Chat thread – Tuesday 14th December

[dst87]

JimBurgessHill wrote:

Any tips on how to avoid paying a staggering £380 (two of us) for pre-assigned seats!

Everything I’ve read (mostly here) suggests that there are no bad Club Suite seats so… just don’t bother?

[dst87]

Barraclough wrote:

The forums and new chat line are settling in and it will take time. I do think we need to give it a chance, especially as it’s only been found for one day, and provide feedback with suggestions on how to improve it, as requested by Rob and Rhys. The old chat line had a lot of repetition, grumbles from the regular posters who disliked certain topics, and it was difficult to search. I’ve found in life that changes can take about three weeks to get used to so let’s hang on in there!

I agree – best to give it time! I think it may turn out to be a mistake to continue the daily chat thread at all, but we’ll see. It’s new, and takes time to settle in. But… forums make the most sense when a thread is confined to one topic. Having a daily chat thread makes it harder, and I reckon most conversation topics in the daily thread would be better as topics.

Perhaps we need an Off Topic Lounge forum category so individual topics of conversation can be grouped together and not have to happen in one mega chat thread. There’s no reason most topics of conversations should be confined to a particular day. 🤷‍♂️

[cinereus]

dst87 wrote:

Barraclough wrote:

There’s no reason most topics of conversations should be confined to a particular day. 🤷‍♂️

Agreed. There’s no logic behind this now there’s no longer the restriction of WordPress posts for organising comments.

Similarly, one of the most contentious issues previously was the pagination. Now we have authentication cookies to tie preferences to, there’s no reason why we can’t choose to have, say, 100 posts per page instead of only ten or so which would save a huge amount of time and frustration.

[AJA]

Another slightly annoying thing is the text size on my mobile it’s very small when typing a post which is not great. Reading posts the text size is a bit bigger.

[Super Secret Stuff]

@TimM Surely Antalya is cold at the moment?

• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by Super Secret Stuff.

[past1999]

Good morning all; glad to be part of this Forum. Quick question and hope someone here can advise. I’m currently having terrible problems with Emirates Customer Services in the UK over a dispute with a recent flight back from Dubai in their “new Premium Economy” cabin. The Customer Service rep I am dealing with (in the UK) is refusing to escalate and is now a bottle neck in getting an amicable resolution. Anyone got any advice/contacts/names for Senior Emirates Customer Service directors or Customer Experience leaders at Emirates to whom I can reach out to? Appreciate any guidance or advice!

[Richie]

JimBurgessHill wrote:

I’m a happy chap this morning! Got BA flights to San Diego in June. Just checked seat map to find that aircraft is now A350-1000 with Club Suite as opposed to 777 non-suite!

Any tips on how to avoid paying a staggering £380 (two of us) for pre-assigned seats!

Are you likely to attain BA Bronze/Silver status soon? If so, there’s no point paying. BA’s A351 has fewer ‘bad’ seats than an old club B777.

[Not Long Now...]

On the seat assignment issue, in a not particularly representative or necessarily accurate sample size, has anyone actually not been able to sit with their travelling companion on a flight? The few times we haven’t chosen seats in advance, we’ve always ended up together, and the odd times we’ve specifically picked seats apart with the intention of asking someone to swap with one of us, they always have. Maybe we’ve been extremely lucky, but my feeling is that it is very rare to be seperated by BA. Granted, some seats (at the moment) are better than others, but the idea of paying such high fees to ensure something which, granted only in my experience, has never happened, seems a definite no go.

[can]

I can see the tears already, but I will protest this quote/reply mess and not participate in this daily chat anymore. It used to be so much fun for me, and look at the mess we are in now..

[Rhys]

can wrote:

I can see the tears already, but I will protest this quote/reply mess and not participate in this daily chat anymore. It used to be so much fun for me, and look at the mess we are in now..

This is being fixed shortly, bear with us!

[NorthernLass]

Not Long Now… wrote:

On the seat assignment issue, in a not particularly representative or necessarily accurate sample size, has anyone actually not been able to sit with their travelling companion on a flight? The few times we haven’t chosen seats in advance, we’ve always ended up together, and the odd times we’ve specifically picked seats apart with the intention of asking someone to swap with one of us, they always have. Maybe we’ve been extremely lucky, but my feeling is that it is very rare to be seperated by BA. Granted, some seats (at the moment) are better than others, but the idea of paying such high fees to ensure something which, granted only in my experience, has never happened, seems a definite no go.

Been separated from our teenager twice ever. Once in CW where the lady next to us was happy to swap with him, and once in CE where they put him on row 1 and he refused to give up the seat for either of us 🤣. Not an issue in either case. I don’t know if it was BA being cynical by seating a young person away from the parents or a genuine random computer thing.

[JimBurgessHill]

Richie wrote:

JimBurgessHill wrote:

I’m a happy chap this morning! Got BA flights to San Diego in June. Just checked seat map to find that aircraft is now A350-1000 with Club Suite as opposed to 777 non-suite!

