Chat thread – Saturday 12th April
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This is today’s chat thread.
If you have specific questions about Avios, hotels or credit cards, please ask them in the appropriate forum and not here. This thread is a good place to post interesting deals you have spotted or your general thoughts on travel and all things miles and points. Thank you for contributing.
There are some keenly priced business class flights with Qatar from Copenhagen to Bangkok in March 2026 if anyone is inclined , below £1,700 return. You might not even need to overnight in Copenhagen.
Flew in J with QR to Doha last week, pre-ordering my main course . They didn’t offer me a starter ( so I asked for it and they duly obliged) and took away my table cloth after I finished my main and no offer of cheese or dessert! Wondering if they are on an economy drive ?
!
Took an internal flight with Vietnam Airlines and booked a seat in Premium economy. Anyone thinking of doing the same needs to be aware that there is only one row in Premium Economy with extra legroom and that is the first row. You get 32kg of hold luggage and it wasn’t much more expensive than economy as you get free of charge seat allocation but have to pay for seats in economy . Since purchasing my ticket three months before travel, the seat configuration changed three times !Good morning from the Gran Meliá in Rome.
A great hotel just outside the madness of central Rome. And a 15 minute walk to the Vatican.
Beautiful rooms. Excellent service. Would highly recommend.Hyatt hotels and resorts spend £300 get £75 back, just landed on my BAPP, adding to the other similar one’s appearing in the last week or so.
Dear Stan – we were there in Feb and worked out ok. See if your room type gets you an attraction ticket FOC? We had Porto staying in the hotel ahead of a Champ League match.
Highly recommend “pastaciuta” – down the hill outside the hotel, walk in to VC, past St P about 5 min. Home made (while you wait) pasta wifh a limited menu but everything is amazing. Only 6 or so seats inside and always queues outside and prepared “to-go”.
Also (if you’re so inclined) there’s a lovely tie shop “Talarico” across the Tiber although I recognise ties may be a thing of the past for many.
Enjoy the eternal city 🙂
Thanks for the heads up Gordon, just checked and it’s spend £250 get £100 back for ref Hyatt offer.
Will definitely be using that!
Thanks ukpolak. We went to the Vatican yesterday so may not get a chance to get there today. We have a few other restaurants lined up. It’s a great location. Some great places in Trastevere too.
Olympic Stadium, Villa Borghese and shopping today !
LHR – HEL return at start of April. Credited to IB but neither flight credited. Have used the missing Avios button to submit request and quite cleverly it shows IB have sent request to AY. If it’s going to such a faff every time then IB scheme may not be ideal. Any other data points?
Stan – no worries of course – from memory there is another Pastaciutta (they became v popular) out towards Villa B with more seating.
BTW for shopping we found plenty of places do the tax-free thing via Global Blue so take a photo of your passport on your phone for them to do the paperwork. We scanned some slip back at the airport ahead of our return journey and got a decent chunk of £ / € back.
We also downloaded Rick Steves audio guides for Colloseum, Forum, Pantheon etc after a recommendation on here. All free and also excellent as you just hit play via the app while you walk around. Enjoy!
@Paul was LHR-HEL booked with AY flight numbers?
@Paul was LHR-HEL booked with AY flight numbers?
Yes, initially with BA FFQT number which was changed. No credit to BA
Hyatt hotels and resorts spend £300 get £75 back, just landed on my BAPP, adding to the other similar one’s appearing in the last week or so.
Thanks for the heads up! This worked on 2 nights pre-paid at Schloss Roxburghe last year, I’d definitely go back there.
Morning from a relatively quiet T5B Lounge heading off on last trip to Magaland for a while. Main terminal heaving. New scanners in use and very few bags rejected. Quicker to go through normal lines than fast track. Really friendly young chap telling us not to take anything out of bags. Worked very well apart from delay to the return of trays.
If I buy a BA holiday, given tier points are now allocated by spend, are the tier points credited on completion of the holiday? I am booking a holiday in March/April and don’t need any additional tier points this year that would previously have been credited for the outbound flight.
Interesting article in the Guardian yesterday suggesting that Amadeus are developing / proposing a new way of travelling that saves a “pass” onto your phone and relies on biometrics to go through the normal check-in and boarding requirements- doing away with check in and boarding passes. An interesting notion…
If I buy a BA holiday, given tier points are now allocated by spend, are the tier points credited on completion of the holiday? I am booking a holiday in March/April and don’t need any additional tier points this year that would previously have been credited for the outbound flight.
I don’t know if actually says in the Ts and Cs but it would make sense unless BA plans to break down all the spend and award TPs as you go along, as per the old system. But I was also wondering about holidays which span 2 TP years, as it would also be uncommonly generous of BA to give TPs unnecessarily…
Interesting article in the Guardian yesterday suggesting that Amadeus are developing / proposing a new way of travelling that saves a “pass” onto your phone and relies on biometrics to go through the normal check-in and boarding requirements- doing away with check in and boarding passes. An interesting notion…
I think someone started a thread elsewhere in the forums on this. I think it’s not so much eliminating check-in but trying to remove paper boarding passes. I mean if travelling with luggage you will still need to check it in. The thing is relying on mobiles assumes everyone has a compatible smartphone. Also what happens with children? And can you imagine the chaos if they try to integrate it with BA’s IT? And what happens when you ‘re somewhere foreign and don’t have internet access or your phone is low on charge?
