The new HFP chat thread – Monday 1st June

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• KeithS says:

  1 Jun1 June 10:59

  ok, it’s time for the Amex ‘rinse & repeat’ (although doing this every 2 years is not quite as good as every 6-7 months!)

  I was about to do the Amex Plat for me, then refer Mrs K. However, seeing as they have ramped up the fee (although I would try to spend asap to get a bigger pro rata rebate) together with the spending requirements I am tempted by the Amex Gold – 20k MR points / no fee / lower spend. Also, having retired, my spend isn’t as much – not sure I want to be sitting on about £5k’s worth of Sainsburys vouchers as I have done in the past! Amex Plat has the 6 month spend, but that means nearly £300 in fees.

  Seems by going for the Ameg Gold I wouldn’t be too far short of the Amex Plat points, but with zero cost even allowing for the pro rata refund on the Plat (also, if I could put an additiononal £12k spend I understand there will be an additional 10k bonus MR points).

  This is a long post to ask if the self referrals still work (and if anyone sees any failings in my logic above).

  Many thanks in advance

  • Rhys says:

    1 Jun1 June 11:04

    It’s best not to self-refer, as Amex have been clamping down (and closing accounts) that do so in the US. No reports of that happening here yet, but best not to have it on your file.

    You’re always welcome to use our links and pay your HFP subscription!

    • KeithS says:

      1 Jun1 June 11:14

      Done that many times, before your time 😉

      Funny you mention credit file. Since retiring (early, I may add!) and becoming a (very) mature student, I didn’t realise how difficult it would be to maintain a perfect credit score.

      • Lady London says:

        1 Jun1 June 13:04

        If you are now retired and a mature student, I would suggest following @Travelstrong’s advice and not self-referring even if in the far distant past you might have done so.

        The reason is that being technically retired and/or a student may give you less choice of credit providers in future. So I would not want to “blow” my relationship with Amex.

        Additionally providers of consumer credit seem to be leaving the UK market, possibly due to the cap on interchange charges,possibly Brexit etc. So fewer to choose from.And anecdotally providers that remain seem to be withdrawing some products and may be tightening acceptance criteria. Some cardholders have even receiving letters closing down good accounts from their providers-presumably because the provider has had advice to reduce their exposure to some types of risk.

        So personally I would not cancel any card right now unless you get a serious mistreatment from them- and I definitely wouldn’t self-refer in case Amex started closing accounts for anyone that’s self-referred in, say, the past1-3 years. With the immediate outlook for the UK consumer credit market it’s just not worth losing one of the reducing number of providers available.

        • KeithS says:

          1 Jun1 June 13:36

          Good points

  • Travel Strong says:

    1 Jun1 June 12:44

    Self-Referrals still work. As I have a significant amount of them already, I’ve carried on doing them. It would be easy to block self referrals, but they appear to have chosen not to.

    • Rob says:

      1 Jun1 June 12:56

      Ameex in the US has recently retrospectively punished people who did this. Probably coming here soon.

      • Travel Strong says:

        1 Jun1 June 13:09

        I would gracefully accept the punishment when the time comes.
        But Amex would simultaneously lose about £850 of card fee’s per annum.
        I do actually keep the cards for a year and use them normally, no pro-rata refunds.

        Seeing as I’d already be on the ‘naughty list’, there’s really no incentive to stop!

  • Lady London says:

    1 Jun1 June 13:08

    do referring each other within a couple or a family if you must – don’t self-refer.Self-referral can be more profitable if planned, with increasing “gap”period required for Amex signup bonuses.

    Amex Gold also looks the sweet spot right now with decent bonus for not too long a gap.

    • Lady London says:

      1 Jun1 June 13:20

      oops*Self-referral above should be replaced with *Referrals

• Fred says:

  1 Jun1 June 11:11

  Whatever happened those QATAR status matches that were offered last month? Did anyone actually get one?

  The rules changed three(?) times so I was curious of the eventual outcome and wondered if Amex Krisflyer statuses got matched.

  • Craig says:

    1 Jun1 June 14:22

    I posted earlier that I received and email today saying it was under consideration. I’ll update when I hear anything else.

