The new HFP chat thread – Saturday 28th March

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• Alan says:

  28 Mar28 March 12:16

  What sort of response time have folks had on WhatsApp for Virgin? Messaged them last night but nothing yet…

  • BrianW says:

    28 Mar28 March 15:45

    Process took me less than 24hrs Alan, I started first messaged at 10pm Tuesday night and transfer of miles was complete by 2.45pm on the Wednesday afternoon.

    • BrianW says:

      28 Mar28 March 15:47

      Complete meaning they has responded a few times by then via WhatsApp and finally confirmed the 30 day transfer had commenced (miles left my Virgin account at that point also).

      • Alan says:

        28 Mar28 March 18:55

        Thanks, had auto acknowledgement of WhatsApp then text but nothing since…

• JRC says:

  28 Mar28 March 12:33

  reposting as previous got deleted. Anyone having any issues with the site that cannot be named – lots of transactions showing as “Confirmed” but not moving to “payable”?

  • Andy says:

    28 Mar28 March 12:50

    May depend on the merchant?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    28 Mar28 March 12:50

    Yes seems I have quite a lot of payments going to confirmed recently with nothing moving to payable.

    Unfortunately everyone is starved of revenue so they are holding on to cash

  • Lady London says:

    28 Mar28 March 13:51

    That’s perfectly normal. With many merchants this can go on for neatly a year. Feedback fro others in that location is the best guide for way you can generally expect and it goes by merchant.

• Boi says:

  28 Mar28 March 12:44

  Any tips of how to delete all Monese data on iphone then reinstall it? Its acting up.

  • Novice says:

    28 Mar28 March 13:49

    I think when you delete an App in iPhone you should get a notification saying this will delete all data.

    And then you click ok and once deleted, you can reinstall but icon might it’s already saved to iCloud but I assume that your iCloud would then update.

    I’m not an expert but this is my understanding.

• James says:

  28 Mar28 March 13:47

  Just had a look at Hilton prices for London for early June – really high, which is a surprise as I wouldn’t imagine they will have high occupancy rates, most tourists will have cancelled for sure?

  Any thoughts

  • Rob says:

    28 Mar28 March 14:06

    Most hotels are not cutting rates. It makes no sense – this is not a price sensitive market, so if you need to travel you’ll pay whatever it takes. 3 rooms sold at £50 is not as good as 1 sold at £150 due to the costs of cleaning etc plus more staff.

    • Ian M says:

      28 Mar28 March 15:00

      Hey Rob, yeah that makes sense on one level, but you would think that competition between hotels would naturally drive prices down in a low demand / high supply market surely? Or have all the chains agreed to avoid that I wonder?

      Perhaps smaller independent hotels are a better place to look for good rates

      • Rob says:

        28 Mar28 March 15:02

        There is also a big rebooking risk. There will be people who have bookings for June at £150. If the hotel drops to £50, those £150 people will cancel and rebook.

  • Vin says:

    28 Mar28 March 14:42

    Once we end the lockdown period, then offers will surely come up

    • James says:

      28 Mar28 March 16:00

      Yes perhaps, there should be a glut of rooms in May, and I think that is reflected in pricing.

      Any hint of any major hotels closing, or perhaps consolidating rooms in same brand?

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    28 Mar28 March 14:50

    Inelastic demand is why

• Y says:

  28 Mar28 March 13:56

  Additional data point:
  Cancelled a virgin flight redemption (points immediately back into my account). However, was told could take up to 100 days for cash portion to be on my credit card.

  Anybody heard the same? And any data points on how long it ‘actually’ took for cash to be refunded?

  • Sandgrounder says:

    28 Mar28 March 15:09

    Getting the cash later is usual. How did you cancel? I was waiting for Delta to pull the plug on May, but given the current situation I might take the hit and transfer the majority of my miles from the redemption to Hilton.

    • Sandgrounder says:

      28 Mar28 March 15:11

      Sorry, meant to add that it’s taken a month for me in normal times.

      • Stephen says:

        28 Mar28 March 15:39

        I cancelled three ANA reward bookings today – same, received the points straight away, but they said 3 months for the taxes to be refunded. I tried to get them to reschedule instead of cancel, but they couldn’t change reward seats past 331 days

        • Stephen says:

          28 Mar28 March 15:41

          I cancelled something a month ago, and was refunded the cash within 5 days

  • Louise says:

    28 Mar28 March 15:34

    Ive cancelled redemptions in the past and can take a month for money to be refunded.

• Secret Squirrel says:

  28 Mar28 March 15:11

  Tesco Pet Insurance update via Twitter:
  They claim 35 x days from start if policy, then Tesco Bank can take up to an additional 25 x days to credit the reward points.
  Not exactly what I’ve seen from some others on here being paid out points at 35x days but this what they now state.

• Matthew says:

  28 Mar28 March 15:18

  Reference the Helsinki route being cancelled entirely for BA. I booked using Lloyds Avios voucher for Jan 2021 but they are point blank refusing to switch it to Finnair as they say they can’t as I used a Lloyds voucher and only have access to BA flights? So they said they can only give me a refund, reissue voucher and extend for 6 months. I’m left high and dry with my onward flight from Helsinki. They said they don’t offer re routes on other metal as they are a travel agent and not bound by same rules as if booking with BA direct. I know direct bookings are offering a switch toFinnair flights via MMB so surely BA offer this to Avios?

