An amazing deal when you use DragonPass at the DIH Ahlan First Class lounge in Dubai

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• Anna says:

  2 Jul2 July 08:55

  Yay success (moved from laptop to desktop, don’t ask me why it made a difference!)

  A big thank you to HFP and all the helpful readers, we’ve just booked our first F using 2 4 1, travelling to New York on my birthday next year, what a fantastic early present. ????

  • DavidK says:

    2 Jul2 July 09:27

    Enjoy it.

  • Scallder says:

    2 Jul2 July 09:56

    Enjoy Anna – make sure to make a note in your diary for 28 days before so you can call up and book a spa appointment in the lounge. Line opens at 7:30am I believe (Google BA You First).

    • Anna says:

      2 Jul2 July 11:27

      Thanks, yes the very thought is making me nearly faint with excitement. Never mind 3 whole days in New York (as a couple!), I am just looking forward to the actual travelling!

      • Polly says:

        3 Jul3 July 07:17

        The NYC F lounge is something else. It’s pure pampering. Fabulous experience. Enjoy.

  • Darren says:

    2 Jul2 July 12:18

    Lovely, hope you picked your seats as well.

    • Mark says:

      2 Jul2 July 17:17

      Unless you’re Gold you can’t pre-select 1A or 1K. Assuming you’re on a 747 we’ve previously applied the approach of selecting 2A and 2K, which are a bit further apart but we both prefer window seats and it makes a good basis for nabbing 1A and/or 1K at online check-in if available.

      If you prefer centre seats I’m sure I’ve read to select 5E and 5F over 4E and 4F as the latter are quite exposed.

      Enjoy 🙂

      • Anna says:

        2 Jul2 July 19:34

        Good tip – we are allocated 4 E and F at the moment; in the photos I can find of the cabin there seems to be some sort of trolley in front of them. Is that a permanent fixture? If Inpick 2 window seats will we still be able to talk to each other?

      • Mark says:

        2 Jul2 July 20:38

        There’s an island in front of 4E and 4F which serves as a magazine/newspaper rack if I remember rightly as well as somewhere to place things like the after dinner chocolates. It’s quite narrow though due to the way the cabin tappers towards the front and leaves the front corners of 4E and 4F exposed to people knocking them on their way through the cabin. Not that we’ve ever sat in them but I can imagine it being a bit of an issue.

  • Nick_C says:

    2 Jul2 July 16:53

    Do you use the same browser on both devices?

    • Mark says:

      2 Jul2 July 17:22

      I was having problems booking Miami redemption tickets, both using Chrome on Android and Firefox on a Linux desktop. Switching to Chrome on Linux then worked, which was either a coincidence or there’s something really strange going on….

      • Anna says:

        2 Jul2 July 19:34

        It seems really random, I’ve had issues on both devices recently.

• Tim says:

  2 Jul2 July 08:58

  Looks like the new safety video hasn’t launched yet – I flew Nairobi to London overnight and they were still running the old video (on the painfully dated 747 they use for the route…!).

• Jay says:

  2 Jul2 July 09:10

  OT: new Amex offers on Gold card today – £15 off £200 at AirBnb and also £5 off £50 spend at World Duty Free.

  Had a query regarding looking for Hilton Reward nights – if I have no points currently in my HH account I won’t be able to see redemption rates? Am looking at potentially booking the Hampton by Hilton at Gatwick for Sunday night but wanted to see how much it was first before moving MR points across.

  • Craig says:

    2 Jul2 July 09:21

    Sun 8th, showing at 30k.

    • Jay says:

      2 Jul2 July 09:32

      Thanks Craig! Very helpful 🙂

    • Rob says:

      2 Jul2 July 09:55

      Search without logging in, you then see availability. Yes, it is weird.

  • the_real_a says:

    2 Jul2 July 20:19

    It you want to “rough” it – the newly refurbished Premier Inn with shuttle is just £64 for Sunday night

• Lumma says:

  2 Jul2 July 09:41

  OT. I was asking yesterday about seat selection on American Airlines basic economy tickets with BA status and as a result of the comments (and what AA told me on twitter) I came to the conclusion that, I’d have to pay. It was showing if I tried to book on aa.com that the standard seats would cost me £9 which was still cheaper than flying BA metal that day.

  However, I decided to book on BA.com as that would allow me to use 2,000 avios to get £20 off, effectively getting the seats for 1p per avios or so I thought.

  After paying for the flight, it then directed me to aa.com to chose a seat. The standard seats were now showing up as £36 each but it allowed me to choose any of the main cabin extra or preferred seats for free! Seems like a bit a result 🙂

  • marcw says:

    2 Jul2 July 09:56

    Good to know… I assume the free MCE is due to OW status? I think MCE is the best way to cross the atlantic in economy.

    • Lumma says:

      2 Jul2 July 11:01

      I wouldn’t rely on it happening, especially as I would have to pay for a standard seat, but it’s a decent glitch.

      I think what they’d charge for MCE normally is pretty much what I paid for the flights

    • john says:

      2 Jul2 July 13:23

      MCE was free to choose (including exit rows) on AA when I did this as BA Silver back in 2014. We were booked on BA code on AA metal. We put a rollon out as a footrest in front of our seats, although people did like to gather in this area when queuing for the toilet.

