We do like to be beside the seaside …. at the new Holiday Inn hotel in Bournemouth

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• Yuff says:

  16 Jul16 July 10:05

  OT: I need to park at Luton airport this Friday and return Saturday evening ( from Heathrow via Uber)
  Parking is coming out at £70 ish. Can anyone suggest a cheaper option.
  Is a mattress run at the HIX a better option?

  • Lady London says:

    16 Jul16 July 11:29

    Haven’t got time to check for you but would holidayextras or one of the airlines flying out of LTN have deals on their website? Otherwise HIX depending what time you need to leave it – parking would not cost much extra but room rate is high for that location.

    I go to LTN by bus whenever I can precisely because of the rubbish with the train (Luton Corporation were too cheap to extend the rail line into the airport so you have the ridiculous pfaff of de=training onto a bus that you wait for…. don’t get me started.!!) and because it’s relatively unfriendly for parking.

    • Lady London says:

      16 Jul16 July 11:30

      PS Rob did a very recent article updating airport parking sources – I presume you’ve already looked at it – there were at least 2 good general parking sites for airports mentioned in the article.

      I am sure you can do better than £70!!

      let us know what you think of the new Clubrooms at LTN if you can get in.

    • Yuff says:

      16 Jul16 July 14:00

      I think it was 10k points when I looked, but I need to leave the car at around 10.30am so they might not let me check in…….

      • Yuff says:

        16 Jul16 July 17:19

        20k….🤦🏻‍♂️

      • Lady London says:

        16 Jul16 July 22:21

        Why not call them and ask what they can do for you?

  • Graham Walsh says:

    16 Jul16 July 11:29

    Have a look on just park web site. Loads of housing around LTN, so must be some on there. A short walk or cab ride to the airport then. You could try the Ibis or HIX that is at the airport, might do a parking deal.

  • Chas says:

    16 Jul16 July 19:18

    Try http://www.airparks.co.uk – I just looked and could get something for c£44. Their car park is in Slip End, c6-7 mins drive from the airport

• lev441 says:

  16 Jul16 July 10:07

  O/T – Got another offer on my plat amex – spend £8,700, get 1,500 bonus MR points… valid on spend 1-31 August.

  Not as appealing as my spend £7,700, get 10,000 bonus MR points!

  • Harvey says:

    16 Jul16 July 12:10

    I got spend £2500 for 1500MR. Over holidays harder

• Benylin says:

  16 Jul16 July 10:08

  OT Help: booking my first reward flight ever, using BA 2-4-1. Booking London to Osaka, and Tokyo to London back

  Pricing up separate one way gives taxes of £387 London to Osaka in Biz, and £104 HND to London in First. So £491 total.

  But on the phone when I book they are charging £574.

  Multiply everything by 2 here as using companion voucher.

  Any ideas? Do I book first leg on-line, then second leg on phone and pray?

  • Rob says:

    16 Jul16 July 10:15

    Looks like BA is not allowed to add fuel surcharges on tickets ISSUED in Japan. Your problem is that a return flight is issued in London, so you’re paying £574. If you were not using the 241 you could book 2 x one-ways.

    (PS. Have you actually clicked through to the payment page to see if the £104 goes up? I didn’t think Tokyo was exempt from fuel surcharges to be honest.)

    • pauldb says:

      16 Jul16 July 10:26

      TYO is not exempt but, for whatever reason, has much lower fuel surcharges on ex-Japan bookings. About £75 I believe.

      Benylin, if you have enough avios you can book the HND-LON online for full, 2x avios, and them call them to have it adjusted for the voucher: i.e. 1x avios refunded.

      • pauldb says:

        16 Jul16 July 10:28

        (I should expand to say that means your inbound is treated as a ex-JP booking and therefore holds on to the lower YQ than were it part of a ex-UK return booking. The higher fees you are being quoted are not a mistake – so this is the only way around it.)

        • Spurs Debs says:

          16 Jul16 July 10:46

          Yes I did two separate bookings as I have the avois, I phoned up to book return and it was all sorted out then.

