The new HFP chat thread – Thursday 28th May

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• Alex says:

  28 May28 May 10:38

  Only valid for 12months unfortunately otherwise I would have been interested. I’ve had that hotel you mentioned on my list for a while.

• Adam F says:

  28 May28 May 10:52

  This Virgin Flying Club ‘IT issue’ is beginning to stink, it’s been down a week now. Any reason you haven’t done an article on this Rob?

  • Rhys says:

    28 May28 May 11:03

    There’s nothing to say, apart from that it’s down. Virgin have confirmed that it is unscheduled and are hoping to bring it up asap but that’s all. It would be a very short article!

    • Adam F says:

      28 May28 May 11:41

      Fair enough. Just the cynic in me thinking there’s more to it (FC, not Rob’s lack of story) than an IT glitch.

      • Dezbez says:

        28 May28 May 12:41

        I agree. Wholly unsatisfactory and in most other industries would be unacceptable, even (or maybe especially) in the current situation.
        Maybe Rob decided it was time to bail out to HH and the sheer size of the transaction has crashed the system!

    • memesweeper says:

      28 May28 May 12:40

      Worth a mention in ‘bits’ I’d have thought. Outages over 24 hours are pretty unusual for loyalty schemes.

• Anna says:

  28 May28 May 11:10

  Data point – future travel vouchers. Booked a short break over Xmas with a 2 4 1 which was expiring in Feb, but then had to cancel as OH’s work decided they can’t spare him. I applied for the future travel voucher this morning and a couple of hours later I’ve got an email from BA confirming it’s valid until April 2022, so a good result even though it’s going to be a bit of a faff to re-book over the phone.

  One thing I don’t understand is – the original booking was for 3 people and I have 3 voucher codes which, as I understand it, need to be used for the same 3 people. What happens to the companion voucher? Obviously it will still need me to travel, but can I take either of the other passengers with me or would all 3 of us have to travel? Or could I use my part of the voucher and take someone completely different?

  • memesweeper says:

    28 May28 May 12:42

    I don’t think anyone knows, not enough people are booking with vouchers at the moment. BA may not have implemented the vouchers with any way to enforce the companion rules (ditto Lloyds upgrades).

• H7_Inthis says:

  28 May28 May 11:17

  Does anyone have any Monese premium trial codes? Pretty please?

  Thanks

  H

  • H7_Inthis says:

    28 May28 May 11:22

    I just got stung with some nasty top-up transaction fees having forgotten I was no longer premium 🙁 🙁 Oh well, you win some you lose some.

    • memesweeper says:

      28 May28 May 12:43

      Go easy or you will be closed down, the resulting process is no fun whatsoever.

• mr_jetlag says:

  28 May28 May 11:32

  @Rob, I seem to be unable to comment on other articles (but this thread is fine)… wanted to make a point on the Amex freebies.

  • Rob says:

    28 May28 May 11:45

    Rescued from spam.

• Pierre says:

  28 May28 May 11:38

  Belmond are adding £100 value to each £500 gift card bought from them too! And no expiry date.

  I’m tempted, but still trying to wrap my head around the T&C’s regarding using them for hotel bookings (train bookings seem straightforward)…

  • Y says:

    28 May28 May 12:05

    SLH also selling with 20% bonus. But has to be used with a stay (i.e. can’t be used for just a meal in a worst case scenario). 18 month validity. (I think) can be stacked by booking via hyatt channel

  • Lady London says:

    28 May28 May 17:35

    Isnt Belmond owned by VC? i think i’d be a bit wary on that one.

    • Rob says:

      28 May28 May 18:15

      Belmond is owned by Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey now.

      • Lady London says:

        29 May29 May 00:24

        so Johann Rupert ? nice.

• Gormlesstraveller says:

  28 May28 May 11:47

  Received an email inviting me to fly to Vienna from 15th June as “they’re ready to restart”. Suggested reasons are visiting friends in Amsterdam or a business appointment in Zurich..

• david says:

  28 May28 May 11:55

  Hi Rob
  a few days ago booked an Avios redemption with 241 voucher for two first class tickets to Denver.
  The tickets include business class LBA-LHR – apparently this route has just been cancelled !
  What will I be offered by BA – does this count as a cancellation of the entire ticket ?
  thanks in advance

  • Rob says:

    28 May28 May 12:01

    BA has done a deal with LNER so you’ll get a train ticket or a flight from another Northern airport – up to you.

    • david says:

      28 May28 May 12:29

      so I can’t ask to keep the main flights (or better still change them) and change them to a day of my choosing ?

      • Lady London says:

        28 May28 May 16:38

        you should ask this.

