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Chat thread – Wednesday 22nd January
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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.
So it looks like AwardWallet has hemorrhaged users since the recent annual fee increase.
Just got this free three month upgrade despite not subscribing since 2020 as it’s become worthless.
We have received a lot of feedback about our price increase from supporters like you, and we wanted to share a few updates.
Although the support of paid subscribers is essential to keep AwardWallet running, we also recognize that many of our members support AwardWallet in other ways.
We’ve decided to do an annual review of our members’ accounts to identify folks who have helped make AwardWallet better for everyone. Here are a few things we’re taking into consideration:
Following the AwardWallet blog and supporting our content team by using our links to apply for credit cards or purchase travel
Providing helpful feedback (like identifying bugs or suggesting new features)
Connecting a mailbox to make it easier for us to track your loyalty accounts and travel
Tracking a diverse set of accounts and keeping them updated
Referring friends and family to AwardWalletYour account didn’t qualify for a complimentary AwardWallet Plus upgrade for a full year, but we’ve decided to extend your membership by three months.
Your account will now be upgraded through 21/04/2025. (Before we made this change, your AwardWallet Plus was valid through 29/06/2020.)
We hope you’ll continue using AwardWallet and take some of the steps we noted above. We’ll take another look at the criteria noted above in three months to see if you qualify for an extended upgrade.
Even though I’ve been a free member since 2020 AW has bombarded me with emails about expiry dates depspite that being a paid feature and lately has been sending advertising emails for US credit cards that I can’t apply for. I can’t turn those emails off without disabling the whole service.
Aloha from the Sheraton Kauai Coconut Beach Resort. I’m trying my hardest to keep a stiff upper lip, but it’s such a disappointment. To date on O’ahu and the Big Island we’ve stayed in a mix of reasonably priced but enjoyable Inns and B&Bs and the Sheraton was supposed to be the luxury finale; it’s anything but. Built in 1978, it’s really showing its age. Service in the main restaurant is utterly charmless and the included buffet breakfast (billed as $35 plus tax per head) is, by no small measure, the worst I’ve ever experienced…
Ah well, onwards and upwards – Las Vegas next stop.
Aloha from the Sheraton Kauai Coconut Beach Resort. I’m trying my hardest to keep a stiff upper lip, but it’s such a disappointment. To date on O’ahu and the Big Island we’ve stayed in a mix of reasonably priced but enjoyable Inns and B&Bs and the Sheraton was supposed to be the luxury finale; it’s anything but. Built in 1978, it’s really showing its age. Service in the main restaurant is utterly charmless and the included buffet breakfast (billed as $35 plus tax per head) is, by no small measure, the worst I’ve ever experienced…
Ah well, onwards and upwards – Las Vegas next stop.
I stayed in the Waipouli resort next door some years ago. It was dreadful! The pool required a ludicrously long code to gain entry and even then you had to wear a tag. The pool attendants were dedicated to making your life a misery if you didn’t wear it on show at all times. The kids would be told to exit the pool and they’d wake you up if asleep on a sunbed if it wasn’t visible.
There is a dinner show of South Pacific which was endearing in a village hall production sort of way, but you had to go early as the ravenous hoards will strip the buffet which is not replenished.
I love Hawaii but Kauai was by far the most disappointing and subsequent visits were limited to Big Island. Not sure things will improve in Vegas but good luckGood morning from the F lounge at a foggy LhR but it seems no major delays.
Quick trip on the free H30 bus from T4 to T5 around the rear end of LHR and past the cargo hangers and offices.
I’ve done the H30 between 4 and 5 and vice versa a couple of times now. It’s now my go to method for getting between the two.
And I discovered there is a walkable route from the CP/HIX to the bus and taxi station area that avoids the overhead walkway and the crowds at the departures level. I managed it with 2 cases so it should be fine for most people.
I noticed that there are a lot of waterways around the airport campus on the route – not streams as they have concrete banks. Saw a group of swans doing whatever it is swans do.
