The new HFP chat thread – Wednesday 15th April

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• Save East Coast Rewards says:

  15 Apr15 April 04:00

  HFP has written about Clubcard Plus before and at the time, like many people, there was no point signing up. But now with coronavirus my shopping style has had to change and now it’s worth the money for the 10% off two shops a month. You can sign up for it within the Tesco Clubcard app and you can cancel it at anytime, so once things return to normal you can cancel it if you’re no longer doing big Tesco shops.

  FlyerTalk has posted the May shorthaul schedule for BA and it looks way too optimistic for me. I’d be surprised if LGW and LCY have any BA flights in May: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32292789-post187.html

  Does anyone know when the LHR terminal moves are happening?

  • Spursdebs says:

    15 Apr15 April 06:46

    Unless their policy has changed don’t forget the 10% of 2 shops only applies to in store shopping not Dot Com.

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:

      15 Apr15 April 08:01

      Yeah, that’s one of the reasons why this is more useful at the moment than it normally would be. As well as spending more on shopping (normal times I tend to eat out), it’s almost impossible to get a delivery.

      • Genghis says:

        15 Apr15 April 10:14

        We paid the Tesco delivery saver fee again in Jan with Tesco club card vouchers (3x value). They’re now refunding monies on a monthly basis straight to payment card on the account (I put Santander debit card in to avoid any points deduction). Now that’s a genuine 3x value! And we still get access to slots. I’m managing to still get the slots for collection.

        • Lady London says:

          15 Apr15 April 10:24

          So does pre-booked Collection at Tesco count as an in-store?

  • The Jetset Boyz says:

    15 Apr15 April 08:21

    The terminal moves have already started.

    Do know that Cathay Pacific start operations in T2 as of tomorrow (Thursday 16th April). Qatar & American haven’t yet made an announcement and their flight status checker tools show them both as operating out of T3 as of this Sunday for QR and Friday for AA. Those are ‘the furtherest out’ their tools report on.

    At the moment Malaysian are only operating one flight a week between LHR & KUL. Their booking system doesn’t show any other flights between these two points, but that all changes on 1st May – BA to DXB connecting to MH operated by Emirates to KUL. They have a codeshare deal (similar to Qantas) with Emirates to various European cities.

  • Crafty says:

    16 Apr16 April 09:30

    We had the same thought. Signed up a few weeks ago. Shop size is averaging over £100 for us now, so even one of those per month pays for the scheme (obviously aiming to do two).

• Anna says:

  15 Apr15 April 05:51

  Re – BA Refund Helper via Flyertalk. £2k in refunds from BA has hit my Amex within 36 hours of making contact. I’ve no idea how this is being done but I’m very grateful!

  • Michael C says:

    15 Apr15 April 06:09

    Result, Anna!!!

  • Spursdebs says:

    15 Apr15 April 06:48

    That’s a relief Anna.

  • Peter says:

    15 Apr15 April 07:10

    Dear Anna
    Thank you for sharing your success. I have cut and paste BA refund helper’s introductory post of April 5 below to help others to explore this route for e-ticket refunds, Avios refunds and GUFT/Amex voucher refunds. However, however I can’t fathom out (sorry!) how to ‘PM’ (personal message) BA refund helper to take advantage of this fantastic service. May I therefore ask for your guidance please. Thank you.

    Hello, as you will see from my FT handle, I work for BA and am able to support those FT members who have been waiting for a refund for over 7 days. This is an official BA support available during the Covid19 crisis where refund volumes have been high, combined with the challenge of losing our main refund processing site in Mumbai due to lockdown rules.
    I can assist with e-ticket refunds, Avios refunds and GUFT/Amex voucher refunds, however I have no involvement in the “voucher” process set up around 3 weeks ago.
    I can see many of you have been waiting for longer than we’d like, and I am sorry for that wait, but I am in a position to assist with this now. I will PM a few of you, but please also feel free to contact me for help with your PNR. As I am a new member, however, meaning I can only respond with 5 posts daily. With grateful thanks to Prospero for his assistance in getting me up and running!
    BA refund helper.