      • Lumma says:

        2 Jul2 July 13:51

        Is that one of the exit row ones rather than the main main cabin seats? That’s what I’ve initially chosen

      • marcw says:

        2 Jul2 July 14:29

        That´s normally the case… but Lumma booked a “Basic” fare, which “””strictly””” does not allow free seat selection, even as a OWE.

      • Lumma says:

        2 Jul2 July 17:31

        For what it’s worth, I don’t seem to have and checked luggage allowance, which I should be entitled to, but I’ll take carry on for a long weekend in September and have a MCE exit row seat any time

  • Anna says:

    2 Jul2 July 11:34

    Hi Lumma, we booked AA flights just before they introduced basic economy, our seats appear to have been pre-allocated (they are rubbish but they are short flights), and we would have to pay to change them.

    My worry is that we need to take a wheelie case each on board and the basic economy fare now seems to only allow a tiny piece of hand luggage, so I am really hoping that our tickets are not classed as this! There was only one economy option when we booked them last October. We are flying DCA-MIA-GCM then CGM-CLT-BOS so don’t want to have to pay a fortune to check all our bags in.

    • Lumma says:

      2 Jul2 July 13:50

      I believe if you booked before they were introduced you should just have regular economy tickets, but I’m sure there’s people on this site who know about this more than I do

    • Lyn says:

      2 Jul2 July 14:18

      Anna, surely your tickets will be grandfathered based on the rules when you bought them? You can’t have basic economy tickets if basic economy didn’t exist when you bought them!

      • Anna says:

        2 Jul2 July 19:37

        I would hope so but I can’t find a fare class specified on our booking which makes me a bit nervous.

      • Lyn says:

        2 Jul2 July 20:28

        Anna, what happens when you go into manage my booking or whatever it is called on AA? Do you have your AA booking reference? You should be able to choose print a ticket/receipt from there which shows the fare basis.

      • Anna says:

        2 Jul2 July 20:34

        I have ticket numbers but there is no letter with them which would denote fare class as far as I can tell.

      • Anna says:

        2 Jul2 July 20:59

        On my confirmation email it says fare code O – however on the AA fare code chart there is no mention of hand baggage, only tier points and the like.

      • Anna says:

        2 Jul2 July 21:04

        Aha! You have to find the code for basic economy, which is “B” and it says next to this that you can only have one small personal item. I am therefore hoping that all other fare codes allow the full amount of hand baggage!

• Anna says:

  2 Jul2 July 11:18

  You clearly need to get more sleep, no wonder you are so ratty (as my mother used to say). LOL.

• Optimus Prime says:

  2 Jul2 July 12:06

  OT – when booking a BA award ticket at T-355, what time are the tickets available? 0:00 GMT hence 1:00 BST?

  • Rob says:

    2 Jul2 July 12:15

    Yes

    • Optimus Prime says:

      2 Jul2 July 12:45

      Thanks. Is the USA phone number the best one to try first?

      • Scallder says:

        2 Jul2 July 14:15

        I did Australia recently and they were very good, and got through so no waiting…

      • Optimus Prime says:

        2 Jul2 July 14:45

        Thanks, Scallder.

      • Umba says:

        2 Jul2 July 15:11

        In early June, I called the USA number at 12.50 am to book a return leg to a 241 and was cut off at 1am as the call centre closed for the evening. I then called the Japan number and spoke to someone in India. They were knowledgeable and obliging and even called me back a few days later to add the LHR-MAN leg of the return.

• KSB says:

  2 Jul2 July 12:32

  O/T – Paid for BA CW seat selection 3A on 788, but they changed plane to 789 (not operating first class though). I was moved to 13K (so still direct aisle access)

  Am I able to claim back my seat selection cost?

  • Rob says:

    2 Jul2 July 12:34

    Definitely – but of course you will then lose your 13K, so you need to decide if you want to ….

    • KSB says:

      3 Jul3 July 06:45

      I was actually on the plane just before take off when I typed that, so I just stayed in the seat.

      The in flight entertainment system was out of action across the entire plane for the whole 11 hour LHR-ICN flight. Cabin crew announced that all passengers would be individually contacted by customer service reps to remedy the situation.

  • Mark says:

    2 Jul2 July 13:13

    which flight is this? I’m checking my Seoul/Narita flights daily just to try and stay ahead of any changes.

    • KSB says:

      3 Jul3 July 06:49

      This was on the Seoul flight, Monday the 2nd. It seems alternate days, one day is 788 and the next day is 789. Only found out at check-in time.

      My wife is flying it on Thursday, so I think she will have the 788.

• Octopus says:

  2 Jul2 July 12:52

  O/T Normally how soon after meeting the £7k spend requirement is the Lloyd’s upgrade voucher issued?

  • Andrew-a says:

    2 Jul2 July 13:05

    I received mine within a couple of weeks of hitting the spend. I used it last week to book an open jaw return and the lady at Avios kindly transferred enough points out of my BA account at the time of booking. Very good service actually.

  • Mzungu says:

    2 Jul2 July 18:22

    I think mine was about 2 weeks as well, but I didn’t receive the letter for about another month. Worth checking your Avios account frequently – that seems to be the first sign of it.

  • Anna says:

    2 Jul2 July 19:47

    It gets issued on your next statement date, but they can apply it to your account manually if you need it urgently.

    • Anna says:

      2 Jul2 July 19:48

      Sorry, the next month’s statement.

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