British Airways cancels BA1, London City to New York, and Beirut

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• Barbs says:

  12 Mar12 March 11:09

  If we pay our US holiday on an Amex Platinum, and then flights from the UK gets blocked as well, ir we were in the EU too close to the time of our holiday, would the insurance pay out?

  • Rob says:

    12 Mar12 March 11:35

    Definitely no to the 2nd part. I would be doubtful about the first part too. It is up to you to ensure you have the correct paperwork to enter a country, and in this case the correct paperwork is a US passport or certain sorts of visa. It is likely that your flight would be cancelled if there was a UK ban, however, meaning that you would be refunded anyway.

• Anna says:

  12 Mar12 March 12:38

  BJ not going to close schools apparently. That could come back to bite him…

  • Nick_C says:

    12 Mar12 March 13:25

    When they close the schools, some parents are going to have to take time off work. Many of these people will be working in essential services.

    • Shoestring says:

      12 Mar12 March 13:37

      10 minutes ago: [UK Ministers, officials, medical officers and the chief of the defence staff have arrived for the latest emergency Cobra meeting. The meeting is expected to confirm that the UK has officially moved from the contain to the delay phase as set out in a plan for tackling Covid-19.]

      Not much point in closing schools this week, IMV

    • Anna says:

      12 Mar12 March 14:02

      They will be, but other countries clearly think that this option will pay off in the long term.

      • Shoestring says:

        12 Mar12 March 14:47

        ouch! [new modelling from the University of Southampton showed that coronavirus could have infected 7.6million people in China alone, had the country not gone into lockdown.
        Researchers calculated that the estimated number of cases – 114,325 by Feb 29 – would have risen 67-fold, had draconian measures not been enacted to shut down transport systems, cut off cities, restrict social contact and quickly isolate suspected patients. A widespread quarantine came into effect in China from Jan 23, but the new figures show that if restrictions had been brought in three weeks earlier, cases could have been cut to fewer than 6,000…early intervention would have significantly limited the geographical spread of the disease]

    • BJ says:

      12 Mar12 March 16:09

      Like most things, it’s a trade off. The heart of the Covid-19 issue from a political perspective is do they prioritise the protection of the elderly or the economy, or do they try to strike a balance? What we see going on around the world at the moment are merely reflections of the different decisions politicians and political systems make in respect of this fundamental choice. The variation owes less to science and medicine, that are both well understood, than it does to politics. The one thing you can be sure of is that when all this is over and done and the blame game begins, the politicians will be first out the blocks pointing their fingers at the science and medical communities. Meanwhile, the media which as always in the UK is quick to whip up hysteria, will be blameless as always.

• Richard Akers says:

  12 Mar12 March 12:54

  O/T: with the virgin voucher from the credit card, do you have to phone up to use this?? i can only see the line item on my statement and can’t find a way to use when searching for redemptions on the virgin site.

  • Tom says:

    12 Mar12 March 13:00

    Yes, you need to phone to make the booking.

• Justin79 says:

  12 Mar12 March 13:15

  We have a booking for a holiday with Virgin to the US next week.
  One of our party lives in the Schengen zone and so despite the fact we are all travelling from the UK will not be able to travel as he has been in the schengen zone in the past 14 days.
  As it currently stands we can all rebook for the future but this isn’t that easy. Is he likely to get a refund of his costs from Virgin as he isn’t able to enter the US? And if so what does this mean for the rest of us on the booking? i.e. one of us would have been sharing a room so therefore the room would only be single occupancy?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    12 Mar12 March 17:09

    Have you been told you can’t all travel because 1 of your party has been in the area in the 14 days prior to your flight or just that he won’t be able to travel?

    not sure I understand the single occupancy question. The hotel won’t care if 1 is in the room instead of 2 but I guess it means slightly higher cost for the rest of you, if he can’t claim from his insurance?

    • Justin says:

      13 Mar13 March 00:07

      Nope only he can’t travel.
      So wondering if virgin should refund him only?

• Ra says:

  12 Mar12 March 14:20

  Does anyone know a number which BA actually answer? I know they are busy but I’ve been trying all day and get cut off every time. Website is no use as it just gives general information.

  • Anna says:

    12 Mar12 March 14:42

    There’s no guarantee of getting through on any number at the moment, they will be swamped. I don’t know what their social media responses are like at the moment. If I wanted to make any urgent changes to a booking I would go to my local airport and speak to BA staff there, though I know this wouldn’t be practicable for everyone.

