Chat thread – Tuesday 25th January

[Rob]

This is today’s chat thread. We have moved the daily discussion from the main HfP news feed into the new forum. We hope you get used to it.

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.

[Just Nick]

Hi there. I received the email from BA prior to Christmas saying that my silver status would be extended by a further 12 months. This would be applied by the end of the first week in January. It has not happened yet. Are others still waiting or do I need to chase it up. Cheers.

[Jonathans]

I ended up making 2 separate ba bookings using the same 241 voucher. Both appear to have ticketed ok – are there going to be any ramifications waiting for me at checkin for either flight?

[Andrew J]

Just Nick wrote:

Hi there. I received the email from BA prior to Christmas saying that my silver status would be extended by a further 12 months. This would be applied by the end of the first week in January. It has not happened yet. Are others still waiting or do I need to chase it up. Cheers.

It should have changed to 2023 card expiry a long time ago, so I would call them to chase.

[Joecooljoe]

Just Nick wrote:

Hi there. I received the email from BA prior to Christmas saying that my silver status would be extended by a further 12 months. This would be applied by the end of the first week in January. It has not happened yet. Are others still waiting or do I need to chase it up. Cheers.

Mine too Nick. Are you end June?

[YFP]

Hi all,

Before i spend ages waiting on the phone, wanted to confirm if this was possible. I have eVouchers that i’d like to use to pay off the balance of my BA holiday before the deadline. T&Cs says i can’t do this online, but will i be able to do this over the phone?

[Bam]

Hi YFP – I am in the same boat – I have an evoucher of £2k I need applied to a holiday booking – due for payment on 29th Jan – I have been trying to get in contact with BA for the last 2 weeks – phone, email, chat with no luck. Having already paid out over £500 for PCR Tests Hotel and Parking, I do not know where I stand legally or what my options are if BA cancel my holiday – despite them having £2k of my money and I can evidence great effort trying to contact them.

[ee]

A couple of quick ‘de facto’ gift card questions:

Does Asda allow you to spend its gift cards on third party gift cards? If so, will they go through the self scan?

A similar question for Argos – can an Argos gift card be used to buy a third party one?

Thanks!

[ZoeB]

I haven’t been on chat much recently so apologies if this has already been discussed. If you test positive on a lateral flow and register it on the gov website it doesn’t generate you a recovery certificate. This matters if for instance in 4 weeks time you want to go to Thailand and still come up positive on PCR. With a recovery cert you are still good to go, otherwise your trip has gone pear shaped.
I’m not certain but think that only a drive / walk through test works.
I am caring about this as my daughter is off on (a mid twenties) gap year shortly. I’ve started another thread asking for any tips or advise as I’m sure some of you will have backpacked or have had your kids doing it.

[NorthernLass]

YFP and Bam – have you tried emailing the voucher to BA Holidays and asking for it to be applied to your new booking? This has worked for many of us. Don’t say anything other than your booking ref is XXXXX and you’d like this voucher applying to the balance.

[Shaw West]

For those who obtained Oneworld emerald through Finnair promotion could status match to Star alliance Gold via TAP

[Vit]

Sorry if this has been asked zillions of time — apparently I’ve not been on the chat thread lately at all. I am planning to book EDI – LHR (one way) flight using my 2-4-1 voucher which is due to expire in May 2022. Once that done, I plan to call in / try online to cancel to get FTV.

I have another FTV with value of ~£70 and 120k avios. I plan to use this FTV and the EDI-LHR FTV above to book new flight to Thailand.

Can I do that? and Can I still get the benefit of 2-4-1 voucher? Just in case anyone has tried this before. I was going to try it myself anyway.

Cheers,
Vit

[Rob]

Vit wrote:

Sorry if this has been asked zillions of time — apparently I’ve not been on the chat thread lately at all. I am planning to book EDI – LHR (one way) flight using my 2-4-1 voucher which is due to expire in May 2022. Once that done, I plan to call in / try online to cancel to get FTV.

