British Airways moves its Maldives flights to Heathrow airport

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• maccymac says:

  4 Mar4 March 11:43

  OT: Hertz Spend £200 or more, get £25 statement credit back appeared on PRG… when you book, rent and pay by 24th April 2020. UK domestic rentals only.

  • Charlieface says:

    4 Mar4 March 14:26

    Be careful it’s often limited locations pay in branch only

• Stagger Lee says:

  4 Mar4 March 12:00

  OT – I’m looking at going to Hawaii in Feb or Mar next year and have a 2 for 1 voucher to use. obviously I can;t use it for the whole trip but anyone got any suggestions on best routing.

  We don’t really want to stopover on the way out so Ilm guessing the need to reckin for another airline might be an issues. . Not sure If I’d need to exit and recheck in or if I could do that at baggage reclaim.
  We might might a night or 2 break on the way back which would makes things easier .

  Hope that makes sense

  Cheers

  • Rhys says:

    4 Mar4 March 12:04

    2-4-1 voucher only valid on BA, so if you want to use it best bet is to fly to a West Coast hub (like LA) on your 2-4-1 and then get flights to Hawaii separately from there.

    • Stagger Lee says:

      4 Mar4 March 12:17

      Cheers,

      Anyone know the best business seats from th West Coast to Hawaii. Guess I could do LA, San Francisco or even Seattle?

      • Stagger Lee says:

        4 Mar4 March 12:18

        To reply to myself, Apologies for the terrible typing in the first post which makes it really confusing

      • Rhys says:

        4 Mar4 March 12:32

        Most flights are ‘domestic’ layouts, ie. not lay-flat business class. Depends if you’re okay with domestic first or would rather have a lay flat seat for 5+ hours, in which case American from Dallas or Delta might be of use.

        • Stagger Lee says:

          4 Mar4 March 12:51

          Thanks again,

          I think I’d prefer a lay flat so will have a look at Dallas. Could pick up some Avios with AA that way as well.

          Cheers for the help, gives me a good head start on planning.

      • Tommy says:

        4 Mar4 March 13:51

        Delta have Delta One on one service per day and Hawaiian Airlines have lie flat beds from LAX

        • Mj says:

          4 Mar4 March 15:59

          Hawaiian also have flat beds from Vegas and I think San Diego. If you go on the website and do a dummy booking it says the plane type and CV whether it has flat beds. They look good for couples.

          In theory could book with virgin miles if availability is there, think it was around 40k pp each way.

    • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

      4 Mar4 March 12:50

      Tokyo and Osaka aren’t bad options either. Up a band in terms of pricing but business class product on JAL will be much better than the short haul AA configs.

      • Stagger Lee says:

        4 Mar4 March 12:53

        Cheers, I hadn’t thought of going that way round so will add it to my possible options.

        • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

          4 Mar4 March 17:19

          NB: You can open-jaw a 2-4-1 as well (e.g. London-Tokyo / Los Angeles-London) if you fancy a round the world itinerary.

• berneslai says:

  4 Mar4 March 12:08

  OT: IHG Mastercard “free” card bonus of 20k points. When does this get credited? After I hit the £500 spend, the statement date after I hit the spend or after the initial three month period?

  • Genghis says:

    4 Mar4 March 12:10

    I spent £500+ as soon as got the card. 10k for £200 posted with next statement. The additional 10k can take up to 90 days per terms IIRC.

    • berneslai says:

      4 Mar4 March 12:14

      Thanks Genghis

    • Genghis says:

      4 Mar4 March 12:19

      Oh, also worth noting that I have had the free white card before (when the last 20k bonus was on) and still have the premium card, so churning v much possible (not that I’m a “usual” Creation customer, or maybe they see on my credit report me applying for stuff all the time and like what they see?)

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    4 Mar4 March 14:05

    Already on 1x month, still not had the extra 10k.

• rams1981 says:

  4 Mar4 March 12:15

  OT SPG Amex. Back to 3 points per pound for transactions on 2nd March.

  • Shoestring says:

    4 Mar4 March 12:18

    yep but what about the missing ones? – I’m cancelling my card in a couple of days

    • rams1981 says:

      4 Mar4 March 12:26

      no change. Still waiting to hear about my complaint.

    • fivebobbill says:

      4 Mar4 March 13:09

      The wife used chat to complain yesterday, applied 21st, approved 25th, but only getting 2 points etc. She was told anyone who didn’t get the “Nov email” is exempt from the new changes, and will stay on 3 points until an update in June. “But I’m only getting 2 points”, she explained. So the agent undertook to escalate the matter to have any missing points added, and gave a dispute ref.
      They said to check back with chat in 7-10 days for an update.
      On login this morning my wife now has the banner message others have referred to, telling her the SPG no longer exists, but she will still get 3 points until they write to her in June.
      Outstanding “third” points have yet to be added retrospectively though…

    • Lee says:

      4 Mar4 March 13:38

      I have a case even worse, points given 2 points/£, then I got refund for that which deduct 3 points /& from my account. Good job, AMEX.

