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5,000 bonus Avios for new Qatar Airways members
Qatar Airways’ sign-on offer is back, which is worth taking advantage of if you have an upcoming flight with them.
- Join as a new Qatar Airways Privilege Club member by December 31
- Use promo code PCAUNA23
- Travel by June 30
- Earn bonus after first eligible flight: 2,500 Avios if in economy or 5,000 Avios in business / first
The flight must be operated by Qatar Airways, and reward flights are exluded.
Qatar Airways tends to run such promotions frequently, so hold back from creating an account until you actually plan to fly with them.
My review of Iberia A330’s business class
The final trip before my next job is to South America, and first stop Buenos Aires! It sounds insane, but a one-way flight from Madrid to Buenos Aires in business class costs only 51,000 Avios plus just over €100, so although I have to add the London – Madrid leg myself it’s still a fantastic deal!
The flight, operated by Iberia, is mostly on an A350 aircraft which features the newer business class design. Unfortunately my flight is operated by an older A330 aircraft instead. However, from my research the two business class products don’t differ that much (at least not from the pictures), and it’s not worth tweaking my travel plans for the A350.
For checking in, Iberia uses Terminal 4 at Madrid airport, although you’ll actually take the shuttle train later to T4S for all non-Schengen departures. Priority passengers (business class and Oneworld elite) use the check-in counters numbered 700-799.
Priority passengers, as well as cardholders of Amex Platinum, are invited to use the fast track security.
We are onboard! Iberia’s business class cabin features 1-2-1 staggered configuration, which is probably the most commonly seen nowadays across all airlines.
For solo travellers the real window seats provide the best privacy, especially when you are sleeping.
If you are travelling with a partner, then choose the middle seats that are closer to the centre.
The monitor is mounted above the ottoman, which is my preferred design.
The seat converted into a bed:
The baseline is, it is a lie-flat business class seat, and that’s about it. It’s not really pleasing aesthetically, not very comfortable and is lacking in storage space. The A350 product appears nicer but kind of follows the same design principle and is barely anything revolutionary.
The amenity kit – Iberia is obviously obsessed with beige and grey!
The menu:
My beef tenderloin, cod tartare and ice cream:
Here is the thing: the meal portion isn’t really big, and for a 13-hour flight you don’t get served another meal (small plate of pasta) until close to landing.
In between there’s only salad and fruit available. I think it’s the first time I have to fight hunger when flying business class!
The IFE contains a decent, although not great selection of international films and dramas.
Their in-flight wifi is excellent though. Business class passengers and Iberia Plus members (free sign-up) can get the messaging package for free. A full package costs €24.99 for the entire flight and supports video streaming.
I had known what to expect before I hopped onboard, so there’s little surprise (good or bad) in this trip. Other things equal I’d probably choose most other airlines over Iberia, but given their excellent redemption deals I’m likely to fly with them again when going to South America next time.
Big Avios devaluation on CX/JL redemptions
Over the last five years or so, British Airways’ Avios program was one that devalued most frequently and probably to the largest extent. Sadly it just took another hit overnight, and redemptions on Cathay Pacific / Japan Airlines have got a lot more expensive.
Note that British Airways no longer publishes a redemption chart, and they removed the Avios cost calculator too, to avoid to awkwardness when they run no-notice devaluation like this. As of today the chart above still holds for most of their partners, except for Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines.
Here are the before/after charts for Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific respectively (H/T FlyAsia):
Tokyo – Osaka (269 miles) now costs 10,500 Avios / 17,500 Avios per way:
Hong Kong – Shanghai (779 miles) now costs 12,000 Avios / 30,000 Avios per way:
Hong Kong – Beijing (1,234 miles) now costs 14,300 Avios / 32,500 Avios per way.
Tokyo – Ho Chi Minh City (2,685 miles) now costs 15,600 Avios / 46,500 Avios per way.
It is without a doubt horrendous news and Avios is no longer the best, or even a good way to travel within Asia, at least not if you aim to book business or first class. There isn’t any change to long-haul bands over 3,000 miles, but they were hardly good value anyway.
From the very limited data points I saw Iberia seems to have adopted the same pricing swiftly, and their partners awards are non-refundable so you wouldn’t want to book through them anyway. Qatar Airways however, is still showing BA’s old pricing for now.
Therefore it could make a LOT of sense to transfer your Avios to QRPC first and book there. Your tickets won’t be issued immediately though – you can only fill out a request form and their ticketing team needs to issue your ticket manually.
