[Rhys]

YFP wrote:

Slightly OT, are you flying back on Sunday? I’m on the morning flight back..

No, I’m flying standby and the Sunday evening flight is chocka so back Monday morning…

[Rhys]

degsy wrote:

Here you go Rhys (if the link works) – few ideas here (Stockholm is #23)
https://www.timeout.com/things-to-do/best-cities-in-the-world

The whole point of asking here is so I can get actual recommendations from people! I’m perfectly capable of googling ‘stockholm recommendations’ myself but I’m trying to find those hidden gems you don’t normally find!

Thanks to everyone who has actually provided some actual suggestions 😉

[Rhys]

ChrisC wrote:

I would be unfriended by several friends if I didn’t suggest the ABBA museum!

That goes without saying! I’ll probably also see the Vasa and the usual touristy things. But looking for those hidden gems you don’t find in guide books or online!

[Rhys]

On a more serious note, I don’t see Qatar winning this one. Whilst they’re painting the high court ruling as a win for them, everything I’ve read suggests Airbus are doing better:
– Qatar has been ordered to pay 97% of Airbus legal costs
– Airbus is allowed to continue attempting delivery of aircraft; if Qatar rejects them then it retains the right to resell these
– Qatar wanted to split the trial into two parts but that has been denied too

The only thing Qatar has won so far is a sooner trial date – next year.

Of course the technical merit of the claims have yet to be tried but I struggle to see how every other aviation regulator is wrong on this.

[Rhys]

Who gave Akbar the Twitter log in?…

[Rhys]

Are you sure? The BA partner page suggests it hasn’t changed https://www.headforpoints.com/hfp/ba-flight-avios-earning-calculator/

[Rhys]

Are you speaking to the Executive Club line?

[Rhys]

I lost CEDR too. Then I took them to the Small Claims Court and they settled. https://www.headforpoints.com/2019/06/10/how-to-sue-british-airways/

[Rhys]

Yep, embargoed until this afternoon 🙂

[Rhys]

Their cancellation policy in early 2020 wasn’t amazing, but then neither was Lufthansa etc.

Most of their aircraft only have economy and business so there isn’t a huge amount to upgrade to/from – it’s not like you can book premium economy and hope for a cheap upgrade at check-in!

[Rhys]

ChrisC wrote:

The tube and train station will open when the terminal does.

Someone did post the date not so long ago but can’t remember the opening date.

Probably earlier, to facilitate staff with re-opening…

[Rhys]

Managed to get the Apple TV+ subscription despite having had one from my iPhone a while back, which was a nice surprise!

[Rhys]

I just got my card yesterday, so 7 days from application. I didn’t receive any notification of successful application though – the first I saw of it was when it was loaded into my Barclays current account app over the weekend!

[Rhys]

We’ve just published the BA peak dates for 2023 here 🙂

[Rhys]

strickers wrote:

The Morchana app is useless, I got a message to upload the day 5 test but the status in the app never changed. Nobody even looked at it while we were in Thailand.

I got that message too. Unfortunately there wasn’t a way to do so!

[Rhys]

YC wrote:

How did the day 5 antigen test work? Is it a simple case of doing any antigen test (potentially a uk one) in front of a hotel staff?

You do it yourself and then you’re supposed to report it to the Morchana app. Except, the app has no way to report test results…

So we did the test, took a photo of it as a record and then got on with our lives. Nobody cared.

The only thing you DO have to be careful about is keeping the little blue ticket that the immigration staff put in your passport. They will want this back when you leave the country (and whilst you can do a new one if you’ve lost it it’s easier if you don’t have to!)

[Rhys]

YC wrote:

Hi Rhys – Any feedback on how the Thailand testing process went? I’m reading that pre-departure PCR may be dropped but tourist still exposed to testing on arrival. Although, it sounds like home/hotel quarantine is possible if mild symptoms (trying to confirm with hotels if this is allowed).

Was very easy. Arrived on the 1st March, so also qualified for the Day 5 antigen rather than PCR which gave us an extra day. Thai authorities are currently processing a refund of the PCR test which I thought was very good of them!

Can’t recommend travel to Thailand highly enough right now – you’ll never see it as devoid of tourists as it is right now. On the flipside, a lot of restaurants and bars still closed or very empty, which is very sad for the locals.

[Rhys]

Not too long to wait.

[Rhys]

SJ wrote:

LHR-DOH QR4, QR6, QR8, QR16
DOH-BKK QR830, QR833, QR836

and their equivalents on the way back.

QR10 too – I’m flying on Monday.

[Rhys]

You need to search for Avios availability on each individual sector and then call up BA to book.

[Rhys]

British Airways had a major IT fail this morning that took down their airport operations too. Queues at check in and security etc.

Not exactly what BA needs whilst it tries to recover from storm disruption…

[Rhys]

No point to New York, BA is running Club Suite only there (except for last minute service disruption changes)

[Rhys]

Good question. BA often keeps the front row open for Gold members but then it normally appears blocked out.

[Rhys]

Spring will be a nice time to go as you’ll hopefully catch the cherry blossom.

You can spend a good couple of days exploring museums and monuments on the National Mall before you even have to venture further afield.

Agree with Masaccio that heading to Dulles to the Air and Space museum there is well worth it – seeing the Shuttle in the flesh is magnificent. They also have a viewing tower where you can spot planes coming into land.

[Rhys]

ChrisC wrote:

Well it’s more if a recommencement as it only stopped in the spring of 2020 because of you know what.

I used to get tempted by it but BA used an un refurbished CW cabin on it and it also seemed to get a lot of on the day cancellations which caused a rush to Heathrow. So I hope both of those aspects are no more.

I doubt those things will change. BA still hasn’t made a committent to refurbishing the Gatwick fleet with Club Suite