      • Sandgrounder says:

        4 Mar4 March 19:36

        I bought fuel from Costco the other day and have been given 1.5 points per pound spent. Work that one out!

        • TGLoyalty says:

          4 Mar4 March 20:34

          SPG card has 50% earning rate at wholesalers like Costco etc.

• Shoestring says:

  4 Mar4 March 12:16

  and he goes on to say: ‘The only way to be sure [of the real extent of COVID-19] is by looking for COVID-19 antibodies in large numbers of people, and several countries are now doing those studies. This will give us further insight into the extent of infection in populations over time.’

  In other words, the 3.4% figure could easily be below 1% – we simply don’t know how many people already caught it, had a mild flu-like reaction for a few days without being tested – then went back to their ordinary lives.

  • The Savage Squirrel says:

    4 Mar4 March 13:57

    I have a slight background in probability and epidemiology but am not an expert in the field.

    The best we have for the moment is any “closed system” where every member of the population will be tested so we can be pretty confident that everyone infected was accounted for. The best example of that so far is the Diamond Princess. At the moment the figures are running at about 5% of infected people seriously/critically ill and 1% fatal.

    It’s worth noting that this is very much not a representative sample (crucially cruise-ships will have a massive skew towards older age-groups). Given this it does give us a worst-case upper boundary for serious/fatal given the provision of 1st world medical care. If you had the age profile data of those infected you could extrapolate to the general population risk although a relatively small sample size will mean it is a low-power extrapolation. Given rough typical assumptions of cruise ship vs general population age and health, 0.1-0.2% fatality does seem reasonable with the caution that this could be out by about 70% in either direction (so anywhere between 0.03% and 0.66% fatalities – told you it was a low-power technique!)

    • Shoestring says:

      4 Mar4 March 19:34

      Now we’ve got the theory of 2 strains, one mild, the other aggressive: [The researchers identified two strains, with the more aggressive accounting for 70 per cent of those they analysed and a less aggressive strain making up the rest. The less aggressive strain, identified as ‘S’ appeared to be the ancestor of the more aggressive one, ‘L’. Strain ‘L’ was found to be more prevalent at the start of the original outbreak in Wuhan but began to subside in early January. The S type has since become more common. The study, published in the journal of the Chinese Academy of Sciences National Science Review, suggests this could be due to the rush to treat patients infected with the L strain, whose symptoms are easier to detect.]

• SL says:

  4 Mar4 March 13:02

  OT
  Looking to head to New York and then on to Toronto starting from Manchester. What is the best way to get reduced taxes/surcharges? Avios.com showed 4000 avios + £39 from MAN-DUB in Y and YYZ-MAN 17000 avios+ £133. I called up BAEC and they quoted a higher tax for Aer Lingus. I think Rob’s article mentioned it is normally cheaper when calling BAEC? The agent mentioned something about me not having any Avios in my account so taxes will be unpredictable…?

  • Rob says:

    4 Mar4 March 13:27

    If you are putting the MAN-DUB leg on the same ticket then APD will kick in on the long haul leg. A direct DUB- North America flight was historically £75 in taxes via BA.

  • Lady London says:

    4 Mar4 March 13:27

    If it’s a lot of tax then LH is regularly selling fares in the market to YYZ and similar locations very well priced in Y. Actual segments tend to be on AC, SK and some LH. You will find quicker if you’re prepared to do ex-EU.

  • Lev441 says:

    4 Mar4 March 15:40

    Last year I flew Dublin-Toronto and was charge £34.70 in taxes/fees and £55.00 on the return but this was calling up ba executive club rather than Avios.com

    The price was the same in both Y and J

    • SL says:

      4 Mar4 March 16:50

      Thanks everyone

• marcw says:

  4 Mar4 March 13:50

  Anyone with FlyBe tickets….

  “Flybe is set to miss out on a £100m loan from the government, meaning that the embattled regional carrier’s survival may hinge on whether next week’s budget includes a cut to air passenger duty (APD).

  The Financial Times reported that the airline’s request for the loan, which was part of a rescue package, did not meet the government’s criteria.”

