Air Belgium to operate Toronto flights for British Airways

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• Mikee says:

  15 Mar15 March 10:49

  O/T – on a slightly convoluted BA routing next week:

  DUB-LCY-LHR-MIA (single ticket with 5 hour gap between arriving at LCY and the LHR dep).

  Am flying out on a separate ticket the night before to DUB and staying overnight. Don’t want to take my checked baggage to DUB and then to LCY the next day as will be taking the DLR/Tube to get to LHR and luggage will be a hassle.

  Bearing in mind check-in for LHR-MIA would have opened before I take the LHR-DUB flight the night before, could I check-in bags then? I think I read somewhere this was possible but some agents didn’t know the rules and might refuse check-in luggage overnight at LHR.

  • john says:

    15 Mar15 March 11:33

    It’s certainly advertised as something you can do at LGW but not sure at LHR. If not, Left luggage is always an option.. in T5 it’s Excess Baggage Company, Arrivals level (ground floor), UK arrivals end.. 3 – 24 hours £12.50

    • ChrisC says:

      15 Mar15 March 13:11

      BA does not offer twilight / night before check-in at LHR.

      What some agents get confused about is checking in bags on the SAME day if you have other flights on the same ticket.

      So if your LHR-DUB etc etc MIA were on the same day then they can check them in for just the LHR-MIA flight but you may have to get a supervisor if the desk agent dosen’t know how to do it but it is certainly possible.

      BTW if you have plenty of time before your LHR-DUB I’d put your bags into left Luggage at T3 rather than T5.

  • fivebobbill says:

    15 Mar15 March 11:41

    Jesus Mikee, you must be saving a fortune to use that route to Miami! I live in Northern Ireland so am fortunate enough to be able to drive to Dublin, but for me, the added hassle of having to transit between LCY and LHR… I’d almost need to be getting the MIA leg for free!
    Safe travels however, and enjoy your trip 🙂

    • john says:

      15 Mar15 March 12:30

      £3.10 for tube/dlr off-peak so pretty reasonable price wise. If you are familiar with London underground it’s a pretty easy journey, particularly without any luggage as he’s planning.

      Should crossrail have been live then the journey would have been nicer than the piccadilly line!

    • Mikee says:

      15 Mar15 March 12:46

      Thanks, will try left luggage if BA won’t check-in bags the evening before.
      I’m saving a few hundred ££ but I agree it’s extra hassle…..will see if it’s worth it!

      • Leo says:

        15 Mar15 March 13:06

        Honestly it wouldn’t be that difficult to take luggage between LCY and LHR on the tube but I take your point. Depends when you are travelling – outside of rush hour not a problem, particularly as you are planning to take public transport anyway. There are lifts at Canning town. I don’t like the jubilee/piccadilly change but there are escalators etc.

      • ChrisC says:

        15 Mar15 March 13:14

        The Jubilee / Piccadilly change at Green Park is step free but you need to take the exit route from the Jubilee- so back up to the ticket hall level – then back down to the Piccadilly line. Much easier than the signposted route

      • Lumma says:

        15 Mar15 March 22:18

        Personally I’d DLR to West Ham, District to Baron’s Court/Hammersmith then Piccadilly to LHR if trying to get from LCY with luggage

      • Genghis says:

        15 Mar15 March 22:33

        Yep. I’m a fan of the cross platform change at Hammersmith.

  • Tommy says:

    15 Mar15 March 13:00

    You could try the airportr service (www.airport.com). They will collect your luggage in London from 24 hours before your flight and check-in for you. I’ve used it a few times and can’t fault it- it starts around £40 per bag and if you haven’t used them before I can refer you for 25% off.

    • Tommy says:

      15 Mar15 March 13:01

      http://www.airportr.com

      • Mikee says:

        15 Mar15 March 13:20

        Thanks, looked at Airportr but might just save a few ££ and pay £12.50 to leave luggage at LHR T3 the evening before. I’m also conscious that waiting for luggage at LCY (not usually too long) eats into my transfer and lounge time, especially if there’s a delay. Also the Jubilee/Piccadilly Line change is a pain too.

