The new HFP chat thread – Friday 17th 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.

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.

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Category

General

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

GRIMZ says:

17 Jul17 July 09:59

I have flights booked on a BA 241 for November this year (voucher expiry May 21) which I am not going to use and I have another 241 voucher expiry May 22. I want to use these vouchers in November 21 and November 22. Is there a way of extending these vouchers to meet my holidays in November 21, 22? I haven’t cancelled this years flights yet as I was hoping they would be cancelled by BA and then I would get a voucher until Nov 23? The flights in November were booked in November 19 365 days out. Any advice on this scenario?
- Anna says:
  
  17 Jul17 July 10:21
  
  If you cancel your floghts you will get the option of a voucher which is valid until April 2022, but people seem to be having varied experiences of how flexible these are to subsequently use. I don’t know what you can do about the 241 expiring May 22 though!
  - GRIMZ says:
    
    17 Jul17 July 11:00
    
    Thanks Anna – it just means I would have 2 vouchers expiring around the same time in 2022. it looks like I will have no use for one of them.
    - Anna says:
      
      17 Jul17 July 12:33
      
      Take another 2 people away with you? I think if you use 2 vouchers (issued to the same person) on one booking, you can book a trip for 4 people.
Vit says:

17 Jul17 July 10:27

Sorry I missed quite a bit of yesterday threads so not too sure if this has been raised. Both of my amex cards were declined this morning while trying to get some (takeaway) breakfast at a shop small place. Shop owner was saying there has been some problems with amex the last couple days or so. Annoyingly, not getting £5 back!
- Nick_C says:
  
  17 Jul17 July 13:29
  
  Were you trying contactless? A lot of retailers (including my local Asda) haven’t set their machines up to take Amex contactless, but chip and pin work fine.
TGLoyalty says:

17 Jul17 July 10:36

BA still not reinstated cancelling Avios bookings online?
- BSI1978 says:
  
  17 Jul17 July 10:50
  
  Correct – really annoying as I had 2 different flights that I had to cancel this week and spent ages on hold. Was thrown off calls a couple of times – I get that BA are desperate to push people towards a voucher but for wholly Avios bookings, I/We should be able to cancel online – would save both them and us time!
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    17 Jul17 July 11:34
    
    At some point it’s becomes a false economy with customer satisfaction scores falling due to long wait times and pressure on call centre staff.
    - Lady London says:
      
      17 Jul17 July 12:26
      
      It’s also fraudulent and part of the deliberate actions taken by BA with the intention of frustrating the customer’s exercise of their rights to demand a refund.
      
      On this particular aspect BA couls lie in court and claim customers practically cant reach them to demand the refund they can choose because of staff difficulties or being overwhelmed by covid issues.
      
      But what BA cannot deny is that at least 2 times they deliberately made alterations to their customer-facing systems and removed longstanding well-functioning access customers had previously to obtain refunds.
      
      If the regulator doesnt get around to fining BA at least £200 million for this (which is peanuts compared to customers’ cash these tricks have allowed BA to keep) then our regulators are sleeping on the job.
      - Anna says:
        
        17 Jul17 July 12:35
        
        Is there an action ongoing for this or is it wishful thinking LL?!
      - memesweeper says:
        
        17 Jul17 July 19:03
        
        It would be lovely if the Office of Fair Trading still existed. Now, assuming there’s is a functioning competitive market, and not an unfair contract term, there’s very little to stop bad faith acts by companies to the detriment of consumers.
        
        RyanAir got away with murder for years on their website with insurance ‘traps’ and I don’t think they were ever punished. If you did the same thing in the banking sector you’d be obliged to refund and fined as well.
Stanley says:

17 Jul17 July 10:42

This book with confidence mumble on BA holidays – I made a booking in May for next February, which is now coming in at £600 less total. Or, going prem econ now, only adds £100 to the total. If i phone up to change the BA holidays booking to prem econ, will they reprice it at the current price, and just add £100 on to the total. Or will I have to cancel, and start again with a new booking and put the voucher from my cancelled holiday towards the new booking? any help much appreciated.
- Dave says:
  
  17 Jul17 July 14:02
  
  I think they will reprice based on the current difference between the classes. You could cancel, get a voucher, then rebook. Not sure how long between cancelling and getting voucher so may be risky. Maybe CS can do everything during one call.
  - Stanley says:
    
    17 Jul17 July 14:08
    
    Thanks. Will see what they say. or I will re-book at better price and cancel original booking. Then use the voucher to reduce the balance owed when it comes through.
Jim W says:

17 Jul17 July 10:56

Made a transaction for NS&I premium bonds last night, but didn’t receive an email confirmation (I was expecting to receive the confirmation) & also, the money is not in the bond account – anyone experience anything similar? The deposit is usually updated immediately
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  17 Jul17 July 11:54
  
  Yes it normally corrects itself within a few working days.
- Nick_C says:
  
  17 Jul17 July 13:24
  
  Usually manually reconciled the next day, but I have occasionally had deposits bounce back.
  
  Worth using a spare browser and clearing cookies before using NS&I.
New Card says:

17 Jul17 July 11:04

Has anyone else been having difficulties/declines when trying to pay ERNIE with Tesco Bank in the last week or two?
- Crafty says:
  
  17 Jul17 July 14:24
  
  No, but HMRC has failed 9 times out of 10 (see comment lower down).
  
  Does Tesco Bank give points for Ernie? That’s an interesting thought.
  - Nick_C says:
    
    17 Jul17 July 15:27
    
    Some thoughts are best kept to yourself!!
    - Secret Squirrel says:
      
      17 Jul17 July 19:19
      
      Now everyone knows his thoughts!
  - Jerrry Butler says:
    
    17 Jul17 July 19:55
    
    he drove the fastest milk cart the west!
  - Ashish says:
    
    18 Jul18 July 20:03
    
    Please write articles Rob. This is good. Please share thoughts
Colin says:

17 Jul17 July 11:45

Any sign of tourists coming to the U.K. now that the quarantine has been lifted? None of the footfall and spend data suggests that there has been but I might have missed something.

Of the top 10 countries from which tourists to the U.K. come, only America and Australia are outside Europe and therefore unrealistic sources of tourism currently.

The other 8 account for half of total visits to the U.K and are in Europe/don’t require quarantine (not that the “quarantine” was anything other than a cheap PR move and a blunt tool).
WillPS says:

17 Jul17 July 13:10

Once pending transactions clear, I’ll have hit £4k on my Plat (upgraded from Green).

Hoping to get it all done and dusted by Monday, cash out as statement credit etc.

I’ve yet to be hit with an annual fee (not got to the end of my first statement yet), does anybody know if I am likely to be? If not, I might try and keep it on… but if I definitely am then I think it makes sense to get it paid off and closed down ASAP…