[Gavin454]

Bumping with a Marrakesh question rather than making a new thread.

I’m planning on doing a 5-day self organised cycle tour from Marrakesh next month with a friend, with just the final night actually in Marrakesh. We are hoping to find accomodation in Marrakesh that 1) has enough room for our bicycles and 2) will be OK with us leaving our bike bags there 5 nights in advance of our stay while we are on our tour.

We’ll have to ask them about point 2 of course, but does anyone have any potential recommendations for somewhere easily accessible by bicycle and would have enough space?

Also, any advice from anyone who’s been cycling in Morocco is very welcome!

[Gavin454]

Interesting write up, thanks! I really enjoyed a trip to Samarkand / Bukhara / Tashkent in 2013. When I went, the black market exchange rate was significantly different to the official one, and everyone would exchange cash at unofficial money exchange offices (or ask around for someone at the market). Couldn’t use card to pay for anything due to the big difference in rate. We ended up having to carry around big wads of cash everywhere! Is this still the case?

[Gavin454]

Mixed experience booking Bangkok – Samui return with Avios via QR. On the plus side, it was 12k + £10 return booked the day before travel with a good amount of availability on flights that were conveniently timed (searched for seats via Air France site). Cash fares were over £200. On the minus side, it took over 2 hours to get the tickets booked. Done on live chat while also trying to phone via Skype, but kept being disconnected and never spoke to anyone via phone. Chat was painfully slow but the second agent I connected to managed it eventually. The first one I think timed out due to being so slow to reply!

[Gavin454]

I bought an Otty mattress several years ago via BA Avios estore, and had a not insignificant number of Avios from the transaction (something like 7000). They tracked fine, went into my BAEC account, but were clawed back more than a year later for no reason. It was so late, that opening a query was not possible via the estore because the transaction was more than a year ago, and in the end I gave up trying to find a solution, it was really hard to contact anyone who could do anything.

Since then I’ve always stuck with TCB and Quidco. At least with them, when you’ve got the cashback it’s final. It can’t be clawed back. With the BA Avios estore, you never really know if they’re going to claw it back (unless say 2+ years have passed!)

[Gavin454]

Hokkaido will be OK in summer (but still potentially hot), however most of the rest of Japan will be unbearable.

Since you’re starting from zero points, and booking less than 1 year ahead, personally I would just look to pay cash in that situation. Keep an eye open for sales, companion fares etc. Potentially consider flying to another Asian city and connecting to Japan on separate flights.

[Gavin454]

Simey wrote:

I am not too sure how soon is too soon, but I also don’t want to me flagged as a serial complainer and I do believe others are a bit more brave than I am to attempt this any more than once every 12 months..

Depends how much time passed from you having the card, spend, etc.

In my case at least, it seems to be only one per year exactly. My first retention bonus was in July 2021, and I’ve had to wait one year in between each one, having now received four in total. I’ve tried twice just two weeks before the year is up (including this year), to be told nothing is available on my account.

[Gavin454]

Went on chat today and was offered 50k MR points when I said I was considering cancelling, didn’t even have to ask about a retention offer. All sorted within 2 minutes.

This is my 4th retention offer on this card. Previous offers were 35k, 50k, and 35k.

Just over a 1 year gap between each retention offer (this time, 1 year and 2 days).

For me, it’s worth keeping this card with the continued retention offers. But the benefits don’t stack up without it.

[Gavin454]

Personally I would boost them, as I like to keep a balance of 200k+ Avios just in case an unexpected redemption opportunity comes up, and I usually need to use boosts to keep my balance that high as I don’t earn many Avios from flying or directly from credit card spend. The majority of my Avios come from SUBs, boosting, and buying through other avenues, and I aim for less than 1p per point.

[Gavin454]

can2 wrote:

I mean, if such an MS route existed, we’d abuse it in such a way that HL would shut it down in two days, and then we’d open up a thread here and create 86 pages of a discussion!