  • Anna says:

    28 May28 May 12:03

    There’s an article from last night about the LBA cancellations. I would consider it counts as cancellation of the entire ticket, I don’t know if this would entitle you to re-routing from LBA on another airline? I would have thought it would but I know BA can be really awkward about this kind of thing.

    • Anna says:

      28 May28 May 12:05

      Sorry, must have posted at the same time as Rob! If this was us there is no way we’d be able to transport all our luggage by train – is there no protection under EU261 for this?

      • Rob says:

        28 May28 May 12:22

        Not if the cancellation is made more than 14 days in advance.

        • david says:

          28 May28 May 12:58

          They still let you rebook to any date regardless of avios availablity and get train tickets – so ok in the end.

        • Charlieface says:

          28 May28 May 13:22

          Not true, you can demand a resonable reroute, even more than 14 days in advance. If train isn’t reasonable ask for KLM via Amsterdam

        • Rob says:

          28 May28 May 13:31

          The question was EC261, not about reroutes.

        • Genghis says:

          28 May28 May 15:03

          @Rob but the requirement for a rerouting comes from EC261.

        • TimM says:

          28 May28 May 15:17

          Reroutes predate EC261 by several decades.

        • onlysuites says:

          28 May28 May 15:50

          As what Rob said. You can’t ask an airline to reroute you if its done more then 14 days out. EC261 only covers cancellations within 14 days. I found out the hard way when Norwegian cancelled my flight some 20 days out and there was nothing I could do.

        • Anna says:

          28 May28 May 16:41

          I thought it was only compensation that was affected by the 14 day period? If you look at the CAA guidance on re-routing it makes no mention of how far in advance a flight is cancelled.
          European Commission Interpretative Guidelines
          “4.2 Right to reimbursement, re-routing or rebooking in the event of denied boarding or cancellation

          “Article 8(1) of the Regulation imposes on air carriers the obligation to offer passengers a triple choice, between (i) reimbursement of the ticket price (36) and, in the case of connections, a return flight to the airport of departure at the earliest opportunity, (ii) re-routing to their final destination either at the earliest opportunity or, (iii) re-routing at a later date at the passenger’s convenience under comparable transport conditions, subject to availability of seats. As a general principle, when the passenger is informed about the cancellation of the flight and is correctly informed on the available choices, the choice offered to passengers under Article 8(1) is to be made once. In such cases, as soon as the passenger has chosen one of the three options under Article 8(1)(a), (b) or (c), the air carrier no longer has any obligation linked to the other two options. Nonetheless, the obligation to compensation may still apply according to Article 5(1)(c) in connection with Article 7.”

        • Lady London says:

          28 May28 May 16:47

          @onlysuites you are uncorrect. Duty of care rights under EC261 continue even above 14 days notice. this amongst other things includes your right to a full ticket on another carrier if BA canned the route.

          It’s compensation right part of Eu261 that does not apply if over 14 days notice is given.

        • Anna says:

          28 May28 May 16:49

          This is from The Telegraph:

          “What are my rights if my flight is cancelled?
          If your flight is cancelled for any reason, and ***regardless of when you are notified***, your airline must offer you the choice between:
          1) ***Re-routing as soon as possible, subject to availability, free of charge.***
          2) Re-routing at a later date.
          3) A full refund within seven days.”

          I’m sure this has been discussed a few times on HFP. Re-routing is an absolute right, compensation and duty of care only kick in from 14 days prior to travel. So I would argue that david is entitled to be re-routed on a flight from LBA if he chooses and BA are trying to pull a fast one as usual.

        • Lady London says:

          28 May28 May 17:38

          @onlysuites you were told incorrectly about Norwegian. You do have the right. It’s just that practically due to their situation it became very hard to enforce things with Norwegian. You did have other options though.

    • Lady London says:

      28 May28 May 16:44

      yes it does entitle to that under Ec261/2004. they cannot deny you if there is another airline flying from LBA that will get you where you are going even changing planes at a different city en route.

      the luggage issue is a key reason why I said yesterday dont let them make you do any ground arrangements.

      BA are adults who are responsible for their own decisions, they are old enough to know the law so make sure they dont deny you the free ticket on another airline you’re entitled to have them provide you under EC261/2004

      • Anna says:

        28 May28 May 16:53

        +1 – if this happened to us there is no way we could get our luggage onto a train, even if it went straight to LHR with no changes. We’d also probably have to travel the day before the connecting flight which would incur accommodation costs.
        And I did fight BA and win last year on a point of EU261, though it was a delay, not a cancellation!

        • Lady London says:

          28 May28 May 17:43

          you do get duty of care as well as reroutiing over 14 days too so hotel and meals etc are your entitlement too.

          I would defo take KL from LBA if LBA was still the most convenient for me. Schlepping luggage on UK trains and changing stations with it in London to reach Heathrow is a living hell.

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