The Stench of a Virgin (Atlantic)

It really pains me to be writing this post, but I demand great customer service - and I'll be damned if I don't do every thing in my power to get it.

Without wanting to sound arrogant, I am fortunate enough to travel a lot for business... A LOTTTTT!

I have been fortunate enough to reach well above my projected tier on British Airways this year, without any chance of making further progress. Therefore, when a short notice trip to NYC came up last week, I thought I might as well try getting some extra points somewhere else as my BA Executive Club membership year ends on Wednesday anyway. Having listened to a very dear and old friend of mine, who is a senior manager of one of the largest accountancy firms - I decided to give Virgin Atlantic a go. Therefore I went ahead last Sunday and booked a trip with a hotel in Economy (yes, I know... but that is the reality of people living in a business start up culture where we have to pay for our own tickets until we reach blockbuster revenues) with Virgin Atlantic. A DECISION I AM REGRETTING TO THIS DAY, only a week later!

When I booked the flight everything was looking Hunky Dory. As on British Airways, I tried going into the section where I could manage my booking and was refused. Obviously, there was no proper connection between Virgin Holidays (who handled my booking since I had also booked a hotel - a no brainer considering I saved £600 compared to the flight only cost of a Monday to Wednesday flight; or so I thought...) and Virgin Atlantic. This proved to be my downfall...

Two days later, the Virgin Atlantic web site still wouldn't recognise my booking reference number and this is also the case 13 hours away from the time of travel. I then tried calling the booking line and got 8 minutes of 'muzak' and then 4(!!!!!!!!) minutes of a phone ringing and nobody bothering to pick it up. So much for what Virgin are promising on their web site with regards to a 24 hours a day phone line...

I then thought I'd try and call the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club - and it's while I've (by now) been waiting for 22 minutes... In the end I hung on for 31 minutes before I got anybody on the phone - only to be given the excuse that "Virgin Holidays" are a completely separate company. Hang on a second! Let me get this straight... This is an industry, which has almost obliterated any other form of business travel by being flexible, but still maintains the 1970s Saturday night stay requirement in order to price ANYTHING competitively. Some of us business folks also have social obligations, and obviously the piranhas like to feed off that. I have to admit that the thought of paying £1500 for a flight in M(onkey) class repulsed me, so I was happy to see that by adding on the hotel, I could save £600, but the amount of grief afterwards really did not even begin to justify the cost saving.

Over the course of 2 phone calls, it took me almost an hour to get a valid flight reference to even allow me to check in on the flight. Really not what you want when the clock strikes the Midnight Hour... On top of that I was not able to do an online upgrade, but had to call somebody who was not able to process it - but had to have her supervisor do so and then call me back 15 minutes later in order to confirm it. Also, I was told that I would need to try and phone up again in order to organise an upgrade on the way back. I am getting to the point where I would rather fling myself off a very tall building while I'm in New York as I think my time is more worthwhile than having to spend 2(!) hours on the phone with an inept airline, which lacks complete system integration, and being fobbed off with excuses of "we'll try to find a way to pass that information along". As Manuel said in Fawlty Towers, "Que?" (sorry, my PC doesn't allow me to do the inverted question mark at the start of the sentence...)

I had great service on the phone from 2 (very) unfortunate souls, who had to deal with an irate customer (and quite rightly so). However, the answers I got gave me very little confidence... Also, it didn't help when I was told they were short-staffed and only had a few people in the office dealing with the calls. It still doesn't excuse pulling me off the unbearable 'muzak' and forcing me to the listen to a constant ring tone for almost 5 minutes. Unlike Carlsberg's iconic TVC from the late 80s/early 90s this was not a 'wrong number' call to a dusty old department, which never deals with confused old ladies who can't tell the numbers '1' and '7' apart on their phones*.

Unfortunately for Virgin, we are about to grow Springboard Media massively, with a large amount of staff who are going to be "pond-hopping" extensively. Even worse... I am responsible for the company's travel policy. Therefore, I can say that I gave Virgin Atlantic a fair chance, but I cannot afford to be spending the next years dealing with irate employees so I'll not be recommending them as a carrier going forward. My key thought is that if you're a big organisation and you have people dealing with your travel for you, you might not care as it will be the 'minion' dealing with terrible booking systems, no back-end integration and a depressing amount of time wasted in telephone queues, but for any entrepreneur and business decision maker who has to deal with policy, I'd advise you all to look elsewhere.

