I've had 10 minutes to breath today, and a quick inspection of my British Airways Exec Club Account showed something nice, surprising and stress inducing all at once... 1500 Tier Points. OUCH..... … [Read more...]
UK Border: Heathrow will be ready for Olympics… Honest!
Officials have been on the PR offensive this morning, promising that entry into London Heathrow will be ready for the increase in demand in the run up and aftermath of the London 2012 Olympics. Marc Owen, Heathrow director of the UK Border Force has stated that "Hundreds of extra fully trained border staff will be brought in". In regards to border security, he also … [Read more...]
Poll: In Flight Mobile Phone Use – What’s your view?
It's time for something different at GhettoIFE - a poll! Earlier this week I wrote about Virgin Atlantic introducing full Mobile Communications on-board their new 3-class Airbus A330's, and the comments were not that favourable. Full in this case is defined as Voice, SMS and Data. Yes - you will be able to make and receive calls whilst in the air. So my question is … [Read more...]
UK Border Agency: More Manpower due soon. Honest!
Immigration minister Damian Green has had it rough recently, with the chaos at the UK Border at various ports of entry - and rightly so after not ensuring enough manpower was available to process the visitors into the United Kingdom. As the UK ramps up its border inspections thanks to a lack policy and a will from the Government to do deeper inspections, delays into the UK … [Read more...]
Want some cheapish Avios? Buy them via BMI…
BMI is currently running a 20% bonus Destination Miles promotion on purchases of miles. Whilst in the past this was reasonably exciting, there is an interesting wrinkle on the horizon - the creation of a transfer tool from BMI Diamond Club to British Airways Avios. So the idea is this: Buy your miles Wait till the 3rd July Convert them to Avios So why is this … [Read more...]
UK Border chaos spreads to Stansted
In what should be no surprise to anyone, the border wait times have extended to London Stansted. Last night entries into the United Kingdom on a European Economic Area Passport were taking from 90 minutes to two hours. Which for a mainly European port of entry for low cost carriers is again... disgusting. The UK Border Force states: "We flexibly deploy staff to meet … [Read more...]
BAA: Heathrow Queue Targets Missed, Government Minister yet to stand in line for 3 hours
In what it turning into a case of he said/she said, BAA has released its latest waiting times for immigration into the United Kingdom at London Heathrow. Some highlights: Most passengers from outside the EEA (European Economic Area) were NOT seen to within 45 minutes - over 95% of the time! The longest wait time was at T4 on 30th April for a grand total of 3 hours and … [Read more...]
BMIBaby Fallout – Birmingham and EMA recover… Belfast City less so…
More response today from the fallout of BMI Baby being wound down. Birmingham Airport has announced that they will be bringing two aircraft to join it's local base, and will add more flights to Malaga, Alicante, Rome, Palma, Faro and Barcelona; all destinations served by bmibaby. Meanwhile, Flybe will continue to operate to Belfast City, with EasyJet joining them in the … [Read more...]
UK Immigration: We’ll get it right – honest guv!
Time for some more on the saga/joke that is UK Immigration. For a recap, head to the post I wrote about the delays at Heathrow during the weekend. But for an ultraquick version UK Border at full alert so immigration checks are taking longer Not enough staff to enforce it Long queues to get into the United Kingdom - especially for non European Economic Area … [Read more...]
BA Status Match for BMI Diamond Club holders opens tomorrow – and some reminders…
EDITED: Status match commenced! It's a quick reminder from GhettoIFE towers for of you who are BMI Gold or Silver... the great BA Status Match begins NOW at http:/www.ba.com/tiermatch. Details of the mechanism of how and where to do it have been revealed revealed, and I suggest it would be a good idea to create yourself a British Airways Executive Club account if you … [Read more...]