The new HFP chat thread – Thursday 11th June

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• Brian W says:

  11 Jun11 June 02:32

  A useful “2 Bonus Avios for every £1 spent” offer has appeared on my BAPP:

  2 BA Avios will be awarded for every £1GBP spent at the participant merchants , every time until 12 September 2020.

  Offer valid instore and online at Marks and Spencer, Tesco and Waitrose & Partners
  Offer valid online only at Apple UK and Deliveroo.

  • davvero says:

    11 Jun11 June 03:01

    Thanks for the heads up! For me it was hidden down the list but it was indeed there.

    Maybe time to get a deliveroo, I’ve been using Just Eat because of Avios earned via the BA shopping portal.

  • Jane says:

    11 Jun11 June 06:19

    thanks for the heads up. got it on mine too

  • Phil says:

    11 Jun11 June 06:51

    That’s a decent offer. Not on my card to opt in for though.

  • Derek Begley says:

    11 Jun11 June 07:23

    Just saw this. These are basically the only places that I spend money at the moment lol.

    With club card points included, we are getting about 6 Avios per pound at Tesco now.

  • TokyoFan says:

    11 Jun11 June 07:40

    Yes I spotted that this morning – delighted as it appears I only spend in Tesco and Deliveroo these days!

  • Graeme says:

    11 Jun11 June 07:46

    Me too, thanks!

  • RWJ says:

    11 Jun11 June 07:58

    From reading the terms it’s not clear whether this is 2 Avios on top of the normal 1.5 (so 3.5 Avios per £) or instead of (so 2 per £).

    I’d like to think it’s the former, but we shall see! Thanks for the heads up.

    • Stanley says:

      11 Jun11 June 08:27

      OFFER DETAILS
      Save to Card to get 2 additional Avios for every £1 spent at Tesco, Waitrose & Partners, Marks & Spencer, Deliveroo and Apple every time until 12 September 2020. Terms and conditions apply.

      “additional” reads as 3.5 total to me.

      • NvT1115 says:

        11 Jun11 June 08:32

        That’s my reading also. Might not be rushing to get a platinum Amex for double points as this is better for 75% of my usuall spending

        • NvT1115 says:

          11 Jun11 June 08:33

          *usual

        • ChrisA says:

          11 Jun11 June 08:50

          That was my reading too, but the doubt comes from this wording when you click on the terms:

          ‘2 BA Avios will be awarded for every £1GBP spent at the participant merchants , every time until 12 September 2020’

        • Grant says:

          11 Jun11 June 09:20

          Ha! Perhaps Amex use the same people to write the terms of their offer as the Government use for writing Covid guidance.

        • Grant says:

          11 Jun11 June 12:04

          Some more clarification in the email that just arrived:

          “Don’t forget, the bonus Avios are on top of the usual 1.5 Avios you get with your Card. Let’s make summer more rewarding.”

      • RWJ says:

        11 Jun11 June 12:07

        Yeah, it’s clear in the email. Years of closely reading contracts makes me paranoid!

  • Iain says:

    11 Jun11 June 08:30

    I recently opened a BAPP but not yet had any offers showing. Does anyone know how long it takes for offers to start coming through? Thanks.

    • Anna says:

      11 Jun11 June 08:38

      It can take a few weeks. I’ve had my latest BAPP about 2 months and the first few offers have only just started coming through.

    • Andrew says:

      11 Jun11 June 09:36

      Give it time. With retailers closed for the last 3 months, the offers have been very light indeed recently.

      Pre-Covid I usually had around 30 offers on my LBG accounts and around 30-50 on my Amex at any one time. These days it’s about 8 on LBG and 10 on the Amex. LBG did put out a message to apologise and explain that offers would be limited whilst retailers faced disruption due to Covid – Amex didn’t say anything, but their merchants are in exactly the same position.

      I’m hoping for a Summer “Shop Small” to welcome us back to the high street.

  • Michael says:

    11 Jun11 June 08:40

    Anyone have it on a supp? It’s not on wife’s.

    • Brian W says:

      11 Jun11 June 09:08

      +1

      Swapped cards this morning though and I’ll use Apple Pay if I’m in Tesco or M&S, should work that way.

    • Jane says:

      11 Jun11 June 10:22

      nope to both supplementary cards in our house.

    • Aston100 says:

      11 Jun11 June 11:19

      Not on my supp, just the wife’s main BAPP.

  • AJA says:

    11 Jun11 June 09:53

    Thanks! On mine and my OH cards. Just got back from Waitrose about 45 mins ago so have a pending transaction. Let’s see if that gets the bonus.

    I think we may see more of these offers as spending must be down due to the lock down.

    • Aston100 says:

      11 Jun11 June 11:20

      What lockdown?
      All supermarkets I’ve been in/near have been heaving with people for weeks.

  • Spursdebs says:

    11 Jun11 June 10:43

    Also check your Tesco Clubcard account I’ve got triple points on 3 shops online or in store until 26/6 coupon to use. That’s a nice little haul of points.

