[spellman]

Perhaps it’s 20k per survey? There’s a few I probably haven’t completed. You’ve enough for a sneaky flight redemption!

[spellman]

Thanks @JDB I’ve challenged their initial rejection and asked for a final position statement so I have the option of AviationADR

[spellman]

I had a similar rejected compensation complaint from EasyJet. Would be good to get the opinion of people smarter than me on whether you think they are justified:

As your flight needed to be cancelled for reasons outside of our control, unfortunately we’re unable to offer you compensation as well.

To further explain what happened on the day; air traffic control restrictions substantially regulated the air space due to capacity/staffing issues, which resulted in long delays to flights as aircraft waited for air space ‘slots’ to operate, sometimes for several hours. Ultimately and in the case of this flight, the delays pushed our crew into their maximum legal operating hours. There are strict industry wide rules on the number of hours our crew are allowed to work. To protect the safety of our customers and crew, these hours cannot be exceeded. This delay pushed your flight into the curfew at Amsterdam (AMS) which meant we had no option but to cancel your flight. We do take reasonable measures to avoid delays and cancellations to our flights by having replacement crews and spare aircraft available in our network. In the circumstances, these options were not possible as the cancellation to your flight was a direct result of air traffic control restrictions.

Their version of events does differ slightly from what actually happened before departure, as the pilot announced that despite being 2hrs late, we were being held at the gate to allow more passengers from an earlier cancelled flight to board. To me this is an operational decision made by EasyJet which ultimately delayed the flight further pushing it past either the crews hours of the AMS curfew (Easyjet appear to be trying claim both apply which is odd..)

Thoughts?

[spellman]

BBbetter wrote:

TCB wont payout on discounted price. But you may get lucky.

They should do when the offer or voucher is listed on their site, which this one is.

[spellman]

SteveJ wrote:

Isn’t the answer to OPs question to pick a seat at the back of the plane if travelling Economy with no Status?

AFAIK those needing assistance go first, then status and CE. After that the boarding groups usually start at the back of Economy and make their way to the front of Economy.

That was my thinking but was just speculation.

It was just rather disappointing having 23kg of luggage allowance each, choosing NOT to use it (BA benefits on 70kG weight/fuel saving) and carry on HBO and then be forced to check them in anyway because the overhead bins were filled by groups 1-6.

Our return flight was sweltering hot upon boarding (APU failure, no air conditioning) and over an hour late, and then having to wait for baggage at midnight was the icing on the cake. Cabin service was patchy (no complimentary water handed out to several rows, and then snarky replies when we asked for a glass of water) and the gate staff were snappy and rude (probably annoyed at having to tag all the hand luggage).

A timely reminder why I rarely fly BA these days!

[spellman]

PeteM wrote:

spellman wrote:

PeteM wrote:

You mean a trick that would mean status passengers that spend significantly more than you with BA should have to check their bags instead of you?

No, I’d always expect to be down the pecking order when it comes to status (ie groups 1-4), but on a flight with mostly holiday makers, I would imagine most would have similar BA status, so how do they categorise groups 4-8? Is it based on row? i.e. they board the back of the plane first, so you’re more likely to get a lower boarding group if you’re seated towards the back?

I believe it is based on booking classes. So the less you paid, the further back you will be. I suspect if you check the classes on the flights you took you’ll find your return booking class was higher than outbound.

They were reward flights so likely the lowest of the booking classes then?

[spellman]

JDB wrote:

spellman wrote:

PeteM wrote:

You mean a trick that would mean status passengers that spend significantly more than you with BA should have to check their bags instead of you?

No, I’d always expect to be down the pecking order when it comes to status (ie groups 1-4), but on a flight with mostly holiday makers, I would imagine most would have similar BA status, so how do they categorise groups 4-8? Is it based on row? i.e. they board the back of the plane first, so you’re more likely to get a lower boarding group if you’re seated towards the back?

I think you will find that many of the “holiday makers” either have status (a doddle to get at least silver these days) or are travelling in CE so I’m not sure why you are expecting to be in groups 1-4 while they should be relegated to the lower orders if you are are the one with no status and an economy ticket.

I’m not expecting anything – I’m asking if there’s any science or tricks to getting into lower boarding groups with no status, as per the subject line.

If there’s not, there’s not.

[spellman]

PeteM wrote:

You mean a trick that would mean status passengers that spend significantly more than you with BA should have to check their bags instead of you?

No, I’d always expect to be down the pecking order when it comes to status (ie groups 1-3), but on a flight with mostly holiday makers, I would imagine most would have similar BA status, so how do they categorise groups 4-9? Is it based on row? i.e. they board the back of the plane first, so you’re more likely to get a lower boarding group if you’re seated towards the back?

[spellman]

Thanks for everyone’s contributions – lots to digest!

[spellman]

Agree with the feedback posted above. The whole process has been a horrible painful disaster from start to finish (and it’s not finished yet) – and I was actually a pretty happy Barclays customer before all of this!

