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The new HFP chat thread – Thursday 11th June

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We have decided to run this new daily chat thread on Head for Points.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the defacto repository for random comments and questions.  It is unlikely that the news flow will be so big over the next few weeks that we will need many ‘Bits’ articles, however.

The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind.  At this tricky time, and given that many of you are stuck at home self-isolating, we want the HFP community to have a place to chat.

Please only comment under the main articles on the site if your comment is directly related to the topic of the article.  This has long-term benefits as its keeps the commentary relevant for people who read those articles in the future.

By default, HFP shows the last page of comments under the article.  If you want to see the first page of comments and read them all from beginning to end in order, click here: https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2020/06/11/the-new-hfp-chat-thread-thursday-11th-june/comment-page-1.  The page will refresh with this article but the comments will now show the first page and not the last page.

We will continue to monitor how this is working.  Let’s see how it goes.  Take care!

Category

General

Comments (168)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • Michael says:
    11 Jun11 June 10:51

    BA finally extending status for all

    • Genghis says:
      11 Jun11 June 10:52

      Source?

      • Craig W says:
        11 Jun11 June 10:54

        i just got the email as well:

        Dear Mr ,

        We all love to hear some good news every now and then. And so today, we wanted to tell you something that we hope will make you smile.

        As the world prepares to fly once more, we know there is still a long road ahead, and we wanted you to know that we’ll be right there with you every step of the journey.

        To say thank you for all your loyalty and support, we’ve added 12 months extra onto your Silver Executive Club membership. So you have more time to enjoy your benefits, whenever you’re ready to return to the skies.

        What’s more, it will be even easier to retain your Silver status next time you’re up for renewal, as we’ve decreased the amount of Tier Points needed by 25%. This is the same for upgrade thresholds too, making that next Tier more achievable.

        You can read more information here, and other ways we’re supporting you during this period.

        We hope that put a smile on your face. Thank you again for your loyalty.

        Your Executive Club Team

      • James says:
        11 Jun11 June 11:05

        See towards bottom of this page

        https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/tiers-and-benefits

        “ All members will benefit, starting with those who have a Tier Point collection end date of July 2020, through to June 2021.”

        Coronavirus: How the Executive Club is supporting you

        We’re adding 12 months extra onto your Executive Club membership – so you have more time to enjoy your benefits, whenever you’re ready to fly.

        All members will benefit, starting with those who have a Tier Point collection end date of July 2020, through to June 2021.

        What’s more, it will be even easier to retain your status next time you’re up for renewal, as we’ve decreased the amount of Tier Points needed by 25%. This is the same for upgrades thresholds too, making that next Tier more achievable.

        This results in lower Tier qualification thresholds, as shown below:

        Bronze: 225 Tier Points or 18 eligible flights
        Silver: 450 Tier Points or 37 eligible flights
        Gold: 1125 Tier Points
        To ensure our Members still have the opportunity to use their Gold Upgrade Vouchers, Companion Vouchers and Travel Together Tickets earned via a British Airways credit card, we’ve applied 6-month expiration extension to any current vouchers.

    • Eugene says:
      11 Jun11 June 10:55

      Happy to be a source. My TP year ends in July. I was 150 short of Gold. I wrote the CR team two days back asking for Gold given it was only 1050 for June year enders and the world is even more restrictive now for UK residents . And this AM up popped my Gold status email. Well done BA !

    • James says:
      11 Jun11 June 10:59

      Ditto here. I only had 40 tier points under my belt and was going to lose Gold in August.

      They’ve extended for 12 months and have said they’re reducing tier point requirements by 25%.

  • Harry T says:
    11 Jun11 June 10:54

    Multiple anecdotal reports of BA extending status by 12 months.

  • Will says:
    11 Jun11 June 11:05

    Odd one… Amex Gold credit card – I cancelled and then reapplied two weeks later in order to keep my rewards balance active (you have 30 days). This worked fine, but also the website considers the spend on the old card counts towards the £15k required spend on the new card to get the annual 10k rewards bonus. I wonder if this is a website bug, or if it is correct. Unfortunately I won’t reach the target anyhow to confirm or deny this due to current heavily reduced spending.

  • Doug M says:
    11 Jun11 June 11:07

    So Lufthansa took the Gov cash and then announced the job cuts

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53007048

    • Doug M says:
      11 Jun11 June 13:31

      How much of that is in the name, didn’t Germanwings get unpopular after the deliberate crash, and then switched more to Eurowings, or am I confused. I understood that Eurowings was about moving away from legacy fleet crews, sort of LH version of Mixed Fleet versus World Wide.