        I called BA and they said bag-drop only 3 hours before dep at T3.

      • Mikee says:

        15 Mar15 March 14:02

        Ok thanks Chris. I wanted to drop at 6pm the night before before heading to DUB so it’s either luggage storage overnight or take on the tube (or pack very light and go HBO!)

• N says:

  15 Mar15 March 11:10

  Frustrating situation where I’m trying to book a hire car with Avis but direct pricing is about 80% more than pricing through the comparison sites… Is there a way around this? Would much rather book direct!

  • Graeme says:

    15 Mar15 March 14:47

    Have you tried using any AWD codes to bring the price down? Or booking via avisba.com can often be cheaper.

  • Charlieface says:

    15 Mar15 March 16:06

    Try avis.ie and avis.com (although avis.com often excludes CDW if you need it)

  • Paul says:

    15 Mar15 March 18:28

    Can depend on timing. Twice recently Avis was pricing at double others through Expedia at T-3months, so booked fully cancellable in Expedia, then when priced dropped at T-7weeks cancelled and booked Avis. Timing floats a bit but Avis has gotten near enough each time so far.

• RussellH says:

  15 Mar15 March 12:24

  OT:-
  Would anyone have advice on how long it usually takes to transfer from Marriott to United Airlines?
  Just done a top up of my UA a/c.

  Was surprised to see e-Rewards points transfer to UA within a few minutes!

  • Lyn Hall says:

    15 Mar15 March 15:43

    I think it should be fairly quick, within a day or two, since United has long been Marriott’s “special” airline transfer partner.

  • Lyn says:

    15 Mar15 March 21:17

    We did a recent minimum transfer from Marriott to my husband’s Qantas account to keep his Qantas miles active and that took less than two days. It may have transferred quicker but I only checked it after 2 days. I doubt if United would take any longer than that.

• Munch says:

  15 Mar15 March 12:58

  OT – Any reason high end hotels do not include tea / coffee facilities in room or is it just to make more money from room service. I’m seriously considering buying a travel kettle as I not happy paying over $20 each morning so I can have a coffee in my room before breakfast. Is this just me but $100 on coffees over the last 5 days has just tipped me over the edge.

  • Olly says:

    15 Mar15 March 13:34

    You need to find another hotel chain. My only experience of a hotel without tea and coffee in the room was a Swiss private hotel in Davos last year, even Premier Inns have it. And I’m including Corinthia, Pan Pacific, Conrad, Fairmont etc 5 star hotels.

  • Brian says:

    15 Mar15 March 14:05

    Go down to breakfast early and have a coffee there before eating?

  • Andy says:

    15 Mar15 March 14:11

    US$20 for a coffee?!? Does this include $15 of tips, handling charges, tray charges, service charges, sales taxes and all other ancillary charges that American establishments levy on customers?

    I’d choose a hotel that doesn’t rip you off tbh…

  • Darren says:

    15 Mar15 March 15:10

    High end hotels will (should) provide tea and coffee in a room on request, if they won’t then go somewhere else.

  • Anna says:

    15 Mar15 March 15:12

    I think in some countries it’s just not the custom to have tea and coffee making facilities. It didn’t used to be in Spain, for example, though I don’t know about more recently as I tend to book rooms with at least basic kitchens these days. Even when there is tea and coffee there’s never enough milk for my tastes so I always travel with plenty of supplies, including powdered milk!

    Do they still sell those heating devices which you could plug in and pop in your mug of water to heat it up? I haven’t seen one for years but they would take up less space in your luggage than a kettle.

