Chat thread – Thursday 13th March
Discuss today's stories:
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Finally, since starting this ‘hobby’ about 7 years ago, it does seem to me that the BA T5B lounge food has gotten a bit better recently, especially compared to US lounges? Whispering Angel very underwhelming though.
Agreed on both counts, I think the T5B lounge is the one to go for if you can, food is decent enough for a lounge and can normally sit somewhere quietish …and whispering angel is pretty rubbish. I know @JDB is a fan tho…
Well one has to admire WA for its brilliant marketing suggesting it’s fit for human consumption rather than as a descaler. The arrival of wines like WA and Picpoul in the UK pretending to be something fancy when they retail for €5 in French supermarkets is great for the vendors. The lovely Ivy will sell them to you for £13 and £18.50 a glass plus service! Seriously, who pays this?
The BA Heathrow lounge food has improved considerably although on 1 March all four lounges were full.
@shilly A polite “I am boarding soon” to one of the younger gendarmes followed by your fast track question followed by $50 will suffice for your party.
Now that Ostrich has somehow flown in to the forum, a short update on the backpack-level domestic Iberia mileage run I’m undertaking. Castellón de la Plana is a great place to do some plane spotting. Had more than an 1.5hr layover time and was allowed “off the leash” just a tad closer to the stored aircraft on the turnaround. Most backpacker experience so far.
I have to say I’m rather disappointed about the crew prep. Now I don’t expect the usual bottled water & towelette to be waiting for me in economy, or the incidental handwritten card stuck on the tray table clip (KLM), or the purser coming down with a glass of champagne after J service (AF). Don’t expect any of that here.
There just seems to be no knowledge whatsoever I’ve been lugging six flights a day. Nada. The purser is nowhere to be seen on each domestic flight I’ve been on, and I’m pretty sure there is a massive disconnect between her/him and the rear cabin. I don’t really know how I feel about it all.
Positive engagement: in the short time that we have been been executing this, the Ostrich has had encounters with two other individuals doing exactly the same (significantly younger and clearly willing to spend an overnight on an airport bench).
@BA Flyer IHG Stayer
Excellent directions from T5 to T4 and the CP thanks. Very straightforward and quick.
Well to their credit Latam have agreed to pay out in full from the cancelled flight just over a month ago. 30% of the ticket price in compensation plus all incurred expenses for hotel, ubers and food.
Great news @davefl – good to hear that some airlines do the right thing, even if the customer service wheels turn rather slowly…
If anyone is heading to Europe, India or China in the next few months there’s a great deal through Money Saving Expert for a Lebara sim. 79p a month for 9 months, rolling 30 day contract so cancel at any time, 35Gb of data. It includes roaming in the 3 areas I mentioned. It also includes 100 mins of international calling including the USA so possibly a good replacement for Skype.
I used Lebara’s free roaming in India last year and the coverage was very poor, if I were to return I would just get a local SIM.
Hello from Colonia Del Sacramento (Uruguay) which is the final new country on my trip. I’m exhausted and there’s a screaming baby in the garden under my hotel window.
Was hoping for some respite after BA’s buses, trucks and motorbikes roaring/revving as loudly as they could between the traffic lights, and people singing and screaming until 5am in Palermo/BA. Very odd place, where it goes quiet between 5am and 9am.
@davefl – Sounds like you will need a holiday to get over this holiday! You move too quickly for me, but sounds like you have seen many places on this SA trip, my return to SA namely Brazil in 5 days time had to be cancelled a couple of weeks ago unfortunately. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from the pandemic, It’s to make sure you book cancellable option on all aspects of a trip, apart from the £35pp cancellation fee on the BA redemption flight, all was good, the 2 BUV’s will expire, but not fussed about them, time to start planning again soon.