  • Spurs Debs says:

    16 Jul16 July 10:23

    I paid £387.12 x2 for LHR to HND
    Return £189.90 x 2 from Narita to LHR.

    This was in April/ May this year and I used a 241 voucher.

    • Benylin says:

      16 Jul16 July 22:34

      Thanks guys, unfortunately don’t have enough Avios!

• Liam says:

  16 Jul16 July 10:30

  OT — unlikely to affect most people here directly but the FT has an article today (paywall) about banks in Hong Kong and the US offering air miles instead of interest payments. Not hugely revelatory but interesting to see whether this will spread (I know Virgin Money have offered something similar here in the UK with their savings accounts).

  https://www.ft.com/content/96954aa4-a487-11e9-a282-2df48f366f7d

  • marcw says:

    16 Jul16 July 10:48

    A spanish bank, Popular (now part of Santander) used to have a Travel account linked to IbPlus. Interest was paid in Avios

    • Michael says:

      16 Jul16 July 11:18

      Each to there own but why on earth would you ever accept airmiles over cash.

      • Lady London says:

        16 Jul16 July 11:35

        Worth a punt if interest is negligible, anyway. I guess that’s why people are doing it.
        Bit like accepting payments in a banana republic currency, though, then finding the currency devalues and it’s worth zilch.

        • Alex Sm says:

          20 Jul20 July 10:26

          How much iz zilch? Is this Yiddish currency?

      • Mark2 says:

        16 Jul16 July 11:46

        that depends on the rate, but unlikely to be favourable.

        • Michael says:

          16 Jul16 July 16:26

          It would have to be stupidly good to sway me.

      • Alex Sm says:

        20 Jul20 July 10:43

        The article gives the answer to that (hint: interest rates are too low and _some_ can get a better value from miles, but size of deposit matters here), while for banks it is even a more lucrative proposition:

        “The bank can offer such a generous chunk of Asia Miles because it buys them in bulk at a discount from Cathay, which, in turn, knows that many customers will fail to redeem the rewards before a three-year expiry deadline.”

        • Rob says:

          20 Jul20 July 12:02

          Avios does not do bulk discounts. No-one pays much under 1p. I know one very small partner (now gone) that was paying 2p – more than the public pays.

  • Rob says:

    16 Jul16 July 11:09

    The VM deal has been massively unpopular with HFP readers. It simply isn’t generous enough, and you are also taking a punt on Virgin not devaluing over the next 12 months.

    • Keith says:

      16 Jul16 July 12:39

      They really have to start offering redemptions in upper class to those with no status. There is no incentive otherwise. For example I just booked a return economy flight with VA for £300. Or I could have used 25,000 VA Miles and paid £260 tax, fee & charge. Why on earth would anyone do that when that 25,000 VA can easily get you a couple of nights in a Hilton?

      • Pedantic Pete says:

        16 Jul16 July 15:03

        I’m always amazed how many people on here collect Virgin Australia miles…

        • Keith says:

          16 Jul16 July 15:34

          It’s a HFP comments section, not Hansard.

  • Shoestring says:

    16 Jul16 July 19:36

    just google [In ancient Babylon, banks began paying interest on deposits. Two thousand years later, Standard Chartered has come up with an alternative.]

• nick says:

  16 Jul16 July 10:36

  Booked 4 one way flights from LHR on 6th Aug using Avios. Paid the £70 reward flight saver fee with my Amex Plat.

  Apparently this is the day where BA and Airport staff may strike.

  There is no longer any reward availability either side of my booking.

  Assuming the flight is cancelled – what are my options? and when will I have some assurance?

  • nick says:

    16 Jul16 July 10:41

    * I also hold a BAPP, and intend to use that card to pay the Reward Flight Saver Fee for the 4 inbound flights I intend to book this week.

  • Rob says:

    16 Jul16 July 11:06

    If BA pilots strike then you’re not going anywhere, realistically. Whatever your legal rights, most flights are going out full in August on leisure routes and the seats simply are not there.

    • nick says:

      16 Jul16 July 11:08

      But assuming cash tickets are available (but not avios seats) – BA would move me to the next available flight?

