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Good Morning from the first lounge LGW. A peaceful zone compared to check in. If ever there was justification to keep gold rather than silver – the queue for business check in was about 70 people long. 4 people in the gold queue. Off to sunny Tenerife
I’ve found the poor people’s self check in much faster, abandoned the club check-in at gatters last time as it was full of families, peeps with golf clubs, mountains of luggage and they all had DYKWIA and issues
Loyalty Lobby reporting an Iberia devaluation may be imminent: https://loyaltylobby.com/2025/05/27/iberia-plus-award-devaluation-award-charts-removed-from-the-website/
if the screen shots are accurate and fixed redemption charts remain, that’s a win of sorts in itself
Indeed.
Off peak return to MEX goes from 85,000 to 101,000 according to the image…which isn’t dreadful IMO. Still an absolute bargain vs what BA are charging.
Received an email mentioning the enhancements today, note it was reported on Flyertalk a week or so ago. Also changes to luggage and cancellation fees on economy tickets I believe
@Blair-Waldorf-Salad 100% agree and it’s easily achievable as they have 2 down escalators. I really don’t undertsand the no security screening for business pax. It’s the only airport in the world I’ve seen it. I suppose they’re trusting you because you’ve been through Irish security but then why not apply that to all pax, it’s just theatre.
@Gordon I don’t understand why you can’t cut/paste. That’s why I’ve used Onenote for years. In Windows I just ctrl-a, ctrl-c and get entire fully formatted web pages into it. I had a decade of technical content saved from the web. What version and what device are you trying it on?Your trips sound fun and I agree completely about winters/xmas. Asia doesn’t draw me as much as most but I really need to plan some trips in that direction. Saying that, I’m looking at Egypt for next Jan and funds are a little tight. by the end of this trip I’ll have been out of the country for 92 days in 180… does that make me non-resident 🙂
I managed nearly 5 hours in the garden loung at DOG e due to aircraft failure, honestly you could live in there and nobody would notice. It’s just a superb space.
@davefl – I think the problem is, that I’m using an iPad, i have a new windows laptop but only use it for work, I prefer tablets for everyday browsing.
I am guessing that not using windows, is the problem?I believe you are working your way to a non resident! Haha.
Yes looking forward to the Lounge, I can book an outbound flight with only a 50 min layover in Doha, so might do that so I’m not traveling too long on the way out, and pick a return with a slightly longer layover, so I can spend a little time in there, the showers and quiet rooms will be a bonus.@Blair-Waldorf-Salad 100% agree and it’s easily achievable as they have 2 down escalators. I really don’t undertsand the no security screening for business pax. It’s the only airport in the world I’ve seen it. I suppose they’re trusting you because you’ve been through Irish security but then why not apply that to all pax, it’s just theatre.
@Gordon I don’t understand why you can’t cut/paste. That’s why I’ve used Onenote for years. In Windows I just ctrl-a, ctrl-c and get entire fully formatted web pages into it. I had a decade of technical content saved from the web. What version and what device are you trying it on?Your trips sound fun and I agree completely about winters/xmas. Asia doesn’t draw me as much as most but I really need to plan some trips in that direction. Saying that, I’m looking at Egypt for next Jan and funds are a little tight. by the end of this trip I’ll have been out of the country for 92 days in 180… does that make me non-resident 🙂
I managed nearly 5 hours in the garden loung at DOG e due to aircraft failure, honestly you could live in there and nobody would notice. It’s just a superb space.
@Davefl I would love to have the brass neck to bluster past the queue saying “Excuse me while I thrust by; I’m a business class passenger” but the ghost of Victoria Wood would loom large.I can spend a little time in there, the showers and quiet rooms will be a bonus.
When I was there it was so quiet on the left side that I could barely see another person on the horizon, it’s that large!
@davefl – I think the problem is, that I’m using an iPad, i have a new windows laptop but only use it for work, I prefer tablets for everyday browsing.
I am guessing that not using windows, is the problem?Yes seems like the ipad version lacks any kind of functionality. I’ve only ever used it on a windows laptop (and then copied my notebooks to phone via Onenote on the web) It’s awesome from windows but that doesn’t help you
Pleae excuse the typos in previous messages, I’m on the inflight wifi on the EI bird and am at least a full bottle of wine in.
Thankfully baby in bassinette has finally stopped screaming. I’m not bothered about a lack of throne seat as I have 6A/C to myself as the business class cabin is only half full.
Total journey time to my first stop/car hire pickup in Fargo is 36 hours from leaving home, why do I do this!