    • Algor says:

      12 Mar12 March 16:02

      I had a problem not getting thorugh to BA, called number for First class despite having business class ticket.

      Agent replied in less than a minute and sorted me out.

  • Rob says:

    12 Mar12 March 14:53

    Generally the Gold line or the one for overseas customers.

  • Lady London says:

    12 Mar12 March 15:18

    Keep a record of your attempts to reach them just in case. @Colin MacKinnon’s idea of using Skype to call if possible was a good one for this.

    • BJ says:

      12 Mar12 March 15:35

      Another little tip I though of this morning after receiving my upgraded BAPP: keep old/cancelled cards (or at least the card details) in event you need to go online to change or cancel existing bookings. Card details are required for security and refunds so best to avoid any need for calls simply because we no longer have payment card details.

      • Polly says:

        12 Mar12 March 22:16

        We had refunds onto a cancelled card from 6 mths previously. They just sent me a statement showing the credit. I just called in and they refunded it. But like always keep old cards we booked LH flts on, just in case QR or foreign check in desks require it.

        • Lady London says:

          12 Mar12 March 23:35

          Hi Polly how’s your quarantine going?

• AndyF says:

  12 Mar12 March 15:15

  OT : Curious Aj Bell – Hargreaves – Or Charles Stanley any thoughts on the best provider for the coming weeks?

  • Shoestring says:

    12 Mar12 March 15:20

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/diyinvesting/article-1718291/Pick-best-cheapest-investment-Isa-platform.html

    • AndyF says:

      12 Mar12 March 15:32

      I’m leaning towards Aj Bell. They work out cheaper – Although best isn’t always the cheapest and I have no experience using them as a provider? Can you hold individual shares within an ISA wrapper or is it a funds only approach.

      • Lady London says:

        12 Mar12 March 15:53

        If you search the site above there is an excellent article comparing platforms I think the key search would be something like DIY investing. You could then check with your chosen provider if anything changed since date of that article but it’s an excellent comparison and would give a first answer to all your questions

      • AJA says:

        12 Mar12 March 16:54

        Both Hargreaves and AJ Bell are good. They’re all much the same.. HL is not the cheapest but there’s not a lot in it. For a £20k holding I think AJ Bell is about £20 per annum cheaper than HL. Obviously if your ISA is worth £500k then that becomes more of an issue. You can hold individual company shares as well as funds such as Fundsmith within a Stocks and Shares ISA.

    • Lady London says:

      12 Mar12 March 15:36

      @Shoestring any chance you could repost the 15 y gilts graph link please? My new Chinese phone let me save the link previously, but its latest update won’t let me retrieve it …:-)

      • Shoestring says:

        12 Mar12 March 16:00

        https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/bond/tmbmkgb-15y?countrycode=bx

        check out 3Y or All

        • Lady London says:

          12 Mar12 March 18:39

          Ta muchly

  • Neil says:

    12 Mar12 March 15:28

    As you don’s say what for – SIPP, ISA, Trading etc. then a couple of useful ( and free guides ) can be found on the lang cat site https://www.langcatfinancial.co.uk/isa/ and also on the Monevator site https://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

    • AndyF says:

      12 Mar12 March 16:27

      That’s very helpful and Stocks and Shares ISA. thank you for the reading.

• Harry T says:

  12 Mar12 March 16:02

  My partner and I are booked on QF1 (Sydney to London) on 16th March. We are currently in Australia. We paid £110 each to book extra legroom seats in economy on the economy mini cabin on the upper deck of the A380. However, I’ve just checked the seat map and it has changed to what appears to be a refurbished A380. Therefore economy is now only on the lower deck. We have automatically been changed to two middle seats! To compound matters further, the app and website will not allow me to change my seats at all – it gives me an error message that says “A payment is in progress. A seat selection request is in progress. You cannot make changes to your seats at this time. Please contact your issuing agent.”

  Obviously we do not want to sit in two middle seats after paying for extra legroom seats in a far superior cabin arrangement. I’ve tried to call the UK and Australian Qantas call centres but the wait times are ranging from 1-3 hours. I haven’t been able to get through to anyone. Can anyone suggest a way to resolve this dilemma without spending hours of our holiday on the phone waiting for Qantas to pick up?

