The new HFP chat thread – Saturday 11th April

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• Michael says:

  11 Apr11 April 09:54

  FYI easyJet are offering reduced baggage and sporting equipment fees of just 99p. Officially this is only for new bookings made until 17th April but it seems to be working on existing bookings too. I added 2 x 23kg and a Bike to an existing booking for £2.97

• Kev 85 says:

  11 Apr11 April 10:15

  HSBC premier travel insurance:

  “ If I book a new trip, will I be covered for claims relating to coronavirus?
  Expanded press enter to collapse
  Remember that travel insurance is designed to cover unforeseen events. The outbreak of the coronavirus means there’s a high likelihood of disruption to travel plans. As this is being continuously reported in the media, we now consider coronavirus to be a known event. This means you may not be covered under your policy for cancellation or abandonment.”

• Colin MacKinnon says:

  11 Apr11 April 10:18

  Phoned BA at 10am today, was through in about 3 minutes. Sorted out three refunds and got advice on a change fee issue.

  Very professional – chap did best to sound relaxed but pretty sure I detected a hint of being knackered.

  So top marks. And I have left the call feeling impressed by BA.

• mark2 says:

  11 Apr11 April 10:45

  This morning I received a new Priority Pass card ‘in partnership with my American Express Platinum Membership’. But I cancelled my last Platinum card in Aug 19.
  Has anyone else had this experience, and did the card get them into lounges? The online account says refer to Amex.

  • Doug M says:

    11 Apr11 April 11:14

    You could try when travelling again. If it does work I suspect it’ll only be once as don’t PP bill Amex for the lounge use, which would presumably trigger Amex noticing the mistake.

    • Rob says:

      11 Apr11 April 11:37

      It won’t even be once, because the card swipe will fail when you enter the lounge.

      • Danny says:

        11 Apr11 April 12:25

        Worked once for me, when I was in the same situation, so there must be at least some cases when Amex fails to notify PP. But sure enough no dice when I tried again a few months later (as presumably the PP charge to Amex from the previous visit had alerted them to finally cancel my card).

• RussellH says:

  11 Apr11 April 11:11

  Presumably an airline is required to inform someone who has a confirmed booking if they cancel the flight?

  I have had two e-mails from Vueling inviting me to ‘cancel’ my booking for 21 May and receive a voucher. Previously the flight was still open for bookings, but this morning their website says that there are no flights on 21 May, but I have not had any contact yet about this.
  Presumably I should wait until after Easter Monday before thinking about what to do next?

  • ChrisBCN says:

    11 Apr11 April 12:11

    In sure they’ll email you, give them a few days.

• Trevor Gardiner says:

  11 Apr11 April 11:18

  10:55am 11.04.2020
  Well, my first attempt at getting refund for May 22nd LHR -> ORD and June 12 MIA -> LHR.
  0800 727 800
  First call, got past 2,2,2, then cut off “technical difficulties”
  Second call, got through to a nice gent in 5 mins[!]. Went through the booking, refunded all cash and [upgrade] Avios. Avios already back in account, cash may take 7-10 working days unless India comes back on line as “they process the bulk of refunds”.

  Who’s a happy boy and just luck of the draw I guess.

  Good luck everyone and stay safe….

  • Anna says:

    11 Apr11 April 11:40

    I’ve just initiated a dispute via Amex chat for £1326 BA “fees” which I was told would be refunded within 10 days, 24 days ago! I hope you have better luck.

    • Tom H says:

      11 Apr11 April 13:00

      Cheers worked for me, even though mine was an Avios booking went through 2,2,2 3rd time lucky and agent had it sorted within 5 mins, confirmation email plus Avios back into my account instantly.

  • Ian says:

    11 Apr11 April 12:12

    I had to phone BA (the workaround on Chrome has definitely been blocked now) to get a refund on a return LHR-CDG flight for later this month. I’m delighted to say that I got through to a very helpful man within 5 minutes and the refund appeared on my Amex card within 2 days. Well done BA.

• Sk123 says:

  11 Apr11 April 11:40

  Swiss Air have said they’d refund my flight but it won’t be till end of August. Can I do chargeback and s75? Requiring almost 5 months for a refund is unacceptable and it’s about £1,500.

