Chat thread – Wednesday 4th June
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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.
Good morning from Galleries South where I’m putting my VS loyalty to one side to experience club europe from Heathrow to Ponta Delgada. All smooth so far and the lounge is quiet. First time in CE from Heathrow so looking forward to seeing how it stacks up on board. Couldn’t fault the cost in avios at 13k.
Upon arriving at PDL anything could happen as SATA don’t operate flight schedules, more flight maybes. Flight to Terceira was cancelled and re routed via Horta, now 27 hrs prior to the flight we went from a 3 hr stop in Horta to an 8 hour one, so I get to enjoy a third island instead of the planned two of Terceira and Sao Miguel. Looks like been an interesting day.
And good morning from sunny Italy (not relevant to my post, I just wanted to brag :-)). I’ve had an email about Le Shuttle now partnering with Avios, which is probably good news generally but I’ve already booked my latest journey.
Did everyone except me know this was coming?The Le Shuttle Avios partnership was news to me too. A few weeks too late for me sadly and no chunnel trips planned for the rest of the year.
A very good morning from a sun lounger near Mijas. I am attending to some essay marking and wondering if this makes me officially a digital nomad 😂. OH has had to head home early to make sure the teenager gets to his first A level maths re-sit paper this afternoon 😬
SeatSpy is showing a few HND and MLE seats at the end of May ’26, though of course they may have been snapped up as I write!
The Le Shuttle Avios partnership was news to me too. A few weeks too late for me sadly and no chunnel trips planned for the rest of the year.
Launched yesterday. We haven’t covered it because they booked some sponsored content but its got stuck in the approval process. You may have noticed them listed as a raffle prize provider for the summer party yesterday and wondered why!
Are there any whispers of a virgin credit card sign up bonus boost offer in the pipeline?
There’s an offer for converting Tesco Clubcard points in the articles – this seems to be fairly regular now.
I’ve just had an email from IB offering me the value of an upcoming booking in voucher form if I change my flight. This is great news as I’m not actually taking the flight now! Have to say IB’s unreliability has paid dividends for me this year.
I am attending to some essay marking
WFH / remote working really highlights how the visa system seems to struggle to catch up – officially it would be impossible to follow their rules and run a company without never leaving the UK!
OH has had to head home early to make sure the teenager gets to his first A level maths re-sit paper this afternoon 😬
My BFF has her son doing the same exam today – hope you got some top tips from @Cat !
And have some chipirones de mi parte, pf!The thread on travel insurance and masaccio’s reply made me think – what if Rob let an AI read all the threads in this forum and offer a chat bot service for a nominal fee?
@NorthernLass No pulpo, heathen! 😉
The Le Shuttle Avios partnership was news to me too. A few weeks too late for me sadly and no chunnel trips planned for the rest of the year.
Watch out for their T&Cs whenever you do book again.They changed at the beginning of March and are now a lot less flexible than they used to be.
The thread on travel insurance and masaccio’s reply made me think – what if Rob let an AI read all the threads in this forum and offer a chat bot service for a nominal fee?
The problem with this is that the bot would throw up some financial suggestions, a good portion of which would be inaccurate – and that would risk Rob’s licence and business model I guess. You would have to manually approve the replies or attempt to restrict the bot to ‘which lounge at LHR T3 should I use’ and ‘how do I change my FF number in my booking’…
@strickers, we had tandoori langoustines the other night, it’s the Costa del Sol after all 🤷♀️😂
Some extraordinary organised crime shenanigans going on just now, I can’t help wondering how all these gangsters are getting around the 90-day rule these days! Non-lucrative visas, maybe 😯
Good afternoon from Cafe Nero…where I have finally started redeeming free drinks again via nectar. The Iced pistachio latte is great by the way 🙂
Thought I’d report back on the saga of trying to deal with Nectar Customer services over a block on trying to redeem vouchers.
