The new HFP chat thread – Thursday 14th May

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• Gidon says:

  14 May14 May 06:06

  Thinking outside the box.
  If I ba usually operate 2 daily flights on a route and I book a return ticket for that route in August. If the outbound and return are on different aircraft, ie on the alternate loop, surely that gives me a very good chance of a full cash refund if I expect them to only run one daily flight.
  Am I missing something?
  Thanks

  • BSI1978 says:

    14 May14 May 06:31

    Why?!

    Genuinely despair of some of the ‘tactics’ on this site at times….

    • Gidon says:

      14 May14 May 07:43

      You can call it what you like, but I think it was BA starting with the “tactics”. Playing games with redundancies, booking flexibility, refunds, vouchers etc etc

      • AJA says:

        14 May14 May 08:33

        I still don’t understand what you’re hoping to achieve by going through the rigmarole of booking a flight you have no intention of taking. Seems an odd way to get back at BA but go for it and perhaps let us know how you get on. You run the risk that neither booked flight is cancelled as BA may cancel the alternate flights ie the other ones on the day you’re actually scheduled to fly.

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    14 May14 May 06:34

    Only that its conceivably your two legs they consolidate down to – makes sense that they’re cancel a corresponding pair but not guaranteed

  • BJ says:

    14 May14 May 06:36

    They would just move you to the alternate flight, probably without even bothering to notify you. You would then be at the mercy of MMB which will probably still be missing it’s most useful functionality, or a CSA who might or not be competent or difficult. Ultimately though you would be entitled to, and hopefully receive, a refund provided the difference in schedule would be large enough which it almost certainly would be.

    • Gidon says:

      14 May14 May 07:44

      Thanks a lot

  • BrightonReader says:

    14 May14 May 06:37

    Yes you are missing something,

    They may not cancel the flight you are booked on on the return leg but cancel the other flight instead.

    • BJ says:

      14 May14 May 07:02

      Same difference though as it would still be a return flight on a single PNR and a substantial schedule change would still be grounds for a refund? What I don’t get is Gidon’s objective here but I’m guessing it is a cheap flexible fare. If so then it is a bit of a risky strategy, both flights could still fly or none. If I were not certain I needed a flight then I would not be booking it with cash at this time, I would be using avios, or adding a hotel for one night to book via BA Holidays and paying a small deposit.

      • BrightonReader says:

        14 May14 May 07:12

        What schedule change though?

        But even if the schedule did change BA has a policy where they won’t refund unless it’s by more than a certain time period – I think 2 hours.

        So he would be hoping that if they didn’t cancel the flight totally and reschedule it (for whatever reason) that it was outside of the policy limit.

        What I do know is that people who try and game the system often end up on the losing side.

        • BJ says:

          14 May14 May 07:35

          From the OP’s words it is easy to see why you and @BSI think this is an attempt to game the system. In normal times I would too, but in these uncertain times I think Gidon is probably just trying to cover their bases, understandable given the way airlines have treated their customers lately.

        • Gidon says:

          14 May14 May 07:41

          What BJ says is exactly right. Ive already had numerous issues with BA recently and I’d like to book a flight to visit family with my kids this summer and I’m trying to see how it would play out. It would be far easier if BA were giving full flexibility on all bookings, but they’ve been very tight.

        • BrightonReader says:

          14 May14 May 07:42

          No he’s clearly trying to game the system.

          I can only comment on what he wrote and nothing else.

          He never even mentioned schedule changes- you did.

        • ChrisBCN says:

          14 May14 May 08:39

          This summer? You’re not going.

        • pauldb says:

          14 May14 May 09:52

          2hrs is a red herring. If BA cancel one of your flights you are entitled to a refund. >X hours is only relevant to compensation, or whether you are entitled to a refund after a delay (not a canx).

        • Chrish says:

          14 May14 May 10:01

          BriightonReader@ That’s not true been playing the system regularly it’s quite easy.
          never been pulled, All he probably wants is a flight at a later date at same price

  • mr_jetlag says:

    14 May14 May 07:10

    You must really like being on hold on the phone.

• Tony says:

  14 May14 May 07:13

  Has Eurostar announced any sorts of extension to their statuses/points due to COVID?

• davvero says:

  14 May14 May 07:18

  What a dreadful year this is becoming!

  • Rob says:

    14 May14 May 09:52

    Only if Rotherham are unfairly denied automatic promotion from League 1, given they are currently 2nd.

