BA news: earn Avios at Gail’s, Bangkok Airways codeshare relaunched

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• Douglas Woods says:

  8 Aug8 August 08:46

  Gail’s ? Never heard of them.

  • Rob says:

    8 Aug8 August 08:48

    It’s the new sign of prosperity, bit like getting a Waitrose used to be. Rhys was very excited a few weeks ago when one opened near him – probably adds £10k to his place 🙂

    In the same way, it’s not a good look to admit you don’t live near one …..!

    • Callum says:

      8 Aug8 August 09:23

      “it’s not a good look to admit you don’t live near one” – Well, perhaps in your circles!

    • executiveclubber says:

      8 Aug8 August 10:56

      This fawning over faux wealth really is getting silly

    • Jules B says:

      8 Aug8 August 14:53

      Quite the opposite – G’s political links are fairly distasteful unlike Waitrose / JLP.
      Once I found this out, it’s now a no-go with my immediate friends and me.

  • daveinitalia says:

    8 Aug8 August 08:59

    It’s a posh Greggs!

    • Mayfair Mike says:

      8 Aug8 August 09:12

      It’s just a fad. Will be the 1st thing to collapse when the recession hits.
      Not the consumer group I’d want to be exposed to be in a downturn.

      Let’s see how many 5 quid sausage rolls Ryhs will be buying when things bite…

      • Rob says:

        8 Aug8 August 10:00

        Given that HfP remained profitable during 2 years of non-travel Covid I think we’ll survive anything short of nuclear war 🙂

        • m says:

          8 Aug8 August 11:02

          haha. and that awesome! 🙌

      • john says:

        8 Aug8 August 10:45

        They actually opened one near me during Covid and it’s still going so perhaps they are somewhat recession proof.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        8 Aug8 August 12:36

        I don’t think the places that sell £5 sausage rolls really lose customers that quickly in the bad times.

        Recession … when the rich get richer and the poor get poorer

      • Kevin C says:

        8 Aug8 August 13:36

        Considering how popular the new Dusty Knuckle food truck is near work, I don’t think the bottom has fallen out of the posh bread and pastry market just yet.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      8 Aug8 August 09:22

      More like a posher Costa.

      A posh greggs is Costa.

      • daveinitalia says:

        8 Aug8 August 09:30

        You can’t buy bread in Costa 😁

        One oddity of Greggs is the ones in the north east (where it was founded) still sell bread, in particular the stotties which they were famous for but never really tried to sell outside of the area. Even the 24 hour one at Newcastle Airport sells stotties presumably for people arriving to pick some up before going home.

        When did Gail’s get big? I never encountered them when I lived in London (up to 2019) but looking at their list of locations they’re quite big in London now.

        • Thegasman says:

          8 Aug8 August 12:44

          They were around in a limited number of locations in Z1/2 in 2017/8. I think they really started expanding aggressively in last 2-3 years so wonder if they had some big PE investment. There’s even a Gail’s near my brother in Altrincham now.

          Unfortunately, I think expansion has coincided with a drop in quality, their bread & pastries are all prepared in a central industrial kitchen then reheated/baked locally.

        • The real Swiss Tony says:

          8 Aug8 August 20:26

          There’s a great story about a Greggs regional manager running stotties down to London to feed the displaced Geordies many years back. As i recall, he got rumbled so they tried to formalise the process and it fell flat, presumably because the economics of a few crates on a lorry are real vs the idea of him sticking a few on the back seat of his Sierra…

          But for anyone craving this culinary wonder, there is hope! https://bigriverbakery.myshopify.com/products/large-stottie-cakes-to-post

    • Trickster says:

      8 Aug8 August 11:31

      They’re quite a predatory brand from what I’ve read. They watch the market for good indie bakeries being successful and swoop in. We’ve had one open here in Chester and local supporters of our fabulous independents and not impressed.

