Excellent £1,500 UK to Johannesburg business class flight deal with Qatar Airways

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• BJ says:

  19 Aug19 August 12:11

  OT: Looks like there are new amex offers for Hilton stays in the USA.

  • BJ says:

    19 Aug19 August 12:21

    Or maybe not, a bit weird, appears as a banner on my dad’s account telling him he can find it in his offers but it’s not there. Just checked my four cards and not on any of them.

    • LB says:

      19 Aug19 August 13:14

      I had the same last week. It only appeared once and I couldn’t find it within my offers either!

    • Doug M says:

      19 Aug19 August 13:18

      Likewise. More Amex IT glitches

      • bsuije says:

        19 Aug19 August 15:01

        Re glitches – I just saw a Shop Small advert on the front page. Clicked through and it took me to the Shop Small map, etc. Got excited, went to my offers and there was nothing there… Sigh…

        There were no links to sign up for the offer from the map, either…

  • Andrew says:

    19 Aug19 August 13:18

    Just the one that’s been there for a month or so for me.

    “Spend £500 in the US and get £100” – offer ends 31/10/2019

    (Grabbed the Pret offer that appeared this morning though. Spend 4x £5+ and get £6 back)

    • meta says:

      19 Aug19 August 18:44

      Yes an interesting offer. I have it on 5 of my cards (both main and supp). That’s free lunch sorted for the next month.

      • Mrs_Fussy says:

        19 Aug19 August 20:42

        Hello
        Where is the Pret offer appearing pls ? Is it on amex cards ?

        • Rob says:

          19 Aug19 August 20:55

          Not on any of mine, just checked, which is a pain!

• Humphrey says:

  19 Aug19 August 12:12

  OT – have looked on the site but can’t find an answer (although I bet it’s there somewhere). Have upgraded from free BA Amex to the paid one having already spent £15k, and have received 2-for-1 voucher but it only has a 1 year expiry. Should it not be 2 years as it was triggered by the paid Amex card?

  • FCP says:

    19 Aug19 August 13:05

    You mention ‘having already spent the 15k”
    If you spent 15k while having the free card you will get 1 year only.
    Only need to hit 10k with the paid card.

    • Humphrey says:

      19 Aug19 August 13:09

      Yes, spent 15k out of the 20k on the free card, which then triggered on the paid card as it was over 10k (if that makes sense!)

      • TGLoyalty says:

        19 Aug19 August 18:04

        It makes sense but it would have been better to spend £9,999 on the free then go over on the paid as the voucher would then have triggered with 2 years expiry.

        You are now in this odd situation that means you’ll have to contact customer services and get it changed.

        • Humphrey says:

          20 Aug20 August 10:05

          Thanks TGLoyalty, BA Customer services or Amex Customer Services?

• BSI1978 says:

  19 Aug19 August 12:40

  OT but looking for some Rio guidance please.

  Have a hotel booked on Copacabana (Windsor Miramar) next month but an increasing number of pals are suggesting we’d be better off in hotel on/near Ipanema.

  I don’t think we’re actually that far away in truth but would welcome any thoughts/advice.

  TIA

  • Michael says:

    19 Aug19 August 13:29

    Ipanema and Leblon are both nicer neighbourhoods in my opinion, lots of really great places to eat out and soak up the atmosphere. Copacabana is still very nice but it’s more touristy and the beach isn’t as nice. Absolutely amazing city, hope you have a great time!

    • BJ says:

      19 Aug19 August 14:43

      +1 but I still have a soft spot for Copacabana and would probably stay there out of peak season and it is also that bit more convenient. However, somebody commented a few weeks back that the beach there has be washed away. I doubt they have reestablished it already so that settles the issue I should think.

      • BSI1978 says:

        19 Aug19 August 15:44

        Thanks BJ – although strangely enough I can’t find any recent information on the beach having washed away.

        • BJ says:

          19 Aug19 August 16:09

          I ouldn’t either but the person who posted it insisted it was legitimate.information.

        • BJ says:

          19 Aug19 August 16:10

          *couldn’t

        • Sloth says:

          19 Aug19 August 23:18

          I think they were winding BJ up…

  • Michael C says:

    19 Aug19 August 15:56

    Stayed at this Windsor last Christmas, & enjoyed the location.
    Ipanema is totally walkable, but in addition you have the Copacabana night market/beachside bars right on your doorstep. And the Belmond for ice creams in the evening.
    We had a beach-facing room which was really quite spacious, and b/fast was decent (although the staff too overbearing).

