[Deek]

@John do you know if these rules apply to codeshare bookings on CX? For example flying on CX with an AY flight number + AY FF number on the BP equivalent to Sapphire, and trying to get in to F lounge in HKG using a BA Gold card?

[Deek]

Deek wrote:

@Charlie how do you access QR flights e.g. CDG – DOH?

Ignore this – the option became available this morning

[Deek]

@Charlie how do you access QR flights e.g. CDG – DOH?

[Deek]

charlie wrote:

@JDB
I haven’t advertised this very well but free users get to see BA, IB, VS availability across all cabins for the whole year (although I’m not sure how long that will continue as traffic has significantly increased). I let a few people try the Alerts for free for a short time if they drop me an email in exchange for feedback.

Paid customers get:
– Email Alerts
– WhatsApp Alerts
– BA, IB, VS, QR Calendar & Alerts
– Access to new features / airlines
– Locked in to the cheapest price

Nice one Charlie, just subscribed

[Deek]

JonathanC wrote:

I’ve got no first hand experience, however probably good to do some dummy searches shortly after midnight – Qatari time.

Also make sure you’ve got enough Avios balance in your QR Privilege account, otherwise you won’t be able to see the the cash element that’s required

I’ve got 0 balance in my QR account and can see the cash required on a redemption, I do have enough in my BA account and they’re linked so that should be enough.

[Deek]

Wiseoldman wrote:

Saltrams wrote:

Bit miffed that our seats on DOH-ADL redemption that were booked months ago have been taken away. No notification sent, I just happened to be in MMB for something else. It’s still Q-Suite so not an A/C change and the other 3 legs remain untouched.
Also, the seat plan now shows all but 1 or 2 disparate window seats booked/unavailable but the whole centre quad section is free to reserve. I thought they were the popular seats?
I’ve got screenshots of the original seat allocations and will behave suitably disappointed at check-in but is something going on with this or is it a routine Qatar shafting?

typical QR (and Virgin/BA)

This. After being shafted several times in quick succession by BA I started setting up seat change alerts with ExpertFlyer, pain in the a*&.

[Deek]

If you have a specific redemption in mind and want to top up it’s excellent value, not often you get the chance to earn at a better rate.

[Deek]

I’ve had this, but only on reward seats for a partner airline. I got in touch with support via chat and they said they couldn’t see any reward availability even though I could see individual dates. I ended up just booking via individual date search.

[Deek]

timmyg wrote:

Has anyone transferred Airlink → British Airways (international) at JNB?

Planning a trip next Feb/Mar with a side visit to Victoria Falls (Zambia side). Our Airlink flight from Livingstone arrives 15:00, and the BA flight to LHR departs 19:35. On paper, 4½ hours seems fine, but I’ve seen mixed reports suggesting it can be tight.

For those who’ve done this connection:
– How long did immigration/security take?
– Does BA Club World fast track make much difference?

We could return from Vic Falls a day earlier if needed, but would prefer to stay the extra night. Any first-hand experiences or tips appreciated!

PS. I understand that there is a later flight from JNB to LHR, but the flights have aleready been booked (Avios).

I do this a couple times a year and 4 1/2 hrs is very doable if Airlink is on time (I’ve found them to be one of the more punctual airlines, but nothing is certain). You’ll have to go through immigration on the way in & collect bags but it should be pretty quiet at that time of day.

CW check-in will save you time but there is no fast track security so you’ll be joining everyone else in the queue. It can take quite a while to get through for the earlier flight as there’s a bank of international flights leaving in the evening, but as long as your Airlink flight is on time you’ll be fine. If you do get into trouble and are running out of time there is a separate security queue immediately to the right of the main one, reserved for crew and families with babies – speak nicely to the person manning it, they will sometimes let you through. There is also a third security queue that is accessed from the domestic terminal side of the airport, pretty close to where the escalator to the train station is. You need to walk back out of the international check-in area and back towards domestic check-in and you’ll see it on the left. It’s not always quicker though.

As others have said though, if Airlink is late it’s a different story.

[Deek]

Second the Octopus card on an iphone (there’s a physical card if you don’t have an iphone), can use it for getting around and in various shops around the city. There’s a tourist version, pre-load using a debit/credit card and then get the balance refunded after your trip from within the app.

https://www.octopus.com.hk/en/consumer/tourist/what-is-octopus/index.html

[Deek]

NeilP57 wrote:

Thank you for all your comments, in the end I revised my travel dates picked up a CW outbound flight on line and then rung the UK customer services at 7:00am this morning to add the return flight that had been released hours earlier.

Alls well that ends well, just reminds us that we have to be flexible to get the best value redemptions. That said, I still feel that the extra seats promised with a BAPP companion voucher are not as available as in previous years.

