The new HFP chat thread – Saturday 4th April

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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.

By default, HFP shows the last page of comments under the article. If you want to see the first page of comments and read them all from beginning to end in order, click here: https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2020/04/04/the-new-hfp-chat-thread-saturday-4th-april/comment-page-1 The page will refresh with this article but the comments will now show the first page and not the last page.

We will continue to monitor how this is working:

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. Take care!

Category

General

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

AviosNewbie says:

4 Apr4 April 13:05

If we’re a family of 3 (2 adults + 3yr old), what is the best strategy for the BA companion voucher? Now that the lloyds vouchers aren’t offered, what would ppl do for business class tickets? I almost always have 2 vouchers in my account.
- Anna says:
  
  4 Apr4 April 14:50
  
  If you all want to travel in J your only options really are to use the voucher for one adult and the child and either book a 3rd Avios seat if available or a cash ticket for the other adult.
  - Anna says:
    
    4 Apr4 April 14:51
    
    Or invite a lucky 4th person if you want to use 2 vouchers at once, maybe in return for some babysitting?!
Aston100 says:

4 Apr4 April 13:36

Hi, regarding dragonpass.
I bought a bunch of these using that dufry platinum deal.
They will expire in Jan 2021.
Is there anyway to get these extended?

Thanks.
- Lady London says:
  
  4 Apr4 April 17:43
  
  If you renew your membership, which will be at a commercial rate, then you will retain the ability to use your existing vouchers.
  
  If you prefer not to renew then actually they will refund them cheerfully if you ask and they do it relatively quickly.
  
  Renewal rates appear to be on a par with PP as you will see if you check.
  - Lady London says:
    
    4 Apr4 April 17:46
    
    PS they will cheerfully refund them at any time and have already done so for me twice.
Andrew says:

4 Apr4 April 13:45

Re the M&S online offer on some Amex cards spend £30, get £5 back – they have just started an online gift card option, with the idea that you can give that code to someone who is doing your shopping for you if you are isolating without needing to give them your payment card. Code valid for 24 months and can be used at all M&S including Simply Food.
Anna says:

4 Apr4 April 14:53

How do you find out if your flight has been cancelled? When I requested a refund for our Good Friday flights it was still running, but I just checked and they are no longer selling seats, however I can’t find anything to say it’s definitely cancelled. Wondering if I need this info for a chargeback even though I was entitled to cancel it as an award flight. It was BA 209.
- Andrew says:
  
  4 Apr4 April 15:09
  
  Check in your manage my booking. If it says it is cancelled it’s cancelled, if it doesn’t, it isn’t.
  - Anna says:
    
    4 Apr4 April 17:11
    
    It disappeared completely from my account when I cancelled it by phone.
- Lyn says:
  
  4 Apr4 April 21:20
  
  At this point BA flight status should show if it has been cancelled.
  - Lyn says:
    
    4 Apr4 April 22:42
    
    Anna, if I am reading this correctly and it is BA 209 to Miami on Fri April 10 it shows cancelled on the Flight Status page. So you could take a screenshot of that.
    - Anna says:
      
      5 Apr5 April 09:50
      
      Thanks Lyn. I may be ok as I was entitled to cancel my booking whether or not BA cancelled the flight but would like to have all the relevant info for any claim.
Martin Barber says:

4 Apr4 April 16:12

Apologies if this is the wrong site for this posting. I feel I must issue a positive comment with regard to BA refunding cancellations. I was advise by email on Thursday 2nd April that my BA holiday to St Lucia at the end of April had been cancelled and they will process a refund back onto my AMEX card within 7 – 10 days..Today April 4th the refund is shown on my AMEX statement.
Im not being smug I just though that it might help giving some positive news at this time.
Martin
- Anna says:
  
  4 Apr4 April 17:12
  
  BA holidays are being refunded promptly because packages are covered by specific legislation!
  - Lady London says:
    
    4 Apr4 April 17:49
    
    and only for that reason.
    This is why BA’s dirty tricks to avoid giving refunds for just plain flight bookings, where apparently BA is acting as though there won’t be any punishment on them… s t I n k s
  - Peter Taysum says:
    
    4 Apr4 April 18:25
    
    Mine hasn’t been and is well past the legal requirement of 14 days.
  - Kev 85 says:
    
    4 Apr4 April 19:01
    
    Flights are also covered by specific legislation, including when the refund needs to be paid. Airlines are just choosing to ignore it.
Chris says:

4 Apr4 April 20:22

Interesting question… It’s been 1.5 years that I have cancelled my gold card. Do you think that if I apply now I will be getting the sign-up bonus? How rigorous AMEX tests are?

I know it says 2 years but…

Has anyone had any success?
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  4 Apr4 April 20:32
  
  You never know
  
  I got the BAPP bonus when I shouldn’t have after c6 months. But is it worth the risk for you when you are so close to a guaranteed bonus?
  
  I’d probably risk 10k for 20k especially if I was getting a referral bonus from somewhere.
  - Chris says:
    
    4 Apr4 April 20:43
    
    it’s just that I have run out of card options … BAPP target for both myself and OH was reached recently, Gold same story so now I want to cancel them and replace with “something” but not sure what this something should be (ideally with a sign up bonus)
    
    For instance, Miles & More card I have is a bit useless … their online system is back from 80s, customer service is there M-F 9-5 only and on top it’s a charge card, so in these interesting times we are not covered by S75 + the fact they are not allowing supplementary cardholder.
    
    And Virgin free card is all right but earn rate is not ideal.
    
    Any suggestions from the connoiseurs out there?
- Rob says:
  
  4 Apr4 April 21:33
  
  When it was a 6 month rule, they were accurate to the exact day on whenever you qualified as some readers found to their cost.
KINGB says:

4 Apr4 April 20:54

Wanted to ask those who have the IHG CARD, if you happen to have managed subscribing it to apple pay. Doesn’t work for me so im not sure whether its my phone playing up or IHG (creation) don’t have it set up yet! cheers!
- memesweeper says:
  
  4 Apr4 April 22:09
  
  blame Creation — Apple Pay isn’t supported
- AJDT says:
  
  4 Apr4 April 23:07
  
  One option is to take out a Curve card which does support Apple Pay and attach the IHG card to it.
  - KINGB says:
    
    5 Apr5 April 05:29
    
    Thank you guys! I’ll look into the curve stuff cheers
Charlieface says:

4 Apr4 April 21:44

Call them, try this number 0161 774 9879, they will give you if you insist. If you can’t get through initiate a chargeback or S75 claim