[SamG]

BA Flyer IHG Stayer wrote:

Expecting to land and then be at their destination for a fixed time appointment in 2 1/2 hours gives very little flexibility.

TFL journey planner allows just shy of an hour to get from LHR to Liverpool Street which includes time to get down to and up from the platforms. Plus some extra time to actually get to the interview on top of that. And he’ll want some time to freshen up as well no doubt,

7.45 is in one of LHRs peek periods for arrivals so chances of ground delays then immigration being busy (even if using the e-gates) and bags to take a bit of time to emerge are very possible.

Unfortunately Airportr isn’t an option as they don’t offer an arrival service at LHR. Not sure if other services do but I doubt, due to customs and security reasons, they wouldn’t have access to the baggage carousels and a hand off would have to be landside.

Oops brain malfunction. I did give them my bags once at LHR but actually that was coming off a flight in T2 and they took the bags to my BA flight in T5 whilst I went into London on a tight schedule.

[SamG]

Research options yourself that you could suggest to BA but at this stage options are going to be very limited.

What will happen soon is seats will start to be freed up on Dubai-London flights as people cancel their entire trips or didn’t travel this weekend etc so hopefully you’ll be back quite quickly

If you do speak to them you can ask them to link your bookings

If you are in a hotel then speak to them about extending, I’m sure they’ll be very accommodating. BA will reimburse (reasonable) accommodation and food etc.

Need to bear in mind that approx 1m journeys to/from/via the ME have been disrupted already which will overwhelm even the most prepared carrier. So being patient and calm is best approach. Lots of wise people on here willing to help!

[SamG]

I was wondering something earlier , considering the circumstances could QR/EK/EY not operate say LHR-BKK and vv ? Would need approvals on traffic right exceptions etc. Could get people moving on these very heavy routes with 1000s stuck either end

[SamG]

Well done. Airport usually has a lot more authority/ability but not surprised it took a bit of a push. Good result though. Travel insurance will most likely pick up the hotel costs

Maybe something funny with fare bucket availability on the CDG-LHR blocking a reasonable booking. But even that I’d put in an insurance claim if you don’t get anywhere with QR

[SamG]

Airportr or bring it to Liverpool Street and there are quite a few different online options to arrange storage in a local business

(BTW assuming on time arrival 2hr 15 min to clear immigration, potentially luggage and get on the Elizabeth line is ambitious, I hope the concequences of missing the interview are not too great!)

[SamG]

What I will say is neither Malaysian Airlines or Qatar does IRROPS very well in my experience so some patience will be needed and if you’ve got some options with flight numbers mapped out that’ll be helpful I am sure. Let us know how it goes!

[SamG]

If it is not cancelled in advance get to the airport early and see what they say, by tomorrow night things may be up and running but LHR is an easier one for a reroute so they may want to do it to free up seats ex-Doha to clear the backlog there

Direct MH/BA flights look sold out likely due to the cancellations to Doha today . Something via China might be best option to locate available seats

Insurance coverage you need to check but unlikely to cover full fat J new ticket, maybe economy if she does need to get home (but if your J flight cancelled should get a refund anyway but check carefully)

[SamG]

BA are taking the 787-10 “IGW” option which increases the range further & generally in real world airlines have been happy with their longer range performance – UA run their current birds on longer routes – Chicago-Tokyo for example.

The config is going to be interesting – as seen with the new A380 config – BA seem to be pushing further toward premium configs including very large WT+ cabins which helps with range. I imagine we’d see something like 40J 60W 200M

[SamG]

What is happening to us on HfP – I did a TUI holiday last year which was equally smooth and unoriginal but sometimes with kids for a bit of winter sun it’s all you need. We even braved the transfer coach which rated as one of my sons favourite parts of the trip (and was only stopping at our hotel anyway).

Normal service restored next winter following a midnight scrabble for “twixmas” Avios seats to the Canaries. Unbelievably our return on the Sunday before school starts is sold out even for cash in CE with all seats reserved!