Good evening from the DT MAN. Annoyingly, the floor plan for the hotel has been replaced in the Hilton app with just a long list of room numbers so it’s impossible to know if your room is next to a lift or whatever unless you know the hotel really well!
Anyway, managed to get a quiet room allocated at reception along with my 💦 and 🍪. Off to AGP at some ungodly hour tomorrow morning, I was possibly putting too much importance on the gold lounge breakfast in T5 when I picked the MAN-LHR departure time 🤦🏻♀️😂
@Gordon There are a few ways of getting info from the internet into OneNote, you can insert a like and copy/paste the website to that. You can screenshot and insert pictures or you can save web pages as PDFs and insert them.
A better option is to use Notion, it works better with the Apple infrastructure. It has a built in Travel Planner section and may look a bit daunting at first but it’s actually quite intuitive. If you install the app, then open a web page in Safari, click the square with an arrow at the top, scroll down to the list of apps about halfway down the pop up, swipe right, press more and click Notion it will import the webpage. It takes a few seconds for it to appear but it works very well. You can then delete the bits of the page you aren’t interested in.
Thanks for the book recommendation @davefl – looks ideal. Visited Badlands briefly a few years ago as we were in that area mainly to see Mount Rushmore. Also worth looking at if you have the time and haven’t been before are the Minuteman Missile Base, Crazy Horse, Medicine Wheel – Wall Drug is also a bit bonkers if you fancy something different – you can’t miss it on the Interstate!!
@davefl – ok thanks for the info on oneNote, I will try and see if I can sort something out, if not I am sure I can put something together somewhere.
No need for apologies, your holiday has started so enjoy yourself, 36 hours, wow, better have a few more bottles and get some sleep.
Safe flight, enjoy your trip.@strickers – Thank you for the tips, appreciated, I can use the basic functions on a pc, for quoting and invoicing etc, but I’ve never delved into programs, it’s only when @Davefl mentioned OneNote a while back, I thought it sounded ideal for trip planning, also for referencing.
I will persevere and see what transpires.
@davefl enjoy your trip. You can also contact EI on WhatsApp – they often take hours to reply, but they do action requests for seating, etc. In my experience they also answer the phone very quickly. I agree the food in 51st & Green is good! As is the Guinness.
The ability to bypass pre-check security as a business class passenger is bizarre…
Good evening from the DT MAN. Annoyingly, the floor plan for the hotel has been replaced in the Hilton app with just a long list of room numbers so it’s impossible to know if your room is next to a lift or whatever unless you know the hotel really well!
Anyway, managed to get a quiet room allocated at reception along with my 💦 and 🍪. Off to AGP at some ungodly hour tomorrow morning, I was possibly putting too much importance on the gold lounge breakfast in T5 when I picked the MAN-LHR departure time 🤦🏻♀️😂
Have a great time, Anna – looks like perfect weather!
Thank you @Michael. I am looking forward very much to being back in Andalusia, although the cheese and chorizo ban stings!
@NorthernLass Nothing to stop you eating as much as you want though! Enjoy.
Thanks @Man-of-Kent. I’m going to off the beaten track ones, such as Theodore Roosevelt, Conagaree, Wind Cave, Mammoth Cave, Badlands and USVI, so a box ticking trip through the Dakotas and Carolinas.
Mammoth Caves are spectacular but the restaurant in the Mammoth Cave Lodge served us the worst meal we have had in our adult lives. It was vile, but the only choice on site when we stayed in their cabins. Soggy fried chicken, watery mash and the most limp, overcooked green beans. Needless to say we drove on the second night to a decent Mexican nearby.(El Mazatlan in Cave City, was pretty decent IIRC).
@Man-of-Kent I last did Badlands and the area around SD in 2012 on an insane bus tour with Just You travel (10 states, 3500 miles starting in Vegas and finishing in Rapid City). We only got an hour there in the rain, Rushmore was rained out as well, so hoping to see more of it this time, Wall Drug and the others are on the list, hadnt heard of Medicine Wheel so will check that out, but Crazy Horse, yeah… come back in 200 years when it’s finished 🙂
@Stu_N I’ve left it very late, so it’s just a quick tour at Mammoth between the Corvette Museum at Bowling Green (the one that fell into a sink hole a few years ago) and Asheville/Biltmore/Breweries and Pinball Museum in Asheville. Going to be a long drive that day.
