Chat thread – Tuesday 12th November

[Rob]

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.

[Gordon]

@yorkshireRich

see below a penciled in plan for Brazil,
I did say I was hoping for no internal flights,
But as we have only 2 weeks, driving is out of the question, I guess if you want to visit the main tourist attractions in a county as big as Brazil, you have no choice.

Fly into Rio de Janeiro (19/03/25) for around 5 days, visiting copacabana beach, Christ the redeemer etc, not decided on hotel yet, but a suite at the Grand Hyatt, the Sheridan or JW Marriot.

Visiting the Morro do pontal de sernambetiba,
An hour down the beach.

Flying to São Paulo for a few days not decided on hotel yet, but probably the Grand Hyatt, with a view of the Estaiada bridge, IC or the Sheraton.

Then flying to the Iguazu falls, made up of 275 separate water falls, (Kelly and Jeremy visited them in the latest “Race across the world” for around 4 days, visiting both the Brazilian and Argentinian sides, also taking a trip over the falls in a helicopter.

Then back to Rio for one night, before the flight back to Blighty (02/04/25).
This is a rough guide, needs to be tweaked here and there, mainly how many days we plan at each location, so we can book the internal flights.

I will be carrying out further research, so if there’s anything in particular you needed to know, just ask, we are only carrying out trips to parts of South America at a time, instead of a grand tour, to give us time to plan it properly.

[NorthernLass]

Just playing around with SeatSpy and I noticed 2 x CW SYD-LHR showing for October 20th next year, which is confirmed on ba.com. Possibly a cancellation as normally these are like unicorns!

[JDB]

@Gordon – not sure a few days in São Paulo is too much fun…

Just visiting the two cities and the falls (which can be included in an Argentina trip) isn’t really seeing/experiencing much of Brazil. I would certainly rather visit Salvador vs São Paulo and visit the Pantanal/Amazon (eg Manaus) to get a flavour. Two weeks in Brazil without a real beach stay or exploring more nature than just the falls is quite a lot.

[JDB]

@Gordon – it looks as though you have picked or narrowed down a list of hotels in Rio or are tied to chains, but if there’s still flex, the Fasano on Ipanema beach is a great option.

[BBbetter]

For Phu quoq fans, good news as Scoot adds direct flights from Singapore.

[Gordon]

JDB wrote:

@Gordon – not sure a few days in São Paulo is too much fun…

Just visiting the two cities and the falls (which can be included in an Argentina trip) isn’t really seeing/experiencing much of Brazil. I would certainly rather visit Salvador vs São Paulo and visit the Pantanal/Amazon (eg Manaus) to get a flavour. Two weeks in Brazil without a real beach stay or exploring more nature than just the falls is quite a lot.

Thanks for the tips, that’s why I said we were only carrying out trips to parts of South America at a time, we will revisit at some point, and I will bear in mind your advise, but we are all different, and have varied preferred travel plans.
As you say you would rather visit Salvador, we chose São Paulo!

We have a 3 week trip to Colombia in 6 weeks, with a few internal flights, my wife struggles with a long haul flight, let alone extra internal flights, so we are limited to what we can do in 2 weeks, as one or two nights here and there, living out of suitcases is not us, we are not spring chickens anymore.

[Gordon]

JDB wrote:

@Gordon – it looks as though you have picked or narrowed down a list of hotels in Rio or are tied to chains, but if there’s still flex, the Fasano on Ipanema beach is a great option.

Thanks for the heads up on the Fasano, we are not necessarily tied to any chain, but we are Hyatt fans, we do visit independent chains on our travels, we are staying in one on our trip to Vienna in a couple of weeks.

[Michael C]

JDB wrote:

@Gordon – it looks as though you have picked or narrowed down a list of hotels in Rio or are tied to chains, but if there’s still flex, the Fasano on Ipanema beach is a great option.

Agree that the Fasano is fabulous. I also really liked the location of the Fairmont.

Also a bit bemused as to what people actually DO in SP! And rue the day my mother-in-law had to move there and not to Rio…

The Fasano SP is also lovely, and we’ve always found the Renaissance a very sound bet: great Club with its personalised capirinha-maker!

[al_wiltshire]

We’re off on a trip to Tromsø at the start of next year on the new BA route. Hotels there are generally pricey and all were upwards of about £200/night. Luckily I remembered a tip that Rob covered a couple of years ago, and looked up ‘Choice Hotels’. Buying points for Tromsø is fantastic value. I caught the tail end of a 50% bonus promotion (which sadly ended Sunday) so bought 48k points for €320 or about £250. That got me 3 nights in one of the Clarion hotels on the waterfront and a real saving of about £700 off what I was planning to spend.

[AJA]

@Gordon, the Grand Hyatt in Rio is actually in Barra da Tijuca which is nowhere near Copacabana. Nor indeed close to the Christ the Redeemer statue nor the Sugar Loaf. Rio is a very sprawling city punctuated by mountains through which roads are tunnelled. If you are aiming to see those locations while based at the Grand Hyatt you will need to take ubers to get there. Also note that it is at the very end of the Av Lucio Costa and there are no restaurants close by and it is a long way from the airport. The hotel is lovely though (I stayed there back in 2017) and the swimming pool is great but quite cold.

[Gordon]

AJA wrote:

@Gordon, the Grand Hyatt in Rio is actually in Barra da Tijuca which is nowhere near Copacabana. Nor indeed close to the Christ the Redeemer statue nor the Sugar Loaf. Rio is a very sprawling city punctuated by mountains through which roads are tunnelled. If you are aiming to see those locations while based at the Grand Hyatt you will need to take ubers to get there. Also note that it is at the very end of the Av Lucio Costa and there are no restaurants close by and it is a long way from the airport. The hotel is lovely though (I stayed there back in 2017) and the swimming pool is great but quite cold.