* Before you criticise me for this reference, please allow me to say that for 12 years I have been telling people off for dialing a '1' instead of a '7' - and at one point my local council couldn't even figure out their own phone numbers, made exactly the same mistake and forced me to endure YEARS of people dialing my home phone instead of the community hall. Southwark Council, and Pat - you in particular, should be ashamed of this. I have never received an apology and you have never taken the necessary measures to remove my phone number. Shame on you, BUT not nearly as big a shame on you as it's on the carrier that believes it should be Britain's flagship carrier! I have previously posted about their retro campaign looking back at when they started - and when I look at their current service levels, they truly seem to be stuck in a 1980s time warp before Margaret Thatcher broke the unions and made it necessary to actually perform at work. Based on this experience British Airways Executive Club and the On Business programme will be getting a lot more 'traffic' from us over the next few years. This is not an invitation to rest on the laurels. Just because the competition is inept, you still need to improve your service consistency. And as for Virgin Atlantic, please start backing up all of your marketing bravado with a worthwhile product and service! For now, though, it's quite clear that we'll continue to back British Airways.

Table Tennis - My First Gold Challenge Sport

Last night I took part in my first table tennis session at a North London sports centre, along with a number of the people associated with the Gold Challenge, known as "The Torchbearers". I didn't know quite what to expect, but knew that this was going to be first of two sessions required to attain the minimum standard required by the challenge rules to get my first certificate - and the next session is already scheduled in for next Tuesday evening.

I have to admit that I've had several opportunities to join the Torchbearers in the past, but there have always been scheduling conflicts so I was never able to join them until now - and 'what a great way to start' I thought to myself as I have always loved playing table tennis and played it loads growing up. You might think that the only reason I have selected this sport as one of the 10 I'll be doing as part of my personal challenge is that I already know how to play it. The truth is not quite as black and white as that. Being insanely busy trying to get a new company off the ground, the thought of taking on at least 30 hours of training in 10 different sports (not to mention at least the same amount of travelling time on top of that) before the end of 2012 is actually very difficult to find the time for. It is going to be hard work and that's why I thought I'd do a combination of sports I love, sports I've always wanted to try out and I also want to do at least one Paralympic sport. So as you can see, table tennis is a good way for me to get off to a very positive start with my Gold Challenge experience and I was really looking forward to it all day, although with a bit of apprehension as my old knee injury has started to flare up again over the last week or so. The key questions for me prior to arriving were: 1) Are there going to be other players at my level so we can play some games? and 2) Where the H... is my racket?

When I arrived I could see that I needn't have worried. There were about 12 people there tonight and many of them had already played table tennis previously and knew the rules - and were quite decent players to boot. However, there were other people there who had not played before and did not know even the basic rules. Unfortunately, our slightly overworked coach didn't take this into account and for the first few exercises we were just paired up randomly and asked to hit the most basic shots. As the evening progressed we got to play a couple of short games against different opponents and when it was time for the final exercise, I suddenly found myself the odd man out - until a regular playing member there asked me to come and join him on a table. This was when it got a lot of fun! I haven't had rallies like that for 25 years and can't wait for next week's session after that. I was drenched in sweat, but very proud that I was still able to hit some fantastic shots. Oh, and next week it means get my first Gold Challenge certificate!

If this has inspired you to either assist me in my fundraising efforts on behalf of Action for Children or to take on your own Gold Challenge, then why not go ahead and sign up now? You choose the number of sports you want to try out (you can change this later on), the charity you want to help raise funds for and set a target. Gold Challenge then help you set up a personal page, find a venue near you where you can try out a chosen sport, and they can even help you set up your own fundraising page.

Doing the Gold Challenge!

What a busy year it's been so far. I've just noticed this is my first update in almost 10 months, a fact that can only be down to the hectic schedule that I've given myself after I started a new company earlier this year - more to follow on that one shortly.