@GillyDee That ties in with our thoughts of Hawaii, we are glad we went but don’t think we will return. I started writing a trip report but parts of it marred my memories so I stopped. Parts of the Islands are stunning, other parts are just like anywhere else in the USA but 20% more expensive. The Polynesian culture when we found it was wonderful, finding it was the problem. We went to a Luau, the show was fantastic but we couldn’t eat the pig that was cooked on the ground because the ‘kitchen’ wasn’t FDA approved! The buffet meal that we were permitted to eat was OK but ridiculously overprice, that’s one example of the dichotomy we found.
As I said, glad we went, it’s one off the bucket list but won’t be returning unless it’s part of a bigger trip.
It’s 20 years since we went and were expecting Waikiki to be very built-up, however there are some beautiful areas and we specifically wanted to visit Pearl Harbor. I’d like to visit the Big Island if we went back, again for specific attractions.
@NorthernLass For Big Island Volcano National Park was stunning, Kona was pretty and the submarine ride there was interesting. Pearl Harbor memorial is a must and we loved driving up to North Shore on Oahu. Maui was pretty and the Road to Hana drive was fun if a little long. Like I said there were bits that were brilliant there was also a lot that was ‘meh’.
Good morning from the F lounge at a foggy LhR but it seems no major delays.
Quick trip on the free H30 bus from T4 to T5 around the rear end of LHR and past the cargo hangers and offices.
I’ve done the H30 between 4 and 5 and vice versa a couple of times now. It’s now my go to method for getting between the two.
And I discovered there is a walkable route from the CP/HIX to the bus and taxi station area that avoids the overhead walkway and the crowds at the departures level. I managed it with 2 cases so it should be fine for most people.
.
H30 is great for T4/5 transfers, much easier than changing at T2/3.
What’s the walking route?
I think I’ll post it in one of the fora so it’s easily found again. I’m just on a plane so will do it this evening
Good morning from the F lounge at a foggy LhR but it seems no major delays.
Quick trip on the free H30 bus from T4 to T5 around the rear end of LHR and past the cargo hangers and offices.
I’ve done the H30 between 4 and 5 and vice versa a couple of times now. It’s now my go to method for getting between the two.
And I discovered there is a walkable route from the CP/HIX to the bus and taxi station area that avoids the overhead walkway and the crowds at the departures level. I managed it with 2 cases so it should be fine for most people.
.
H30 is great for T4/5 transfers, much easier than changing at T2/3.
What’s the walking route?
I was going to check this out last time I was there, but it was chucking it down with rain so I opted out. Google Maps suggests you simply exit the hotel on to Swindon Road, turn left and follow your nose.
@Strickers and @Nl. we stayed on Oahu at the Doubletree Embassy suites on points (544). It’s a Hilton. Suffice to say we got half our points refunded after a review I posted on Tripadvisor that management didn’t like. Complaining face to face with management didn’t work!.
Pearl Harbour was well worth a visit and overall we enjoyed the trip but wouldn’t go back unless part of another trip and to a different island. We went to finish off a USA road trip as we had AA voucher to use or lose.Just back from a great trip to Phoenix via lovely Jersey (where I can recommend the Liberation ale in the Post Horn pub), JFK, PHX, PHL, BOS (BA lounge is fab as Rhys says and 1st dining was excellent). Have to say I had some excellent crews on AA flights, so proactive, attentive and giving out info about future gates, transferring etc that you’d die for with other airlines. I know it can be hit or miss, but seems I either struck lucky or they’ve had a bit of a makeover. And got to spend time on some wonderful cacti trails down in the south near Tucson in the sun. All in all, thanks BA – you don’t know what you are doing corporately to future generations – enabling them to stay loyal & start exploring the world before they then direct their loyalty & hard earned spend to BA for work and pleasure travel. It’s not only about shareholders, it’s about repeat business ultimately.
Just back from a great trip to Phoenix via lovely Jersey (where I can recommend the Liberation ale in the Post Horn pub), JFK, PHX, PHL, BOS (BA lounge is fab as Rhys says and 1st dining was excellent). Have to say I had some excellent crews on AA flights, so proactive, attentive and giving out info about future gates, transferring etc that you’d die for with other airlines. I know it can be hit or miss, but seems I either struck lucky or they’ve had a bit of a makeover. And got to spend time on some wonderful cacti trails down in the south near Tucson in the sun. All in all, thanks BA – you don’t know what you are doing corporately to future generations – enabling them to stay loyal & start exploring the world before they then direct their loyalty & hard earned spend to BA for work and pleasure travel. It’s not only about shareholders, it’s about repeat business ultimately.
