Chat thread – Monday 28th April
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This is today’s chat thread.
If you have specific questions about Avios, hotels or credit cards, please ask them in the appropriate forum and not here. This thread is a good place to post interesting deals you have spotted or your general thoughts on travel and all things miles and points. Thank you for contributing.
@lostintheworld – I just replied to your post this morning on yesterdays chat. Copying here in case you don’t see it.
I have this exact same issue. I booked an AA flight via BA with Avios and receive the same error now on my AA booking in the app.
I called customer services and when I gave the booking ref, the agent could see my booking and confirmed passengers and seat reservations. They said the same as you were told – there is a tech issue preventing us seeing the booking in the app or website. I can still my booking in the BA app, but can’t do much with it like normal, since it is on BA.
We fly in July so hoping it sorts itself out fairly soon.LostInTheWorld wrote:
Morning – seem to be doing well having been reading HfP for some years now. I had transferred Avios from BA to Finnair some months back to use them to book an AA domestic flight (as they charged fewer avios than booking the same flight via BA – something I knew from reading HfP). All seemed well – can see the booking on Finnair’s MMB, and could also see it on AA’s MMB (the latter using the AA PNR which is shown on the Finnair site). AA’s MMB let me book my seats and things seemed fine.However – a few months on, I tried to look at the booking again on the AA site to provide my passport details for the API, but it says “Contact Reservation for help with this trip”. I contacted their reservations line last week to be told it is a technical error and should be fine within a few hours – still not working a week later. Flight is still a few months away, so should I be speaking to AA again?
Thankfully I’ve been able to provide the API via the Finnair site. However I am left wondering a few things – will I be able to check in online for this flight when check in opens (via Finnair or AA?)? If we need to change the seats (at check in), will we be able to? Should I be concerned about the inability to access the booking via AA’s site?
I’ve been unable to add API information on my last two
OLCIs: just get the spinning “processing your information” indefinitely.
Tried Finnair but no luck.
Had to do it over the phone in the end: the BA agent told me to
use Edge, but that didn’t work either.So it looks like the recent customer enhanced Nectar – Ebay method of clicking through from the nectar app is as flawed as the estore now.
Made two purchases totalling £250 during the 4x promotion recently. No confirmation emails as promised and told by CS that there’s no record of the purchases. Must be my fault that the cookies didn’t track etc. Usuall bull.
Strange that other sites like TCB etc work in exactly the same manner and track properly.
P.S. Anyone else noticed that quidco has been down for several days, getting slightly worried about my balance.
Hello! Advice needed please. Was refused to board an easyJet plane to Paphos yesterday because somehow between security and boarding the plane, my passport got a tiny tear on photo page.
Uk border patrol said passport was fine by their perspective and scannable, and fine to use. Two EasyJet staff couldn’t even identify the tear after being refused boarding. I appreciate that this is “their job” but… I do think that the policy isn’t clear enough and I feel that it was luck of draw who looked at my passport and decide whether I’d be able to board.
I can’t replace passport on one day premium service, so I’m stuck for a week.
I’m wondering if I can do either of the below.
1) try and book flights with another airline and explain situation show passport in advance
2) attempt to contact Cypriot consulate to get written acceptance of my travel docs?Any thoughts or advice would be, much, much appreciated as currently looking like I’m £3k out of pocket and unsure this would qualify as claimable under my travel pack insurance from Barclays. TIA.
Ugh – Amex
I got pinged to very my information when I logged in this morning.
My circumstances have changed somewhat since they last asked me any questions. Obviously I filled it in truthfully and after some internal debate I opted for the “independent income” box as although I could tick self employed, director or employed part-time without being disingenuous, it seemed the most honest option.
I now have that nervous feeling that something bad is going to happen as their algorithm might not like it. I may well be the next Amex shut me down poster seeking @JDB’s wise counsel and/or consolation.
Ugh – Amex
I got pinged to very my information when I logged in this morning.
My circumstances have changed somewhat since they last asked me any questions. Obviously I filled it in truthfully and after some internal debate I opted for the “independent income” box as although I could tick self employed, director or employed part-time without being disingenuous, it seemed the most honest option.
I now have that nervous feeling that something bad is going to happen as their algorithm might not like it. I may well be the next Amex shut me down poster seeking @JDB’s wise counsel and/or consolation.
Sounds like you have gone for the best of the options. I just complelely forgot to put down my investment income when applying for the BAPP and was knocked back. (in fairness to myslf I was a newbie and a bit clueless). We then came up with a plan B where Mr Misty filled it in correctly and he immediatley had an acceptance email by return, along with the promise of 60,000 AVIOS.
Have everything crossed for you and hope the algorithm God’s are on your side. We haven’t had an ‘Amex have shut me down’ thred for a while.
