[h1jfg]

marcolau wrote:

You can’t book a 4-night booking using all 4 vouchers at once – 2 voucher per booking is the maximum so you need to split into 2 bookings.

Some hotel do offer higher level suite upgrade from the basic suite level and are priced off a even higher room category. You will see the options when you check the pricing online or via the app.

Can’t comment on the upgrade on arrival part though.

That’s not correct. You can use 4x suite night vouchers. Or even 5x if you have them.
Just double checked this for a new booking on Accor site and you can choose how many vouchers to apply.

[h1jfg]

UPDATE:
I dropped an email to Accor customer services and they responded within a few hours (very impressed!) to say that status is upgraded as soon as you hit the status points threshold for the higher tier, even if that is part way through the calendar year. They also seemed to say that you will retain this status for the full calendar year after the upgrade, i.e. from Jan 1st 2025 to Dec 31st 2025.

[h1jfg]

Hi. I have just achieved Platinum status with Accor All and I’m keen to see if I can take advantage of the status match to get Gold Privilege status with Qatar. Is anyone able to confirm what classifies as an “eligible flight” with Qatar Airways? I have multiple award flights booked this year, but I guess they won’t qualify as eligible flights.

[h1jfg]

Worked out that the issue was down to the fact that I was searching for Edinburgh to Dubai flights via Heathrow. When I searched Heathrow to Dubai the flights suddenly appeared, but still nowhere near as many flight options as with 2-4-1 voucher. I gave up in the end and have just nabbed 2x Qatar business class flights from Edinburgh direct to Doha for £720 plus 170000 Avios. An absolute steal. This is for April next year.

[h1jfg]

Guernsey Globetrotter wrote:

To confirm what happened when I did this in January last year for a silver match (from KrisFlyer), the VS status match team told me that the match would be set to process just before my next flight and that is exactly what happened in May 2021 when we flew a VS UC redemption flight to Barbados. Worked like a charm and that flight and another UC redemption flight in November means I have retained silver status for another year, which makes the 2-4-1 vouchers from their credit card that much better value (as I mentioned in Sunday’s chat thread in answer to another question). As I said above, I then cancelled my revenue flight and got a reasonable refund, although having double checked my notes it was closer to a £100 cost on cancellation (£30 charge deducted from the TFCs refund also) but still well-worth it in my scenario.

So just to confirm the process you used:
1. You booked a one-way flight LHR to Tel Aviv in Premium Economy, for some point in future.
2. Then applied for Silver status match.
3. Status match was granted and would process just before your next flight.
4. You then booked a reward flight in Upper Class to Barbados which was before your Tel Aviv flight.
5. The Silver status was awarded just before the Barbados flight.
6. That meant you no longer needed the Tel Aviv flight which you then cancelled for a small fee.

I am trying to do the same, but with Gold status match to avoid paying the +50% points fee for an Upper Class companion booking. But i guess I wouldn’t get that on the first flight, but would benefit on any other flights for a year after that flight date.

[h1jfg]

Rob Burgess wrote:

Virgin even has an online form for this, and indeed I did it last year.

Book a flight, claim your match, match is acknowledged, match is processed on the day of your flight.

You are correct about the 241, yes. I need to use mine before my Gold expires, which it will in October unless I somehow do a full fare Upper Class flight.

@Rob – Do you know if its possible to book a reward flight as your qualifying flight, and then request status match. Or does it need to be a full fare flight?

[h1jfg]

@Roberto – That’s good to hear. And do you have all of the normal Virgin Gold benefits. Such as the ability to create a household account to pool points.

[h1jfg]

NorthernLass wrote:

@Jerseylou – you need to select PE and you will automatically be shown CW availability if it’s there.

@SamG – you need to make 2 separate bookings online. Can’t recall if BA can put both vouchers on one booking if you do it by phone. If you do call, not all CS agents will know how to do it even if it’s possible so you may need to HUACA.

@Michael – it certainly is but it spurs me on to extract the best possible value I can get from it! It’s a matter of pride, lol.

I think what @SamG was commenting on is that when booking return flights for 2x people you get to a screen where it says please select 2 vouchers, and it shows you the two vouchers in your account, but it only allows you to tick the box of one of the vouchers. And if you then untick the box, it won’t let you select either of the vouchers. And if you proceed with only 1x voucher it then says you haven’t selected the correct quantity of vouchers. For me this is bad coding on their website as it clearly states that it expects you to select two vouchers, and then fails to let you do exactly that.

