The new HFP chat thread – Monday 4th May

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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/2020/05/04/the-new-hfp-chat-thread-monday-4th-may/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. Let’s see how it goes. Take care!

Category

General

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

Rob says:

4 May4 May 08:44

Strange Amex bill situation which I guess might be Covid related? I owe £750 on my BA Amex, DD always taken on 2nd day of the month.
No money taken this month, says minimum payment due £0.00 and direct debit amount due £0.00.
Don’t appear to have taken Amex platinum money either.
Anyone else experiencing similar?
- Chris P says:
  
  4 May4 May 08:56
  
  Mine is showing the full amount owed being credited to my AMEX BA card on 3 May yet nothing has been deducted from my HSBC current account. I suspect it will right itself later today or tomorrow though interestingly my HSBC account shows “no pending transactions” whereas normally it would show anything going out tomorrow.
  - Rum says:
    
    4 May4 May 09:21
    
    Exactly the same situation here. Due 3rd May and showing as paid on BA Amex card account. No money has left current account and nothing showing as pending.
    
    I also suspect it’s due to the bank holiday that wasn’t. Bank systems probably programmed to expect today to be a non working day but haven’t been switched to Friday.
- John says:
  
  4 May4 May 11:41
  
  Amex DDs are actually taken from your account 1 working day later than they show as paid on your Amex account. Sometimes 2 days early. Even if the DD fails it still shows as payment received – then reversed later
Doug M says:

4 May4 May 08:55

Today is the bank holiday that isn’t. I remember all the outrage at the late notice by people that had booked long weekends thinkings this would be the bank holiday. Odd to think now that almost no one will be travelling anywhere at the moment.
- Chris P says:
  
  4 May4 May 08:57
  
  Good Point
  - Rob says:
    
    4 May4 May 10:28
    
    I feel sorry for people who had to pay cancellation fees to move weddings or short break from last weeking to next weekend, and now won’t be getting a wedding or short break next weekend either!
Billy Nicholson says:

4 May4 May 09:05

What’s everyone’s experience with BA on the phone at the moment? I got through on Saturday morning….I made a change to an Avios booking, the new flights are in my app and my account online as “confirmed”, the additional Avios have been taken however the payment for taxes hasn’t and we haven’t received the confirmation e-ticket email. Should we just wait given the circumstances or call them to reconfirm?
- Anna says:
  
  4 May4 May 09:28
  
  As long as you’ve got a ticket number (starting 125 – I don’t know if these get transferred over though, or a new number is issued), you should be ok. I guess it depends how far away your flight is though on how urgently you need to take action, thoug, if you haven’t been properly ticketed.
  - Billy Nicholson says:
    
    4 May4 May 09:39
    
    The outbound leg has a ticket number next to it…..the return leg is the one I amended and it does not have a ticket number in my app or online. It’s not until next April but….I don’t know. Maybe I’ll leave at least till the end of the week? Without taking my money for tax, then surely it’s not fully confirmed?
    - Stu N says:
      
      4 May4 May 10:22
      
      I have a booking made just BC (before Covid) that still isn’t ticketed – was open jaw phone booking so they are often manually ticketed. They took Avios and 2-4-1.but not the cash We will be amending it anyway as and when a better return flight becomes available so I am rather relaxed about it at the moment.
      
      It’s still a valid booking so I wouldn’t be rushing to request that they take the money . I’d suggest you make a diary note for a couple of months before you fly to call and get it sorted if it doesn’t fix itself in the meantime. Note that BA only keep the card validation code for a limited period so they may call you up to reconfirm card details when they do get round to ticketing it.
      - Billy Nicholson says:
        
        4 May4 May 10:56
        
        Ah right, that makes sense….this was also an open jaw amendment. I guess with all the calls they are dealing with, manual ticketing for 12 months time is not priority.
- Paul says:
  
  4 May4 May 09:57
  
  Definitely chase it up as soon as possible. We were almost stuck in South Africa as lockdown was just beginning. Had booked 241 as outbound (miles and cash) then added return later (miles moved, credit card details were taken, but no payment was actually taken). Return showed in manage my booking. Arrived at airport to check in, and despite being on plane manifest, having allocated seats, was not allowed to check in or travel as even though booking had been made, because return leg ‘fees’ had not been paid, system will not allow travel. Had to call Exec club ourselves (check in guy tried but couldn’t get through, took me 45 minutes of sweating!) fortunately got through and managed to pay, then issued ticket number and allowed to checkin. It is impossible to see this from manage my booking, which looks normal, but most outstations have no access to ticketing system so are unable to help, and will need you to call UK. Good luck.
  - Billy Nicholson says:
    
    4 May4 May 10:05
    
    Ok thanks Paul….glad you made your flight! We have until next April thankfully to get this confirmed.
    - Stu N says:
      
      4 May4 May 10:25
      
      Glad you got it sorted Paul – this is exactly why I’m suggesting the OP calls up a month to two before travel to sort ticketing.
      
      In the mean time, I’d leave it – I wouldn’t be tying money up with airlines if I didn’t have to at the moment…
LAH says:

4 May4 May 09:07

There has been discussion in these columns about moving Virgin points to IHG but unless I’ve missed it little about Avios apart from the view Rob expressed a few weeks ago that he wouldn’t be taking any action. I’d welcome updated thoughts though as three weeks in the coronavirus era seems to be a lifetime for the airline industry.