    • john says:

      15 Mar15 March 15:19

      Or an alternative might be something like Rommelsbacher RK501 Automatic Travel Hot Plate. Only 500W though so might take a number of minutes

  • Munch says:

    15 Mar15 March 16:09

    Looks like its the travel kettle on the next trip. $20 was with all the service charges in a Category 8 Marriott. I just want a simple coffee in bed before i venture out for breakfast

  • Rob says:

    15 Mar15 March 16:26

    Posh hotels will bring you a coffee machine on request, in general, in the same way that will bring you pretty much anything else you want on request.

    • Munch says:

      15 Mar15 March 16:36

      Thanks for the feedback everyone. Ill ask for a machine and see what they say.

    • illuminatus says:

      15 Mar15 March 17:36

      Rob, was not expecting YOU to use the word ‘posh’!

  • illuminatus says:

    15 Mar15 March 17:37

    I specifically look for Nespresso machines while going through hotel reviews and try to avoid staying in any hotel that does not offer that, certainly any 5* star hotel

    • Lyn says:

      15 Mar15 March 21:24

      That’s one of the advantages of IHG Platinum / Spire sometimes. Holiday Inns in France usually upgrade to rooms with Nespresso machines. Not in the high end category of course.

• ankomonkey says:

  15 Mar15 March 13:09

  OT: From Virgin Atlantic Flying Club e-mail:

  “From 31 March 2019, Virgin Atlantic will no longer be flying to Dubai.”

  Did we know this was happening?

  • ChrisC says:

    15 Mar15 March 13:17

    Yes. It was announced last year and has featured several times on HFP and other blogs too

    • ankomonkey says:

      15 Mar15 March 15:51

      I see. I somehow missed it. Next you’ll be telling me they’re cancelling HKG-SYD and LHR-NRT.

  • Michael says:

    15 Mar15 March 14:12

    Yep been about for a while. Leaves just two carriers on the London-Dubai route down from 5 only 2 years ago.

    • guesswho2000 says:

      16 Mar16 March 05:15

      Yep, even QF have switched back to SIN, I guess they reckon they can make more money on connecting pax that way (individual MEL/SYD-SIN and SIN-LHR)

  • marcw says:

    15 Mar15 March 15:06

    Very soft market ATM.

    • Michael says:

      15 Mar15 March 16:40

      I hear Dubais gone a bit soft.

      • marcw says:

        15 Mar15 March 19:04

        the *hype* is over. everyone’s seen it, been there, not going back.

• Olly says:

  15 Mar15 March 13:37

  Can anyone tell me from experience the average real time it takes for AMEX rewards to go into Radisson accounts? I know the official line is up to ten days but what is reality? Many thanks.

  • RussellH says:

    15 Mar15 March 14:30

    At least a week, IME. You really do need to allow the 10 days to be safe.

    • Jovanna says:

      15 Mar15 March 14:43

      Yes, I transferred on 17 Feb and they hit my account in 1 March.

  • Olly says:

    15 Mar15 March 21:36

    Thanks for that Jovanna and Russell.

• Charlieface says:

  15 Mar15 March 16:09

  OT: Anyone had random £5 credits on their Amex recently? Wondering if it’s related to Shop Small, can’t think of anything else.

  • Shoestring says:

    15 Mar15 March 16:14

    quite a few got reported here, some were guessing late credits from Paypal or SS – no such free fivers here!

  • Charlieface says:

    15 Mar15 March 17:54

    Didn’t do the paypal offer but it does match SS missing credits which I already got manually!

• Shoestring says:

  15 Mar15 March 18:20

  Good bit of info on FT – the IB 9000 offer – he cancelled by phone a flight paid largely but not wholly with the promo Avios (rest were ordinary Avios) – got all the Avios refunded immediately into his IB a/c – quickly transferred them all to BAEC.

  So there’s no automatic instant process to make you lose the promo Avios if you cancel. I guess it’s a manual process, not that we have seen any evidence yet of promo points getting cancelled if you cancel a flight.

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