The new HFP chat thread – Monday 30th March

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• AJA says:

  30 Mar30 March 08:57

  BBC News – Coronavirus: EasyJet grounds entire fleet of planes due to virus
  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52084003

  EasyJet has grounded its entire fleet of planes and said it cannot give a date for when they will restart.

  I really do wonder about the wisdom of paying out that dividend. Also what is everyone who booked seats in their sale thinking about that today?

  • Peter K says:

    30 Mar30 March 09:02

    It’s been mentioned on here that they could not legally get out of paying the dividend as it was binding before the coronavirus hit hard in Europe.

    • Jeff says:

      30 Mar30 March 09:40

      I know of a FTSE 250 company which deferred its dividend to later in the year even though it had been agreed at the AGM. They’ve also asked investors to waive the dividend (they could say no of course)

    • Rob says:

      30 Mar30 March 10:02

      Except …. Barclays is being told by the Bank of England to suspend the legally binding dividend it is paying this week.

      It is complex. There is a cut-off date which was a few weeks ago. Whoever held the shares on that cut-off date gets the dividend. The shares fall in price the next day because the dividend isn’t going to any new shareholders. If the divident isn’t paid, compensation needs to be paid to shareholders who sold after the cut-off date.

      • Doug M says:

        30 Mar30 March 10:38

        That must be impossibly complex with a a company like Barclays, where the number of trades is 25K/day upwards. Apart from say this is an exceptional event suck it up, what possibly could be done?

  • Lady London says:

    30 Mar30 March 11:58

    As most of you will know I usually have a “cautious” attitude however I am very optimistic about the future of easyJet as a commercial concern.

    In this kind of circumstance which hopefully will continue to happen only every 30 – 50 – 100 years the same thing seems to be to just stop fighting, shut down and regroup. I just hope this will not be followed by different shocks too soon and that the cycles will not shorten.

    Any airline that was healthy, has a good chance of resurging and easyJet seemed to be managing themselves very well before this. Ditto Ryanair. Debt-laden inefficient government-protected airlines may also resurge but aid to those ones will continue the drain on taxpayers.

• Mike P says:

  30 Mar30 March 09:00

  Just downgraded my AMEX BA Premium Plus card to the free one after having earned this year’s companion voucher just under 6 months into my membership year. I’ve held the BAPP continuously since 2006 but couldn’t see a downside to having half the fee back this year – no spend with BA likely. I still have the HSBC World Elite Mastercard at the moment but, as the annual fee for that is non-refundable, I shall keep that until the end of the current membership year. I won’t be renewing it though unless thing change dramatically.

  Anyone else making similar changes?

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    30 Mar30 March 09:07

    The opposite, upgrading from free to BAPP. With the extra 6 x months now added on my 241 from the free card, another 12 x month 241 will be too close to use so need the 2 x Year BAPP version.

  • Henry says:

    30 Mar30 March 09:23

    I have the world elite and find it to be my favourite card every merchant takes it and the earning rate is good.
    Just wondering what you would want to see happen to keep hold of it?

    • Mike P says:

      30 Mar30 March 11:28

      I primarily use the Premier World Elite card for overseas transactions where my company is reimbursing me as I effectively get 2 Avios per £. If I’m not travelling at all at the renewal date, I may simply downgrade to the free card.

      • Genghis says:

        30 Mar30 March 13:37

        I don’t like the fact that HSBC splits out the “clean price” from the 3% FX fee. I much prefer presenting a “dirty price” when doing my expenses.

  • Polly says:

    30 Mar30 March 09:57

    Mike, you can always downgrade to the premier card, to continue earning 0.5 avios/£ if that works. Once we cancel our Plats in June, will u/g to the elite again prior to heavy travel period, Nov to March, hopefully. . And keep a free Gold going, or a bacc. Hoping to qualify for gold biz tho.
    With the bacc, will upgrade to BAPP when we have spent 9.5k, to earn the 2 year 241 voucher.

