u/aashish2137

Can be transferred from Amex at 2:1

Looking to buy 200K Amex points and I need them in Cathay Pacific so points in MB wont help.

Criterion	Reason
Location	India
Preferred drink types	Lattes, flat whites
Drink frequency	2 shots each in morning and afternoon
Space	No limitations on countertop space
Experience level	Been using a Hibew thermoblock for an year, a flair before that
Manual or electric	Electric
Candidates	Mentioned in title

Grinder - DF54

I am trying to pick one of these machines. Primary use case is 2 milk drinks both in the morning and afternoon but sometimes we have friends and guests over and most of the time they want to have a coffee. I hadn't considered warm up time as a factor earlier which I am doing now.

Pros and cons that I listed so far:

Lelit Elizabeth

- Good pre infusion options, mid-tier warm up time

- Not the kind of machine I would want to look at every day

Ascasdo Duo PID

- Looks smashing, heats up quickly

- PID options are limited, QC issues per some reviews

Lelit Mara X

- Looks best of all 3, has flow control

- Warm time is very long, e61 maintenance issues

Probably Ascaso makes most sense given the requirements but then I am thinking maybe I could vinyl wrap the Elizabeth or maybe pair a cafelat Robot with Mara X for those impromptu coffee requests. Any pros or cons that I am missing from the list that might help me decide?

Hi all, have some questions about this card

​

1. Is the business class lounge access a part of unlimited lounge access or is it limited like until its on the app or once a month? I am talking about the usual lounge access, not the current offer of companion access

2. At Delhi, is Encalm Prive at T1 also accessible, or is it T3 only?

3. Does the add on card holder gets Prive access or only primary?

​

The T&C says its for primary cardholder for the duration of the offer but doesnt clarify the questions. Also, the add on card says it gets all signature benefits of the primary card. Lastly, the confusion is because EPM gets all of the above but TB has reported inconsistent experiences

I have an offer for a pre-used Profitec Move. Virtually new, maybe 30 days old used a few times. The offer is approx $2000 while a new Move costs about $3000 in my city. At that budget, I can also get Lelit Mara X3 Pagaia, which is a sweet-looking machine with flow control. But then it's an e61!!!! I am wondering how different Move is from an e61? My use case is 2 milk drinks in the morning and 2 in the evening, and more if guests are over. I am not super finicky about extracting every note from light roasts so a bit of temperature surfing should be fine I guess.. Move is presumably better built and easier to maintain vs Mara X3 is brand new at that price point and has flow control. Heat time should be similar I reckon?

Am I missing anything? Any suggestion on what to pick?

Criterion	Reason
Location	Based in India, no brand warranty either for Lelit or Profitec. Machines are typically 1.5x of what it costs in Europe or the US
Preferred drink types	4x Milk drinks every day (iced or latte)
Drink frequency	1 shot both in morning and evening
Space	No
Experience level	Been using a beginner thermoblock machine for 15months, have basic knowledge about dialing in
Manual or electric	Electric
Candidates	Mara X3 (new), Profitec Move (pre-loved), Elizabeth (new)

Hi all, need some buying advice. I currently have a Hibrew H10+ and DF54 grinder. I am looking to upgrade the machine at the moment. Based on my research, Lelit Elizabeth ($1600) ticked all boxes but I couldn't bring myself to love its looks. I was thinking maybe I could get a vinyl wrap and replace the steam knob etc. Around the time I came across a used Profitec Move offer. Its 14 days old, used 2-3 times. The quoted price is $2100 for a virtually new machine with retailer warranty (not Profitec). Since I stretched my budget anyway, I considered Lelit Mara X3 which also costs around $2100 in my city. So my options currently are:

1. Elizabeth - swallow the looks part, save for grinder

2. Mara X3 - looks stunning, but temp stability is a hit or miss; does get flow control though

3. Move - better build quality, easier to maintain since not e61, looks good

4. Bianca - buy once, cry once, right? haha

Ascaso/ Rocket are not available, so not an option. Rejected ES1, too new to spend $2000 on.

