not dropping big £ on meals drinks etc
    PS a lot of the rooms face inwards and are dark (‘overlooking hotel buildings’)

  • Froggee says:

    24 Feb24 February 16:32

    I did but booked a two-bed suite from which there is only a single better suite which was taken so no upgrade. This was explained to me on check in without me asking.

  • BJ says:

    24 Feb24 February 17:40

    Search for Rob’s Gleneagles review here on HFP. I suspect he used FHR or Emyr.

    • Rob says:

      24 Feb24 February 18:24

      We got what we booked BUT we had a 2-bed suite so there wasn’t much they could do with us!

  • Craig says:

    24 Feb24 February 18:40

    Thanks all.

• Ben Smith says:

  24 Feb24 February 16:41

  OT: Travelling from LHR to Switzerland. Looking to purchase some shopping from Heathrow. As Switzerland is outside of EU I assume that I will not have to pay VAT on purchases?

  • Kai says:

    24 Feb24 February 18:56

    Correct, good opportunity to treat yourself to a Chanel.

  • Michael says:

    24 Feb24 February 19:43

    Rolex in T5…

    • Mj says:

      24 Feb24 February 20:15

      As if lol

      • Michael says:

        24 Feb24 February 22:22

        He might want a two-tone Datejust on a jubilee!

• fivebobbill says:

  24 Feb24 February 18:48

  Email just in from Revolut, anybody any idea? Maybe they;re refunding all those cash advance fees 😂

  “Guess what’s coming…
  We’ve been thinking about ways to say thank you for being our customer and help you get more from your money every day. And, after a lot of testing, it seems like we’ve finally found a way.
  We can’t share the details just yet, but your Revolut card is about to get even cooler – if that’s possible?! Stay tuned for a big announcement coming in just a few days time”

  • BJ says:

    24 Feb24 February 19:31

    Welcome to the new RevolutAny feature: top up any amount, any way, any place, any time … all for one amazing low 5% top up fee.

    • Anna says:

      24 Feb24 February 22:05

      And then they’ll fall out with the most important “any way” source which will immediately be withdrawn…

• GRIMZ says:

  24 Feb24 February 19:05

  OT, anyone know what happens if you cancel a reward flight from PHX – LA on BA website? It costs 7500 avios and £4 so would i just lose the £4 and get my avios back.

  • BJ says:

    24 Feb24 February 19:43

    Yes

  • marcw says:

    24 Feb24 February 19:58

    You will only get your Avios back.

• Chrisasaurus says:

  24 Feb24 February 19:11

  Dont know about cities but I’ve ‘loaned ‘them half that much for a room the weekend of GNR…

• The Original Nick says:

  24 Feb24 February 20:36

  O.T, Amex Travel related. I’ve tried UUA an Amex Travel flight booking with BA and have been told that the ticket isn’t eligible for upgrade as it is issued by a travel agent. I know that not all the tickets can be upgraded. I have been in contact with Amex travel and have been told that the ticket issued is an IAP fare with BA which means it is a discounted rate. Has anyone heard of this ticket type not being eligible?

  • BJ says:

    24 Feb24 February 20:41

    Yes, I’m afraid so. It’s been mentioned here once or twice too.

    • The Original Nick says:

      24 Feb24 February 20:54

      Damn! Thanks BJ. I’ve booked no end of flights with BA via Amex travel and have never been unlucky like this. There’s award availabilty too which is even mre frustrating. And it’s an A350 on the outbound.

      • BJ says:

        24 Feb24 February 21:25

        Is it within 24h, do TA allow cancellation within 24h too? If you call amex and ask to add a hotel for one night might that be possible and provide scope to open flight booking to changes too? Years since I booked with a TA so I don’t know sorry. UUA always potentially tricky so on the few times I used it I stuck with BA and made booking only when there was availability to provide me with the 24h cancellation cushion. On the bright side it is lijely there will be many changes to flights in the coming months so you mighg yet get opportunities.

        • The Original Nick says:

          24 Feb24 February 21:29

          I only book via Amex travel when I have offer to use if not I always book direct. I booked it over a week ago but may try booking a hotel and try that trick.
          Thanks again.

        • The Original Nick says:

          24 Feb24 February 21:31

          What do you mean by many flight changes to come?

        • BJ says:

          24 Feb24 February 21:42

          If coronavirus goes pandemic flight changes and cancellations may not be restricted to China and HK. It seems clear there has been a drop in flight demand already and that would likely fall further.

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