BA sale: £600 Premium Economy deal, Silver for £800
British Airways has launched their end of summer sale, and as usual you can use the low fare finder to dig out the best deals.
I can’t see any particularly good Club World or First destinations, but there are genuine savings if you don’t mind travelling in premium economy. Here are some headline prices:
- Beijing £743
- Shanghai £721
- Tel Aviv £618
- Doha £636
- New York £636
- Toronto £747
And a couple of examples for China in Skyscanner:
- Beijing 03/10 – 24/10 £683
- Shanghai 23/01 – 05/03 £717
When it comes to Club Europe flights, we no longer see as many low prices as we used to. Here are some examples:
- Basel £198
- Bucharest £288
- Dublin £176
- Istanbul £312
- Luxembourg £148
- Pisa £198
- Sofia £212
The destinations in bold earn you 80 tier points per return whereas the rest earn only 40. Sofia is the one standing out (example 07/03 – 10/03), as you’ll earn BA’s Silver status after four returns which costs around £800.
BA’s Silver status, or in other words Oneworld Sapphire, comes with priority check-in and boarding, fast track, additional baggage allowance and business class lounge access.
Qantas’ impressive A$999 China holiday package
I don’t do flight+hotel package holidays, nor have I ever been to Australia. However, Qantas Holidays has an excellent deal if you want to visit China next year.
You can find details of the China Discovery tour here.
- The all-inclusive price is 999 AUD (£508) per person, based on two sharing a room
- Return flight by Qantas from Australia to China is included
- 8-night 4-star hotel accommodation with breakfast
- English-speaking tour guides
- You visit Beijing, Hangzhou, Suzhou & Shanghai, whereas Xi’an (terracotta city) can be added for a surcharge
You can travel between March and early June, which in my opinion is the best time to visit China. The majority of the country turns into a hotpot in the summer, so exploring during the spring is much more enjoyable.
The only caveat is, you need to apply for the Chinese visa by yourself, unless your citizenship is one of the handfuls that are exempt. In summary I think it is a very attractive offer, suitable for those who reside in Australia and are interested in visiting China.
BA business London to Greece / Spain / Croatia / Turkey for £106 o/w!
Not sure if it’s a sale or error fare, but British Airways has released some great Club Europe fares from London Gatwick to the Spanish / Greek islands and other destinations. The snag is it’s for one-way only.
To start with, check out BA’s low price finder here, which gives you an idea which destinations are included.
- Dubrovnik £109
- Dalaman £123
- Menorca £100
- Ibiza £118
- Corfu £106
- Kos £118
- Rhodes £113
- Santorini £118
- Sardina £114
- Thessaloniki £111
Destinations include Greece, Spain, Turkey and Croatia, and the available dates are in the last week of October and sometimes the first week of November. The common ground is, these routes are all gonna pause in November which kind of explains the exceptional fare.
Here are a couple of examples via Skyscanner:
Dalaman and the Greek destinations will earn you 80 Tier points, and it’s 40 otherwise.
If you price up a return ticket it’s gonna be much more expensive, so make sure you have an alternative way coming back!
How I finally got my Iberia refund
Iberia’s website is, to put it mildly, a mess. I’ve encountered countless errors when logging into my account, searching for flights or making a booking.
When I needed to cancel an Avios flight a few years ago however, it was a smooth experience. As far as I can remember, it was just a matter of clicking a button on their website and the refund was on the way, not any harder than with any other airlines.
It seems to have gone for the worse though. I had to cancel another Avios flight, booked through Iberia, about two months ago. It wasn’t possible online, and I was told to call an Iberia Plus number.
It took the agent a while to process my request, and he somehow needed to calculate the refund amount on the call. Afterwards I could see my booking cancelled on Iberia’s website, but neither the Avios or the fees were ever returned to my account.
If it were a cash ticket I’d have had applied for a chargeback from Amex before long, but with Avios involved it’s much more complicated. I’m not sure what’s going on with Iberia, but my case is definitely not isolated. In fact some people are reported to have waited for more than one year now!
You could keep calling Iberia Plus’s customer service number but don’t expect a positive outcome. Fortunately someone shared an email address [email protected], which seems to be Iberia’s Legal / Service Recovery department.
With the original e-ticket sent, I received an Avios re-redeposit email, and a response from them within five days:
We apologise for the inconvenience caused in relation to flight IB0000 of 1/01/2022.
With regard to your request, we have processed a refund of 32.48 USD, which you will receive in a few days’ time through the same channel you used to make payment.