Few weeks back – I went to redeem a Cafe Nero voucher and it did the usual “sending a code to your phone” but the text never arrived. Tried several times. It then said “the card number is not recognised” even though in the app everything looked normal and everything else worked fine – so I contacted customer services who said the account is locked. Offered me the most unusual security questions which I failed, such as, what year did you join Nectar? No idea!! Years and years ago…. barely remember my kids year of birth!! 🙂
Even though I have everything else to hand about my life. The card in my hand, the app open, how about text me a code to the registered phone on the account to confirm? They weren’t interested in helping on the phone.Anyway – after numerous phone calls and reassurance they said someone would get back to me. To no surprise, they didn’t…..bad service to say the least. I ended up just closing the account (wasn’t going to fill up the car, go shopping and put points onto an account I can’t redeem from) and made a new account. Had no other option.
However, after creating a new account, I called up to complain and said you really should transfer the lost points across to my new account since I didn’t have a choice but to close the account/open a new account. He checked a few things and credit to him, he credited my new account with the points from my closed account which in theory should be all lost when you close it 🙂
Got me thinking – wonder how much time we spend playing the points game? Must be certain scenarios where the hours you waste trying to sort things outweighs your personal time of the benefit received…..
Some extraordinary organised crime shenanigans going on just now, I can’t help wondering how all these gangsters are getting around the 90-day rule these days! Non-lucrative visas, maybe 😯
I was reading about this a couple of days ago, it’s not the cleverest idea to put your name above the bar you own if you’re on someones hit list!
It’s not difficult or expensive to obtain a golden visa now, if it’s fairly easy for the likes of a law abiding citizen, think how easy it is for a criminal with all that money to launder!
Got me thinking – wonder how much time we spend playing the points game? Must be certain scenarios where the hours you waste trying to sort things outweighs your personal time of the benefit received…..
But there are times when it works in your favour. I’m still getting nectar points every month from sainsburys energy 6 months after leaving them for OFTM.
@Gordon, we said that – flee to Spain because people want to kill you, then open a bar and name it after yourself 🤦🏻♀️
Golden Visa scheme ended a couple of months ago, but I guess if you have that much money you can pay a Spanish lawyer to sort something out!
The situation in Glasgow sounds even worse though 😬
Well that was a surprise. Have just rented a car from Alamo via Costco for 6 days for a one way through the Dakotas. Collecting the car at Fargo I got the usual no class C available so we’ve upgraded you to a massive Jeep. I rejected that and the only other option was a godawful Mitsubishi compact so I took that.
Well after 1200 miles on wheels like roller skates. and a boot that would only just fit my suitcase, my coat and nothing else I dropped it back at Rapid City. Told the guy who checked the car over and he’s going to refund $100 for the downgrade.
True to his word by the time I got into the terminal it had been credited. Good to report a nice experience for once.
@davefl, do you not feel safer in something nearer the size of the Juggernauts which most Americans seem to drive 🤷♀️
@NorthernLass No, I hate them. Most of them hurt my back with the driving position and they chew up lots of $$$ in gas which for someone price concious isn’t good when you’re doing a couple of thousand miles. I just prefer a standard saloon which seems to be rare as hens teeth these days.
Much better service than the service I got from from Avis at Salt Lake City where on arrival for my group C I was offered a pickup truck, a minivan or a 2 hour wait and ended up in one of those ridiculous SUVs that cost me an extra $200 in gas over my trip.
messing around with seatspy, noticed its showing dynamic pricing for Virgin, AF and KLM. Is this new?
@davefl – must be an issue with Avis and Group C cars. When my daughter and I were on our girls trip to the Deep South in March, we were only offered a pickup truck. My daughter said yes as it reminded her of tailgating trips when she was at College! I reminded her that gas was a lot more expensive now than when she lived in the US! It was a BAH and she was the lead driver. After our discussion she refused it and they weren’t prepared to budge. She then told them she would contact BAH and started to call the number. Miraculously they had found another car and we took it. However it was a pain as it had Canadian plates and therefore speedometer was in kph. It did mean we felt cars kept their distance and when we got out locals came to talk to us a few times about how we felt about the suggestion of Canada becoming part of US!
Enjoy your travels and hope your next car is what you have asked for.
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