  • Anna says:

    12 Mar12 March 16:24

    Are you in a position to go to the airport before your return date and speak to Qantas staff? Or does the company have travel shops there? I agree it’s a stinker but there will be some sort of clause in your booking saying they can change your seats for “operational reasons”. Failing all that, you may have to wait until online check in to see I you can move seats (then get to the airport ASAP).

    • Harry T says:

      12 Mar12 March 23:20

      @Anna we are currently in Melbourne so I think our best chance may be to find a human at Sydney airport, when we get there five hours before our flight (getting a Qantas domestic flight there). Can not get through to Qantas by any channel. Unsure if Melbourne airport could help us, and there’s no travel shops or ticket offices.

  • BJ says:

    12 Mar12 March 16:31

    If you are in a major city with an office it might be best just to go there. Tbh though, I don’t know if airlines even have ticket offices these days. Doubt the plane will be full so you can lilely sort it out to your satisfaction at the airport. I think they have parked all their a380s so you will be flying something else and that might explain the online issues.

    • AJA says:

      12 Mar12 March 16:34

      The A380s are still flying. Qantas will only ground them on 20 April when the flight changes to a 787/9 and will fly via Perth rather than Singapore.

      • Lyn says:

        12 Mar12 March 16:41

        Yes, but the refurbished Qantas A380’s have extra premium economy seats in place of the economy seats in the small rear cabin upstairs. The timing of the change is really bad luck for Harry T. Also for Qantas I suspect because it will be harder to fill the extra premium economy seats in the current economic and travel environment.

        • BJ says:

          12 Mar12 March 17:00

          Might work out in their favour, they might get a PE seat in the end seeing as they paid for extra legroom.

    • Harry T says:

      12 Mar12 March 23:15

      @BJ currently in Melbourne. No ticket office as far as I can see. I’m unsure if the staff at Melbourne Tullamarine could help – either way it would cost over an hour of our holiday and at least 70 AUD for Uber. I think we are probably beat at this stage to just try and enjoy our holiday, and try our luck at Sydney airport before we fly. Looks like the Melbourne Grand Prix is probably cancelled too!

  • Lyn says:

    12 Mar12 March 16:54

    What bad luck, Harry T. Qantas are probably swamped after the cuts they’ve recently announced to their routes. Early morning in Australia is usually the best time to call their Australian call centre when it opens, at least if you choose the frequent flyer option. I don’t think Qantas have city offives any more do they? It sounds as if you might be within T-80 now? Which could make things harder, or perhaps easier. i doubt it on-line check-in would help if you can’t make changes now. Are their social media options such as Twitter a possibility?

    • Harry T says:

      12 Mar12 March 23:16

      Thanks, Lyn. We have messaged them on Twitter and their app but no joy so far!

      • Lyn says:

        12 Mar12 March 23:55

        Fingers crossed. But if that doesn’t work perhaps you could try at Tullamarine before your domestic light? As you probably know the Qantas international terminal is adjacent to the domestic one in Melbourne (unlike Sydney) – I would try there (at the International terminal) if you can get there a bit early. Hopefully you can find a manager to take pity on you, especially if they aren’t busy checking in for an international flight.

        I honestly don’t see how they could have sold all the extra premium economy seats if they have only just swapped the plane. As BJ said, you have a good argument for why they might upgrade you instead of someone else, and it would save them having to give you a refund for your seat assignments. You could also try phoning as soon as their frequent flyer centre opens in the morning just in case they answer quickly. It’s bad luck about the Grand Prix.

        • Harry T says:

          13 Mar13 March 02:56

          Thanks, that’s a great idea – we will try at Tullamarine.

          The Grand Prix being cancelled gives us a bit more time to explore more of Melbourne so there’s a silver lining.

  • AJA says:

    12 Mar12 March 17:09

    Harry have you tried accessing your booking on Finnair’s website? Their’s seems to be able to do things that BA’s can’t do. If that doesn’t work I think you are limited to getting to the airport early and trying to get another pair of seats at check-in. I was also going to suggest asking on FT but I think I’ve just seen your posting there. Be aware that FT only allows you 5 postings in your first 24 hours.

    • Harry T says:

      12 Mar12 March 23:14

      @AJA thanks but no joy with Finnair. Yes, that’s me on Flyertalk. Not getting offered a callback option by Qantas, can’t text them, and they are ignoring app messaging.

• Anna says:

  12 Mar12 March 16:06

  Cruise companies now cancelling altogether, Princess and Viking seem to have definitely confirmed all cruises being shelved for 2 months.

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