Today I thought I'd share with you that I've signed up for the Gold Challenge, a sports charity event, where I aim to try out 10 different Olympic and Paralympic sports before the end of 2012. At the same time I will be raising money for Action for Children, a charity focused on giving vulnerable, disadvantaged and neglected children in the UK the opportunities to realise their full potential. The fundraising target is £500 and I hope you'll want to follow my progress through the various sports. I still haven't decided which 10 I'll do, but it will be a mixture of sports I've tried before and something completely new - with at least one Paralympic sport thrown into the mix. The only thing that is certain is that tonight and next Tuesday I'll be participating in table tennis training sessions (one of the sports I already know) to get my first Gold Challenge certificate - and score some good bonus points in the challenge!

Please help out by donating to Action for Children. It's a good cause and together we can make a difference!

You can follow my progress in the Gold Challenge here.
You can sponsor my challenge and donate to Action for Children through Virgin Money Giving.

If you would like to try out new sports, get fit and raise money for your chosen charity (currently about 100 are signed up), you can check out Gold Challenge yourself - and get involved as an individual, a team or perhaps be part of a corporate programme.

Hot or Not?

Last night I was fortunate enough to be invited along to a sake tasting at the London restaurant Kyashii. I've always enjoyed a cup of sake whenever I've had a meal at a Japanese restaurant, but cannot profess to be an expert on it. I've always felt a cold sweat start to develop on the back of my neck when presented with the sake list and trying to make a choice for a group of diners - and the inevitable question is: "Would you like it hot or cold?". Last night I learnt quite a few things about sake and am now more confident the next time I'm faced with this selection dilemma.

The evening was hosted by sommelier Asami Tasaka from World Sake Imports and after an informative presentation about the brewing process, we got to try 4 different sakes. Even though Japan, rumour has it, produces between 150,000 and 200,000 different types of sake at more than 1,300 breweries there are in essence 4 different types:

• Junmai - made from a lightly polished rice and the only sake ever to be considered for being drunk warm! The taste varies from dry and sharp to warm and rounded and the more robust versions are best suited to heartier dishes such as the Japanese hot pots and for stronger flavoured sushi.
• Ginjo - a more highly polished rice, which gives off more floral and fruity notes to the sake. In order to obtain a ginjo rating the rice must have been polished down to a minimum of 60% of its original size, but will often be as low as 50%. As the flavours are more subtle and nuanced, the ginjo types of sake are best suited to sweeter and subtler flavours (think Hokkaido scallops; ama ebi - sweet prawns, and other delicate things such as foie gras).
• Daiginjo - a masterclass in subtlety and finesse. A highly polished rice (more than 50% of the original size is lost) leads to more complex and elegant flavours and the Japanese often prefer to drink these on their own rather than have them diluted by the flavours of food.
• Specialty - these can be flavoured sakes or something like nama, an unpasteurised and unfiltered sake that is only available at certain times of the year.

We tried one of each of the different types of sake, but please note that due to the variety of sakes there is not a one size fits all rule in terms of flavours etc. This is why the Japanese also look at qualities such as the acidity, the type of yeast used and something called the "sake meter", which explains whether something is dry or sweet. The greater the minus rating, sweeter it is and the greater the plus rating the drier it is.

The first sake we tried was called Hoyo "Genji" (£25, 500ml) and was a junmai from Miyagi prefecture. It was quite subtle and not something that I would recommend with a hot pot like sukiyaki as the flavours would be completely overpowered. However, I can definitely see where it would go well with a range of sushi and sashimi such as salmon and tuna. This was the only sake we were served that should be served warm.

The second sake was the Dewazakura "Oka" (£18, 300ml) from Yamagata. This was a much more open, but at the same time more complex tasting sake. It was incredibly floral (to the point where I observed it felt like licking rose petals) and I just wish we'd had some delicate seafood nibbles to go with it.

The third sake was, in my humble opinion, the absolute star of the show. The Tedorigawa "Iki na Onna" or Lady Luck (£50, 720ml) was both clean and balanced, while also showing a richness and a great finish that would make it one of the best sakes I've ever had. My only gripe being that it was not cold enough.

