The new HFP chat thread – Sunday 31st May

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• memesweeper says:

  31 May31 May 09:57

  Marriott do five-nights-for-four on redemptions. Do any other chains offer this? I actively collect Marriott, IHG and Hilton.

  • Rhys says:

    31 May31 May 10:00

    Yes, it’s pretty standard. See Hilton here: https://headforpoints.com/2019/08/07/is-hilton-honors-the-best-hotel-loyalty-programmme/

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    31 May31 May 10:09

    Hilton

    • New Card says:

      31 May31 May 11:15

      BUT 5 for 4 applies to Hilton members with Silver status or higher only. Not to base members.

      You can of course get there quickly if you have Amex Platinum or can status match from another program. I’m not aware of any other short cut to Silver or higher?

      • Anna says:

        31 May31 May 11:27

        Holding HH visa card but this is closed to new applicants now.

        • Secret Squirrel says:

          31 May31 May 12:02

          My wife got silver for staying a few nights on points.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          31 May31 May 12:10

          Believe you get silver after 4 stays.

      • Charlieface says:

        31 May31 May 20:21

        There used to be a link for free Silver via Accenture or MVP or something, no idea if it’s still around

• David M says:

  31 May31 May 10:11

  Looking for any advice. I have BA Miles bookings for 10-Jul, return 24-Jul. The BA help line says they are only dealing with things over 30 days old! And FAQs do not deal with this. I am tempted to just cancel online. Anyone any experience they can pass on?

• Lawrence Howard says:

  31 May31 May 10:15

  Quick Question. All my refunds for a trip I booked for next month, save for a night I booked at the airport hotel for my return trip. I booked using Avios (yes, I know, but it suited me at the time)

  Even though Avios hotel bookings are listed as non refundable, given that I can’t even get into the country where the hotel is, can I get a refund?

  • Rob says:

    31 May31 May 11:14

    People have had massive issues getting refunds even when the hotel is closed. If it is open you are really going to struggle.

• Definitas says:

  31 May31 May 10:27

  Like others who have posted, I have a negative BAPP Avios balance due to refunds so am thinking about cancelling the card and starting again. Does anyone have any experience of how long you need to to wait to reapply (via referral from partner)?

  • Anna says:

    31 May31 May 11:28

    I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule but I would leave it a couple of months (I’d say longer but Amex do seem to be keen to get new business at the moment).

    • Secret Squirrel says:

      31 May31 May 15:45

      I closed the free BA Amex card & opened a BAPP the next week, all fine!

• Munch says:

  31 May31 May 10:52

  Trip to India and the Maldives booked for November Virgin to Mumbai. Trying to keep my options open so looking to book a direct BA flight to the Maldives with Avios (economy only showing unfortunately) and changing my trip to Maldives only.
  If India opens up and Virgin Atlantic survive by November what fees would I be charged for cancelling my BA Avios booking?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    31 May31 May 11:02

    £35 per person per booking.

• Andrew M says:

  31 May31 May 10:54

  Seat Spy seem to be limiting the number of manual searches that can be made by Economy (free) members. I’ve only made a small number of searches for Air France availability since the new pricing structure came in but the website now tells me that I have reached my maximum number of searches.

  Am I missing something? I don’t remember search limits being mentioned when the new pricing was introduced and I still can’t see anything on the Seat Spy website about it. Email alerts on non BA airlines are clearly now a premium feature but it seems performing a simple manual search is severely limited if you are on the free level.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    31 May31 May 11:02

    From what I saw on the websites it’s limited for ever airline but BA

  • Rob says:

    31 May31 May 11:11

    Odd. That wasn’t how I understood it.

  • Peter K says:

    31 May31 May 12:01

    If that’s correct then Seatspy is certainly not covering itself in glory when you take that on top of all the other issues.

    • Clive says:

      31 May31 May 12:36

      Try clearing your cookies

• Nicky says:

  31 May31 May 11:12

  I have an Annual Insurance Travel Policy with a large company. My policy is due to expire on 30/6/20: I have just received a renewal text from them this morning saying that due to the current Corona Virus pandemic they are unable to renew my policy at this time!!!!! I have rang as the website states it is open on a Sunday (as does the text) but after 5 minutes of listening to a boring message they are closed. Has anyone else received anything like this and what did you do. I am due to fly to Rome in September (hasn’t been cancelled) and am concerned I won’t get travel insurance if I have to go. Can anyone advise?

  • Anna says:

    31 May31 May 11:25

    It’s up to the insurance company whether they choose to insure anyone. Some companies have been reported to have stopped issuing new policies since the pandemic started. If you can’t get hold of them soon and convince them to change their mind, you need to get a new policy ASAP, and make sure you are covered for trips which are already booked.

    • Paul says:

      31 May31 May 12:23

      In my view his current policy will cover his trip if it is cancelled. When he booked the trip he had insurance and I suspect the ombudsman would take a dim view of them now withdrawing cover entirely and refusing a legitimate Claim on a policy in effect when the trip planned.

      It would not of course cover him actually going away.

      Of course I am no insurance expert and could be entirely wrong.

  • Lady London says:

    31 May31 May 11:29

    Quite common for a company to offer travel insurance for a while but them due to various reasons desist. I’ve had it happen with a couple of policies in the past when I was not a high risk customer, had not claimed and would have been the 3rd renewal.

    Either the policy has not made a profit or underwriter does not want risk or predicts cannot take risk going forward I guess.

    LV has been mentioned as a good one on here. MSE and their forums can give ideas where to look for things like this.

    • Harry T says:

      31 May31 May 12:46

      LV are excellent. No problems covering corona related shenanigans moving forward when I renewed in April. I specifically asked too, and the T&Cs haven’t changed since last year.

      • Nick_C says:

        31 May31 May 14:06

        One of the few mutuals that are still around. Well worth giving them your business.

        • Matty says:

          31 May31 May 17:22

          +1. I have my travel insurance with them. I used to use Amex (AXA) – stand alone policy – but they dicked me around. I pay a bit more but when I checked the conditions they suited me. Also, LV treated me really well when I was in a car accident a few years ago. They were not my insurers but acted for the other driver.

        • Alan says:

          31 May31 May 20:23

          I’m with them for car insurance – options a bit more limited with EVs but they were significantly cheaper than the competitors.

• fred says:

  31 May31 May 11:36

  Data update: For those with HSBC Premier Credit Card + Curve, i manged to deposit £500 into interactive investor before Curve capped it (even though my limit looks like it’s £2k). There’s no fee added. Curve said that they would not raise the limits as it looks like my transactions are against their ‘fair use policy’ using credit cards with investment companies.
  So i can add another £500 in 30 days time – but not much use for topping up the full £20k.

  • Nigel says:

    31 May31 May 12:01

    Interesting as in same situation. Does this apply to HL also?

  • rams1981 says:

    31 May31 May 14:43

    What do you mean capped it? Have they added a formal limit of £2k in your app?

    • Fred says:

      31 May31 May 17:54

      I can’t add more than £500 even though it says my card limit is £2k for the rolling 30 days.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        31 May31 May 18:47

        £500 is probably your daily limit.

        Mines £5k a day, £20k a month and £100k a year.

        • Fred says:

          31 May31 May 20:22

          Yeah you’re right, £500 per day. But £2k per month for now. Will take forever to fill up the limit!

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