Chat thread – Tuesday 19th September

[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.

[ross]

Select Bad Seats vs Risk Getting Bumped

Hi

Flying to Rio in 48hrs. Club. We are on BAPP 2-4-1.
There are two of us.
We have no status.

There are two seats left in Club sat nowhere near each other.

Looks like a passenger swap would involve a single passenger giving up their Window seat and switching to Aisle.

Flight looks busy.

I am concerned if we don’t take these two seats, and issue boarding passes, that we risk getting bumped down if they overbook.

What would you do, take the bad seats, and hope they can move them at the airport/on the flight?

Does risk of getting bumped change if you’ve checked in?

Thanks

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

Another fail on the Hilton 3x points promo. I had a 2 night stay in a London hotel on the 3x list. Points have posted as double rather than triple.

Hilton won’t entertain the matter till 8 weeks have elapsed.

This is going to be a lot of manual adjustment work for their agents from tenacious HfP readers chasing up on their triple bonuses.

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

ross wrote:

Select Bad Seats vs Risk Getting Bumped

Hi

Flying to Rio in 48hrs. Club. We are on BAPP 2-4-1.
There are two of us.
We have no status.

There are two seats left in Club sat nowhere near each other.

Looks like a passenger swap would involve a single passenger giving up their Window seat and switching to Aisle.

Flight looks busy.

I am concerned if we don’t take these two seats, and issue boarding passes, that we risk getting bumped down if they overbook.

What would you do, take the bad seats, and hope they can move them at the airport/on the flight?

Does risk of getting bumped change if you’ve checked in?

Thanks

I’d check in and expect to be seated apart. I think it’s a lot to expect of someone to give up their window seat if this is the old CW style layout. I declined to move last time I was asked; and I consider myself a reasonable person.

I’m not sure re checking in and risk of being bumped. It does indicate a certain intent to travel. But I’m sure BA would slash and burn whoever they like regardless of check in status.

[pureshtuyot]

Has anyone used the AMEX Microsoft statement credit offer for buying Xbox gift cards?.
It’s offering £100 back on a purchase over £400. I’m trying to figure out a way of using multiple cards for a big purchase.
Some websites in the US actually offer that option

[blueskiesahead]

We have a 7pm flight back from Corfu. We were thinking of spending the last day in corfu town as it seems unlikely we will get a late checkout. Will BA let us check in our luggage earlier? They have several flights a day from corfu . Or is this silly, and asking them to loose our luggage ?

[AJA]

blueskiesahead wrote:

We have a 7pm flight back from Corfu. We were thinking of spending the last day in corfu town as it seems unlikely we will get a late checkout. Will BA let us check in our luggage earlier? They have several flights a day from corfu . Or is this silly, and asking them to loose our luggage ?

Ba usually only opens check in at outstations 2 or 3 hours ahead of the flight so unless there are other BA flights are you even going to be able to check the luggage in?

I would ask your hotel to store your luggage until later unless the hotel isn’t close to town.

[AJA]

@Ross I assume you’re flying on 21Sep? I just checked an BA is still selling 2 seats in Club (albeit for over £5k) but I’d second checking in. You won’t be able to check in until 24 hours before the flight and there is a remote possibility that you might already be allocated 2 seats together but I wouldn’t bank on it. It shouldn’t be that way as I believe 2 passengers on the same PNR should be seated next to each other but BA doesn’t seem to always do that.

Also be prepared for the possibility of being downgraded. I hope that doesn’t happen to you.

[strickers]

@ross Expert Flyer is showing 5 blocked seats and the two you are seeing free, it also concurs with @AJA that BA are willing to sell 2 more seats in J. 7D & 7K are blocked so you may have some luck moving around if BA don’t sell anymore seats. I wouldn’t worry too much at this stage.

[BBbetter]

Some real gems on Twitter.

https://x.com/mariarobinsonma/status/1703781420911468554?s=46

[Sip]

Not sure if there’s a site that covers this a bit better, have used Google but information seems a bit disjoiunted.

Does anyone know how the new club suites are rolling out for BA? I have a few 2-4-1 coupons to use and whilst I prefer to use it for F, the availability sometimes means that Business is the best I could get, and personally, I would really want to avoid the old version of BA’s business class.

[chrism20]

Good morning, quick question.

I’m heading to Sunderland in a couple of weeks with work. Normally stay at the Garden Inn but notice there is a relatively new Holiday Inn there as well now.

Has anyone stayed there? Would be interested in thoughts as to which one is better.

Thanks

[silvester667]

I am an Accors Platinum rewards holder and will go to Diamond before the year ends. Want to try some other quality hotels in 2024. I’m not really a fan of Shangri La in the UK, I find the Shard overpriced and the restaurants are awful in my opinion. What chains offer reward matching? and quality hotels in the UK.
Thanks for any assistance.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

AJA wrote:

blueskiesahead wrote:

We have a 7pm flight back from Corfu. We were thinking of spending the last day in corfu town as it seems unlikely we will get a late checkout. Will BA let us check in our luggage earlier? They have several flights a day from corfu . Or is this silly, and asking them to loose our luggage ?