To finish, we tried a nama sake, which I have to say is an acquired taste. It looks like pre-mixed pastis and tastes of fermented cheese. Personally, I'll be steering well clear of the Kamoizumi "Nigori Ginjo" (£28, 500ml) in the future.

After the tasting we were taken upstairs to try a sake cocktail and then we got a special offer of 40% off the food menu. We went for a mixture of steamed edamame, chicken kara-age, chicken yakitori, pork gyoza and seared fillet of beef. The food was good, but the service was lacking a bit and they didn't have my first choice starter (which it took them about 5 minutes to find out); they mixed up the yakitori order, and we were left waiting for 35 minutes for the main course after we had cleared all of the other plates.

All in all it was a great evening, but primarily because of the educational aspect. I would not choose to return to eat there at their normal prices, unless I was invited along for an event by a group of friends. At least I can now email our guest lecturer for the evening and get her recommendations for the best Japanese restaurants in town and I shall do so later on today.

Hectic Start to 2011

Dear reader, I hope that you've had a good start to the New Year. Now that we're almost one month into it already, I thought it might be useful to do a quick status on what's been going on over the last few months. This post is just a quick intro, and I will start delving into more detail in subsequent posts.

In October, Artica, an online gallery that I'm involved with launched a book, "A Hedonist's Guide to Art" in conjunction with Hg2 (publishers of the Hedonist Guides) at an ultra successful event at Mark Hix's restaurant in Selfridges in the West End of London. On next Wednesday (February 2nd) we're having the launch of our first hotel exhibition partnership at The Zetter. We'll be exhibiting new works by Lyndon Hayes. Find out more about him and have a look at some of his works at Artica.

If you'd like to find out more and to sign up, I'd recommend you check out our Facebook page for Artica. We've also created a Twitter feed for Artica.

Following on from that I've been involved in the launch of the Gold Challenge. The Gold Challenge is part of the mass participation legacy programme for the London 2012 Olympics and the idea is very simple: you choose to take on a challenge to try out 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 Olympic and Paralympic sports before the end of 2012 in order to raise money for your chosen charity (at present there are more than 100 charities to choose from). You decide how many sports you'd like to take on and set your own fundraising target and then away you go. Through the web site and upcoming social media initiatives you'll easily be able to find the sports that suit you best as well get help, inspiration and on-going motivation as you go for the gold! Find out more at the Gold Challenge web site, and don't forget to "Like" the Facebook page and follow the Twitter profile.

Just at the beginning of 2011 it was time for a bit of rest and relaxation and I headed off to the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico for a combination of total relaxation and a bit of culture. I managed to do some great day trips to both the Chichen Itza and to Tulum. It was an absolutely fantastic trip to a part of the world that I've been fascinated by since I was a teenager so I'm just very happy I finally got to experience it. Other than the cultural elements, the margaritas were good and the massages at the hotel spectacular. I managed to take more than 200 photos, but have not yet managed to organise them and upload them to Twitter. If you are friends with me on Facebook you'll be able to see a selection of about 50 unedited shots.

As always, I'm tempted to say, 2011 will be a year full of travel for business and leisure. So far I've got bookings confirmed to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Jersey, Copenhagen, Berlin, Las Vegas, New York, Boston, and Marseille/Nice (3 trips). A few weeks ago I tallied up my travel over the last 3 years and realised I'd gone round the world (25k miles/40k kms) 8(!) times. As I head into the second half of the year I hope to be able to curtail the travelling a bit as it just seems I'm losing too many working days on transportation and I'd be better served by being stuck behind my desk in London. At the same time, I'm busy working on bringing in new clients and doing a feasibility study to set up a new company as well. I've got a feeling that this is going to be a great year and I hope you experience one too!

That's all for now, folks! I hope to be able to find the time to update my blog a lot more frequently even when I'm away and with my new iPad it actually looks like it could be possible.

Quality? Who Cares?

Well, it does become an issue when people have no clue how to fill out a form online because nobody has bothered to check the copy on the form... Tonight I was about to book a car rental through the British Airways/Avis web site and I got the form below. I'm somehow guessing that it won't be very useful inputting my Executive Club member number 8 times!!!