      • Lady London says:

        16 Jul16 July 11:38

        The point is, it’s August and all flights are rammed.
        With the best will in the world from BA, if they do end up with a pilots strike at that time (and I’m not sure they will) then the next available flight could be for only one of you and in three weeks time.

        BA can’t magic seats up out of thin air if they were all already booked.

        However if you can, best to wait and let BA solve the problem – because you will not be as well off if you try to solve it yourself.
        If you can’t wait then pay whatever it takes to get other transport that can be cancelled if the strike does not go ahead, ideally on an airline that is not OneWorld.

        • Lady London says:

          16 Jul16 July 11:41

          And yes, in the case of irrops the airline is supposed not to restrict replacing avios seats, to replacing with avios seats. in that case they will consider cash seats as well to put you in. There does not have to be a replacement avios seat, they will put you in any seat available regardless of whether avios or cash.

          the problem is that in August cash seats are all sold already too.

          Personally I am not so sure the strike will go ahead at that date.

    • BJ says:

      16 Jul16 July 12:39

      I don’t know how many times you are going to have to point this out before it starts to sink in. In almost 40 years of flying I only recall two flights that could be described as half empty, one was an SQ a380 on boxing day and the other a US Airways flight to Philly. Regardless of month of travel, I could probably count on one hand the number of empty seats on the vast majority of flights I have ever taken. Always been surprised by reports on poor loads because it has not been my experience.

      • Optimus Prime says:

        16 Jul16 July 14:02

        About 8 years ago, in February, we flew LHR-JFK with Delta. Economy cabin was truly half empty. Everyone could change seats, lift up arm rests and sleep in a ‘flat bed’ (Air New Zealand style, isn’t it?).

      • The Savage Squirrel says:

        16 Jul16 July 18:24

        I had 4 seats to myself in 2001 and rest of cabin was similar. Probably because it was 5 days after 9/11….

      • Chas says:

        16 Jul16 July 20:15

        Back in the late 90s, I flew back from Bermuda to the UK via New York on Easter Sunday. Both flights were very lightly loaded, and my recollection (perhaps hazy through the eons….) was that the final leg was no more than 20% full. I definitely had 4 seats to myself, and could choose to occupy the full row ahead of me or the one behind me. The F&B service was definitely the swiftest zip have ever experienced in Y.

      • Alex Sm says:

        20 Jul20 July 10:31

        Flights from London to Moscow are often half empty in the low season but the airlines keeps flying the route as it is “prestigious” and losses are offset by expensive tickets in high season and weekends

  • the_real_a says:

    16 Jul16 July 12:22

    Don’t forget on Amex plat – in addition to all the other advice here – you have “travel inconvenience” insurance upto £100 per person to spend on whatever you like regardless of the reason of delay of more than 4 hours.

• Rk says:

  16 Jul16 July 10:44

  O/T – in last weeks HFP summer party comments someone mentioned a whatsapp tier point run group

  Not sure who runs the group, but would appreciate being added to it

  Thanks
  RK

  • RK says:

    16 Jul16 July 10:45

    Forgot to add….Happy to provide my contact details via HFP

    • Polly says:

      16 Jul16 July 12:27

      Check with Michele on Turning Left for Less. They do one most years. Last one was to LAS which was hilarious. Such a runaround some of them did!
      Think the one you really want is Flyertalk tho!

      • Rk says:

        16 Jul16 July 12:59

        Thanks Polly

• Andrew says:

  16 Jul16 July 11:02

  Bergamo is well worth a visit in itself, lovely citadel with good restaurants. I much prefer it to Milan.

• RWJ says:

  16 Jul16 July 12:25

  O/T – What information does Amex need to verify when making a purchase? Is it full name and first line of address or is it postcode?

  • Rob says:

    16 Jul16 July 13:11

    Not the name. Address given must match the registered address.

    • Roy says:

      16 Jul16 July 13:41

      The address match is generally done by postcode plus address numerics (which basically boils down to house number) I believe.

      • Charlieface says:

        16 Jul16 July 14:25

        Indeed, Visa and MC also do this. Pad the postcode numbers with zeros to the right on USA websites. Amex also don’t verify the country.

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