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Thanks both, after 8 hours and 14 calls, a very efficient member of the QR team answered and I’m rebooked for Thursday with an even better set of flights home. The local team were equally helpful saying to expect Th agents to have access to remedies that wave the fees etc.

Can’t fault the service once I got through, took all of 4 mins to fix.

Extended stay = back in the office Monday to Wednesday, and a storm due 😉

War zone, yes, first world problems, like almost everything on here and FlyerTalk, goes without saying,but I shared in the hope it may have saved others some time. My friends in DXB/AUH are in my minds, not least because my next trip to see them on March 12th now looks a little in doubt.

Anyway, best wishes to everyone with a challenge ahead !

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Greetings from a warm but rather overcast Canberra, where those of us travelling home today on QR are not experiencing the downside of their 5* ratings (when it doesn’t work, it’s truly awful).

Yes I know there’s challenges, like the pandemic brought, so we’ve learned lessons, have mitigations … no ?

Got a courtesy call offering a change up to 14 days or refund. Quick check, yes, Friday would be grand thanks. Oh, I can’t re-ticket, I’ll send you the details by email.

Email says use chat (chat says not working). Help page offers callback (callback says not working). Help page says use an online call (online call says have to be a Privilege Club member, while I was logged in). Been on a call for almost 3 hours now, no indication if this will ever be answered.

Help page also offers ability to change. I could find flights, but it wanted £836 in charge fees (fares were actually cheaper on Friday).

X are doing a great job dispatching vanity (we care, we’re committed, please DM us), but the reality is that messages from 07:25 here (5+ hours ago), are unanswered, for a flight departing today.

Flight was due to depart 27 mins ago, so now I can’t even access the booking as it says I’ve left (I’m sitting on my balcony at my apartment).

We bash BA for lots, but as this is my 3rd major disruption in 3 successive March times (DXB weather in 24, LHR power in 25, now this), their handling was MUCH better than QR.

Anyway, that feels a little better, thanks for reading this far and suggestions welcome … A

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Morning all from sunny Canberra where me and Mrs S are spending four weeks (while I work) … looking for advice/recommendations on travel insurance of all things 🤷🏼‍♂️

I get insurance from Nationwide Flex but have to pay £30 cos I’ve got high BP and am tending do more trips >31 days (mix of bus and leisure) and my last 4 day extension (ie for a 35 day trip) cost me an extra £56.

I also have Amex Bus Platinum so covered worldwide for duration, just not BP etc.

Question: Anyone recommend a solution to get annual cover for longer trips or just the medical extension pls ?

I’m wedded to the Amex Plat, but not nationwide so happy to switch away from that if that’s a possible soln (?)

TIA, S

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Like others, this year’s fee just posted on my card and last year secured 35,000 MRPs, this year it’s 10,000 for spending £1,000 in 3 months. I noted the dilution of benefits that reduce value by around £150 p.a. this year and also advised that my circumstances have changed and I expect to travel significantly more now … told no other option, but to call back when I was ready to decide.

I also asked about the possibility of spreading the fee over the year (I’m sure I read here previously that was a thing/possibility ?) but the answer was kinda “cool idea, but not an option”. Chat language suggested an offshore agent, don’t know whether to call back and try again, to try to get a UK based agent or whether this is more of consistent policy (as the retention numbers seem to be these days).

Bit of a shame really, I’d have taken the 10k plus monthly fee there and then (just started a new business so cash is king until the invoices start getting paid).

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I mailed Emyr a week or so go about this. He confirmed there wasn’t a list but suggested I simply ask him and he’ll run the search for me. Last time I did this he grabbed me 8 nights at the Conrad Abu Dhabi for the price of 6 at a really attractive (some might even say rude) price … the hotel didn’t disappoint either.

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ChrisBCN wrote:

Get ready for no blocked middle seats!

Nah, they’re booking J pax into Y .. whereas they could maybe just move the cabin divider back.

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Blair Waldorf Salad wrote:

As a counterpoint, as a Diamond and booking the Impresario rate I’ve never received a room upgrade at the Waldorf Astoria Palm. They’ve also never gone beyond 14.00 for check out.

. That’s disappointing to hear, our friends usually staycay with us for part of our stay and they too are both Hilton Gold and they’ve enjoyed upgrades too (though could also be because they’re locals though tbf).

On check out, it’s usual for us to ask for something around 16:00-17:00 following afternoon tea, and we’ve never had a request declined. We’ve also left much later on a couple of occasions too, after cocktail hour on check out day too …. but these could have been pre-Covid and with the original Pearl Club team (who are now long gone).

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Had this in two cards, with both posting within a few days of trip end.

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I’m only Gold, and have stayed regularly at Waldorf Astoria Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. I can’t remember ever not receiving an upgrade of one form or another, usually an exec room to suite. Their Pearl Club is a fairly relaxing place, though not open all day, and with evening cocktails and canapés being fairly decent fayre.

Location on the Palm needs careful consideration as it takes around 20-30mins to get off the Palm from there, nd their restaurants are a bit ok’ish, but not brilliant. That said, it’s quiet and peaceful if that’s your vibe.

