[MGW]

VIP Lounge Pearl, Napolis Capodichino. When I was last there were people sitting on the floor as all the seats were full. There were long queues to obtain food and drink from the non-self-serve ‘buffet’, and the food was absolutely vile. There is absolutely no excuse for the latter in southern Italy. IIRC, this is the PP lounge that is also used by BA and just about everybody else.

[MGW]

TJones wrote:

For a business trip to India, I would prioritise arriving at a sensible time and in the best possible state to start work. This may not be in the spirit of HfP, but I would choose the most comfortable flights with the best timings, and not put the points cart before the horse.

I would agree with this completely. I took the overnight BA CS flight to Delhi in late March, which arrives just at 8am. After a good sleep on the plane, I was ready for the day and the rest of my journey.

[MGW]

I too was there last November. I used the airport train, buses, metro, ferries and the train (to the Blue Mountains).
I just used my credit card (no Opal) to check in and out. I was surprised how cheap it was.

[MGW]

+1 for @Michael C’s recommendation of Hong Kong. The weather at that time of year is usually excellent for hiking opening up many such opportunities. The Maclehose Trail is my favourite but there are also excellent walks on the main island, such as the Dragon’s Back, and on other islands such as Lantau without the seating heat and/or uncomfortably high humidity. This of course in addition to the usual shopping, temples, and viewpoints, etc.

[MGW]

inman wrote:

Im adding my experience to the post because I suspect its related to the conversation.

Last weekend I took a short haul flight including a car rental thru BA. Added the car at the last stage of the booking on BA website. The original booking was on hand baggage only fare (Outbound fare class G, return fare class N) but adding the car means the booking changes to include hold luggage. I used the hold luggage option as well as the car.

Three days later, I see the following on the BA app.

– Avios received for both legs of air travel
– Avios separately received for the car rental
– Bonus tier points received for each leg (75 nTPs x 2) of the flights
– NO nTPs received for the £ spend

Even if I received the nTPs for £ spend, it wouldn’t have made any difference to the status, so I just ignored it. But now that I’ve seen this thread, I’m wondering if there’s any small print that needs to be looked at, before booking the next holiday thru BA.

I was going to add a hotel to flights at the same late/end stage yesterday – until I noticed the line (in very small print) that this booking will receive no Tier Points. I went back and started to book hotel plus flight from the outset and the cost went up radically – I did not proceed and booked flights and hotel entirely separately. In context, I am a little surprised that you received the bonus TPs.

[MGW]

Name: London Victoria Park Plaza Hotel
City: London, UK
Upgraded? Yes, to a slightly larger room
Lounge Access: Not offered
Service: 5/10
Overall rating for price: 4/10
Comments: Prepaid for an in-room extra, which never materialised. It took over three months and numerous phone calls and emails to recover the cost. I noticed yesterday that the stay has not registered in the app and no points were awarded (the stay was in late-January).
I will not be back to that or any other Raddision.

[MGW]

fella wrote:

Their training needs to cover cases where the booker is not the passenger. This is hardly a rare occurrence.

Better hope that you never have to deal with HMRC!!!

[MGW]

Isn’t it the case that there are no fees for debit cards (at least for most transactions)? If so how would the card provider pay for the Avios?

[MGW]

The Savage Squirrel wrote:

StanTheMan wrote:

I’d say as a proposition, a typical 5 star hotel restaurant will usually be a much better meal than a random restaurant in any city.

Yes, of course it drives me nuts 😀

Of course it does; you’re a bl@@dy squirrel!
I do agree with your wider point.

[MGW]

davestat wrote:

Senhor Peixe at the Parque das Nacoes

IIRC, this restaurant was closed for the holidays when I was there in August (as was a surprising number of others) so do not include this in my rather dismissive statement about the other restuarants on this drag – many were OK just not great.

[MGW]

Man of Kent wrote:

Any particular restaurant you would recommend in Lisbon @MGW?

Just sent some recommendations but as I included weblinks it seems to have gone for checking and approval. Hopefully it will show up later.

[MGW]

Man of Kent wrote:

I’d say as a proposition, a typical 5 star hotel restaurant will usually be a much better meal than a random restaurant in any city.

