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TLFL party prizes inc BA Silver
I can now confirm the full list of prizes for the TLFL party. Tickets are now sold out. Sadly we are unable to enter anyone into the draw who is not present at the party.
The draw will be for:
- British Airways Silver status which gives lounge access, free seat selection and priority boarding/check-in even when travelling in economy
- 50,000 Virgin Points courtesy of Virgin Red
- Lunch for two at The Pem at Conrad St James
- A yearโs subscription to the Wine Flyer from British Airways
- A free lifetime of Gold membership for Reward Flight Finder
- A Theragun from Jumeirah hotels
You can find out more about the prizes in this article. There will be a special announcement at the party, but you can look out for a post on here at around 8pm on Friday revealing TLFL’s new project for 2023!
Even bigger bonus for BA Amex cards with 70k sign-up bonus
After American Express announced a 36,000 sign-up bonus yesterday for the BA Premium Plus Card, today an even bigger bonus appeared on the BA website (thanks to Martin for spotting it). The only difference is that this offer is only available to BA Executive Club members.
The offer differs between the free card and the paid Premium Plus:
British Airways American Expressยฎ Credit Card
Representative 28.1% APR variable. No annual fee.
- Welcome bonus: Get 20,000 bonus Avios when you spend ยฃ1,000 in the first 3 months of Cardmembership and join the Executive Club if youโre not already a member. Offer ends 21 February
- Earn rate: Collect 1 Avios for every ยฃ1 spent on purchases
- Rewards: Get a Companion Voucher when you spend ยฃ12,000 each membership year which is valid for a year and only redeemable in economy
British Airways American Expressยฎ Premium Plus Card
Representative 107.7% APR variable. ยฃ250 annual fee.
- Welcome bonus: Get 70,000 bonus Avios when you spend ยฃ3,000 in the first 3 months of Cardmembership and join the Executive Club if youโre not already a member. Offer ends 21 February
- Earn rate: Collect 1.5 Avios for every ยฃ1 spent on purchases
- Rewards: Get a Companion Voucher when you spend ยฃ10,000 each membership year which is now more flexible than ever
If you visit the ba.com special Amex page you can find all the details and terms and conditions there.
Heathrow has busiest year since 2019 but concerns about China testing
Heathrow has revealed that 5.9 million passengers travelled in December 2022 โ up 90% compared with the same time last year. For the most part, queues were no worse than they had been pre-holiday period. However, given that they are pretty bad at T3 security and transfers at T5 most of the time, I don’t think they should be congratulating themselves too much.
According to Heathrow “92% of passengers passed through security in under 10 minutes during the Christmas peak, service for passengers with reduced mobility improved, and arriving travellers reported a friendly and efficient journey through immigration in spite of industrial action.”
I’m slightly suspicious of this figure, though. It all depends on where they take it from. Your boarding pass is scanned as you enter security, but there is a second scanning point which is voluntary just as you get to the head of the queue. If they are taking it from this, that would make more sense. My recent experiences at quiet times were that it was taking around 10-15 minutes through Fast Track at T3 and 5 (not the first wing). It also depends on how you categorise someone as moving through. Is it when you come through the scanner, or is it after you’ve waited 15 minutes for a secondary scan of your luggage? I don’t know how they assess this, but I will find out.
Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said:
โ2022 ended on a high with our busiest Christmas in three years and a smooth and efficient service for passengers, thanks to the hard work of our colleagues and close planning with airlines, their ground handlers and Border Force.โ
Transatlantic routes were the busiest over the period, with JFK in its usual top spot for the busiest route.
In total, Heathrow handled 61.6 million passengers (76% of 2019 levels) during 2022 – 42.2 million higher than in 2021.
Heathrow also stated that they are concerned that the recovery of the aviation sector could be set back by the reintroduction of testing for travellers in the UK and elsewhere in response for passengers arriving from China.
Ice cream sundaes return to United Airlines
There is something about an ice cream sundae with a hot sauce and some sprinkles on an aircraft that feels like a real treat. It’s probably because as children, going for a proper ice cream sundae was something special and not something we would usually order as adults now. American Airlines is known for its sundaes and even alters the options with tropical flavours on their Hawaii route, for example.
On social media, United Airlines announced that it would be bringing back its own ice cream trolley service on international flights. This will consist of a cart where you can choose your own sauces and toppings like M&Ms for dessert. Like many other airlines, the cart bit the dust during Covid for pre-packed ice cream. Though I’m still not sure how someone serving you ice cream from a trolley compared to a carton is any more likely to give you Covid!
United has now confirmed on social media that the ice cream trolley will be on all long-haul routes from February 2023. Look away if you are on a diet…
6 comments
I swear fast track security (at least at T5) is now slower than the regular queue most of the timeโฆ!
Ummm…..what about the long lines at T3 before you get to either of the boarding pass scanners at security?
Ice cream sundaes on UA: this was always a highlight for years on CO before the merger with UA in BusinessFirst. I used to fly CO three or four times a year and they even had a daily DC10 from BHX to EWR which downsized to a 757. CO were far superior to UA in my humble opinion. It was a great pity UA were in the driving seat after the merger when service and product quality went down hill fast. Fond memories, always lovely crew. Always.
Totally agree. I used to love flying Continental too. Was my first time flying business class on long haul with them. The ice cream sundae spoilt me for flying forever! I was most disappointed when I then flew BA and there was no such thing.
Coming back through T5 transfers last summer, I had a horrendous wait connecting from a Hamburg flight to one for Edinburgh. I always wondered whether it would have been better to go landside and reenter through FirstWing given my baggage was tagged to EDI.
ยฃ250PA for the Premium plus card now, I have just closed mine & got back to my basic free card. I also now have a Barclaycard Avios which gives the same points as Amex.
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