The new HFP chat thread – Thursday 16th July

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

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/2020/07/16/the-new-hfp-chat-thread-thursday-16th-july/comment-page-1. The page will refresh with this article but the comments will now show the first page and not the last page.

Old chat threads are hidden from the HFP home page. If you want to look for something in an old thread, click here. This brings up all the articles in our ‘General’ category which includes the chat threads.

Category

General

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

Lottie says:

16 Jul16 July 13:16

Has anyone had experience of returning late by a day at a Heathrow car park? BA changed my flights so they now come back a day later and the pod parking which we booked when it was cheap is now full if we try to add a day through manage my booking. All other car parks are more than double. The T & C’s say they will charge the day rate, £38, for each 24 hour period you are late which would still be considerably cheaper than booking elsewhere. I cant see any other penalties in the small print but im nervous as ‘ive never arrived late before.
- Anna says:
  
  16 Jul16 July 14:18
  
  I would expect them to charge you for the extra day as stated in the Ts and Cs (presumably this happens sometimes when returned flights are delayed), though if the car park is genuinely full on that date it begs the question what will they do with the extra vehicle?!
  - Lady London says:
    
    16 Jul16 July 15:06
    
    That”s why I try not to take a car to an airport if I can avoid it. Imagine if you were travelling and ended up in hospital for a few months with your car sat in the airport car park? I’ve very rarely seen this covered by insurancw terms.
    
    Anecdotslly even in the above type of situation they haveno mercy and will charge you.
    
    I know flight cancellations currently do not qualify for compensation due to exceptional circumstances prevailing (Covid) but I am wondrring if a flight is scheduled and taken and lands hours or longer late, or you arw divdrted or delayef on that flight for ooerational reasobs thst have no link with Covid….well I am wondering if comoensation woukd be claimable under EU261. I am sure it’s intended to cover extra expenses like this if a plane is late.
    - The Lord says:
      
      16 Jul16 July 15:17
      
      Reminds me of this https://www.skysports.com/football/news/12018/10495488/dean-saunders-let-off-over-euro-2016-airport-car-park-fine
      - Anna says:
        
        16 Jul16 July 15:57
        
        Why did they refer to it as a parking fine, a private car park can’t fine anyone?!
    - Chrisasaurus says:
      
      16 Jul16 July 19:03
      
      FWIW, and this is some while back when I knew no better but when we were stranded at AMS due to weather, BA paid for hotel and transport expenses in netherlands but deducted the extra days parking charge from the total paid
- Venturelog says:
  
  16 Jul16 July 15:56
  
  We had prepaid at Gatwick car park. During Storm Ciara we were stuck in Malta and delayed until the following day flying back into Gatwick. We got to our car, and drove to the barrier which opened. No extra charges on my card.
  This may have been applied automatically for everyone due to the storm affecting so many flights.
YC says:

16 Jul16 July 13:46

Quick question – BA flexible policy (get voucher if you decide to cancel) – Does this apply if I were to book a flight today for September? I can’t fully get my head around their wording and the end Aug meaning
- Venturelog says:
  
  16 Jul16 July 14:14
  
  From BA’s website
  “applies to bookings made from 3 March until 31 August 2020 for journeys that are due to have been completed by 30 April 2021”
Sal says:

16 Jul16 July 14:32

Sure it’s been discussed extensively before. But quick q regarding BA refund vouchers. Are they processed instantly if I opt for one or does it take a few days/weeks to come through?