My Crystal Ball Still Seems to be Working...

I'm not the type of person to say "I told you so!" and this blog post is merely an update on some of the earlier predictions I've made about both Google and Apple.

1) Back in early January 2010, I wrote a blog post about why Google were bound to fail with their marketing of the Nexus One Android-based phone. Today the Wall Street Journal carried a blog post about the end of the line for the Nexus One, barely 6 months after its launch. No matter what kind of spin, Google (Ticker: GOOG) try to put on it, it was an absolute disaster! Stop the excuses and just realise that this is not your market...

2) Just a couple of weeks later, I wrote a long analysis of the idea of the Apple iPad (or iSlate as it was also known back then) and argued that the iPad was not really moving the game on for Apple. There is no doubt that it has been a tremendous success for Apple in terms of sales, but it still hasn't been a game changer in the way the iPod was when it came to bringing portable music to the masses. I still believe that Apple missed a trick by using the iPhone OS rather than the Mac OS as it hampers the ability of the device to replace your current laptop/netbook etc. I argued that the real game changer would be to introduce a television based on the intuitive operating system of the iPods and iPhones (known as the iOS), which have gained such widespread use that the OS has become ubiquitous. Over recent months it's been interesting to see that both analysts and even the New York Times agree with the viewpoint that this is indeed going to be the next big news out of Apple. The likelihood is high that Apple would use screens from Samsung, but integrate the iOS software to create a seamless experience allowing customers to benefit from the plethora of content already available in iTunes. The biggest questions for me are whether or not they will include an EPG, Freeview/Freesat and an HDD to allow for storage of e.g. downloads directly from iTunes and of off-air content.

This would represent a significant challenge to the likes of Sony and Panasonic, who, even though, they have started to enable their TV sets to receive content through either Ethernet or WiFi, do not have the intuitive GUIs that Apple has. Furthermore, they are much more reliant on 3rd party content through providers of streaming and download rentals/purchases and free video content, whereas Apple already has its own distribution deals to ensure one uniform platform through iTunes. It's also clear that in terms of marketing they do not have the same "sex appeal" or ability to communicate to their consumers about what the consumers need - they are still very technically led. You might still remember the "Bouncing Balls" ad that Sony created almost half a decade ago and this is a prime example of the focus that "traditional" consumer electronics companies use - and we've just seen another example on TV in the UK about the depth of colour. Even though I've seen it a million times, I still can't remember who it's for... Just goes to show how effective that advertising campaign was. I guess there's no domo arigato to the "scientist" in that advert...

It just reminds me of why WAP failed: all of the initial ads were focused on the technical aspects (Nokia were BIG SINNERS when it came to this), rather than trying to put it in terms consumers could understand such as: "Would you like to be able to check the weather forecast/latest stock quotes/football scores on your phone?" Most consumers would have answered in the affirmative to that type of question and instead they were inundated with huge amounts of technobabble - and then the mobile phone manufacturers were left scratching their heads as to why the uptake was so low on these premium models. Apple came along and made very clear and coherent advertising about what you could actually do on your iPhone and, before that, Research in Motion had clearly demonstrated the benefits of the Blackberry. As always, there's one case that proves to be the exception to the rule: Microsoft! Their advertising, especially in print, has always been (pardon my French) p*ss poor. The only reason that they were allowed to get away with it was the fact they had the market for PC operating systems almost entirely to themselves. This is not the case for consumer electronics! And as we move towards a world where more and more of our appliances will be networked and able to draw all of the content available on the Web onto any device, the marketing challenge becomes communication about making it easier for the consumer, rather than the focus on the technical capabilities of the device. In many respects history of product failures is littered with this lesson, but most companies have failed to heed it. I'd just like to mention two:

1. Sony's Betamax format was technically vastly superior to VHS, but still inferior to Philips' V2000. However, the marketing for the latter 2 both focused on the technical aspects whereas the consortium behind VHS ran around manically ensuring distribution deals for the content people wanted to watch and that's why they won.
2. Bang & Olufsen has been in a tremendous amount of financial difficulty over the last decade, simply because they have been unable to understand the underlying market trends. We all want the multi-room connectivity offered by B&O, but we're not willing to pay 5 times as much for a plasma screen that is only half as good as any given Panasonic Viera screen - and with less integration with online services.