    • Louie says:

      15 Apr15 April 07:25

      Hover over his name on the left of any post he has made (whilst logged in) on FT and a selection of drop down alternatives will come up, one of which is send a private message.

      • Peter says:

        15 Apr15 April 08:40

        Thank you Louie. I appreciate that.

  • Harry T says:

    15 Apr15 April 07:55

    Very pleased for you, thought he would come through for you.

    • Lady London says:

      15 Apr15 April 10:26

      Or even “She” 🙂

      • Harry T says:

        15 Apr15 April 13:14

        Pretty sure they were identified as a bloke by other forum members! Or maybe it’s everyday sexism 😉

    • Doug M says:

      15 Apr15 April 13:50

      I thought it was a team of people, so just an account monitored by one or more of them on any given day.

      • Anna says:

        15 Apr15 April 15:33

        I still don’t understand how they are doing this in the light of BA’s intransigence towards any other way of trying to get a refund! Surely the BA hierarchy aren’t going to be very happy about it?

        • Erico1875 says:

          15 Apr15 April 18:49

          “I work for BA and am able to support those FT members who have been waiting for a refund for over 7 days. This is an official BA support available during the Covid19 crisis where refund volumes have been high, combined with the challenge of losing our main refund processing site in Mumbai due to lockdown rules.”
          Thats how

        • Anna says:

          15 Apr15 April 21:43

          I find it hard to believe that BA are officially helping anyone to get refunds via FT but not on their own website!

      • JAXBA says:

        15 Apr15 April 20:56

        It’s one person, and they’re a he.

  • Liz says:

    15 Apr15 April 19:54

    Well done Anna – I contacted BA Refund Helper on Monday – hoping for the refund to post this week.

• Pete says:

  15 Apr15 April 06:41

  My TP year ended 08 April and I was 1200 TPs short of renewing Gold. I’ve just received an email “welcome to another year of Gold” and sure enough the app shows my Gold membership extended until 31 May 2021.

  I had deliberately planned to allow this to lapse this year and for travel plans in the coming months to requalify for two years.

  • Pete says:

    15 Apr15 April 07:10

    *BA Executive Club that is

  • Stanley says:

    15 Apr15 April 07:50

    Received same. BA have cut TPs needed by 30% for anyone renewing in April, May or June. So my 6yr old daughter has ended up Bronze, while the rest of the family are still Blue…..

• Adam says:

  15 Apr15 April 07:06

  I booked Spanish car hire through ‘DoYouSpain’ which is an aggregator. I prepaid and the transaction shows as DoYouSpain’. I then got a voucher for. Spanish hire car company. I’ve done this many times before and it’s been great. Now, for my trip in April, the car hire company and cancelled the booking but DoYouSpain are only offering the ‘voucher’ routine and refusing any refund. As an EU company that has cancelled my booking, an I not entitled to a refund like the airlines have to do?

  • Anna says:

    15 Apr15 April 08:12

    Not sure if EU regs covers incidentals like car hire unless it’s part of a package holiday. You might have to claim via your travel insurance if you can’t use a voucher.

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    15 Apr15 April 08:41

    Chargeback – you paid, they can’t deliver.

• Andrew says:

  15 Apr15 April 07:28

  How do I find out the value of a BA Voucher?

  All it says in the email is that it’s equal to the value of my original ticket. Thing is, this was an OptionTown booking, so I’d expected the flights to be returned to the OptionTown pool and not be issued with a voucher.

  Essentially I just want to make sure it’s worth no less than the pro-rata £132 I paid for it.

  • AJA says:

    15 Apr15 April 14:16

    Apparently, according to posts on FT, you can see the value of the voucher if you log into your booking via the Qantas website.It also shows up with some odd destination as a holding point. I don’t have an e-voucher to test this theory.

• Big Dave says:

  15 Apr15 April 07:37

  no voucher from BA yet
  no refund from Easyjet yet

• Ben says:

  15 Apr15 April 07:37

  I had my Qatar flight to Cape Town cancelled last week and they have automatically given me a voucher + 10 %. Has anyone had any real experience calling up and getting cash or are they making that difficult?

