Chat thread – Tuesday 12th November

[freckles]

NorthernLass wrote:

@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! 😂

Not sure you need an 8 year old to go and see Paddington 3 @NL – i intend to go alone when I return from a currently grey and bumpy northern lights cruise up the Norwegian coast.

[tical]

On the plane (about to leave the gate) to Chicago. Flying BA in First and the menu is brunch (11am scheduled departure) – egg on sourdough, Niçoise salad etc. and afternoon tea, which is sandwiches! Champagne is Lanson!

Obviously first world problems but this is bad to the point it is comical!

[NorthernLass]

@freckles, it was a treat I had promised the 8-year-old, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and have it on a mental list to watch again with the family at Xmas!

@tical, Lanson in First 😱 I may have to buy a bottle of something decent in T5 in a couple of weeks, in that case, and ask if the crew will chill it for me 🍾 😂

[tical]

@NorthernLass – Lanson Noble 2005, bog standard Lanson Rose NV and Hattingley Valley is the extent of the choice for sparkling. Bring your own is definitely appealing

[Gordon]

tical wrote:

On the plane (about to leave the gate) to Chicago. Flying BA in First and the menu is brunch (11am scheduled departure) – egg on sourdough, Niçoise salad etc. and afternoon tea, which is sandwiches! Champagne is Lanson!

Obviously first world problems but this is bad to the point it is comical!

That’s why chasing up the spend ladder to Gold is not as lucrative as people make out!

[Norsksaint]

al_wiltshire wrote:

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.

And you have chosen the probably one of the best chain hotels in Tromso. Breakfast is excellent there. Enjoy.

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

Sitting enjoying the mini cakes at the IC Ras Al Khaimah club lounge and I am fascinated by the length of the shadows at 15.00 local time. Why on earth don’t they change their clocks. It is sunrise at 06.30 and sunset at 17.30.

[NorthernLass]

@Gordon, it doesn’t really matter what status you have if flying F! Except for opening up 1A and 1K (I checked that, and it’s a thing).
Most of my BA bookings for the foreseeable are going to be in ET and PE as the various First lounges at LHR sound like they can easily compete with the current on-board offerings 😂

[Gordon]

NorthernLass wrote:

@Gordon, it doesn’t really matter what status you have if flying F! Except for opening up 1A and 1K (I checked that, and it’s a thing).
Most of my BA bookings for the foreseeable are going to be in ET and PE as the various First lounges at LHR sound like they can easily compete with the current on-board offerings 😂

“The worlds favourite airline”
Rob should launch a competition, to see who can come up with an alternative!

[strickers]

@Gordon ‘To Fly, To Serve Less’

[executiveclubber]

NorthernLass wrote:

I may have to buy a bottle of something decent in T5 in a couple of weeks, in that case, and ask if the crew will chill it for me 🍾 😂

In my last flight in F, it was the same Lanson Noble. Lukewarm no less! I asked for champagne from Club instead. Great idea to bring your own bubbles 😂

[Perkypat]

Sao Paulo is a cultural powerhouse with some world class museums and galleries. It has some of the best restaurants in South America, including excellent Japanese food, and great nightlife. You won’t really ‘get’ modern Brazil without going there. And if you don’t like the traffic, simply hop on the metro.

[Gordon]

Perkypat wrote:

Sao Paulo is a cultural powerhouse with some world class museums and galleries. It has some of the best restaurants in South America, including excellent Japanese food, and great nightlife. You won’t really ‘get’ modern Brazil without going there. And if you don’t like the traffic, simply hop on the metro.

Absolutely agree, obviously it does not appeal to everyone, there are countries that I am not interested in, that appeal to many, people should not be criticised, as I said up thread, each to their own!

[Michael C]

@JDB – only way to fly! But yet, the Magic Circle crew there did likewise (as well as living with armed security outside the house)

@NorthernLass – obviously on our to-do list! Glad you enjoyed it: still never been to Peru. Looking forward to your next trip/report!

@Perky – you’re quite right, of course, but just not sure that warrants first-timers flying several hours to experience, especially if they’re not with a local!

[Alan TJ]

I have just been sent a £100 Amex Plat Cashback offer when using TopCashback.
Lower amounts are available for other AMEX cards

[dundj]

Good Afternoon from the American Express Platinum lounge in ARN. I’ve enjoyed a rather smooth reindeer open sandwich and my partner has just enjoyed a “delicious” beef bourguignon which looked very well cooked and cut like a hot knife through butter.

Flying KL, so about to sample the SAS lounge, before transferring back from T5 to T2 on the airside bus and seeing how the Pearl Lounge matches up.

[Lumma]

NorthernLass wrote:

@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! 😂

I think it was mainly filmed in Colombia, not Peru

[NorthernLass]

@Lumma, it was a joke, I assumed it was mostly filmed in a studio with plenty of CGI!

[BrotherBears]

Mine is Heathrow. Would be odd for them not to fly a week later to catch all the half term traffic.

Northern Lass – I tried the timetable prior to booking but couldn’t get it to work properly. Perhaps because I was on my phone and not desktop. I did check how late then flew this year and so I assumed they would do the same next year. Silly me.

Will keep an eye out if they do extend the timetable or consider slumming it with a LCC haha

Thanks all

SamG wrote:

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

[NorthernLass]

Did you say where you’re going? Someone on here might have destination-specific info.

[TooPoorToBeHere]

Gordon wrote:

@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.

I felt completely safe on the Rio and Sao Paulo metros, and suburban railway, and the locals seem relaxed – backpacks on back not front, airpods and iphones on display. Rio is easy with the contactless card, getting tickets in SP was a little bit of ballache but not awful (lots of trouble with foreign cards, just for tickets not in general). It may or may not be safe outside the stations – Rio generally yes in daytime at the places you’d actually be likely to go to, SP not always. At night, Uber is cheap, safe, and absolutely everywhere.

Used lots of Airbnbs in Brazil, all great. No hotels. If you want a hotel you want a hotel, but I paid a lot less than a hotel in each case and got a full kitchen and sometimes laundry facilities.

You may be able to redeem Avios on Latam for internal flights. Flying internally in Brazil is a joy – well-organised, cheap, everyone friendly. A bit of language trouble in far-flung places but everyone wants to help.

[Nico]

Gordon wrote:

@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.

Was there this summer, if you like animals would strongly recommend to go to the pantanal, it is magical like the galapagos, but little out of the way.
Did not stop in sao paulo, only transited as all flights go through there, so can’t comment.
Iguazu is nice, argentina much bigger, can easily be done one day each, also to go through border best is line bus as they have a special immigration lane avoiding traffic jam!

[dshunter]

Perkypat wrote:

Sao Paulo is a cultural powerhouse with some world class museums and galleries. It has some of the best restaurants in South America, including excellent Japanese food, and great nightlife. You won’t really ‘get’ modern Brazil without going there. And if you don’t like the traffic, simply hop on the metro.

Exactly this. I go once a year for family reasons and I really like it.

Great food, nightlife and atmosphere. It does help to know a local though.

Not so much to do during the day except museums. It’s like the Brazil equivalent of Manchester but 20x the size.

[Gordon]

NorthernLass wrote:

@Lumma, it was a joke, I assumed it was mostly filmed in a studio with plenty of CGI!

I saved the hassle of going out, watched it on sky movies 😉

[memesweeper]

anuj wrote:

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

Thanks

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