I’ve been getting redemtptions on this route a couple times a year for a few years now, it does seem like the extra J availability from both the voucher and from the regions is less / people are getting more clued up.

[Deek]

If you need seats available for each booking class leave details here, I have an expertflyer sub & can take a quick look for you

[Deek]

No – it’s in the T&C’s:

https://www.miles-and-more.com/row/en/general-information/help-and-contact/help/expiry-of-points.html

[Deek]

The Savage Squirrel wrote:

If it’s Club Suite just forget it. There’s always something at free selection time that isn’t the one next to the bogs, which is all you need; and they are cubicles, so it makes no difference whether you’re sitting next to any travel companion. They’re basically all the same. I’m not sure I’d even pay a tenner…

Unfortunately Johannesburg is A380 flights with the good old dormitory!

[Deek]

John wrote:

Deek wrote:

I’ve had the QR agent on the phone tell me there is no availability when I can see it on screen in front of me! And managed to book it while he was on the phone, system definitely has bugs. In my limited experience it seems to work better for regional than domestic flights.

Sorry if I missed something but why were you asking for availability on the phone when you were able to book it yourself anyway?

I already had an avios flight booked and was trying to change it to a different day. The agent was telling me he couldn’t see availability that day, but I could, so I told him to cancel the existing booking and I re-booked myself.

[Deek]

Aussie_Pete wrote:

I’m having the same problem and when I’ve spoken to Qatar one agent says there’s no availability whilst another says there is. Feels like the systems not working well.

I’ve reported to Qatar Customer Services and Privilege Club but have not had any response 🤷

I’ve had the QR agent on the phone tell me there is no availability when I can see it on screen in front of me! And managed to book it while he was on the phone, system definitely has bugs. In my limited experience it seems to work better for regional than domestic flights.

[Deek]

Strange, I can still see it when accessed from the home page, under both flight + hotel and flight + car.

[Deek]

LindyDi wrote:

If they are transferred to BA account I’m not sure you can transfer them back.

You can, just might not stop expiry.

[Deek]

I’ve booked a number of airlink flights in the last few months but the availability calendar doesn’t work well – if you don’t see availability or get an error then call or message QR, it’s almost always an error rather than lack of availability. I find the pricing comparable to cash prices though, it’s not exactly a good deal.

[Deek]

NorthernLass wrote:

What a nightmare. The Barclays booking process has been a mess from the outset – does it also still revert to the 241 voucher when you start a new search or have they sorted that out now? That’s also caught out a couple of readers, and nearly me, once, until I noticed that the number of avios was wrong!

Not just regular folks – an agent I was talking to a couple weeks ago also got caught out by the un-announced switch to 241 voucher while searching, fortunately I caught it in time, Gold line too!

[Deek]

I use a thermarest evolite r, recommended by another travel blog. It’s a part-inflatable/ part-foam hiking mattress that is really small & light and takes up little space in my cabin bag. Makes a huge difference to comfort. They don’t manufacture them anymore but they do become available now and again on ebay. Ironically one sold this morning for about £20

[Deek]

Try this:

https://travel-dealz.com/tools/miles-calculator/#route=LX%3AP%3AHAM-ZRH-MAD-ZRH-HAM&program=LH&status=2&undefined=undefined

You need booking class, and can also enter the cost for programs that require it.

[Deek]

VinZ wrote:

Yes, that’s what the fare conditions said. So what should I fo? Call up, tell them that I’m BA gold (even though I’m not able to change the QR FF number in my booking) so I can get the flights cancelled for free?

You can cancel via the online chat, and no you can’t cancel avios flights for free as a BA Gold, only as a QR Gold or Platinum. I’ve just cancelled another reward flight this morning via the QR chat and he confirmed this is the case.

Note I booked via QR website – if you booked via BA.com and get a different outcome please let us know if it’s any different, thanks.

[Deek]

domf wrote:

Short Answer: YES.

Long Answer: I have had to claim the miles a couple of times as they have not posted, but have never had them post to BA after they removed it. You can also see the FF info online in the BA portal after they have changed it – I screenshot that and keep it.

Qualification status update: Flew to Cape Town for 3 days last week but out on KLM via AMS and back on LH via FRA so no progress here.

Ok will give BA a shot next time. I don’t mind retro-claiming, just don’t want the hassle of moving points from 1 program to another.

My return TP’s took 6 days to post to AY+.

[Deek]

domf wrote:

When you contact BA no need to ask them only to remove the BA FF info – they will also add your Finnair if you ask.

BA CS offered to do this without me asking, but I said no as I read on another forum that it was not done properly by the agent and the flight still ended up crediting to BA. I got trust issues with these folks! Did it work for you?