[Roberto]

Hilton offer a taxi service from T4 to T5 for £20. Done it twice recently. Book in advance or as you check in. SIMPLES

[Roberto]

The crew will say to be back at the gate in 30 mins.

It’s a 6/8 minute walk to the lounges , doubt there will be a buggy but it’s pretty straight forward to get there and back (albeit not with a toddler and bags).

I went into the BA lounge and the Qantas lounges (they are next to each other) , did see the showers in Qantas- never saw the Qatar lounge at all.

[Roberto]

Barbados has award flights. Maybe not Club both ways I grant you but there is stuff there , and if you can mix and match with Virgin you will find something.

Currently on Holetown beach in Barbados myself with a beer in my hand having flown out Virgin and Back BA later this week.

[Roberto]

Go to virgin’s website and check , should take a couple of minutes.

[Roberto]

I did read that the price for food advertised includes the tax and service charge so that might be why you say its shot up.

The Rangali bar used to be a good place for “cheaper” evening meals but they are forcing you into the more expensive restaurants by closing the kitchen at 6pm.

It is expensive. Many people take food to the island to mitigate the F&B costs ( us included ) but I have never seen the option to burn miles to pay for food other than the underwater cocktail afternoon.

[Roberto]

Stayed at Sareeraya Villas & Suites four years back it’s on Charweng Beach , booked via hotels.com for a lot less than I would have thought. Near enough to wander into town , nice beach – not too stuffy but well run and comfy with plenty of space.

[Roberto]

In the last 10 years we have flown to MLE on BA (business and WTP), Emirates(business and economy) Luftansa (economy for about €280 each in 2021) and this year its Turkish Airlines in ecomony for £550 each inc paying for extra leg room seats on all four legs.

I could not nab a 241 and the cash prices in WTP or Business were crazy when I looked. The TK flights are well timed and whilst we have never flown with TK before we status matched our BA golds to TK Elite to get lounge access as the cherry on the top.

Staying at the Conrad on points – 960,000 for 10 nights.

[Roberto]

Normally they just need a copy of a recent statement relating to the bank account you want the money paid back into. Don’t you have a blank(ish) page or similar? I appreciate you’re giving them “your bank details” but they need that to refund you anyways and they don’t give a monkeys about your balance or lack of.

[Roberto]

Won’t be a 787 in the autumn as it too hot for fully laden 787 in the Vegas heat. I flew on a a350 there in December and its very comfortable ride , can’t see it getting swapped back to a 777 anytime soon.

[Roberto]

Tried it from Malaga, no joy – YMMV

[Roberto]

The only real way to game the system is to move everybody’s points out to Iberia or such like leaving only the avios in the HHA of the person you want to burn and then make a redemption from their avios (only) , moving the ibeia avios back into the HHA after.

People have used this if someone in the HHA died.

[Roberto]

DarrenS wrote:

My November points posted on 21 December. My December points have just posted today!

SNAP…. Like busses , you wait ages for one and two come along at the same time..

[Roberto]

Book a room at the Premier Inn t4 , have a cheap lunch ( kids eat free ) and let the nippers watch telly for 4 or 5 hours. Chill out bottle of wine in the room, shower about 6pm, check out and wander over the bridge into the terminal and into the lounge. Prices from £49

[Roberto]

Did it last month , booked on Ba.com – was kinda last minute but cheap enough. 40+ flights a day so prices generally pretty low

[Roberto]

The inbound from Orlando back to London did leave 4 hours late..

You can track it here :- BA2038 from Orlando to London https://fr24.com/BAW2038/2e98dbb2

[Roberto]

It’s late here in the US and I have seen that BA had an outage in the last 3/4 hours and many flights have been delayed or cancelled that were due to be flying from the US tonight.

Your flight could be caught up in the fall out from this. Have you checked in and is your boarding pass showing the new flight times?

Some info :- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/british-airways-executive-club/2104718-ba-flight-plan-system-down.html

[Roberto]

If you really want a US bank account you can open one for free is a matter of moments by opening a Wise account (formally transferwise).

I have one, its excellent and if you are so inclined to open an account please feel free to use my referral code for a fee free transfer (to dollars or another currency) up to £500. I also get £25 and thank you in advance. You will also be able to refer once your account is set up.

The code is :- https://wise.com/invite/ath/roberts66

Cheers..

[Roberto]

How much is the straight cash fare?

[Roberto]

Luca M wrote:

My last spend in April posted fine but the last statement has yet to post any points to HHonours .. would you contact to chase?

It’s a Barclaycard issue , not a Hilton problem.

[Roberto]

Mine not arrived either. DMed them on twitter yesterday and they “looked into the matter” but later repeated the trope that “points can take 4-6 weeks” which whilst could be true has not been the pattern ever in the 10+ years I have had the card.

[Roberto]

Nope..

In the good old days my 23rd November statement would have seen my points hitting about the 25th but the new rule of thumb is they arrive on or about the 4th of the following month. That’s not happened either.

I am not expecting much but enough to allow me to book a night so eager to get them in.

Phoning barclaycard is a waste of time and they will say points can take 4-6 weeks to appear, which is BS.

I guess we wait.

[Roberto]

Last month they arrived on the 3rd and or 4th….

[Roberto]

We stayed at the Intercontinental on St Charles Ave which was near enough to wander to everything yet away from the noise and hustle.

[Roberto]

Call and cancel it…
They make a fortune when people don’t, why be one of those?

[Roberto]

The First lounge is not that amazing to be honest. However if you’re keen to experience both it and the CCR you could book the cheapest economy ticket out of T5 later the day you land and go in to both on the back of your F inbound. Obviously luggage could be an issue but there are plenty of options to get around that. You don’t need to take the flight of course!

On a separate note I did see a mouse run past my feet whilst sat in the CCR yesterday morning.