The new HFP chat thread – Tuesday 14th July

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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.

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Category

General

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KBuffett says:

14 Jul14 July 06:10

I’ve received a ‘American Express Promotion Credit’ on my Platinum Charge Card. Can anyone suggest what this maybe for?
- iain says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 07:16
  
  I believe that they were proactively giving credit against the membership fee for those who had a card since the beginning of the year (?)
  - Andrew says:
    
    14 Jul14 July 09:00
    
    How much is the credit for? The ‘retention’ bonus was in the form of points, which you could convert to a credit if you wanted or keep as points or transfer to airlines etc.
    - Fred (Your comment is awaiting moderation) says:
      
      14 Jul14 July 11:55
      
      points credit? IIRC it just said £250 rebate
      - Rob says:
        
        14 Jul14 July 12:59
        
        Plat Business is £250 in cash, guaranteed. Plat Personal was 15-20k points IF you rang up and begged AND they took kindly on you.
      - BP says:
        
        14 Jul14 July 13:40
        
        I got lucky with Plat business. I phoned and got £150 credit and then they announced the £250 rebate a few days later. £400 back in total.
ankomonkey says:

14 Jul14 July 07:57

Cancelled flights: Air Asia – only offering account credit for future use; Thai Airways – going through bankruptcy and delaying refund process indefinitely.

Has anyone managed to get a proper refund from either company or am I looking at chargeback/S75?

Thanks!
- Vit says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 08:31
  
  That’s been the case since May if I understand correctly. My flights were booked through trip. com. BKK – PNH route was cancelled in late April and got full refund late May. However, the PNH – BKK section is still awaiting refund which I believe not gonna be anytime soon. In my case, chargeback against trip. com would not be working as the agency has been honest in this case and it is more to do with the airline not refunding.
  
  If you book through the airline, I suggest going with chargeback and try to provide as much evidences as possible. Not sure about section 75 as they are not operating in the EU area.
  - Aston100 says:
    
    14 Jul14 July 08:43
    
    Why would you use an agency to book budget airline tickets? Or was this part of a larger holiday transaction?
    - Anthony Edwards says:
      
      14 Jul14 July 08:56
      
      Sometimes there are significant savings, and when multiplied by multiple travellers it can add up. I have Ukrainian Airlines flights booked to Georgia that were over £100 each cheaper each through an OTA. Significant as we’re a family of four.
      
      When things go wrong though, like they have recently, it adds another layer of complexity to resolution. It’s basically a gamble.
    - Vit says:
      
      14 Jul14 July 08:57
      
      Yes it was. Trip. com has large connection footprint in Asia and normally got some very good package deals on offer. We’ve got everything refunded actually, except that Air Asia flight section.
- Clive says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 09:06
  
  AirAsia have actually been the worst. I had flights cancelled in March and went through “AVA” for a refund. Still waiting so started a charge back.
  
  Now my August Asian venture is cancelled and have tried to get another flight credit to my account, not a refund, and they are only dealing with flights up to June.
  
  The website is very misleading and they have small print which puts obstacles in your way such as the dates which they will action credit to the account which is not shown on the Covid landing page. A very grey area!
  
  #InThisTogether they say but mean #InThisOnYourOwn
  - Hugo says:
    
    14 Jul14 July 13:40
    
    If you speak to a human rather than the automated system they will offer you a refund but say it could take 4 months to process
memesweeper says:

14 Jul14 July 08:03

I don’t , but flightconnections.com has a OneWorld filter on its map.
Benilyn says:

14 Jul14 July 08:22

Where did we get to on the new refunds function? Can we do refund to cash, then to any card? Do we know that or speculating?
- Aston100 says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 08:45
  
  I feel part of this question happened in your mind and didn’t make it to your post.
  - Clive says:
    
    14 Jul14 July 09:07
    
    Keeps your mind active in the morning
  - Chrisasaurus says:
    
    14 Jul14 July 09:28
    
    We that’s me setup for the day, best comment this month by a distance!
- cinereus says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 11:11
  
  Just refund to cash then transfer to Monzo/Starling.
- Jamies says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 11:15
  
  Is this some kind of curve/flexible ticket play?
Simon says:

14 Jul14 July 08:46

Morning All, bendy 8999 question, if I may: is there any hay to be made using M&M? My experience, prior to w/card demise, is that M&M would apply fees with alacrity. 🙁 Just wondering if there were any datapoints to the contrary at the moment? Many thanks in advance.
- Graeme2 says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 10:09
  
  M&M to Ernie worked for me – no fees yet, but not sure whether they would be added immediately or when the statement is created
  - Algor says:
    
    14 Jul14 July 10:53
    
    Wasn’t Ernie in my case, thank you!
    
