The new HFP chat thread – Thursday 26th March

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We have decided to run this new daily chat thread on Head for Points.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the defacto repository for random comments and questions. It is unlikely that the news flow will be so big over the next few weeks that we will need many ‘Bits’ articles, however.

The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind. At this tricky time, and given that many of you are stuck at home self-isolating, we want the HFP community to have a place to chat.

Please only comment under the main articles on the site if your comment is directly related to the topic of the article. This has long-term benefits as its keeps the commentary relevant for people who read those articles in the future.

We will review how this works after a few days:

we could potentially split it into a daily travel and non-travel chat thread

we may install some basic forum software

we may start suggesting potential topics for daily discussion

Let’s see how it goes.

We will do a separate article in a day or so about how we plan to run the site over the next few weeks. Take care!

Category

General

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Craig says:

26 Mar26 March 07:33

My IHG Spire expiry is showing as 31/12/2021 in the app, I haven’t met even the reduced requirements yet this year? Anyone else?
- Liz says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 08:31
  
  No I am still showing 2020
- Rob says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 11:12
  
  Online my wife still shows 12/20. Seems more like an error than anything else given the recent IHG announcement on cutting requal to 55,000 points.
AJ says:

26 Mar26 March 07:43

Recently got the Amex Platinum for the travel benefits including lounge access etc. due to a change in jobs where myself and family would get value out of the £575 fee.

Clearly these benefits have become very limited and will be for a several months at least.

Does anyone have any experience of requesting a part credit for the fee in these circs or any advice regarding recouping some of the fee?

Thanks in advance and stay safe everyone.
- Genghis says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 07:45
  
  Cancel it?
  - AJ says:
    
    26 Mar26 March 07:52
    
    Trying to reach the bonus first! I’d rather keep the card as clearly this situation will improve rather than cancel and re-apply. If that’s my only choice however then so be it but I just wanted to know if anyone else had any knowledge of any other options.
    
    Cheers
- Cavallinorampante says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 08:59
  
  Not applicable to you, AJ, but for anyone who has had an Amex Platinum Card for years…… remember that you may have Hilton Diamond Status (not Gold as it is now), and your BA Amex Premium Plus card issued free as one of your choice of five other cards under the account (saving fee of £195pa) both “grandfathered” in your AMEX Platinum Fee. Cancelling your Platinum Card will lose you these very attractive benefits forever. Even though I am approaching 70 and will lose my AMEX Travel Insurance, the additional Hilton Diamond Status with guaranteed Executive Lounge access and the “free” BA card means I will still get an annual benefit of over £1000 for my £575 Card fee.
  - Charlotte Dexter says:
    
    27 Mar27 March 12:47
    
    Could you pls explain this better. I have had AmEx Plat UK for many years (do not have Hilton Diamond through them, so how does that happen/when/since which year exactly/grandfathered in since xxx?). And BA Plat AmEx free ie no £195 charge? How does one do that? I have had that card for years as well. Your wrote: “anyone who has had an Amex Platinum Card for years…… remember that you may have Hilton Diamond Status (not Gold as it is now), and your BA Amex Premium Plus card issued free as one of your choice of five other cards under the account (saving fee of £195pa) both “grandfathered” in your AMEX Platinum Fee.”
    - Cavalinorampante says:
      
      31 Mar31 March 09:32
      
      Hi Charlotte, I can’t recall exactly when I took out my Platinum Card but I would guess it was around 1995 (I became an AMEX cardmember in 1988). The benefits then were Diamond status on Hilton, and you could select any Amex card (other than Platinum) as one of your free additional cards. These benefits remain in force today on my card.
John says:

26 Mar26 March 07:55

I have Hilton Gold status via my Amex Platinum card. I am thinking of cancelling the card, but don’t want to lose the Hilton Gold. Does anyone know if the Hilton status will disappear immediately, or if it continues for a time? Thanks.
- Shoestring says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 08:24
  
  continues with its own expiry date independent of Amex card
Sam says:

26 Mar26 March 07:57

Hi

I had a hotel booking for Spain for April using a free night voucher from the SPG Amex card. The booking was cancelled and the voucher returned to me. It now expires mid April so is basically useless, any ideas for how I can convince Marriott or Amex to extend it a bit?