From getting a crazy £250 credit limit on the card which took weeks to challenge, to being sent in circles trying to open the Premier account, couldn’t do it on the app, told to call a number, call the number, the line has a prerecorded message says its no longer active and to use the app!, and finally being locked out of my main Barclays banking app and had to bring ID into a branch, despite Barclays knowing who I was for the past twenty years because my mortgage is with them!

I’m very tempted to close everything Barclays related once (if?) the 100k Avios ever post and take my business elsewhere.

[spellman]

We loved the Conrad St James, and the lounge there; The highlight being when the waiter topping everyone’s glasses with Prosecco came round to apologise that they’d run out of Prosecco and if champagne would be OK instead?

First world problems eh 😉

[spellman]

Gary_Dexter wrote:

spellman wrote:

Rob Burgess wrote:

But back to the point …. £200 is the holding limit you get until you supply the income verification docs you were asked to supply. Send those and you get your £10k, £20k whatever.

Nope.

We sent all the docs requested. Credit limit remained unchanged. Cancelled the card now.

Did they confirm back to you that they won’t be increasing it?

Yup. My only course of action was to log a complaint

[spellman]

Rob Burgess wrote:

But back to the point …. £200 is the holding limit you get until you supply the income verification docs you were asked to supply. Send those and you get your £10k, £20k whatever.

Nope.

We sent all the docs requested. Credit limit remained unchanged. Cancelled the card now.

[spellman]

JDB wrote:

@spellman the previous poster, @Andrew. was spot on. It is an issue that people do actually explicitly post about here, saying they make applications for and using a partner’s card without express authorisation

Getting off topic, but this is HFP afterall…I never said I applied without her knowledge or authorisation. She’s always kept informed as the named account holder and she then authorises me with whichever company it is to act on her behalf going forward. There is nothing illegal about that, and perfectly within the terms of the card(s) in question.

JDB wrote:

You say “I manage all our finances” which may be fine up to a point

It is fine for our relationship. We have a joint current account, join CC accounts. She has full visibility of everything, but chooses to let me manage which product(s) we use and apply for, and our monthly budgets. Again, I would imagine this is pretty typical in an established long term relationship..one partner usually takes control of the finances and budgeting.

JDB wrote:

It is very unwise of people to do this in such a casual way and some aspects may even be unlawful.

Every relationship is different. What works for some wouldn’t work for others. If my wife ever decided she did care about whether we should earn Virgin points or Avios, I’d happily hand over the credit card selection process to her!

JDB wrote:

I find the general idea that “I manage all the finances” rather disrespectful to one’s partner if it is literal. We do a bit of both and I greatly value my wife’s input (she is miles cleverer) as while she isn’t all that interested, a fresh pair of eyes often spots important issues I hadn’t noticed.

I don’t disagree with you when done in a controlling manner, although you’re making an assumption based of an off-hand comment. My wife would be horrified if I suggested she takes over the management of our finances and investments etc and it just wouldn’t be a good use of her time at all.

[spellman]

Andrew. wrote:

People should really think twice before posting this kind of content or engage in this kind of behaviour with the Financial Services industry.

Unless there is a formal POA in place, “I’ve requested an increase but they denied it.”, it has the potential to red-flag as an abusive and controlling relationship – which will only result in further checks.

I manage all our finances and my wife couldn’t care less on how the AVios that pays for her business class flights are earned so leaves all the credit card churning to me, but I appreciate that it some circumstances it could be a very different situation, athough I doubt such a person would be advertising that on a public forum!

[spellman]

It’s likely Hilton will find a way to wriggle out of the price match e.g. differing cancellation terms, not a public rate etc.

[spellman]

We waited for about 20 minutes at JFK Terminal 4 after our Virgin flight three weeks ago (arrived around 4pm)

[spellman]

Yea, I think under the old reward seat policy, I’d have opted for the cash, but I think I can use the flights and the vouchers have pretty decent validity (3 years)

[spellman]

Confirming that two transactions (Amex bill payment and Monese top-up) via Curve have both incurred cash advance fees for me.
Both tracked as purchases with MCC 6012

[spellman]

NorthernLass wrote:

Sorry – I can’t help with any of this but did you find a decent deal for car hire?!

I picked up a SUV from Thrifty for $1400 for 13 days (one-way rental from JFK to ORD). A lot more expensive that pre-Covid but manageable.

The price was originally $1600 but Autoslash found a few cheaper rates over the past few months.

[spellman]

I’ve used the offer twice now in restaurants in the HN London store, and so far no cashback has been paid. Transactions were three weeks and two weeks ago. Of course Amex support just say “wait 120 days” or something, but when cashback works, it’s always been less than a week.

[spellman]

I didn’t get the points and also hotels.com suspended my account for breaking their terms and conditions meaning I couldn’t redeem the two rewards night they owed me.

After a lot of escalation, and countless emails and twitter DMs, after they were unable to provide the proof of what I did wrong to get my account suspended they ended up paying me the cash value of the rewards nights they owed me! Totally bizarre experience – so be warned!

[spellman]

This was in Croydon – will try some fixed value ones today.

[spellman]

Interestingly, Morrisons said that Amazon were no longer allowing their gift cards to be activated, so had removed them all on sale when I tried to purchase one at the weekend.

[spellman]

Wrong forum?