Have a safe flight back to Blighty.Now that Ostrich has somehow flown in to the forum, a short update on the backpack-level domestic Iberia mileage run I’m undertaking. Castellón de la Plana is a great place to do some plane spotting. Had more than an 1.5hr layover time and was allowed “off the leash” just a tad closer to the stored aircraft on the turnaround. Most backpacker experience so far.
I have to say I’m rather disappointed about the crew prep. Now I don’t expect the usual bottled water & towelette to be waiting for me in economy, or the incidental handwritten card stuck on the tray table clip (KLM), or the purser coming down with a glass of champagne after J service (AF). Don’t expect any of that here.
There just seems to be no knowledge whatsoever I’ve been lugging six flights a day. Nada. The purser is nowhere to be seen on each domestic flight I’ve been on, and I’m pretty sure there is a massive disconnect between her/him and the rear cabin. I don’t really know how I feel about it all.
Positive engagement: in the short time that we have been been executing this, the Ostrich has had encounters with two other individuals doing exactly the same (significantly younger and clearly willing to spend an overnight on an airport bench).
What status are you going for?
@Gordon, you’re absolutely right I will, but it won’t be long until I get it out of my system and start planning something else. Maybe get a week away before end of April to cement Marriott Plat status early in the year whilst the double nights offer is still running. I was gutted when they started the promo so late and my 1st few stays didn’t count.
Sorry to hear your Brazil trip got cancelled.
(and thankfully the baby stopped screaming so peace has descended for a while)
@davefl Where next? Somewhere straightforward like North Korea maybe?
@Strickers Lol, actually I did see a report from someone who went on one of the new tours there recently and it sounded underwhelming.
At this point I’m a little short on both disposable cash and ideas of where to go next. Lots of things on the to travel to list, it’ll just depend on what piques my interest 1st. Still got a hankering to go to Mongolia before they stop the visa waiver scheme at the end of the year.
Anyone know of somewhere I can spend 5 nights in a Marriott cheaply before Easter?
Struggling to articulate this one so please bear with me.
I’m trying to grab a precious final 15 tier points to renew status by the end of March. When searching for a return short shorthaul euro traveller flight, I know that the hand baggage only fares are in G class i.e. only 5 points each way. However, when I add a hotel at the end of the booking process, they are displayed as Economy Plus, but I don’t see the fare bucket.
So, do I assume that they have moved to higher fare buckets i.e. earning 10pts each way, or is it the case that I can only be sure to earn sufficient points if I book one way in Club? TIA
@Wis That’s not how it works. At any given point in time Economy Basic (HBO) and Economy Plus will be in the same fare bucket, visible by looking at the flight details when booking a cash flight.
Economy Plus gives additional features, but not more tier points. A flight + hotel booking will generally use the lowest available fare bucket, although variations are possible (and cannot be seen when booking online, although a call centre agent would be able to confirm).
Flexible economy tickets, a separate concept from Economy Plus, guarantee more TP, but are hugely but expensive.
The longer routes (lists of 80TP CE routes are available) give a minimum 10TP in economy.
I actually had my nicest meal on BA Euroflyer in CE for many years on a return flight from FAO yesterday. Lemon and Thyme Marinated Chicken with mustard marinated Charlotte potatoes, roasted Carrots, Green Beans, Apple and Sage Jus. It looked nice and tasted nice. On the downside the starter was gross (why is BA so obsessed with Couscous, Edamame and Quinoa).
@Wis BTW BACF’s Sunday morning STN-AMS flight is cheap in economy and business.
@AndrewT thank for simplifying! The fare bucket no longer shows in flight details (or at least it doesn’t on the version of ba.com I’m shown). But anyway it sounds like those flights will still be in G so I’ll have to upgrade or book elsewhere
@richie thanks good of you to share. I’m definitely open to pretty much any destination at this point!Following the release of extra flights from Qatar mentioned this week I looked at redemption avios options. Could anyone clarify the difference between U and I class on Avios redemption with Qatar. The lower number of Avios required for U class suggests it is a complimentary upgrade. Has anyone found their flights downgraded when booking into this class and is it safer on a two stage journey (London-Doha-Entebbe) to use the I class flexi option?