  • Spursdebs says:

    11 Jun11 June 10:46

    Also check your Tesco Clubcard accounts, I’ve got triple points off 3 shops in store or online until 26/6. That with BAPP card is a nice little haul of points.

    • Rob says:

      11 Jun11 June 14:08

      Pretty much, yes …. if we had the offers, we’d run them.

  • Aston100 says:

    11 Jun11 June 11:18

    Doesn’t seem to exclude Tesco petrol stations. The only Tesco exclusion is Banking.
    I note however that petrol stations are excluded from Marks & Spencer – didn’t know they had any!

    This is on my wife’s BAPP card, but does not appear on my supp, despite the majority of the spend being done through my supp.

  • Gary says:

    11 Jun11 June 13:47

    This offer was sent to my wife by email and she followed the link to save it to the card, it wasn’t visible in the offers list. Is there any way to get it on my supplementary card too or is it only for the main card?

    • Gary says:

      11 Jun11 June 13:51

      Whoops, should have scrolled further before posting! It’s clearly not on most supplementary cards.

• Ceri Chaplin says:

  11 Jun11 June 06:10

  Anyone had experience of hotels.com travel voucher? I had a hotel stay booked for May in Madrid. It was obviously cancelled and I accepted a voucher as the rate that I booked was non refundable. The voucher was for £689 but when I’ve tried to rebook, I’m having to pay taxes on top of my booking and so the voucher only gives around £660 of value. Have spoken to hotels.com who say that the issued voucher doesn’t include taxes. This seems like sharp practice since the original booking and therefore voucher value included those charges. Don’t think there is anything I can do about it but wondered if others have found the same.

  • tony says:

    11 Jun11 June 08:46

    Not quite sure I understand. You paid £689 and got a voucher back for £689. Now you’re trying to rebook and being asked for an extra £29, which suggests to me that the price in pounds at the hotel has increased, which would be feasible if you booked earlier in the year when the Euro was weaker against the Pound, or indeed if the underlying room you want to book is more expensive owing to seasons etc.

    I don’t believe the hotels.com rebooking voucher was offered on the basis of you’ve bought three nights in hotel X so we’ll give you any other three nights in hotel X. (They were trying to foist one on me, but eventually the property relented and offered a refund).

    • Ceri Chaplin says:

      11 Jun11 June 12:37

      The original booking was £689 and I received a voucher for that value. Have tried to rebook the same hotel for next year. Total cost £727. When I applied the voucher it gave a value of £660. On contacting Hotels.com they have said this is because the voucher is only valid against the cost before fees and taxes are added and that in this instance the fees and taxes take the booking from £660 to £727 so the voucher can only be used up the the value of the pre fees/taxes booking.

      This seems inherently wrong given that my booking for this year was £689 including fees and taxes!

      • Ceri Chaplin says:

        11 Jun11 June 18:42

        Thanks. Great advice!

• Vicky TM says:

  11 Jun11 June 08:06

  Has anyone managed to get any tier points credited for cancelled flights?
  Thanks

  • Rob says:

    11 Jun11 June 09:19

    No, unfortunately.

  • Doug M says:

    11 Jun11 June 09:45

    Based on Flyer Talk posts that never happens.

  • Rachel R says:

    11 Jun11 June 10:33

    I got status upgraded in line with what I would have had if I’d taken cancelled flights.

    • Doug M says:

      11 Jun11 June 10:38

      Yes that seems to happen or not with usual inconsistency. What is never reported is the award of actual TP for cancelled flights. I guess the difference is lifetime TP, and possibly some unseen change like the effect TP may have on your CIV.

• Mark Peterborough says:

  11 Jun11 June 08:08

  I have noticed something odd with the IHG app which I hope is a slight wording change and not hint of a future change of policy.

  I tried to make a flexible room rate booking and whilst going through the booking process the message at the bottom of the page has started showing PAY NOW rather than BOOK NOW.

  This is in the App only.

• Graeme says:

  11 Jun11 June 08:11

  Hello all.

  At the start of May I asked Amex to do a chargeback (on a cancelled Plat) against KLM as they were refusing to refund a cancelled flight. Amex agreed and refunded the money, which was then transferred to my sister-in-law’s bank account (she paid for the flight for us and I deal with these things for her).

  Fast forward to yesterday and I received a letter from Amex saying that they were declining the chargeback and re-charging the money (£200) as KLM had provided evidence, which was that they had offered a refund in a year’s time, and that they were doing me a favour anyway as the fare was non-refundable – THEY cancelled the flight!

  It’s fair to say that this has angered me. I’m not the compensation type, but this isn’t on – I can’t believe that Amex are siding with KLM when the reasoning is nonsense. What would you do here? I need to chat online as I’m doing it on my sister-in-law’s behalf.

  Thanks all.

  • E says:

    11 Jun11 June 08:15

    Oh dear, we’re in the same position. Have the chargeback on Amex and waiting to see if it’s OK. KLM cancelled our flights too and I agree with you – I’ll be angry if we get that response too. Hopefully someone has an idea of the best approach – sorry I can’t advise on that.

