[Tracey]

tazzy wrote:

So do I just leave it and try and contact them on Tuesday? Do I still have rights? Will they cover hotels/ food?

They should do. On twitter/ X they have acknowledged they have a duty of care. Don’t accept a refund – once you do so any duty of care disappears.

[Tracey]

tazzy wrote:

Ok, so I’ve received an email from BA that our Dubai to London flight on Tuesday has been cancelled. When I go into my booking it is not giving me any alternative flights to move to and refund is only option (I know I don’t accept this). Unable to get through to BA on phone and wondering what I am supposed to do in this situation? Any help would be appreciated as I’m panicking – also we are 2 separate bookings; my husband and 2 year old on one booking and me on another one.please help!

Accept that you aren’t going anywhere for a few days and just wait. BA is naturally reluctant to book you on their next flight in case that too gets cancelled. BA are probably focussing on people due to fly today and tomorrow at the moment.

[Tracey]

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.

[Tracey]

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.

[Tracey]

JaneDoe wrote:

I know there are some people on here who have recently been to Costa Rica. Trying to plan our time at La Fortuna and Monteverde but not sure what options to go for.

La Fortuna – is this the best place for zipwire? In my head the options are – zipwire at AMA and hanging bridges at Mystic or else do both zipwire and hanging bridges at Sky Adventures.

It will only be myself doing the zipwire as my husband has a shoulder issue.

recommendations on the best walk in the area – something moderate for 1-2hrs. Currently considering the Arenal 1968 trail.

Any other thoughts on this area appreciated.

The Mystico hanging bridges are a nice walk that will take you around 90 minutes. No experience of zipwiring, though I’d suggest you check your insurance first.

[Tracey]

BSI1978 wrote:

Little cheeky perhaps but does anyone know of any live/valid Railcard discount codes perchance?! TIA

Not a code, but I’ve always used Tesco club card deals.

[Tracey]

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

AnyVan are a company that will auction it off to the lowest bidder on your behalf.

[Tracey]

Would it be cheaper to come home via J’Berg?

[Tracey]

Amazing place. Don’t underestimate how long road journeys take, the roads really our long winding with little opportunities to overtake if you are stuck behind a slow moving lorry.

We only stayed in 2 places, Arenal hot springs and Spa hotel and Tamarindo, le Jardel del Eden, both were excellent.

We booked all our trips through Costa Rica vacations, who were also good.

[Tracey]

Indy500 wrote:

Got a 3 week Canada trip this July. Any recommendations for mobile eSIM? Apple iPhone. General data use for maps, WhatsApp etc.

Indy

Airalo works well. Another alternative would be to buy a 3 PAYG Sim, as far as I know they still come with free roaming.

[Tracey]

Two questions if I may.

If I book a BA holiday that includes a Hilton hotel, do Hilton recognise gold status for free breakfast (Europe)? If I email the hotel in advance, to add player 2 name and gold status?

Would I get away with booking for one person as a BAH, OH is using his flights as the start of a work trip, so won’t be on my flights. I want to book as a BAH as I need some more tier points, in any case it isn’t a case of booking a BAH for 2 people as we won’t be on the same flights on the return.

[Tracey]

You should be able to get a refund of any airport duty, that you could then spend on that SAF nonsense to get at least some tier points.

[Tracey]

I’d eat in the lounge and then have dessert (or a second dessert) on board. With a hot drink or wine to accompany dessert.

[Tracey]

cats_are_best wrote:

Has anyone experience of using Abercrombie & Kent UK?

Thinking about a multi-country safari/sightseeing trip in Africa, they seem to have good coverage/presence in region.

Clearly at a premium, but from prior experience, things can go very wrong at short notice, which gets sticky when self-organising and there’s no mobile/internet.

Online reviews include some stinkers, but seem related to their USA operation, the UK ones look ok.

We used Scott Dunn, surprisingly reasonable. When we then tried them for South America and Vietnam/ Cambodia they were a lot more expensive than booking ourselves. For Africa safari (we based in Kenya) they were comparable to booking ourselves, and they were faultless.

[Tracey]

davestat wrote:

Greetings from AKL where I have discovered that my newly acquired Hilton Plus Debit Card does not actually get you a full Breakfast at Hilton hotels as a Gold Member. Just a limited Continental Breakfast.
Even worse is the fact that there is an alternative to Breakfast for 2. I can swap it for 1,000 points. By my calculations that’s £4 or have I got it wrong?

Is there an executive lounge? Maybe breakfast in there would give you more choices.

I know at the Hilton Labriz gold and diamond members ate breakfast in a separate a la carte restaurant away from the main buffet restaurant.

[Tracey]

JaneDoe wrote:

I’d be interested to know what others usually do in this situation. Our return flight from Delhi to London departs at 3am. We’re staying at Le Meridien, with the room available until 1pm, and we then have an afternoon tour that finishes around 6pm.

I’m assuming we’ll be able to use the hotel facilities afterwards and have an early dinner. In situations like this, do you usually book and pay for an extra night so you can keep the room until departure? In our case, the additional night would cost £300.

Just ask at reception. They may say yes for free, they may offer it for a charge eg £50 or they may say they need the room for the next guests. They should offer you a room to use, even if they can’t give you your room back.

[Tracey]

I’ve stayed in the treeline urban resort. Very central location, decent pool, boutiquey hotel. The pool is on the second floor overlooking the Siem Reap river.

[Tracey]

Wishing a speedy recovery. I would think that cover ends when you are home, rather than the doors opening on the aircraft. After all if you took a holiday that didn’t involve a flight you would expect cover. Certainly when I had an accident abroad, the insurer asked me if I would need extra assistance getting from the airport to home.

[Tracey]

We’ve had similar problems with BA holidays. Certain flights just weren’t possible, even though they were showing as available. They managed to find phantom flights to make it all work and then change the flights.

[Tracey]

davefl wrote:

Tracey wrote:

Just checking on this. AA code share booking on EI metal, should I expect any Avios? I know there won’t be any tier points. I did read a HfP article a while back that suggested that having my BAC membership number on the booking should mean some Avios.

It depends entirely on your ticket class.

Use wheretocredit.com to find out.

Click this https://wheretocredit.com/en/calculator#route=EI%3AJ%3AJFK-DUB%3AAA

Change the J in the box to whatever the booking class is. You should be able to see it on your ticket receipt. Then change the airport codes to reflect the route.

That suggests I should get Avios and Tier points, which I suspect is wrong.

[Tracey]

This article: https://hfp2026mar.kinsta.cloud/2024/02/01/can-i-earn-avios-and-british-airways-tier-points-if-i-fly-with-aer-lingus/

[Tracey]

Just checking on this. AA code share booking on EI metal, should I expect any Avios? I know there won’t be any tier points. I did read a HfP article a while back that suggested that having my BAC membership number on the booking should mean some Avios.

[Tracey]

Sheraton Pinecliffs in the Algarve.

[Tracey]

JDB wrote:

jintycat wrote:

Have you not contacted your travel insurance as that is what it is for as they would rebook you on a suitable flight if you have been ill?

An insurer will expect you to try and resolve with the airline first as the OP is doing. Travel insurers expect policyholders to try to mitigate their losses and generally work on the basis of being the second port of call.

If you’ve made sufficient attempts to contact your airline with no results, it’s time to call your travel insurance.

[Tracey]

Yes, he was silver all year in 2025. Never reached gold since 2023 when he qualified for 2024. That ended early 2025 and then only qualified to Silver. Now the roll over of 24 nights will mean a single night stay will mean he hits gold. He has a 4 night stay booked. I suggested he check out and re-check in after 1 night, but I doubt he will do so.