The new HFP chat thread – Wednesday 15th April

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• Ali says:

  15 Apr15 April 08:19

  How long are the refunds taking for people. Hilton cancelled and agreed to a full refund 2 weeks back – I do think I am being on the edge here and I shouldn’t really worry till its been 6 weeks. Am I right in doing that or should I be bothering the already busy call / chat represntatives?

  • Ali says:

    15 Apr15 April 08:19

    representatives*

    • Louise K says:

      15 Apr15 April 08:21

      See the conversation above!

• KP says:

  15 Apr15 April 08:22

  Rob

  Not sure if I missed it, but I’m surprised you havent covered AA frequent flyer extensions to all members for one year. This is quite relevant to us, given that AA is a OW partner and a JV partner with BA. We are still waiting from BA to make a decent announcement on Exec Club extensions.

  • Rhys says:

    15 Apr15 April 08:34

    Few here will be AA Advantage members 🙂

    • Secret Squirrel says:

      15 Apr15 April 10:09

      Why you say that Rhys?
      AA miles are used regularly by UK flyers to bag EY / QR flights with little taxes to pay towards BA fees!

      • Rhys says:

        15 Apr15 April 10:22

        I said few, not none 🙂

        • Stuart Evans says:

          15 Apr15 April 10:52

          Just to add my voice as someone who’d welcome some coverage on this. When I first became a ‘Road Warrior,’ I found AA much friendlier/more generous to non-premium frequent flyers that BA. I think that’s still largely the case apart from the BA Companion Voucher.

          In 2019, I got two AA flights in F to/from LA – much lower taxes that BA; a decent Flagship First lounge at LA, and I rather like the AA configuration in F on their 777

          Finally, of course, coverage on what AA does shines extra light on BA’s currently dismal position

        • Secret Squirrel says:

          15 Apr15 April 17:54

          A lot more than a few 😉

      • Harry T says:

        15 Apr15 April 13:20

        How little taxes are we talking? I’d rather avoid BA fees outside of using a 241 (Avios on Cathay, Qantas and JAL was a pleasant surprise).

        • Lyn says:

          15 Apr15 April 15:55

          Basically if you book on actual AA flights, using AA miles, they charge the normal airport taxes etc. but no carrier surcharges.. So a huge difference to BA in some cases.

          The problem is if you use Avios to book flights on American, then BA jus adds their usual surcharges. Also, if you book actual BA flights using AA miles, or say Alaska miles, then they have to pass on BA’s usual surcharges as well.

      • RK says:

        15 Apr15 April 22:46

        I too would welcome coverage on AA.
        Even Flying Blue have finally granted a 12 month extension up their FF program, leaving BAEC in a minority.

  • AJA says:

    15 Apr15 April 14:25

    AAdvantage related, I received an invite last week by email from AA to join e-rewards and receive 250 miles as a bonus for taking my first survey. It’s very useful as it is a fantastic way of preventing my miles from expiring now that transfers from Hilton have ended.

• The Lord says:

  15 Apr15 April 08:47

  Anyone know if there is a way to check the value on BA refund vouchers? Received the voucher codes today (for reference it took at 8 days from cancellation).

  • Lady London says:

    15 Apr15 April 10:40

    Your voucher is really just your original ticket – frozen. So you can work it out from that.

• DeeDee says:

  15 Apr15 April 08:58

  Has anyone got any experience of refunds from Etihad?
  Flights booked for end of May, 1 x points plus tax, 2 x cash.
  They have not cancelled yet but want to plan based on the options available…. feels like it’s going to be an expensive loss!

• Andrew says:

  15 Apr15 April 09:02

  I have the Platinum card and did a referral to someone for the Gold card. Is there still a bonus for me and if so what is it?

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    15 Apr15 April 09:04

    Can anyone post the email contact for Virgin Money credit card contact please.
    I tried calling them this morning but their message is only call if an emergency.

  • CraigyC says:

    15 Apr15 April 09:21

    Yes, should be 12000 points.

  • BJ says:

    15 Apr15 April 14:35

    Yes, currently 12,000 when referring from platinum IIRC.

• Big Eck says:

  15 Apr15 April 09:36

  I wonder if anyone can help with this one. Using Amex 241 I had (some time ago) 3 PE outbound flights GLA-LGW-TPA booked, using avios. On Easter Sunday, 3 days ago, I was able to book 2 J and 1 PE returns MIA-LHR-GLA, again using the 241. Obviously a new PNR had to be created for the 1 pax returning in PE. Travel is October/November. I was also able to book 2 seats free for the 2 pax on the original PNR as one of the pax is disabled.

  Before ending the conversation with the very helpful agent I checked the MMT entries for all pax and asked him if I should be worried about;-

  1. All sectors were clearly showing in MMT for the 2 pax on the original PNR but only the outgoing sectors were showing for the pax with the new PNR.
  2. The seat bookings for the 2 pax on the original PNR were not showing in MMT. I’m less worried about this.