Thanks
- Anna says:
  
  16 Jul16 July 16:00
  
  Are you expecting a refund or a voucher? What kind of booking was it?
  - Sal says:
    
    16 Jul16 July 17:01
    
    Strange one. Originally it was a Heathrow to
    Madrid flight that got cancelled. So I used the option on the website to change the booking. BA would only offer a Gatwick departure for late September so took it. Now of course that flight has been cancelled. There is no option to rebook online again. After calling BA 3 times with hour long waits. I get through to some super friendly staff, but they all say I need to speak to commercial so we will transfer you. I get transferred and either immediately get cut off or hold then cut off. So starting to frustrate! I’m now thinking if I cancel online, get a voucher. I could then use that to rebook the flights I would like departing Heathrow. But question is how long does voucher take to be processed!?
    - Anna says:
      
      16 Jul16 July 22:13
      
      I cancelled some avios flights and the voucher numbers appeared at the end of the process. They are effectively your original ticket numbers so you will know anyway.
Liam says:

16 Jul16 July 14:58

American Airlines and JetBlue are launching a partnership in the US, which may be of interest to people once travel to America is a little easier (whenever that may be!). No details yet on what this will actually mean for loyalty benefits, although there will be some.

http://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2020/JetBlue-and-American-Airlines-Announce-Strategic-Partnership-to-Create-More-Competitive-Options-and-Choice-for-Customers-in-the-Northeast-NET-ALP-07/default.aspx
- Nick_C says:
  
  16 Jul16 July 15:06
  
  Interesting. I would have thought JetBlue was the better airline? More space in economy than AA.
- Lady London says:
  
  16 Jul16 July 15:08
  
  Oh dear. I can see this ultimately leading to the loss of one of the two msin sources of decent air travel in the US – JetBlue. The other one being Alaskan.
JamesR says:

16 Jul16 July 15:00

Waiting patiently for my BA flight to be cancelled so I can take the refund rather than the voucher… noticed last night that the outgoing flight has disappeared from my itinerary on my account but the return is still there.

Looked on Google flights and it seems they have cut the flights in August to 3 a week down from 1 flight daily.

Although I’ve not received any correspondence..

Does this put me in line for a refund or are they most likely to move my outgoing flight to a different date and say I can only get vouchers?
- Lady London says:
  
  16 Jul16 July 15:10
  
  Yes you can claIm a refund ss and when they actuslly advise its been cancelled. A different dsy counts as a cancellation so you wouldbe OK on that too.
Aston100 says:

16 Jul16 July 15:19

BA Flash Sale:
https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/offers/sale
- Aston100 says:
  
  16 Jul16 July 15:22
  
  “Simply spend £1,000 or more per person on a holiday for travel between 1 August – 30 September and everyone on your booking can experience the comfort and style of a British Airways lounge.”
louise says:

16 Jul16 July 16:03

Last year I booked 2 x return tickets on Emirates to Dubai in J.

I changed the flights twice – once to switch from May 2019 to November 2019, then from November 2019 to April 2020. Obviously did not travel due to Covid.

I am about to re book them for later in the year and note my credit note is £1600 less than the total I have paid which i assume are change fees.

Does this sound right?

Should have paid more attention at the time about the amounts.
- dezbez says:
  
  16 Jul16 July 22:51
  
  I’m no expert and have no experience here but if I’ve understood correctly, you’ve effectively been charged £400 per person for each switch?
  That seems really excessive even in normal times. Did you cancel in April or did Emirates?
Anna says:

16 Jul16 July 16:05

Amex SPG card – if you take out the card twice in 12 months would you get 2 lots of 15 nights towards status?
- meta says:
  
  16 Jul16 July 16:17
  
  From T&Cs: “You will receive a maximum of 15 Elite Night Credits per calendar year even if you have more than one Marriott Bonvoy Credit Card Account.”
  
  How good is their IT is another matter…
  - memesweeper says:
    
    16 Jul16 July 18:42
    
    Well, judging by the way they clearly show where the nights come from on your statement, I’d have thought the IT is at least capable of spotting this and disallowing the extra nights.
    
    Please post back here if you get lucky.
    - Rob says:
      
      16 Jul16 July 19:24
      
      The IT works because the US has multiple Marriott cards and people have seen it work. However, in the US it counts personal and business cards separately, so you can still get 30 free nights per year. We don’t have a business card.