Ba usually only opens check in at outstations 2 or 3 hours ahead of the flight so unless there are other BA flights are you even going to be able to check the luggage in?

I would ask your hotel to store your luggage until later unless the hotel isn’t close to town.

Lots of airports simply don’t have the capacity to store luggage for later flights and they will refuse to take them even where an airline has lots of flights,

I’ve seen the agents as BER and AMS politely refuse bags because it was too early to check in for their flights.

[ExpatInBerlin]

^seconded, I wouldn’t count on them letting you check it in early. I have had similar experience of the agents at BER refusing to check in bags (when flying BA on a CE ticket) until bang on 3 hours before the flight, and there are several flights a day from BER to LHR/LGW/LCY.

[AirMax]

Blair Waldorf Salad wrote:

Another fail on the Hilton 3x points promo. I had a 2 night stay in a London hotel on the 3x list. Points have posted as double rather than triple.

Hilton won’t entertain the matter till 8 weeks have elapsed.

This is going to be a lot of manual adjustment work for their agents from tenacious HfP readers chasing up on their triple bonuses.

A tripadvisor review should get the hotel to do the necessary

[Mart16]

Hold the platinum card and have a hotel stay booked end of the month using the £200 hotel credit from recent sign up bonus hit.
Is there a need to hold the card when staying at the hotel booked through FHR to use the hotel credit? I want to cancel.
Thanks

[DollarBill]

Hi,

If starting a journey in Dublin and heading long haul east via a LHR connection on the same day is it possible to avoid the air passenger duty (ADP) taxes?

I’m booking an open jaw BA premium companion ticket and it appears to be included. I ubderstand for the arrival back it is not applicable but do I need to ask the booking agent to remove it on the first leg as I string a “connecting” flight together in LHR?

Appreciate any insight as first 241 redemption.

[NorthernLass]

What cabin do you want to fly in? Unless it’s F, there’s no saving by doing this as all other cabins now benefit from RFS pricing.

But if F – how are you doing the booking? You should be able to just put DUB-XXX into the search for avios seats and it should price up accordingly.

If you’re seeing higher cash amount than you expect, you may have too long between the DUB and LHR departures, I think this would need to be less than 24 hours?

Remember there will be a small avios and cash charge for the DUB-LHR leg as it’s not a domestic connection.

You don’t need to do this via a booking agent and also it’s probably not a great idea to draw attention to what is probably something BA may decide to rectify at some point!

[Annie]

I’ve received an email cancelling my flight in April from San Diego to LHR. It says they’ve booked me on the next available flight and I can accept or cancel.
Question is, how long do I have to either accept or cancel?
I called BA and he tried to tell me I couldn’t cancel as it was only 2 hours earlier but I know I can as it’s a different flight number.

[JDB]

Annie wrote:

I’ve received an email cancelling my flight in April from San Diego to LHR. It says they’ve booked me on the next available flight and I can accept or cancel.
Question is, how long do I have to either accept or cancel?
I called BA and he tried to tell me I couldn’t cancel as it was only 2 hours earlier but I know I can as it’s a different flight number.

A different flight number doesn’t necessarily mean a flight has been cancelled from a UK261 perspective so the information provided by the agent may be correct. Are there any other options in MMB. In terms of how long you have to accept, there’s no time limit but if you do nothing it means you can’t, for instance, choose your seat. People tried to be a bit cute about this during covid but eventually came unstuck.

Also, the option is a flight only two hours different (which may just be a reprogramming of the route) what are you actually wanting. What has been offered would be considered reasonable by MCOL, CEDR or the CAA even if the flight were technically cancelled.

[FatherOfFour]

Annie wrote:

I’ve received an email cancelling my flight in April from San Diego to LHR. It says they’ve booked me on the next available flight and I can accept or cancel.
Question is, how long do I have to either accept or cancel?
I called BA and he tried to tell me I couldn’t cancel as it was only 2 hours earlier but I know I can as it’s a different flight number.

BA have added a daily flight to/from SAN from April, so it will be related to this. I suggest you decide which times suit you best. I think you have plenty of time to confirm/reject, however if you are clear which one you want- best to lock in before they fill up.

[Amy C]

Currently in Aspire lounge Belfast city. It’s lovely! Food and drink offerings are wonderful too. Only flew into Belfast this morning and am already leaving in a couple of hours. Wanted to do the Titanic Experience. Well worth it.

[Annie]

Thanks @JDB and @Fatheroffour, it would suit me to cancel I think but would just like a bit of time to be sure about that. Cancelling is an option in MMB.

[Amy C]

Blair Waldorf Salad wrote:

Another fail on the Hilton 3x points promo. I had a 2 night stay in a London hotel on the 3x list. Points have posted as double rather than triple.

Hilton won’t entertain the matter till 8 weeks have elapsed.

This is going to be a lot of manual adjustment work for their agents from tenacious HfP readers chasing up on their triple bonuses.

Oh that’s not good. I stayed at a hugely expensive 3x London one Saturday night and 33k points posted yesterday. I was delighted.