Yet another lovely video. Ive just been relegated to Silver, and though there isn't much real benefit for me in being Gold, there are occasional surprises (2 upgrades so far this year, Cathay first lounge at T3, and the superlative Qantas First in SIN). I shall be following your recommendations and hoping the Prague sector works!
Hi Matt, Great video! I do appreciate the balance between airport content and content of the places you visit. It is great to hear of a well travelled globetrotter was is good, what is not. Very refreshing approach! Well done on the renewal!
Hi Matt. I am an expat in Jakarta of over 20 years and I think your synopsis is pretty spot on. It’s not worth the time for casual visitors beyond a night or two max. There is a bit of a scene in the south with some expat bars - Kemang. Over the years Jakarta has become more conservative as the Islamic meme spreads. A decade ago, only a minority of women would wear head scarfs; now it’s the majority. Unfortunately Jakarta is leaning more and more towards Islamic conservatism, not helped by the government that eggs this trend. All that being said, if anyone finds themselves here for a conference / meeting, there is still fun to be had!
Thanks David! I took a conscious decision not to talk about religion on the channel but I think I would have said similar stuff if I didn't have that prohibition in force!
Good video, Matt. I did some planning for Bali a few months ago. Kuta? No thanks; I'd opt for Seminyak. What I particularly like about the island is that one can easily do a large number of day-trips from a coastal base.
"Dunking his Chihuahua" definitely sounds like a euphemism. I think there's a lot of that goes on in Kuta/Legian. Agree with your take on Jakarta - worth seeing (once, if you're in the area and you've been to most of the rest of Southeast Asia), but not worth going to see.
Great video as usual Matt. Personally, whilst the double TP offer is on until eoy 2024, I think I'll be sticking to 2x 5 night trips to a Short Haul Plus destination to renew Silver. Surely has to be the cheapest way to do it at the moment? SOF and OTP car hire can be very cheap.
Indeed - that double tier points offer is compelling.... My year end is August so that's peak time in SOF and OTP so its never been that cheap for me, but out of season its a no-brainer! 5 nights is a wee bit too long too.... But if it works for you - fab!
Thanks Ian. I talk about the price of the SriLankan bit - I didn't attempt to do this trip at the lowest cost as I was interested in making videos - it cost me a lot more than it could be done for and I thought it could be a little demotivating if I shared too much detail! But it cost about £95 LHR-PRA in economy, 45k avios plus £160 ish for PRA-DOH-AUH in business then just over £1k for SHJ-DOH-LHR in business (and first within the gulf). Then about £60 a night for decent hotels. So if you can get to and from AUH for a lot less than I paid it really needn't be that expensive overall.
Hello Matt, Well, I am on it as I am going to visit friends in Melbourne. PRG-LHR-DXB, AUH-CMB-CGK-MEL and back. I may ad Bali. Safe travels to you all.
@@MattsPlanet Hello,🤣 A tier points run in never direct. Last time I ended up in Honolulu 🙈. This time, at least, there is more that one reason for the trip like that. /4 trips with BA, A380, Cathay Pacific BL at T3 and BA at T5B at LHR, Visiting Dubai and Abu Dhabi, a tier point run, friends visit and more. Not a dull moment 🤣. And I am not in rush either. So fingers crossed not to miss a conversation. 😅
Matt, you can claim for the cancelled flight. If they cancel your flight and you arrive more than 2 hours late you are due compensation. The 3 hours is for your original flight being delayed!!
@@MattsPlanet it’s a bit hard to navigate and that rule is a bit hidden. BA cancelled my flight to Geneva and I was in a similar situation (moved to a later flight, 2 hours and 50 mins late total). I got the £220 with that rule.
Matt. Excellent info and options. I'll watch this again in the future for 2025 Tierpoint options. BUT, what is the late night death cab? Steve. C. YNWA
You may not get the most prime cabbie volunteering for a 4-5 hour round trip from Abu Dhabi to Sharjah which starts at 10pm.... He seemed understandably keen to get me there so he could get home again!
