British Airways announces long-haul economy flight improvements

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• Secret Squirrel says:

  4 Feb4 February 14:44

  Saw this in my BA Amex account today:
  BA Companion ticket standard tier bonus – 0 pts.
  Does this mean for definite I have triggered the 241 companion voucher as a transaction straight after is being refunded & my target bar states £244 needed to spend for a Companion voucher?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    4 Feb4 February 18:49

    You get an email when it appears and the companion voucher shows when you go to book an Avios redemption.

    • Secret Squirrel says:

      4 Feb4 February 19:16

      Thanks TG, have had a 241 before but wasn’t sure i have already qualified or not based on the circumstances. Line in Amex account gives impression I have spent the required amount for the 241, my target bar states different?

      • TGLoyalty says:

        4 Feb4 February 23:44

        In my experience the voucher is triggered as soon as you have £10k of transactions clear on your account but the counter will show whatever your total to date spend is. So if it went above £10k for a day then a refund took it back under the next I’d say it’s triggered.

        Personally I’ve never cancelled a card without £10k spend cleared on it because even if I do take the p1ss I can say it was within the rules 🙂

        • Secret Squirrel says:

          5 Feb5 February 09:53

          I got the email today of the 241 voucher available so data point is, If you see the line in your BA Amex account then yes, you have the voucher regardless of any refunds processing or target bar stating otherwise.

• Kevin says:

  4 Feb4 February 15:18

  O/T
  BA have cancelled a future flight on me – if I choose the full refund option, I presume I will not incur any £35 fee?

  • Joe says:

    4 Feb4 February 15:19

    You won’t pay a fee. But it’s a good opportunity to switch to a nearby but more expensive flight for free, if you still want to go.

    • Stu_N says:

      4 Feb4 February 15:26

      If you still want to take the trip, work out what would work best for you and give them a phone with your preferred options. BA are fairly flexible in my experience.

      If you do decide to cancel you should get a full refund with no charges or deductions, however that would be the end of your dealings with BA, if you still wanted to travel then you’d be making a completely new booking.

      • Lady London says:

        4 Feb4 February 19:21

        A pity not to take the opportunity to book something you want instead that would normally cost a lot more, perhaps, to a vaguely adjacent destination perhaps months ahead? It’s all a question of putting something reasonable to them.

        Some of us on here dream of landing such opportunities. Are you aware that under EU261 the airline has to get you to your destination as booked even if theyve cancelled their own flight? If you still want to go to that destination on more or less that same date.then this means they will have to buy you a ticket on another airline that’s still flying there, or by some other route, with only reasonable delay, and all extra hotel and food costs paid for if extra time waiting or travelling is required.

        Are you seriously saying you don’t want to use this opportunity for either of the above? In this sort of situation taking a refund is a godsend for the airline given they could have to provide the above.

  • Rhys says:

    4 Feb4 February 15:21

    Correct

  • Kevin says:

    4 Feb4 February 15:31

    Thanks all.

    A follow up query, is there a time limit for me to make this ‘Free’ cancellation decision? BA notified me today and the flight is in late March. (I don’t wish to travel) Thanks again.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      4 Feb4 February 15:48

      Probably not but I would make it sooner rather than later. What’s the advantage in not making it now?

      • TGLoyalty says:

        4 Feb4 February 15:50

        Reason why I say this is because what happens if your original flight is reinstated? Do you forfeit the right to cancel for no fee?

        • Kevin says:

          4 Feb4 February 16:40

          There’s no chance of reinstatement 😉

    • Lady London says:

      6 Feb6 February 09:46

      I have had a few of these opportunities from another airline and unless I had a burning need to ensure BA would get me there another way around the same time (ie invoking my EU261 rights) I would leave it as late as possible. Until I either found something else I wanted to ask for instead, or was really sure there were no opportunities I wanted to take so choosing a refund.

      I would view taking the refund as a failure but YMMV.

      When I’ve dealt with it very near the time of the flight I’ve simply mentioned I’d either overlooked it or hadn’t been sure what my plans were.

  • Polly says:

    5 Feb5 February 06:04

    Shame not to take advantage, but each to their own. We used a BA time change to get a flight changed from hkg to kul, which was what we originally wanted in F. Lost a day but didn’t have to then fly intra Asia.

