[NorthernLass]

Bill wrote:

easyJet have put Oct and Nov 22 on sale. 300 euro one way on my dates from Tenerife to Gatwick. No thanks

I’ve managed to move flights to PMI to October half term for £0.00 extra – I know the weather’s not guaranteed like it is in the Canaries but I want to use a chunk of Bonvoy points at the Castillo Son Vida before “dynamic pricing” kicks in!

[NorthernLass]

MilesOnPoint wrote:

BA Avios flight in Club World to Sydney (April 22)

Booked flights have been cancelled, if we wanted to get rebooked onto another carrier for the same dates, who do BA typically offer in this scenario?

Slight preference for QF J on 787 (either via SIN or Darwin/Perth) but would take QR J via Doha if QF not possible. Interested in other people’s experiences with rebooking to SYD?

Only downside to QF with single flight number is lower tier points but we’d take that for convenience of avoiding ME transit.

For starters another carrier would have to have availability on your date – aren’t arrivals to Australia strictly limited at the moment?

[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.

[NorthernLass]

BA have moved our return flight in July to the following day. We’ll need an extra day’s hotel and car hire – can I claim these back under duty of care? We’re currently booked into the Kimpton Seafire (on points!) which is over £700 pn, I assume they would expect us to move somewhere cheaper for the last night?! The cheapest option would be about £400 pn.

[NorthernLass]

Not about a specific mask but on the 4 1/2 hour flight to TFS (the furthest we’ve been in 2 years!), I found aiming the air nozzle at my face a huge help in preventing my face getting hot and moist, which I hate!

[NorthernLass]

ee wrote:

Does anyone know what the cutoff is for requesting a FTV from BA? We have two domestic flights on Wednesday, but want to see what Nicola Sturgeon has to say on new restrictions tomorrow for deciding whether to take the flights or cancel.

It’s very close to departure time, an hour or 2 I think. Definitely time to see what she says! (I will be interested as well, have Edinburgh booked for the end of the month)

[NorthernLass]

Boi wrote:

Sorry to hijack this but are any available on a Sunday?

Departure is from Manchester on Monday Dec 20 heading to Orlando (not me traveling).

Also I take it LFTs ok, no need for PCR?

Hi again!
Collinson and Randox do 3 hour tests at Manchester Airport 7 days a week, as far as I know it can be antigen for the USA. We used Collinson in the summer and it wasn’t the cheapest but it was hassle-free.

[NorthernLass]

Boi wrote:

I don’t know how many times our plans have changed but we are now due to be in Miami for 5 days upto Jan 1. Flights all booked albeit some travel companions couldn’t make it due to Southern Africa lock downs.

Any hotel recommendations and things to do?
We have 3 children aged 10-14 years.

Thanks in advance

Hi Boi,

I’ve no idea how busy the hotels will be, I do know a lot of Americans are holidaying in Florida this year instead of going overseas though so prices might be on the steep side.
Should be warm enough for some beach time and swimming. Plenty of shopping, if that’s what they like! There’s a zoo and aquarium but you would have to go further afield for theme-park style attractions. Day trip to the Everglades or the northern-most of the Keys. I don’t think you’ll have a problem filling 5 days. I’ve got my eye on Florida for next Xmas, told my OH just for once I want to do Xmas Day on the beach!

[NorthernLass]

Yes, it’s happened before but I’ve never not been able to subsequently see the full booking in my account afterwards, which is the situation at the moment.
HOWEVER (and this may be helpful to anyone in the same position), I used the option to change my BOS flight, which was the only one showing in the booking, and moved my MAN-LHR connection to a slightly earlier departure (so more time in CCL!). When I did that the whole booking reappeared in my BAEC account and I was able to see that we’d been reassigned the middle pair of seats – which I’ve changed now as we prefer windows!

[NorthernLass]

Rhys Jones wrote:

There’s a few changes – we actually have an article running in a few days’ time. Bottom line – Boston, Chicago, Washington DC and Dallas will all see the A380s next year.

That’s interesting as I have been moved to BA 203 to BOS next March (no indication of what type of aircraft this is), yet my original flight is still leaving 90 minutes later! Could I have been moved on or off the A380?!

[NorthernLass]

NorthernLass wrote:

Entitled wrote:

I can recommend the Doubletree in Chester and Liverpool. Both have nice Spa areas (i.e. more than just a pool) but I’ve not been in Covid times so cannot speak to what level of service they are currently offering.

+1 for Chester, it’s a lovely facility, better than you’d expect from the look of the hotel (which is nice but not exactly opulent). Use is free for gold and diamond (or if you’re having a treatment), which makes it trump the Doubletree Harrogate any day of the week!

