[davestat]

Good afternoon from a busy Penang airport. Just noticed that a new Intercontinental hotel is due to open here later this year. Only the second IC in Malaysia. It will be in Teluk Bahang in the north.

[davestat]

Having arrived at the Lone Pine in PEN based on other readers recommendations. Hotel is nice but it has lost the entire front row of Casuarina trees (huge ones) into the sea where they remain and the beach is fenced off. Can’t access the beach at the side as they are building next door. I promised the OH a beach holiday to end our trip but alas it is not to be.

[davestat]

Having flown up from AKL to KUL and onwards to PEN it was noticeable that the Air India problem had spread to Malaysian Airlines in AKL. I have never seen so many passengers who profess to need special assistance to board. Dozens of them, all potentially of Indian Heritage. When it was time to board, it was like a sprint to the gate, leaving just 3 deserving elderly ladies in wheelchairs. Glad we were in J

[davestat]

Good evening from AKL after flying up from Queensland with Air New Zealand. Super nice compact airport and really nice airline. Puts BA to shame. Positive features includes a choice of 3 free snacks in Y including Dr Bugs Hokey Pokey Ice Cream flavoured Popcorn. Yes that’s a real name.
Shame about the Domestic and International sides of AKL being disconnected. It really was the advertised 15 minute walk which wasn’t fun with four cases between us. It brought back memories of MAN.

[davestat]

An interesting concept I spotted in KUL for Breakfast was for the reception desk person to actually scan room keys to confirm the number of official guests booked into a room and comparing it to the number of guests in from of her. Simple and it certainly caught people out. Western tourists were ok and we weren’t scanned at all.

[davestat]

Our last day in NZ today. Did a 600km return trip from Queenstown to Milford Sound. Coach driver was Lewis Hamilton on steroids. Luckily only one passenger was sick although others asked for bags or to push more air through the A/C system. It was about £250 to get a flight back but not points earning opportunity. No idea as to how they even managed to build a runway down there.

On more positive news, we got our very short KUL to PEN flight upgraded. Flight from AKL is a convenient (or not) 1.40 am.

[davestat]

strickers wrote:

We went swimming off Kaikoura with a pod of wild dolphins, there were hundreds of them. I wonder if The Store at Kekerengu is still open, was a lovely spot for a coffee.

Still a nice area but the weather is so bad . So stormy and wet. OH’s phone said 13C but feels like 2C this morning. Never seen such stormy seas. Even the seals are perched high and dry.

[davestat]

Good evening from the Sudima hotel in Kaikōura (NZ). It’s not a brand I’ve experienced before but thoroughly recommend it. Much lighter decor – could almost be in Scandinavia. Exhilarating drive again with super strong winds along the coast. All the smaller towns probably large by NZ standards) seem to have Air New Zealand service with turboprop’s.
Will do a trip report but yesterday’s interesting facts were;
You can buy a BYD electric car for £14,000 and upwards.
Everywhere sell Graham Norton wine, and
Kit Kats still have the original amount of chocolate on them

[davestat]

Good evening from Taupo (in NZ) where I have probably found the nicest Hilton I have ever stayed in. Upgraded to what I thought was a 3 room apartment at no extra cost but it turned out to be 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 3 balconies and a lounge/kitchen three times bigger than the bedroom in our last hotel. Free drinks at the bar, small bottle of fizz in the room and so on. 80% of the guests must be English (not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing). Thoroughly recommend it.

[davestat]

Good evening from the Millennium Hotel in Roratoa. BA Silver renewed today and on check-in upgraded at hotel to Club Room with of course access to Breakfast and 3 Hours of Food and Drinks in the evening. I don’t have status with their programme but I do with most of the major chains who in over 30 years have never provided us with Club access.

Thanks to @JDB for his insight into the Hilton Gold Breakfast benefit. The Continental Breakfast in AKL was more than adequate.

Not in OH’s good books as dragged her off to Hobbiton yesterday (sooooo expensive and they asked if we wanted to pay Cash or Card !). Then did a Redwood walkway trip today. It ranges from 10 to 20 metres in height over 700 metres. It was super wobbly and panic set in within 10 metres.

[davestat]

Our highlight was the Battle Box in Fort Canning Park. Such an insight into the British surrender to the Japanese in WW2. Sad that so many British troops surrendered with one off the main reasons being the lack of fresh water in Singapore. I think it was over 130,000 troops. Less than 4,000 Japanese killed or wounded.