@Misty well I’ve had an email saying that they have received and successfully validated my information although I think we all know that doesn’t mean much. However the algorithm must be chill with my declared income halving from the last time they asked.
Morning all.
Despite being a daily reader of this site, I’m terrible at remembering to use cashback sites or the e-store for my online purchases.
Last night I remembered and decided to use TCB to order something on Harvey Nichols to use my £50 Plat credit. @Davefl, I had previously signed up using your referral link several months ago, but this was the first time I actually used TCB.
Anyway, made the purchase and already showing as pending on TCB (as well as the bonus cashback for using the referral link), but I didn’t get an email from Amex saying I had redeemed my offer. I feel like I always get emails immediately after redeeming any offer (definitely did recently on the global dining credit and Hilton offer).
So, is the credit likely to track ok, or have I wasted money buying something I wouldn’t have without the £50 credit? The pending charge on Amex says “Harvey Nichols Online”.
Crikey. OH has retired since he got his BAPP 14 years ago, and although he now earns more than he did when employed full-time, the mention of a pension does seem to be the kiss of death for the algorithm! It seems to assume that being retired means you’re about to croak imminently and leave a huge unpaid bill.
Hello! Advice needed please. Was refused to board an easyJet plane to Paphos yesterday because somehow between security and boarding the plane, my passport got a tiny tear on photo page.
Uk border patrol said passport was fine by their perspective and scannable, and fine to use. Two EasyJet staff couldn’t even identify the tear after being refused boarding. I appreciate that this is “their job” but… I do think that the policy isn’t clear enough and I feel that it was luck of draw who looked at my passport and decide whether I’d be able to board.
I can’t replace passport on one day premium service, so I’m stuck for a week.
I’m wondering if I can do either of the below.
1) try and book flights with another airline and explain situation show passport in advance
2) attempt to contact Cypriot consulate to get written acceptance of my travel docs?Any thoughts or advice would be, much, much appreciated as currently looking like I’m £3k out of pocket and unsure this would qualify as claimable under my travel pack insurance from Barclays. TIA.
Could those Easyjet staff not have put notes on your booking or similar to get you onto the next flight?
if it really is tiny then personally I think explaining it to anyone will more likely than not end in denial whereas just going ahead will likely work out.
Another option is to try to apply for a second passport on a premium basis. This is what I did when I washed mine (!) but my friendly HR department provided me a letter that I may be off to various countries involving visa applications . Not sure how feasible it is these days now that things are processed online
Hello! Advice needed please. Was refused to board an easyJet plane to Paphos yesterday because somehow between security and boarding the plane, my passport got a tiny tear on photo page.
Uk border patrol said passport was fine by their perspective and scannable, and fine to use. Two EasyJet staff couldn’t even identify the tear after being refused boarding. I appreciate that this is “their job” but… I do think that the policy isn’t clear enough and I feel that it was luck of draw who looked at my passport and decide whether I’d be able to board.
I can’t replace passport on one day premium service, so I’m stuck for a week.
I’m wondering if I can do either of the below.
1) try and book flights with another airline and explain situation show passport in advance
2) attempt to contact Cypriot consulate to get written acceptance of my travel docs?Any thoughts or advice would be, much, much appreciated as currently looking like I’m £3k out of pocket and unsure this would qualify as claimable under my travel pack insurance from Barclays. TIA.
Sorry to hear of your very tricky situation. I fear that neither of your solutions are likely to work.
for 1) as soon as you tell / show an airline the tear it’s very hard for them to unsee or ignore.
for 2) I doubt the Cypriot consulate would agree to write such a letter but more importantly it’s not their decision as to whether your passport, in its current condition, is acceptable to an airline or border official. Even if they were to write such a letter. their opinion could only relate to a tear at the moment of writing only.
It’s quite likely, if the damage is as minimal as you suggest and the other easyJet couldn’t see the tear, that another airline/agent wouldn’t notice and tog could fly but that’s not a decision or advice a stranger can or should offer!
LCCs are probably stricter on passport checking because of the high penalties if they get it wrong.
You do potentially have a claim for denied boarding compensation (and also potentially consequential losses) if easyJet didn’t act reasonably in denying boarding when your passport wasn’t objectively sufficiently damaged to warrant denial.
I’m not sure about an insurance claim. On the one hand an insurer could say that not having the right travel documents renders any claim invalid unless you can claim for the accidental damage to your passport and consequential losses flowing from.
Making an insurance claim on that basis would of course conflict with any claim to easyJet where you are essentially asserting there was no meaningful damage and effectively vice versa.
I may well be the next Amex shut me down poster seeking @JDB’s wise counsel and/or consolation.
More importantly, did you get the tattoo removed, or was there a last minute stay of execution?
