The new HFP chat thread – Wednesday 1st April

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• Ominous? says:

  1 Apr1 April 14:31

  Anybody familiar with the Virgin Red app? Used this since it was released (though if you asked me why, couldn’t really answer), and this month’s prizes, for the first time, DO NOT include 40,000 Virgin Flying Club miles.

  An ominous sign perhaps?

  • Rob says:

    1 Apr1 April 14:35

    Virgin Red owns your FC miles now so I doubt that means much!

  • avstar says:

    1 Apr1 April 15:18

    im with you on this. clearly judging from this months vaults the curation behind the APP is quite reactive. the informational value of FC miles being absent is not zero.

• Secret Squirrel says:

  1 Apr1 April 14:45

  Just received the email offer from Virgin credit card to upgrade to fee paid card @ 1.5 miles per £.
  Do I, or don’t I is the big question?
  I may call up first and ask for credit increase as could be worth 15k a month if they stay in business.
  If VS went belly up, surely that would terminate the card conditions resulting in pro rata refund of fees?

  • J says:

    1 Apr1 April 15:11

    Virgin Money is a totally separate business so if you’re a good customer they’d want to keep you sweet in the unlikely event of the airline going bust.

  • Craig says:

    1 Apr1 April 16:14

    i thought 1.5 was the usual earning rate? Not an offer? Or is the offer a reduced annual fee or something?

    • Secret Squirrel says:

      1 Apr1 April 16:46

      1.5 Points per pound on fee paid card, 0.75 points per pound on fee free card.

      • Secret Squirrel says:

        1 Apr1 April 16:52

        The offer I received is to upgrade from free card to fee paid card resulting in doubling points earnt.

        • Craig says:

          1 Apr1 April 17:05

          sorry i see what you mean now

• mark2 says:

  1 Apr1 April 16:21

  Re Instore Virgin miles for Morrison’s
  I have just received 14 miles for a Waitrose purchase on 9th Feb 20. My first Morrison’s purchase was 19 Feb so ten more days to wait.

• Brasov says:

  1 Apr1 April 16:28

  For those who talk about seagulls and curveballs, note that there was a contributor here yesterday from Solihull. So please be careful not to kill the golden goose by saying too much.

  • Aston100 says:

    1 Apr1 April 17:36

    Whats in Solihull? other than Landrover and rich brummies?

    • Sandra says:

      1 Apr1 April 18:52

      Seagulls can be found in a coastal city on the South Coast I assume, near to Hove. A few people on here seem to Curve interactions with one of the city’s main finance companies

    • Jonah says:

      1 Apr1 April 19:39

      John Lewis. Well you did ask…

    • Gordon Ritchie says:

      1 Apr1 April 20:41

      And a new station on HS2.

• Kris says:

  1 Apr1 April 16:32

  Qatar Voucher
  I have decided to CXL my flights as they can not rebook my flights on my requested date. It turned out the rebooking date applies on ticket issuance, so if you purchased the ticket 1st December 2019 and your original date of travel is 1st April 2020, you must complete your rebooked ticket from 3rd April to 1st December 2020. I wanted to fly February 2020, so to resolve this, I can have a voucher that is valid for 1 year from the date of issuance. NOT BAD. Also, I get a 10% value of the original price of the ticket (the one issued on 1st December).

  It was fairly easy to get the voucher, 25 – 30 mins on the phone to issue (including waiting time), and it arrived the next day! Very impressive.

  Ready to book? I went online to pick my destination, ready to pay? – guess what? YOU CAN NOT MAKE PAYMENT USING THE VOUCHER, YOU HAVE TO CALL QATAR, so I did – took 25 minutes waiting time, coordinate my desired flight – when the agent said the fare, it wasn’t quite right with the online price. Guess what? there is a £25 fee on booking via the call centre.

  I am annoyed! not because of the fee but because of 1) When the voucher is being issued, they should tell me, you can only book via call centre 2) Since the only way of booking was over the call centre, they should tell there is a £25 fee. I tried to reason out, but they said, you have to pay.