We loved Arizona when we went. In Tucson, we stayed at the JW Marriott- gates to keep Javelina out of the pool. OH saw a Roadrunner- bigger than she expected. Went to Tombstone which was much more authentic than we expected knowing how over commercialised most things are in the USA
Our road trip prior to Hawaii was southern Arizona. Flew in/out of pHX . Pima air museum, OK corral re enactment was good fun , national parks and lots of cacti! Very enjoyable and stayed no where fancier than HIE….only for-the cinnamon buns!
@Jill – I have 5 nights booked around FLL in March – all in HIEX for the free breakfast and because prices are generally insane. Our bad for deciding to transit the US twice during spring break, I guess! Will look for cinnamon buns.
I’m just reviewing our itinerary and checking all flight/hotel/car hire bookings – MAN-MCO, drive, FLL-BIM-FLL, drive, MIA-GCM-LHR-MAN. Going to need another holiday after that!
“I noticed that there are a lot of waterways around the airport campus on the route – not streams as they have concrete banks. Saw a group of swans doing whatever it is swans do.”
They’re likely to be one or more of, the Longford River, River Colne or the Duke of Northumberland River.
Exciting news. Mcdonalds is now part of Silver membership in Deliveroo! Free delivery above £15 and a free item (no idea what it is)!
First went to Waikiki in 2009. Was a bit like Blackpool with Palm Trees and a surfer vibe. Went back about 2017 and it had been gentrified. Alot of the tat shops knocked down and replaced with boutique shops.
Also visited Koan for the volcano park which was amazing. Stayed in Waikaloa and Lahaina. Enjoyed the latter two – but sadly Lahaina had the fire recently.
Exciting news. Mcdonalds is now part of Silver membership in Deliveroo! Free delivery above £15 and a free item (no idea what it is)!
Rennies
About Awardwallet I got the same email today as @davefl – which gave me a 3 month extension free.
The only trouble is, I unsubscribed from Awardwallet about 3 years ago. My only contact with them since, was to get a refund of an extra year’s subscription at the grandfathered $10 rate that they had taken despite my cancellation in a year before that.
So what is Awardwallet doing?
IMV their recent price increase was a severe misjudgment as to, largely through no fault of their own, how much their servce has become worth. Too many loyalty schemes such as Delta blocked their access deiberately or they got caught up in things like sites bringing in 2FA which makes thngs much harder. A price increase was long overdue but the new price outstripped the value the product could still deliver for many I should think.
To suddenly out of the blue get an email fron them extending a long-non-existent subscription seems like when companies I had also terminated signups to their sites or for newsletters 2 or 3 years before, so they shouldm’t have been emailing me, also suddenly restarted emailing me.
In several of theae previous cases the company had changed hands and clearly the new owner deliberately disrespected previous terminations trying to mine former customer data as an asset.
I forgot to say “and please remove all my data” when unsubscribing from Awardwallet. Possibly because I thought they were somewhere like Panama where this request would be ignored. Has Awardwallet now been sold to a new owner I wonder?
A tale..
My newly minted Platinum card arrived on Monday after applying the week before Xmas (there is a tedious tale to be told involving credit exposure and manual review etc).
I was hoping to take advantage of the RJ status match but hope appears to be fading. Anyhow. Grits teeth.
A question..
I enrolled for Marriot privileges on Monday (I was already a lowest grade member). Do I also need to save my platinum card on my online Marriot account in order to prompt an upgraded status or will it just appear in its own good time?
Should I just open a bottle instead of hoping for an 12th hour miracle?
Amex appear to have fixed the SafeKey flow this evening, such that you’re not asked each time you check out if you want to use points to pay for your purchase. This means SafeKey is a one click, not two click process, which is a welcome change!
Crikey, does anyone have any good hotel experiences in Kauai?!
We’ve just booked the flights there for our honeymoon and I’ve been quite surprised how dated the accommodations look everywhere, so haven’t settled on anything yet. The Sheraton Coconut resort mentioned above was looking like the best of a bad bunch, and looks like that is out now too! 🥲😬
Like you, our trip will also be split with Vegas.
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