Matt.. You should still qualify for delay compensation. If the flight was cancelled with less than 2 weeks notice and you arrived on the alternative flight over 2 hours late, you get £220. This is from CAA website. The 3 hours applies to delays of original flight (yours was cancelled so never even took off). Less than seven days’ notice If you received less than seven days’ notice of the cancellation, you can claim compensation based on the timings of the alternative flight: If your new flight departs no more than one hour before the scheduled time of your original flight AND your new flight arrives less than two hours after the scheduled time of your original flight, you are not entitled to financial compensation Length of flight Length of disruptions Compensation short-haul flight of under 1,500km (e.g. Glasgow to Amsterdam) 2 hours or more at final destination £220 medium-haul flight of 1,500km - 3,500km (e.g. East Midlands to Marrakesh) 3 hours or more at final destination £350 long-haul flight of over 3,500km (e.g. London to New York) 4 hours or more at final destination £520 long-haul flight of over 3,500km (e.g. London to New York) Less than 4 hours at final destination £260
Thanks Helen. I did indeed make a claim and was successful.... Indeed it was really quick and easy to do so through the BA website - far better than Iberia's!
Love this video. The AUH-CMB-CGK and back is definitely on my TP bucket list (560 TPs for £800 is a great deal these days). I think your choice of Bali looks a much better option than staying in Jakarta - and as you say it's exotic so I'd love to visit there. I hadn't realised that the DOH-AUH leg in First gave access to the Al Safwa lounge - I will check this out next time (I was mightily impressed with the Al Mourjan). Can't wait for BA LHR to AUH to resume around April 2024 I believe.
Hie Matt, thank you for all the videos you do with tones of information. Just wondering if you hav me done a video on tier point runs for renewal specifically for Qatar airways?
Qatar's scheme uses a different system for managing status... I'm not familiar with it and I'd be concerned about making errors if I did a video about the Qatar scheme - indeed on any scheme I don't have a lot of personal experience with...
The old centre of Abu Dhabi is interesting, rather like some of the older neighbourhoods in Dubai, e.g. Satwa. Certainly a relief from the identikit glitz normally associated with the Gulf. (By old, I mean 40 odd years !). If you get a chance to stop in Doha, the Museum of Islamic Art is outstanding, both the building itself and the collection. Agree on Jakarta. Pleased to have ticked it off but I probably wouldn't return. Kuala Lumpur can be fun if you find any attractive fares on MH.
I agree with all of this! I quite like Abu Dhabi.... Not been to KL for perhaps 15 years so its definitely on the list... Twin centre with Langkawi I think...
I have. Something like £25k for a max of 200 TPs. That's a no from me.... Sounds like something that will further reward big spenders but won't drive behaviours that much...
It was about £1,550. I could have gone to a smaller Californian city for about £1,380 but needed to get back to LA during the turnaround so it was cheaper overall to pay more to end in LAX. And this was a 6 month advance purchase fare
I didn't do this as a BA Holiday, indeed I don't believe it is possible to wrap the Sri Lankan flights into a BAH. I did toy with starting with a LHR-SOF holiday to get those tier points doubled but that's peak season for Eastern Europe and it really wasn't good value
@@MattsPlanet wow, ty for the instant answer on some old video! Atm Qatar has double points, but I'm not sure they have anything worth the value just flying for points. Already got one booked but that's for holiday
Hi Matt, thank you for the video (s). very informative and a different option to westwards US TP run. Can I ask ball park the cost of whole trip to determine if better value cost per TP. Many thanks
The core part was Abu Dhabi to Jakarta which cost £800. My hotel nights cost < £60 on average so the core of it was not much more than £1,000. I chose to spend money and points on getting to and from Abu Dhabi which bumped it up quite a bit and the side trip to Bali cost perhaps £350 all in....