  • Anna says:

    11 Apr11 April 11:45

    See below, Amex agreed that I was justified in opening a dispute after waiting 24 days.

  • Lady London says:

    11 Apr11 April 12:14

    It’s amazing how airlines think they can hold customers cash when the customer is not taking the flight he paid for, refuse to refund promptly and just use the customer’s cash keeping it at the customer,’s risk as a bridging loan.

    The correct thing for the airline to do is raise cash from bank / debt markets, sell / issue equity, sell or mortgage assets to release cashflow, request government assistance in or lender forbearance etc. All of which is available to any soundly managed airline albeit at temporarily more expensive rates. However the airline business has these options. Their customer may have lost his job or now be struggling with a family to feed.

    This abuse of little customer by big airline is already illegal. Clearly the application of sufficient penalties on the airlines for doing this is not happening and they need to be punished in a way that will make them realise any no survival, or survival with greater pain, is definite if they treat passengers’ rights this way. This has got to change. Where are your teeth, regulators?

    • Harry T says:

      11 Apr11 April 12:37

      Couldn’t agree more, LL!

    • Will says:

      11 Apr11 April 13:06

      Would also second this, with respect to airlines there’s a strong argument to ringfence yet to be flown ticket revenue in order to protect customers in both these instances and also if an airline goes bankrupt to ensure customer refunds for yet to be flown segments are quick to process.

      I do have some sympathy for BA here though, there’s a difference between running and unprofitable airline into administration and having a profitable business that was forced to close indefinitely for an event totally beyond its control.

      Depending on how they hedged their future fuel bills they’ll also be taking an absolute hammering on covering the losses on the price of oil on tickets that never get flown which is them acting to take prudent action to guarantee revenue backfiring now.

      What’s happening with airlines is very complicated and regardless of their peacetime misdemeanours I think they deserve a hand from gov here.

      • Lady London says:

        11 Apr11 April 15:42

        @Will I agree with you. Any hwlping hand to the airlines has to be from government, the markets, their shareholders etc. Possibly from their vendors if they wish to (possibly ab)use their dominance in a commercial relationship.

        Swiss has apparently just told customers they’re keeping the customers money free if charge and at the customer’s risk for 6 months. In such tough times their customer is the last person the airlines should be allowed to abuse.

        On fuel hedging again that’s just the airline’s commercial risk. I’ve heard Ryanair has memorably got it wrong a few times but overall as a well managed airline they’ve survived.

    • Blindman says:

      11 Apr11 April 13:06

      @Lady London
      Thanks for the advice given re Qantas £200 promo tickets and to ask Qantas to reschedule for my friends (I had not thought of that) instead of the automatic voucher they were “given” without their consent.
      They rang Qantas yesterday (10 mins hold) and without any fuss Qantas rescheduled their £200 return tickets (originally May 2020) for Feb 2021.

      Cheers.

      • Harry T says:

        11 Apr11 April 14:37

        Did they have to pay any fare difference? February is peak tourist season, so that’s an excellent result.

        • Blindman says:

          11 Apr11 April 15:01

          Nope 🙂

      • Lady London says:

        11 Apr11 April 14:48

        Wow. Result.

        So that does confirm that if the airline cancels your flight then you can indeed make the choice to choose to move the ticket they cancelled your flight on to a later date that works for you.

        This has cheered me up @Blindman.
        Anyone with an existing itinerary they made special efforts to get at a decent price, that has had their flights cancelled on them, please take note. This is really the time you want to think about strenuously avoiding a voucher, not taking a refund and just moving your entire ticket to a much later date that suits you.

        Just be sure that if you do move to a later date, you will still want to travel and that it’s possible there may be extra visa/certificate or health requirements before you travel.

        In the case of Australia they are currently operating 14 days quarantine per state but hopefully if you book far enough ahead or can adapt (and I would if I had a Golden Ticket) you will be OK.

        • Blindman says:

          11 Apr11 April 15:07

          Their insurance is still valid as they booked this trip before March 18th (November 2019) and as this is the same trip-but one that has been rescheduled- their annual insurance will cover them.insurance).

          So Kudos to Qantas-even though they tried the sneaky “here’s a voucher” trick.

          I think the 14 days quarantine per state should be over by then.

          We left just as Western Australia was bringing that in-otherwise we may have stayed until June.