• lorraine says:

  4 Feb4 February 16:19

  O/T
  Are there any deals currently onlounge access? Specifically at Stanstead? Flying out in early April and thinking about going for lounge but wanted to check if there were any delas before i took the plunge

  • Rob says:

    4 Feb4 February 16:21

    Stansted only has the fairly grim Escape. I was there this morning, review to follow.

    • Lady London says:

      4 Feb4 February 19:25

      Poor you at STN, Rob!

    • Alex M says:

      4 Feb4 February 21:57

      Stn lounge was great when I was there a week ago, but maybe it’s just me…

      • Rob says:

        4 Feb4 February 23:00

        It’s just you 🙂

        • TGLoyalty says:

          4 Feb4 February 23:47

          If I remember the main part of the airport correctly it was awful. how bad can the lounge be 😐

        • Lady London says:

          5 Feb5 February 10:28

          My lounge at STN is called “Pret a Manger’

  • Shoestring says:

    4 Feb4 February 16:46

    £18 https://salaryextras.dragonpassuk.com

  • Lady London says:

    4 Feb4 February 19:24

    Holidayextras can be a good source for this kind of extra stuff at Stansted.

• Pogonation says:

  4 Feb4 February 16:49

  I also got offered an £80 off £800 Qatar spend on my Amex. Might have been mentioned here already I’m not sure.

• L Allen says:

  4 Feb4 February 17:11

  I have the get £100 for £1000 spend on both my Amex Platinum (personal) and Gold Amex (business).

  Also on my Platinum card is £80 back on £800 spend with Qatar. This may have been mentioned in another bits post, apologies if that’s not new!

• Jay H says:

  4 Feb4 February 17:48

  Eurostar are finally introducing direct return trains from Amsterdam to London 👍

• Grant says:

  4 Feb4 February 18:06

  OT – Revolut. For those following the fall out from the MCC change on / around 17th Jan (or earlier for some unfortunate souls), I submitted a formal complaint to Revolut. This was off the back of a poor response from the live chat agent and at the end of the chat they provided a link to a survey monkey form which I could fill out as the complaint. The complaint was filed on 20th Jan and I received Revolut’s response today. Points which may be of interest for others:

  1. They apologised (but did not admit fault), upheld my complaint and confirmed they will return the cash advance fees charged by my card issuer, which was £130 in my case.

  2. The MCC change was introduced due to ‘legal requirements’ and they won’t be able to refund any similar charges incurred from now onwards.

  3. They are ‘working on a solution with their partners to find a better solution for this process’

  They also confirmed that this is their final response and provide details of the Financial Ombudsman Service at the bottom of the email.

  I would suggest that others in a similar position would do well to fill out a complaint as it would seem likely that Revolut will refund cash advance fees if you can provide a screenshot of your credit card transactions showing the charge.

  • EwanG says:

    4 Feb4 February 20:25

    Was there any reference in their final response on how they have communicated the change?
    Many commentators on here (myself included) have, over recent weeks, discussed how this change has been managed. I don’t want to start that debate up again but what I will say is Revolut’s response is interesting, as I could potentially resume topping up via CC and then when charges hit on my next statement, go back to Revolut feigning ignorance about the change (because they have not communicated it directly to me) and get them to refund the charges….

    • Grant says:

      4 Feb4 February 21:15

      I agree. The failure to communicate was part of my original complaint and they haven’t addressed it directly. I suspect they felt they covered that off in my case by refunding my cash advance fees (effectively mitigating my loss in their eyes) ‘due to the sudden nature of the change’.

      Fact remains that in theory until credit card statements start landing for January spend then some customers may be unaware of the sudden nature of the change.

      • Lady London says:

        6 Feb6 February 09:53

        It’s rubbish. Revolut has to give the notice required under the ts and c’s for this change before it can come into effect. After they have given that notice in writing to you and until the notice period expires you are entitled to have them put you in the position you should have been i.e. compensate all fees even those you incur from other parties.

        This, as they specifically did have a clause saying this wouldn’t happen. ‘legal reasons’ is a smokescreen. They are responsible.

• John says:

  4 Feb4 February 18:37

  O/T
  Do Tesco normally do a bonus to Virgin Atlantic at this time of year?

  • BJ says:

    4 Feb4 February 19:54

    Most quarters until about a year ago, but only small bonuses, competitions or nothing since then.

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