  • Reeferman says:

    15 Apr15 April 08:00

    I’ve spoken with Qatar for a cash refund on a cancelled flight. They flatly refused me a refund despite me telling them of my EU261 rights.
    This was at the start of the Coronavirus-related flight cancellations, so things might have changed a bit since then.
    I’d suggest calling and follow-up with a written request. Keep copies of all correspondence and records of phone calls – and, if still no joy, make a S75 CC claim.

    • Ben says:

      15 Apr15 April 08:20

      Yes thats what im concerned about. The flight is not till the end of May so im going to see if I can travel is happening in June/July as its a business trip so will just play it by ear..
      Thanks

• Craig says:

  15 Apr15 April 07:42

  Waiting over a month now for a promised Hilton refund, no reply from the hotel direct. Hilton just seem to process it again and again?

  • Anna says:

    15 Apr15 April 08:07

    I contacted them via online chat last week to cancel a non-refundable stay and the refund was back on my card in 3 days.

  • Algor says:

    15 Apr15 April 08:08

    Hilton = over 6,000 hotels.

    We can address chain cancellation policy but if you hotel has suspended their operations there is a chance noone will process your refund any time soon.

    Some comments mentioned Conrad in London as example phonecall answered on site and money back in account in less than 2 days.

    My example is unfortunately Hilton Leeds, I’ve been charged late cxl fee while it was waived over the phone. This was a month ago and the hotel is closed now.

    Only agents you can speak to now are in central reservations offices with no clue when the hotel will resume operations to check my case.

    • Craig says:

      15 Apr15 April 08:11

      This is what I think as happened, however, even closed hotels should have a skeleton staff for security reasons. It’s not complicated for that skeleton staff to be able to deal with basic enquiries, even if these are then forwarded to someone working from home.

      • Anna says:

        15 Apr15 April 08:13

        My booking was at the Conrad St James but I cancelled it via the Hilton website, not the hotel.

      • Algor says:

        15 Apr15 April 08:19

        Skeleton service in closed hotel is most likely security and engineers.

        Reservations can relay on central team to make bookings / cancell, once they resume operations all payments and refunds will be done.

        Situation in hospitality bussinnes is very dire.

        Anyone who is there to work on your refund will not be furloughed. Fully paid by the hotel with no incetive from government for staying at work.

        Back to the base, if nothing happened in 1 month time it is very likely not to change next month, we need to be patient.

    • Algor says:

      15 Apr15 April 08:12

      ^ Anna

      Online chat, phone calls (unless answered on property) and any emails directed not to a person / department working in the hotel itself will be forwarded by central team.

      And it all goes back to square one, if there anyone to see it.

      • Anna says:

        15 Apr15 April 08:15

        Well clearly that wasn’t my experience!

        • Algor says:

          15 Apr15 April 08:21

          Well you were lucky to have reservation in a hotel who has staff non-stop on site to continue with reservations work, others weren’t.

        • Anna says:

          15 Apr15 April 09:37

          I cancelled through Hilton website chat, I’ve had no contact with the hotel!

    • Brian W says:

      15 Apr15 April 15:01

      I’ve had three rooms refunded from Hilton Leeds City Centre in the last 7 days. They are closed but still answer the phone. I’ve been impressed by them and the others I had to contact to be honest.

    • Crafty says:

      16 Apr16 April 09:31

      Same hotel for me and still waiting too. Interesting. Will do chargeback next week.

  • Louise K says:

    15 Apr15 April 08:14

    i am in the same boat.

    I contacted the Twitter team who after a week have apologised but it’s going to take up to 4 weeks for it to come through.

    • Craig says:

      15 Apr15 April 08:15

      That’s where I started, I wouldn’t hold your breath for a refund pithing 4 weeks, it’s been longer than that already for me!

      • Louise K says:

        15 Apr15 April 08:17

        Have you tried the FT Hilton helper?

        Yes, I can see this being stretched out.

      • meta says:

        15 Apr15 April 10:14

        I also contacted via Twitter around 20 March. Refund was back within 5 days.

    • Anna says:

      15 Apr15 April 08:16

      I was told up to 4 weeks for the refund but it was actually 3 days.

      • Peter K says:

        15 Apr15 April 10:36

        I rang and asked for a refund on 21st March, it took 20 days.

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