• Jody says:

  1 Jun1 June 11:18

  An Easyjet question for those in the know please! Just had our flight to Krakow cancelled, as I knew it would be. Flight back hasn’t been yet, but it will be. I would like to apply for a refund, however, I’ve got lots of flights on the same booking ref. Two of them we’ve already flown as they were in Feb, but 2 of them are for next year (I took advantage of the change your flights to any route for any time at no extra cost for a couple of flights that were originally booked for the end of this month).

  Might sound silly, but I’m a bit worried if I apply for a refund for my Krakow flights, they’ll end up doing something with these rebooked flights as well with them all being on the same booking ref. Looked at the refund form, and there only seems to be space for the booking ref and not the fight numbers.

  Am I worrying unnecessarily do you think?

  • Lady London says:

    1 Jun1 June 12:46

    I think you’re worrying unnecessarily.You can amend just one flight on a booking online. So I don’t see how that wouldn’t work for refunds if you’re clear which flight you want refunding and state your reason is their cancellation.

    In fact if you have several flights on the same booking they actually *won’t*refund anything they can possibly justify is not the actual flight cancelled(only). Or its return, on the same booking.Note that I’ve even had Easyjet refuse to cancel a flight on the same booking, that was the next flight coming back on the same route.They refused to refund the return flight because in between, there were flights back to the starting point of the cancelled flight….from *other* airports though, not from the destination of the outward cancelled flight. Easyjet weaselled and refused to refund the return flight on the same booking with this being their excuse.

    So based on Easyjet’s weaselling I don’t think you have any reason to worry they might refund any other flight on the booking you don’t want them to. Your problem will be the opposite :getting them to refund anything that’s become useless as a result of their cancellation.

    I would be very interested to hear from anybody that has actually had a refund from Easyjet though! And whether it was calculated correctly. Particularly if there were other flights on the booking that were not refunded.

    • Jody says:

      1 Jun1 June 13:44

      Thanks Lady London. I did wonder about the refund itself and if people have actually received them or not without having to resort to doing a dispute with their bank.

      • Michael says:

        1 Jun1 June 13:56

        Getting through to EasyJet was the difficult part. I was on hold for two hours forty minutes but once through the refund request was dealt with quickly. The money was back on my BAPP a few days later as promised. Full, correct amount.

        • Jody says:

          1 Jun1 June 17:33

          Thanks. Will wait until the return flight is cancelled before making a final decision on what to do. Might consider moving the flights for a long weekend somewhere next May day.

• Arnold says:

  1 Jun1 June 11:19

  EA refusal to refund upgrade fees.
  I have spoken to a contact at BA who tells me that a policy decision has been taken not to refund an upgrade fee (that has previously been paid) of £150 when a flight is cancelled. My contact said that there have been quite a number of complaints. In their opinion, if sufficient people complain, especially Executive Club members, then it may force a change of policy.

  • Charlieface says:

    1 Jun1 June 14:30

    Legally they must as it’s part of the cost of the flight. Tell them you’ll take it to court if they push back

• Arnold says:

  1 Jun1 June 11:20

  BA refusal to refund upgrade fees.
  I have spoken to contact at BA who tells me that a policy decision has been taken not to refund an upgrade fee (that has previously been paid) of £150 when a flight is cancelled. My contact said that there have been quite a number of complaints. In their opinion, if sufficient people complain, especially Executive Club members, then it may force a change of policy.

  • Lady London says:

    1 Jun1 June 12:52

    I don’t think BA has a legal leg to stand on if BA cancelled the flight and you’ve requested a refund.Anything that was paid towards that flight should be refunded including seat requests, extra luggage, change requests, upgrade costs in avios and/or cash,etc. As it’s all been made useless due to BA’s cancellation.

    What a reprehensible company British Airways are. Putting every barrier in front of refunding customers for losses caused by BA’s own cancellations.Yes the reason for the flight cancellation is force majeure but that risk belongs with BA not their customer.

    • Doug M says:

      1 Jun1 June 14:20

      What you say may at face value be true, but in comparison with their rivals they’re behaving very reasonable. Now best of a bad bunch may not mean much, But I’d sooner being chasing BA for a refund right now rather than just about any other UK or European airline.

