The totally off-topic thread

[RAM]

Would the recent "Enhancements" to the BAEC affect the outcome much?

The MUCLHR redemption was done in 2nd week of June. Hopefully post any recent enhancements!

 

[anat0l]

The MUCLHR redemption was done in 2nd week of June. Hopefully post any recent enhancements!

The enhancements kicked in as of the end of April. The main change for Reward Flight Saver was the addition of off-peak and peak award prices. At worst, you would have paid the same as usual; at best, you got a discount compared to if you had booked before the enhancements.

 

[JohnK]

Sometimes things don't make sense but you don't worry about them until they become an issue.

Phone contract with Virgin mobile with $450 credit/month. I think this works out rougly 200 minutes/month.

- Month 1 use $300 credit so $150 will rollover to next month
- Month 2 use $300 credit and lose any rollover to next month
- Month 3 use $468 and pay $18 on top of monthly charge

What a stupid system. If you have rollover credit in a month then you forfeit any rollover credit the next month? You can only have rollover credit every second month. Does this make sense to anyone? I am not going to let this one go. I got the sms that I was over 100% for the month just before midnight on the last day of the plan.

First a rude email to Virgin and then a nice email to the Telecommunications Ombudsman. Worst case scenario is I get some satisfaction for telling them off....

 

[kamchatsky]

BAEC is great for shorthaul redemptions. Especially in Europe where Reward Flight Saver kicks in, essentially killing off most of the YQ plus a bit of the APD to boot (if ex-LON flying).

For longhaul - especially premium class - redemptions, BAEC is pretty expensive (i.e. up there with most of the rest).

Unlike Hand Baggage Only fares, Reward Euro Traveller gives one piece of hand baggage plus seat selection (to those so entitled normally).

I use my BAEC miles to redeem short flights that are expensive to purchase, eg CX/KA HKG-TPE Y is only 4500 miles each way. Only 9000 in J.

 

[anat0l]

Sometimes things don't make sense but you don't worry about them until they become an issue.

Phone contract with Virgin mobile with $450 credit/month. I think this works out rougly 200 minutes/month.

- Month 1 use $300 credit so $150 will rollover to next month
- Month 2 use $300 credit and lose any rollover to next month
- Month 3 use $468 and pay $18 on top of monthly charge

What a stupid system. If you have rollover credit in a month then you forfeit any rollover credit the next month? You can only have rollover credit every second month. Does this make sense to anyone? I am not going to let this one go. I got the sms that I was over 100% for the month just before midnight on the last day of the plan.

First a rude email to Virgin and then a nice email to the Telecommunications Ombudsman. Worst case scenario is I get some satisfaction for telling them off....

Haven't you been using Virgin mobile for a long time to be aware of their system?

I had a plan with them before I moved overseas and was also aware of their rollover system. It's not the most intuitive one for sure... you know one of those things that companies market as a benefit but when you dissect them in how they work, it turns out they don't actually have to give up much to work it, so in fact you're not getting a whole lot? Yeah, that.

Your rollover credit is valid for only one month. However, rollover credit is only used after your base credit.

So in your case:

• Month 1 you use up $300 credit of $450. That gives you $150 rollover credit for use in Month 2.
• Month 2 you use up $300 credit again. The $300 is taken from your base credit first, not the rollover credit from Month 1. Since none of Month 1's rollover credit was used, and you only have a month to use it, the rollover credit from Month 1 is now lost. However, this month, since you didn't use all your base credit of $450, the excess - $150 - is now the rollover credit for Month 3.

Now here is where things go a bit wrong. If you used $468 in Month 3, you should still be in the clear, as you would use up all of your $450 base credit, but you still have $150 rollover credit from not using all your base credit in Month 2. In Month 4, you would then have your base credit and no rollover.

Have you looked at your bills? It should articulate clearly where rollover credit is given and lost. Unless they have changed the system for rollover since I left behind my contract with Virgin, however the Knowledge Base on rollover seems to backup my understanding.

The only other way I can think that those extra charges can appear on the bill is if they are calls which are not included in the base credit anyway. I believe the rollover credit and base credit include (and exclude) the same kinds of calls. But then this would be nothing to do with rollover and you'd trace this easily.

 

[JohnK]

Haven't you been using Virgin mobile for a long time to be aware of their system?

Yes I have but it did not matter as I was not getting anywhere near the $450. For some reason the past month or so my use has skyrocketed. Same for internet too. Can't understand it.

Now here is where things go a bit wrong. If you used $468 in Month 3, you should still be in the clear, as you would use up all of your $450 base credit, but you still have $150 rollover credit from not using all your base credit in Month 2. In Month 4, you would then have your base credit and no rollover.

Have you looked at your bills? It should articulate clearly where rollover credit is given and lost. Unless they have changed the system for rollover since I left behind my contract with Virgin, however the Knowledge Base on rollover seems to backup my understanding.

The only other way I can think that those extra charges can appear on the bill is if they are calls which are not included in the base credit anyway. I believe the rollover credit and base credit include (and exclude) the same kinds of calls. But then this would be nothing to do with rollover and you'd trace this easily.