Thanks for the report, enjoyable read!

[SamG]

polly wrote:

#887677EDIT | | REPORT

polly
435 posts
Afternoon from Holiday Inn by KLIA. Delayed flight meant couldn’t do OLCI til MN. With sketchy airport Wi-Fi to contend with. By then all tonight’s good seats gone. So I am in front of the bassinet aisle seat. OH next row middle seat, he’s unable to climb over anyone to go to the loo. So that’s us swopping as soon as we get on there. All seats taken, Didn’t even bother to check F avios seats, as so stressed by late arrival. Only got to hotel check in, in the early hours. Very good tho, gave us a 5pm check out. OH was IHG for years but no status now. They were very nice here. Breakfast was good too, nice choice with egg station.
The sun finally shone, so we even got a final 1hr swim this afternoon. Shame can’t meet up with hfpter…. He will have arrived by now..Just glad to be on the flight.

Safe flight!

[SamG]

polly wrote:

@SamG Thanks. 6E is the only J seat free atm. Got through after 40 minutes.. 1 hour on chat before that being told all live agents are busy! They said the seats are restricted. And none pre assigned to us. That they will be releasing a few over the next 2 days, the last ones around check in time. Seems weird that bronze can’t reserve. Assured me that all booked pax would have a seat. Wasn’t really reassured by that. Said also it’s local policy. First time we have experienced this out of KUL after many trips there. Also said he couldn’t assign us restricted seats either.. Thought crew had their own rest bunks? 2nd team of pilots usually go in F. That’s what we saw coming over.
Was actually hoping they would open those F seats to avios tomorrow or Thursday morning. Would upgrade to F if we could. They have been doing that the odd day with F seats.

I believe there is some contractual entitlement to a J seat for rest on very long flights. Not familar with the ins and outs of it but 7K is the seat that gets used if so. I am sure they’d use an F seat if one were available though

10E and 11E as well but are empty/blocked along with 10B and 10J but those are bassinets. It used to be that you could assign one of those via Malaysian Airlines MMB within 72hrs of a flight but I’ve got a feeling that loophole is closed now , maybe worth checking that and also checking the seat map periodically.

Otherwise it may take until either OCLI or the airport to get sorted out as I’m pretty sure there will be 2-3 op-up to F based on current seat map .

[SamG]

JDB wrote:

SamG wrote:

Tracey wrote:

Trying to help a friend who has reward (Avios) flights booked. 1 in PE and 1 in economy as that was all that was available. EZE to LHR via MAD. They’ve had notification that the PE flight is cancelled, which doesn’t make sense. They were on separate bookings but on the same plane. A flight on 25/3 departing around 2pm- I can’t even find it on schedules.

They are stressed as they fly outbound today (on Virgin rewards) for a long cruise, so will be out of contact for long parts of the next few weeks.

My understanding is that Avios/ BA have an obligation to get them home, and they shouldn’t accept a refund, but the Avios phone line said they have nothing available.

Iberia have two A350 birds configured without PE – https://www.aerolopa.com/ib-359-3 . The flight is IB102 at 2.20pm. Presumably they still want to travel on that flight so that they travel together so firstly they should ask BA to work with Iberia via the oneworld helpdesk to get them moved to Economy. Then post travel they should ask Iberia for a 75% refund of the fare due under EU261 downgrade rules.

Unfortunately, therein lies the trick. Iberia has cancelled the booking, not the flight – big difference – and if the pax asks to be rebooked in economy that’s a voluntary downgrade so they will pay the difference between the classes rather than the 75%.

For what it’s worth, those are ex Hainan aircraft that pop up occasionally but one shouldn’t rule out another aircraft change.

Interesting. I guess if it were BA pulling a similar trick you could go to MCOL but I really can’t imagine getting very far with Iberia in reality , hard enough getting simple refunds out of them at times

[SamG]

Tracey wrote:

Thanks for all your help. It was a reward booking through BA for Iberia flights. The Avios line (??) finally admitted that it was an overbooking in PE on that flight and supposedly she was an easy target. I’m guessing they could see that there was someone booked in economy on the same flight with the same unusual name so didn’t expect much pushback.

