The new HFP chat thread – Monday 13th July

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• Wally1976 says:

  13 Jul13 July 07:48

  Can someone remind me, please, what Amex’s standard time is for referral bonuses to hit? 10 weeks? We’re up to 6 weeks now for a personal gold to business gold referral.

  • Anna says:

    13 Jul13 July 08:01

    Have you chased it up with Amex? That is a really long time to wait, my last one appeared within 24 hours. If I were you I would check there hasn’t been some glitch like Amex saying you’ve haven’t used the referral link.

    • Anna says:

      13 Jul13 July 08:03

      Referral bonuses usually hit within a few days of the other person being accepted – it’s the offers which can take weeks or months to show up.

      • Andrew says:

        13 Jul13 July 08:07

        I’ve often got my referral bonus before the other person has got their acceptance email.

        • Aston100 says:

          13 Jul13 July 09:35

          This happened with us last couple of times.

      • dezbez says:

        13 Jul13 July 13:21

        +1. Referred my wife yesterday afternoon on BAPP and points landed this am.

  • BLT says:

    13 Jul13 July 08:44

    I’ve been waiting 3 weeks for platinum to business platinum referral. Prior to this bonuses have always been very quick.

  • RK says:

    13 Jul13 July 08:55

    T&C,s say upto 8 weeks, they have been slow in posting recently.

  • Wally1976 says:

    13 Jul13 July 08:59

    Yes I know they’re normally really quick. I chased it up with them a while ago and was told the standard “wait x weeks”. That’s why I wanted to check what x was so I know when to chase again.

    I know Rob has said there’s a problem with referrals for Platinum business cards but I was unclear if this also applies to Gold business cards.

    Thanks for the replies.

    • onlysuites says:

      13 Jul13 July 12:50

      I can vouch for this! I referred my wife from my Business Platinum. She used the link and the referral never posted. First Amex said to wait as it takes time and when I asked them to look into it they said that she never used the link!

      So I got another 3 of my family/friends to take out the card (I can be quite convincing when there is 18k bonus on the line) and none of those have posted either and they 100% used the links. Amex looked into these, took all their details like card number and address and claimed the link wasn’t used.

      I am convinced there is a issue on their side with the Business Platinum Referral link. Have complained and Amex don’t want to hear about this.

• Venturelog says:

  13 Jul13 July 09:34

  Good morning all, I’m sure this has been covered before but i just wanted confirmation.
  I’m trying to book a BA European flight for me and my wife. I’m a Silver and my wife has Bronze status. She will be visiting family and staying for longer than i will. I wanted to book to make the return trip for both of us on the same booking (take advantage of Seating on way out). I assume i cant do this online. If i call, will i still be charged? (One way flights are not an option as more expensive). Thank you

  • meta says:

    13 Jul13 July 09:43

    If you call, you’ll be charged a phone booking fee of £15 per person.

  • Matt says:

    13 Jul13 July 09:50

    You can’t do this either way – you need to be on the same flights to be on the same booking.

  • GeorgeJ says:

    13 Jul13 July 09:59

    Book it as one ways then she will at least get the outward seating. Provided of course that two singles are approx the same as return (not always the case can be more or even less).

  • Stu N says:

    13 Jul13 July 09:59

    Can’t do it. You’ll have to book separately if you’re on different flights. As Bronze she get free seat selection 7 days out so should be able to get yourself decent seats next to each other, especially if it’s a leisure route with low proportion of status passengers.

    • Venturelog says:

      13 Jul13 July 10:11

      Thank you all. @GeorgeJ one way is way more expensive (understandably)

      • Venturelog says:

        13 Jul13 July 10:30

        Just a follow up, it seems i was able to book my wife’s return flight under my BA account and able to select seats for free.

        • Venturelog says:

          13 Jul13 July 10:45

          Ignore that last comment, it seems BA removed them after payment (but didn’t charge)

  • Charlieface says:

    13 Jul13 July 14:56

    Technically speaking a competent travel agent could probably do it. It’s unlikely to be worth your while though.

• Vit says:

  13 Jul13 July 09:54

  Data Point: I’ve raised this amex “IT glitch” before that amex bonus tracker for my partner amex gold credit card shows “spend £3k within 6 months to get 10k MR points” and mine does not. I know for the fact that we are not eligible for this as we have hold both Blue BA and BAPP cards within the last 24 months. Some say this is only IT glitch and the points should not post. But reading from yesterday email, I have seen people has received it.