From memory the system has changed slightly since I have been with them. I will need to check the bills again.

 

[anat0l]

Someone pull me up here.

I've been out of Australia for close to a year, hence I am completely out of touch with domestic fare pricing with QF and VA.

QF have just recently released a domestic sale and the pricing is $125 one-way BNE/SYD and $149 BNE/MEL. I assume VA will be following up extremely quickly, but what is surprising me is the high price for the sale. The rack price without the sale is $155 for BNE/SYD one-way.

When I left Australia, I remember these prices to be lower than this. When did all the prices climb up so much?

This is not a complaint, just curious. So let's not turn this into a big rant-o-rama. I haven't seen prices like this high since the peak of the global economic situation before the crash of 2008.

 

[JohnK]

QF have just recently released a domestic sale and the pricing is $125 one-way BNE/SYD and $149 BNE/MEL. I assume VA will be following up extremely quickly, but what is surprising me is the high price for the sale. The rack price without the sale is $155 for BNE/SYD one-way.

There are a few strange things happening recently.

It would appear that you only get 1 shot, possibly 2, at the super cheap specials. So if Jan-Mar is on sale for $89 next time it is on sale it will be $99 and the closer you get to the period the higher the airfare.

I have been commuting for ~7 years now since 2008. I vaguely remember the airfares SYD-BNE on QF were $128 and then briefly touched $133 before dropping to a low of $65 in 2010-2011. They have been creeping up since to their current high of $155 which to be honest is a joke.

 

[anat0l]

They have been creeping up since to their current high of $155 which to be honest is a joke.

Well, any company will charge whatever the market will bear. If it turns out people aren't going to pay the rack then they'll either be more sales and/or the rack will drop anyway, just like it always has. QF and VA are both in precarious economic positions; they would be idiots to price themselves out of the market.

The interest in the sport is explaining why and when the sales/rack prices goes up and down.

 

[Pushka]

I rang the package company and was very clear new financial year.
How the super company got the money before it was delivered to them ie. Day before?
Remember I pay this Super company to look after my money/Super account!
This could affect my ATO refund and how will it be rectified without any more fees.... Not to mention my time and I am the one to feed them the fix....
Really no compensation???

Clearly it is impossible to get that money into the account when the instruction was given the day after. Are you sure you didnt issue instructions at an earlier time, even 12 months ago?

 

[amaroo]

Have you signed everyone up for the BA Avios points/executive club?

No, hadn't even thought of doing that for this trip.

Three reasons we're flying BA; 1) status benefits (#1 being baggage @ 2 x 23kgs pp) ... 2) flights to/from BGO (pity AY doesn't) ... 3) it's cheap!

Trying the work around to access OWE benefits under QFF and then reverting to BAEC for the 4 of us ... x 4 four flights - doesn't appeal.

 

[JohnK]

Well, any company will charge whatever the market will bear. If it turns out people aren't going to pay the rack then they'll either be more sales and/or the rack will drop anyway, just like it always has. QF and VA are both in precarious economic positions; they would be idiots to price themselves out of the market.

The interest in the sport is explaining why and when the sales/rack prices goes up and down.

I believe loads are down but as someone mentioned recently the yields are up so I wouldn't expect a drop in airfares anytime soon.

For me it's fine. I purchase airfares in advance to get the specials but even then I have cut down on the number of trips I book. In September I am spending 2 successive weekends in Brisbane. Can't remember the last time I did that.

Where it hurts is the irregular traveller. A friend wanted to go back to SYD to see his mother last week. I think he said $145 was the cheapest VA flight OOL-SYD but that was too late. Ended up spending $170 on a JQ flight.

 

[amaroo]

Go for La Serrinissima! (NB: Hotels will be pricey... But they would also be in Firenze.)

Right you are :shock: Lucky we have some flexibility.

Played around with dates and found a lovely "pay 2 stay 3" offer at The Gritti Palace. Had to call SPG due to the "connecting rooms" issue however, all sorted - couldn't book them quick enough!

So, we're now driving Perugia > Venice on boxing day ... need to find some nice village in Tuscany for NYE. Have any suggestions?

 

[docjames]

Someone pull me up here.

I've been out of Australia for close to a year, hence I am completely out of touch with domestic fare pricing with QF and VA.

QF have just recently released a domestic sale and the pricing is $125 one-way BNE/SYD and $149 BNE/MEL. I assume VA will be following up extremely quickly, but what is surprising me is the high price for the sale. The rack price without the sale is $155 for BNE/SYD one-way.

When I left Australia, I remember these prices to be lower than this. When did all the prices climb up so much?

This is not a complaint, just curious. So let's not turn this into a big rant-o-rama. I haven't seen prices like this high since the peak of the global economic situation before the crash of 2008.

Since QF dropped their "line in the sand" policy, prices has risen across the board.

 

[RAM]

No, hadn't even thought of doing that for this trip.

