[yonasl]

You can use Kayak and it does that for free

[yonasl]

Was it the cheapest economy tariff? You don’t get bonus TP on that one (even if BA flight number and all that).

[yonasl]

So many questions

[yonasl]

Btw, you can get some finnair avios by crediting an Avis rental.

I don’t think there is much difference in earning between them, BA and IB so a good way of keeping other transfer accounts alive.

[yonasl]

One thing you cannot fault Finnair. They clearly say when the avios will expire on your profile.

[yonasl]

The BBC has an article today about the energy and buzz (pun intended) of Manchester.

Part of it seems to be their “amazing” airport.

I never had the chance to fly there but the little I know from fellow forum members seems to point to a different reality …

Could Manchester be a model for the UK to kickstart growth? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0ljgzjwjx3o

[yonasl]

My sis just got her Amex gold renewed. If she cancels, is the refund pro-rata? I lost track of the different card schemes. Thanks!

[yonasl]

You can use all OW lounges but some may be full and prioritise their own clients (I don´t know who Finnaair´s has a deal with when that happens).

Which one to use depends on what you are looking for. People rave about Cathay´s but it is not the best if what you want is a place to have drinks with your friends (it is very quiet) and food is noodles, dim sums and other asian specialties (so if looking for something else then Quantas or even BA seem to be the solid favorites).

[yonasl]

So here’s what actually ended up happening:

* I booked a BA Holidays package (flight + hotel) as a single bundled price — no separate breakdown for flight, hotel, or car. Paid the usual deposit, then the full balance about four weeks before departure.

* After flying the outbound sector (operated by JAL), my partner and I both got nTPs for that flight. We definitely shouldn’t have.

* Then, about a week after the return, we both received the BAH nTP credit, calculated as half of the total package cost each.

I’m obviously not going to complain about getting extra nTPs, but what a mess. We ended up getting Avios and nTPs based on the BAH package cost, on top of Avios and nTPs for one of the flights. Why BA decided to credit it this way is anyone’s guess — completely unclear, but I’ll take it.
One positive takeaway: newer BAH bookings now explicitly show how many Avios and nTPs you’ll earn. That’s actually a big improvement, as it’s finally clear upfront rather than some mysterious back‑office calculation that may or may not work as advertised.

[yonasl]

I asked that on a similar thread the other day and was rightly told that if they did HfP would be first to report about that.

Doesn’t take away the fact we are all waiting to see what happens next. I only hope the £25,000 number does not change or it may make things complicated.

[yonasl]

I remember being in FRA years ago when the war in Syria and the queue at immigration (pre-brexit) was ridiculously long. A lady mentioned to two policeman that were just walking around why the delays and they told her in a nasty tone “just fly earlier next time”.

When my partner got the the booth and presented her Romanian passport they asked her for a “return ticket”. I almost flipped at that point and told the guy what his problem was and didn’t he check the EU freedom of movement rules at the time which meant his question was completely unfounded.

I don’t know about BA but my experience of FRA remains that of a regional airport and not a truly international venue since then.

[yonasl]

I will just say this, don’t rely too much on what you can see online. Most people that post stuff have had a lot of issues and most are from countries that struggle to get a visa to start with.

For instance if you are a EU student going to the US and google how hard it is to get a visa you discover most experiences are from asia/far-asia students that have much bigger thresholds to prove.

Most people I know (me included) that have ever required a special US visa (student, work, etc) have never had issues. Just prepare your paperwork and go to your scheduled meeting.

[yonasl]

Two one ways are not always equal to a return flight. I recently had that too with a LHR to HND flight (it was more expensive to book LHR-HND-LHR – in terms of cash – than to do each leg separately).

That said, you did the correct thing booking your outbound with the voucher, then the return and now calling to put them together as one ticket and getting half of the avios back.

1) The cash portion may change and it does as you are being told. This you need to pay.
2) It is INCORRECT to charge you a fee to cancel the outbound or inbound. What the agent should do is merge them and charge you the cash difference while he/she refunds the avios. No booking is being cancelled.