  • Genghis says:

    14 May14 May 10:16

    It’s not all bad. I’m enjoying not spending an hour and a half a day commuting and I’m spending loads of time with my son. Makes you realise what’s important.

    • Harry T says:

      14 May14 May 12:17

      On the flip side, I’m enjoying the fact that my commute now takes 25 mins each way instead of 60 mins stuck in appalling traffic.

      • Harry T says:

        14 May14 May 13:39

        @BJ
        Agreed, it is concerning. Working from home is largely a middle class phenomenon from what I can see. Not surprised Boris has decided to throw the working class under the bus without sufficient protection from malevolent employer tactics.

        • Spk says:

          14 May14 May 14:36

          How long would you be wearing PPE? 6 months? 1 year? This excuse of PPE not available even for simple jobs is not acceptable. Do you really think anyone can escape from the virus?

        • Lady London says:

          14 May14 May 21:45

          I would love to see infection, hospitalisation and in fatality statistics by class and profession.

        • BJ says:

          14 May14 May 22:09

          @Lady London, National Records Office in Scotland published some data yesterday on the link between affluence and Covid-19 deaths. People in the most deprived area were 2.4x more likely to die than those in the most affluent area. Pattern is likely similar across the UK.
          https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52637581

    • BJ says:

      14 May14 May 12:49

      Unfortunately, other side of the coin is there are loads of people out their feeling vulnerable, and scared for their families, because they have to work or feel compelled to do so.

      • Harry T says:

        14 May14 May 13:40

        @BJ
        Agreed, it is concerning. Working from home is largely a middle class phenomenon from what I can see. Not surprised Boris has decided to throw the working class under the bus without sufficient protection from malevolent employer tactics.

• Rob says:

  14 May14 May 07:46

  Hotels.com booking using £300 of Tesco Clubcard vouchers as part of the payment.

  Looks like it will be cancelled.

  Does anyone know how this would be refunded?

  • Janet Thomas says:

    14 May14 May 08:45

    I had this problem last week. Phoned Tesco Clubcard and they agreed to re-issue the vouchers. I was told they would then be valid for a further 2 years.

  • Rob says:

    14 May14 May 09:50

    Vouchers are lost. However other readers have had them reinstated by Tesco on request as a goodwill gesture (and presumably because Hotels.com won’t be paid anyway).

• Andy says:

  14 May14 May 08:07

  Got a question about Qatar Book With Confidence https://www.qatarairways.com/en/travel-with-confidence.html?
  It looks from first reading that origin and destination can be changed free of charge. I’m flying Oslo to Bangkok in December as an ex EU. Now with Covid 19 it seems that reducing as many moving parts as possible would be a good idea so ideally I’d shift my flight to London rather than Oslo.
  Anyone know if Qatar would do that free or would they charge me the fare difference? I guess APD might be payable?

  • MinR says:

    14 May14 May 15:36

    You can only change the origin to a city in the same country according to the link.

    I would think fare differences still apply however this hasn’t been confirmed yet.

  • Leafwarbler says:

    14 May14 May 16:22

    I have the same issue – wanting to change ARN – SGN to LHR – SGN to simplify things. They have no problem changing the flight but will apply any fare difference.

• Paul says:

  14 May14 May 08:09

  Hi, I am trying to transfer Heathrow Rewards points to BA but keep getting the same error message, “Not enough points to order reward” even when I do have quite a few points. I have tried with Safari, Chrome and my phone but nothing. Any other suggestions?

  • ChrisBCN says:

    14 May14 May 08:41

    You’ve missed out the crucial bit of information, which is the amount of points you are transferring, so that someone can tell you you aren’t transferring enough.

    • Paul says:

      14 May14 May 09:35

      3,000 points!

      • AndyGWP says:

        14 May14 May 16:44

        All earned through shopping at Heathrow (rather than converting in from another scheme / airline)?

• Andreas says:

  14 May14 May 08:15

  Hello all, I have the grand sum of about 2,800 Hyatt points expiring. I’m not a big Hyatt user so I have no use for the points. Any idea what I can do with them, transfer out, donate…? Thx

  • Andreas says:

    14 May14 May 13:08

    Ok thank you!

• Steve R says:

  14 May14 May 08:16

  @Rob You need to speak Tesco CS my understanding is if the the booking is cancelled because of Covid they will give you the points back.

  Any other reason then the points are history

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