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  1. Mattg

    What do you collect on your travels?

    I don't generally buy souvenirs and don't like having too much "stuff", but the one thing I personally collect is boarding passes. I still have most of the boarding passes I've received since I was a child. Sometimes I do also take home printed menus if they've given out on flights.
  2. Mattg

    Airline advertised free on-board meals but won't provide them

    I’ve now taken this flight and ended up bidding for an upgrade to J for €90, which was accepted. So I got this meal in business class: There was definitely no lounge at RAI and it took so long to check in, clear security/immigration etc. that I didn’t have time to eat at the one airside cafe...
  3. Mattg

    No Business Velocity Reward seats on some domestic flights

    I don't believe Velocity has ever advertised a specific minimum reward seat guarantee. But yes, in general most flights would have had at least some reward seat availability in the past, on most routes. Trans-con J availability has been quite hard to come by in recent years though. Same thing...
  4. Mattg

    Virgin Australia flights to Doha now on sale

    AFF released an article about this on the day the seats were released. On 21 January, many flights had 4x J seats available. https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/virgin-australia-reward-seats-doha/
  5. Mattg

    Grammar Discussions

    4 knights in a hotel with breakfast included.
  6. Mattg

    Credit Card Offers HSBC Star Alliance Credit Card: Fast-Track to Star Alliance Gold Status

    There's a 20% bonus miles offer on transfers from Star Alliance Rewards to United MilagePlus currently, ending 15 May 2025. https://www.united.com/en-au/hsbc-star-alliance-20-promo
  7. Mattg

    United to Fly to Adelaide

    United to Adelaide was not on my bingo card either!
  8. Mattg

    The Velocity Status Run Master thread

    With VA flights now earning 1 status credit per $12 spent (except on Economy Lite), I guess the game now will be to work out how many SC you need and just find something that costs more than the amount you need, minus one, and multiplied by 12. (Since the SC earn is rounded up to the next $12.)...
  9. Mattg

    Article: An Overview of Australia’s Independent Regional Airlines

    I do wonder what the long term future holds for some of these smaller regional operators that use aircraft types that are no longer being built, and don't really have like-for-like replacements. I'm thinking of airlines using (for example) the Saab 340, Metroliners or BAe Jetstream turboprops...
  10. Mattg

    Pax putting phone on speaker mode throughout flight and ignoring crew requests

    Well, I'm currently one of just two guests in an airport lounge at BJL. There has been loud music for the last hour... coming from the phone of the staff member manning the front desk. 🤷‍♂️ It drowns out the chirping noises coming from the other end of the lounge, I guess. At first I thought...
  11. Mattg

    Cash or Card? Countries where you still need cash.

    Fair enough - I did check Smartraveller but somehow missed this!
  12. Mattg

    Cash or Card? Countries where you still need cash.

    Currently in The Gambia and pretty much nobody accepts cards. Only in the major hotels or the airport, and there is a 4% card payment surcharge where I’m staying. Basically, you need cash. Most of the ATMs inside Banjul airport didn’t work either. But in town/near the beaches where most...
  13. Mattg

    Article: The Practicalities of Working on a Plane

    I've also been on an overnight Qantas flight in J where I planned to sleep but couldn't because a baby across the aisle cried all night. The crew and parents were trying to calm the baby down, but nothing worked. Although I was tired and cranky the next day, I just had to accept that it's a risk...
  14. Mattg

    A dry holiday to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Another obvious example of the modernisation of Saudi Arabia's capital city is Boulevard City, a nighttime entertainment venue with lots of shops, restaurants, games, attractions and exhibitions, and the nearby amusement park called Boulevard World. Boulevard City is open until 4am every night...
  15. Mattg

    A dry holiday to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    There's a lot of construction going on around Riyadh. It looks like the government is investing a lot in new infrastructure and the modernisation of the city. Riyadh is already a big city, with lots of modern buildings, skyscrapers and grandiose structures with bright lights. The big...
  16. Mattg

    A dry holiday to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    The final stop, on the way back to Riyadh, was for dinner. It was a cool setting, but I think they put too much attention into the decor, which could have been redirected back into the food. 😉 One of the other things I enjoyed about this tour was just chatting with the other tour...
  17. Mattg

    A dry holiday to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    The edge of the world was the real highlight of this tour. We got there just before sunset, and the views were spectacular. The guide told us to be back at the bus within 45 minutes, but we ended up spending double that amount of time at this stop. That's probably a good thing, as we needed all...
  18. Mattg

    A dry holiday to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    On my first full day in Riyadh, I joined a tour to the "Edge of the world". This is a huge canyon with a cliff more than 1km high located at the end of the Tuwaik mountain range, around a 100km drive from Riyadh. I booked this tour through Viator at a cost of just under $100 for the day trip...
  19. Mattg

    Shortchanged when transferring Hilton Honors points to Qantas

    I contacted both Hilton and Qantas to try to get this sorted. Both replied and said they would look into it, but didn't actually fix the issue. In the end, what worked was contacting [email protected] with screenshots etc. The missing 1,350 Qantas points posted today. Hilton and Qantas...
  20. Mattg

    Credit Card Offers HSBC Star Alliance Credit Card: Fast-Track to Star Alliance Gold Status

    There's an additional offer on now if you apply by 31/5/25 and choose SAA Voyager as your status airline. You get 30,000 bonus Voyager miles and a companion Star Alliance Gold membership: https://www.flysaa.com/web/voyager/saa-voyager-promotion Here's the fine print on the companion Gold status:
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