  My partner just got the 10k MR point bonus posted this morning after meet £3k spending over the weekend. We plan to transfer this out asap to avios anyway — just in case amex takes it back.

• Doug M says:

  13 Jul13 July 10:02

  @HarryT and other in the Creation discussion yesterday. I spoke to security team this morning and it was the US$ transaction in Florida that caused them to freeze my account. All hopefully sorted.

  • New Card says:

    13 Jul13 July 12:54

    thanks for the update

  • Harry T says:

    13 Jul13 July 14:35

    Glad it’s all sorted. I am going to contact them later today.

• Andrew says:

  13 Jul13 July 10:03

  Good to see that Wetherspoons is leading the pack of the major chains passing on the cut in VAT to consumers – hopefully this will be the trend that most businesses follow, after all, lower prices encourage spending, so the businesses will still make more money due to the cut in VAT.

  • james says:

    13 Jul13 July 10:46

    Well lets hope they bring back some bar staff, the ordering wait in Wetherspoons is beyond a joke.

    • Sundar says:

      13 Jul13 July 14:51

      Strangely, I have felt that the ratio of bartenders to the Drinkers is largely due to the vast sizes of Weatherspoons.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    13 Jul13 July 12:34

    PR stunt still won’t tempt me into one of their pubs if I have any other choice.

    • bill says:

      13 Jul13 July 12:50

      neverspoons app

      • TGLoyalty says:

        14 Jul14 July 00:14

        Thanks.

• Keely says:

  13 Jul13 July 10:28

  Morning all my 18yo son applied for and got the gold Amex in the last promotion of spend £3k get 20000 rewards points (rather than usual 10k). However the tracker shows only 10k . IT glitch or do I need to contact them ….any advice please? Thanks

• Nadeshka says:

  13 Jul13 July 10:30

  Just got an email from Virgin Holidays saying my refund is on it’s way, should be within 14 days.
  This is from a hotel cancellation in April, will be interesting to see what they do with the £2k voucher that had a September 2020 expiry.
  Great timing too, on my birthday! Probably the most expensive gift I’m getting this year, ha.

• Scottydogg says:

  13 Jul13 July 10:53

  Looking at booking Heathrow to Vancouver for next March / April in Biz , the aircraft they are showing for the flight is a 747 – 400 which on Seat Guru is showing as using the old style BA biz seats . What are the chances that these will be in the new seating arrangement come March next year ? I remember reading that BA are changing them all in time , just wondering what the time line is for the changes ?
  It kind of puts me off using up my Avios on the old seats 🙁

  • Alex says:

    13 Jul13 July 11:06

    At the current time, aircraft changes are likely to happen more, especially with 747’s being retired earlier than planned. Something to think about though, Seattle is getting the new club suite on its route so potentially fly to Seattle and get the train? Me and my partner are planning to do this for this exact reason(also never been to Seattle so double bonus)

    • mark2 says:

      13 Jul13 July 11:14

      Good plan. But make sure that you get the train to Vancouver BC not Vancouver WA which is a tip.
      I thought I would be clever and visit both! big mistake.
      Also visit Bainbridge Island from Seattle.

    • Blenz101 says:

      13 Jul13 July 15:05

      Just for other readers thinking of taking a trip for Seattle to Vancouver do your research. The train takes significantly longer than any other mode of transport (4 hours) with freight always taking priority and the journey will set you back at least $100 in coach. Trains are not frequent UK style.

      There are scheduled flights between SEA and YVR including on Alaska where you can redeem Avios and will take around 50mins. For aviation enthusiasts you could also take a seaplane from Seattle right into the heart of downtown Vancouver via Harbour Air, although this can be more pricey $250+.

      For completeness driving takes 2.5 – 3 hours.

      Anyway, just a heads up that if you are just looking to enjoy out the club suite and thinking of just hopping on the train, 8 hours in an economy train seat for a return journey between SEA and YVR may put you off!

      • Lady London says:

        14 Jul14 July 20:18

        due to the above recommend Alaskan every time for that route. otherwise drive.

  • ChrisC says:

    13 Jul13 July 11:24

    Seat Guru is often unreliable

    there is 0 chance of BA putting the new club suite on to the 747s as even without the earlier retirements they were going in a couple of years time anyway.

    I would take plane type allocation for a flight months away with a very large pinch of salt and would keep checking the seat maps in MMB once you have booked.

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