The new HFP chat thread – Sunday 29th March

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• Chris Cannon says:

  29 Mar29 March 10:13

  Got flights booked with Turkish Airlines from LGW to Turkey 29th April. Not being an EU member would the flights still be refunded if cancelled?

  • Nick says:

    29 Mar29 March 10:47

    ALL flights from anywhere covered by EU261 are covered, regardless of where the airline is based. Your return from Turkey would be different.

    Even the tiniest amount of googling would have made this crystal clear to you.

• Alexander Marshall says:

  29 Mar29 March 10:17

  Anyone had any luck getting a refund from EZY amongst all this? Is there a way to get a voucher instead without having to call them?

  • Rob says:

    29 Mar29 March 10:30

    No

  • r* says:

    29 Mar29 March 12:31

    Use the chat(bot) on easyjet site. It took like 4 hours to get a response but does show your queue number and it offers a voucher at first but when you say no, give refund, it refunds. Took about 2 days to appear on my card.

    • Jamie says:

      29 Mar29 March 12:59

      I think the chat bot no longer works. It’s just says “Sorry, we’re closed” and has every day I’ve checked this week. I’ve got a few weeks to go before the flight and have already emailed to get a full refund. I don’t really expect to hear back from them.

• meta says:

  29 Mar29 March 10:41

  You should contact by email Ocado or any other supermarket that provides deliveries. They will give you a slot if you provide documentation.

  • Bonzo says:

    29 Mar29 March 10:46

    Thanks for the advice will try that.

  • Alan says:

    29 Mar29 March 10:57

    Good luck getting through to them though. My parents had no luck at all for a couple of weeks but thankfully Tesco now have a slot available in a few days.

• @mkcol says:

  29 Mar29 March 11:27

  Have you tried contacting your local council?
  They are now delivering emergency parcels to 1.5M people in the UK for those who sound like they’re in your situation.

• Jonathan says:

  29 Mar29 March 11:37

  Rob, are you advising people to transfer out of FC miles now?

  • Doug M says:

    29 Mar29 March 11:41

    The decision may well be moot. The transfer process takes time, and if Virgin do not follow through on paying Hilton/IHG then the points will be lost regardless. If VS fold it’s likely to be long before you get the hotel points.
    Rob can’t tell you what to do, he’s said repeatedly he’s not transferring out.

• Simon Robinson says:

  29 Mar29 March 11:40

  The comments on here have been hugely helpful for me over the last few weeks while I am stuck in a locked-down Peru trying to get home. I am very grateful for everyone who has taken the time to offer me advice about my situation regarding EC261 duty of care. There have been some developments recently throwing up more questions, hence this post…

  Iberia cancelled my original flight home and subsequently offered me a reroute which was then cancelled followed by another one which was also cancelled. When I called them about the most recent cancellation they informed me that there are no further re-route options available.

  Original flight: 14 March LIM-MAD-LON
  Reroute 1: 14 March :LIM-SJO-MAD-LON
  Reroute 2: 1 April: LIM-MAD-LON cancelled – no alternative flight offered.

  From Rob’s article a week or so ago, I know that the duty of care to provide accommodation under EC261 still applies. I also understand from comments on previous posts that this only applies if you take a re-routed flight and complete your journey.

  So my questions are:

  -Given that Iberia have not offered me a re-route, do I have a valid legal claim to recover my costs for accommodation if I get home via other means?

  – What should I do about a refund for the Iberia flight? I am reluctant to initiate this as that would normally void me for EC261 duty of care rights. However, I am wary that when the date of my now cancelled rerouted flight passes that this may drop off the Iberia system and recovering my initial ticket cost could become increasingly difficult.

  I should also point out that far and away the most important thing is of course getting home, and the foreign office have told me that I will be informed today of details of a repatriation flight with BA on Monday.

  • Lady London says:

    29 Mar29 March 11:59

    Don’t ask for a refund for now, whatever you do.
    As your duty of care costs plus cost of repatriation flight likely to exceed the value of any refund then wait till you are home.

    Then do moneyclaim dot gov dot UK against Iberia for duty of care costs plus the full cost of your transport to your own home.

    You should win the above easily by the sound of things but you might find insurance if you have coverage, or s.75 by asking your card company if you paid by credit card, to be less stressful and possibly a bit quicker than waiting for court date. s.75 should cover your duty of care costs as well as ticket costs for repatriation as it covers consequential losses.

    Let us know how you get on.

  • Lady London says:

    29 Mar29 March 12:02

    PS don’t worry about it dropping off Iberia systems. Presumably you have electronic evidence of what you paid for what and Iberia’s refusals or at least notes of dates and times of telephone conversations or visits to their offices or airports to try to get them to provide what you paid for.

    Do NOT ask for a refund of your ticket as you are due a lot more than that from them now

    • Simon Robinson says:

      29 Mar29 March 12:52

      Thanks for your advice. I will hold off asking for a refund. Only other concern is that the final leg, MAD-LON is not showing as cancelled. It’s all under the same booking reference however.

      I have electronic copies of tickets. My communications with Iberia have all been with the call centre so inconsistent and lacking any authority. I did record part of the last two conversations however, although not sure if that could be used….