1. With the recent Spanish Government support being given to Iberia would it it be prudent to split Avois points between BAEC and Iberia? No harm in going do I guess? Or mine all to Iberia?

2 More to the point is whether to divest some Avios even if the value is not so great, and if so to where? Would a long haul booking for 11 months ahead, even if I don’t actually want to use it and cancel near the time, give some protection to the Avios used and S.75 to reclaim taxes paid should BA go into administration? Or the same with hotel bookings via BAEC’s hotel booking service and paying with Avios?

Much worse things are happening in the world today of course but no harm in thinking ahead I hope.
- Rob says:
  
  4 May4 May 10:26
  
  1. Are you REALLY moving them? Avios Group owns all the points, not BA or Iberia. Avios Group is a BA subsidiary.
  
  2. Given that BA Hotels is refusing all refunds, even when hotels are closed, I wouldn’t go down that route. There is no real risk here, at all. BA is genuinely too big to fail. In the UK you cannot do what Lufty wants to do, which is go into Chapter 11 and keep trading whilst shedding all your debts and contracts.
  - LAH says:
    
    4 May4 May 17:06
    
    Thanks for the reassurance. I’ll relax and keep building my Avois horde!
Michael C says:

4 May4 May 09:39

Just received 50 quid from Easyjet from March – bit of a surprise!
- Lady London says:
  
  4 May4 May 09:42
  
  Did you follow any procedure to ask for it?
  - Michael C says:
    
    4 May4 May 09:51
    
    Hi LL – wrote to flightrefund@easyjet.com
    
    following these instructions:
    
    Subject Line : Booking Reference/Departure Date/EN
    
    Example : ABC1D2E/16042020/EN
    - Isherwood says:
      
      4 May4 May 11:01
      
      This works. In early April I sent EasyJet a letter notifying them that I wanted a refund on my cancelled flight. EasyJet sent me an email with this info. I emailed the flight details over on 11.4 and the full refund came through to my BA Amex on 15.4.
  - Ian says:
    
    4 May4 May 21:33
    
    They also have introduced an online form…
    https://www.easyjet.com/en/refund-form
    
    Have put in for 3 refunds in the last few days… time will tell how fast/slow the turnaround is.
FloriGuy says:

4 May4 May 09:50

Data point – I topped up 200 into revolut earlier this morning. Usually leave it at that. However, I wondered if the limit really is £200 and for some reason it allowed me to top up more.

Does anyone know why this might be? I thought our Chadwick friends only allowed £200 per day?f
- guesswho2000 says:
  
  4 May4 May 11:48
  
  The limit doesn’t seem to be there atm. This has happened before.
  - guesswho2000 says:
    
    4 May4 May 11:49
    
    Oh and the limit was always 300/day, up to 700/week.
    - FloriGuy says:
      
      4 May4 May 11:59
      
      Thank you.
      
      I also dont appear to be getting charged cash advance fees. Just interest. Is that normal?
      - Anna says:
        
        4 May4 May 14:48
        
        Yes for IHG, so far.
- Rossy says:
  
  4 May4 May 12:37
  
  What are you using to topup? What does Chadwick refer to?
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    4 May4 May 16:51
    
    IHG – the name of the HQ office
    
    And £300 is usually the limit
- ash says:
  
  4 May4 May 14:07
  
  Would like to be informed this too
  
  This one IHG?
  
  Did you try virgin one?
- The Urbanite says:
  
  4 May4 May 20:01
  
  It depends on which MCC Revolut are using today. It changes regularly.
Shaz says:

4 May4 May 09:55

Any thoughts on Marriott Bonvoy/Hilton/IHG to reduce the number of nights to hit elite statuses?
- FloriGuy says:
  
  4 May4 May 09:56
  
  I doubt that Hilton will do anything like that giving that they have already announced and implemented their (fairly generous) Covid concessions regarding status.
- Rhys says:
  
  4 May4 May 10:18
  
  IHG have. The other two are unlikely to follow given the generous status extensions they have implemented.
Definitas says:

4 May4 May 10:10

Does anyone else prefer to start reading a thread from the beginning? Would it be possible Rob to have the option to display all threads from the beginning ?
- Michael says:
  
  4 May4 May 10:14
  
  If you want to see the first page of comments and read them all from beginning to end in order, click here: https://headforpoints.com/2020/05/04/the-new-hfp-chat-thread-monday-4th-may/comment-page-1
- Rob says:
  
  4 May4 May 10:18
  
  Others have asked for this. I have a note to speak to our IT guy. It SHOULD be possible – I think we’d add a link to the comments box to do it.
  
  We can do it in 5 seconds as a default BUT that doesn’t help others who prefer to start at the end to see the latest.
  - Sundar says:
    
    4 May4 May 12:57
    
    Would it be possible to have a Last First button or a First comment button, which when clicked would do this ? this way it is left upto the readership.
    - Rob says:
      
      4 May4 May 13:41
      
      You can’t change it globally for yourself – best that would happen is that you could re-order the current post to ‘first to last’.