  • Pat the Postie says:

    11 Jun11 June 09:13

    As far as I see, the contract for a non refundable service is that its provided on that date/time which can not be changed, if they can not supply said service then they are in breach of the contract. I do not see why you should have to wait a year for their cancellation.

  • GeorgeJ says:

    11 Jun11 June 09:20

    Report both instances (separately, ie two reports) to the Competition and Markets authority, there website is easy to use for this:

    a) KLM for not giving an immediate refund when they cancelled the flight

    b) amex for reversing a justifiable chargeback.

    The CMA gave guidance to the sector on 30 April, read that and see how you are affected if you want confirmation. The CMA have already issued warnings to some travel companies for not issuing refunds, including publicly in at least one case.

  • Don says:

    11 Jun11 June 09:27

    It seems with Amex in bed with every major airline in Europe that they are torn between their customers and their commitments with the airline.

    Imagine a solicitor which is arbiter for both parties. It doesn’t work well with estate agents…

    Maybe it’s time there is a truly independent arbiter, and if they say it’s already so (I am sceptical) some transparency on how the process is working.

  • jc says:

    11 Jun11 June 09:51

    For getting your £200 back: Amex often do this once they receive evidence. I tend to assume it’s carelessness not malice. But just contact them and say the evidence is nonsense and you want to run the chargeback again. Make clear that the evidence is flawed because KLM’s own T&Cs say you can get a refund within 7 days if they cancel the flight. (It will either say this directly, or indirectly by saying they abide by regs / EU 261). And they have not done this, so it’s a breach.

    For compensation: if you feel it’s owed, ask. If necessary, open a complaint. If necessary, escalate that to ombudsman.

    • Will says:

      11 Jun11 June 10:49

      but ombudsman state they can take 4 months to deal with your case, which defeats the whole purpose in many cases where airlines are saying 4 months…anyone got experience here?

  • Alex M says:

    11 Jun11 June 10:07

    Had similar experience with Amex and Ukrainian Airline (UIA), who cancelled my flight. Raised S75 claim with Amex and money appeared in my acct almost immediately. Two months later they were taken from me. Amex sent me the documents that UIA had sent them in their defence – turned out to be a copy of my ticket, Ukrainian government’s decree to cancel all flights and their cover letter. None of the above explains why I should not get my money back. I am still puzzled by all this and think that Amex people have not actually read the documents sent tot them by UIA.

  • Harry T says:

    11 Jun11 June 10:22

    This happened to my girlfriend with a Lufthansa flight recently. Lufty alleged that they informed her of the cancellation and offered her appropriate compensation of a voucher – however they did not such thing and were not contactable by any means. So she has initiated a section 75 claim instead after calling amex. Amex were apparently quite reasonable and helpful when she called.

  • Crafty says:

    11 Jun11 June 17:06

    Call Amex. I had exactly the same with a Ryanair chargeback. As soon as I spoke to someone sensible in Brighton she knew something was wrong and reopened the case, removing the charge again. I’ve never heard anything back.

  • Graeme says:

    12 Jun12 June 08:15

    Thanks everyone. I will be following just about all of that advice!

• Catman says:

  11 Jun11 June 08:23

  Hi all I have a new Miles & More card….does anyone know how long it takes the airline miles to post? I don’t think they ask for your M&M account so I’m scared it might be getting lost somewhere……especially as the whole M&M thing is a bit clunky to say the least. It’s not just the Diners Club card that’s a throwback to the 1970’s, their systems seem to be too!!!!! And if you incur a cash advance charge similarly how long it takes to appear, otherwise I have to wait for my 1st statement to be generated. Thanks

  • Greenpen says:

    11 Jun11 June 08:37

    My points arrive in my account on the same day I get my statement.

    I have found their customer service very good. However, my MasterCard has been declined several time; once when I was buying the same rail ticket everyday, once at a pre-authorisation petrol pump and a couple of times at Wickes. Used the Diners version just once in about eight months and everything else on MasterCard.

    Am slowly working towards the LH F!

• Martin Ive says:

  11 Jun11 June 08:38

  Hi, I have recently earned my AMEX 2-4-1 Companion voucher BUT I am due a large refund from Emirates for a cancelled holiday. When (IF) I get the refund and it is credited to my credit card, will AMEX revoke my 2-4-1 voucher? Thanks

  • Anna says:

    11 Jun11 June 08:40

    No, it’s safe once it’s in your BAEC account. You’ll have a negative avios balance though and will need to spend the refund amount on top of your next £10k if you keep the card.

  • Grant says:

    11 Jun11 June 09:23

    The smart play here, now that you’ve earned the 2-4-1, would be to cancel the card. When the refund lands you can then use this as a credit balance to pay off debit balances on other cards, or get it refunded to your bank. Bonus being you might get some card fee refunded and you won’t have a negative Avios balance on the card account.

• Anna says:

  11 Jun11 June 08:42

  BA possibly getting their act together…I phoned on Tuesday to ask for a refund for a BA holiday, got through straight away and the money is back on my BAPP this morning. It will pay for our new bed anyway.

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