The new HFP chat thread – Sunday 12th April

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• Derek Scott says:

  12 Apr12 April 09:38

  What’s the cash refund situation where only one leg of a flight connection route is so far cancelled?
  I have a cash booking in May EDI-LHR-YYC-LHR-EDI (no stopovers at LHR) and it’s the final flight home to EDI that’s so far cancelled.

  Is this enough to claim a cash refund or do I need to wait in one of the YYC flights being canned?

  • Anna says:

    12 Apr12 April 10:37

    If one leg is cancelled you’re entitled to a full cash refund.

• Rob says:

  12 Apr12 April 09:51

  Some advice if possible:

  I cancelled a non refundable stay in Beijing in January because of the virus. Hotel was booked through Booking.com and they agreed to cancel my reservation for free given the circumstances.

  Only 3 days did HALF the refund appear on my CC statement. I have contacted both Booking.com and the hotel to try to resolve. B.com say contact the hotel directly, but they won’t return my Emails.

  Are B.com liable to get this sorted as I booked and paid through their website? Any weapons I have at my disposal to get this sorted quicker? I know in CC terms the only ombudsman can be contacted.

  Thanks

  • Lady London says:

    12 Apr12 April 13:29

    s.75 on credit card for what’s still due to you.

• Jim Paterson says:

  12 Apr12 April 10:10

  Today my wife and I were due to fly Business Class to Bangkok using a 2for1 voucher. This was to connect with an onward flight to Vietnam as we were going on a river cruise. I have rebooked to do the same holiday in March next year using our voucher again. Have had to book outwards flight to Hong Kong as their is no availability to Bangkok from second week of December through to April. Is this a blip or are flights likely to become available?

  • Anna says:

    12 Apr12 April 10:39

    No guarantee apart from the 2 + 4 released each day by BA. I think a lot of people have snapped up award seats speculatively in advance hoping they will be able to travel by then, so there may well be cancellations in the next few months which MAY go back into the award inventory.

• Alex Sm says:

  12 Apr12 April 10:29

  Got a reply from SWISS this morning about cash refunds which is not very reassuring:

  “Hi Alex, my sincerest apologies for the inconvenience, please be advised that the process is currently on hold thus why you are not able to submit your request via any platforms and I will not be able to confirm on when the process will be completed.“

  • Harry T says:

    12 Apr12 April 11:20

    Lufthansa group (includes LX) are literally refusing RIR refund anybody right now. They appear to be attempting to retain the c@$h whilst the German government lobbies for their right to offer a voucher instead of a refund. I’ve decided to chargeback LH for my Easter flights as they haven’t responded to any communication.

    • Harry T says:

      12 Apr12 April 11:21

      To* not “RIR” (autocorrect is odd)

    • Alex Sm says:

      12 Apr12 April 12:43

      I also filed for a chargeback by HSBC but they haven’t acknowledged my claim either

    • Alex Sm says:

      13 Apr13 April 00:18

      Got a handful of messages from SWISS during the day. The bottomline message is – I am entitled to a refund but we can’t pay you right now, we might, sometime…

      https://twitter.com/win_and_fly/status/1249476416015683589

  • Lady London says:

    12 Apr12 April 13:35

    s.75. – ask your credit card to refund.
    EC61 says you should have a refund within 7 days. None of us would hold the airline to that right now but they:re not refunding and they should.
    They must be desperate since they are signed up to EC261 but that’s not your problem.

    Callum will be along soon to say I’m not being soft enough on them 🙂 but really Swiss’s business risk should not be transferred to you as the consumer in this way.

    • Alex Sm says:

      13 Apr13 April 00:20

      Thanks for your support, this was roughly my message to them. Slightly passive agressive but what else can I do? They always claim to be like a clockwork…

      https://twitter.com/win_and_fly/status/1249476416015683589

• Jill says:

  12 Apr12 April 11:29

  Help required.
  Normally fly Lhr to Sin.
  Only reward availability was Lhr to Kul in BA First.
  Flight scheduled to arrive in Kul at 15.45
  Malaysia flight to Sin scheduled to depart 17.20
  Both flights are same terminal.
  Assuming cannot check bags through as diff PNR
  Anyone with knowledge of airport know if this is doable?
  Thanks in advance for any response!

  • Axel says:

    12 Apr12 April 11:39

    I’ve often spent over an hour waiting in passport control at KLIA so doubt it. I wouldn’t worry as you can get a later flight with a budget airline. My preferred option would be taking an executive bus from KLIA to Little India might be quicker and more comfortable, as long as it is not too late in the evening.