I have another FTV with value of ~£70 and 120k avios. I plan to use this FTV and the EDI-LHR FTV above to book new flight to Thailand.

Can I do that? and Can I still get the benefit of 2-4-1 voucher? Just in case anyone has tried this before. I was going to try it myself anyway.

Cheers,
Vit

What are you actually asking here? If you’re saying ‘can I merge two FTV’ then the answer is No. Once you remember that your FTV is simply your old ticket, frozen, it is easier to understand what is possible and what isn’t.

[Shaw West]

Marriott Promo. Double Elite nights and 1000 bonus points per night. From Feb 8 to May 2.

[Cinimo]

Hi All,
I’m looking for the best way to avoid mobile data roaming charges in the USA for an trip in a few days time. I’ve seen Airalo do eSIM with reasonable rates for the USA. This looks perfect for me, because I should be able to keep my main number for any calls (just for emergencies) but get data without paying too much. Does anyone have any experience with them and/or a referral code? Or if you have any other any other suggestions. Many thanks.

[YFP]

NorthernLass wrote:

YFP and Bam – have you tried emailing the voucher to BA Holidays and asking for it to be applied to your new booking? This has worked for many of us. Don’t say anything other than your booking ref is XXXXX and you’d like this voucher applying to the balance.

No, haven’t tried that. I’ll give it a go and see if that works.

[Shaw West]

Cinimo wrote:

Hi All,
I’m looking for the best way to avoid mobile data roaming charges in the USA for an trip in a few days time. I’ve seen Airalo do eSIM with reasonable rates for the USA. This looks perfect for me, because I should be able to keep my main number for any calls (just for emergencies) but get data without paying too much. Does anyone have any experience with them and/or a referral code? Or if you have any other any other suggestions. Many thanks.

Lot of uk mobile networks let you roam free in US. Get their prepaid sim

[secretsquirrel]

Any advice on express test turnaround times? We had tests at LHR drive through midday yesterday, advised by staff results would be back by 10am but still nothing.
Any recent timeframes for results would be very much appreciated.

[Jonathans]

What is availability at Plaza Premium Lounge at Heathrow T5 like on a Monday morning currently please?

[AL]

Booked a return flight on BA – £111.88, reduced with an FTV (value of £29.57). Changed the return by a day, resulting in £34 increase. Paid that. On my card, I have two transactions – £111.88 and £34. I have one receipt from BA for £141.45. So, I’m missing being able to account for £4.43. Before I go and join the huge queue, is this a BA accounting oddity that I can’t explain? Have they changed the fare basis and re-calculated the cost to update the receipt but not refund the difference?

[Guernsey Globetrotter]

Shaw West wrote:

For those who obtained Oneworld emerald through Finnair promotion could status match to Star alliance Gold via TAP

Thanks for this Shaw West! I thought I had run out of options (having tried several other status matches unsuccessfully). Now I also see that Rob has a good write-up here too on how the process works: https://www.headforpoints.com/2022/01/03/match-your-british-airways-status-to-star-alliance-gold/
Cheers 🙂

[Andrew.]

Best to start by checking how much an add-on for your UK package is.

It’s £10 a month on EE if you don’t have it as an included add-on in your package. Probably much easier than faffing about with second SIMs.

[Biki]

Cinimo wrote:

Hi All,
I’m looking for the best way to avoid mobile data roaming charges in the USA for an trip in a few days time. I’ve seen Airalo do eSIM with reasonable rates for the USA. This looks perfect for me, because I should be able to keep my main number for any calls (just for emergencies) but get data without paying too much. Does anyone have any experience with them and/or a referral code? Or if you have any other any other suggestions. Many thanks.

I usually just go into T-Mobile and get a visitor SIM. I think last time it was around $30 for pretty much unlimited data and calls. they don’t always advertise it, so you might have to specifically ask a rep in the shop

[xcalx]

Sorry can’t help with question. We used Expert Medical and neither of the barcode numbers worked.

[xcalx]

That was for secretsquirrel. Not fully up with using the forum.