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As I get older and tick more of my bucket list destinations, especially the ones that have bird watching as the primary goal I was thinking that there was one destination that I won't be able to get to in my travel lifetime. Venezuela has 1412 bird species and spectacular scenery. I was there briefly in the 80's when I was budget backpacking around South America but I didn't get into birding until the 2000's. I would love to go there and see all those beautiful "lifers" as we call new...

Note that this is not exclusively a "Round The World" Award. While it can be so used, it can also be used for "Round Trips", "Circle" Trips or even "one-way trips" without actually going "Round The World". Also note the following from the T&C review that comes up on Qantas.com if you have successfully selected flights and reach the Review "Check" page: Please keep that in mind in discussions. If you're new to the Qantas Oneworld Classic Flight Reward (often referred to as the Qantas...

We knew it was coming..... but we thought 1st April 2026. Nope, 1st April 2025. https://mediacentre.britishairways.com/news/30122024/introducing-the-british-airways-club-more-ways-to-earn-tier-points-than-ever-before It's brutal. Of course it was 'due to member feedback', so we only have ourselves to blame. After more than a decade of BA Gold ....... it'll be bye bye from me. There's no way I'll get close to spending £20,000 / year, even with some of the other ways you can earn TP via BA...

WCMO is this ( on board Silver Moon, cruising the tropics). Read the dress code So tomorrow, “men must wear a jacket in all indoor spaces”. Really? I have to have a jacket on all the time when I’m inside the ship? My cabin? At breakfast? No. WCMO is their inability to write a coherent sentence of what they mean. What they mean is in the dining and bar areas you have to wear a jacket. Which is stupid enough in the tropics, but is it really so difficult to form those words in print? Of...

Likely announcement Monday morning aviation industry ombudsman https://au.news.yahoo.com/airline-customer-rights-charter-specify-124150467.html https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/federal-government-to-establish-aviation-industry-ombudsman-to-handle-disputes/news-story/c453fb98eb0729d032e9acbde6eb0838

It's time for the annual AFF "year in review" thread. (For reference, this was last year's: 2023 - Year In Review) This year, a lot of companies including Qantas have emulated Spotify with their "2024 wrapped" emails. So it's only fitting that AFF members do the same. This thread is an opportunity to share your travel stats and your new, best and worst flight experiences for 2024! Here are my stats for 2024: Number of flights: 94 (63 Y, 5 PE, 26 J) Countries visited: 43 (including 21 new...

Save the date! We're thrilled to reveal that the 2025 AFF annual member gathering will be in Melbourne from 21-23 November 2025. There's still almost a year until this event, so we're still finalising the details. But you an expect that there will be a welcome dinner on Friday evening, a more formal dinner with a guest speaker on Saturday evening, and optional activities on the Saturday and/or Sunday. All AFF members and their friends & family are welcome to attend. Most people usually fly...

Just noticed this in my QF app - must have only been turned on today (I flew yesterday evening and it wasn’t there then). Reminds me of the promotions that sometimes appear in the EDR, like the Easter egg one earlier in the year. Hope I get something better than the plastic whistle that usually drops out of my Christmas crackers!

Not sure how useful this thread might prove to be, but I've been using the notes field in the AFF Flight Tracker to record JASAs, upgrades and op-ups. The purpose of this thread is to provide some analysis on the QF upgrades that I have requested. Since July 2010, which is when my QF flying started, I've applied for 18 upgrades for myself and 2 for a family member for a total of 20. 100% of them have come through. 8 were international. 12 were domestic. 1 was W to J. 1 was Y to W...

Hi all, I'm planning a 2-week trip to Asia in late March/early April 2025 and would love some suggestions. I have award tickets booked on SQ BNE-SIN-BNE (departing March 27, returning April 9) and am looking for destinations not too far from Singapore. I am happy to spend a night or two in Singapore on either end of the trip. While we love Japan, we're after a more relaxing holiday this time, ideally with a resort stay and some day trips. I'm considering Thailand - maybe 2-3 nights in...

Qantas' partner lounge at DPS, previously known as the Premier Lounge, has had a significant renovation and is now branded the Tujuwan Lounge. It seems to have reopened at some stage in 2024, but I don't think it's been widely discussed on AFF outside a couple of brief mentions in Trip Reports. Anyone who visited the old Premier Lounge would agree it was one of the worst in the Qantas network. Some elements remain (the footprint is the same, the food offering hasn't changed much, and the...

Cast your vote now! In June, we introduced a new "Trip Report of the Month" award on AFF. Each month, the AFF editorial team chooses their favourite AFF member trip report from the previous month, with the winner receiving a special banner on their profile (which also links to their winning trip report) for that month. We're doing this to recognise and show our appreciation to AFF members who've put a lot of time and effort into writing sensational trip reports that have informed and...

Enjoy a world of travel benefits and 150,000 bonus Amex Membership Rewards Premium Ascent points... Learn more and apply for this card: https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/credit-cards/american-express-platinum-guide/ What are the main benefits of this card? Signup bonus: 150,000 Amex Membership Rewards Points (worth 75,000 Qantas Points, Velocity Points, Avios or Asia Miles, among other options) when you apply by 28 January 2025 and spend at least $5,000 within 3 months Earn 2.25...

On a train going out to Western Sydney I am sitting on a seat from hell it is so hard. I thought about my most recent mistake of booking Novotel Brisbane Airport only to find it was not really at the airport and wondered if others have mistakes they would like to share. Fortunately the train is an express ride to my destination!

EK planning to terminate the route: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/emirates-to-stop-flights-between-singapore-and-melbourne

Okay. Time for a straw poll. I need to know if I am being unreasonable about my expectation and anger here. The situation is this. I have Platinum frequent flyer status with QANTAS. I booked 2 business class seats on a direct flight from MEL to NAN. The redemption E-Ticket showed FJ934 despite their being a QANTAS code share flight number QF3867. (For background ALL QANTAS booked passengers on direct flights from MEL - NAN are on the same Fiji Airways operated aircraft as QANTAS do not...

Get up to 200,000 bonus Velocity Points and unlimited Priority Pass airport lounge visits! Learn more and apply for this card: https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/credit-cards/citi-prestige-card-velocity-guide/ What are the main benefits of this card? AFF EXCLUSIVE Sign-up bonus: Up to 200,000 bonus Velocity Points when you apply through AFF! Receive 150,000 bonus Velocity Points when you spend $12,000 on eligible purchases within 3 months from approval. Earn another 50,000 bonus...

Inspired by a recent post about an experience claiming travel insurance, figured I'd put my 2c in here about my experience claiming under Commonwealth bank credit card insurance. In September I had a 3 week trip to Europe for 2 conferences with some holidays between and at either end (good luck I say to my accountant to figure out how much of the trip is tax deductible haha!). In the between part, developed stomach pain during a 90 minute flight into Belgrade. Worsened to the point mr...

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/china-offers-new-olive-branch-to-lure-aussie-tourists-20240617-p5jmb8.html This will certainly make it easier and encourage me to visit China again!

https://www.afr.com/street-talk/qatar-airways-approaches-the-landing-strip-on-virgin-australia-stake-20240901-p5k6yw Just been reported in the AFR. Expect to see the formal announcement by end of the week.