Chat thread – Saturday 19th April
Discuss today's stories:
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This is today’s chat thread.
If you have specific questions about Avios, hotels or credit cards, please ask them in the appropriate forum and not here. This thread is a good place to post interesting deals you have spotted or your general thoughts on travel and all things miles and points. Thank you for contributing.
Jet lag:
We got back from Hong Kong yesterday. How on earth is Mrs Froggee still in bed? I was impressed at Kermit (appeared at 3:30am) and Freddo (4:30am) but I’m starting to wonder if Mrs Froggee smuggled a tea maker and biscuits upstairs and she is perfectly self sufficient.
Experiencing that Saturday morning feeling of satisfaction when the flight I’ve been watching has dropped to 11500 VS points and £80 in Premium from Boston to LHR in September. Booked.
It’s not all bad @Davefl
Jet lag:
We got back from Hong Kong yesterday. How on earth is Mrs Froggee still in bed? I was impressed at Kermit (appeared at 3:30am) and Freddo (4:30am) but I’m starting to wonder if Mrs Froggee smuggled a tea maker and biscuits upstairs and she is perfectly self sufficient.
Similarly just back from antipodean travels and similarly amazed that my offspring still have not surfaced. Unlike Mrs Froggee, they’re largely sustained by WiFi so maybe turning it off would see them emerge…
Good morning from Mangia’s Brucoli on Sicily where I had a view of the red glow of lava from my terrace last nigbt and the sound of the waves crashing from the Ionian Sea which is yards away.
@Gordon would approve of the massive rainfall shower, Nespresso machine and kettle, 10 hangers, and they actually have really comfy cushioned chairs on the very private terrace. Just a shame I arrived at 11.30pm last night, will be leaving first thing tomorrow and out for most of today sightseeing so I won’t get to relax much.Used last year’s platinum suite upgrade vouchers which were autonatically applied via the app unlike IHG’s stupid method. Amex cashback email arrived this morning even though the hotel charge isn’t showing as pending yet. Paid £227 for 2 nights, (£152 after the cashback) and the room rate for the suite would have been £770, so it’s a rare win.
Sounds great @Davefl I will bookmark that property for a possible future stay, if I visit Sicily, my wife has just returned from Malta next door, her U2 flight was only delayed for 30 mins, on the return leg, luckily, she had 1 day of rain, a couple of cloudy days, but mostly sunny and 20c-22c, what is the weather like there? Unfortunately I can’t Re-Engage in my travels until Q4 2025 – Q1 2026. Planning now!
Weather looks fine and sunny for the whole week. Kudos to Jet2, the inbound to MAN was severely delayed so they found another bird (thankfully MAN is one of their bases) so we were only 15 mins late after all the messing around with departure times.
The thing that cost me most time was the hire car collection from AutoVia, took well over an hour but they were hundreds of pounds cheaper than their nearest rivals all of whom had totally empty desks while dozens of people queued at AV. Ended up in a brand new MG hatchback – didn’t know MG was a thing any nore.
Sorry to hear you have to keep your feet on the ground for the rest of the year.
@Gordon – do you mind if I ask where your wife stayed in Malta?
Considering the new Hyatt Centric for a cheeky few nights but wondering whether St Julian’s is the right spot for us….
@BSI1978 – Not at all, she stayed at the Lure Hotel and spa, in the Mellieħan area, opposite end to St Julian’s, it’s a quieter area, compared to many other areas on the island.
We normally favour Hyatt properties tbh, but she fancied a change on this occasion.
There is an option of the hyatt Regency in the St Julian’s area, which looks nice, if you do decide on that area.
@davefl – lucky on the flight delay outcome then, have a good trip, and don’t worry, I will make up for my grounding 😉
Thanks, I’m leaning towards the Centric as it’s newer, little cheaper & most pertinently would tick off another brand on the explorer chart!
Experiencing that Saturday morning feeling of satisfaction when the flight I’ve been watching has dropped to 11500 VS points and £80 in Premium from Boston to LHR in September. Booked.
It’s not all bad @Davefl
Random day – JFK-MAN – 150K E, 58k PE, 35K UC. Their algorithm is severely broken.
Then for the saver UC fares, from the 35k ones to the 47-55k band the taxes/charges nearly doubles. Makes no sense.
I think I’ll try to bag a “safe” UC return from ATL next April. Tuesdays and Wednesdays seem to be “saver”-type rates. Dull but predictable!
Hi, just hoping a kind member on here can make sure I’m not missing something.
I have IHG platinum ambassador. Just checked into the Kimpton Fitzroy. They have given us the room I allocated on points. I had read they were abit stingy on upgrades.
They have given me 2 free drinks. I know at other IHg properties in the past, I’ve also had some credit also to use in the bar/restaurant etc.
There was no mention of a social hour, and I also can’t find if there’s a kimpton secret password at present.Thanks as always.
Just ask about social hour, it was in the bistro when we were there, which was handy as we had a meal at the same time!
They are notoriously stingy with upgrades, we got a double upgrade to a junior suite but it was while foreign tourism was still banned after the pandemic.
