Chat thread – Wednesday 2nd April
Discuss today's stories:
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The airline are supposed to check you’ve got a flight exiting the US (& all? most? destinations since Brexit). Very rarely does it come up at check in, either because it’s a return flight on the same booking so they can see, or they just don’t check.
But time to time I get asked including twice where I hadn’t booked it yet. Both times they insisted I book on the spot before checking in. Both times I booked some random Avios ticket and cancelled it within 24hrs FOC. Qatar Airways are very hot on visas and onward travel IME.
I also had one weird situation a long time ago on Virgin where they insisted it needed to be printed for US immigration and made a big fuss at the gate of printing me off my itinerary on one of those dot matrix printers. Of course never showed it to the immigration officer, I’ve been to the US many many times and never once shown it on same or seperate tickets
Does Hilton status usually take a few days to reset? Sitting at Diamond and was expecting to drop to Gold?
Was sadly in same position but very sadly now gold today
Looking for a family friendly (4 and 7 year old) hotel in NY, ideally with a kitchenette and rooms that are junior suite/studio size and above. Have the Amex plat hotel statuses (hilton, marriott etc.) plus IHG AMB/plat so would prefer to stay with one of these brands if possible but open to suggestions. Thanks!
@davefl – the point is that if they can see my onward travel details, and therefore don’t need to ask for proof, they must surely have been able to do the same with @ed_fly and anyone else who’s been asked to produce an onward ticket. It can’t be a universal requirement as it’s never happened to us, over 4 or 5 different trips where we were flying on one-way tickets with different airlines. Including during the previous and current Trump administrations!
@SamG, why would Brexit have any impact on this policy?Good morning from the Flagship lounge in LAX. Has anyone else had problems with AA lounges not recognising BA boarding passes? Happened to me twice recently, one in the app, one printed at LHR.
They work fine for security and boarding, but the lounge people say they don’t scan and complain about having to enter details manually.
Security has become ridiculous at London airports really, need to be sorted before summer holidays. They search maybe 90% of the bags.
Re, showing proof of return, @Ed_fly did have children accompanying him, I know they are more strict on this if a single parent is taking children with them, I’m not sure in this case!
I noticed yesterday at T5 security that while we were told to leave everything in bags, a lot were being sent for secondary screening. Oddly not any of our 4, though OH’s diving equipment regularly gets pulled.
I noticed yesterday at T5 security that while we were told to leave everything in bags, a lot were being sent for secondary screening. Oddly not any of our 4, though OH’s diving equipment regularly gets pulled.
Been like that for a few months, really weird, mine was for some cereal bars that they checked for explosives
Looking for a family friendly (4 and 7 year old) hotel in NY, ideally with a kitchenette and rooms that are junior suite/studio size and above. Have the Amex plat hotel statuses (hilton, marriott etc.) plus IHG AMB/plat so would prefer to stay with one of these brands if possible but open to suggestions. Thanks!
Not a hotel with lots of facilities but I like the Mint House on Pine Street which offers what you need in terms of a full kitchen with hob, oven and microwave and a fridge / freezer and sizes
https://minthouse.com/new-york/70-pine/
Not part of a chain and no reward scheme though.
IHG has Staybridge Suites which I know have limited kitchen facilities but not sure about their room capacities
Security has become ridiculous at London airports really, need to be sorted before summer holidays. They search maybe 90% of the bags.
I have been through LHR and LCY in the last few months and not noticed anything exceptional in terms of number of secondary searches.
Pack bags properly and follow the liquid rules seems to avoid a secondary.
Security has become ridiculous at London airports really, need to be sorted before summer holidays. They search maybe 90% of the bags.
EDI today was a breeze – through in less than a minute!
One of the very understated benefits of BA Gold status is the First Wing security channel. Will be sadly missed by many in future.
Yes, I would miss First Wing access more than the slightly underwhelming FLounge
The F lounge was underwhelming! If you connect from the regions, you’ll have very few opportunities to use the F wing. Looking at my bookings for the next 12 months, however, they’re mostly either on IB from MAN, or departing T3, so neither are terribly relevant.
