The new HFP chat thread – Tuesday 30th 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/2020/06/30/the-new-hfp-chat-thread-tuesday-30th-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

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

Roy says:

30 Jun30 June 15:30

I suspect this might be of interest to some here: The Fees for Payment of Taxes, etc. by Card Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/657) were published today. The explanatory note reads:

The Regulations, with effect from 1st November 2020, revoke and replace the Fees for Payment of Taxes, etc. by Credit Card Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/333) and the Fees for Payment of Taxes, etc. by Credit Card (Amendment) Regulations 2017 (S.I. 2017/1262).

Regulation 2 provides that a fee is payable whenever a business credit or debit card is used to make a payment to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (“HMRC”). Under the revoked legislation, a fee was only payable to HMRC in relation to payments with specified business credit cards and was not payable in relation to payments by any debit cards. The Regulations accordingly increase the range of cards in respect of which a fee is payable. The fee is determined by the formula in Regulation 3 and is equal to the sum of the three fees ultimately incurred by HMRC when receiving payment by card.

A Tax Information and Impact Note has not been prepared for this instrument as it contains no substantive changes to tax policy.
- The Urbanite says:
  
  30 Jun30 June 15:44
  
  Interesting – one to watch. The taxman is a generous source of points.
Sandra says:

30 Jun30 June 15:41

Last week I applied for (via HFP link) and got the Amex Gold card which arrived today & I have just linked it to my account with my BAPP card. The primary reason I applied was to see if I get different/better offers and also because once I collect the next BA 241 voucher I will probably cancel that card. Because I hold the BAPP I did not expect to get the Amex Gold spend bonus but when I looked at the membership section after registering the Gold card it is showing a counter towards the 20k bonus points for spending 3k I the next 6 months. Is this correct and if I spend 3k (which I can easily as I am waiting to pay for new furniture when it’s ready to be delivered) will the bonus post?! I still get confused over Amex new card bonuses!
- Rob says:
  
  30 Jun30 June 15:43
  
  No, you shouldn’t get it. Amex IT is not great, however, so you might but I wouldn’t bet on it and I wouldn’t go hugely out of your way to hit the spending target unless you are spending the money anyway.
  - Sandra says:
    
    30 Jun30 June 16:03
    
    Thanks Rob, I am spending anyway between now and Xmas so will probably see if the counter stays on my account, spend and see if it counts down towards bonus, then hope their IT is still rubbish!
Swiss_Flyer says:

30 Jun30 June 15:51

Info required please:

Had a reschedule to my Swiss flights which now means I will arrive over 3.5 hours later. How much of a time change can allow you to cancel your booking for a refund?
- Marcw says:
  
  30 Jun30 June 16:00
  
  It depends on the airlines
  - Lady Londonq says:
    
    30 Jun30 June 23:33
    
    EU261 states limits. I suggest you Google its text. Amount allowed to be later is, I think 3hrs for yoir trip and your timing has exceeded that.
    
    As @marcw says many airlines will allow cancellation or rebook for much smaller changes – even 20min in some cases. If you want to cancel ask the airline.
    
    Meanwhile take a look at your flight number – has it changed? if so then it counts as tbeir cancellation and you are entitled to a refund without question.
- onlysuites says:
  
  30 Jun30 June 18:39
  
  I would think this much time is good enough to ask for a change or cancel.
Don says:

30 Jun30 June 15:52

MCC on Curve seem totally screwed due to Wirecard switch, can we take advantage of that? Seems like that might be an opportunity for those without Metal to use Fronted?

Is the Curve MCC 8999 now?
- memesweeper says:
  
  30 Jun30 June 16:44
  
  Explains something that went through this morning that should not have!
  - Lady Londonq says:
    
    30 Jun30 June 23:35
    
    oh dear. I do hope not too msny people take advantage of this temporarily opened loophole before it closes
    .
- Don says:
  
  30 Jun30 June 23:51
  
  Yes, seems Revolut going through with Curve MCC no transfer of MCC.
Baji Nahid says:

30 Jun30 June 16:27

So Pakistan International had been banned by europe EASA and will not be allowed to fly to europe for 6 months. My question is, does this ruling apply to the UK too? since we’ve left the EU but are in a transition zone?