[davestat]

polly wrote:

@CJD hope you made that transfer, and had a good flight. We have never risked it yet!


@davestat how was that long flight to AKL then? Stepped off the plane fully refreshed then…. Shame about the Hilton policy there. Annoying when you think you are due it. Big loss when Marriott stopped breakfast for golds too.

To make it worse, the 1,000 points is per stay and not per night so £1.33 per night for us. Why does someone think the offer is a good idea ?
Long and very bumpy flight from KUL. Close to 13 hrs LHR to KUL, then another 11 hrs for the KUL to AKL leg. Feel knackered but it was good to be on an aircraft that smelled brand new. Unlike BA the Captain profusely apologised for the unacceptable service and the crew all came and stood in the aisle. We felt they did a great job in the circumstances

[davestat]

Greetings from AKL where I have discovered that my newly acquired Hilton Plus Debit Card does not actually get you a full Breakfast at Hilton hotels as a Gold Member. Just a limited Continental Breakfast.
Even worse is the fact that there is an alternative to Breakfast for 2. I can swap it for 1,000 points. By my calculations that’s £4 or have I got it wrong?

[davestat]

If paying cash and you upgrade by bidding then you get Avios based only on your booking class and I’ve found it impossible to actually purchase a Y fare from the U.K. that even earns any Avios

[davestat]

Didn’t BAC give everyone 500 tier points as a starter for the new scheme. These do not show on your statement

[davestat]

I noticed that hotel transfers to KL when booked from the UK seems to have more than doubled since last year. How have others fared with Grab after they have landed and what’s an average price and wait time. Need to avoid the train as we have four cases between us.

[davestat]

We live 5 miles away for pretty much half the year. It’s part of a self contained complex that has been renovated and rebranded. It’s a nice development with a Kimpton and Westin I think. Beach is very nice. Would recommend a car as you can’t walk to much.

[davestat]

If you pay cash and fly Malaysian, the Avios and Tier points you earn are pathetic

[davestat]

You also don’t need to spend in a Waitrose to avail yourself of the free coffee. Just scan your My Waitrose card and that’s it.
On BAC , it’s a bit like Virgin and I sense that it’s a general direction we are seeing. It’s relatively easy to earn Avios etc but it seems to be getting more difficult to actually spend the points, particularly in long haul, unless you want to go to the USA.

[davestat]

I did an article on yesterday’ forum to say that we sailed through FAO on Wednesday evening as all gates were manned. The issue is that when they only choose to man a couple of kiosks is that the queue gets so bad that you can’t even get down the steps into the immigration hall so U.K., E.U or special needs, you all stuck.

As reported above the surge capacity plastic tent is being readied for summer. If it doesn’t have A/C then it will be hell in summer.

Wierdly we have only seen the eGates open a few times ever. We know they work as we have used them. A passport officer waiting at the end of the process to give your passport a stamp. They currently aren’t even open for EU citizens.

You couldn’t make up the excuses they were giving in The Portugal News (newspaper) last week about their checks covering the purpose of visit, conditions of stay, xchecking against various databases and means of subsistence. I’m pretty sure that’s what all countries do .

[davestat]

I have 6 return trips in CE per annum and won’t make Silver again. The seats are the same at the back, so will book just enough flights in CE to get to Bronze. Book the rest of my trips in Y as BA Holidays (to get free luggage) and with my savings I’ll book a better non BA flight to Asia each year.

[davestat]

NorthernLass wrote:

I think that’s another clumsy one, as it reads as thougb you would be free to depart the UK, for example, several times as it’s not your country of residence! But the fact that it says “country of residence” and not specifically the UK suggests to me that BA intends people who live outside the UK to be able to earn TPs on BAH’s.

I guess this is how it would apply to say USA citizens flying BA to LHR and getting a connecting flight to say Italy

[davestat]

Man of Kent wrote:

Any particular restaurant you would recommend in Lisbon @MGW?

Senhor Peixe at the Parque das Nacoes. Not cheap but many fish you probably haven’t seen before. You choose the fish from the counter that you want them to cook. We had Turbot once and a giant Golden Bream (Dorada) the last time

[davestat]

Garethgerry wrote:

Can expect Gatwick fleet to start conversion by 2036.😞

And we will end up flying on aircraft older than us

[davestat]

I’m booking any travel I have with BA as a BAH and paying the minimum deposit until a month before departure. I don’t see why I should fund BA when they keep making so many customer requested improvements to their service. I’ll wait until April to see what other news comes out.