The above are some of the reasons why I firmly believe that the Apple TV will be a run-away success in an age where we want to be able to store and access all of our personal visual content on our devices, as well as have access to all of the latest entertainment on-demand.

It's also interesting to note Samsung are hedging their bets in this matter as they already have WiFi and Ethernet enabled television sets with access to a number of 3rd party services such as Blockbuster and LoveFilm in the UK, as well as their own service: SamsungMovies for downloads to mobiles and PCs. At the same time they are selling screens to Apple for use in the iPhones and iPods and it would not be a surprise if they were also going to be supplying the hardware for the Apple TVs. This strategy of supplying both the B2B and B2C markets is likely to mean a long-term upturn in the share value of Samsung, whereas the manufacturers who buy in plasmas and LCDs from suppliers and fit their own casings and software around them are likely to struggle for mass-market acceptance.

As I said at the beginning of this blog post, I'm not going to say "I told you so", but I will say it will be interesting to watch what happens over the next few months.

New updates coming soon!

The last few months have been more than a little bit crazy with several intense work projects, 3 trips to the US in 5 weeks (and an extra 5 days stuck in Boston due to the volcanic ash cloud). At the same time, I've also encountered some great companies and one, which I am about to embark on a personal vendetta against. Stay tuned for all of this over the next few days as I start to share everything from restaurant tips, to great companies to work for and why you should never even consider buying anything from Dell.

Amsterdam - Or... My Friends Call Me "Crazy"

As an independent consultant, I'm not the one to go for lavish travel expenditure on the company... as I'm actually the one who's footing the bill personally. I have several friends who work for big corporations and will pretty much throw their toys out of the pram if, for whatever reason, the travel policies are suddenly changed and they are no longer allowed the perks of lie-flat beds in Club World or even, God forbid, British Airways First (BTW. Note to marketing team - you haven't done SEO for either "BA First" or "British Airways First").

When you're the done whose credit card gets punked every month you tend to be a bit more careful with how you spend your Pounds/Yen/Dollars/Euros. Unfortunately, due to the way that British Airways have structured their Executive Club loyalty programme, this makes it very difficult to achieve any kind of status with the airline (or most other airlines for that matter) as the importance of price becomes much more prevalent when booking flights. If your dates are fixed, you might as well go for the £132 R/T ticket from LHR to Copenhagen, rather than the flexible business class fare of almost £700. OK, you get a lot less miles but c'est la vie... However, it's also the cost of the ticket/class of flight that pretty much determines your eligibility for/chances of ever attaining status with the airlines. Therefore, in recent years, I've found it very difficult to even attain Silver status with British Airways as it would require me to fly 15 one-way European business class sectors or to take at least 4 round trip flights to either Asia or North America every year. If I could justify it for business I would as I've reached an age where it takes me a lot longer to combat the jetlag than it did when I was happy bumming it around the world as a student. Even so, spending almost 13 and a half hours in World Traveller Plus coming back from Hong Kong earlier this month almost knocked me out for 2 days cold. Yes, I admit it: I'm becoming a creature of comfort, but there was still no way I was going to pay almost £3k for my trip from London to Bangkok, on to Hong Kong and then back home. Instead I managed to do the entire trip for £1300 (including a surreal experience of gaining 40 status points for flying Royal Jordanian Business Class from Bangkok to Hong Kong, but that is another story entirely.)

OK, so I was knocked out cold for a couple of days after I got back, but it was at the weekend and I still have the satisfaction of knowing that I saved £1700 - and that's only on one trip! To people who don't pay for it themselves this no doubt seems like a drop in the ocean, but imagine if, for example, Ernst & Young or Accenture suddenly made all of their senior staff fly monkey class and forced them to pay for any upgrades themselves... A lot of people would be changing careers very quickly and suddenly the economy sections of the 747s would be filled with people whining about the lack of laptop power and there wouldn't be a backpacker in sight as they'd no longer be able to afford any travel other than the 10:23 train from Waterloo to Brighton.

