[tomahawk]

Yes I did wonder how long I had to accept it. There was no choice of flights, the email said I was rebooked onto the alternative flight and I could either choose to accept it or cancel. So how long do you get I wonder? Surely they wouldn’t effectively hold me a seat on the alternative flight for, say, 5 months waiting for me to either accept or reject it?

[tomahawk]

Thanks JDB. In the end just decided to grin and bear it with the 1.35am flight. Was on holiday last week and didn’t really fancy spending half a day on the phone to BA. Might be lucky and get an upgrade at a reasonable price on the day, although last night they were quoting $670 to go from WTP to Club from Cancun which I thought was pretty steep for the old style zig zag seats.

[tomahawk]

Thank you

[tomahawk]

And the sapphire one world status doesn’t count either?

[tomahawk]

We did a BA holiday to the Maldives and upgraded 3 of us from economy to club world at the airport (with cash) and got double tier points on the upgraded flights

[tomahawk]

We recently did Langkawi to KL (received 5 tier points) and KL to SIN (received nothing). Economy flights. The flights themselves were fine and decent value for money if you choose the right time of day. Other benefit of flying Malaysian was the lounge access through BA silver membership.

[tomahawk]

Hmmmmmm……I’d definitely put it down as “significantly less uncomfortable” than slightly though!!!

[tomahawk]

When we flew to MLE last January BA wanted £402 for a cash upgrade from PE to CW. The CW section is large and there were still quite a few empty seats even in January, so you might find this is also a possibility on the day. As this was a 10 hour night flight I paid the £402 like a shot. If it had been the day flight back I don’t think I would bother, but others have different opinions on this. Maybe if you stick as you are and try both PE and CW you will at least have been able to judge the difference for yourself!

[tomahawk]

That’s handy not having to make a decision til the year end. Thanks for pointing out that article I’ll look it up.

[tomahawk]

I think our best bet would be the 7000 avios. It seems to make more sense to stockpile avios for use with future 2for1’s in case our future spending reduces and our stash starts to run down. It’s not much of a reward in itself but the main benefit will be the avios earned on the card spending, which will certainly help.

[tomahawk]

Was on this flight a couple of weeks ago but only as far as Singapore. I don’t know the answer to your question but when we arrived there was no announcement along the lines of “if you are continuing on to Sydney don’t get off the plane”.

[tomahawk]

The BA lounge opposite the check in area is pants. I wouldn’t bother going in that again.

[tomahawk]

Chabuddy Geezy wrote:

BBbetter wrote:

It’s in T3 with an access to Jewel. Just head to T3 to avoid confusion.

This will be the easiest option if you have never been before. I stayed last month.

Yep. I’ll do that. Thanks all.

[tomahawk]

Did 2 weeks driving round Namibia last August with my son and loved it. We had a white hilux double cab from Europcar which also allowed my 20 year old son to drive. Had paper maps but didn’t really use them as we had pre-downloaded google maps. Didn’t really have any navigation problems as there are so few roads. We had a huge blowout and shredded a tyre but with 2 spares provided we were on our way in 20 minutes, and the support from Europcar was very good in terms of telling us where to get a replacement wheel/tyre.

For accommodation our favourite would be Kulala Desert Lodge down near Sossuvlei, particularly the ability to sleep on the roof of the lodge under the stars. Food also very good there out on the deck at sunset.

Spitzkoppen Lodge also very good and another great location in a boulder strewn landscape. Various walks, climbs and guides available.

For Etosha we stayed just outside the Anderson Gate in Etosha Oberland Lodge which also served up good food in a really nice location. The room here was huge with its own outside decking area.

We also stayed at Grootberg Lodge which is a lot more basic than the previous three but is in an absolutely stunning location at the top of Grootberg Pass. Its worth a stop there but I would only do one night. We stayed for 2 nights and did the rhino tracking but this involved a very early start and 6-8 hours in an open jeep and we saw nothing. I think if you have been to Etosha you can skip this.

