[YFP]

Wasn’t sure the best place to post it, but i’ve just booked a sailing on the Valiant from the 23rd to the 30th of December! And the best part was it was free as won one of the free voyages that Virgin were offering! Thanks @Rob for posting, can’t wait to post on Christmas day to highlight how regularly following this website has made 2022 the absolute best travel year of my life (so far)!

[YFP]

AJA wrote:

@YFP when does your tier year end? If it is a date in 2023 don’t forget your attaining Silver mid way through the year means that you will likely have Silver status until 2024 anyway. That means you only need to retain Silver in the year ending 2024 to have it until 2025. So only push for Gold now if the number of TP is easy to obtain.

I have never had anything higher than Silver and it suits me fine. You many value access to the FW at LHR and the Galleries First lounges but it doesn’t add that much to my mind.

Maybe if I had Gold I’d change my view but I really think that on an ongoing basis you have to fly a fair bit in Premium cabins to earn 1500TP to retain it. And my view is what you don’t know you don’t miss. The problem being that you may get used to the differences and be disappointed when you drop back to Silver.

Thanks for the response @AJA, my year resets in 8 Mar 2023, and i will have a guaranteed year till 8 Mar 2024. With the extended BA holiday double tier point offer, I’m confident i should be able to requalify for silver till 2025, so only thing i need to ask myself is if i want to do the extra flights this year to experience gold for a year!

[YFP]

Really good website, helps a lot. This brings me to a question i’ve been meaning to ask. I’ve never had status before, got silver this year as part of ba holidays deal, and i can see a path to getting gold. But to do that will involve taking flights i’m not too keen on, but can do to make the tier points work. My reason for getting gold is to extend silver till 2025 due to the soft landing when you come off gold. My question though is that is it worth it? Is gold that much better than silver if flights generally tend to be in economy with maybe a long haul business flight once a year?

[YFP]

Jumped back on curve for this exact reason, a bit poor that in 2022 can’t pay with Android phones, but curve solves that.

[YFP]

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

[YFP]

Hi everyone, i’m trying to make the most out of double tier points promotion to try and push for gold (currently a silver). I’m trying to book EDI-LHR-SOF return, but because of the fact that the LHR-SOF is in the morning at 8:15 am, the only EDI-LHR flight i can take is the night before. It seems that BA holiday can’t price that, so it just doesn’t work. Does anyone have any tips on how to get it to work, as i’d need the double points to apply to the EDI-LHR leg.

[YFP]

On a related note, assuming no information on Google Pay at all? I mean I appreciate that they probably want to do something similar to barclaycard app where they access the NFC chip directly through the app, but current implementation only works with Visa cards! Only other option was Curve to get contactless payments on my phone, but if that’s going to result in the card being closed, then doesn’t lend itself to being a card i’d keep once I have the initial bonus points.

Rob Burgess wrote:

bling that Barclaycard (or anyone else for that matter) would close an account simply because the cardholder is displaying consumer-like behaviour and linking the card with Curve – a perfectly legitimate product that’s

[YFP]

Hey @SamG, trying again to see if you’d see this. @Rob, happy for my email to be shared with SamG, trying to help liberate some of his AirAsia credit!

[YFP]

So I’m curious about the same question as I suspect I might have to do the same. In this case however, it was a multicity ticket, and I know for a fact the return leg was about twice the price of the outbound. i.e. EDI-LHR was about £70 for 2, and then BRU-EDI (via LHR) was about £190. Can I expect to get a similar refund?

[YFP]

Hey @SamG, sent multiple messages that haven’t gone through, so hope this does! I’m happy for my email address to be shared, put more details in the other messages so hopefully gets released from modqueue soon!

[YFP]

SamG wrote:

Thai Smile is the low cost arm of the national carrier so I’d have a slight preference for them (especially if you’ve got bags IIRC they were free or cheaper than AirAsia) but really much of a muchness so go with whatever suits your schedule

What I will say is I wouldn’t rush to book far in advance, you may not get a cash refund if they cancel and the prices don’t really change. I’ve got an unfortunate large amount of AirAsia credit that I’m never going to use !

Is there anyway you can transfer that credit? Happy to get you some cash back in exchange for the credit for some flights I’d like to book?

[YFP]

Yeah, it’s a shame BA stopped BKK. That was my original plan to get business seats, but had to change once it was clear that flight is unlikely to come back. I’d keep an eye out for deals on either Finnair or even Swiss if you’re happy not to earn avios. I’m looking west to try and use the 2-4-1s, either NY or somewhere in Canada at this rate

[YFP]

Think that boat has sailed till at least October, so won’t bank on it.

[YFP]

GaryE wrote:

Thanks for the information as to who to contact to receive the double tier points.

Emailed the 3 BA addresses as recommended here on 19/4 (30 days after completing our travel) and got a reply today from the gecsreplies@contact.britishairways.com awarding us the double points – which I was amazed at the speed of response, as I am still waiting for a reply from the Avios complaints team as they awarded us the wrong bonus points for the same booking!

To answer the other point raised here, both my wife and I got the double points, even though I made the payment – so I think there is some inconsistency regarding this issue at BA.

Just to confirm this as well. Emailed all 3 email addresses on the 11/4, 21 days after my trip. Got a response 3 hours later from the duty office explaining that due to a backlog of claims, points will be credited within 60 days. On the 20/4, exactly 30 days after my trip, got an email from gecsreplies@contact.britishairways.com crediting the additional tier points, and silver shortly thereafter. Both myself and my partner got the tier points but I made the payments. It seems that if you send an email a couple of days before the 30 days are up to gecs, you’re likely to get it bang on 30 days.

[YFP]

Applied 28th, got 5 day check, got approved on the 31st. Pin arrived thursday last week, card arrived today.