Thanks
- Lyn says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 16:21
  
  I think I’ve read that Marriott are extending the validity of free night vouchers for their US credit cards. Perhaps this will be the case for the SPG in the UK as well?
Matty says:

26 Mar26 March 08:00

There’s a thread over on FT regarding Air France cutting a deal with Amex France. Air France are refusing refunds for cancelled flights and offering vouchers. When poster sought a chargeback Amex France refused, saying they had been instructed by AF not to open any chargeback claims.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-france-frequence-plus/2014200-af-now-refusing-refund-cancelled-flights.html
- Andrew says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 11:39
  
  Don’t know whether the French have the equivalent of S75 protection but a quick complaint to the financial ombudsman should the same happen in the UK would be in order. It’s just wrong on so many levels. “We’re allowing chargebacks against airline X but not airline Y because we have a deal with them”
- Lady London says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 23:18
  
  ‘Instructed by AF ? ‘
  Is that even possible?
  
  Customer did not get what they paid for
  
  Does anyone think this is Amex France protecting itself somehow?
Michelle Bryant says:

26 Mar26 March 08:07

Hello, We are due to pay our balance on our flight and car booking.
Should I just forgo the £300 deposit or pay the balance, when it sounds like we can only get a voucher that will only be valid for 1 year?
Any advice gratefully received. Thank you
- Doug M says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 09:06
  
  Personally I’d kiss the £300 goodbye and not risk any further cash.
  - Polly says:
    
    26 Mar26 March 13:41
    
    And call your insurer, worth a try.
- Charlieface says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 16:29
  
  ATOL claim? EC261 claim?
Anna says:

26 Mar26 March 08:16

Slightly OT – is there a significant benefit to having IHG Ambassador AND Spire at the same time? Only just getting into IHG but with the reduced target for Spire just now we could probably achieve it for at least one of us this year.
- Yuff says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 08:26
  
  If you are going to have children in your room it makes a difference.
  We got a fantastic suite at the park lane IC because our 12 year old daughter was staying and no additional charge(€50) at the Paris indigo when she was included in the room
  - Anna says:
    
    26 Mar26 March 09:18
    
    We have a teenager so wherever we can we book accommodation with a separate sleeping area for him.
- John says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 12:48
  
  Ambassador has zero effect except at ICs.
  
  In theory, Spire Ambassador should be treated better than just Ambassador.
  
  At some ICs Spire Amb got nothing for me, at others better upgrade than just Amb.
  
  Don’t spend unnecessarily on trying to get Spire, especially if you could just spend that money to get the upgrades you want.
- guesswho2000 says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 12:59
  
  Marginal – I stay at the two ICs in HKG semi-regularly, and Spire AMB gets me two lots of food and beverage discount vouchers (HK$110 each IIRC), but that’s it. All the benefit I get other than that is from AMB, rather than Spire.
- guesswho2000 says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 13:00
  
  Marginal – I stay at the two ICs in HKG semi-regularly, and Spire AMB gets me two lots of food and beverage discount vouchers (HK$110 each IIRC), but that’s it.
  
  All the benefit I get other than that is from AMB, rather than Spire.
- Lyn says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 16:33
  
  I think it probably depends on the individual hotel. Also whether the Ambassador weekend night is useful to you, of course with the caveat that the first night is charged at the higher flexible rate. Once you renew Ambassador after the first year, the 10% off award bookings can be very useful if you have enough IHG points for this to make a difference.
Jackie says:

26 Mar26 March 08:25

BA are not even giving the option to change my cancelled avios flight online now. They say I have to call to discuss my options . Why are they making things so hard
- Anna says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 09:18
  
  Cancel and rebook?
- Henry Larsen says:
  
  26 Mar26 March 09:41
  
  Have you tried the Javascript trick? Not sure if/when this changed but I was in your situation three ago and it worked for me. I got the confirmation e-mail — but no Avios/fees have been returned yet.