      Insurance company (AXA via Curve metal card) say this sort of thing isn’t covered in their policy. Not sure I have grounds to challenge this. Also the 90 day single trip limit was breached (through no fault of my own) due to the country closing down borders although this is being referred to the underwriters for clarity.

      • Lady London says:

        29 Mar29 March 12:57

        Axa’s wriggling. Don’t worry about the 90 days in these circumstances. You can pass the time waiting for your flight looking at all the insurance ts and cs. If worst comes to worst you could name all of them in your mobeyclaim and let the court sort out who must pay you which cost.

        • Simon Robinson says:

          29 Mar29 March 13:06

          Thanks – I am quietly confident re Axa 90 day issue as I’ve heard other insurance companies have agreed to extend. Looks like I’ll be spending the UK lock down starting legal proceedings against Iberia….

        • Lady London says:

          29 Mar29 March 13:21

          Add them allto the claim as counterparties, court will sort it out but from what you say they will make Iberia the reimburse. Maybe your insurance has a small extra per Diem for travel delay too.

  • marcw says:

    29 Mar29 March 12:20

    You should make your way out of Peru ASAP (according to the UK Embassy in Peru, there’s 1 repatriation flight today to London, and 2 flights tomorrow). IB is unlikely to operate again to Peru before June/July (or indeed, any European airline).

    • Simon Robinson says:

      29 Mar29 March 13:00

      marcw – Do you agree that as they have said there are no re-route options that I will now have a valid claim under EC261? or do you think it likely that they will avoid this if for example, the offer yet another reroute option further in the future….?

      re: repatriation – thanks for mentioning those flight details. I’m clear on what I need to do to get home (clearly the most important thing!)

      • marcw says:

        29 Mar29 March 19:57

        I agree with you. But it´s extremely challenging for airlines: no commercial airline is allowed to fly into Peru – and that´s gonna be for months (likely). And the future is very uncertain. Don´t cancel, get back to the UK and try to recover your expenses.

  • Nick_C says:

    29 Mar29 March 13:45

    Will the FCO be billing you for the repatriation flight? Unless they do, any claim against Iberia should surely only be for accommodation and sustenance.

    • Simon Robinson says:

      29 Mar29 March 14:37

      Yes there is a nominal £250 charge for repatriation. My purchase of the original ticket was avios + cash.

      I only intend to pursue accommodation and subsistence, provided I have a legal entitlement. I think a claim for compensation would be unrealistic and also unreasonable to expect in the circumstances. I only want to recoup the costs I have had to pay while I’ve been stuck here due to the lock down.

      I guess there is also an argument that accommodation and subsistence is unreasonable in the current environment although the recent interpretation of EC261 by the European Commission suggests otherwise.

      • Lyn says:

        29 Mar29 March 20:00

        Simon, it sounds as if you will be able to get home very soon, which is really good news. The cost of the repatriation flight is surprisingly reasonable as well, so that is lucky.

        At a minimum, it seems Iberia should owe you a refund of the avios and cash you paid for the return part of your flights, since they can’t actually provide the flights. It also seems reasonable to ask them to cover your living expenses in Peru, or perhaps a reasonable negotiated per-diem equivalent, from the time of your original cancelled flight until you catch your repatriation flight..

        Your insurance probably won’t cover duty of care costs in Peru unless you ask Iberia for them first under the EC duty of care rules.

        Best of luck getting on one of those flights home.

      • Nick_C says:

        29 Mar29 March 23:50

        Interesting to know. Thanks Simon. So you should add the £250 to your claim against Iberia. You shouldn’t be out off pocket.

        • Lady London says:

          30 Mar30 March 01:52

          Unsure if its better to claim back the avios and taxes from the original flight instead. If you’ve no further use for avios wondering if claiming them back at the regular public selling price could be useful.

          Doubtful you could claim repatriation flight as well as the the original, but think you need to claim one of them as it “anchors” the scope of your duty of care claim.

• Anna says:

  29 Mar29 March 11:57

  Iceland are apparently reserving slots for the vulnerable and elderly. They are quite good for basic supplies and delivery is free over £35.

  • Kevin 9876 says:

    29 Mar29 March 12:51

    They are, but where I am there aren’t any delivery slots available at all

  • Peter K says:

    29 Mar29 March 16:23

    I read that as the country Iceland 🙄

    • Anna says:

      29 Mar29 March 16:49

      Lol, you need to shop around more! Unfortunately they don’t take Amex…

• Roger says:

  29 Mar29 March 11:58

  Marriott Travel Package –
  I still have a renewed (old cat 1-5 to new cat 1-4) certificate in my account
  Anyone managed to get an expiry date extended?
  If not what is the best method to to retain some value?

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    29 Mar29 March 12:19

    Just accepted a spend target based offer from Amex.
    Q: If you have items on pre order with the amounts sitting in pending, when they go to payable will they count as part of the spend target?

    • Rob says:

      29 Mar29 March 12:52

      Yes, once the charge is taken.

      • Secret Squirrel says:

        29 Mar29 March 14:24

        Cheers Rob, keep up the witty responses today, making me laugh!

    • Jake says:

      29 Mar29 March 14:27

      Unless it’s changed, pending items have to clear before the cut-off date, to count towards your target. It doesn’t matter when you made the purchase.

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