Three reasons we're flying BA; 1) status benefits (#1 being baggage @ 2 x 23kgs pp) ... 2) flights to/from BGO (pity AY doesn't) ... 3) it's cheap!

Trying the work around to access OWE benefits under QFF and then reverting to BAEC for the 4 of us ... x 4 four flights - doesn't appeal.

While it does mean split screening your browser on the PC so you can cut & paste the address and other details into each person's BAEC application - can you really pass up the possible 20 short haul international flights with the points?

I would try get a status match by BA given how 'happy' they are with Q these days.

Don't give up quite so quickly.

Changing the FF number on the 'manage your booking' only requires 1 entry and 3 C&Ps. Or if you are even better organised and have each person's different FF m'ship numbers in a spread sheet/word file then it's just 4 C&Ps.

How could you sully your AFF reputation like that!

Go stand in the corner!

BTW - it looks like you earn Avios points on flight redemptions as well unless I've misread the screen.

 

[RAM]

Someone pull me up here.

I've been out of Australia for close to a year, hence I am completely out of touch with domestic fare pricing with QF and VA.

QF have just recently released a domestic sale and the pricing is $125 one-way BNE/SYD and $149 BNE/MEL. I assume VA will be following up extremely quickly, but what is surprising me is the high price for the sale. The rack price without the sale is $155 for BNE/SYD one-way.

When I left Australia, I remember these prices to be lower than this. When did all the prices climb up so much?

This is not a complaint, just curious. So let's not turn this into a big rant-o-rama. I haven't seen prices like this high since the peak of the global economic situation before the crash of 2008.

Since QF dropped their "line in the sand" policy, prices has risen across the board.

If you do a search you should find quite a few articles about the Q announcement (public) that it was no longer going to add to capacity but instead focus on profitability. A few people called for the ACCC to investigate whether this amounted to 'cartel-like' behaviour and 'price signalling' which are against the law. Some Q deliveries got pushed out by 12-18 months for good measure.

No investigation happened.

Coincidently prices for both Q group planes and VA group planes started rising about 20 days later.

 

[drron]

On topic.Just checked in on CX at BKK.Flying to HKG today and on to BNE tomorrow.No problems getting bags checked through to BNE.
Someone was asking about this but I cant remember which thread.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Right you are :shock: Lucky we have some flexibility.

Played around with dates and found a lovely "pay 2 stay 3" offer at The Gritti Palace. Had to call SPG due to the "connecting rooms" issue however, all sorted - couldn't book them quick enough!

So, we're now driving Perugia > Venice on boxing day ... need to find some nice village in Tuscany for NYE. Have any suggestions?

Of course

For a quietish traditional NYE (la Festa di San Silvestro), we've done a few NYE in Pienza staying at Chiostro di Pienza – Official Web sites - Four stars Hotel in an ancient convent with dinner at the hotel restaurant. You can watch the local restaurants from around the area play the finals of the il Panpepato throwing competition (along a long table with points awarded to how close the Panpepato finishes from the end without falling off). Loverly countryside and small hill town dating to pope Pius II in the 1460's.

or if you like more tourist/traditional modern Italian with concert etc in the medieval Piazzo il Campo, then Siena, staying at the Grand Hotel Continental : Siena, Italy : The Leading Hotels of the World

But, it's a long drive from Venice to Tuscany. Take 2-3 days and enjoy it.

 

[penegal]

That is dangerously on topic guys.

I lived / studied on exchange in Florence when I was 21. Amazing experience.

Sienna is pretty special, but the real gems are the small hill towns. I almost went to Il Palio that year, but for some reason I can't recall went to Milan and Zurich instead. I really enjoyed Lucca, and would definitely recommend it. Easy to get around on 2 wheels with pedal power

 

[TheRealTMA]

That is dangerously on topic guys.

I lived / studied on exchange in Florence when I was 21. Amazing experience.

Sienna is pretty special, but the real gems are the small hill towns. I almost went to Il Palio that year, but for some reason I can't recall went to Milan and Zurich instead. I really enjoyed Lucca, and would definitely recommend it. Easy to get around on 2 wheels with pedal power

Agreed! Thread should be in the TR or other section. But while we're on the topic, Lucca is a great town. They have some fabulous concerts in summer - Van Morrison, Sting, Dylan etc, plus lots classical with Puccini being a claimed son.

It's fabulous to hire bikes and ride around the wall at sunset.

Been there 3-4 times. Quite large ex-pat community including a number of Australians who own houses in the town.

Some nice hotels and restaurants. Just don't get sucked into the 'charm' of Palazzo Busdraghi. Owned by a very sleezy fellow who employes Indians or Eastern Europeans to do the work. We'd booked 4 days directly with him by email and on third day we were told that our booking was not valid and refused to accept the email as proof. He essentially threw us out to give our room to another group who wanted a week. He actually followed us down the stairs yelling in Italian at my wife that we were rude foreigners. Complete A******. But we lucky ended up in the hotel San Marco where we were treated exceptionally well.