          Maybe next year 🙂

        • Lady London says:

          11 Apr11 April 15:34

          Even nicer, @Blindman 🙂

          I hope @Dan who had a similar query 2 days ago, sees your report and knows he was right.

        • Rob says:

          11 Apr11 April 18:31

          This was, remember, a ‘competition’ prize effectively which you ‘won’. Different rules apply.

        • Blindman says:

          11 Apr11 April 18:56

          @Rob
          “This was, remember, a ‘competition’ prize effectively which you ‘won’. Different rules apply.”

          Not sure what you are implying here?

        • Rob says:

          11 Apr11 April 19:20

          Qantas didn’t charge you any extra because you got your flight in a special promotion which guaranteed flights for £200. Making you pay extra for rebooking would have been a bit odd. It isn’t necessarily the case that a standard ticket holder would be treated the same way.

        • Blindman says:

          11 Apr11 April 20:28

          “Qantas didn’t charge you any extra because you got your flight in a special promotion which guaranteed flights for £200. Making you pay extra for rebooking would have been a bit odd. It isn’t necessarily the case that a standard ticket holder would be treated the same way.”

          Well I cannot really comment as the ticket was not mine, however I’d like to think that Qantas complied with E261.

          Oh and when I was in Oz trying to get back to blighty I was quoted £600 extra to change the flight date by one (Clueless) CS agent…

          I HUCA and got one who knew the rules and got back for free.

    • Kev 85 says:

      11 Apr11 April 13:07

      Customers need to stop giving their money to their airlines too (in addition to regulators punishing law breaking companies).

      I’ve already seen people on here complaining about BA’s behaviour and then asking questions about potentially booking a BA flight next year etc

      • Lady London says:

        11 Apr11 April 14:56

        Nothing will change BA’s behaviour till they are punished. Their history has form for all sorts of dirty tricks.

        I know they are not the only one. I do sympathise. But they are businesses. Who has more right to the customer’s money for a service that was not provided, than the customer? Not the airline.

        Who has multiple ways they can raise money if they need to? The airline has, if it’s been even halfway soundly run. The customer who’s lost his job, doesn’t.

        • Hamed says:

          11 Apr11 April 19:28

          Your advice is to just claim on the insurance. Ha

        • Callum says:

          12 Apr12 April 01:57

          Well, the customer who lost their job can get credit cards and loans as well…

          The airlines are literally fighting for survival. The incessant “they’re just being greedy” is absurd. They’re simply trying to stay afloat.

          That absolutely does not mean I agree with their tactics, and I would demand a cash refund for a cancelled flight, but enough with the hysterics…

        • Lady London says:

          12 Apr12 April 09:19

          If they didn’t appear to systematically seek
          to deny customers rights in peacetime then I would have a lot more sympathy @Callum. Having said that the fact that the airlines may need more cash to run should not be made the customers problem particularly when there is law to make this clear. Additionally both the EC Transport Commissioner and the US Dept of Transport have made extra specific announcements reminding airlines they have to give prompt cash refunds not withhold them from customers.

          I shudder to think of what BA in particular will get up to in future as soon as they can when flying picks up again.

• Anna says:

  11 Apr11 April 11:43

  I’ve just initiated a dispute via Amex chat (they were brilliant) for £1326 in BA “fees” for a cancellation made 24 days ago via You First which they said would be refunded within 10 days. I fully intend to re-book with BA in future as they fly directly to my preferred destination but for other trips I may well be taking my business elsewhere, I’ve been tempted to try Virgin Upper Class for a while now, as and when they start flying again!

  • Sk123 says:

    11 Apr11 April 13:06

    Thanks Anna. Swiss did say it will take till August so have they not covered themselves re not refunding in say, 2-3 weeks?

    • Anna says:

      11 Apr11 April 13:13

      I honestly don’t know the answer to this, Swiss might have something in their own Ts & Cs about refunds.

  • Doug M says:

    11 Apr11 April 14:26

    Wouldn’t suggest anyone not try Virgin. I really don’t like that weird seat/bed option. Also, the layout is very poor for people not hitting your feet as they go by.

    • Anna says:

      11 Apr11 April 15:40

      Yes, but they fly direct from MAN to places I’d like to visit!

      • Doug M says:

        11 Apr11 April 19:03

        They used to, will they again?

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