The new HFP chat thread – Monday 29th June

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• BrianN says:

  29 Jun29 June 10:33

  Hi re the Virgin Reward Plus Credit Card Companion Voucher. Are you able to arrive at one airport and depart from another? Thanks

  • EwanG says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:52

    Yes, you can use your voucher for open jaw bookings

    • BrianN says:

      29 Jun29 June 11:56

      Hi thanks for the reply. Do you know if there are any similar rules for open jaw booking such as airport distance etc etc (similar to the rules BA apply to their voucher)?

• Dave says:

  29 Jun29 June 11:05

  Hi HFP!

  I booked a pair of return tickets with Lufthansa in First from Heathrow to Bangalore at the amazing sale price back in January. Was supposed to be travelling this June, but obviously flights have been cancelled. Lufthansa have been clear about offering rebooking, and I want to push out to next May, but as I booked through Expedia have been having problems – they keep saying they can’t rebook anything and have applied for the refund – which I really don’t want.

  Any advice on how to proceed or if I should just settle for the refund? Would really rather the flights than the 1500 back but not making any headway with Expedia

  Cheers

  Dave

  • Anna says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:11

    It sounds like a lot of people have been having issues with Expedia! You are absolutely entitled to re-booking under EU261 but I don’t know how you enforce this with an OLTA as opposed to an airline.

  • Rob says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:49

    Is Lufthansa actually offering rebooking with no fare difference to pay? Good result if so.

    Weird why Expedia is being so dopey because it really is just a few clicks. Not massively more work than processing a refund.

  • Lady London says:

    29 Jun29 June 13:01

    quite possibly expedia stumbling on the fact that your ticket would to be reissued due to more than 11-11.5 months or so since you bought it, till the flight you want.

    I am not sure how to enforce the right you have. if i was up for a fight and prepared to see it through I would send LH and Expedia jointly a formal note specifying due to LH cancellation you wish to travel on x later date and requesting them to do whatever is necessary between them to provide this. Mention that if you do not receive a ticket for your later travel date as requested, within 30 days ( longer if you want to) you will consider an official complaint and other actions to recover all costs and booking fees, any additional cash cost of replacement ticket, plus any othee costs

    After 30 days go to credit card under section 75 for cost of replacement ticket. no point threatening this just do it. chargeback would release airline and expedia from obligations so dont do that.

    Depends how up for a fight you are.

    • ankomonkey says:

      29 Jun29 June 13:57

      Aren’t flights on Expedia only bookable 330 days ahead? I’ve always assumed they use whichever of the booking systems that VS use.

• Louise says:

  29 Jun29 June 11:10

  Any recommendations for a nice 5* Paris Hotel with family rooms (2ad and 2 children aged 6 & 4), with decent parking?

  TIA

  • Anna says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:16

    I had booked the IC Paris Le Grand, though unfortunately had to cancel due to OH getting leave request knocked back. However, it was possible to book a club room which accommodated children through the IC Ambassador programme, so it might be worth your while joining this if you are IHG members or considering joining. This allows all day food and drink in the club lounge and the reviews say that there are toys and games provided for children. Worth a look anyway. I’m hoping to be able to re-book at some point!
    I didn’t check re parking but imagine anywhere in Paris it will come at a price!

    • Louise says:

      29 Jun29 June 11:21

      Thanks but I think the IC Paris Grand is closed for my dates.

      I did however find the Presidential Suite at the Royal Monceau for £28k! I think not..

      • Anna says:

        29 Jun29 June 11:37

        😯

    • Rob says:

      29 Jun29 June 11:46

      Club access at Le Grand is free if you book via Emyr, which is a substantial saving (supplement is usually €150 per night IIRC). The top floor lounge has now gone though and it is in a temporary spot whilst a new one is built as part of the renovations.

      • Anna says:

        29 Jun29 June 12:46

        Is that in a standard room? I had a club room booked, which had access included already. I will make a note to check with Emyr though when we get a chance to re-book. Though with flight prices to European cities at Feb half term hovering around £100 pp one way I’m not sure when that will be! (not paying that for a 3 night stay, if we had a week it might be different).

        • TGLoyalty says:

          29 Jun29 June 18:45

          Yep in a standard room vi via Emyr.

• Sam says:

  29 Jun29 June 11:12

  Hi all, I currently bank with HSBC but the account isn’t a Premier Account. I can recall reading some comments on HFP about the benefits of having a Premier Account – I meet the qualifying criteria. Is the credit card worth having as well as the Premier current account? Thanks!

  • memesweeper says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:25

    The Premier account comes with decent travel insurance and, if you fully meet the criteria already, is free. You also get a better phone service. On that basis upgrading to Premier is a no-brainer.

    With the credit cards it’s less clear cut. The free one pays effectively 1 air mile for £ 2 spent. If you have nothing better in your wallet then you might consider it. Also interesting if you need to amass Asia Miles or KrisFlyer miles.

    The paid for one is £ 195 and makes the earning rate 1 air mile for £ 1 spent. The cost is a steep £ 195 and only makes sense long term if you spend close to a grand a week or more on your card. However there’s usually a decent sign up bonus which might make it worthwhile for you for the first year or two if you typically spend less.

    About once a year historically there’s been a transfer bonus to Avios, so even if you collect only Avios don’t transfer unless you need them, or there’s a bonus running, or they’re about to expire.

