Chat thread – Friday 20th September

[ukpolak]

@NorthernLass no other alternatives available at this time unfortunately but thanks!

EZY don’t appear to have released their schedule yet, and Ryanair from BOH want £2000 where we’d paid c.£1300 to BA originally. LHR routing for a fresh booking would be £3000 but I guess it is half term hols!

[AJA]

AndrewT wrote:

BA Flyer IHG Stayer wrote:

AJA wrote:

I notice the quote button has been relocated and now works again. Well done HfP team. 😀

Great neews but muscle memory means I also reported a number of posts this morning!

The problem now is that the quote button for one post is just above the report button for the next, so not entirely intuitive. Would be better if the new quote button was at the top of a post rather than the bottom.

But then it would be just at the bottom of the report button for the post above so no different. I think it’s great where it is. Logically you read a comment and if you want to quote it to reply it’s at the end of the post. Also I now see there is now no reply button except for the first post in a thread as it’s not necessary. You can just create a new post addressing it to someone else.

[Richie]

ukpolak wrote:

I just received an email advising that our May 2025 BA flights from Southampton to Malaga have been cancelled and indeed, upon checking all regular BA departure routes out of Southampton (Faro, Palma etc) for random days in 2025 notes zero.

Customer services advised they’d received emails advising them of cancellations impacting SOU which is a shame after using the airport twice this year. They moved us to LHR routing instead, for free.

On of my experiences this year had a short notice outbound cancellation (we were moved to LGW), then on other legs the planes must have been half full, so I do question how sustainable the routes were and with EZY loading up A320s as direct competition.

The BACF flights with BA flight numbers for EDI-PMI on summer saturdays are still on ba.com, so appears the PMI-SOU-PMI flights for TUI may still operate.

My guess is some more BACF flights from STN may replace AGP, EGC, FAO & PMI from SOU.

[NorthernLass]

ukpolak wrote:

@NorthernLass no other alternatives available at this time unfortunately but thanks!

EZY don’t appear to have released their schedule yet, and Ryanair from BOH want £2000 where we’d paid c.£1300 to BA originally. LHR routing for a fresh booking would be £3000 but I guess it is half term hols!

You don’t have to accept straight away, wait until EZ or whoever release the schedule then request re-routing. If BA refuses, it’s a slam dunk at CEDR (and I do not use that term lightly!)

BA has no business expecting people to be happy with a LHR departure because they have decided to pull the SOU schedule.

[Alex G]

“A mouse that crawled out of a passenger’s meal forced a Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight to make an unscheduled landing, the company has said.“

Hope she wasn’t a vegetarian.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/20/mouse-crawling-out-of-meal-forces-plane-to-make-early-landing

[ekposh]

@sobeboy15, @wiseoldman – any thoughts on Sanur? Nusa Dua appeals but I get the feeling its a bit out of the way and not much on your doorstep. Thinking Hyatt Sanur if anyone has any thoughts on that?

[NorthernLass]

Alex G wrote:

“A mouse that crawled out of a passenger’s meal forced a Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight to make an unscheduled landing, the company has said.“

Hope she wasn’t a vegetarian.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/20/mouse-crawling-out-of-meal-forces-plane-to-make-early-landing

Eek! I wonder if it was travelling between airport lounges 😂

[roger]

BBbetter wrote:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-20/jpmorgan-begins-testing-uk-credit-cards-in-latest-overseas-foray

Rob’s big news next week?

Outside PAYWALL

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/2024/09/20/jpmorgan-begins-testing-uk-credit-cards-in-latest-overseas-foray/

[gaelwright]

Greg wrote:

Has anybody seen the CURVE Killer Fx Cashback scheme announced today ?

1% cashback on all spending “outside the UK and Europe”

Works really well for us as we spend up to 6 months a year in NZ but our income arises mostly in UK. Have Curve Black so not sure if the cashback is given on the lesser cards? I was thinking of downgrading a level but if this cashback continues, plus the new levels of spend allowed, Black will definitely pay for itself each month for us. Typical Curve, I noticed the cashback on a couple of NZ bills I paid a few days ago, and then today, three days later, I get the email with the new scheme. You would think they could get the order of play right now and then. But still, we’re happy

[Wiseoldman]

ekposh wrote:

@sobeboy15, @wiseoldman – any thoughts on Sanur? Nusa Dua appeals but I get the feeling its a bit out of the way and not much on your doorstep. Thinking Hyatt Sanur if anyone has any thoughts on that?

Rennaisance is off the main road so definitely need a taxi from hotel door. taxi is cheap so not an issue. the main road has lots of food andgrocery stores. You will need transport to go to wherever you go.

Cant help with Sanur sorry

[strickers]

Curve Black cashback is starting to trickle in for my spending in Canada.

[tootsci]

NorthernLass wrote:

Alex G wrote:

“A mouse that crawled out of a passenger’s meal forced a Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight to make an unscheduled landing, the company has said.“

Hope she wasn’t a vegetarian.

Eek! I wonder if it was travelling between airport lounges 😂

*Hyperventilates into a paper bag at the mere thought of it*
As an extreme musophobe this is the stuff of nightmares for me. Who supplies SAS?!

[BBbetter]

roger wrote:

Greg wrote:

Has anybody seen the CURVE Killer Fx Cashback scheme announced today ?

1% cashback on all spending “outside the UK and Europe”

Scroll down…..