    Alternatively do’t take any checked luggage from LHR and buy yourself a new wardrobe in Singapore!

  • Mike P says:

    12 Apr12 April 13:43

    Far too tight, that’s a non starter in my book.

  • chabuddy geezy says:

    12 Apr12 April 16:03

    I think this will be too tight. Even if the your first flight is on time. Checked bags can take a while to come out at KUL so you might miss the cut off for rechecking.

• Andy says:

  12 Apr12 April 12:04

  Could do with some advice on this. I have a flights booked with Thai Airways from AMS to DPS in August, booked through Opodo. Thai have moved the date of my departure a day later which means more hotel and food costs in AMS so I’d rather cancel and book with another airline. Does this count as a significant change I.e can I request a refund? My understanding is that it is but I can’t speak to anyone at Thai as they say speak to Opodo.
  It’s complicated by it being booked through Opodo who won’t talk to me as my booking isn’t within the next 72 hours. Could I just do a chargeback through Amex explaining that the flights have changed significantly but Opodo can’t be contacted?

  • Andy says:

    12 Apr12 April 12:19

    Also meant to say that they’ve moved the flight back 24 hours forward so we miss our separately booked flight from AMS to LON. Usually it would be easy to sort but as it seems that airlines/travel agents are going to be hard to contact for weeks I do wonder if Amex would be a better bet for sorting via a chargeback

    • Harry T says:

      12 Apr12 April 13:08

      I would document your efforts to contact the airline and Opodo. If Opodo won’t help you, then you can either wait until the 72 hour window, or initiate a chargeback, using your documented proof as evidence.

      I believe you have to go through the OTA to get a refund in this instance, rather than the airline. This is why I don’t like OTAs (not blaming you, no one could have foreseen this). Do your best to contact them and use a chargeback if your reasonable efforts fail.

• Linda S says:

  12 Apr12 April 12:14

  a little advice required please. AA are currently (until today) offering up to 35% discount to transfer miles between accounts. 30,000 miles would cost around £260 which seems pretty good value and would allow me (the recipient) enough to book two free (ex taxes) business class return fares to the US when flights return. Am I right in thinking this is a good price?

  • Rob says:

    12 Apr12 April 12:21

    I am never convinced these deals are great value as no new miles are being created so it’s free money for AA. What would it cost for you to buy 30k miles and then use the other 30k you have for a hotel or something?

    Can you juggle the bookings? eg you book a return for you and a one-way for your friend, and then use the miles in the other account to book the return ticket for your friend?

    • Linda S says:

      12 Apr12 April 12:25

      Costs a lot more to buy 30,000 miles – more than twice as much. Normally I wouldn’t consider doing this but this is probably the best discount that AA has ever offered and the 30,000 miles sitting in the other account is unlikely to get used otherwise.

      • Secret Squirrel says:

        12 Apr12 April 14:41

        Can you not book each flight from the two different accounts?

  • Alex W says:

    13 Apr13 April 07:19

    Waste of money. There must be a way to earn 30k AA miles without spending £260 for nothing.

• Don says:

  12 Apr12 April 12:25

  With both of us having Amex Gold Charge, what’s the best strategy for my wife and I to get the max bonus from changing to ARCC? My understanding is refer one another for the ARCC. The only thing I am unclear of, is the referral different for Amex Gold to ARCC and then ARCC to ARCC. Is there a special link we need to use?

  Many thanks

  • Harry T says:

    12 Apr12 April 13:02

    Wife refers you for ARCC from her Gold, you refer her for ARCC from your Gold. Cancel the Gold charge cards when you both receive the ARCC cards and have ensured the new cards are linked to the same membership rewards account as your Gold charge cards. Gold cards usually offer 6000 MR for referrals, I believe. This has been increased to 9000 MR temporarily on the Gold credit cards but I’m unsure if the same applies to the Gold charge card (you can easily check).

    Alternatively, if you can spend 4k in three months (I couldn’t right now without being stupid and buying a massive TV or something ), then upgrade your Gold charge, via the special link, to a Platinum charge to get the 20,000 MR upgrade bonus. Refer your wife for the ARCC from the new Platinum card to receive 12,000 MR.

  • Harry T says:

    12 Apr12 April 13:03

    Referral bonus is entirely dictated by the referring card type. I’ve referred people for a multitude of different cards from my Platinum amex but have received the same referral bonus for every referral.

    The Gold card has a higher referral bonus than the ARCC.

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