I use Curve without fronted to fund my Interactive Investor account and have done for the past 3 or 4 financial years (to the £20k ISA limit). A few years ago I funded significantly beyond that when I wanted to make some purchases outside the ISA. It’s not manufactured spend though, it’s simply using Curve for spend that I would otherwise do with a debit card. I’ve never withdrawn from Interactive Investor.

[Gavin454]

If they’re refusing to engage any further, then I’d probably do MCOL for the GBP value of 132k Avios (whatever BA sells them for on their website)

[Gavin454]

I thought the Air France lounge had a much better and more varied food selection than the Oman Air lounge.

[Gavin454]

Alex G wrote:

The system seems cumbersome, and the process took longer than on previous visits. Nevertheless, I was on the Narita Express an hour after landing.

Very typical of Japan!

I’ve used the new system 3 times now, it works OK but it’s definitely slower and more hassle than before.

Japan in general seems to love making (potentially) simple things complicated.

Alex G wrote:

so there is no longer a need to carry your passport when shopping.

Apart from the fact that tourists are legally required to carry their passport at all times. It’s not unusual to ‘randomly’ be asked to show your passport to police as a foreigner, and it’ll be a big time-consuming hassle if you don’t have it with you.

[Gavin454]

I wasn’t particularly impressed with the Crowne Plaza HY36 Midtown Manhattan recently. Booked on points. Room and corridors felt old and worn out. Door handle was loose/falling off. The ventilation ducts allow you to hear anything above small volume coming from neighbouring rooms, channelling it through like some kind of sound tube – and I had a very noisy person in the opposite room the first night. Hotel sold out so there was nothing they could do (apart from telling them to keep the noise down which didn’t really work!). “free breakfast” for me as a Diamond was very limited, could choose one item plus one drink from the a la carte breakfast menu in the hotel restaurant. Wasn’t sure about the etiquette of tipping (or not) given that I was being served in a restaurant setting but wasn’t presented with a bill.

No resort fees charged on the redemption though.

[Gavin454]

byt411 wrote:

mercexe wrote:

sijt wrote:

Is anyone else having issues with the website when making a claim? I’m trying to claim for damage to a hire car in France and I’ve completed all the details up until it gets to step 4 “What type of purchases are you claiming for?”. The page just doesn’t seem to load properly. Where, on previous pages, there’s been a form to complete (i.e. a series of questions with either options or a text box) there’s just an empty white box. Not an empty text box I can type in to, just an empty box with nothing in it. I can’t proceed with the claim without completing this page (aside, what are the purchases I’m claiming for when it’s a charge on a hire car?? That’s very odd phrasing). I’ve tried the usual like changing browsers, turning off ad blockers. I’ve ever tried on a completely different machine but it’s all the same.

Is this a common thing? Or just me? Anyone got any ideas? I’ve emailed their contact address but not expecting a speedy response.

Did you manage to resolve this? I am having the EXACT same problem – have tried countless browsers, clearing cookies and even using my work network and PC. Same problem every time with the “What type of purchases are you claiming for?” page not allowing any entry. I tried calling and they were useless.

Same problem here. Considered calling, have emailed onlineclaimsEN@axa-travel-insurance.com meanwhile. Did anyone else manage to figure it out?

Did any of you manage to resolve the problem?

I’m currently unable to submit a car rental excess claim due to exactly the same issue:

[Gavin454]

My o2 SIM only contract (£8 per month) includes roaming in Europe + various other countries. Had a good experience when in the US and Canada recently, very fast speeds with free roaming on 5G in both countries.

https://www.o2.co.uk/international/travel-inclusive-zone

[Gavin454]

Paul wrote:

It’s driven by status then age of issue. A GGL or gold can probably see a resolution in a week or so. My son with no status is now at 6 weeks and we get the weekly reminder that we are of no importance to BA. It will go to CEDR at week 8. It’s truly dreadful service and their failure to comply with any aspect of U.K. 261 is shocking

As a long-time Silver my last claim was never responded to by BA directly (just the occasional automated “sorry we are so busy”). I went to CEDR after 8 weeks and full payment was agreed via CEDR after 5 months. It was a very simple cancelled flight compensation + airport hotel claim.