[h1jfg]

@NorthernLass – I think what @SamG is referring to is the fact that you can search for return flights for 2x people, and after selecting flights you then get to a pop-up screen that asks you to select 2x vouchers (not voucher, vouchers, plural). It then shows you the two vouchers you have in your account and there is a tick box next to each one. But you can only select one voucher. When you try to tick the box next to the second voucher it just does nothing. And weirdly, when you untick the first voucher you then can’t tick either of the vouchers. And if you try to progress having ticked only one voucher it says you haven’t selected enough vouchers. So it looks like its all setup for multiple vouchers, but the code behind the pop-up just isn’t working. Which is infuriating as you’re left with no option other than to call BA. Which is always a joy.

[h1jfg]

Youllnever wrote:

@h1jfg got some positive news on my side. When I checked my account today, it looks like all the missing Avios since March 24 up until April 26 is now showing as pending. According to the Avios activity log, they were all added today (April 29). The bonus counter is also reflected accordingly, so it looks like someone has/is fixing the issue off the back of my complaint.

@Youllnever Same happened for me. App has now updated with correct amount of pending Avios ready for transfer to BA this week. So it may be an issue with “in-month” tracking, but happily it sorts itself out at the end of the month.

[h1jfg]

Justin wrote:

h1jfg wrote:

Tried to complete the current account switch using the Current Account Switch Service only to have it fail and say that Chase Bank do not support this capability and that I need to complete the process manually, i.e. download forms and post them to Barclays. I have done this but I have no idea if they will be actioned or whether doing this switch manually will invalidate the 25000 Avios joining bonus. If it does invalidate the bonus then that will be 50,000 points I’ve lost as my wife has same issue. Every day their seems to be a new problem with Barclays Premier account and Barclaycard Avios Plus credit cards. Shambolic.

To be fair to Barclays, Chase not yet supporting The Current Account Switch Service is hardly their fault. Chase mention they do not support the aforementioned service here.

It does sound as though you’ve found the Barclays Paper-Based Switching Service Form and I do hope you and the wife get your introductory Avios.

I have spoken to Barclay Premier team this morning and they have said that I “should” still be eligible for the 25000 Avios joining bonus, although until the paper-based account switch goes through they can’t confirm. The paper-based account switch can take at least 12x days, and there doesn’t seem to be any way to check on progress. So in limbo for time being.

[h1jfg]

h1jfg wrote:

Rang BA Exec Club today. After a 45 minute wait I got through to a really helpful lady.
She checked the booking reference and there was a note on the booking asking Exec Club to refund the 60,000 Avios for the seat booking. However, she said that they (Exec Club) couldn’t actually do that. So after a quick check with her supervisor, she then sent a message to another department who are able to make a manual refund of Avios to my account. She said it could be up to a week before they hit my account. She also said that if I hadn’t called it would have been unlikely that the points would have been refunded as the message on the booking would not have been actioned.
Not great. But hopefully sorted now.

After another long call to BA early last week, I am very happy to say that earlier today I received the full refund of the 65300 Avios for the seat bookings on an FTV which had already been refunded. This was eventually processed as a manual adjustment. Not sure I would have received this refund had I not rang them multiple times over the last month, and yes I have spent well over 2 hours waiting and talking to BA on the phone, but for 65300 Avios I wasn’t going to just let it drop.

[h1jfg]

UPDATE: Spent an hour on the phone with Barclaycard today. The gentleman checked my account and I walked him through the issue, after which he confirmed that he could see that my overall spend since March 24th (35+ transactions) wasn’t being reflected in my Avios tracking. However, at that point he had no information that could help. He spoke to his supervisor, tried other departments, but in the end was unable to help. He ended up logging a call with their IT dept for feedback on the issue, and if they don’t respond then he will escalate into a complaint.
I don’t have any confidence that the £3K+ that I have spent on the card since 24th March will be rewarded with the 4500+ Avios points. I really hope I’m wrong and its just an issue with the app, and in the background the points are actually tracking. I guess I’ll find out in just over a week when the points monthly points earned are supposed to transfer over to BA.
I’ve stopped all spending on the card until this is resolved.

[h1jfg]

How many people who signed up for the new Barclays Premier account do you think “did their research’ as you so politely put it.
And where is the caveat in the T&Cs that states, please be aware that your existing bank may not support CASS.

