The new HfP chat thread launches – Sunday 22nd March

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• BJ says:

  22 Mar22 March 07:18

  Great initiative @HFP. Good morning to all and Happy Mother’s day to all our HFP mums, grans, great grans, nans, and indeed anybody who is like a mum to somebody xxxooo.

  • Cat says:

    22 Mar22 March 20:12

    Bless you BJ! What a lovely post! X

• Anna says:

  22 Mar22 March 07:22

  Morning all. I have a 2 centre car hire booking (USA & Caribbean) for Easter, booked as a BA holiday, though I’m not sure it would technically be classed as a package or not. I don’t know if BA will cancel it as it’s not linked to a flight or hotel. I imagine if I cancel it myself I may lose the money due to the original Ts and Cs. I actually wouldn’t mind a voucher for the £700 we paid as using it isn’t going to depend on seat availability like a flight voucher would be. Any ideas?

  • Genghis says:

    22 Mar22 March 07:50

    I can’t fully fathom your post but if you paid for the car hire at the same time as the flight, it’s classed as a package holiday. if not, then it’s not.

    • Anna says:

      22 Mar22 March 07:55

      No it’s a stand alone booking, but because it’s 2 cars in different locations I was able to book it as a BA holiday, I.e pay deposit then balance later.

      • Genghis says:

        22 Mar22 March 08:07

        Then it’s not a holiday. As mentioned, try asking, look through travel insurance policy.

      • Lady London says:

        22 Mar22 March 12:16

        Look at your ts and cs you might find you were issued with BA Hols ts and cs in which case you might get a nice surprise

  • Chuck says:

    22 Mar22 March 07:54

    Claim on your travel insurance …

  • SammyJ says:

    22 Mar22 March 08:31

    I can’t comment on it as a Covid cancellation but I’ve packaged multiple car hires together many times with BA to turn it into a ‘holiday’ for payment and pricing purposes but because there’s no flight element there’s no ATOL. I’ve had to cancel one of the cars a couple of times, and they’ve just charged me £25 for that part. I bet they’d give full credit as a voucher though?

  • Leafwarbler says:

    22 Mar22 March 10:51

    I had car hire booked for 12 days from April 11th through BA Holidays on a stand-alone basis (afaik I couldn’t turn the 241 to Denver into a holiday). I called BA Holidays up and they advised that I could cancel for a reduced refund or wait until nearer the time for a full refund. I opted to wait but 2 days later received an email which said it superseded any previous contact and a full refund would be made. The cash was back on my card within 48 hours. Still waiting for my taxes back on the 241 though!

• Rich says:

  22 Mar22 March 07:48

  I got back the full cost of a beach bungalow at the Datai, Langkawi for 5 nights booked via BA as a stand alone purchase, staying before Easter……. It did take 40 mins on the phone queuing, but was swiftly and pleasantly dealt with by the Newcastle call centre without reference to Gold BA status etc……….

• Anna says:

  22 Mar22 March 07:53

  Also – my in laws are currently in Western Australia, struggling to get early flights home so hoping their QR flight to MAN via Doha goes ahead on Wednesday. There seems to be very little info about QR that I can find online, are they likely to start pulling flights or closing DOH altogether to non-residents?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    22 Mar22 March 09:33

    They are operating transit only so no entry to Doha itself

    They have cut capacity to London not sure about Manchester

    • Anna says:

      22 Mar22 March 10:50

      They’re aware but apparently Singapore have just blocked transit passengers as well so things can change at any time.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        22 Mar22 March 11:19

        Agree anything can change but Doha has always relied massively on transit customers for their own national airline and the airline will be responsible for re-routing customers if they can’t transit.

        I believe SIN is used for transit by lots of carriers wordlwide rather than just Singapore airlines so are making slightly different choices.

        I hope they make it back as planned

• Antony D'Emanuele says:

  22 Mar22 March 08:06

  I have a hotel and flight booked to Dublin in May with BA. if they cancel one of the flights will I be able to get a refund on the whole trip?