Having said all of that, I was fortunate enough to experience the benefit of having status with British Airways a few years ago. Getting Silver means you can check in at the Club Europe/World counter and avoid the masses, you get to access the lounges no matter what class you fly in, you get a mileage bonus, and you even get an extra luggage allowance - useful when you're trying to stuff your bags full of tat all over the world only to discover you could have found it cheaper online at home... As you can probably imagine, my status didn't last very long. As soon as I had all of the benefits I was only booking the cheapest flights imaginable and that year I only had one trip outside of Europe so as soon as the next membership year started, I was bumped back down to the masses.

Now this is where the story takes a twist... Knowing that I'm spending my own money and having spent enough time perusing the forums at Flyertalk (and doing enough of my own nerdy calculations) to know how best to maximise the value of all of my collected miles (to exchange for flights, upgrades etc) and to collect as many points as possible (for status) I've found myself in a rich vein of form over the last 12 months. I've never had to throw away as many tickets as I've done over this period of time (due to deaths, the sudden unavailability of people I was supposed to have met and other unforeseen circumstances), but at the same time I've been busy travelling all over the place and therefore realised that I would, once again, achieve the "holy grail" of BA Executive Club Silver before the end of my membership year on April 8th. This time, though, I'm determined to keep it - I could easily save £250 per year on just munching at the lounge, rather than paying exorbitant prices at the food outlets at the airport, and that's not even taking into account the free massages by Elemis... However, as you've read above (if you've managed to stay interested enough to reach this point), earning points is not exactly easy and therefore you have to cherish the ones you get. British Airways have got what I would call a "quirk" in their system, which means that once you achieve your 600 points in a membership year they get reset and you start afresh trying to accumulate 600 points to renew your Silver status. Unfortunately the system is very tough on you. If you've got 595 points and earn an additional 330 points by flying First to Sydney, BA will reset you to Silver but not subtract the 600 points and let you keep 325 for the next membership year. Oh no, you lose all of those points for the flight that tips you over the top - making it incredibly difficult for those of us who pay our own way on flights to ever achieve and maintain any kind of status with the airline.

Because of this I found myself in a bit of a conundrum recently. During the annual sale, I booked a World Traveller Plus ticket to Washington D.C. for Easter and I knew it would tip me over the 600 points I needed for attaining Silver status, but also realised that I would be losing 65 points, as I would have earned a grand total of 590 points prior to the Easter break. From my own research and WAY TOO MUCH time spent on Flyertalk, I also realised that getting another 65 points would prove to be expensive. Buying a Business Class ticket to Nice, e.g., would have set me back at least another £300 pounds - unless another unannounced sale appeared... I decided to be proactive instead, knowing that I only needed another 10 miles to BOTH attain Silver and keep all of my 75 points from my trip heading out to Washington. British Airways, finally, decided to change their ways about a year ago, when they started awarding points even on the cheaper tickets - at 5 points a pop for domestic and European short-haul sectors. You can even attain Silver by flying 50 sectors - even with the 5 points it would have required 30 return flights to Manchester or Copenhagen to achieve the required levels to gain Silver... But, as you can probably imagine, that wasn't my immediate concern. I just needed 10 more points and, after having scoured availability calendars and prices, I finally booked and went on my first "mileage run": a trip which has no other purpose than to earn the points necessary to boost my total and, in this case, tip me over the threshold.

Therefore, I'm pleased to say that I just had a pleasant day in Amsterdam. The weather was lousy, the queues at both the Rijksmuseum and the Anne Frank House way too long, and I spent way too much time just reading a book at various cafes around town, but at least I could return home tonight knowing that not only have I achieved Silver status with British Airways, I've also safeguarded my 75 points for my flight to Washington, D.C. on Thursday. With all of my other trips that have already been booked this year, it will only require a few more to ensure that I keep my status. Now the task becomes to figure how I can achieve Gold :-)

I should probably watch "Up in the Air" soon as it sounds like my life is turning into something just as peculiar...

Hope you all have a very Happy Easter indeed, and any tips on what to see and do in Washington, D.C. would be greatly appreciated.