I appreciate all the help.
- Baji Nahid says:
  
  30 Jun30 June 16:29
  
  has not had*
- Rhys says:
  
  30 Jun30 June 16:33
  
  I believe the UK will continue to be part of EASA even after Brexit.
  
  Frankly, with the news coming out that 30-40% of PIA pilots have fraudulent qualifications I should hope so!
  - Rob says:
    
    30 Jun30 June 16:37
    
    Boris likes deregulation 🙂
  - Ralph says:
    
    1 Jul1 July 10:16
    
    The official position is that the UK will leave EASA on 31 December at the end of the transition period and the CAA will take over the relevant regulatory functions. That could theoretically change, but our membership of EASA would otherwise have been downgraded to ‘observer’ type status so that we would be bound by the rules, but not have any input, obviously fairly undesirable. I understand that leaving EASA causes lots of difficulties for pilot licences etc.
- ChrisC says:
  
  30 Jun30 June 18:10
  
  We are still to all intents and purposes still an EU member until the end of the year though we can’t take part in making decisions.
  
  EASA has banned PIA from EASA controlled airspace so even if the UK hadn’t banned PIA there are very few – if any – routes that would allow PIA to reach the UK.
  - Don says:
    
    1 Jul1 July 00:35
    
    This strikes me as Islamophobia by EASA.
    - Callum says:
      
      3 Jul3 July 02:42
      
      Do you care to explain how?
      
      I don’t see the point in making such a nonsensical claim if you’re not going to explain it!
Dominic says:

30 Jun30 June 17:27

RE Etihad 50% offer..

Just taken a look at my credit card; Etihad have charged me for the entirety of my 50% bonus! Unbelievable.

Will obviously call to get the money back, but the ineptitude is incredible.
- Chris K says:
  
  30 Jun30 June 17:36
  
  Wow. Makes you wonder how many people won’t notice. Worrying.
Andrew says:

30 Jun30 June 17:28

Data point on Amex referrals: friend applied for Gold (from my Platinum link) on Sunday evening, points in my account this morning. So it seems the delay issues have been resolved.
- Secret Squirrel says:
  
  30 Jun30 June 17:45
  
  Same here, referred the wife Sun, just checked again and 9k points in.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  1 Jul1 July 01:22
  
  +1 9k points in account
  
  Surprised Amex didn’t extend the offer tbh
Laura_D says:

30 Jun30 June 17:52

A piece of advice for people who’ve bought BA operated flights through Iberia: CHECK IF THE FLIGHT IS STILL GOING AHEAD AS IBERIA WILL NOT NOTIFY YOU IF CANCELLED. It truly is amazing.

My partner and I are flying from Spain to LHR on the same flight, but I bought one ticket through IB with Avios, and the other one through BA in cash. The BA booking was cancelled 6 days ago, and nothing from IB…until I decided to check it and there’s a big red sign saying cancelled and I need to call them as I can’t do anything through the website (amazing, booked business using avios and now need to call).

On this topic, has anyone had to deal with the IB call center for flight rescheduling? There are flights leaving later the same evening – the BA ticket is allowing me to switch to the flight for free – any chance I can do the same with the IB ticket? There’s always the worry of being able to ‘sync’ it at the same time so we both get on the same flight…

Any input appreciated.
- Doug M says:
  
  30 Jun30 June 19:09
  
  All I can offer is unless you have a specific reason always book with the operating airline. Codeshares always behave differently. Not being told pertinent information by an airline really isn’t that surprising. The more you travel the more you become accustomed to these types of issue.