The one that I was thinking of was this one: https://solar-da-gula.eatbu.com/?lang=pt (whole Sea Bream with potatoes and vegetables) about a 20 minute walk from where I was staying. There were other nice restaurants in the general waterfront area around Parque das Nações
– Nova Peixaria (cannot recall what we ate but it was good) https://www.novacervejaria.pt/
– Peixara (seafood rice) (the ones on the same drag are worth avoiding)
The best of them all, to which one of my Portuguese friends took me, was a bit further south and I did not recall it but I think it might have been Tacho da Memória – Parque das Naçõe.
There were so many great places to eat in Lisbon but also a great many bang-average places.

[MGW]

JDB wrote:

Ah well, the key is not to pick a ‘random’ restaurant. That doesn’t mean finding one that’s necessarily remotely expensive but one that’s right. I’m OK at that but fortunately my wife is brilliant at finding great places! Her abhorrence of most five star hotel dining rooms (and baulking at the cost) plus sense of adventure acts as a great incentive.

Exactly. Fresh fish from a local restaurant in Lisbon was infinitely better than anything I found around the business district where I was staying.

[MGW]

I think you have articulated very well why I desperately avoid eating dinner in hotel restaurants when travelling. Local character and specialities are what I seek.

[MGW]

It’s 500m. Never done it myself. If you are worried about it take a look on Google Street view and do a dummy run from your armchair.

[MGW]

There is also a Premier Inn within about 500m of Hayes & Harlington.

[MGW]

truthbetold wrote:

Under £200 for sure, but was hoping to get a tip for even cheaper but seems this is about as cheap as it gets. I am heading to Madrid for a day trip this Sunday for £91 return. I already have 600 Tier Points.
It’s not just BA Silver…. it could also release/unlock Virgin status (doubles the voucher value to 150k miles), Flying Blue, potentially Star Alliance status matches too. Might be a last chance to gain all these

If you already have 600 Tier Points then you do t need to make these additional trips at all. It’s just a case of waiting for Silver to update on your account, if it has not done so already.

[MGW]

Gee wrote:

Currently they are flying the 777 and have been for a while

I guess it depends on what you mean by ‘a while’. Certainly when I flew out to HKG in November I was in the old CW seat.

[MGW]

It took a little while, maybe 10 to 12 days, for my status to tick over to Silver on the website when I returned from SYD towards the end of November. BUT, it stayed resolutely Bronze on the app until I logged out and logged back in again. Have you tried that?

[MGW]

I completely agree regarding the Indogo, I always try to stay there when visiting the University. The building and bedrooms are truly fabulous and a fitting location in the context of your friends’ visit.
It was originally the Durham County Council HQ and latterly the University’s administration offices (including when I studied there). The Marco Pierre White restaurant is in the Senate Chamber and quite an experience, although I do not recall the food being of quite the same standard.

[MGW]

In over 35 years of flying in and out of EDI, at the peak 12 to 13 business trips a year plus holidays, I don’t think I have used a luggage trolley even once.

[MGW]

Tile works well if you are Android rather than Apple. Thus far we have used it to locate my lost car key and, much more importantly, Clever Trevor the cat. (Although he can’t be that bl@@dy clever as he keeps trying to wander off.)

[MGW]

I’ve a trip to HKG booked in November and it is definitely showing the old CW layout. Can’t recall what plane type was showing.

[MGW]

BJ wrote:

MGW wrote:

BJ wrote:

I didn’t know you were looking or I could have told you. Andrew and I had discussions on this a few years ago, EasternWestern Group takes amex, lots of dealers covering many car brands too including NMW, Mercedes, Mini, Smart, Nissan, Mazda and more.

Do you know whether EWG have an upper limit on payments on Amex? When I bought my current car they flatly refused payment in full by Amex, or any credit card for that matter.

It was late 2018 so policy may have changed. They took payment at Mercedes (OT: I don’t recommend anybody buy a Merc SUV IME)) in full, and I think it was @Andrew that reported at the time he also paid a VW with amex.

Thanks, it was Mercedes in Edinburgh that refused my Amex. Maybe I should have dug my heels in.

@NorthernLass, if you mean the old-style manual, foot-operated parking brake I always really liked those as you couldn’t lock them so tight that release was difficult as you can with a conventional handbrake. The newer electronic ones are well hidden but I think I’ve only used it manually once in seven years and two cars (three cars with my wife’s).

[MGW]

BJ wrote:

I didn’t know you were looking or I could have told you. Andrew and I had discussions on this a few years ago, EasternWestern Group takes amex, lots of dealers covering many car brands too including NMW, Mercedes, Mini, Smart, Nissan, Mazda and more.

Do you know whether EWG have an upper limit on payments on Amex? When I bought my current car they flatly refused payment in full by Amex, or any credit card for that matter.