  We have also placed a deposit on a holiday to St Lucia in January with BA, assume I can not make any decision on this unless BA decides to cancel…

  • Chabuddy geezy says:

    22 Mar22 March 08:40

    Yes you can get a full refund for Dublin if BA cancel.

• roberto says:

  22 Mar22 March 08:10

  Day 8 of self isolation in Spain today.

  I have been out a couple of time to the supermarket but thats it. We see a few cars moving about and the occasional dog walker but nothing more. The supermarkets are fully stocked and very quiet , no queues and no hoarding. Everybody “outside” seems to be wearing gloves ( top tip:- buy some ) and extremely mindful of others. There is chat that our lockdown will be extended if the death toll continues on its current trajectory. Its no real hardship to me honest , we have the internet , enough booze to float a small boat , access to (currently) unlimited food and our good health,

  I cancelled our trip to Cuba at the last minute and am awaiting for the miles and money to come back from Iberia , should be another week or so. Our next trip was supposed to be to Jersey next month and thas still showing in my BA MMB but the flights look to be cancelled , I guess I will just sit tight and wait until nearer the time.

  Our next trips look dubios. Los Angeles to Las Vegas road trip via San Diego and Palm Springs in May is probably very doubtful as is Barbados in June. We also have booked for the Seychelles in July and I cant really see that going ahead either to be honest.

  Stay safe & wash your hands…

  • Alan says:

    22 Mar22 March 08:22

    Very sensible, roberto – here’s hoping everyone in the UK pays attention to what’s happening in other countries ahead of us on the curve and stay at home too!

  • Ali Malik says:

    22 Mar22 March 08:35

    Good to know Roberto and hope you all stay safe x and as mentioned in comments avove : here’s hoping we stop acting like sheep and being inconsiderate in super markets 🙁

    • Shoestring says:

      22 Mar22 March 09:35

      not easy to buy your 80YO dad in self isolation 9kg rice when you are out at your place in the sun 🙂

  • Freddy says:

    22 Mar22 March 09:21

    I’d be astounded if this mess is sorted out by may/June sorry to say

  • Concerto says:

    22 Mar22 March 10:52

    Sounds the same as here in Switzerland, all shops reasonably well stocked. Many of the young are paying no attention to the health directives though.

    • Lady London says:

      22 Mar22 March 12:19

      A pity as if there is a later wave or mutation it may target the young and healthy. Apparently Spanish flu came back to get them

  • Roberto says:

    22 Mar22 March 16:19

    I doubt this will be in any way over by then sorry. We were expecting this extension today and tbh if things carry on at the current trajectory it will be extended again on April 12th, and probably two weeks after that too.

    The local mayor let slip he was expecting the lockdown to last for two months.

• a270 says:

  22 Mar22 March 08:19

  Realised that my partner has a Nectar American Express that we forgot to activate! Can a card be cancelled after 6 months of not being actiavted or do I need to actiavte it first and then cancel?

  • Harry T says:

    22 Mar22 March 08:57

    Your account is open whether you activate the card or not. To cancel, you should just be able to call Amex or message them on chat. Though I imagine their phone lines are rather busy at the moment and it may be better to wait for a better time to ring, given the nectar card is free for the first year and doesn’t block you from many bonuses.

  • Harpo says:

    22 Mar22 March 09:01

    Can be cancelled – I did exactly the same only a couple of weeks ago with Nectar Amex. Helpful if you have the card or the number to hand when you call especially if you have a history with dozens of cards on file or they’ll struggle to find it!

• Anna says:

  22 Mar22 March 08:19

  Hi Gillian, if you look at the earlier article on this there’s lots of discussion of different options. If you want more flexibility than a travel voucher, you can use the workaround (separate article) to cancel your flights.

  • Anna says:

    22 Mar22 March 08:20

    Apologies – if BA has cancelled your flights you are entitled to a full refund. A lot of people are taking this over a voucher. This may not be over by the summer!

    • Lady London says:

      22 Mar22 March 12:09

      Up to you but especially given BAs behaviour why are you thinking of a voucher

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