Crikey. OH has retired since he got his BAPP 14 years ago, and although he now earns more than he did when employed full-time, the mention of a pension does seem to be the kiss of death for the algorithm! It seems to assume that being retired means you’re about to croak imminently and leave a huge unpaid bill.
In my case I think under occupation I must have put retired, I’m not sure if there was a box for unemployed. It never crossed my mind that they might think I might be about to croak LOL. Especially as there appear to be so many noctagenerians about these days, although they may not be sporting an AmEx I guess.
Of course I got the tattoo removed. His words on that occasion were unconscionable.
I’ve been left with a red smudge that looks a bit like a birth mark but my Speedo days are over so not a problem.
Thanks @Scottpat78. You are going a few months before us – I’m just concerned that we won’t be able to check in online, choose seats etc – because I presume that can only be done from AA’s site. It isn’t very reassuring to check in at the airport nowadays!
Hello! Advice needed please. Was refused to board an easyJet plane to Paphos yesterday because somehow between security and boarding the plane, my passport got a tiny tear on photo page.
Uk border patrol said passport was fine by their perspective and scannable, and fine to use.
Am puzzled about this as security don’t inspect passports, and neither do UK Border Patrol when outbound.
I hope nobody is flying to Spain or Portugal today – nationwide power outage is affecting trains and flights
Not today, thankfully. Though Iberia does keep on giving. They wrecked our travel plans for our Lanzarote/Peninsula War battle fields trip this autumn by moving our MAD-ACE flight and refusing to refund me or allow me to move it to another day (so in defeat, I surrendered to the O’Leary siren call and booked a new flight direct from MAN). However these predictable shenanigans from Spain’s national airline cause me to regularly check all my bookings, and this morning I noticed that the MAD-ACE flight had been moved again, back to the original departure time, and I was now being offered a full cash refund. I eagerly await my £98!
Hello! Advice needed please. Was refused to board an easyJet plane to Paphos yesterday because somehow between security and boarding the plane, my passport got a tiny tear on photo page.
Uk border patrol said passport was fine by their perspective and scannable, and fine to use.
Am puzzled about this as security don’t inspect passports, and neither do UK Border Patrol when outbound.
Perhaps the OP meant between check in and boarding gate…
Sounds like a horrible situation none the less. The British passport photo page is extremely flimsy in comparison to the credit card like thickness of the Irish passport photo page. There you have the opposite problem that none of the older style machines you get in some random airports at passport control actually recognise it. At Queenstown airport, the NZ border officer let me go and collect my bags whilst he figured out how to get one of the 7 machines to recognise my passport (I didn’t go through the e gates as was travelling with OH who has Portuguese passport and can’t use e gates in NZ).
In answer to the OP – looks like the path of least resistance is to get an appointment at the passport office as soon as possible.
We are flying on BA59 from LHR to CPT on Wed. It looks like this flight leaves from C gates T5 every day but is there any way to see in advance which gate it will be on Wed?
Reason I ask as in the past, the gate is announced and it’s a mad rush from A -> C gates (20 mins) and I would like to get to the gate with less rush if possible. ThxYou don’t say which cabin you’re in but the lounge ladies usually have a good idea. So if you’re in CW or have access via status, it’s a good idea to hedge your bets and install yourself in the B lounge.
You can walk from A to C in less than 20 minutes though!
We are flying on BA59 from LHR to CPT on Wed. It looks like this flight leaves from C gates T5 every day but is there any way to see in advance which gate it will be on Wed?
Reason I ask as in the past, the gate is announced and it’s a mad rush from A -> C gates (20 mins) and I would like to get to the gate with less rush if possible. ThxThere’s no way of being sure, even on the day, until quite late in the process as even if the aircraft allocated to your flight is on its arrival stand it could be moved to a remote stand or there can be a last minute aircraft change. It’s a bit like roulette, the past pattern of gates tells you little and then there’s the zero equivalent – A10 bus gate! As above though, assuming you aren’t one of these all day lounge dwellers, by the time you are in the lounge, the agents will be Moree confident of telling you than they are at check-in.
The main departure boards in the main terminal bit (not the ones in the lounges) are usually very good at indicating early if its a B/C gates departure. The ones in the lounge show nothing until the actual gate is announced.
You can get indicative gates by putting your flight into the BA Wayfinder page – this can and does change however
https://wayfinding.maps.ba.com/Thanks @NorthernLAss The T5B lounge is a great idea. We were at the South lounge last year in 5A (same flight) which was nice. We have a few hours to kill as we have an earlier EDI-LHR flight.
We are in CW on a companion voucher booking (club suites on this flight) and making the most of our twins still being under 2 years old! Have secured bassinet seats 15A and 15K.
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