Recent content by Kremmen

At 17:38 this afternoon, 11 April, I received the email. That's rather short notice, wouldn't you say?

Also truly weird is that the $570 BA economy fares I mentioned earlier disappeared entirely some time later, yet the $460 BA discount business class fares were available on the same flights.

I managed to find a hotel that was only $2/night more on Amex than other sources. I booked just before my statement date and the $200 credit posted on that statement, but the charge is on the next one, which is nice. Less nice is the confirmation screen that doesn't even list the fact that I...

I've had more IT issues with Accor than all other chains put together. Their IT, even simple things like points crediting correctly, is worse than Hilton in the 90s. I've found it impossible to use Amex for online bookings at some properties, yet agents can book it (with same card) over the...

For me, it's IHG for chain hotels and Agoda for non-chain hotels. ("status" with Agoda can actually include some good discounts) SPG used to be good, but after the Marriott takeover, it's just not worthwhile to me. There are too few hotels in most cities and most are poor value. I was diamond...

I can't fathom that. I was looking recently at business class awards to London and the USA late next year. QFF has absolutely nothing ever, as usual. Krisflyer has availability to both destinations. A month or so ago, I was booking PER-SIN for January. Again, SQ had J availability on a number...

It really isn't even close to as bad as QF. SQ has enormous amounts of J space for its own members that it doesn't release to partners. When I had about 22k SQ points heading towards expiry last year, I boosted it to 24k with a Marriott transfer (which can be done exactly, not in some multiple...

No, it isn't clear at all. It's utterly ambiguous. They wrote "and/or" for both the "no change" and the "new" clauses, which means that activating before and departing after make both clauses true. As for the change itself, it makes the card almost useless to me. For example, I have already...

That is not uniformly true. There are airports (esp. in the Middle East) where you can't. Even if you can, I've flown on over 50 airlines. I don't want 50 extra apps on my phone and they wouldn't fit anyhow.

I like peace and quiet, but I believe the trade-off is definitely worth it. If a single person out of 300 misses boarding, that means the whole plane gets delayed 15 mins while they offload luggage. Being disturbed by boarding calls is worth it, especially in a lounge, because the lounge staff...

Why do you think that? The rules clearly give no such exemption. As soon as you break them, you are in violation of the conditions of carriage.

Etihad's free chat is only for Etihad Guest members, but that membership doesn't have to be in your booking. You can even sign up when you connect. (FA told me that's a recent addition and one she was clearly thankful of. I guess passengers got a bit cranky when the system told them there was a...

The first two points are irrelevant. I've had problems handled competently by overseas call centres. IHG's Diamond line is handled in the Philippines. The third point is the only point that matters. Geographical location and nationality is irrelevant.

1. From all reports, it's not very good. Even if the implementation was better, it's limited in usefulness. An ombudsman/advocate makes sense for unusual, one-off situations where the airline does something (or fails to do something) that adversely affects the passenger. For large scale issues...

As usual, I've had some <$200 fares/hotels that I could have used the $200 credit on, but that's impossible now. The first >$200 fare I've looked at since my latest anniversary is on BA next year. On BA's site, it's $230. On Amex travel, it's $570 for the same flights. So, I could spend $340...