    In the game for years and still missing the obvious …
  - Simon says:
    
    14 Jul14 July 11:42
    
    Many thanks, Graeme. That’s very good to know.
  - Simon says:
    
    14 Jul14 July 12:08
    
    Graeme, would you mind reminding me: once deposited into Ernie, how long is it before a withdrawal is available? I recall this being mentioned a few weeks ago, but I can’t remember, typically! I had an idea that there was a circa three-week lag? Thanks again, Simon
    - Leigh says:
      
      14 Jul14 July 12:42
      
      5-6 working days. My last payment in June took 6 working days to clear.
      - Simon says:
        
        14 Jul14 July 12:57
        
        This might be my error, Leigh, but I thought 6-7 days was the govbank rather than Ernie? I would prefer to be wrong, though. 🙂
      - Simon says:
        
        14 Jul14 July 16:03
        
        Many thanks, Leigh.
    - Simon says:
      
      14 Jul14 July 12:58
      
      * 5-6 days, I meant (typo!)
      - Leigh says:
        
        14 Jul14 July 15:31
        
        I assumed that the speed will be the same. I was referring to DS not PB.
      - Simon says:
        
        14 Jul14 July 16:04
        
        Many thanks, Leigh.
    - Graeme2 says:
      
      14 Jul14 July 13:21
      
      Paid in on Thursday last week, not yet available to withdraw.
      - Graeme2 says:
        
        14 Jul14 July 13:22
        
        To clarify, I got IB not PB, was referring to Ernie generically
      - stevenhp1987 says:
        
        14 Jul14 July 14:06
        
        5-6 working days.
      - Simon says:
        
        14 Jul14 July 16:06
        
        Ah, I see. Would anyone know, in that case, if PB takes any longer? Again, I just thought I had seen somewhere in the comments from around three weeks ago that withdrawing from a PB account would, from deposit to being able to withdrawal, take around three weeks or so. Sorry to be flogging this particular horse! 🙁 🙂
- Algor says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 10:27
  
  Last time tested in February with bad result, no data point afterwards.
  
  If someone have update would be great.
TeessideTraveller says:

14 Jul14 July 08:57

Double Miles and XPs (think TPs) on Air France & KLM for the rest of 2020. As all statuses have been extended for 12 months, this doesn’t help everyone but if you are a silver looking to get to gold (priority security & lounge access), this could be interesting. You would get now 40 XPs for an economy short haul return via AMS or CDG so 7 trips gets you gold from a zero start (4.5 trips would get a current silver member up to gold).
https://www.flyingblue.fr/en/news/doublemiles-doublexp
Concerto says:

14 Jul14 July 09:19

I believe London to Paris RT is something like £280 which would yield 60XP under the new promotion. That works out at £4.67 per XP, an excellent rate (business class fare, of course, but even Economy bookings with a transfer in CDG or AMS are going to be quite lucrative with this).
- TeessideTraveller says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 10:05
  
  There is always the option of routing through both AMS and CDG if you really wanted to go for it. It is normally cheaper to do MME-AMS-CDG-ARN than MME-AMS-ARN.
Scottydogg says:

14 Jul14 July 09:43

Has anyone had their 2 for 1 voucher extended any further ?
I had a 2 for 1 voucher extended by 6 months due to covid (i think everyone did) , so its due to run out at the end of February 2021, are are looking to book for Easter so could do with getting it extended by another 2 months . Are BA likley to honour this , has anyone been in this situation ?

I am planning on phoning them to beg if needed 🙂
- Rob says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 09:58
  
  Wouldn’t bet on it. Assuming the main Covid disruption period is March-September then the extra 6 months has just put you back to where you were.
- pauldb says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 10:31
  
  I you really want to work the system, book a flight for August instead. Then change your mind, take a Future Travel Voucher, and use that FTV to rebook for Easter (it’s valid until April 2022 regardless of the 241’s expiry).
  - Scott Mclaren says:
    
    14 Jul14 July 11:29
    
    Now this sounds like something i can do ,
  - lee says:
    
    14 Jul14 July 12:32
    
    Can you book anyone one way ticket and just cancel with no fees then To then get it extended ?
    - memesweeper says:
      
      14 Jul14 July 14:57
      
      You can’t book *anyone*, as it stands BA are only (usually?) rebooking the original passenger(s) when you ‘cash in’ your vouchers.
      
      If you know who the passengers are, booking, then promptly cancelling for a FTV will extend the validity of the voucher that supported the original booking.
      - pauldb says:
        
        14 Jul14 July 18:24
        
        Yes that’s right: it’s a strict rule on rebooking.
  - Louise says:
    
    15 Jul15 July 10:39
    
    Does the FTV have a value which can be used for other flights or is it just a voucher for the 241 flights to the same destination ?