    • Mike P says:

      30 Mar30 March 11:29

      Sounds a good strategy Polly. One reason I have held the BAPP continuously since 2006 is the high earning rate with BA (I’m GGL so the spend can be considerable at times). With no travel for the foreseeable and having already earned this year’s 241, for the first time, it didn’t make sense to keep it.

  • Nick_C says:

    30 Mar30 March 12:26

    I’m thinking of downgrading to the free card. Not because the Avios and the voucher may become worthless, but because Amex customer service is now atrocious. I spent 20 minutes on live chat with someone in New Delhi last week before he agreed to send me a replacement card (contactless has stopped working on mine, and I don’t want to be touching Chip and Pin machines any more than I have to). Amex customer service used to be excellent. I used to get of the phone to the staff in Brighton feeling like a valued customer. I now feel annoyed that I’m paying £195 a year but getting terrible customer service.

    • Peter Taysum says:

      30 Mar30 March 16:55

      +1

      On live chat to Delhi they didn’t have a clue. Only recently got the Card (in the last year) as BA Gold so seemed to make sense. I got my 2-4-1 in around three months mostly through BA, and am now waiting for it all to come back…

• MHF says:

  30 Mar30 March 09:02

  Has anyone else had issues with BA refunds on reward flights? I turned down a voucher but, on a business out, first back, 2-4-1 booking for two, I have only received 117,000 points back and the status of my 2-4-1 is still used. Should I wait for more points or clog up the phone line again?

  • Anna says:

    30 Mar30 March 09:13

    Did you call You First? I was on to them earlier, got through straight away and they manually refunded Avios and a companion voucher I’ve been waiting a fortnight for. Going to use F whenever possible in future as the CS has been outstanding.

    • Secret Squirrel says:

      30 Mar30 March 09:17

      Agree Anna, I’ve read First line you almost get through straight away and they go out of their way to resolve any issues.

    • Spursdebs says:

      30 Mar30 March 10:29

      If you have a first class flight booked You First are the ones to call, especially if you want to add a return 241 to booking. But they will sort out everything for you, not just for booking a spa appointment.

    • MHF says:

      30 Mar30 March 10:43

      Thanks for the advice. I called and have got everything back!

  • Anna says:

    30 Mar30 March 09:34

    That sounds about right though for Avios refund if you were travelling off peak to a Zone 5? (e.g. East coast US) destination.

    • MHF says:

      30 Mar30 March 10:43

      It was to Johannesburg so was expecting 175k. Sorted now though.

• Josh says:

  30 Mar30 March 09:11

  Quick question regarding Lloyd’s upgrade vouchers refunds, I’ve got the cash back from my booking but no sign of the avios in my BA account, so they return them to my old avios account that I can’t access online or are they just slow in sending back?

  Also any one got any idea how long hotels.com refunds are taking to arrive?

  Thanks

  • ian_h says:

    30 Mar30 March 09:32

    They go back in to your “old” avios account – I kept mine running by linking itto aer club not sure if this is possible to do now if you have your account number

• mark says:

  30 Mar30 March 09:15

  18 days ago my wife moved some flying club miles into her Hilton account.
  still no sign of them.

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    30 Mar30 March 09:24

    If you accept an Amex 20,000 MR target for spending 4k, does the target show on your account like the recent Amex spend offer? I was advised it would show in my account in 24 x hours but nothing and reluctant to spend until I see the goal target displayed.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      30 Mar30 March 09:40

      It’s really hit and miss.

      I had it once and not another time. Have to be honest take the risk and put your spend through it? Unless you’re spending on stuff you don’t need to in which case I’d cancel it all and save my cash right now.

      • Secret Squirrel says:

        30 Mar30 March 12:25

        @TGL
        It may be that I have 2x targets already in my account.
        1. Annual spend target
        2. Current Amex Spend target expiring tomorrow.
        I’m hoping that the new target will become visible on the 1st.