    Having said all that, we’ll stay in Ipanema next year, just to have that on our doorstep and do everything the other way round.

    You can’t really NOT have a fantastic time!

• LewisB says:

  19 Aug19 August 12:43

  OT: Any tips for booking Qantas from either Sydney / Melbourne / Brisbane to Los Angeles or San Francisco? I can’t pull up a single seat for either route, tried multiple dates throughout 2020. I’m trying to plan my two-carrier avios ticket to go around the world in 2021. Looks Like I can hit it just under 20,000 miles if I fly back from the US with Virgin.

  • BJ says:

    19 Aug19 August 14:53

    Still a while away so watch out for China Southern who are rumoured to be be joining One World. Nothing with JAL or AA? I would imagine availability to USA is better out of Japan than on CX out of HKG.

  • bsuije says:

    19 Aug19 August 15:12

    Is it perhaps that your dates are too far out? I just tried a random date in March (12th, in case it’s of any use) and could find Economy availability on both AA and BA’s websites (incl. a Qantas option) for SYD-LAX.

    • bsuije says:

      19 Aug19 August 15:16

      Just re-read your post and considering you’re planning a trip in 2021, your dates are almost definitely too far out. BA releases Avios seats 355 days in advance; I don’t know what Qantas’ policy is – try Googling. Once you find out, earmark the flights you want and as soon as availability is open (and I do mean AS SOON AS – people have been known to stay up til the wee hours and to ring up BA call centers in Japan / US in order to secure redemptions as soon as they appear, though there should be less pressure with Economy tickets) ring up (BA probably) and get your tickets booked.

      • BJ says:

        19 Aug19 August 16:15

        I think Lewis knows this and is just researching next year to get a handle on when flights might be released, and possible alternative routings. However, the latter probably puts him over his limits.

        • LewisB says:

          19 Aug19 August 20:31

          Yes I know about the 355 days in advance. Its more of seeing how likely each leg would be achievable given how flexible you need to be for these tickets to work. As mentioned its seems Qantas are tight on the business / first redemptions across the Pacific. I could find some availability from Cathay and AA fairly easily but as BJ said it throws me well over the 20,000 miles threshold. Japan is one of my favourite countries but I’ve been plenty of times. Sydney – Tokyo is just under 5,000 miles so I would need to cough up another 40,000 avios.

  • Lyn says:

    19 Aug19 August 18:00

    Qantas tends to be stingy about releasing First and Business trans Pacific seats, especially in the Australian school holidays and they often disappear quickly once they are released. If you have BA status they may be able to open something up over the phone?

    Premium economy and economy are easier. In case you haven’t tried it, Qantas premium economy is good – definitely business minus service rather than economy plus.

    The Qantas web-site is useful for searching for awards since it uses a calendar (choose flexible dates).

• Spaghetti Town says:

  19 Aug19 August 12:49

  OT: Anyone else having issues with the virgin money credit card app? Complete load of rubbish.

  • Grant says:

    19 Aug19 August 13:14

    By issues, do you mean logging in? I don’t seem to be able to log-in via the app today. The app is basic but useful enough (when it allows you to log-in)

    • Spaghetti Town says:

      19 Aug19 August 13:15

      yeah logging in, it’s fine apart from that

      • Alan says:

        19 Aug19 August 13:19

        Couldn’t log in via the website this morning either.

  • BJ says:

    19 Aug19 August 14:55

    After some initial difficulties mine has worked perfectly on android for the last few months.

  • Graham Walsh says:

    19 Aug19 August 18:35

    Never been able to log in on either iOS or Android. Given up

  • Harry T says:

    19 Aug19 August 18:35

    It’s usually quite buggy and slow for me. Used to work better before the update.

• Eugene says:

  19 Aug19 August 15:18

  The password etc is a bit tricky, I changed mine to facial recognition so it’s much faster now. The weakness of the site is payment.unlike say Amex or MBNA it doesn’t store a saved debit card so you have to drag it out every time you want to pay. First world problem though 🙂

• BJ says:

  19 Aug19 August 15:34

  O/T: The Times and The Sun have been running articles on scheduled 737MAX aircraft and inability to refund or change bookings. Whether airlines should be able to schedule and sell seats on an aircraft that is not cleared for operations is an interesting question.
  https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/9750516/boeing-737-max-flights-booked/

  • Shoestring says:

