The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 10th November

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• Benilyn says:

  10 Nov10 November 18:50

  DPs: Took 1hr 50min to get through (about 1hr ago) to Virgin Atlantic CS to transfer points to Hilton.

  • Andrew says:

    10 Nov10 November 20:03

    Ring at 7am on the dot and you get through instantly.

    • Harrier25 says:

      10 Nov10 November 20:36

      I bet because everyone and me are waking up to Nick Ferrari at that time of day! 😂

      • Richie says:

        10 Nov10 November 21:17

        Some are liistening to Julia Hartley Brewer.

• FatherOfFour says:

  10 Nov10 November 18:55

  I’ve read recommendations to use the BA Japan call centre as a fall back to the US office when trying to bag reward flights. Just tried from Skype and listened to 30 seconds of Japanese spiel (suppose that’s to be expected) before hanging up to preserve Skype credit. Has anyone any experience of using this route? Will I just be transferred to a multilingual agent in the Asian call centre, or do I need to press a series of options (if so which?!)

  • H says:

    10 Nov10 November 19:06

    it does work well – I had to hold about 5-10 minutes after pressing the option for English which comes fairly quickly and then got moved to India.

    • FatherOfFour says:

      10 Nov10 November 20:59

      Thanks, I presume if I listen for long enough it will tell me to “Press [n] for English”?

      • QFFlyer says:

        11 Nov11 November 08:15

        Hong Kong does. Option 2 for English, so if you cba to wait, just try that.

• Charlie says:

  10 Nov10 November 18:56

  I’m choosing a new piece of hand baggage and am wondering if there’s a popular size choice, and am considering this one (with the 10,000 avios bonus):

  https://www.rimowa.com/gb/en/luggage/colour/blue/cabin-s/82352604.html
  Size is 55 x 37 x 20 CM

  Of the UK airlines, thos size is fine for Easyjet and BA, but bizarrely not Virgin Atlantic. Also no good for Ryanair but not surprised about that at all.

  Any recommendations?!

  • KP says:

    10 Nov10 November 19:09

    I have the one slightly larger than that and never had an issue taking it. But then again i havent ever taken it on ryanair or easyjet

  • Anna says:

    10 Nov10 November 19:21

    Much cheaper and I haven’t tested them extensively but Aerolite hard shell cabin bags are the right size for both easyJet and Ryanair and look nice as well.

  • Andrew says:

    10 Nov10 November 21:18

    It’s not really bizarre. Virgin is a Transatlantic focussed airline and most of the US competitor airlines are in the region of 55/56 x 35 x 20/23 for a carry on.

    And if you are connecting with a AA flight in the US, your BA approved cabin luggage will be refused at the gate if it’s bigger than 56x36x23 and won’t fit in the sizers.

    • Liam says:

      10 Nov10 November 21:44

      I don’t think I have ever seen someone’s cabin luggage be deemed too large to take onto the plane, certainly not if it’s marginal enough to be placed in one of the sizers. Come to think of it I’m not sure I’ve ever seen those sizers being used (maybe on a Ryanair flight a long time ago). I fly quite a bit domestically in the US and the size of some of the suitcases that people bring on board (or just the sheer number of them) is incredible.

  • Richie says:

    10 Nov10 November 21:25

    US FAA size has 36.8 cm for one dimension, Virgin’s is slightly smaller at 36cm, perhaps they’re trying to comply.

  • Tariq says:

    10 Nov10 November 22:48

    Not taken mine on VS, but I’ll tell you my one annoyance with it – the positioning of the retract button in the telescopic handle. When I’m holding another bag together with the handle, I’m constantly pressing the button by mistake. :/

• ACK says:

  10 Nov10 November 19:05

  Noob question, sorry. I’m looking to book a domestic AA flight, as it happens to be cheaper than UA or DL. Did some research and it appears that the same flight earns more avios as a BA marketed AA metal, compared to buying directly from AA. BA’s ba.com says no availability, but they do have a codeshare flight number. Apart from calling them, is there another way to book a BA marketed AA metal flight? Or am I chasing my shadow? Thank you.

  • Andy says:

    10 Nov10 November 20:50

    Might be BA codeshare because they sell it as part of a connecting flight out of London, but not available as a standalone domestic flight for sale?

  • ChrisC says:

    10 Nov10 November 20:51

    BA can’t sell standalone US domestic flights online.

    I think they can over the phone though.

    • Nigel W says:

      10 Nov10 November 21:42

      I managed to book one via Avios last week

      • ChrisC says:

        10 Nov10 November 21:53

        That’s an exception – but irrelevent to the quesion posted.

        ACK said it was a cash fare

    • CH says:

      11 Nov11 November 01:08

      It’s not possible to book standalone domestic US flights with a BA (or indeed, any foreign airline) flight number; this would be possible only as part of a same-day international connection.

• HBommie says:

  10 Nov10 November 19:21

  Bonvoy points redeemable on Ritz Carlton Yacht, may be an aspirational target.

  • N says:

    10 Nov10 November 19:57

    redemption rate is balls

    • Hbommie says:

      10 Nov10 November 20:56

      As expected

  • Benilyn says:

    10 Nov10 November 21:51

    What is the cash prices? Can’t seem to find without asking for a quote

    • HBommie says:

      11 Nov11 November 09:32

      Select a cruise and the prices appear.

• Rob says:

  10 Nov10 November 21:03

  Why not gamble £2 and find out?

  • Toby says:

    11 Nov11 November 10:21

    Will do!

• David says:

  10 Nov10 November 21:10

  Has anybody been through LAX immigration and if so what is the wait time like – thanks!

  • Liam says:

    10 Nov10 November 21:46

    I have Global Entry so haven’t had to stand in the foreigners’ immigration line for a couple of years but if it’s anything like that you could be waiting for an hour or so. That said, I did come through a couple of weeks ago (mid-afternoon landing on a Tuesday) and it didn’t seem like the immigration queues were as long as I’ve seen them before. That was before the lifting of the travel restrictions on visitors from the UK and Europe, though.

• James Costin says:

  10 Nov10 November 21:30

  Does anyone have any experience with the waiting lists for Amex Platinum Experiences? I put myself on the list for one of the upcoming events and was wondering about the likelihood of actually getting a place.

  • Anthony says:

    10 Nov10 November 23:36

    I put my name down for one of the events this morning just after it went from available to waiting list. I got an email about fifteen minutes later telling me i was at the front of the queue. The email said though that the position in the queue would be held for 24 hours so it might take some time for the queue to clear down

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.