Any tips on how to avoid paying a staggering £380 (two of us) for pre-assigned seats!

Are you likely to attain BA Bronze/Silver status soon? If so, there’s no point paying. BA’s A351 has fewer ‘bad’ seats than an old club B777.

Thanks for the various replies folks. I will sit tight rather than pay £380 for the assigned seats!

[lev441]

Just double checking.. can you easily travel between Dubai and Abu Dhabi now?

• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by lev441. Reason: Questionn change

[Laura]

Morning 🙂

Are LoganAir offering the day trips to Barra again this winter? Can’t find any information online about it anymore

[elguiri]

BA asking me to use verifly app before returning from TFS. From what I’ve read on here, it’s only worth using verifly if you are hand luggage only?
Can I just ignore this, or is it smoother to do the verifly thing too? We have checked luggage, for avoidance of doubt.

[BuildBackBetter]

LizJ wrote:

I know this has been asked many times, but I can’t track down a previous thread.

If I’m looking to cancel a 241 avios redemption (sad times as was also 50% off) am I better of taking FTV or paying the cancellation fee? This is for an old style 241 so wanting flexibility to use those avios with the premium plus voucher instead. If I take FTV, can I later get this converted to avios (and tax refund)?

Thanks very much!

This is exactly why we need to stop the daily threads.
Until that happens, most people won’t take the forum seriously.

[n166]

great to be on the forums finally!

less flight related and more investing related – what do finance guys on here think of the possibility of an impending ‘crash’ or further pullback in stocks? seems like there is a big announcement on interest rates tomorrow by the US Fed that might swing it one way or the other?

[Nate1309]

Aren’t most Club Suites the same? seems a waste to book for that amount of cash imo.

[BuildBackBetter]

n166 wrote:

great to be on the forums finally!

less flight related and more investing related – what do finance guys on here think of the possibility of an impending ‘crash’ or further pullback in stocks? seems like there is a big announcement on interest rates tomorrow by the US Fed that might swing it one way or the other?

Rate hike expectations are mostly already baked in. The question is about the timing.
If you invest for long term, ignore the noise. If you want your money back in less than 3 years, move it to a savings account.

[JDB]

elguiri wrote:

BA asking me to use verifly app before returning from TFS. From what I’ve read on here, it’s only worth using verifly if you are hand luggage only?
Can I just ignore this, or is it smoother to do the verifly thing too? We have checked luggage, for avoidance of doubt.

We were asked to do VeriFLY from MEX last week. It’s very quick and easy, so nothing to lose. We had luggage and the guy at the desk asked if we had done VeriFLY and as soon as he saw the green OK, didn’t want to see anything else whereas others at adjacent desks had slow scrutiny of PLF, test bookings and vaccine certs, so it was worth doing.

[Alan Todd]

Laura wrote:

Morning 🙂

Are LoganAir offering the day trips to Barra again this winter? Can’t find any information online about it anymore

Yes, I booked a few days ago for February. Availability was a bit limited but managed to find a day that suited.
Can’t seem to post the link but the webpage is still active. Must be booked by phoning booking line on 0344 800 2855.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by Alan Todd.

[elguiri]

JDB wrote:

elguiri wrote:

BA asking me to use verifly app before returning from TFS. From what I’ve read on here, it’s only worth using verifly if you are hand luggage only?
Can I just ignore this, or is it smoother to do the verifly thing too? We have checked luggage, for avoidance of doubt.

We were asked to do VeriFLY from MEX last week. It’s very quick and easy, so nothing to lose. We had luggage and the guy at the desk asked if we had done VeriFLY and as soon as he saw the green OK, didn’t want to see anything else whereas others at adjacent desks had slow scrutiny of PLF, test bookings and vaccine certs, so it was worth doing.

Thanks for replying. I think I’ve had to download about 5 apps for this holiday so far. But if it makes things easier I’m not going to complain.

[JDB]

n166 wrote:

great to be on the forums finally!

less flight related and more investing related – what do finance guys on here think of the possibility of an impending ‘crash’ or further pullback in stocks? seems like there is a big announcement on interest rates tomorrow by the US Fed that might swing it one way or the other?

I have been investing for 40+ years and markets look/feel very toppy to me. People need to do what’s right for them, but I have taken a lot of money off the table after spectacular gains in markets since the March 2020. One also wants to be positioned in remaining holdings for inflation/stagflation, rates eventually going up and stocks that still either offer value or genuine long term growth potential at an acceptable price. Therein lies the peril of index funds!

[Rhys]

BA have announced their Gatwick flights for next year, all fully bookable: https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2021/12/14/british-airways-new-gatwick-routes-unveiled/

[Gary]

Chat thread is very difficult to follow. Used to be such a relaxing read but has turned into a memory exercise matching questions to replies. Also some beloved regular posters seem MIA.