They didn’t bother to change the email template, but I was happy about the quick turnaround. The refund hit my credit card account two days later.
If you are requesting a refund from Iberia, try the aforementioned email address and fingers crossed!
British Airways’ (another) IT Meltdown and my nightmare at Heathrow T5
I count myself lucky as a frequent traveller and flyer. Over more than one decade of zealous flying around the world and I’ve only experienced one severe delay in 2018 when I was due to fly from Frankfurt to Doha with Royal Jordanian – the flight was cancelled and I was rebooked to Qatar Airways’ Qsuite the next day, so it was sort of a win for me in the end. Thanks to BA my lucky streak has come to and end.
To give you some context: I bought a Finnair business class ticket during their “flash sale” earlier this year, and was going to fly CDG-HEL-JFK on Friday. I bought a separate BA ticket on Thursday to connect to Paris from Heathrow.
T5 was not busy at all and it took no time before I arrived at the Galleries North Lounge two hours before my departure. Having scanned my boarding pass, the agent just kept stared at the screen. While I was getting puzzled, he finally got back to me, saying that my flight’s cancelled and I needed to visit the customer desk at gate A10!
I wasn’t expecting it at all, as the flight was still shown as normal in BA’s app. I didn’t want to waste any time though so went straight to gate A10 as instructed, only to be told by another agent to go to A21 instead and there was no further explanation.
Again, at A21 there’s no signage or staff but a big queue. Someone from the queue told me they all had cancellations, and they were told to exit the airport via here and seek help. I joined the queue.
The line was barely moving. After about 20 minutes one BA staff finally realised what’s going on, and shouted that we could just go out by ourselves without the need to queue. I followed the crowd, went downstairs and proceeded to exit.
As you might have expected, exiting the airport meant immigration and thus border control. One can only imagine how bad the queues (this time for real) were – some were victims like me, others were arriving passengers who had no clue why there were suddenly an influx of desperate people!
Then I arrived at the baggage claim area, still had not the faintest idea what was happening. Some people were lining up in front of BA’s baggage desk so I did it as well, but they were just as clueless as me. Suddenly a few people wearing BA’s uniform turned up and I clutched at a straw, hoping to figure out what was going on.
From their language, as well as some fragmented information I’d gathered from different conversations, I finally had some picture: BA’s having yet another major IT meltdown. All short-haul flights (at least 50 / 60) that evening were cancelled. They couldn’t track any check-in baggage either, arriving or departing, and all passengers were advised to leave the airport and wait for further notices.
A lady next to me was very emotional – she flew in from US and was connecting to Geneva. She’s now trapped in London without her luggage. Luckily I didn’t have any check-in baggage, but I must get over to Paris!!
Knowing that BA’s not a safe bet I tried to make other travel arrangement. Unfortunately according to Skyscanner and Eurostar no flight or train could possibly bring me to Paris in time. I phoned Finnair to see if there’s anything they could do, but as it would be a voluntary change fees were extortionate.
Back to the departure hall I decided to have another go, and more than two hours have passed already. A lady at the Club Europe check-in desk listened to my story and called the ticketing team to see if they could help. However it never went through, and according to her as the IT system was down the ticketing team wouldn’t be able to rebook anyway.
Given the situation and the futile efforts that I’d already made, I came to terms with my fate and just went home. The next morning I called BA’s Silver line, only to be told they couldn’t offer anything beyond rebooking or cancelling my flight to Paris, as the Finnair flight wasn’t booked on BA’s website. My only option at this point was to abandon my trip.
British Airways’ incompetence has struck me hard this time, and I’m feeling a bit disgusted. The whole incident was a joke and total chaos, and you’d think that BA would have learnt better after the numerous similar incidents they’ve had in recent years. I was given little and false information from the very beginning, and no one from BA actively offered information or help. Passengers, and in this case also victims, shouldn’t be left alone to deal with such ordeal.
It is at least the third time in the last four years or so that BA has a major IT meltdown. I remember very clearly that I had a near-miss last time as my trip was off by a day or two. BA offered status extension to all affected passengers and I regretted having missed out on the opportunity – well I jinxed myself…
From what I understand, I have the following recourses:
- I can claim £220 statutory compensation from BA thanks to EC261
- I will submit a complaint to BA and see if they offer anything extra
- Amex Platinum’s travel insurance will cover all my non-refundable expenses, as the flight was delayed for more than 12 hours (6 hours if trip is shorter than 5 days)
I will report back if there’s progress.