    • Ben says:

      1 Jun1 June 17:57

      I’ve had exactly the same from Lufthansa – refusal to refund upgrade fees simply stating that ‘these are non-refundable’ despite the flights not going ahead. Having said that, Lufthansa are not paying out refunds at all it seems, so I’ve done chargebacks for the original ticket and upgrade fee transactions. BA in comparison have been easy and reasonable to deal with.

• ilou says:

  1 Jun1 June 11:20

  Is BA going to extend status for all members this year ?

  • Rhys says:

    1 Jun1 June 11:22

    We don’t know yet

  • Craig says:

    1 Jun1 June 14:23

    I hope so, my meagre bronze expires in 4 weeks.

  • marcw says:

    1 Jun1 June 21:37

    No.

• Soloflyer1977 says:

  1 Jun1 June 11:21

  I may need to transfer a decent amount of euros (circa EUR50/60k) in the coming months. I have only ever used Revolut for up to EUR2k. Is Revolut the way to go or should I be looking at Transferwise or other alternatives?

  • Harry T says:

    1 Jun1 June 11:30

    I wouldn’t be keen to trust Revolut with a large amount. There’s no FSCS protection and they have been known to freeze accounts. Customer service has been reported as fairly suboptimal at times, too.

    Transferwise are a legit company and offer very competitive rates for transfers. I’ve transferred thousands with them and never had an issue.

  • Neil says:

    1 Jun1 June 11:40

    Not used Revolut for anything large. Have used Transferwise for smaller amounts and WorldFirst for larger. Not had any issues with either and spoken to the WorldFirst people on a few occasions and seem very good.
    The main thing with all these is the total cost – so fees + anything in the rate differences.

    • EJH says:

      1 Jun1 June 12:07

      Steer well clear of Revolut. Not sure the angst and frustration of potentially having your funds blocked is worth the marginal saving vs Transferwise.

      • memesweeper says:

        1 Jun1 June 12:35

        +1

  • Michael C says:

    1 Jun1 June 12:34

    I’ve done Transferwise for 6 figures, no probs

  • Matthew says:

    1 Jun1 June 13:54

    I always use Hargreaves Landsown for my current transfers, goos service and a human you can call in Bristol. Rates good too.

    • RussellH says:

      1 Jun1 June 14:16

      That is not at all my experience of H-L FX.

      I finally switched to them when the various firms I had used for business FX told me that they were no longer able to deal with me as a non-business customer. I had been comparing H-L’s rates with the various currency brokers I had been using, and H-L’s rates were always noticeably worse. It was simply a matter of convenience since I already had an H-L account and I did not expect to be using the service much, so the poorer rates were not that significant, I thought.
      I needed to send €6000 at the beginning of the year and discovered that H-L’s procedures had changed; I had to guess the GBP amount and transfer it to them, only then would they convert to EUR. Any left over GBP would be paid into my investment a/c. Not good.
      I looked into Transferwise for the first time after seeing it talked about here. Very simple, and I saved between £40 and £50 on the purchase price of the €6000.

      • Soloflyer1977 says:

        1 Jun1 June 14:59

        Thanks everyone. Looks like Transferwise will get my business when/if I need to make a transfer. Thanks again

        • Yuff says:

          1 Jun1 June 16:21

          I regularly do large euro transfers to Revolut without any issues.
          Revolut only cause problems when using loopholes, their fx rates are hard to beat.

        • The Savage Squirrel says:

          1 Jun1 June 19:23

          CurrencyFair and you can get the true spot price – or even a little better.

  • Lyn says:

    1 Jun1 June 20:03

    I looked into Transferwise for my sister after seeing it recommended in the HfP comments a few years ago. She was happy with their customer service and the set-up and actual transfer went very smoothly. You can check their current rate and fees easily to compare with other options..

