[PeteM]

ianwardz wrote:

What I don’t understand with this is:-
A) If the booking isn’t for the account holder then why doesn’t the airline just cancel and refund.
B) Why the person who made the booking cannot be easily identified and prosecuted.

Maybe I am being a bit simple, but it doesn’t sound too difficult.

In this case 174,922 Avios was used as part payment for a Y LIM-MAD-FCO ticket. Chances are the person flying has no clue this is what happened (maybe bought their ticket through an agency or someone offering cheap tickets on social media?) and the person making the booking is in a jurisdiction where they’ll be hard to reach.

I think there’s a good chance IB can cancel this given it’s two weeks away, but it’ll depend how quick they are (not very from experiences here).

[PeteM]

harrisjamieh wrote:

Out this morning:

Starlink available from March

The roll out of Starlink is making excellent progress, and I’m pleased to announce that the first British Airways flight with free Starlink Wi-Fi will take off in March. This is a complex and highly-skilled upgrade to our fleet, and I want to thank all our teams who are working hard to make this possible. I know our customers will be looking forward to using this service soon.

New 787-10s for Gatwick

Last year, we announced an order for 32 new Boeing 787-10 aircraft. I’m delighted to share the first of these brand-new aircraft will be delivered to Gatwick in 2029, starting the replacement of our existing 777-200 fleet. These new aircraft, featuring crew bunks, will help us continue improving the onboard experience for both customers and colleagues, while supporting the continued growth of our network.

https://mediacentre.britishairways.com/news/test-2/27022026

Good news!

[PeteM]

Thanks! I can see it on our main BAPP, but not the supplementary one, so not sure you can / need to register them individually?

[PeteM]

I’ve got the Flighty lifetime membership and am a fan, think I’m caught up back to 2005 now…! But yes, gather it’s not available on Android 🙁

[PeteM]

NorthernLass wrote:

Good times.

Che’s time in Solihull was an unlikely but extremely lucrative posting 😂

I did LOL

[PeteM]

Goonerdad wrote:

DPD are possibly the worst delivery company around – they rarely turn up and also take a random picture of the ground to say they did. They forget people have video doorbells nowadays. 🙂

I would say the exact opposite – really depends on the depot and drivers.

[PeteM]

Double post – sorry!

[PeteM]

Further to my DP on a successful IB EU 261 claim the other day (where we were delayed about 5hrs missing our unprotected connection in Bogota).

I submitted my claim for an airport hotel and new domestic flights to Europ Assistance (for the Amex Platinum insurance) on 10/Feb and they confirmed they will settle the claim in full on 12/Feb.

Both simple and fully-evidenced claims, but nonetheless pleased with the outcome.

Even Curve pleasantly surprised me after a taxi driver scammed us at Madrid Airport – they simply refunded half the charge without going into dispute with him.

[PeteM]

LD27 wrote:

@PeteM – that’s good to hear. Have not flown with Iberia many times, but on a number of flights when the plane has been delayed taking off, the Captains seemed to enjoy taking a long time explaining the reasons in Spanish and English.

Hahaha, yes 100% – the videos are long. Every step of the delay was explained in detail!

[PeteM]

DP: I know Iberia can be a bit of a pain when it comes to EU261, but happy to report that after a 5hr delay MAD-BOG last week, it took exactly six days from making the claim to having €1,200 in our account. This was on an Avios booking with a Companion Voucher.

I even recorded the captain explaining it was down to technical issues, ready for a fight!

[PeteM]

Thanks! So guess IB is a safer bet in terms of getting W for Y money on a wide body to MAD! 🙂

[PeteM]

How does W work on these flights? Do they open it up to status Y passengers closer to departure? When I try and book the W cabin shows up, but blocked out at the moment.

[PeteM]

The real Swiss Tony wrote:

@PeteM – oddly they have only applied it to two of the three top ups I made. And as I say, no problem with SUICA in Japan in the summer,

We did find topping up the Suica via Apple Wallet / Apple Pay was a real lottery – most cards wouldn’t work! But when they did, there was no charge either.

[PeteM]

Going via TCB will also produce different results, as will going via Trivago 🙂

[PeteM]

Interesting – didn’t have that issue in September with Mastercard and Curve / the Avios Barclaycard behind it.

[PeteM]

Resurrecting this thread with a recent experience.

I wasn’t actually upgrading, but was opening a new account.

Used the app, provided all my details and was rejected outright, for any HSBC account. Asked for a reason on the general helpline and they couldn’t even find my application.

Went through to executive complaints via the CEO’s email. After two weeks they found my application. Still rejected. I asked if it was an automatic rejection, on what basis, if a human reviewed the rejection and if so, for a manager to review the case.

After another two weeks they discovered the auto-reject was because of an address issue. They asked me to go to a branch to prove my address. This is despite being a FD customer for twenty years, but fine. Branch was super confused, but managed to confirm my identity and address in a mere half an hour.

Executive complaints told me to apply again. It worked. Premier account open. Gently pushed them to give me some compensation and £100 was offered and accepted. Took merely six weeks.

Moral of the story, keep insisting if you want the account…!

[PeteM]

danimal wrote:

@petem Thanks for that! I wasn’t arguing, I’m not blue in the face – I was asking for advice as it feels like an edge situation.

You weren’t asking for advice, you wanted people to back your position, which we didn’t do, because it wasn’t a reasonable position. This is also not “an edge situation” it is entirely standard and part of the game. I am glad you sorted it.

[PeteM]

You can argue with us until you’re blue in the face, but this is your problem, not IB’s or BA’s.

The ticket is entirely usable, the change is absolutely minor.

[PeteM]

You made two separate bookings, this is the risk you take doing that.

[PeteM]

Really, really disappointing. I was customer 4,300!

Super sad for their staff too.

[PeteM]

2/3 of the MAD-MEX flights are day flights, so perfectly acceptable in W. IB303 is an overnight, so would probably avoid that.

On the return all the flights are overnight, so a tad more painful, but still better W than Y.

Make sure to check the cash prices – they can be very competitive and you may want to save your Avios, even if you forego the voucher. But taxes on IB redemption are, of course, super competitive.

[PeteM]

We flew to LAS on Christmas Day 2024 and everything at LHR was open as normal, apart from public transport to the airport. The T5 Sofitel was also running as normal.

[PeteM]

Rui N. wrote:

If you’ve never been KYCed by Curve you’ve been playing this game very wrong.

Hahahaha, excellent 🙂

[PeteM]

Rui N. wrote:

He still thinks that everyone’s internet at home is as crappy as his is though.

Believe Rhys’ is very bad as well 🙂

[PeteM]

And make FaceTime calls on loudspeaker, yay!