@rt112 Thanks for the WA tip, I’ll try that.Your trips sound fun and I agree completely about winters/xmas. Asia doesn’t draw me as much as most but I really need to plan some trips in that direction. Saying that, I’m looking at Egypt for next Jan and funds are a little tight. by the end of this trip I’ll have been out of the country for 92 days in 180… does that make me non-resident 🙂
Unfortunately that time away doesn’t cut it with HMRC to be non-resident! We have been doing our homework and making preparatory plans on that topic as Rachel and Keir are close to making it unaffordable for us to remain in the UK. Lots of more welcoming countries.
Unfortunately that time away doesn’t cut it with HMRC to be non-resident!
Smiley was inserted for the humour impaired.
Your trips sound fun and I agree completely about winters/xmas. Asia doesn’t draw me as much as most but I really need to plan some trips in that direction. Saying that, I’m looking at Egypt for next Jan and funds are a little tight. by the end of this trip I’ll have been out of the country for 92 days in 180… does that make me non-resident 🙂
Unfortunately that time away doesn’t cut it with HMRC to be non-resident! We have been doing our homework and making preparatory plans on that topic as Rachel and Keir are close to making it unaffordable for us to remain in the UK. Lots of more welcoming countries.
This is nothing new, look at the percentage of Brit’s that have been living in many parts Spain for example, for decades, they had this foresight, I have been contemplating this for quite some time, since realising the vast amounts of income and other tax I have paid over many years, does not seem to be of value to me.
Your trips sound fun and I agree completely about winters/xmas. Asia doesn’t draw me as much as most but I really need to plan some trips in that direction. Saying that, I’m looking at Egypt for next Jan and funds are a little tight. by the end of this trip I’ll have been out of the country for 92 days in 180… does that make me non-resident 🙂
Unfortunately that time away doesn’t cut it with HMRC to be non-resident! We have been doing our homework and making preparatory plans on that topic as Rachel and Keir are close to making it unaffordable for us to remain in the UK. Lots of more welcoming countries.
And for those of us under 50, the idea of sticking around for state pension eligibility is laughable. What tax base will be there to pay said pensions. What countries are on your shortlist?
Good evening from the DT MAN. Annoyingly, the floor plan for the hotel has been replaced in the Hilton app with just a long list of room numbers so it’s impossible to know if your room is next to a lift or whatever unless you know the hotel really well!
Anyway, managed to get a quiet room allocated at reception along with my 💦 and 🍪. Off to AGP at some ungodly hour tomorrow morning, I was possibly putting too much importance on the gold lounge breakfast in T5 when I picked the MAN-LHR departure time 🤦🏻♀️😂
I am doing a day rate stay at the DT MAN week after next to bridge my arrival from JFK (via DUB) and onward home to LHR on BA. Hoping to arrive in time to have breakfast.
Also flying to MAN tonight, separate to JFK positioning. Back tomorrow night through T3 and it’s been a while. What likely awaits me at T3 security? Still the old machines and dreadful queue control of fast track at the belt?
Also flying to MAN tonight, separate to JFK positioning. Back tomorrow night through T3 and it’s been a while. What likely awaits me at T3 security? Still the old machines and dreadful queue control of fast track at the belt?
Nothing really has changed at T3 apart from the resturants. It’ll change massively over the next 2 years. I think there’s still a mix of scanners but I can’t remmeber.
I have no information but I’m wondering if the decision to take pax on a long walk from T1 to T3 in the future is because the security hall in T3 can’t take the weight of enough new scanners to cope with the passenger load. Pure speculation.
Your trips sound fun and I agree completely about winters/xmas. Asia doesn’t draw me as much as most but I really need to plan some trips in that direction. Saying that, I’m looking at Egypt for next Jan and funds are a little tight. by the end of this trip I’ll have been out of the country for 92 days in 180… does that make me non-resident 🙂
Unfortunately that time away doesn’t cut it with HMRC to be non-resident! We have been doing our homework and making preparatory plans on that topic as Rachel and Keir are close to making it unaffordable for us to remain in the UK. Lots of more welcoming countries.
And for those of us under 50, the idea of sticking around for state pension eligibility is laughable. What tax base will be there to pay said pensions. What countries are on your shortlist?
Pensions and welfare generally plus of course the interest bill on current debt are a ticking time bomb that no politician is willing to address until the markets force their hand as happened in Greece and Ireland. Other countries like France aren’t far behind. Panama is the easiest to gain and maintain residence but feels uncomfortably shady, Argentina makes it reasonably easy to obtain and maintain temporary residence, otherwise Eastern Europe.
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