• Nadeshka says:

  1 Jun1 June 11:27

  I’m (optimistically) sorting out our accommodation for our postponed trip to Japan next year.
  Any recommendations for places which are good to stay/go with a 2 year old? Since she’ll be more aware and walking I’m rethinking our itinerary that was originally for this April.
  We’re flying into Osaka and out of Tokyo. A bunch of Hilton and Marriott points to use – thinking Conrad in Tokyo just for reminiscing of our honeymoon trip, no idea how a toddler would go down there though.
  Also prioritising those with good cancellation policies!
  Giving up on Virgin holidays refund anytime soon…

  • FlyingChris says:

    1 Jun1 June 12:23

    We’re doing the same flights as well next year (likewise being optimistic). 🙂 If have any IHG points/free nights the Intercontinental Osaka we’ve found in the past was excellent and has amazing views over the city. Haven’t tried the Conrad in Tokyo, but at a slightly cheaper price point the Hilton Tokyo we enjoyed, had a great breakfast and is quite well located (though involved a lot of walking through tunnels to get to the subway if I remember). Hakone would be a good stop on the way back to Tokyo and a change of pace if you haven’t already been – lots of fun unusual transport to explore (boats/cable cars etc), hot springs, and a great open air sculpture museum (that’s far more interesting than it sounds, lots of colourful exhibits, things to climb, a hot spring foot bath etc).

    • Nadeshka says:

      1 Jun1 June 13:04

      Ah we went to Hakone on a previous trip when we climbed Fuji and yes it was lovely.
      We were looking at some more “countryside/nature” areas to go with her as cities could be a bit much so that’s one I will look into.
      She’s toddling around already but not at great speed so definitely want to be close to things! Previous trips we have been happy to walk for hours a day but realising kids mean we have to change our usual travel style (within reason 😉

      • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

        1 Jun1 June 15:03

        For (relative) countryside, I’d recommend Takayama, Nikko and the Magome-Tsumago trail (if you like gentle hiking with your daughter in a carrier). Nara or Arashiyama if you don’t want to go far off the beaten track but still want a bit of rural aesthetic.

        Renting a car and driving around Japan is pretty painless if you really want to get into the boonies.

        • bsuije says:

          1 Jun1 June 15:48

          Just bear in mind that you will need to get an international driving license to rent a car in Japan.

    • bsuije says:

      1 Jun1 June 15:51

      The Marriott Osaka is pretty good. Bus from the aiport stops nearby, and it’s right on top of a metro station and a department store. The breakfast was not great, but the department store had 2 floors of food hall and a little supermarket, so finding something to eat was not a problem.

      • Nadeshka says:

        1 Jun1 June 17:53

        Is that the Osaka Marriot Miyako? Unfortunately it won’t show any rooms for 3 people (even if one doesn’t need a bed!)
        On your other comment we did get international drivers permits last time – to drive around Tokyo in go-karts dressed up as Mariokart characters. Sadly that won’t be on the agenda this time!

        • LST says:

          1 Jun1 June 18:57

          I would email the hotel to tell them you are bringing a small child with a travel cot. They are usually fine with you booking a double room and mentioning it in the comments section of the booking. We have done it on the past and even blagged an upgrade to a suite!
          LST

  • Ron says:

    1 Jun1 June 14:30

    We’ve done a similar trip with our son couple of years back when he was four, we didn’t stay in Osaka, we stayed in Kyoto which is about 20mins away on the train. I would highly recommend Compton hotel if you do consider staying in Kyoto, they have different properties in Kyoto and some of them are renovated tradition Japanese houses and they are beautiful. I’m not sure if they provide travel cot though, it does say on their website they can provide baby chair, but no mention of cot. In Tokyo, I would recommend Hotel Gajoen, it’s a SLH hotel, it’s location is great and the hotel itself it’s amazing, it has its own waterfall inside the hotel! We stayed in a Japanese king room, which can be sectioned into two rooms and a small lounge area which is ideal with a little one. Our room has a jacuzzi Japanese bath and a sauna! I can’t wait to go back again with our second child!

  • Hugo says:

    1 Jun1 June 14:55

    We had an amazing 2 night / 3 day layover in Tokyo with our son when he was 18 months old on the way to Australia. Highly recommend the Tokyo Toy Museum and Borderless Labs for kids and let’s just say that he had a HUGE amount of attention and kindness everywhere – Japan was fantastic with a little one.

    • Ron says:

      1 Jun1 June 15:42

      Just out of interest, did you book your trip as one ticket. I’ve tried to booked with JAL to Oz few years back, but they said they don’t sell tickets in the U.K. all the way to Oz anymore, I can’t book two tickets, but obviously that’s a lot more expensive.

      • Ron says:

        1 Jun1 June 15:49

        *can book two tickets

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