I’ve been to the Hilton on the Palm, but only for McGettigans. On a Saturday afternoon and evening it’s not for the faint hearted after brunch, and is here ally a much livelier location.

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I have the £75 off a £300 spend with Enterprise Car Hire loaded on my Amex Plat Personal. Terms say online pre-paid bookings only and I’ve recently booked a weekend hire at £137, with a further hire for £270+ planned in late November.

Lo and behold the £200 deposit spent in store upon collection for hire #1 triggered the cash back immediately. However, when it was refunded by Enterprise, Amex (rightfully) debited the £75 back again and are now marking my offer as being redeemed.

Didn’t expect it to trigger/pay for spend in-store, and I now assume that after hire #2 it will trigger correctly again, or at least that I need to make full payment on time as usual, and then appeal to them to pay in accordance with the offer, explaining all etc.

Is that what you’d expect too pls ?

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Stayed at WA Palm Jumeirah around 6 times over the last few years, mostly with Emyr booking Impressario rates and deals for me. As Hilton Gold, they treat you well, and booking a Pearl Club King for us usually gets us upgraded to a suite for 5/6 night stays too.

Great pool service, or beach if you fancy, but it’s a 20 min drive to get off the Palm, plus the distance to destination. Whilst relatively inexpensive, factor the time in (both ways).

This hotel has limited F&B options (IMHO), however the Anantara is next door with several restaurants on The Entertainer to save some cash, and in the last year or so has seen significantly improved delivery options from Talabat, Deliveroo etc.

Bear in mind if planning some relaxing room-based drinks (folk with younger, tired kids may relate), it’s very, very easy to have that delivered in Dubai now too, and often at prices that embarrass those of us living under Minimum Alcohol Pricing north of the border.

Have stayed at Hilton Dubai the Walk a few years ago too, an older hotel with great staff then (pre-pandemic), and it’s a great location, but pool is shaded, and it’s noisy and traffic can be problematic at times too.

Whatever you do, enjoy your stopover though !

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Santa Monica is a favourite of mine, albeit I’ve stayed mostly using Airbnb previously. I’m visiting again in September on a Hilton redemption at Oceana LXR where, between a double points purchase etc, my rate averages c.£300/nt for the five nights (excl. F&B credit), which I thought was great for that location and quality.

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Requested via chat any retention offer on my Platinum. Agent asked me to elaborate on what I meant and by the time I’d finished typing, he’d offered me 35,000 MRPs, which I felt was very helpful, and I gratefully accepted.

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I’ve bought 3 cars using my Barclaycard Avios Plus in the last 18 months, totalling c.£160k, and for exactly the same reason the OP has said regarding finance rate competitiveness. On 2 cars (same dealer), they would take <£5k on Amex, but any amount on Mastercard or Visa. The second dealer would not accept Amex at all, but would take it all on Mastercard.

For the first car, it was all straight forward, except my credit limit meant I had to debit (credit limit minus £1k) then pay it off the next day etc. I did that several times. The second car was within my limit so straight forward.

The third car was the same as the first except Barclays changed the rules to cap miles earning to a max of 3 times my credit limit, so I had to schedule payments across two billing months to not lose any miles.

Unintended, but very helpful, upside for me was that when BA ran the ‘purchase Avios based on annual spend’, it arrived just as I ‘needed’ a large amount of Avios as cash tickets were stupidly expensive. Because I had amassed so many Avios, I could buy what I wanted and saved a bit more.

Whatever you do, good luck with the car and purchase options.

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I used one for my daughter to join us in Nashville later this year. I has estimated that it was worth around 9,000 Avios (being the difference economy/business for a Scotland to London flight) so was comfortable choosing the voucher over the Avios, however I ended up getting 60,000 of Avios by way of value so around £600 for me.

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Thanks very much @aq.1988 👍🏻

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Quick question pls and sorry if I’ve missed it on this thread … I’m trying to use an upgrade voucher for LHR/BNA with availability that is out in Business and return in PE. The search allows you to select only economy (this showing PE availability), or Premium economy (thus showing business).

Is this a case where I need to call them as the system isn’t flexible enough to let me mix and match, or is a mixture of cabins not possible with a voucher (I thought it was possible) ?

There is outbound availability in J and return in W for my dates, so should have been fine, btw.

Thanks.

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Accor would be timely as I’ve 6 nights booked end of September 🤔

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I purchased two rather expensive items on my card and, including sign up bonuses, have bagged 229k+ since August last year.

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Current Avios Plus cardholder who tried to sign up for Premier account … acknowledgement email suggests it could take up to 5 weeks for confirmation … is this the experience of others pls ?

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Booked twice, same hotel, with Emyr and double points posted successfully on both occasions. Good luck and hope it gets resolved for you soon.

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@stevenhp1987 and @CarpalTravel, thanks both for your help, good points around banjaxing the card and advocacy for taking a split payment approach (which is where I’d got to personally so thank you for taking a few minutes to help and reply 👍🏻