  He said no, that these would show shortly. I’ve checked MMT a few times since and MMT has not changed. I don’t want to trouble BA unneccessarily. Should I wait and see if things change in MMT or should I call?

  • Big Eck says:

    15 Apr15 April 10:08

    Just to add that, for the pax with the new PNR, what is showing in MMT is the old PNR outbound sectors and the new PNR outbound sectors. The miles have been taken for all pax for all sectors.

    • Lady London says:

      15 Apr15 April 10:18

      Booking amendments can take 1-3 weeks to fully show in peacetime. It’s possible there could be a problem with one of the new flights you booked being doubtful about running. Given your travel date I’d give them 2 or 3 months.

      However if your flight’s not running they might well only notify around late Sept. So I think I would chase it up but not in a hurry. Anything you book for that far ahead might change in these times. For sure at least one of your flights is after the seasonal change to winter at end October so prone to slight schedule change anyway.

      • Big Eck says:

        15 Apr15 April 15:07

        Thanks LL. As all 3 pax are on the same flights, I just found it odd that all flights are showing only for 2 of them. I’ll give it a bit longer. Thanks again

        • Lady London says:

          15 Apr15 April 18:53

          I agree it’s odd. Personally I’d give them a bit more time. You could always ting up in a couple of weeks for reassurance if it’s still showing like that.

• ChrisA says:

  15 Apr15 April 10:01

  From Travelmole (and clearly referring to US cards):

  ”
  Airlines are taking increasingly drastic and creative measures to monetize whatever assets they can.

  United Airlines and Delta Air Lines are looking to sell loyalty miles in bulk at a discount to their credit card partners, according to the Wall Street Journal.

  The airlines have been in discussions about selling miles in advance to their respective partners JPMorgan Chase and American Express.

  Citing people familiar with the discussions, no agreements have yet been reached, the WSJ says.

  Co-branded card loyalty programs generate billions of dollars of revenue particularly in the corporate travel market, but it could be many months before business travel takes off again.

  Banks and credit card companies regularly buy miles to reward high spending card holders.

  “If airlines start seriously talking about mileage presales, we’ll know things are particularly dire,” said Joseph DeNardi, an airline analyst at investment bank Stifel.

  According to DeNardi, American Express spent about $4 billion last year buying miles from Delta.

  Global airlines have been hawking slots, real estate and owned aircraft as collateral to secure billions in loans to ease cash-flow worries.”

  • Andrew M says:

    15 Apr15 April 11:47

    I wonder if we can expect any bonuses on transfers of credit card points to airline miles? Another 50% bonus on transfers from HSBC to Avios would be very welcome.

    • Andrew M says:

      15 Apr15 April 12:03

      Actually, now that I think about it, wasn’t there a 100% bonus on HSBC points to Avios transfers in the early days of the World Elite card? That would be even better!

    • Rob says:

      15 Apr15 April 13:20

      The airlines will be keen – they get hard cash now from Amex etc whilst any problems with the Avios liability are kicked down the road.

      • BJ says:

        15 Apr15 April 14:44

        Any thoughts on BA trying to raise cash from Barclays by cutting them a good deal on avios to step up their partnership and drive business to Barclays?

• HMP says:

  15 Apr15 April 10:11

  Just rang Amex to cancel my Gold card (2nd year), they instead offered me a retention bonus of 20k points for £4k spend in 3 months. Thought this was interesting as I’ve never seen mention of Amex retention offers outside the US (or maybe I’m out the loop).

  • Lady London says:

    15 Apr15 April 10:22

    Good. I would regard that as a positive movement Amex accepting reality. Hope other UK cardmembers get offered that too.

    @HMP so we can work out which type of customer is getting offered and which not, what’s your spend pattern and how long have you held the card?

    • HMP says:

      15 Apr15 April 10:30

      It’s only the second year of my Gold card but I’ve held the BA card for about 5 years. They told me my total Amex spend is about £30k pa.

      • Lady London says:

        15 Apr15 April 10:50

        Thanks @HMP

        Amex offering you the same as a new signup bonus, 20,000, for £4k spend in 3 months, as a retention bonus, is a result !!!

        • HMP says:

          15 Apr15 April 13:46

          Also interestingly, there’s no contractual obligation attached. The call agent said I could collect the 20k bonus points then cancel my card straight after if I wanted.

  • BJ says:

    15 Apr15 April 14:48

    Thanks, I’ll jump on this if they offer it to me next month.

  • n_g says:

    15 Apr15 April 16:27

    Tried calling them RE my platinum card expecting some sort of retention offer and all I got was a talk through the downgrade options which was dissapointing.

  • Liam says:

    15 Apr15 April 20:08

    I got a similar offer when I rang to cancel my Gold card towards the end of last year. With Christmas falling within the three-month window it was no problem to hit the spend requirements for the bonus, after which I cancelled (and was offered no further incentive to keep the card).

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