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The new HfP chat thread launches – Sunday 22nd March

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Starting today, we have decided to run a daily chat thread on Head for Points.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the defacto repository for random comments and questions.  It is unlikely that the news flow will be so big over the next few weeks that we will need many ‘Bits’ articles, however.

The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind.  At this tricky time, and given that many of you are stuck at home self-isolating, we want the HfP community to have a place to chat.

Please only comment under the main articles on the site if your comment is directly related to the topic of the article.  This has long-term benefits as its keeps the commentary relevant for people who read those articles in the future.

We will review how this works after a few days:

we could potentially split it into a daily travel and non-travel chat thread

we may install some basic forum software

we may start suggesting potential topics for daily discussion

Let’s see how it goes.

We have sent this initial article to our email subscribers so they are aware of what is going on.   From tomorrow, email subscribers will not receive a link to the daily chat thread.  If you visit the site, however, a new chat thread will be opened each morning.  Regular articles will continue to be emailed.

We will do a separate article in a day or so about how we plan to run the site over the next few weeks.  Take care!

Category

General

Comments (386)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • samar says:
    22 Mar22 March 08:21

    For people who sign up to the Green American Express Card to upgarde to Platinum, does any spend on the Green count towards the £4k Platinum spend or do we start from zero when we upgrade?

  • Travel Confused says:
    22 Mar22 March 08:26

    Hi all. I haven’t been able to keep up with posts recently so am totally confused how to go about my tickets now that travel to the UAE is not allowed. I have a flight for the 4 of us booked to Abu Dhabi via Zurich with Swiss Air. Do I just call them for a refund? I can see that if I rebook for say, October half term , they will charge £200 extra per person for price difference. Does any EU compensation apply? All tickets were booked via Swiss Air’s website but LON-ZRH is on Swiss and ZRH to AUH operated by Etihad.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      22 Mar22 March 09:37

      No compensation.

      Unless the flights are cancelled then any cancellation fees would apply. If they are cancelled or significantly moved you’d get a full refund.

      They may exchange the value for a voucher to spend at a later date (unlikely to be fares in business for the price you paid later) or perhaps shuffle them along for free

      Best to phone and discuss options.

  • Robert says:
    22 Mar22 March 08:26

    What is the best advice for using a 2-4-1 voucher right now?
    Seatspy is very useful for finding availability on my three preferred destinations, but the key question is when to book for?
    What are people doing, given the fact we can only use this type of voucher on BA metal and the airline will be requiring a govt bailout soon.
    Is it the case that having a booking will be honoured, rather than the points and voucher will just be lost?

    Many thanks, stay in, stay safe and wash your hands.

    • Harry T says:
      22 Mar22 March 08:58

      I probably wouldn’t book anything now. Maybe the very end of this year or the start of next year is reasonable but I would still assume your trip might be cancelled.

  • SammyJ says:
    22 Mar22 March 08:36

    BA have now cancelled my 5th April flight to CHS however Carlton Leisure who I booked with insist there’s a £75pp (£300 – approx 25%) cancellation fee to be deducted from my refund. They do have a clause in their T&Cs that says there will be an admin fee, and further down that if I cancel a non refundable ticket they will charge £75 from any claim for tax back, but this seems unreasonably high.
    Any advice on the legality or whether there’s anything I can do?
    Don’t suppose my MasterCard would help? Or travel insurance (Barclays/Aviva)?
    Had salary reduced, sick pay axed, and need as much money back as poss at the moment in case I get sick!

    • janie says:
      22 Mar22 March 08:48

      But it’s not you cancelling, it’s the airline?

      • Shoestring says:
        22 Mar22 March 09:38

        somebody in the papers objected in the same position (4 of them so 4x £75) and the agency reduced it to £25 each

        it would appear to be perfectly legal to charge something as it’s in the T&Cs but you can get them on whether it’s reasonable or not in its amount

        • SammyJ says:
          22 Mar22 March 09:40

          I saw that. I’ve just found another email from them saying as a gesture they’ll only charge £150 but that still seems excessive as they’ll get a full refund from BA.
          It was BA that cancelled the flight, although nobody has told me yet.

        • Polly says:
          22 Mar22 March 09:40

          Apparently OTAs are charging admin fees for refund processing. They might get luck with a reduction, but don’t bet on it. It’s what they dream as “reasonable charges”

          • Genghis says:
            22 Mar22 March 21:48

            The OTAs need to make their money somehow. Is that how they can charge cheaper prices than airlines directly?

  • Chris says:
    22 Mar22 March 08:39

    Just a quick ‘Thank You’ to the HfP team for setting up this chat opportunity. Keep safe everyone

  • Mark Peters says:
    22 Mar22 March 08:46

    Hello
    Do we know if BA will extend your executive club for your next year seeing as you cannot fly anywhere at the moment?

    • Polly says:
      22 Mar22 March 09:18

      There was talk on other posts that there might be an automatic extension to all status cards of 6 months. Not confirmed, but hopefully could be reasonable.
      But today’s news of a possible bail out might scupper that.

  • MattB says:
    22 Mar22 March 08:58

    Had an unprompted email from ebookers yesterday, offering full refund to original payment card for a non refundable hotel stay. Very much appreciated as my wife was on hold to the travel insurance as it came through!

    Incidentally I noticed the NatWest platinum reward cover we have specifically covers loss in avios or other points schemes from cancellations and the like.

    • Nick_C says:
      22 Mar22 March 09:49

      We need to remember how companies have acted during this crisis when doing business in the future.