Our itinerary was put together by Steppes Travel and I would have no hesitation using them again.

[tomahawk]

BA Flyer IHG Stayer wrote:

re-read the main article. It has been updated

BA has now updated the FAQ following our queries to add:

Any existing status valid beyond 31 March 2025 will continue for the full duration.

These means, for example, that if you have already earned Gold status in your current membership year, which ends 8th October 2024, your status will remain valid until 30th November 2025. It will not be shortened to end on 30th April 2025.

Thank you, although I’m not sure thats correct. My “existing status” is silver but that expires on 31 Dec 2024. So although I have already done enough to retain silver by Nov 8th 2024 I am not convinced that will get rolled over to end Dec 2025. I currently have no status which is valid beyond 31 March 2025.

Apologies also if I have somehow managed to report your post as “inappropriate content” it was certainly not intentional and I have no idea how I managed to do that!

[tomahawk]

BA Flyer IHG Stayer wrote:

Susi80 wrote:

Something I still don’t understand and which is my biggest fear is that I’ll be losing all the tier points I have collected already. So my renewal is in November and I was told that my counting period will now be April 2024 to March 2025 (instead of November 2023 to October 2024). So all the tier points I had between November 2023 and end of March 2024 will just not be counted towards my new year, meaning I lose 750 tier points and have to start from scratch again by April 2024. I don’t think BA have taken any of that into consideration!

You’ve not understood the new system.

Your current collection year ending on 8th November 2024 runs as normal.

But any TPs earned from 1st April 24 will also count to the new 1st Apr 2024 – 31st March 2025 collection year

Yes, but the point is (I also have a Nov 8th year end) whereas in the past if you had accrued enough points to retain silver already then it would carry over to Dec 31st 2025. Under this new system it would only carry over to April 2025. I couldn’t care less about the counting of tier points from April 1st as I have already accrued enough to retain silver upon renewal on Nov 8th 2024. On the face of it I appear to have lost 8 months of silver status compared to the previous method.

[tomahawk]

As another data point for reference we recently came back from Cancun in PE on overnight flight and my seat didn’t recline at all. I complained on returning and received 20000 avios within 24 hours. I was Gold at the time, maybe that helps.

[tomahawk]

The other alternative if you are going for 5 nights is to hire a car at Miami and drive to Tampa. This can then qualify as a holiday and travelling in first would get you 840 tier points. We did this recently and it took 4-5 hours. Maybe not everyones cup of tea but if, like me, you like road trips……

[tomahawk]

Thanks for the advice all. I’ve booked the CP. A bit expensive but certainly the most convenient option from the looks of it.

[tomahawk]

I have signed up for this. Do I also need to sign up my wife (she is the additional cardholder and spender of most of the money😂) or does it just all flow through from the main account holder signing up?

[tomahawk]

I’m not sure I’m understanding this correctly but this looks like 22 flights in (mostly?) business class to get 1500 TP’s at a cost of about 0.8TP/£, so roughly a cost of £1900. Is that right?

[tomahawk]

FFoxSake wrote:

tomahawk wrote:

Its the same plane that you are connecting onto from MAN.

It’s definitely not the same plane! You will change planes at LHR.

Yes, thats what I meant. You get off the Manchester flight and get onto the same LHR-SIN flight that has no avios availability from LHR but does have it if you happen to have started off in MAN.

[tomahawk]

On another note, how is it that there can be tons of 2for1 seats to Singapore, but only if you start from Manchester? Its the same plane that you are connecting onto from MAN. Don’t really understand the logic behind this. And if they dont fill these flights from MAN do they typically then start to release the seats for people flying directly from LHR?

[tomahawk]

JDB wrote:

Was the change of case reference no. in connection with asking you to upload documents? I have had this which they said that was the only mechanism to enable such upload and that the original case number remains the effective one.

No, it says its due to “systems changes we are currently implementing”

[tomahawk]

Still waiting for mine. All I have received from BA is an email telling me the case reference number has changed.