[YFP]

Does anyone have a history of getting the double tier points in less than 30 days? Have a couple of short ba trips that occur within 30 days of my BAH return booking. Is it worth chasing up earlier to try and get silver before those trips, or CS likely to refer back to T&Cs?

[YFP]

PMG wrote:

Agreed with everything on BAH.
Did our first one to Dubrovnik last summer and stayed at the “More” Hotel; that was a great 10 days.

Then immediately booked our next two.
One was a four night stay in Lisbon at the Corinthia in February for which we paid £250 each (flights plus hotel); again was really nice!
Next one is over Easter to New York where our six day stay is costing us just over £1,100 each travelling in WT+ which we are looking forward to 🙂

Lisbon and Dubrovnik are good shouts, might have to jump on that. Nothing like a Friday night spent planning your next trips!

[YFP]

jj wrote:

@YFP, welcome to the world of travel that, while not perfect, is definitely a cut above the low cost carriers’ offferings.

Your question is really hard to answer as travel preferences are individual. I could wax lyrical about the joys of cities like Salzburg, Bologna and Mahon, but that’s no use if you prefer a big metropolis like New York or a beach escape like Cannes. You are right that BA Holidays can sometimes offer great value, but you should always check alternative ways of booking the same hotel, as prices sometimes vary very significantly.

My approach to finding a dream getaway is:

1. Scan the ‘Find our cheapest flights’ page of ba.com, and look for a place that I want to visit that has a price that I am prepared to pay on dates when I’m able to travel.

2. Shortlist a few hotels that meet my mood. I find the hotel reviews on the Daily Telegraph to be a good starting point for this: it has a vast database, and I have never stayed in a hotel where I have materially disagreed with its ranking. All of my favourite hotels were discovered through the Telegraph but, of course, your tastes may not align with mine. It is a particularly good way of discovering high quality boutique hotels with a strong local identity, as these hotels rarely have deep-enough pockets pay the premium needed to rank highly on price comparison sites.

3. Expand the hotel shortlist by looking at other mainstream sources such as hotels.com, hotels.google.com and oyster.com, but regard the review ratings with very considerable scepticism as they are so easily gamed. Also google for ‘best hotels in xxx’ to find articles in good quality sources such as the Times or the Guardian that can highlight quirky or unusual options.

4. Price up the shortlisted hotel via BA Holidays, Avios Hotels, the hotel’s own website, a smattering of respectable comparison sites, and, where appropriate, Emyr. A spreadsheet is essential at this point.

5. Book the cheapest option, not forgetting to consider cancellation policies, breakfast and the value of points in the appraisal. If possible, book through the BA eStore to get extra Avios, but beware as hotels.com is often more expensive if accessed via the eStore. If the hotel is listed, I find that the cheapest all-in price will usually be BA Holidays or Avios Hotels.

6. Sit back and happily anticipate your own slice of bliss.

Thanks for the hints @jj, yeah, i agree it’s a total step up to what we’ve been used to so far! Also helped that it was in club europe! I think the cheapest flights on ba is the place to start, and to be honest happy with varying experiences, so keen to travel to as many places as possible. This site makes you realise what’s possible (and achievable!) P.S the spreadsheet even makes it more fun!

[YFP]

These changing requirements have made me delay my booster until 2/3 weeks before it’s needed for a trip. That 180 day requirement is absolutely nonsense, can’t be getting a top up every 6 months!

[YFP]

ChrisC wrote:

Neither Norway or Switzerland are part of the EU but as part of their relationship with the EU they do accept EU Regulations.

BUT and it’s a big but they don’t necessarily automatically accept European Court of Justice rulings that have interpreted and reinterpreted the original regulation.

So I know Switzerland does not apply compensation for delays (because that was ECJ decision) but it does accept duty of care (because it’s in the original regulation)

Therefore be very careful in assuming anything with Norway and Switzerland when it comes to implementing the regulation because OSL-ZRH-MCR does not touch a EU member state.

Have you had a look at the LX forum of flyer talk? They are used to the intricacies of how LX and Switzerland interprets the regulation.

Super interesting if true, didn’t know this. Have Swiss flights booked in June from Sweden that I’m hoping goes smoothly. Booked positioning flights a day before, so should be all smooth sailing!

[YFP]

Rob Burgess wrote:

p

Alright thanks, that makes sense, will avoid links generally next time.

[YFP]

OKay, where in Lagos are you planning on staying? If you’re staying on the Island There’s a Radisson Blu in Victoria Island https://www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/hotels/radisson-blu-lagos-anchorage and a four points by Sheraton https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/losfp-four-points-lagos/ which might be valid because of your status. Also the George Lagos https://thegeorgelagos.com/, but a bit more expensive.

If you’re on the mainland (close to the airport), best bet is the Sheraton in Ikeja https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/lossi-sheraton-lagos-hotel/?scid=bb1a189a-fec3-4d19-a255-54ba596febe2&y_source=1_MzE0MTU4Mi03MTUtbG9jYXRpb24uZ29vZ2xlX3dlYnNpdGVfb3ZlcnJpZGU%3D

Caveat I’ve not stayed in any of these, but have gone for Brunch, so check reviews as well. Mind if i ask why you’re going to Lagos, work?

[YFP]

DOn’t know if this is a bug or not, but i’ve posted the same message 3 times, but doesn’t show up. When i try to post it again, it flags up an error saying you’ve already posted it, but nothing is on the forum page. I change a few words and try submit, but nothing happens! Because of other people’s issues i made sure i saved the message, but not great as i was trying to help someone out with reccs.

[YFP]

Yeah, just read the FAQ and it says that those with TP end dates in 2023 will still benefit from the reduced thresholds until 31st of December. Combined with the BA Holidays double TP offer extension, even Gold is within reach now!