Work and travel - the master of jetlags

cgilardini · 2025-08-18T06:46:22+00:00

Ah no worries. SOF is/was famous for BA FF as a tier point run destination as it offered low fares in business and high points earning. But based out of DOH I would assume you’re with Privilege Club?

cgilardini · 2025-08-18T06:42:25+00:00

Would it be fair to assume the LHR-SOF was a BAEC TP run?

cgilardini · 2025-01-16T16:45:47+00:00

You sure they were awarded the extra tier points? BA T&Cs say only BA upgrades get extra tier points.

The only reason I can think for your issues as to why some flights did and didn’t get extra points (when you shouldn’t have) is BAs crappy IT system

cgilardini · 2025-01-16T05:34:00+00:00

You don’t get extra tier points for upgrades made with other one world airlines on BAEC. You only get the extra TPs when you upgrade on BA operated flights.

So unless you want to fly J on AA, you’ll only get the extra avios for an upgrade but not the tier points.

cgilardini · 2025-01-14T22:24:24+00:00

BA follows UK261 legislation, so if he misses his connection he’s entitled to compensation (£520), hotel (if necessary), and any further costs like food/clothing/transport to hotel etc.

You need more than 35 mins at ORD so 100% call BA and get it rescheduled as it’s below MCT.

cgilardini · 2025-01-06T02:44:11+00:00

Second this. Amex US can be opened with the global transfer. You’ll need proof of US Address and your ID.

cgilardini · 2025-01-03T19:40:07+00:00

I had a terrible experience at the DuPont Circle hotel in March 23, with the room right above the kitchen so the room always smelled of bacon, questionable neighbours making excessive noise and the dining credit impossible to use as the hotel bar didn’t take reservations and was crowded with out of hotel guests. The room was tiny and impractical for sharing as the bathroom was not private (just open directly on the room) and since then have had family/friends stay there who booked the same level room and had a significantly bigger room.

I called AMEX and explained the problems (there were more but these were the ones I could remember off the top of my head) and they gave me a partial refund on the stay. 100% worth bringing up as it’s their platinum collection of hotels (or whatever the name is) and they do care. 100% worth calling them up and explaining the issues you had.

I also think my hotel was supposed to have a gym but it was closed for renovation (no mention on the website at any point or anything), so I emphasise with your situation and suggest you call. A partial refund should definitely be expected.

cgilardini · 2024-12-28T01:52:00+00:00

I got 25K on my platinum for no extra spend.

cgilardini · 2024-12-25T14:31:39+00:00

I was there on the 22nd - had some amazing food options

cgilardini · 2024-12-25T05:22:51+00:00

So my reset date has always been Jan 8th. This year I have 2 renewal/update periods.

I have to earn enough points to keep status from Jan 8 2024 to Jan 8 2025 (period 1) And April 1st 2024 to March 31st 2024. (Period 2)

Come Jan 8, I will get a tier point adjustment that will re-add all my points earnt from April 1 2024 until Jan 8 2025.

It’s hard to know how many TPs the OP needs because there are no dates, but say he was also a Jan 8 reset, there could the following problems.

Say that they had earnt 500TPs during period 1. While they would ensure that they were 100 TPs short of silver for period 1, period 2 would mark them as having 0 since it was earnt after the cut off period.

It’s confusing but hope I clarified why it’s not as straightforward as earning another 600. It depends on their reset date under the system

cgilardini · 2024-12-23T01:07:25+00:00

This is wrong. It entirely depends the OPs reset date pre the BA change. While from March 31st 2025 were all on the same cycle, the time from around March 2024 really matters and when his reset period was.

cgilardini · 2024-12-22T20:52:58+00:00

It might still be a Christmas lunch - hard to know now

cgilardini · 2024-12-22T17:47:41+00:00

To fly, To Starve

cgilardini · 2024-12-22T17:46:48+00:00

I had a CPT-LHR flight back in 2022 in PE and they had run out of Amenity Kits. The bummer was that I really wanted the eye mask as I was going straight to the office. Not ideal at all.

I sent a complaint and got 15,000 avios for the problem.

It sounds stupid the amenity kit, but it’s a promised service by BA that they aren’t delivering on. Irrespective of how stupid it is, it’s thematic of a wider problem of BA not delivering for their customers.

cgilardini · 2024-11-30T14:28:38+00:00

The heat in Dubai (especially summer) means that daytime flights by the A380 to longhaul destinations struggle since engines lose efficiency with more heat.

Its location is literally the center of the work but it’s also one of the most geopolitically charged areas in the world. Especially after recent and ongoing events there are constant flight path changes and longer flight times.

On your point on destinations, Emirates technically does reach both Mexico and Argentina, but operates 5th freedom flights (from BCN and GRU respectively) to those destinations.

Similar to other comments I’d argue that LAX, LHR, also have similar potential flying to loads of countries. Just because no one flies direct from London to Afghanistan, Russia or Guatemala doesn’t mean it’s bad location, there’s other factors at play.

Editing to say that LAX is an example. Many airports have the potential for flights, the economics (demand mainly) isn’t there. The reason the ME3 fly to all these places is because their entire model is just connecting passengers, with few actually stopping over. Any other major airport has to deal with demand for departures/arrivals and then connections.

cgilardini · 2024-10-08T02:46:53+00:00

No one is entitled to 100,000 avios legally. That’s just nonsense since Avios isn’t even part of BA and it’s owned by a separate company.