  Any ideas? I tried about 5 times and the polite lady was insistent they cannot get me to Helsinki.

  • memesweeper says:

    28 Mar28 March 15:43

    If your flight is cancelled you have the right to reimbursement or re-routing — your choice. You are right to insist on rerouting. If CS are refusing put it in writing.

    • Lady London says:

      28 Mar28 March 16:05

      +1. 100%

      • meta says:

        28 Mar28 March 16:31

        Plus you have enough time to take them to small claims if they continue to refuse.

      • Lady London says:

        28 Mar28 March 17:26

        Once you’ve booked a flight your means of paying for it don’t determine what it can be replaced with.

        So if there are no avios seats on the flight you wish to be rebooked to or need as a replacement flight if they cancel anything on your booking or make any significant change, doesn’t matter, airline is required to ticket you in the nearest available revenue class. They can’t say no avios seats available and refuse to provide you the later travel on your preferred date.

        If you need to travel on a specific date they must provide a ticket in a comparable class of travel even if they have no seats or no flight on your date.

        These rights come from EU statute. So they override any terms of the airline, and any no providing procedures an airline’s staff have been instructed in (I’m looking at you, Iberia!). Your booking comes under the EU statute if your booking departs from Europe on any airline, or on any European airline departing from anywhere.

        Hence do not seek rebooking onto a no European airline if you can avoid it. 2 people posted on here from Peru, having been abandoned there by a no European airline they had been rebooked onto by their original European airline and they were stuck there.

  • Matthew says:

    28 Mar28 March 16:50

    Thanks. At least I have time on my side. They are claiming that if I booked direct with an airline they have that responsibility but as avios.com are a travel agent then they don’t. The reroute they are offering does not get me to Helsinki!! Just another ‘nearby’ city.

    With reference to small claims, do I simply claim the cost for booking the flight with AY or do I need to book it first then claim. All a bit of a nonsense really.

    Half of me thinks I’m better off getting refund and therefore a 6month extension on voucher and use it for somewhere long haul for better value….

    • memesweeper says:

      28 Mar28 March 16:54

      Personally I’d book a flexible ticket with finnair and sue for that amount — it’s close to Avios booking terms. IANAL

      • Lady London says:

        28 Mar28 March 17:32

        Sue both avios, if that’s who you booked through, and British Airways and let the court sort out who’s liable.

        Can also help to let them know you are in the point of doing this too.

        You could maybe get cost of replacement ticket off your credit card under s.75 – even if it costs more you will not have t pay difference.

        • Matthew says:

          28 Mar28 March 17:47

          The only thing is that the fees/taxes only cost £50 so I’d guess that means no S75?

        • Lady London says:

          28 Mar28 March 21:31

          What you bought was a ticket to Helsinki. You are suing for the replacement cost of that ticket. Personally I’m not even sure you have to have actually purchased the replacement ticket, just to be able to prove its cost, as depending on court delays there might be time for case to be heard before you travel. So to cover yourself you want the maximum cost of flex ticket.

          I think you will find it is over £600 cash. Once I have that evidence I would email avios.com and BA jointly, mention that figure and give them 2 weeks to provide alternate flight to HEL, perhaps on Finnair since BA has said they’re not flying, otherwise you will lodge a moneyclaim against both. You’ll need to refer to the EC/EU261 legislation that following cancellation you’ve requested your right to travel at X later date but refused.

          Price BA would be paying AY would be much less presumably. If they have any.sense they should provide the ticket instead of you winning the case in court and them having to fork over cash.

          Alternatively would your credit card not provide the replacement ticket under s75? this should not cost you any fare difference as they are simply fulfilling the contract.

    • Charlieface says:

      28 Mar28 March 20:10

      EC261 means the AIRLINE must give you either a refund or reasonable re-routing (at your choice), they could possibly direct you to the agent to sort it out, but the onus is always on the airline.
      You could also book it yourself if they dig their heels in, and then claim it back, either from them or the credit card (who may argue that avios.com is an agent, although the fact they’re both part of IAG means you could argue that point)

      • Matthew says:

        28 Mar28 March 20:45

        Ok thanks for info. I will try with BA but I suspect they will just tell me to contact avios.com. The only positive from today’s call was that avios.com picked up immediately…I was expecting a long wait again!

• Secret Squirrel says:

  28 Mar28 March 15:32

  Q: My BA Flight taxes were paid via Amex when the 3k MR bonus was in play for BA Purchases. When my taxes get refunded for canx flight, will Amex claw back the 3k MR Points and if I do not have 3k in the account, will it go minus 3k MR’s?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    28 Mar28 March 15:38

    Yes and yes.

    Time to make a choice about if you want to keep this card because any news spend will just go against your -3k points.

    Refunds will hit cancelled cards just need to phone to get it transferred

    • Secret Squirrel says:

      28 Mar28 March 15:41

      So, if I close the card. Refund will come in and I can call Amex to transfer to bank account and they can’t penalise me in anyway for the minus points?

      • Secret Squirrel says:

        28 Mar28 March 15:48

        Think I’m going to finally close the card, refer from wife a new BAPP. Thanks TG for the good advise.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        28 Mar28 March 15:58

        Yup pretty much.

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