Yes I am aware of the location, yesterday was our first real look at options, as I have just not had time, so as I mentioned in my post we are still in the early stages.

Nothing is set in stone yet, as I’m not one for asking advice, not sure why, maybe I’ve always been independent, and that’s how it is! all advice is welcomed though, thanks for your input.

[JDB]

Michael C wrote:

JDB wrote:

@Gordon – it looks as though you have picked or narrowed down a list of hotels in Rio or are tied to chains, but if there’s still flex, the Fasano on Ipanema beach is a great option.

Agree that the Fasano is fabulous. I also really liked the location of the Fairmont.

Also a bit bemused as to what people actually DO in SP! And rue the day my mother-in-law had to move there and not to Rio…

The Fasano SP is also lovely, and we’ve always found the Renaissance a very sound bet: great Club with its personalised capirinha-maker!

One thing one does in São Paulo is to sit in traffic – it’s really dire! I have been there a few times for business and we had to use a helicopter to get between meetings. But yes, difficult to know why one might visit as a tourist.

[BrotherBears]

Morning All

Are BA likely to add a flight?

Booked the outbound to Greece the other day for the weekend that half term starts. Went to book the return for the following weekend this morning but no flight availability.

Called executive club and she said the last day that flight operates is the weekend I have booked the outbound for. Which is odd as I’d imagine that weekend would be a very busy one for people that would go away for half term.

Anyone seen this before and whether there is a chance they would extend the dates the flight operates?

Thanks in advance

[NorthernLass]

@Michael, I adore caipirinhas, I bought a bottle of cachaça in Porto to channel the holiday vibe in drizzly Lancashire 🍸 😎

On the subject of South America, I took a friend’s 8-year-old to see Paddington in Peru at the weekend (the first and last time I visit a retail park in the run up to Xmas this year 🤦🏻‍♀️). It looked delightful! 😂

[Spaghetti Town]

Transferred 400 Amex MR last night to marriot to stop expiry on 15 November

Points have posted to account, but app still showing a 15 November expiry.

Any ideas? Thought it would have updated by now. Thanks.

[anuj]

@memesweeper I have sent you the email of the changes to the guest names, just incase it’s gone to spam again.

Thanks

[BrotherBears]

Further – this looks like the case at the moment for every Greek destination (bar Athens of course)

Relates to end of next October

BrotherBears wrote:

Morning All

Are BA likely to add a flight?

Booked the outbound to Greece the other day for the weekend that half term starts. Went to book the return for the following weekend this morning but no flight availability.

Called executive club and she said the last day that flight operates is the weekend I have booked the outbound for. Which is odd as I’d imagine that weekend would be a very busy one for people that would go away for half term.

Anyone seen this before and whether there is a chance they would extend the dates the flight operates?

Thanks in advance

[JaneDoe]

Under my Platinum card offers i have the refer a friend for 100,000MR but when i click the link it takes me to the referral link but for my Gold card. Same when I click on “Invite your friends, get rewarded”/
I have tried on app and website.

Any ideas?

[ed_fly]

BrotherBears wrote:

Further – this looks like the case at the moment for every Greek destination (bar Athens of course)

Relates to end of next October

BrotherBears wrote:

Morning All

Are BA likely to add a flight?

Booked the outbound to Greece the other day for the weekend that half term starts. Went to book the return for the following weekend this morning but no flight availability.

Called executive club and she said the last day that flight operates is the weekend I have booked the outbound for. Which is odd as I’d imagine that weekend would be a very busy one for people that would go away for half term.

Anyone seen this before and whether there is a chance they would extend the dates the flight operates?

Thanks in advance

may be an issue of your holiday spanning the end of the summer flying schedule and the start of the winter schedule.

[NorthernLass]

@BrotherBears – Seasonal routes often stop at half term (and start mid-Easter holidays), it must be bad for business but I think the summer/winter season dates are set in stone for airlines. You might have to look at other options for your return – LCCs often run later in the year than BA. Which island is it?

*You can use the “Where we fly – timetables” page on ba.com to check whether BA does fly to a particular airport year-round.

[Josh]

Sorry if this has been pointed out already, just noticed the page for upgrading from gold to platinum is now showing the increased bonus points:
https://www.americanexpress.com/en-gb/benefits/upgrade/platinum/

Not sure if itll be targeted or not. I remember last time with the big bonus I got a letter through the post asking me to upgrade.

[BBbetter]

Spaghetti Town wrote:

Transferred 400 Amex MR last night to marriot to stop expiry on 15 November

Points have posted to account, but app still showing a 15 November expiry.

Any ideas? Thought it would have updated by now. Thanks.

Checked on desktop login?
Might be worth logging off and back on the app. Sometimes data doesn’t get refreshed.

[SamG]

BrotherBears wrote:

Morning All

Are BA likely to add a flight?

Booked the outbound to Greece the other day for the weekend that half term starts. Went to book the return for the following weekend this morning but no flight availability.

Called executive club and she said the last day that flight operates is the weekend I have booked the outbound for. Which is odd as I’d imagine that weekend would be a very busy one for people that would go away for half term.

Anyone seen this before and whether there is a chance they would extend the dates the flight operates?

Thanks in advance

BA does sometimes add an extra “winter” flight (so anything on/after the last Sunday in October) when half term falls later (similar for Easter – they extended Bangkok for example). Is it Heathrow or Gatwick ? There aren’t any W25 flights for Gatwick yet. Last year they started to appear in December

[rams]

BA login – get a weird error:
Sorry, we couldn’t log you in

anyone seen this before?