EXCLUDING 21 other countries, from Antartica to Vatican City

Cashback for Interregional spending is determined by the Mastercard and Visa networks and excludes the following countries: Antarctica, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Vatican City.

Someone spending a lot at Tristan da Cunha? Does that even have a POS terminal? With its own country coding?

[yorkshireRich]

ekposh wrote:

@sobeboy15, @wiseoldman – any thoughts on Sanur? Nusa Dua appeals but I get the feeling it’s a bit out of the way and not much on your doorstep. Thinking Hyatt Sanur if anyone has any thoughts on that?

Hi, I am going to Sanur on Tuesday from Ubud.
I originally booked the Hyatt Regency, but after much deliberation, and not too much difference in price, I opted for the more modern Andaz. Having spoke to a few people on holiday, the general consensus is that the Hyatt Regency is nice, but its certainly busier, and not quite as laid back as the Andaz. I will report back.

[strickers]

Does anyone have an Expert Flyer subscription or similar and can look at availability this evening Heathrow to Singapore. A friend is delayed from Manchester and is down to 35 mins connection for BA11.

[JDB]

strickers wrote:

Does anyone have an Expert Flyer subscription or similar and can look at availability this evening Heathrow to Singapore. A friend is delayed from Manchester and is down to 35 mins connection for BA11.

While I wouldn’t expect ExpertFlyer to be strictly correct at this stage and you haven’t said which class, it shows SQ319 as Y1, QF2 F1, SQ321 Z1 and BA15 as J1 and those being the only seats showing, so basically all very busy in all classes.

[strickers]

@JDB Thanks. It was economy and doesn’t look promising.

[Kevin72]

Hi all. I’ve been trying to book a KLM reward today through Virgin and am getting no availability at all. Has anyone else experienced this? I was so pleased to be getting Dublin to Zanzibar via AMS in February for 12,000 points plus about €130, but only availability now is by flying from AMS or CDG on Kenya… almost 3 times the points and double the cash! KL and AF availability were all showing good for the last few weeks and up until late last night.

[ukpolak]

Thanks @NorthernLass in retrospect I probably acted too soon but when I saw flight prices elsewhere etc I thought LHR would do, and it’s not too big a deal. EZY have also been unreliable out of SOU – in many cases they operate SOU-destination as the last leg of a 5-leg day (so cancellations are commonplace).

May be a bit cheeky for me to claim parking at LHR from BA, given they did cancel with eight months’ notice!

Im just more sad that it looks like BA are pulling out of Soton as we managed a record 1h from wheels down to washing machine on, after summer hols last month 🙂

[Michael C]

Dear Hive, as I unusually have a free morning in London tomorrow, I was wondering:
to see the widest range of suitcases at the widest range of prices…would that simply be Selfridges?!

[davedent]

The Australians call Sanur Snore if that helps – its a bit quieter than everywhere else its Balis original resort.
The Andaz looks lovely tho and if you were off up to Tulamben on the east coast it would be a good stopping point.

[ChasP]

The Independent has an article about frequent cancellations of BA A380s pretty well lifted from here but at least they quote Rhys – who is apparently HFP’s Aviation Editor – did he get a pay rise ?

[Richie]

Michael C wrote:

Dear Hive, as I unusually have a free morning in London tomorrow, I was wondering:
to see the widest range of suitcases at the widest range of prices…would that simply be Selfridges?!

Yes if you want to stick with brands.
John Lewis have their own brands and the Samsonite shop is nearby on Oxford st. Always check any promotions/ rewards in your myJohnLewis account.
LuggageSuperstore website is vast.

[LD27]

Richie wrote:

ukpolak wrote:

I just received an email advising that our May 2025 BA flights from Southampton to Malaga have been cancelled and indeed, upon checking all regular BA departure routes out of Southampton (Faro, Palma etc) for random days in 2025 notes zero.

Customer services advised they’d received emails advising them of cancellations impacting SOU which is a shame after using the airport twice this year. They moved us to LHR routing instead, for free.

On of my experiences this year had a short notice outbound cancellation (we were moved to LGW), then on other legs the planes must have been half full, so I do question how sustainable the routes were and with EZY loading up A320s as direct competition.

The BACF flights with BA flight numbers for EDI-PMI on summer saturdays are still on ba.com, so appears the PMI-SOU-PMI flights for TUI may still operate.

My guess is some more BACF flights from STN may replace AGP, EGC, FAO & PMI from SOU.

I’d be worried if I were relying on EGC to SOU. At short notice I needed to fly from SW France to UK early July at a weekend. There were no tickets buyable from Bordeaux but no problem buying a CE ticket from EGC but very expensive. However there were so many Avios tickets buyable in CE that there was no number indicating seat availability. Avios tickets were available all week leading up to Friday evening – didn’t look after that. I bought a ticket mid week, but then cancelled as managed to get a CE Avios ticket for the Sunday flight from Bordeaux which was what I had wanted. I was lucky. Allowed on board. Flight was full and some people got bumped.

[Michael C]

Richie wrote:

Michael C wrote:

Dear Hive, as I unusually have a free morning in London tomorrow, I was wondering:
to see the widest range of suitcases at the widest range of prices…would that simply be Selfridges?!

Yes if you want to stick with brands.
John Lewis have their own brands and the Samsonite shop is nearby on Oxford st. Always check any promotions/ rewards in your myJohnLewis account.
LuggageSuperstore website is vast.

Cheers, will pop into Samson. too!