      My brother has two bookings with Hilton through Booking.com. Booking.com are not giving refunds, even though Hilton are giving refunds on non refundable bookings made directly. Disgusting way to treat their customers.

      Hotels.com are showing refunds. All the main chains seem to be. Travelodge are giving vouchers.

      Britannia Hotels should also be ashamed of throwing their staff on the streets when closing a hotel in Scotland.

      • Andy says:
        22 Mar22 March 09:58

        Yes I will never set foot in a Britannia hotel again

        • Paul says:
          22 Mar22 March 10:02

          In fairness, I stayed in one of their hotels once before and thought never again.
          Having seen the way they threw their staff on the street – no one should ever stay on their hotels.
          They are just a soulless, callous organisation.

          • Anna says:
            22 Mar22 March 10:39

            They are now back-pedalling and blaming an “admin error”. Though happily it’s reported that the magnificent folk of Scotland have inundated the staff with offers of help. But yeah, the Coylumbridge resort is off my list now whenever we are able to travel again.

          • Lady London says:
            22 Mar22 March 11:56

            Their backpedalling makes it even worse. Thank heavens for the other hotel that took some in.

            No one should ever stay in a Britannia Hotel again. I’d sooner stay in a tent.

          • Cat says:
            22 Mar22 March 13:56

            I doubt I ever would have stayed in one of their hotels, but now? Not on your nelly.

            That “admin error” is likely to be the end of them.

          • Rob says:
            22 Mar22 March 15:47

            If being publicly voted ‘Britain’s Worst Hotel Chain’ year after year has had zero impact then I doubt this will!

      • Mikeact says:
        22 Mar22 March 13:51

        Appalling way to treat people.

  • Harry T says:
    22 Mar22 March 09:10

    So what are people doing right now with their credit cards?

    I’m thinking of downgrading my Platinum to a Green charge card, as I am not going to be using the hotel status, lounge access, car hire insurance etc. Can then upgrade to Platinum at a later date to hit an upgrade bonus.

    Also thinking of downgrading my BAPP to the free BA card, as I already have my companion voucher for the year and it doesn’t look like I can fly anywhere with Avios. Anyone reckon it’s worth keeping the BAPP in case they get rid of it?

    Wondering if it’s worth cancelling my Virgin Rewards+, as Virgin may well go bust and I’m only sitting on about 55k points. Are other people cancelling?

    I’m going to keep my Marriott Bonvoy Amex as it’s earning 3 points per pound at present and I can use the 15 elite nights. Generally speaking, I’m aiming to collect flexible currencies like Bonvoy and Membership Rewards.

    • Julian says:
      22 Mar22 March 09:19

      Really good questions Harry. Very interested to hear the consensus?

    • Polly says:
      22 Mar22 March 09:24

      Like you, letting my plat run out early June. Will probably get a green, with a view to upgrading before a busy travel period, if ever that happens again. Will stick with hsbc premier for now, again will probably upgrade to elite at some point later in the year, as not using lounges for next few months.
      Will keep Bonvoy also. Hubby will get a bacc, spend 9.5k and then we will do the BAPP u/g and have a 241 sitting in the account. We have 2 in my account. Will probably use one for the BUD flights end of October IF we get to go to KUL from BEL on QR. Who knows.
      But worth still collecting on everyday spend anyway, let the points/avios continue to roll in.

      • Polly says:
        22 Mar22 March 09:54

        Meant to add, would cancel BAPP after the voucher in his ac. Then he would get a green plat (for possible u/g to Plat later with 20k bonus) ) or Bonvoy.
        Actually we both qualify for biz gold so may try that first for OH in May. it’s all up in the air.
        Would like to get 3 or 4 more referrals in before I cancel plat.

    • Freddy says:
      22 Mar22 March 09:30

      Just my thoughts, I wouldn’t keep the BAPP to counter the risk of it being withdrawn. Looks like amex either downgrade the benefits (like the Marriott card) or convert it to another scheme (Costco card).

      For the virgin card, unless you coming up to renewal I’d keep it for now.

      I’ll be moving to amex gold for now

      • Shoestring says:
        22 Mar22 March 09:57

        the Green is £60/ yr fee and has great Amex offers in my experience (& I think @BJ has a similar experience)

        with a referral, Year 1 is largely paid for

        that’s what I got my Morrisons 10% on, worth £700 to me in savings last month

        • TGLoyalty says:
          22 Mar22 March 11:11

          Just downgraded mine to gold charge. Free for the year etc

          I’ll probably upgrade at some point.

    • Anna says:
      22 Mar22 March 10:46

      I need to hold off triggering my next 2 4 1 as i’ll now have 2 back from cancellations. Going to move my spending to Gold Amex to get the bonus MR points then decide on a second Gold or BAPP. If they survive!

    • Roger says:
      22 Mar22 March 11:20

      If you downgrade now, how does it impact Travel Insurance if you need to claim for any future booking paid using Amex?
      I am commuting every weekend and have bookings for next 6 months.
      If IAG goes down the only option would be to charge-back or claim on Amex Travel Insurance.

      • Cat says:
        22 Mar22 March 13:59

        I was intending to cancel my Plat once my Hilgton Gold status was renewed. Now I’m keeping it for the insurance, as I have several trips booked between now and the end of 2020.

    • Robert says:
      22 Mar22 March 12:01

      Worth remembering if you have the AmEx 2-4-1 voucher not to cancel completely, just downgrade then you can use the new card to book the reward flights.

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