    • Genghis says:

      29 Jun29 June 11:52

      Good advice.
      On the WE card, the £195 fee in year one is offset by the 20k (airmile, 40k HSBC point) sign up bonus and the £195 fee in year two by the 20k anniversary bonus. Then you’ve got access to a high earning non-Amex which comes with lounge key as others have mentioned (but no guests; supps are £60 a pop which come with lounge key).
      I’d say after year two, it’s certainly not a no brainer as you’d then have to run some numbers to see if it’s worth it for you, i.e. spend on this card vs paid alternatives vs free alternatives.

  • Dan says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:27

    Yes, the Premier Mastercard is they best avios earning MasterCard on tech market I believe. The free one earns 0.5 avios per £ and paid one (£195) earns 1 avios per £ – which are both significantly better than the Tesco one. There is also free LoungeKey membership!

  • Craig says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:27

    Premier current account for free travel insurance and I’ve found dealing with them to include minor pre-existing conditions very good. The World Elite credit card is pretty decent for earning points but it’s an individual judgement call on whether you’ll cover the fee each year.

    • Sam says:

      29 Jun29 June 11:38

      Thanks all! Just rang HSBC but they aren’t accepting any upgrades to accounts due to the pandemic so a bit annoying but will hopefully try again in a few weeks.
      Thanks again!

      • RC says:

        29 Jun29 June 15:55

        Been trying the same recently. Ironically you can apply online ONLY if you are not currently a HSBC customer. Whereas it has to be branch appointment only for upgrades. Surely theres less checks if you already have an account …….

  • Amit says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:41

    I have the HSBC Premier Account however I haven’t taken the credit card as you have to pay for guest to get into the lounge. With a family of four it just doesn’t make sense.

    I am still struggling with what card to replace my now cancelled AMEX platinum with.

  • pauldb says:

    29 Jun29 June 12:02

    They usually have a sign-up promo for the banking, like a free hotel DB&B night, so once they reopen it’s worth waiting for that.

    Unless you are swimming in avios, if you have a reasonable level of non-Amex spend, the £195pa card is worth it. You get 20k sign-up bonus, then the same on anniversary if you’ve spent £12k. So the bonuses sort of cover the two x £195 fee, plus you get the generous earning rate on base spend. Quite often they run a transfer bonus of 30-40% (often in August) and you can hold on to your points to wait for that; in which case it’s even better.

    • Matt says:

      29 Jun29 June 20:09

      Could you wait for the anniversary points to post, cancel the card (without having used it in year 2) and get a refund of the second annual fee?

      • memesweeper says:

        29 Jun29 June 20:31

        I don‘t think so — I’m pretty sure I asked at the time of application and was told no. You should set a diary reminder for 23 months and cancel/downgrade at that point. Incidentally I’ve just come to the end of my second year, and was about to cancel/downgrade, but have just decided the maths works to hold the World Elite for one more year at least.

• Doug M says:

  29 Jun29 June 11:22

  Has there been any further news or update on the Curve Vs Amex court case? Did Curve ever actually pursue it, or was it just talk.

  • Rob says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:45

    Never heard anything.

  • Andrew says:

    29 Jun29 June 12:13

    Was just talk so they didn’t look complete idiots for not checking with Amex before they launched.

• Doug M says:

  29 Jun29 June 11:25

  Does upgrading a Curve Blue to a Black or Metal reset the spend limits?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:46

    It did for black to metal for me

  • Pat the Postie says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:47

    It resets the amount you spend to 0 the limits stayed the same for me (last month)

    • Pat the Postie says:

      29 Jun29 June 11:48

      The amount I had spent to 0 that is, so i could use the full limit again.

    • Doug M says:

      29 Jun29 June 13:47

      Yes that’s what I meant, cheers. My limit is still 50K which I’m very close to. Don’t want to invite them looking too closely as I’ve not done a great deal of the sort of spend they’d like.

  • Genghis says:

    29 Jun29 June 11:48

    IME, yes. Has done a few times. But now limits are reasonable for me and wife.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      29 Jun29 June 11:55

      After struggling to get mine increased above £50k in the past I’m now blessed with £500k

      • Rob says:

        29 Jun29 June 12:18

        I still have £50k!

  • Grant says:

    29 Jun29 June 12:41

    Metal – yes. Not sure about Black

  • Lady London says:

    29 Jun29 June 13:10

    Many posters reported this happened with metal.

• rams1981 says:

  29 Jun29 June 11:40

  anyone had issues re-verifying cards with Curve? Some of mine given an error message.

  • ian_h says:

    29 Jun29 June 12:23

    Same here keeps telling me its an incorrect cvv code when I can see its correct.

  • Doug M says:

    29 Jun29 June 12:43

    I used at NS&I this morning, no reverification of card, just the usual Curve authorisation process.

  • The Urbanite says:

    29 Jun29 June 13:05

    Only for a Wirecard card and one HSBC Rewards card that should have been removed ages ago…the rest are active cards and verified ok.

  • the_real_a says:

    29 Jun29 June 13:55

    Notifications to confirm transactions are not appearing for me again since the update.

• EJH says:

  29 Jun29 June 12:09

  I can’t make payments at the moment – in-app verification isn’t coming up (worked last week)

  • Jonny says:

    29 Jun29 June 13:26

    I’m encountering the same issues, having updated the app.
    Never been a problem in the past…

  • the_real_a says:

    29 Jun29 June 13:57

    Same at 1:30pm… I wish they would find a better way of implementing this.

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