[tobynow]

No, it should show up when booking. It’s not available for all hotels/all dates.

I’ve used it a few times on the accor website by putting all the people into one room and then scrolling through the results. It should usually show you in results which ones have that available — and you’ll see it’s allocated two rooms.

Do NOT assume you can book one room and they’ll do anything else. I’ve found Accor to be a very logical, rules based company. No grey areas!

[tobynow]

Thanks Paul, that’s helpful.

[tobynow]

Thanks AJA. Very helpful.

They’re Avios tickets for a family of 4. Perhaps I should have cancelled them and paid the £35/person fee. Oh dear!

I’ll explore that link and see what else we can find, then give them a call and see what what options we have.

Thanks

[tobynow]

Agree on hotels.com and supermarkets.

I’ve also found Airbnb to be speedy.

Buying Amazon gift card is normally v swift also

[tobynow]

Booking Airbnb doesn’t need you to logi, you just put in your club number. So if BA don’t fix it maybe book a cheap Airbnb nearby for tomorrow, check in, and explain the situation?

[tobynow]

Thanks JDB. Okay I’ll do some research and then call in and see what they say.

[tobynow]

BA have done the same to me for an avios booking in September to Istanbul. The flight times offered are not workable due to childcare issues.

Turkish Airlines have a range of flights which would work. If I call and request moving to one of those, are they likely to cause a fuss? Anything I can do to help myself here?

[tobynow]

I found it massively depends on the reason for your early departure. If there is a health or other unexpected issue, I found hotels are often very understanding and allow you to not pay any charge and in one case with us, they refunded the unused nights to us. Are you able to say a little bit about why you need to leave early?

[tobynow]

If they are security issues try emailing the CEO. I believe email is

Jozsef.Varadi [at] wizzair.com

[tobynow]

Rui N. wrote:

You cannot even get 0.5%, the payment fails if you try to pay tax free childcare with your Zilch card.

Oh no! Good while it lasted….

[tobynow]

InsiderFly wrote:

Noticed that TFC has now been removed as a special retailer on zilch. Is that the same for everyone else? Maybe the card can still be used for 0.5%?

Just noticed this too. Doh! Any tips for other ways to get cashback/points on childcare fees? 0.5% is better than nothing but….

[tobynow]

Is this with kids? Might be worth considering Candia Park Village. We stumbled upon it a few years back and now go every year. It’s part of a luxury chain, but this is their kid friendly hotel for the season in life when you want a great buffet, nice beaches but don’t need too much fancy stuff the kids won’t appreciate.

[tobynow]

In my experience that’s a busy time for Stansted. But, security does move at pace.

Top tip if she doesn’t book fast track. When she gets to security veer right – there’s a less used security channel you can use which is often considerably faster.

[tobynow]

Given the flights aren’t full it’s probably a series of IT glitches. Definitely go and check in for your scheduled flight and enjoy your trip

[tobynow]

Has the voucher gone from your account?

If so I wonder if the booking has gone to the back office for processing which can take any amount of time.

If the trip is v important to you I’d just call and ask them what’s going on. If not, I’d wait and see a few weeks and then decide. But ultimately, I suspect you’re gunna be charged.

[tobynow]

Hmm, not showing on mine. Was it in the main screen? One of the sections?

[tobynow]

Do you have kids with you?

This happened to us all the time when flying with an infant. Stressed me out no end until a nice BA call agent told me it was because they had blocked certain seats for our infant and the system couldn’t show that.

[tobynow]

Don’t despair. You can do this!

So I would
– consider doing all this on the app. I’ve seen people have more success there.
– try again tonight having cleared cookies or just use a new browser which you haven’t used BA in before (because BA tech is bad)
– put your card details in manually rather than use the saved one on account (because sometimes I find the BA website has an old version of my amex card saved, with an out of date expiry or CVV number. When this occurs I see more payment issues until I can be bothered to update it)
– if the BA amex card fails consider using another credit card. You’ll lose some avios on the transaction but will secure the flights you want.

If you have time tonight before you try I’d also:
– call/chat amex to double check there is no issue in your account. Ask them if they can see any issue with the transactions

[tobynow]

I’d try not to worry at this point, I’ve seen flights gain back delays of more before departure. Or they may do an aircraft swap if something is going on with the currently allocated plane.

Is your transfer on the same ticket? If so you should be protected for any knock on impacts

[tobynow]

Ohh that makes sense Misty. I was wondering if I should try again closer to the time. I just don’t really trust lastminute…

[tobynow]

I’ve recently booked our summer trip to a hotel in Greece, which is part of a group of 5 hotels. We’ve been a few times and love it.

By far the cheapest price is via Lastminute.com. I asked the hotel if they could match that price, as they said they have a repeat customer discount, but even with that discount they couldn’t get near the price even before I factor in the cashback I will in theory get through tcb.

So my question is, what’s going on here? Have they bulk sold rooms to lastminute?

[tobynow]

sturgeon wrote:

Would these points be taken back if a card is refunded? I was offered 10k Avios for £3k spend but thinking about the platinum card with £10k spend requirement over 6 months before the 100k signup offer goes.

So if I bought say a refundable hotel room and cancelled it after the points were credited for hitting either the £3k on this card or the £10k on the platinum card will they take the points back, even if I make up for them later?

I did this by mistake.

Yes, they’ll claw back the avios by putting your amex account into debit (as the avios had moved over). Then, once you hit the spend limit again they give you the bonus avios again and you’ll be whole again.

[tobynow]

Nomadic, I’m so sorry to hear that. I’ve had a sick little one and can only sympathise.

Agree with the idea to email Sean, especially if you are still enduring hospital time. I’d consider just being frank and stating you’ve tried the customer service but aren’t getting anywhere, are still having to prioritise your sick child and are angry BA didn’t give good advice at first. Then ask for what you want done.

I’ve only had to email him once, and it was resolved v fast.

If you want any feedback on a draft I’d be happy to advise here, and I’m sure others would too.

[tobynow]

I’d be very careful here — see the recent scams on booking.com, although this was booked direct, their system could still have been hacked in a similar way. I’d call the hotel to check, or contact IHG centrally to check.

[tobynow]

I’m not an insurance expert but: given the worsening situation, and you have a small baby, I would argue that the more expensive flights with a shorter overall travel duration would be a reasonable step to take. So I’d consider booking one of those and then taking up the Pegasus refund.

Good luck