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One more issue: the departure tax to leave Australia is close to $140. So if you’re looking for a short-haul international flight (eg. to DPS) the carrier charges and taxes will often be half or more the cost of paying for the flight outright. You’ll find the carrier charges for the flights back...

My balance has changed and gone backwards, and I know why. Initially the balance said something like “5800 status credits required, of which 6034 need to be from your own VA marketed and operated flights”. So too many of my SC’s have been earned through family pooling, Flybuys etc. Now my...

I’ve just had a read of the actual legislation. It’s quite interesting to see how much of what it says is downright ignored by the airlines and by EU member governments! (Eg. airlines have an “obligation” to inform all passengers of their rights in the case of delays or cancellations). The...

Agree. I do notice that more often than not I’m “looked after” by, say, being put in a room on a higher floor or with a nice view. This is what happened to me last week at the Novotel in Queenstown. But that’s not an “upgrade” by anyone’s definition except the hotel’s. Correct me if I’m wrong...

Yes, that’s the rule: accommodation and meals need to be covered even if the delay is due to “extraordinary circumstances”. This happened to us in early 2022 when our KEF-CPH flight was cancelled because the flight crew had COVID. We didn’t receive compensation, but SAS reimbursed us for our...

One really does wonder how Iberia have managed to get away with ignoring EC261 for so long, and how it will end. Will there be a class action that’ll end up costing them hundreds of millions, or will they keep getting away with it in perpetuity?

Given that Accor + Explorer is an Asia Pacific thing, and that every A+ member will now be ALL Gold (or higher), is it fair to say that ALL Gold will be of slightly more value outside Asia Pacific than within Asia Pacific? I mean, as ALL Gold I can't see myself getting upgrades any more, unless...

Looks like I'll end the year with a maximum of 54 status nights and about 12,000 status points (that's factoring in 3000 points for Oct-Dec from a Signature subscription which, sadly, I only took out in June). So near and yet so far! Will have to be content with Gold for another year.

Thought I'd save some money by making a non-refundable booking. Won't make that mistake again!

My daughter and her husband received a last-minute invitation to an event in Sydney during the first week of the December school holidays, and they asked me if I could use my Velocity points for reward flights given that flights at that time of the year are expensive. So I did a search for...

Interesting. My app is showing no changes at all. No nights added and I’m still an “Accor Plus Gold” member with, among other things, “up to 50% off meal bills”.

I do get your point. Though I have to say that if they're just "rumours" I query why the WSJ would have run the story.

The Wall Street Journal has an article about Boeing's plans for a new narrowbody to replace the 737. The headline is "Boeing has Started Working on a 737 MAX Replacement". The article is by Benjamin Katz and Drew Fitzgerald: Boeing is planning a new single-aisle airplane that would succeed...

The annoying thing is that you'd need to select "Star Alliance" to find Air New Zealand flights, and "Other Partner Airlines" to find Virgin flights.

Depends on what you mean. Does Singapore Airlines fly directly from Melbourne to NZ? No. (They used to fly from Melbourne to Wellington, but not any more). Can you use KrisFlyer points to fly directly from Melbourne to NZ? Yes. You can use KrisFlyer to book Air New Zealand to Auckland...

Final reflections: Success! My one criterion for measuring success on this holiday was whether my mother enjoyed it. And she had a wonderful time. The flight in, the views, the food, the water, the lakes, mountains, the tours we did, the shopping … she enjoyed every minute of it. And she got...

Welcome to AFF @mrsafety ! Hope this gets resolved soon.

There were some lovely views as we made our descent. We landed and ran the gauntlet that is SYD international arrivals. As we walked through the Duty Free, I made sure the mantra was loudly playing through my head: “I don’t need more booze, I don’t need more booze, I don’t need more booze…”...

I woke up just early enough on our last morning to pack and go for a very quick walk into Queenstown Gardens. We each had a slightly more indulgent breakfast than usual… Before we checked out and took an Uber into the airport. We were checked in, through Security and Passport Control, and...

My daughter is a knitter too and I FaceTimed her from Frank’s Corner. Needless to say I walked out with a bag full of wool! (among many other things).