We were actually there this weekend and it was pretty quiet but all the spa areas were open. Masks required in some areas (including during treatments if you’re facing upwards!) Massages were really good, £70 for a full body massage which isn’t cheap but is less than a lot of similar places charge!

[NorthernLass]

Entitled wrote:

I can recommend the Doubletree in Chester and Liverpool. Both have nice Spa areas (i.e. more than just a pool) but I’ve not been in Covid times so cannot speak to what level of service they are currently offering.

+1 for Chester, it’s a lovely facility, better than you’d expect from the look of the hotel (which is nice but not exactly opulent). Use is free for gold and diamond (or if you’re having a treatment), which makes it trump the Doubletree Harrogate any day of the week!

[NorthernLass]

Magic Mike wrote:

(while my previous post is in moderation, here’s another one)

Design suggestion – please more clearly link the date/reply/quote part to the body of the forum post below. At the moment they could refer to either the post above or the post below. Many other fora have the “Reply” and “Quote” buttons under a post, not above it, (as does the HFP comments!), so perhaps there’s an argument for moving the reply/quote button underneath the post anyway…

What’s the “reply” button for if we have to use “quote” to write a reply?!

[NorthernLass]

Thanks LL, one trip is in March, the other one in July. Using up 241s and avios then we’ll probably move to Virgin/Qatar for long haul! Phone time waits don’t sound to be getting any better but I have had success using Twitter over the past year, as long as one doesn’t mind waiting a few days between responses!

[NorthernLass]

Have you re-checked holiday prices?
If the rest of the family really want to travel in CW, they could get much cheaper tickets to NYC then get a connection to St Lucia. More competition and route availability makes the US a much better value option for premium travel than the Caribbean islands.

[NorthernLass]

There’s no facility to accept it, and now I’ve had another cancellation where they’ve moved the long haul leg but not the domestic connection 🙄.
It does say in the email that if I am happy with the changes, do nothing, although that doesn’t help with my domestic leg which is now the day before the long haul flight it was supposed to follow! Also got messages that my seats have been changed (one was a paid for exit row), but I can’t see what the changes are.
I think I’ll just leave it a few more days and see if anything changes!

[NorthernLass]

Thanks JDB, when you go to actually apply for a FTV it still says April 2023 on the cancellation page!

[NorthernLass]

Unless travel remains very problematic, it’s very unlikely that prices will some down as this is a popular route and school holidays always command silly money.
Would there be an option to book your relatives into economy or premium economy (either with cash or avios)? Sometimes you can also get a better deal by booking a BA holiday with a car or hotel thrown in.
Have a look at Feb half term and Easter prices to give you an idea of what is happening with pricing as travel dates become nearer, but I checked the cash price of my F out/J in BOS flight in March earlier this morning and it was over £7k!

[NorthernLass]

If you want something cheaper than Siam, or the children are very young, Aqualand is great alternative, and a fraction of the cost.
I don’t think they want visitors on La Palma at the moment, but La Gomera should be doable.
There’s also plenty to see in Tenerife’s capital, Santa Cruz, a couple of great museums, a very nice lido and also a stunning city beach (Las Teresitas) with plenty of F & B options, sun loungers and safe swimming.
Teide needs a full day really so it depends on the age of the children. Great if you like volcanoes and dramatic rock formations, and spectacular views.

[NorthernLass]

Oops already answered, don’t seem to be able to delete altogether!

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by NorthernLass.

[NorthernLass]

Thanks – got the change email on Friday so getting on for 3 days now. I’ll give it a big longer, plenty of time till the outbound date fortunately!

[NorthernLass]

It’s a completely separate issue and quite an important one given how many of us have got FTV’s!

[NorthernLass]

Following on from the above – when I clicked on the cancellation options, under the FTV info it says that these are valid for travel until *April 2023*. Was there any written confirmation about the September 2023 date at any point – I only recall seeing it mentioned on HFP?

[NorthernLass]

First question (literally). BA has cancelled our F flights to BOS in March and moved us to a slightly earlier service, which is fine. However, my booking only shows cancellation/change options now, I can’t see our seats and or any other info such as meal selection which you can normally see in a booking. If I just leave it will it change nearer the time to show these options? We had seats selected already but I can’t see now if these have been retained or even whether the cabin configuration is different (previously it was the smaller, 8 seat cabin.

[NorthernLass]

It depends where you want to go and what kind of property you want to stay in. The Doubletrees in Harrogate and Chester can be amazing value (30 – 40k pn when cash prices are c. £200). Hamptons can be a good choice if you don’t get free breakfast via status. As with cash prices, you can get very good rates on Sundays or mid-week.