      • Rhys says:

        8 Aug8 August 11:45

        That’s if there are good indie bakers. As far as I know, my area doesn’t have any so this is a welcome addition. An indie baker would’ve been nice too, of course.

  • Lloyd says:

    8 Aug8 August 11:12

    A Cooplands for the South East.

    • Rob says:

      8 Aug8 August 11:18

      Basically, yes 🙂

  • Londonsteve says:

    8 Aug8 August 20:32

    My abiding impression of Gail’s (other than the silly prices) is just how boring the range is. Compared to any high street bakery in France (which often has an impressive patisserie selection), Gail’s reminds me of the baked goods selection at a school fete. It feels like a place to be seen you shop at and then boast about as opposed to anything tangible. I don’t doubt the bread is good but then at those prices, so it should be.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      8 Aug8 August 22:11

      I always find Ole & Steen more interesting but you would do much better by going to anything from this list

      https://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/londons-best-bakeries

• Djdj says:

  8 Aug8 August 09:18

  With the code share, I’m assuming I can’t add an internal flight to an avios redemption flight I’ve already booked. It would make life so much easier

  • daveinitalia says:

    8 Aug8 August 09:33

    You wouldn’t be able to add it on as it’s a separate ticket and these codeshares are only valid as part of a through booking

  • Rob says:

    8 Aug8 August 09:59

    No

  • john says:

    8 Aug8 August 10:46

    Can you cancel and rebook it perhaps?

• Ghostrider says:

  8 Aug8 August 09:18

  Do you need to register for specific brands for in store shopping for avios collection? Or by registering a card, does it work for every valid purchase at every brand (that is participating with avoid) every transaction forever?

  • daveinitalia says:

    8 Aug8 August 09:31

    In theory is should work for all but it’s worth checking the details for each retailer. For example Gail’s has some stores that don’t work with particular types of card.

  • Rob says:

    8 Aug8 August 09:59

    Latter.

    • Ghostrider says:

      8 Aug8 August 10:17

      Thanks Rob!

• letBAgonesby says:

  8 Aug8 August 09:44

  Has anyone received their actual status upgrade yet?

  • Lumma says:

    8 Aug8 August 10:22

    Yes. On the original post there’s tons of people reporting getting their status upgrade.

    As an example, my match was approved 1pm on Tuesday and I got my upgrade at 8am today

  • Greg says:

    8 Aug8 August 10:48

    Yes – got mine within 48 hours and already selected seats on my next 3 flights, including Row 2 on Mauritius flights next year.

    Briilliant. Thanks Rob and the team.

• David S says:

  8 Aug8 August 10:03

  KSM Airport is brilliant. Small, you aren’t getting ripped off there and the grounds and outside shops are immaculate. Haven’t seen Cannon Ball Trees growing anywhere else in the world. No idea what is inside the fruit/ seed pods but they really do look and feel like Cannon Balls.

  • Go197 says:

    8 Aug8 August 14:47

    There are Cannonball trees in the grounds of the Hilton Northolme Seychelles. It is a lovely hotel even if HfP prefers the posher end of the island

• P4D says:

  8 Aug8 August 11:08

  Do you know if the in store avios works if I use apply pay at till? I think it uses a different card number so doesn’t register?

  Thanks

  • Lumma says:

    8 Aug8 August 22:44

    If you use Airtime rewards it specifies in the app if you can use apple or Google pay with each store but for some reason the BA shopping site doesn’t mention it at all

• Nick says:

  8 Aug8 August 11:29

  Unless it’s changed, the PG codeshare is also valid on routes to and from Singapore, if that works better for you.

• Simonbr says:

  8 Aug8 August 11:59

  Would it be possible to use a 241 voucher for the return Bangkok flights and separately book the Bangkok Airways connections for cash over the phone with BA? Is that too much of a stretch?

  • Rob says:

    8 Aug8 August 12:19

    Can’t mix cash and reward on the same ticket.

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