  • marcw says:

    4 Mar4 March 14:07

    Flybe, Britain’s biggest domestic airline, has warned the government that it could collapse within days after a slump in bookings triggered by the coronavirus.

    news.sky.com/story/regional-airline-flybe-in-last-ditch-talks-to-avert-collapse-11949393

    • Shoestring says:

      4 Mar4 March 14:12

      obvs looks terminal for Flybe now – sorry to see that

      silver lining might be that BA picks up the Newquay flights ie all year round instead of seasonal

      • marcw says:

        4 Mar4 March 14:38

        Yep, sad story but unavoidable. Apparently FlyBe has nothing left… no cash no assets (according to FT they mortgaged everything to the new owners… so the Gov cannot provide a loan on commercial terms…)

        • j says:

          4 Mar4 March 14:45

          BA, Easyjet, Ryanair have no interest in running regional routes (like Southampton to Glasgow to give one example) which are of economic benefit and no doubt useful to some people. If Flybe disappear, these routes will go – or I’d guess there’ll be greater govt cost in subsidising someone else to run them.

        • tony says:

          4 Mar4 March 15:02

          For some reason I can’t reply to “J” but easyJet is doing some interesting expansion here. They’re launching BHX-EDI & GLA at the end of the month, admittedly at a far less frequent schedule than BE offer. Seems an interesting play, regardless.

        • marcw says:

          4 Mar4 March 15:21

          Well J it’s time to ask your politicians to invest in efficient ground transportation. If air transportation is not viable (as it seems)… then Governments can only look in one direction.

        • Rhys says:

          4 Mar4 March 15:29

          ….but train travel is also subsidised by the government!

        • marcw says:

          4 Mar4 March 16:01

          FlyBe, even with subsidies, is not profitable. So better invest those subsidies in other transport systems.

  • Aston100 says:

    4 Mar4 March 15:44

    So if FlyBe go under, and if your travel insurance doesn’t cover airline failure, what can you realistically get back through your card provider? Can they be persuaded to fully fund alternative flights from a different airport (on the basis that your orignal FlyBe booking was from a local airport with no alternative flights to your destination)?

    • Shoestring says:

      4 Mar4 March 16:03

      S75 you must have paid over £100 for the flight

      if this applies & you paid on a *credit* card – then yes, they must let you find an alternative flight and pay for it (or the difference if you got a refund) plus consequential losses such as hotel & food

      • Aston100 says:

        4 Mar4 March 16:21

        Right thats what I thought, but Amex told me that I need to still be holding that card (or a renewal of it) at the time the airline goes bellyup. In my case, I would need to (pay to) renew the annual fee, and I hadn’t planned on that.

        Is that really true? that you need to still be in possession of the card (or a renewed version) in order to have coverage for a purchase made earlier in the year before your card was cancelled (or not renewed)?

        Thx

        • jc says:

          4 Mar4 March 17:02

          No, not true if it’s a credit card (e.g. not the Gold/Platinum charge card). There’s nothing in the legal act to suggest that the card needs to still be active. And according to MoneySavingExpert:

          >The Financial Ombudsman Service told us that assuming you meet all other criteria you should be covered, as the fact you’ve cancelled the card doesn’t matter. The original payment method is what’s key, ie, you paid on a credit card.

        • Shoestring says:

          4 Mar4 March 17:18

          jc is correct

          Amex – stringing you along, I was on Chat today and got the SPG points BS initially until I pointed out the banner about transition to MB card etc – I counted 3 distinct elements of BS from the agent, which is really poor

      • Aston100 says:

        4 Mar4 March 17:09

        Why are all my comments awaiting moderation? 🙁
        Replying to JC here, as I’m unable to do so directly to his post:

        I rang Amex again and they confirmed you don’t need to be holding an active card to attempt to claim a dispute. However the costs of a hotel or a more expensive alternative flight etc can only be claimed through the insurance attached to the card (gold preferred rewards) and there is a limit of £200, which is shared amongst the travellers. But, I need to have an active card for this, which means paying to renew it again.

        When I mentioned section 75, they seemed to want to avoid talking about it and suggested I should go through the charge dispute and possibly the insurance first.

        I’m really quite dubious about this and surprised they were avoiding s75.
        Can you confirm s75 definitely applies to flights booked on a preferred rewards gold which does not get renewed?

        Thx.

        • Shoestring says:

          4 Mar4 March 17:38

          awaiting moderation – did you put in more than one link?

          Amex credit cards are bound by S75 and you can ignore any insurance you might also have associated with the card

          as long as your Gold card is a credit card (not charge), then yes absolutely, S75 protection does not die with the card not getting renewed

          sounds like an inexperienced (or worse) agent and ask to speak to a supervisor

        • Shoestring says:

          4 Mar4 March 17:39

          and there’s no £200 limit – you have to be reasonable, that’s all

        • Genghis says:

          4 Mar4 March 18:02

          S75 includes consequential loss.

• William Kerr says:

  4 Mar4 March 15:03

  found your interviewer OTT and a distraction – his gestures and theatricals were out of place on a serious news programme

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