[Gavin454]

Caps44 wrote:

Harvey Nichols and the UK dining credit are great, it’s basically £250.
So fee is reduced to £400.
Next year we would be able to use the foreign dining credit, so fee effectively £250.

If the HN and dining credits are stopped them likely have to cancel.

For most people the credits are probably worth somewhat less than face value. I would never normally shop at HN and have used the credit to get consumable gifts from the gift shop/alcohol section the past 3 periods. But I’d say I’m getting maybe £30 of value from the £50.

The dining credit is at restaurants that I’d not be visiting at full price. I’ve had some nice meals, but the value here is hard to calculate because I’d never have spent that much without the credit. Perhaps £75 value per £150 credit for me. Meaning that for example, eating at The Ivy might come to £100, but I could eat somewhere else of my own choice just as good and just as filling for only £50.

[Gavin454]

My CEDR case (resolved end of last year) took around 5 months. It was a super simple case with no ambiguity, which BA for unknown reasons didn’t respond to through normal channels. Within the CEDR process, BA simply always responded as slowly as possible and CEDR extended their normal deadlines several times. I don’t think MCOL would have been any quicker though.

[Gavin454]

Just had my membership fee charged, went on chat but no retention offer as I was given one (35k) ten months ago. I will wait a couple of months until it’s over 1 year and try again, but will definitely be cancelling if I don’t get one as the fee without the annual retention bonus is bad value for me.

[Gavin454]

Paying cash for long haul business class is perfectly reasonable, and often better value than using Avios, but £5k per person sounds insane. You can fly on a better airline than BA for much cheaper than that. I usually fly to Japan in business class and have always paid less than £2k. If you’re wanting to go direct, then at least consider JAL or ANA instead of BA for a better experience.

[Gavin454]

I was in the USA departures section last week (separate to the international and domestic sections as it’s after US pre-clearance).

No lounge available for oneworld (AA) customers at all. I used my Amex Platinum to get into the Plaza Premium “Desjardins Odyssey” lounge, which is a bit unusual as it’s an open lounge area near the other cafes/restaurants with tensa-barriers and planters to stop people wandering in. Very busy. It was OK to grab a quick/basic lunch but not a relaxing place to wait for the flight.

[Gavin454]

I did a redemption via QR last year and it included 20kg luggage. They took about a day to get back to me, and the taxes/charges were low. Search via the Qantas website to find availability before submitting a booking request.

[Gavin454]

NorthernLass wrote:

Also a few to KUL. Or if you’ve got plenty of time, go the long way round, you are almost certain to find availability in F to some North and South American cities. I would love to plan this trip!

They could also make good use of the multi-partner redemption chart if willing to put in the time and effort into planning.

[Gavin454]

Tracy wrote:

@giboning the BA5 arrives Haneda at 10.25am. Consensus seems to be 1.5hrs transit time plus some extra just in case lol. Think I could do the 3 hrs between landing and takeoff and hope for less than 1.5 hrs delay from Heathrow. I am just wary of BA delays after a nightmare trip to Maldives Xmas 2022 due to snow at LHR!! I’m even going down to London the night before the Tokyo trip as I don’t trust BA to get me there the morning of the Heathrow flight lol.

I’ve done a connection on separate tickets several times HND to Sapporo. I usually leave about 3 hours between landing with BA and takeoff with JAL. Out of 8 times (I think), I’ve only been delayed once. The BA flight was delayed by more than 4 hours, so by the time I’d landed my connection had already departed. I went to a JAL ticketing/help desk in HND and they put me on the next plane to Sapporo with no charge and no questions asked. My JAL ticket had been booked using Avios, so it wasn’t an expensive flexible fare.

[Gavin454]

WA81741 wrote:

Thanks. I guess I was asking if the points to £’s ratio is decent.

0.92p per point is not bad, I’ve personally paid between 0.8p and 1.1p per point at various times from various places. But I only do it if I know that I’m going to get a good amount more value than that from buying the points.