I don’t think Platinum automatically gets you a F&B credit, this would be for Ambassadors at IC properties (or via an Emyr booking).
2 drinks is good there, the bar is gorgeous! Enjoy. You still got a great deal for 55k points.
Don’t think there’s a new password yet. There wasn’t last month when we were at Seafire.Just ask about social hour, it was in the bistro when we were there, which was handy as we had a meal at the same time!
They are notoriously stingy with upgrades, we got a double upgrade to a junior suite but it was while foreign tourism was still banned after the pandemic.
I don’t think Platinum automatically gets you a F&B credit, this would be for Ambassadors at IC properties (or via an Emyr booking).
2 drinks is good there, the bar is gorgeous! Enjoy. You still got a great deal for 55k points.
Don’t think there’s a new password yet. There wasn’t last month when we were at Seafire.Thanks, was just checking.
Very handy location. Straight off the train at Kings Cross and one stop straight to Russell Square. I’ve had my exercise with those 176 steps for today.I think I’ll try to bag a “safe” UC return from ATL next April. Tuesdays and Wednesdays seem to be “saver”-type rates. Dull but predictable!
Bored of ATL and the lack of a clubhouse, so trying to find a JFK flight that suits me. I could lengthen the trip by a week or so and come back in July. Then I have to plan what to actually do with that week that won’t cost me an arm and a leg and and ticks things off my states to revisit list. Or I wait for a few days and see if that 55k flight comes back down to 30k.
JFK is such a short flight, though, for an overnight, and such a hideous airport experience. Also we could add Alabama to our list of visited states by doing the Talladega Scenic Drive which looks rather nice for a day out from Atlanta. Also anything which references Will Ferrell makes me laugh!
JFK is such a short flight, though, for an overnight,
Tbh when I’ve been on the road for a month a short flight is what I need, and I can drink from after security at JFK and all the way home. Don’t need to sleep these days because I don’t have to start work at 9am when I get back.
Also I’ve not been to NYC in a good few years, so want to see a few things and maybe meet up for a drink with someone. JFK isn’t that bad when departing with status on an evening flight, it’s the arriving that’s crap.
This is good for scenic drives https://www.myscenicdrives.com/
I’d normally have this all sorted months away but was putting it off until the blues festival lineup was announced. Mavis Staples headlining is not something I’m going to miss if I can help it.
Good afternoon from T5 Galleries South Lounge. Both north & south busy. After walking about for a bit, finally got a space for 5 of us. Interesting – They are making announcements for passengers to move to B Lounge if they are travelling from B/C gates. Makes perfect sense but guessing the novice traveller wouldn’t know or think about that. We are from A-gate so happy to wait it out in the busy lounge.
Thanks, I’m leaning towards the Centric as it’s newer, little cheaper & most pertinently would tick off another brand on the explorer chart!
I stayed at both Hyatt Centric and Regency earlier this year – Centric is right behind Regency. Both hotels are set back from the main street in St Julian’s and are quiet. I preferred the style and vibe of Centric. Both have lovely rooftop pools.
I booked Regency via Emyr and with breakfast, $75 credit and upgrade it worked out cheaper than Centric. I moved to Centric for my last night to get the brand explorer badge. I think Centric is now part of Hyatt Prive too but it wasn’t when I stayed.
And they’ve now closed the escalator up to the south lounge so new passengers cannot come up…..
@bibby135, they’ve been doing that for a while. Last year I was treated to a woman properly kicking off with lounge staff because she thought she shouldn’t be told which lounge she could use and not use!
@davefl, thanks, I’ll make a note of that one. I don’t have to get up for work early these days either but I find night flights utterly debilitating and the last couple have taken me about 3 days to recover from! That’s probably at least partly down to the LHR transit though, so I’m hoping moving to VS will help a bit with that.Thanks, I’m leaning towards the Centric as it’s newer, little cheaper & most pertinently would tick off another brand on the explorer chart!
I stayed at both Hyatt Centric and Regency earlier this year – Centric is right behind Regency. Both hotels are set back from the main street in St Julian’s and are quiet. I preferred the style and vibe of Centric. Both have lovely rooftop pools.
I booked Regency via Emyr and with breakfast, $75 credit and upgrade it worked out cheaper than Centric. I moved to Centric for my last night to get the brand explorer badge. I think Centric is now part of Hyatt Prive too but it wasn’t when I stayed.
Thanks for that Birdy, I’m Globalist so think the only/main thing Emyr could provide is the F&B credit which is rendered moot by the pretty decent pay now rate.
I don’t suppose you happened to spy the balconies on any of the higher rooms/suites. Trying to decide whether to avail of a SUA but the pics suggest they aren’t that large….
And they’ve now closed the escalator up to the south lounge so new passengers cannot come up…..
And they’ve now closed the escalator up to the south lounge so new passengers cannot come up…..
Hello from the First lounge, it’s calm here but I can see Loungebird says N galleries is full and S only 62% busy. Wonder how bad it is at N if they’ve closed the escalator at S!!! I wouldn’t be pleased if I wanted to visit.
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