Where do you get complimentary upgrade from? There is no reason to pay twice the Avios for a flexi ticket other than if there are no regular priced seats available. Both my recent trips have been in U.
@Karl RJ plat with Iberia as the stepping stone. Somewhat of a gimmick, this project. If it weren’t for the statusmatch I would have never done it.
I’ve been wanting to explore the lesser traveled Middle East for some time now, mainly interested in the Greco-Roman sites. Always thought of Libanon as a hun, but now I could use Amman as a base for the next two years. They resumed the Damascus route, that would be interesting as a hub for Palmyra (Camp of Diocletian), Dura-Europos, Bosra etc. And the sites in Libanon are at the top of my list. Have been waiting for this kerfuffle in the region to end for years now. Should’ve gone earlier.
@titaniumostrich Wow that would be a trip! I’m also interested in Greco-Roman sites and places like Palmyra, Leptis Magna etc. would be amazing to visit one day. I make do with seeking out smaller (and safer!) spots as part of my family travels, and have been to a few decent spots e.g. Butrint, Pula, Plovdiv, Volubilis but there’s a lot more around to keep me busy until such time as I can see those in Syria, Libya etc
Things are looking up – a twin pack of McVities chocolate digestives as the snack on BA Euroflyer this morning, and a second pack for good measure. Not sure if that was just because they had some left over or for the empty seats next to me.
Same the other day, excellent being the regular size!
@tootsci Ah, rather recognizable behaviour. I’ve done Algeria & Tunesia last year which were spectacular. Sometimes you are the only person at a site in the shoulder seasons! Libya is indeed possible again but I’d like to wait for the security situation to improve there.
Some shameless advertising (but wholly deserved): if you are interested I’d look into https://www.theculturalexperience.com/tours/classical-algeria/. Fares Moussa is both a knowledgeable scholar on the subject and an engaging individual to spend a trip with. You might be able to opt for a shortened trip, if you have trouble taking the family along on multi-week pursuits of the ancient world as I do.
Spain is littered with Greek and Roman archaeological sites, plus of course the later Moorish (and a few Visigoth) ones, if you want somewhere safe and good value for money.
Most towns have an archaeological museum where the best finds are displayed (including the small but lovely one in Malaga – there’s a particularly stunning entire Roman floor mosaic).
Ibiza also has some Carthaginian remains similar to those in Tunisian because it was colonised by the same Phoenician seafarers.
Following the release of extra flights from Qatar mentioned this week I looked at redemption avios options. Could anyone clarify the difference between U and I class on Avios redemption with Qatar. The lower number of Avios required for U class suggests it is a complimentary upgrade. Has anyone found their flights downgraded when booking into this class and is it safer on a two stage journey (London-Doha-Entebbe) to use the I class flexi option?
Where do you get complimentary upgrade from? There is no reason to pay twice the Avios for a flexi ticket other than if there are no regular priced seats available. Both my recent trips have been in U.
Ah good to read all went well – it just stated U was a complimentaary upgrade ticket for some reason on their website and only one seat was selectable.
Spain is littered with Greek and Roman archaeological sites, plus of course the later Moorish (and a few Visigoth) ones, if you want somewhere safe and good value for money.
Most towns have an archaeological museum where the best finds are displayed (including the small but lovely one in Malaga – there’s a particularly stunning entire Roman floor mosaic).
Ibiza also has some Carthaginian remains similar to those in Tunisian because it was colonised by the same Phoenician seafarers.
Yes, people don’t tend to think of Spain when thinking about Roman sites, but I generally find a little something in most places on my travels round Spain. Still need to see some of the bigger ones on my list like Merida. I didn’t know about the museum in Malaga though – I love a good mosaic so will have to go and see that next time I’m there thanks!
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