The totally off-topic thread

[JohnK]

Corporate Deal Pfft!

You are right. What was I thinking?

 

[drron]

Well today I reminded myself why I dont like JQ.1.45 hours between QF2054 arriving from DPO to JQ796 leaving for MCY.Had selected my seat when booking-that is good.Printed my BP 48 hours before departure-also good-but was still sequence 22.
Collect my bag of QF and go upstairs-JQ queue stretches past the QF bag drop.So what good is OLCI?After 50 minutes and progressed about halfway to bag drop they call the MCY pax out of the queue-and there is the problem.12 stations for checkin/bag drop but only 5 working.2 of these are solely processing pax whose flight is closing.Agent a little surprised when I turn down the offer of exit row-no thanks I am keeping 29D.
Go to security-lines here are intersecting the JQ queue.approach the fellow at the Business,plat,gold entry and ask if OK for AA plat so waved straight through.Ah but then Catch 22-selected for secondary screening.No time for grazing in the QP and get to Gate 22 22 minutes before scheduled departure.Boarding starts pretty soon and I am first in queue-but no ground staff and FAs doing the boarding-however as no ground staff no scanner so boarding is prolonged-especially when it turns out there are a few double allocations of seats.So we take off-you guessed it 22 minutes late.
But JQ in MEL is a farce.Unfortunately have another flight next year but never again-DJ out of MEL no matter what fare difference.

 

[JohnSydney2000]

Congrats John
You've made more posts on a single thread than I have made on the whole forum.:!:

Hmmm. Me too.

Dear John,
Hope you are slowly recovering mate,
Best wishes, John.

 

[Flashback]

London Stansted incoming processing is awful! 3 of our group were in the All Passports line (of which I was one of those) while 1 of the group was a UK citizen.

The UK citizen was through in 5 minutes while we took 1 hour. For some reason they decided that while 3 flights had just landed, only operating 1 booth would be enough. Then that chap finished his shift, so it was down to 1. Fail!

 

[oz_mark]

And I am also getting close to 1,000 posts in this thread. :shock:

979 posts including this post....

Blimey, 10% of this thread is you??

Imagine where it would be if you had left the thread for a while :shock:

 

[Flashback]

Blimey, 10% of this thread is you??

Imagine where it would be if you had left the thread for a while :shock:

Imagine our post counts if playground posts still counted

 

[Mal]

we took 1 hour.

IRIS is your friend. After a few stamps into the country they should allow you to enrol. Unfortunately though, Stansted doesn't count.

See UK Border Agency | Using the iris recognition immigration system (IRIS)

 

[JohnK]

Dear John,
Hope you are slowly recovering mate,
Best wishes, John.

Thanks John. Slowly getting back to full health.

Blimey, 10% of this thread is you??

You will probably find that 90% of the posts in this thread have been posted by less than 50 posters. Anyway you have also accounted for ~6% of this thread.

Imagine where it would be if you had left the thread for a while :shock:

I did leave this thread for a while to let some of the other posters catch up.

It is an interesting thread. Going through the list of posters in this thread earlier and good to see some names of regular posters in the past who are no longer postng on AFF. I still remember the first contest on AFF was the 10,000th post thread way back in 2005 and now this thread is fast approaching 10,000 posts....

 

[Flashback]

IRIS is your friend. After a few stamps into the country they should allow you to enrol. Unfortunately though, Stansted doesn't count.

See UK Border Agency | Using the iris recognition immigration system (IRIS)

Looking through my passport I've had 4 entries in the past 2 months (1x STN, 1x LGW, 1x Eurostar, 1x Ferry from Calais). Will try apply and see how it goes.

 

[Mal]

Looking through my passport I've had 4 entries in the past 2 months (1x STN, 1x LGW, 1x Eurostar, 1x Ferry from Calais). Will try apply and see how it goes.

Yeah, I've posted before about this, but the agents can be a little AR.... The rules are very clear and having a visa valid for entry for a certain amount of time should ensure immediate registration. It doesn't always work that way in practice though!

And even when I was allowed access to Iris, they only gave me access for 50% of my visa.

But I think you should be able to prove your status. Give it a go!

 

[Flashback]

Yeah, I've posted before about this, but the agents can be a little AR.... The rules are very clear and having a visa valid for entry for a certain amount of time should ensure immediate registration. It doesn't always work that way in practice though!

And even when I was allowed access to Iris, they only gave me access for 50% of my visa.

But I think you should be able to prove your status. Give it a go!

When I arrived last night I was asked if my circumstances had changed at all ... just said "nope", passport was stamped and then I was on my way.

 

[Mal]

When I arrived last night I was asked if my circumstances had changed at all ... just said "nope", passport was stamped and then I was on my way.

Yep, that was the usual question I got when I entered the UK (pre- IRIS).

Also keep in mind, if accepted into IRIS, you won't get any stickers or stamps on entry through the system, everything is kept electronically.

 

[Flashback]

Yep, that was the usual question I got when I entered the UK (pre- IRIS).

Also keep in mind, if accepted into IRIS, you won't get any stickers or stamps on entry through the system, everything is kept electronically.

Aww, that's no good then!

 

[Mal]

Aww, that's no good then!

But you can email the IRIS team to obtain a complete immigration history!

So it's no different, assuming you aren't a passport stamp collector!

(BTW, never do what I did the first time I entered on IRIS - realise you don't get a sticker, ask an officer (from behind) whether you should, get a VERY weird look, get the same questions, and then get the stamp... )

 

[Bundy Bear]

Ray Emery Dr, Auckland Airport 2022, New Zealand

I am now in the Koruclub lounge in Auckland about to fly back to Sydney on AR flying J and AR use the Air NZ lounge. Not surprising Aerolineas Argentinas have a 1hour delay. I wonder how they will compare to Lan Chile.

Sent from my iPhone using AFF Mobile

 

[Flashback]

anat0l: Optus 3G network goes out in Sydney - Telco/ISP - Technology - News - iTnews.com.au

JohnK: WA outage the latest in Vodafone's horror run - Networking - Technology - News - iTnews.com.au

 

[Nigelinoz]

Today is my second anniversary as a AFF member,I would like to thank everyone for reading and replying to my contributions,both on this and other threads,I hope my posts have made worthwhile reading and I look forward to making more contributions in the future.

 

[Nigelinoz]

This is my entry in the "Things you don't want to see in a supermarket" list.
Baby mice burst out of bag of chips at UK supermarket | News.com.au

A BRITISH shopper was horrified when newborn mice burst out of a bag of chips she was about to pick up at a Tesco supermarket.

Liz Wray captured images on her phone on Friday of the vermin problem at the new store in Birmingham, central England, after half a dozen pink mice emerged from a McCoy’s variety pack of chips.



​

 

[markis10]

This is my entry in the "Things you don't want to see in a supermarket" list.
Baby mice burst out of bag of chips at UK supermarket | News.com.au

Maybe that was the winning flavour from the recent "name the new flavour" chip competition we had here - Ratatouille.

 

[Nigelinoz]

Maybe that was the winning flavour from the recent "name the new flavour" chip competition we had here - Ratatouille.