  I was placed on hold for quite some time, they told me they have to call me because the fare seems incorrect! What is incorrect? The fare might be higher she said. Now waiting for the call. I have screenshot the current fare, just in case the rate shoots up!

  • Polly says:

    2 Apr2 April 00:05

    Do update us, as quite a few folks on here will be cancelling. Qr very right in call centres. They will not budge from stated facts..unreal. But we do love their sales….

• Anon says:

  1 Apr1 April 17:09

  FT reporting Rolls Royce and Airbus lobbying for Virgin to get state aid.

  UK Government figure says – “There are obvious reasons why Virgin and easyJet aren’t the first in our wishlist of companies to help”

  • Lady London says:

    1 Apr1 April 19:13

    And nor should Spanish IAG be then

    • Kev 85 says:

      2 Apr2 April 03:10

      They’ll all be getting state aid if they use the government furlough scheme

• Tim says:

  1 Apr1 April 17:22

  So I’ve got a Qatar cancellation request going (for OSL-DOH-SION, 3 out of the 4 leg is cancelled but alternative many houris apart is provided). I’ve gave up on calling amid all the horror stories on twitter and here to I’ve opened a service ticket with them. I did this twice actually, first time I never heard anything back. Second time they have rolled out their Zen Desk ticketing system so I can keep tab and record if they’ve looked at the ticket yet.

  Yesterday (31st March) I received an email from Qatar:

  Dear Valued Customer,
  Thank you for submitting a request for a refund or a travel voucher to Qatar Airways. Your case is in process.

  We understand your worry during this time, especially as original travel dates approach, then pass. Rest assured that as long as your request was received at least 72 hours before departure, it will go through as expected. All requests will be processed within 2-4 weeks of receiving them, on a first-in, first-out basis.

  While you cannot reply to this email, you can request any further services you need at https://qatarairways.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new.

  We remain grateful to you for your understanding and loyalty and we look forward to welcoming you onboard when the moment is right.

  Sincerely,
  Qatar Airways

  • Kris says:

    1 Apr1 April 19:51

    That is why i called and stayed for 20 mins, just to let you know 1) the voucher AT THIS MOMENT can only be redeemed by direct booking to office or call to their call centre 2) there is a £25 fee to pay for booking over the phone 3) they admitted that their price is slightly higher than website… (see my comment above)

    • Tim says:

      1 Apr1 April 21:52

      I understood your post, and great heads up about the £25 fee to use the voucher and needing to call.

      In my case I wanted to get my cash back because I had 3x R fare (biz promo) so it’s quite a lot of money to sit on as a voucher amidst the uncertainty. I’ve heard countless complaints in comments here and on Twitter about how the call centre point blank refuses cash refund and only offers voucher which contradicts their two press releases.

      This blanket email gives me a bit more confidence it will get sorted even if it means waiting a month or two even after my original flight date.

      Note that my flight was supposed to be on 6th April, it’s still shown as confirmed in MMB (with 3 leg cancelled). I submitted my second refund request on 16th March.

      I was hoping this information would help someone torn in between getting a voucher (easier) or getting cash refund (no confirmed actual refund yet).

• JustinJ says:

  1 Apr1 April 18:09

  Is there any way that you can port out Virgin miles to another scheme i.e. Hilton and then port them back again in the future to Virgin?

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    1 Apr1 April 18:29

    Yes, look at the details in your VA account.
    Many been transferring out to Hilton.
    Points coming back can be low value.

  • Genghis says:

    1 Apr1 April 20:26

    Lose about 80% of the value.

  • Mac D says:

    1 Apr1 April 20:41

    You will lose value as others have said but even if they got a bail out you know their loyalty program is going to be done over and devalued!

    • philco says:

      1 Apr1 April 21:05

      We don’t know that. Historically devaluations have tended to come when times were good and the airlines/hotels didn’t need to fill seats/beds. I think we are a good 12-18 months from anything returning to like normal. I have very little concerns about devaluations in the near future and in fact I am optimistic there may seem sweet opportunities to use points in the not too distant future. That of course assume our points stashes survive but I am diversified enough I’ll be fine in most circumstances though I expect to take some losses along the way.

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