    19 Aug19 August 17:34

    they’re not selling seats on a particular aircraft – they’re selling seats on a route from A to B

    the airlines concerned can switch aircraft as they see fit

    and of course they can substitute other aircraft for the 737 Max, if they see fit &/ or it is not approved for flying

    of course nobody is entitled to a refund if they fear they might end up on a 737 Max, it’s either going to be approved to fly or not, at the time of their flight – tough titty if you’re scared on flying on a plane that has ditched twice and lost a few passengers, it won’t be approved to fly again until they sort out the issues with MCAS so the ditching won’t be repeated

    • BJ says:

      19 Aug19 August 18:08

      Yes, I know that but do you have sufficient confidence in the FAA to fly this plane as soon as they issue an airworthiness certificate or would you be more inclined to wait a while and see? Would you book a flight knowing it was scheduled or would you turn to another carrier that does not operate them?

      • Max? No thanks! says:

        19 Aug19 August 18:52

        You can do what you want but just don’t expect a refund (or valid claim on insurance)

      • Shoestring says:

        19 Aug19 August 19:14

        i think I would actually be bothered enough to avoid them for the first year after the 737 Max gets re-certified, not that I normally care enough about which plane I fly

        I looked up the stats a few months ago and the chances of ditching in an old 737 Max were pretty minimal in the first place – still, better to avoid taking unnecessary & avoidable risks, I guess

        • Shoestring says:

          19 Aug19 August 19:21

          I think Boeing are going to have to bring in something like ‘free $1m life insurance for all people flying the 737 Max’

          just in case number 3 ditches and a few more people end up feeding the sharks

        • BJ says:

          19 Aug19 August 19:47

          I read an article in an Air Asia inflight magazine about safety of flying some years ago. One comment from it that has always stuck in my mind was that deaths on roads in the USA alone in each of the previous 50 years had exceeded the total deaths in air accident worldwide over the whole 50 years. If that was correct, and I have no reason to doubt it, we should be much more worried about going to the airport than getting on the plane. Still, I too am hesitant to fly this aircraft until I see it prove itself in service. I think the fear is that whilst most people believe they will more likely than not survive even a serious car accident, the opposite belief is true of air accidents. This in itself is increasingly questionable these days though with some remarkable escapes from air accidents in recent years.

        • Doug M says:

          19 Aug19 August 20:56

          If you drive to the airport you’re doing both 🙂
          Yes I think RTA deaths in the US run to over 30K per year. In the 70’s it was more like 50K. I know watching a Vietnam war documentary once a supporter said so what, that’s less than a singe year of road deaths and no one cares about that.

        • BJ says:

          19 Aug19 August 22:06

          @Doug, good point, I mean the ‘doing both’ bit 🙂 But, still probably safer than staying in our own homes where most accidents reportedly happen.

        • Lady London says:

          20 Aug20 August 16:39

          That’s my excuse for travelling @BJ

  • Lady London says:

    19 Aug19 August 23:06

    You are a cheerful lot today!

• Graham Walsh says:

  19 Aug19 August 18:32

  OT Anyone recommend car hire in Barbados. Going in October and think a car would be wise to explore around.

  • Road Trip says:

    19 Aug19 August 18:49

    Same Q….but for LA pickup, dropping off SFO a week later – we will probably seek a decent convertible

    I think a few HFP’ers have sailed along the Pacific Coast Highway 🙂

    • Doug M says:

      19 Aug19 August 21:02

      PCH is great. Depending on when, convertibles great when it’s not too hot.

      • Car says:

        20 Aug20 August 15:10

        We’re going late October
        Hopefully still decent weather
        And hopefully a convertible remains viable

    • Peter K says:

      19 Aug19 August 23:25

      Don’t go for Dollar at LA airport. They don’t have convertibles. They will sell you one online but it won’t exist in reality and they will just shrug their shoulders.

  • Peter K says:

    19 Aug19 August 23:23

    It’s late so you may not see this but we found drive-a-matic to be good on Barbados. We booked it via our hotel because it was cheaper than booking other companies or direct online. They delivered to our hotel and we took it back to the airport. We arrived a little late but no excess charged…they were not bothered at all. Unlike a lot places in Barbados they accepted Amex.
    A car is DEFINITELY recommended for Barbados, though it is quite easy to get lost once off the beaten track so a sat nav would be recommended. The road signs are poor to say the least.

  • Simon says:

    20 Aug20 August 03:02

    Here now. Stoutes very good.

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