    • Harry T says:

      30 Mar30 March 13:06

      @Secret Squirrel – my partner and I just did the upgrade bonus route and she did have a bonus tracker for the 4k spend on her Platinum card. All worked smoothly.

      • Secret Squirrel says:

        30 Mar30 March 13:38

        @Harry
        Did you have any other targets on your account?

        • Harry T says:

          30 Mar30 March 20:43

          No, she did not. I see what you mean about only allowing two spend trackers at once though – on my PRGC I currently have the yearly spend target and some stupid offer to spend £5500 and get an extra 1500MR.

  • Dave says:

    30 Mar30 March 09:27

    It can take up to 30 days. I move some last year and it took 16 days.

• The Original Nick says:

  30 Mar30 March 10:23

  Morning all. If I was to cancel my Amex Platinum ( don’t really want to but no traveling means no benefits) would I get a hit on my credit score?

  • Doug M says:

    30 Mar30 March 10:29

    I can’t see why. Credit Score is a USA thing that the likes of Expedia are pushing here. But I’m led to believe all UK financial decisions are based on many factors and credit score isn’t one of them. In general less access to unsecured debt makes you more credit worthy. The possible downside is that credit card companies may become stricter about who gets what, and how much of a credit limit could be changing.

    • Genghis says:

      30 Mar30 March 11:00

      There isn’t a universal credit score. Credit institutions receive the data from the credit reference agencies to do their own analysis as to your creditworthiness. What Expedia etc provide to people is just their own opinion of your creditworthiness. Cancelling a credit product can have an impact on these supposed “credit scores”, given that your overall credit utilisation may increase to Expedia (etc)’s level over which it might impact, say 20%, but it all depends on your individual circumstances. Tbh though, I wouldn’t worry about cancelling.

  • Arnie says:

    30 Mar30 March 10:53

    Hi Nick – it didn’t affect mine and it showed on Experian as settled account.

  • MinR says:

    30 Mar30 March 11:12

    Are Amex offering any incentives for Platinum cardholders to NOT cancel? I’m assuming a lot of Plat cardholders would be contemplating cancelling due to the current situation.

    • Bentoni says:

      30 Mar30 March 12:20

      I’m considering to cancel as well, after all .. that’s ~£48 a month that I don’t need right now.

      I hope there’s a data point for that ..

      • Rob says:

        30 Mar30 March 13:28

        Doing an article on this tomorrow.

        • MinR says:

          30 Mar30 March 14:40

          Thanks Rob!

    • Secret Squirrel says:

      30 Mar30 March 12:27

      I was offered & accepted 20k MR bonus on 4K spend in 3x months on Gold.
      They must have access to offers like this for Plat also.

      • Rob says:

        30 Mar30 March 13:27

        How are you going to spend £4k in 3 months in the current scenario? We won’t spend that and we’re feeding 4 via Waitrose and pricey delis!

        • Secret Squirrel says:

          30 Mar30 March 13:41

          There is always a way to spend Rob! 😋

      • Anna says:

        30 Mar30 March 14:27

        That’s interesting, did you just ask them? I am spending £4K on fitted wardrobes in a couple of months!

        • Secret Squirrel says:

          30 Mar30 March 19:39

          @Anna:
          I called up & just asked if they had any incentives for us to keep the gold card.
          A few days into Y2 & waiting on the annual 10k bonus so would of settled for 2x points for the next 3-4 weeks but 20k for 4K spend in 3x month – Yaasss
          Please!

• James79 says:

  30 Mar30 March 10:26

  Has anyone been able to place a wine order using their Avios today?

• Charlieface says:

  30 Mar30 March 10:26

  Let’s have a bit of cheer and start a joke thread. Here’s one someone just sent me:

  I ran round the block 5 times this morning, then I got tired and picked up the block and put it back in the toy cupboard
  🙂

  • Doug M says:

    30 Mar30 March 10:30

    Prince Charles is isolating at Balmoral with Covid-19. Prince Andrew is isolating at Windsor with Amanda – 15.

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