    • Doug M says:
      11 Jun11 June 13:40

      LCC is I think a term that has really come to mean (predominately) short haul airline. I almost always fly BA on short haul, because of RFS. But my few Easy trips have been fine, and whilst I have very limited experience of Ryan I’ve had some ridiculous bargain prices. I actually dislike Luton and Stansted far more than I dislike Easy or Ryan, Gatwick is not that easy to get to for me. No experience at all of Jet2 or other carriers. I think the LCC Vs Legacy differences have all but disappeared when buying cash tickets. Certainly in the USA I find JetBlue excellent, and South West were OK, I’ve never quite sunk to Frontier who I understand have a tiny seat pitch. Sorry I’ve lost whatever point I had, it’s just random thoughts.

      • Rhys says:
        11 Jun11 June 13:57

        I took Frontier several times as a student between Colorado and the East Coast and let me tell you, it has THE most uncomfortable seat I have ever had the displeasure of sitting in. It was basically a plastic body with a thin – and I mean less than a 1 cm – of padding. Awful. Spirit were marginally better.

        Still, it didn’t stop me flying them – Frontier had some excellent fares (for a student) and a surprisingly decent loyalty scheme!

        • Doug M says:
          11 Jun11 June 15:40

          Now you’ve mentioned Spirit I think I may have meant them. One of them definitely has horribly short pitch seating, probably both.

  • Harry T says:
    11 Jun11 June 12:15

    The Guardian are reporting that the Dept of Transport is encouraging all passengers to check baggage and not bring on hand baggage. How long before Ryanair and Easyjet take advantage of this to gouge customers with extra fees? This also reduces the value of BA HBO fares where you could bring a bag big enough for a week trip on board and save some money.

    “Airline passengers are being “strongly encouraged” not to take any hand luggage on flights as part of measures to slow the spread of Covid-19.

    Travellers should check in all baggage before boarding flights, according to new Department for Transport (DfT) guidance published today.

    The government urged airlines – which generally charge additional fees for putting luggage in the hold – to use “incentive policies” to minimise hand baggage.

    The DfT guidance states:

    You are strongly encouraged to check in baggage to the aircraft hold and minimise any hand baggage.

    This will speed up boarding and disembarking, and minimise the risk of transmission.

    Other advice for passengers includes wearing face coverings in airports and remaining seated as much as possible during flights.”

    • Anna says:
      11 Jun11 June 13:24

      I’ve pretty much given up on air travel for this year due to likelihood of further cancellations and unknown conditions at the other end. Hoping now that the UK might open up in July so we can at least have a change of scenery (from the house lol).

    • Jody says:
      11 Jun11 June 14:26

      Exactly the same here. My medical supplies always go in a hand luggage case simply because I can’t risk them being lost in the hold. Suitcase goes straight up, no faffing. I do have a Dr’s letter, but I really hope that carrying hand luggage isn’t going to become problematic.

    • Anna says:
      11 Jun11 June 14:49

      Are items such as computers even insured if they go in checked luggage? I wouldn’t want anything valuable to be out of reach on a plane journey.

  • Matthew says:
    11 Jun11 June 12:42

    Anyone got the UK Bonvoy telephone number to hand please? Want to transfer some points but can’t find it anywhere!! Thank you.

  • Richard says:
    11 Jun11 June 13:36

    I booked a BA flight on 5th May for £240 which is now £125. Is there any reason I shouldn’t (or can’t) cancel to get a voucher and re-book?

    • AJA says:
      11 Jun11 June 16:58

      Richard The only risk is that while you are waiting to get the e-voucher processed (it’s not instant) the current cheaper price goes up. Remember also that the e-voucher / Future Travel Voucher (FTV) can currently only be redeemed by phoning up. If you can afford to pay just do that and then cancel the current booking in exchange for a FTV to use against yet another flight.

  • Andrew says:
    11 Jun11 June 13:56

    Looking like Macdonald’s is teetering with 1800 (out of 2200 staff) job losses planned across the chain.

    Reported widely across the National Press.

    • mr_jetlag says:
      11 Jun11 June 14:05

      The hotel chain? Sad but expected.
      The burger chain? Apocalyptic.

      • Rob says:
        11 Jun11 June 14:06

        The hotel chain generally let good properties (like Bath Spa Hotel, which once won UK Hotel of the Year when Forte ran it) go to rot. Not in a Britannia sense, of course, but certainly operating well below their potential.

      • Andrew says:
        11 Jun11 June 14:12

        Got watch the spelling, It’s easy to remember.

        Donald Macdonald – Beds
        Ronald McDonald – Burgers

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

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