Interesting article in the Guardian yesterday suggesting that Amadeus are developing / proposing a new way of travelling that saves a “pass” onto your phone and relies on biometrics to go through the normal check-in and boarding requirements- doing away with check in and boarding passes. An interesting notion…
AUH are hoping to introduce entirely biometric check in this year.
If I buy a BA holiday, given tier points are now allocated by spend, are the tier points credited on completion of the holiday? I am booking a holiday in March/April and don’t need any additional tier points this year that would previously have been credited for the outbound flight.
I don’t know if actually says in the Ts and Cs but it would make sense unless BA plans to break down all the spend and award TPs as you go along, as per the old system. But I was also wondering about holidays which span 2 TP years, as it would also be uncommonly generous of BA to give TPs unnecessarily…
I would be wary of expecting the TPs to post in your new year. The T&Cs state the following:
“4. All passengers who have added a British Airways Club membership number prior to travel will receive their tier points within 14 working days of their trip completing.”
Which suggests they post after the return flight.
However it also goes on to say
“10. The tier points awarded are non-transferable and there is no cash or credit alternative. British Airways does not accept any liability in the event that the tier points received later expire. Tier points expire at the end of each membership year however, they will be added to your lifetime tier points, the total tier points you’ve ever earned with the Club. Your lifetime tier points are shown in your account.”
Which suggests that all TP could be backdated to the date of the outbound flight.The thing is relying on mobiles assumes everyone has a compatible smartphone. Also what happens with children? And can you imagine the chaos if they try to integrate it with BA’s IT?
Children’s passes and ID will be stored on a parent’s phone. As for those with no smartphone, there will need to be a different process for that ever-dwindling group (much like special assistance operates today, just differently).
This is from Amadeus who are already integrated with BA and countless other airlines – although mostly not the LCCs.
Interesting article in the Guardian yesterday suggesting that Amadeus are developing / proposing a new way of travelling that saves a “pass” onto your phone and relies on biometrics to go through the normal check-in and boarding requirements- doing away with check in and boarding passes. An interesting notion…
I think someone started a thread elsewhere in the forums on this. I think it’s not so much eliminating check-in but trying to remove paper boarding passes. I mean if travelling with luggage you will still need to check it in. The thing is relying on mobiles assumes everyone has a compatible smartphone. Also what happens with children? And can you imagine the chaos if they try to integrate it with BA’s IT? And what happens when you ‘re somewhere foreign and don’t have internet access or your phone is low on charge?
There will no longer be ‘check-in’ at the airport only ‘bag drop’. These are two entirely different processes. LCCs have already largely eliminated check-in. ID/visa checks are one reason check-in is currently required, but that that cease to be necessary.
As for those who don’t have or can’t use smartphones, other jurisdictions are way ahead of the UK in eliminating cheques, cash and other paper based financial, travel or administrative processes and unfortunately the tiny proportion of non adopters can’t hold back progress for the majority.
The new process(es) talked of here will be cheaper, simpler and more secure.
If I buy a BA holiday, given tier points are now allocated by spend, are the tier points credited on completion of the holiday? I am booking a holiday in March/April and don’t need any additional tier points this year that would previously have been credited for the outbound flight.
I don’t know if actually says in the Ts and Cs but it would make sense unless BA plans to break down all the spend and award TPs as you go along, as per the old system. But I was also wondering about holidays which span 2 TP years, as it would also be uncommonly generous of BA to give TPs unnecessarily…
I would be wary of expecting the TPs to post in your new year. The T&Cs state the following:
“4. All passengers who have added a British Airways Club membership number prior to travel will receive their tier points within 14 working days of their trip completing.”
Which suggests they post after the return flight.
However it also goes on to say
“10. The tier points awarded are non-transferable and there is no cash or credit alternative. British Airways does not accept any liability in the event that the tier points received later expire. Tier points expire at the end of each membership year however, they will be added to your lifetime tier points, the total tier points you’ve ever earned with the Club. Your lifetime tier points are shown in your account.”
Which suggests that all TP could be backdated to the date of the outbound flight.I’d best keep quiet about my TPs from a trip over end-March/beginning-April all posting in this TP year then. It’s only one data point, but for me a welcome one.
@NorthernLass, I know you are quite partial to bringing cheese back from travels, but looks like this is not allowed (temporarily) from EU anymore
https://www.gov.uk/bringing-food-into-great-britain/meat-dairy-fish-animal-products
When travelling solo, BPs on mobiles work a treat, but when trying to scan multiple at the gate (which are never in the right order in the app(or the kids aren’t!) ) it is very clumsy, so I usually opt for paper boarding passes when travelling with the family. Our last long-haul accrued at least 54 boarding passes, with 18 at one time for the 2 stop flight out to Oz) If this can all be done via biometrics, I’m all for it! Same with check-in, where different airlines allow check-in at different points.
That said, there are times when a piece of paper can be more convenient- proving/checking you are in the right seat for example.
Bag drop improvements next please- pre-programmed smart tags linked to the booking enabling weigh and go? Again, printing and tagging 4 large bags self-service can be clunky.
@NorthernLass, I know you are quite partial to bringing cheese back from travels, but looks like this is not allowed (temporarily) from EU anymore
With the amazing cheeses (and indeed charcuterie) we are now producing in the UK, buying cheese in France or other countries isn’t really worthwhile any longer unless it is very local/specialist ones. Plus supporting British farmers. Rædwald is a great, brand new English cheese, the season for which has sadly just finished. I’m told we now have more cheeses in the UK than in France, by some margin.
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