Seat selection and luggage allowance are the perks I’ll actively endeavour to retain going forward. It was extremely gratifying being able to check in 3 huge suitcases for $0 on our AA flight the other week after our Florida shopping spree (which included one of said suitcases)!
The F lounge was underwhelming! If you connect from the regions, you’ll have very few opportunities to use the F wing. Looking at my bookings for the next 12 months, however, they’re mostly either on IB from MAN, or departing T3, so neither are terribly relevant.
Seat selection and luggage allowance are the perks I’ll actively endeavour to retain going forward. It was extremely gratifying being able to check in 3 huge suitcases for $0 on our AA flight the other week after our Florida shopping spree (which included one of said suitcases)!
NL I had Gold whilst living in Manchester and it was helpful but nothing more. Having Gold living and working in London has been a game changer. Last week I got out of a taxi down by the First Wing at 26 mins past the hour and was seated in the lounge for a work call at 30 mins past the hour. The F Wing has given me back personal and work time because I know I can cut things fine in terms of arrival time.
Even if I’m connecting from the regions (of course with o’night), I still sometimes ‘land’ myself off a domestic and go back in First Wing just to have some freedom from being cooped up inside LHRfor hours!
(which included one of said suitcases)!
On my frequent retail therapy trips to the US premium outlets, I always take one case inside another, I’d never dream of paying out extra on a suitcase just to lug my clothes back home! That expenditure can be spent on additional clothes, Also it puts a smile on my face when I see shoppers lugging their paper bags around, stuffed with clothes, as if to say look where I’ve been shopping! a lot of shoppers have still not cottoned on that taking a suitcase to the shopping outlets saves a lot of energy.
You’ve never been to Cheshire Oaks, or Bicester then @Gordon ? 😉
You’ve never been to Cheshire Oaks, or Bicester then @Gordon ? 😉
No I have not, and doubt I ever will, The Freeport designer village in Braintree in only an hour from me, and I don’t like it, the prices are not keen! They try to mimic the US outlets, but fail!
Looking for a family friendly (4 and 7 year old) hotel in NY, ideally with a kitchenette and rooms that are junior suite/studio size and above. Have the Amex plat hotel statuses (hilton, marriott etc.) plus IHG AMB/plat so would prefer to stay with one of these brands if possible but open to suggestions. Thanks!
Look for brands like Hampton inn & suites, residence inn and Staybridge suites.
@Gordon, we hadn’t planned on doing that much shopping, we were out of practice and had forgotten the seduction of Walmart and the Outlets! One minute I just wanted a huge tub of migraine tablets, the next I’d decided to buy all my Xmas presents. And we haven’t replaced any of our luggage for a few years, so we ditched a cabin bag which was on its last legs.
Cheshire Oaks was expensive and full of wannabe influencers the only time I’ve ever been.
Re suites – some HI and HIX properties also have suites with kitchen facilities. On our recent Florida stay we used HI, HIX, Staybridge Suites and Avid (Avid was the only one with no kitchen equipment), and were impressed with things on offer like all-day free coffee/tea/chilled water/ice. Staybridge Suites had a pretty good evening offering of pulled pork tacos and salad the one night we were there. I think we’ve become too used to UK and European hotels having being very stingy, especially since the pandemic!
You’ve never been to Cheshire Oaks, or Bicester then @Gordon ? 😉
Bicester was great when it opened with genuine bargains on real stock, but is now stuffed with made for outlet products, ridiculously high prices and just too crowded. Certainly not a bargain shopping place.
@NorthernLass – if you haven’t already, Get a Costco Membership, it will get you back into the swing of bulk buying again! I’ve had an Executive membership (BA can’t mess with this one) for 30 years, basically since they opened in the uk, and never looked back! It pays 2% cash back on most purchases, so over a year it pays back the £70 membership and cash off the next shop.
I think we had one at one time, possibly it didn’t accept Amex which is why we stopped going!
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