I recommend you hang up and call again. That person did not understand how this works.

[yonasl]

AndrewT wrote:

It doesn’t affect the underlying issue, but if you’re using an esim for data connectivity why can’t you receive text messages to your physical sim?

As long as you remember to turn off voicemail (and don’t get tempted to answer any incoming calls) you can receive SMS messages and know who’s been trying to call you for no cost.

It is usually free to receive SMS when abroad. But the problem is you need to be able to reply to those SMS to allow the transaction. If you don’t the card gets blocked.

[yonasl]

While a lot of people rave about the CC lounge (for many good reasons). It is far superior in Asian food but is also quite quiet and made for single people or couples.

If you want to eat (specially if your choice of breakfast is not rice porridge in the mornings) and have a drink Qantas may be better.

[yonasl]

I think it is around 86,000 Avios from HEL with Finnair. Cash component is equally low.

[yonasl]

Maybe a new “feature” of the voucher.

Soon we will hear BA announce this was a widely requested feature.

[yonasl]

If you just want the snow but don’t care about skiing then just go where there is snow. You will find the white stuff in the nordics, Eastern Europe, etc. Ski resorts attract a very high premium, plenty of snow in many other places!

[yonasl]

Sometimes the best thing you can do in Y, if not very busy, is to try to wait until the last minute and at the airport when checking in (helps if you do it on the J check in) see if there are rows of 3 that are still empty. I have managed to get a few poor-man business class seats using this method. It is harder if you are 2 but having a middle seat empty would also be welcome.

At the end of the day, it is Y so not much you can do to make the experience better.

[yonasl]

The amazing thing here is that QR treats BA status holders better than BA.

(On a recent GVA to LHR the BA crew went around the plane saying hi to Gold members and trying to offer them champagne and what not. Never seen that so proactively before so maybe some changes are being made)

[yonasl]

It is pretty clear here: https://www.britishairways.com/content/the-british-airways-club/about-tier-points/holidays?msockid=19d82e89348367981a3e3b73357866cb

A qualifying holiday is any “Flight + Hotel” , “Flight + Car” or “Flight + Hotel + Car” booking made with British Airways Holidays in one transaction, where only one total price is shown and prices of the elements such a “flight” and/or “hotel/car” aren’t shown.

Make sure you do not book a flight and afterwards add a hotel or car. You should be quoted a SINGLE price and not each element separately.

You get BAEC Tier Points:
– flying BA or other OW airlines
– Booking a BAH holiday
– Buying fuel (weird)
– Amex spend (will see if that continues)

Some people are getting confused with what a BAH exactly is so once again:

A qualifying holiday is any “Flight + Hotel” , “Flight + Car” or “Flight + Hotel + Car” booking made with British Airways Holidays in one transaction, where only one total price is shown and prices of the elements such a “flight” and/or “hotel/car” aren’t shown.

[yonasl]

The soft landing is for the whole next year.

So if you are gold now and did not fly at all. In April 2026 you will drop to silver. A year after you should drop to bronze on April 2027 until April 2028. (So technically you can have benefits for 2 more BA years)

April 2024-2025: You flew a lot and got Gold at some point
April 2025-2026: You enjoy your 2nd year of Gold but get no TPs
April 2026-2027: You drop to silver and continue to enjoy the benefits without gaining any TPs
April 2027-2028: You drop to bronze
April 2028-2029: You drop to blue

[yonasl]

You will drop from Gold to Silver (and more or less have the same benefits really).

So no need to spend to reach silver as you will have that level until March 2027 regardless of how much you travel these next couple of months.

[yonasl]

I’m sufficiently irritated to have simply booked elsewhere. We have gone back to the days of a mediæval bazaar.

Most likely any other website you use also belongs to the same group.

[yonasl]

Wait until you see the difference of booking over a web browser vs. their mobile app!