My friend is adamant that she isn’t flying in economy. They’ve now moved her to a BA direct (but 16 hour flight – I’m guessing there is a stop in Rio on there). After further ‘discussion’ they’ve moved her husband to the same flight in economy. I’d call that a result give they were on separate bookings, but she points out that going via MAD would be quicker overall.

BA do often solve these problems by opening up seats on their own metal, but agree it’s a result to get them to touch a totally unaffected booking

Not an overbooking though, the plane just does not have PE installed. Not obvious to the agent perhaps but I do wish they wouldn’t make things up!

[SamG]

Tracey wrote:

Trying to help a friend who has reward (Avios) flights booked. 1 in PE and 1 in economy as that was all that was available. EZE to LHR via MAD. They’ve had notification that the PE flight is cancelled, which doesn’t make sense. They were on separate bookings but on the same plane. A flight on 25/3 departing around 2pm- I can’t even find it on schedules.

They are stressed as they fly outbound today (on Virgin rewards) for a long cruise, so will be out of contact for long parts of the next few weeks.

My understanding is that Avios/ BA have an obligation to get them home, and they shouldn’t accept a refund, but the Avios phone line said they have nothing available.

Iberia have two A350 birds configured without PE – https://www.aerolopa.com/ib-359-3 . The flight is IB102 at 2.20pm. Presumably they still want to travel on that flight so that they travel together so firstly they should ask BA to work with Iberia via the oneworld helpdesk to get them moved to Economy. Then post travel they should ask Iberia for a 75% refund of the fare due under EU261 downgrade rules.

[SamG]

polly wrote:

Calling on the powers that be here on hfp. Re our J flts back Thursday night from KUL. Forgot to reserve seats as bronze, can’t believe such a rookie error.. anyway checked this am, only 1 seat available for 2 of us in J. It wouldn’t let me assign it to OH, as he needs to stretch out. Kept defaulting to my name, my CV, probably. Wouldn’t let me confirm either, insisted both pax must chose a seat! Well, it would have been nice if there were 2 seats to reserve.
However, he got the welcome, “prepare to fly CW email” at 2am, I got none. Wondering if they have pre assigned seats for us, as we have a wheelchair booked to get him to the plane. Still selling 1 x J, 1 x F seat on the night too, which is strange if we can’t reserve 2 seats. Any thoughts? Downgrade/upgrade 1 of us? Bit anxiety provoking, to say the least, after a great positive trip. Sticks and all.
In the Westin Bali our last 3 days, raining constantly, sadly. Air Asia back to KUL tomorrow. Been great until this little hiccup… am getting in touch when the call centre opens. Hopefully will get an agent who can resolve it.

There are unreserved seats on the plane though not 2 together (well 7J/K are showing but I am pretty sure 7K is blocked for crew rest). I would think you’ve got a reserved seat though if you booked special assistance, worth a call.

3 unreserved seats in F so I’d guess 1 or 2 lucky people will get bumped up

[SamG]

yorkshireRich wrote:

My friends are stuck in London this afternoon. They booked through a reputable high street travel agent to go New York then Las Vegas. They found out last night that they were unable to fly to New York.
I gave the advice to ring the airline, speak at the desk at Heathrow etc. I kind of forgot what hassle it is when you don’t book direct. They contacted the agent who said they need to get in touch with the airline and they are still waiting. I’m guessing that’s at least tomorrow now to somewhere in the US. It’s time like this, I’m forever grateful for HfP.

A good TA in this situation can actually be a benefit as they can usually rebook the flights themselves vs you having to try to get hold of the airline.

I had a BA tech delay that was looking like a cancellation and my corp TA was already looking at options for a later flight whilst I was still onboard waiting to find out what was happening. If we’d have been cancelled I’d have been rebooked and walked off the plane to the gate for the later flight and got home vs waiting around for whatever rebooking BA IT could come up with !