[h1jfg]

l wrote:

h1jfg wrote:

Tried to complete the current account switch using the Current Account Switch Service only to have it fail and say that Chase Bank do not support this capability and that I need to complete the process manually, i.e. download forms and post them to Barclays. I have done this but I have no idea if they will be actioned or whether doing this switch manually will invalidate the 25000 Avios joining bonus. If it does invalidate the bonus then that will be 50,000 points I’ve lost as my wife has same issue. Every day their seems to be a new problem with Barclays Premier account and Barclaycard Avios Plus credit cards. Shambolic.

Chase Bank are not a member of the current account switching service. Barclays/BCard are at fault with many things (incl. including a leaflet on how to use Apple Pay with a card that doesn’t support Apple Pay in the first place) but to be fair with them this is nothing of their fault but rather an issue of PEBCAK.

I appreciate that the fault may sit with Chase Bank, but I am still doing the account switch via Barclays own paper based equivalent. I even went into the bank to do this and they scanned the documents and emailed them while I was there. So I have used Barclays current account switching service, but not the “online” version. And my concern is that they state it must be the online version to qualify for the 25000 Avios joining reward.

And there was no way that I could know that Chase Bank doesn’t support the current account switching service until I had already signed up for the Premier Account and tried to do the switch via the Barclays app, at which point it says the switch has to be completed manually via the paper-based method.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 12 months ago by .

[h1jfg]

What mechanism did you use to complain?
I’ve had numerous issue with the card starting from day one with the infamous “envelope torn open” when I received the card in the post, through to the latest issue where my Avios points have stopped tracking against my spend since March 24th. £3000 later and zero Avios points earned.
Also got issues with my Barclays Premier Account as well.

[h1jfg]

Tried to complete the current account switch using the Current Account Switch Service only to have it fail and say that Chase Bank do not support this capability and that I need to complete the process manually, i.e. download forms and post them to Barclays. I have done this but I have no idea if they will be actioned or whether doing this switch manually will invalidate the 25000 Avios joining bonus. If it does invalidate the bonus then that will be 50,000 points I’ve lost as my wife has same issue. Every day their seems to be a new problem with Barclays Premier account and Barclaycard Avios Plus credit cards. Shambolic.

[h1jfg]

I have the exact same problem and strangely the tracking stopped on the exact same date.
My Avios activity was tracking fine until 24th March but nothing at all after that date even though I have spent over £3K on the card since that date. I am waiting for my latest statement to be released, hoping that this is a glitch in the app and that its all working in the background. Although that’s maybe wishful thinking given all the issues with this card. And still no sign of the extra 5K Avios that were promised.

I can confirm that my BA Avios balance is tracking correctly through the app and has updated since the 24th as points have been added from other sources, i.e. BA AMEX. So the app is synced to my BA account, its just stopped tracking Avios for spend on my Barclaycard Avios Plus card.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 12 months ago by .

[h1jfg]

Rang BA Exec Club today. After a 45 minute wait I got through to a really helpful lady.
She checked the booking reference and there was a note on the booking asking Exec Club to refund the 60,000 Avios for the seat booking. However, she said that they (Exec Club) couldn’t actually do that. So after a quick check with her supervisor, she then sent a message to another department who are able to make a manual refund of Avios to my account. She said it could be up to a week before they hit my account. She also said that if I hadn’t called it would have been unlikely that the points would have been refunded as the message on the booking would not have been actioned.
Not great. But hopefully sorted now.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 12 months ago by .

[h1jfg]

Well this gets even stranger. I’ve just has the cash element of the FTV refunded to my BA AMEX and it included the cash element of the seat bookings.
So BA have refunded the cash element of the seat booking but not the Avios element.
That makes no sense. Surely they would refund both, or neither?
Has anyone else experienced this?

p.s. Apologies for not replying sooner. Was away in Portugal for a few days.

[h1jfg]

For anyone who has managed to get it to work with Curve, can you confirm if you get the Avios points, i.e. 1.5x points per £1.

[h1jfg]

I received my Barclaycard Avios Plus card on Monday but as the envelope was already open and torn down the side I immediately rang Barclaycard who logged it as lost and have issued a new card. Still waiting for it to arrive, but following the comments here part of me is glad that I wasn’t able to use it as I would have been as frustrated as everyone else. Maybe by the time my new card arrives the issues (or at least some of the issues) will have been fixed. At least I can hope.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 12 months ago by .