For my use case, I feel like a dual boiler could improve my workflow and give me better temperature stability. Frequency is not a lot, so I feel like e61 might be an overkill for me even if I am fine with temperature surfing on the Mara X? I dont see myself doing a ton of light roasts and experiment with flow control, although its a good to have. The other thought I have is that Move is a used machine vs Mara would be brand new (new Move costs $3000+ so not an option).

What works for Move is the Profitec build quality reputation but I am wondering how better is it compared to the new Mara X3? If both are similar, Mara makes sense given it looks better relatively (to me) and gets flow control?

Really confused, but hoping to finalize and pick one by this weekend.

Hi, I am traveling from Delhi to Hong Kong to Singapore and back to Delhi in last week September and need feedback on award flights I have shortlisted so far. All prices are for 3 pax, economy cabin.

I have 70k points with infinia, 70k with biz black and 100k in Axis ER.

Del HKG - 24 September overnight

Plan - Book on Infinia

Cash rate - 54k INR

70% payment by infinia points.

AI reward rate is poor and Cathay award flight has 2500hkd tax (39k asia miles)

Not available on Avios

HKG to Sing - 28 September day flight

Plan - Cathay at 27,000miles + tax 1882 HKD. Infinia transfer rate is 2:1, will try to get Amex points from a friend/ swap with infinia points with someone with Amex points

Krisflyer econ is waitlisted, PE at 84,000 points + 865 hkd tax

Cash rate is approx 80k

Sing to Del - 03 October day flight

Krisflyer - 57,000 miles + sgd 208 tax. Will transfer from biz black

Overall I will be paying cash approx 50k (30% cash for Del HKG and rest taxes for award flights) and approx 100k hdfc points.

I am looking to book Del-HK flight with points. I can see a Cathay flight and as per some points website, it is priced at 13K Avios. But when I try to check the same flight on Qatar website, its not listed there. Anybody knows how to book one world alliance flights from Qatar Avios?

I filled out the DS 160 for my parents last year and did the Visa scheduling on the US visa website. By mistake, I used our family name as my mother's last name in the visa scheduling, while her passport carries her maiden name. The DS 160 matches the passport, but the scheduling portal/ appointment confirmation doesn't.

I realized the mistake then but the portal wouldn't let me edit it and since I had linked my mother as a dependent, it didn't accept a new applicant either.

I had raised a ticket through the scheduling portal's internal tool and got a response that I can go ahead and schedule the interview and that the VAC will fix it. However, I am unable to login to the portal now and get a print of that ticket response.

The VAC appointment is in 4 days and I basically will follow the guidance but I don't have any proof that this was recommended to me by the portal's backend team. And this making me super anxious. Even if I manage to access the visa scheduling site, I dont remember the security question responses now and there is no way to reset them so I am kind of stuck.

Is this sort of error common and will the VAC fix it? Do they need to carry anything else to get it fixed? If they fix it, will we get a new consulate appointment date?

Thanks in advance for responding.

Has anybody successfully recovered compensation for damaged luggage through legal proceedings? My baggage was broken during transit and airindia is offering pennies as compensation. I have no choice but to go legal route. Wondering what the cost and effort would be and is there any likelihood to getting reasonable compensation?

Stayed at Casa Faena Miami and had some f&b charged to the room. The restaurant is a part of the hotel and when we made the purchases they were happy to charge everything to room. But at rlthe time of checkout, the front desk refused to let me burn points for the f&b bill (the room was paid for in advance). This was a really strange pushback as I have never had an Accor property refuse to pay with points, or at the very least, they communicate this upfront. Like arcade games or gift shops typically dont charge to room in the first place.

Anybody else experienced this before? I had no choice but to pay with the hold I had provided but I am wondering if its worth picking up with Accor support.

The charge was approx US$150