[SamG]

Iberia use Resiber integrated with Amadeus (that BA uses) so things can easily go wrong when syncing between the systems, especially during a schedule change. So it was very good that you called to get this fixed in advance as I can’t imagine you’d have much luck with their handling agent at a infrequently served outstation!

[SamG]

If you do it online then you should see a screen telling you how much you’ll get – then it’ll be instant Avios back and the seats will (almost!) certainly reappear. So you could have the agent on the line and process the cancellation yourself . Or have them do it (I am sure that will be instant too)

[SamG]

I called to do 1) once and he did 2) saying it was better than to risk the seats not reappearing. He didn’t question the Avios mix being different, though it was a different class of travel so maybe not so obvious.

But I have booked at midnight and then cancelled later that day so I could mess about with vouchers etc calmly, highly unlikely on these popular routes BA released more than the guaranteed seats at T-355 so they’ll drop back in to availabilty. Just make sure you cancel with the agent and they snap them right back up !

[SamG]

It’s niche but United MP charges 6k miles for short Europe flights & 12.5k for longer ones. So if you’re a regular flyer to Frankfurt, Munich , Zurich, Athens etc it could have some value for you, availability is usually plentiful

[SamG]

JDB wrote:

Michael C wrote:

Passing through LHR T3 – absolutely no-one else in (fast-track) security: a bit spooky but great!

A short stay in Marseille (Librairie Maupetit and a nice couscous) then upper deck right-hand window seats tomorrow morning for what should be a lovely train ride to Nice.

Have a great trip! I was half expecting to bump into you yesterday – we were having lunch at Gee’s with my wife’s Colombian Spanish teacher and our waiter was Spanish as well. The lunch there is good value but blimey, Oxford really does continue to discourage visitors – £19.50 for three hours street parking, £5 congestion charge and £4 ZEZ charge!

But it’s still busy!!

Depending on where you are coming from if I go during the day I usually park at Bicester P&R (free) and take the S5 bus – £3 e/w, lots of bus lanes / priority and from next week it is limited stop in Oxford . After 5pm Westgate has cheaper parking so not quite so bad.

[SamG]

Dubai half term will go fast .

If you are Avios rich and don’t mind swallowing a cancellation fee then one option is to book the flights as Avios. Then once you’ve located a suitable holiday in WTP cancel the Avios flights whilst on the phone to BAH and have them use the availability to do a UUA

There is a risk the flights won’t reappear but done far in advance almost certainly you’ve booked the guaranteed allocation, BA won’t have released anymore and so they’ll come back into availability

[SamG]

AnotherUser wrote:

Random question, but does anyone have recommendations for companies organising removals/shipping from London to Scotland? A relative has moved house, and they’ll need to take about 10 boxes and one piece of furniture North. It’s much less than a full lorry load, but too much for a standard courier. I’m finding fewer companies than expected doing a part load service

Maybe Shiply ? But boxes might be better off going Parcelforce , they handle quite big heavy loads and have deals for multiple units on parcel2go etc

[SamG]

Why wouldn’t you just use the voucher to book the inbound and then make your way there via cash?

Other than more Avios seats appearing you wouldn’t get any way to upgrade in advance by two cabins (and anyway I have never got a POUG to work on an Avios booking even if the price does appear)

You may find it’s not cost effective to have a one way cash fare + a one way Avios+voucher vs just paying cash return. Though the low charges ex-Brazil may swing this in your favour. You may also find that other airlines have a decent one way pricing for your outbound- TAP for example usually does via Lisbon

[SamG]

That is a shame, really is a miserable lounge. They should at least do table service on the drinks.

Though to be honest last time I flew out of Heathrow their lounge was very overcrowded and not an especially pleasant experience either. But I do like the 787-9 out of Gatwick and often last minute it can be a lot cheaper than LHR so I’ll use it when it suits.