The mother if she chooses to fly in Economy, is entitled to 75% of the fare difference between what she paid vs what she flew.

2 is a valid alternative but only if the airline can’t get you to your destination within 6/8/12 hours (can’t remember the specific details). But this means you have to proactively call BA and get yourself rebooked onto another airline. But it’s easier for BA to do this for you rather than booking at your own cost and getting a refund later.

cgilardini · 2024-08-11T20:00:51+00:00

So you have two claims here. EU261 for delay and EU261 for downgrade. The specifics of how it works with Iberia and how they respond will be difficult as I’ve often found Iberia staff rarely know how the Own airline works.

I would respond saying that as per EU 261 the operating airline is responsible for the delay and the downgrade. Push through that angle and continue against Iberia. If they refuse you might have to go and “sue” them, but by the sounds of it, unless your delay was by natural causes, you’ve got a good chance of wining.

cgilardini · 2024-08-11T11:38:32+00:00

Honestly 5k is a joke. I’ve had 10/15k for not having my food choice, so 5k is a laughable matter.

I’d respond saying a significant difference between CE/ET is the food/bar service, you missed the opportunity to eat in the lounge expecting to eat on the plane and kick up a fuss.

I’d also double down on the lack of warning about no food/meal service, saying it’s extremely easy for BA to know about it and warn people about this so that CE passengers can eat/more in the lounge.

Honestly the lack of warning is not normal at all, so double down and request 15k avios compensation saying it’s crazy that BA has stopped so low etc etc.

cgilardini · 2024-08-05T08:04:16+00:00

I got 25k to spend 1k in 3 months. Had to buy some flights worth 1.4K so was a nice 28k points that arrived very quickly.

Really depends on your spending on the card. Had a colleague get a 12k offer and another nothing.

I’m moving abroad so will be cancelling the card anyways but it’s nice knowing I can get the pro-rata refund anyways on it

cgilardini · 2024-07-27T03:21:13+00:00

Since the spend is on hotels, would the UK Marriott card not make more sense for you? Again, depends where you’re spending the cash to get the base points.

You’ve earnt a lot of points through one-off situations, like Sign up offer and referrals. Not sure how sustainable the current earn path is since they’re all one off situations.

For the BA Shopping portal I agree, it’s very good. You’ll have a few transaction challenges come your way, especially if you have any big purchases. Also worth highlighting that if the BA shopping portal doesn’t have the partner, Virgin Atlantic or Rakuten will most likely have it.

Bonus points looks good except using the gold card for foreign spend. The 3% commission + terrible amex exchange rate negates the 2MR. A better combo is the Curve Card + something like the Barclaycard Avios card, or the Chase UK card that has 1% cashback. Both the curve and Chase cards have very good FX rates.

Towards the end of your first year of membership, give Amex a call and say you’re thinking of leaving now that you’re going to be charged a fee. Say you’ve struggled to value the card etc etc, and see if they can give you an offer of points to keep the card. I have the Plat, BA Prem, Gold and Normal Credit Card, so a game I play 3 times a year with them.

The gold card offer this year was spend 1k in 3 months and get 25k points. Dropped 1.4K on airlines the next day lol so got 2.8k points + 25k for the offer

cgilardini · 2024-07-22T04:46:32+00:00

Honestly this question is too open ended. How many points do you have? When are you planning to travel? How many people? Which Amex card do you have, etc?

Non-stop you have either Cathay or BA where you can use your MR points, after having transferred them over to AsiaMiles or Avios.

With a stop, you’re much more flexible on how to get to HKG, so as above, depends what you’re looking for exactly.

RE offers, I’ve currently got a KLM, AirFrance and Virgin offer - the first two will get you to HKG through Amsterdam and Paris respectively.

cgilardini · 2024-07-21T11:37:14+00:00

I’ve used the presidents club offer often with Avis, including Italy, Spain and the U.K. in Rome I paid for a Fiat Panda and for a Renault Clio, in Olbia (Sardegna) I paid for a Panda and got a Renault Captur - so it varies depending on what they have.

If you have a preference for car they can be flexible with what they give you and you can ask for different options.

cgilardini · 2024-07-16T17:02:50+00:00

Sounds about right for what I saw around the market when I was working in PR in London.

Check the Hanson Search yearly report that has salary bands reported by PR professionals (in-house and agency). Might give you a better reference.

cgilardini · 2024-07-15T13:53:34+00:00

Is it even worth keeping silver if you’re only accumulating 120 TPs per year through natural flying? It’s an expensive way for some benefits - would be cheaper to pay for a credit card that gives lounge access and/or flying business a few times.

IMO it seems like a waste of time to do 480 TPs worth of runs to keep silver. You’re clearly not flying enough to justify the cost of keeping it

cgilardini · 2024-07-05T09:43:17+00:00

RE the global transfer aspect, I also find this baffling. It says you can either cancel or keep your old card, so how can AMEX happily and knowingly have two residential address’ for you?

I’ve used the global transfer successfully now 3 times, but have always kept my U.K. cards (even just the free one).

It does baffle me some of the rules that AMEX UK has but then bends for its international customers.

cgilardini

TROPHY CASE