The new HFP chat thread – Thursday 2nd July

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• Peter Taysum says:

  2 Jul2 July 18:06

  Hotels.com have just cancelled a booking for Sunday for five nights in Durham. Am having building work done, so booked this (am Medical Doctor working in ED Durham).

  They’ve cancelled stating “I requested this” which is a lie. I’m guessing they cancelled me to get more money. I’m covered by section 75 if they don’t pay me back (they state that they will) anything else I can do about breach of contract other than not use hotels.com again?

  Any similar things happening to others?

  • The Savage Squirrel says:

    2 Jul2 July 19:04

    This sounds like a good time to raise a formal complaint, especially given your job role and see what solution they can come up with. I’d bypass complaints and write to the MD…

    • Lady London says:

      2 Jul2 July 20:36

      +1
      At this short notice they need to provide you a nicer hotel at the same price.
      Go for it.
      I mean, you could be on your way from Australia now, out of contact, head to Durham, and find you haven’t got a bed.

      Please “go for it” and let us know how you get on.

  • Lady London says:

    2 Jul2 July 20:43

    PS Section 75 doesnt just pay you back. It covers the cost to put you back in the position you were in to receive what you booked.

    So if at this short notice what’s available in the time you have to search costs more, even if it’s of a higher standard but that’s just what’s findable, or if what’s available has extra costs or extra costs to get to, your credit card is jointly liable under Section 75. I’m assuming the terms on which you purchased dont have a get-out for the hotel as if so, this would be a get-out for the credit card.

• Anna says:

  2 Jul2 July 18:08

  Laithwaites/WineFlyer has an excellent sale on (e.g. half price Rioja Reserva) – and the Blue Light Discount works with it as well, so an extra 20% off! It remains to be seen if the current Amex 15% off offer works on a second order! (I had to chase it up last time but got it eventually).

  • AJ says:

    2 Jul2 July 21:07

    Haven’t seen the 15% Laithwaites Amex offer!! Which card is this on?

• Lloyd says:

  2 Jul2 July 18:33

  Is anyone having issues accessing the BA shopping portal at the moment? Every time I try to access I get an error 504 message, my wife gets the same. We’re both using chrome. I’ve tried clearing cookies and cache, but it still won’t let me in. Strangely, I can access from my android and my laptop. Laptop is running chrome as well, same version as the PC, so I’ve no idea what is going on. Any ideas?

  • eligold says:

    2 Jul2 July 21:31

    i has that too. the app worked better actually

• Kishan Majithia says:

  2 Jul2 July 18:53

  Has anyone already meeting the reduced thresholds for BAEC been upgraded to the next tier yet? I have 580 tier points along with 6 qualifying flights and more than enough for silver status but no changes happened on 29 June as previously advised. Instead, the BA call centre clerk said that the upgrade would not be active until the next points collection year (October for me) and last 2 years. This is a shame if true as I want to use my benefits from now. Anyone else in the same boat?

  • Rob says:

    2 Jul2 July 20:55

    I have a few reports like this, yes.

  • Lady London says:

    2 Jul2 July 22:46

    If you missed Silver by only those 20 points would you have got those 20 points if any flights you had booked were not cancelled?

    If so then could be worth another call mentioning this as 600 is the full rate and you only missed it due to those cancelled flights.

• Tom says:

  2 Jul2 July 19:10

  Anyone bought anything in store at currys to see if the Amex offer triggers?

  • Rob says:

    2 Jul2 July 20:54

    One person said he bought a gift card and it failed to trigger.

• Vit says:

  2 Jul2 July 21:12

  Was looking to use 2-4-1 voucher for flight to Asia next year. Something I don’t understand is the difference in tax and surcharge for two destinations I am looking at, even though the required avios is the same. Say, INV-HND via LHR and INV-BKK via LHR. HND is about £50 cheaper than BKK route. Is this normal?

  • BJ says:

    2 Jul2 July 21:22

    Yes, there are differences both in airport charges and in the surcharges BA applies. Are you pkan ing to fly on to Cambodia or Thailand after Japan?

    • Vit says:

      2 Jul2 July 21:33

      Yes. Part of the yearly family reunion. 🙂 Also trying to use up my EVA miles as well for NRT-BKK via TPE route. Heard lots of good thing about its hard product in J.

      I guess for the return flight from BKK-INV via LHR. I have to call BA to add the return leg and pay the tax + surcharge. I saw in Rob’s 2-4-1 guidance that they would waive the £35 fees?

      • BJ says:

        2 Jul2 July 21:58

        You’re in Aberdeen, right? If so then you could return to Aberdeen instead of Inverness unless you are taking the car there and leaving it. You could take the bus or train, or a private hire will probably be less than the parking, or a one way hire? You will not need to pay the £35. Only flew EVA twice but it was a very positive experience.

        • Vit says:

          2 Jul2 July 22:02

          Ah, I did not know I can add the return leg BKK-ABZ via LHR and don’t have to go back to INV. That would be great. Still a while to plan but very handy to know. Thanks BJ.

        • BJ says:

          2 Jul2 July 22:13

          Welcome. We always try to head out from INV and return to EDI. When they changed the schedules at INV last summer it meant an 8h layover in LHR so on request they agreed to rebook us from EDI at no extra cost. So if same happens to you then try requesting a reroute from ABZ.

        • Vit says:

          2 Jul2 July 22:29

          That’s also useful to know. I initially thought you have to put the return leg back to INV as well to save on tax and surcharge.

• JC says:

  2 Jul2 July 21:56

  Finnair (AY) to join BA, IB and AA (plus other Oneworld airlines?) in London Heathrow Terminal 5 until further notice from 14 July 2020.

• Jonathan says:

  3 Jul3 July 17:18

  Interesting new experience with Amex Business Platinum. They now seem to have imposed a 90 day delay upon award of the 18,000 point referral bonus. This means that if you have two accounts with separate companies that you roll the cards between, they are able to reduce the refunded proportion of the £595 annual fee by three months. In the past they have awarded the referral as soon as the referred card is approved. Nasty.

  • Rob says:

    3 Jul3 July 17:55

    Did they tell you this? Business Platinum bonuses have not been posting recently but no-one has given a reason.

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