Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The new HFP chat thread – Thursday 30th 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 de facto 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/2020/07/30/the-new-hfp-chat-thread-thursday-30th-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

Comments (212)

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

  • Zebedee says:
    30 Jul30 July 06:13

    I have some flights booked using Avios. I am now thinking of cancelling the flights – if I do this, will I be charged £35 per Avios flight as a cancellation fee? Or does the ‘book with confidence” assurance apply to Avios flights? If the latter then do I get my Avios back and vouchers in respect of the cash element? Thanks in advance.

    • Jonathan says:
      30 Jul30 July 07:21

      Yes you’ll be charged £35pp cancellation fee if you want Avios & Cash back. Or you can take a voucher for free but it will include both the cash & Avios so you’ll be forced to use it for a future Avios booking (for same passengers). Rob has written a few articles about vouchers.

      • Leo says:
        30 Jul30 July 08:48

        So you have to find avios availability for the new flights to use a voucher given for an avios cancelled flight?

        • Lady London says:
          30 Jul30 July 13:58

          yes.
          whereas if its BA cancelling and you choose to rebook same journey onto a different date (“reroute”) then BA cannot insist on avios seats being available on your chosen replacement flight. Any available seat in your class of travel is available to you in that case.

      • JohnT says:
        30 Jul30 July 08:49

        Can’t do it online, so make sure you don’t also get charged the extra £15 service fee for doing it over the phone. Just cancelled a short hall flight, avios posted within the hour and got credit (less the fee) back to my card in 2 days.

  • Craig says:
    30 Jul30 July 06:20

    Data point from yesterday. October Malaga (Avios) flights cancelled and offered online similar times from Heathrow and as reported no refund option available without calling. Rang at peak time and selected option 4 (anything else), waited 40 minutes and full cancellation actioned in about 5 minutes. Avios back in my account almost instantly (required logging out and in again) and told to expect the refund in 3-5 days. Apart from there being no online option I can’t really fault BA from a refund perspective.

    • Yuff says:
      30 Jul30 July 06:39

      I managed to use a BA voucher this week, from a flight I had cancelled back in June.
      I have an easyJet flight booked which I replaced when I used the BA voucher but cannot contact easyJet to get a voucher. I gave up after 35 mins on the phone. EasyJet’s website says I can cancel and receive a voucher with a few incentives but only way I can see is to contact them by phone which they don’t answer. A friend told be to do a chargeback whereas I would prefer to get a voucher to help the airline out but I don’t seem to have much choice but to contact Amex.
      I also DM’d them but got an automated response with links to their website because they are very busy.

  • tony says:
    30 Jul30 July 06:36

    Datapoint if anyone has airport parking booked with Holiday Extras. I noticed the price of my booking had fallen by almost £50. Went into the booking, selected something like “change car park” and the new option was immediately displayed. Am told the difference will simply be refunded to my card.

    (Currently Holiday Extras is waiving the £10 rebooking fee and I believe all rates are flexible).

  • Andrew says:
    30 Jul30 July 06:48

    Apparently there’s some BA offer coming at 10am….

  • Harry T says:
    30 Jul30 July 06:50

    Has anyone recently upgraded to the Amex Platinum card, or applied for it as a new application, and received a retention offer when attempting to cancel? I’m upgrading this month to hit the upgrade bonus and plan to probably cancel as soon as possible. I’m curious as to whether Amex is offering 15-20k points as a retention offer for recent applicants.

    • Jonathan says:
      30 Jul30 July 07:18

      Amex take a holistic view of your relationship with them so would expect any retention offers on an individual card to take account of previous cards/spend/churn rather than just how long you’ve had the Platinum card.

    • WillPS says:
      30 Jul30 July 07:23

      Yepp. 15k points when I cancelled a card open less than month (but I have been a cardmember since 2015).

      Cancelled as soon as the points arrived on my Hilton account.

      • Secret Squirrel says:
        30 Jul30 July 07:32

        Anyone else received confirmation code to enter on NS&I? They call you automated line & you have to put code in to proceed…

        • Annabel says:
          30 Jul30 July 07:54

          Yes brought some premium bonds last night and this happened. Two layer security I guess

          • Secret Squirrel says:
            30 Jul30 July 07:59

            All ok then Annabel, Just a security add on?
            I got a bit twitchy when it stated a call on the screen, you have to be quick as they don’t tell you the code on the automated phone call, it comes up on NS&I and you have to enter it on your phone so dual screens on a phone is tricky.
            Pen & paper to hand HarryT. 😉

        • luckyjim says:
          30 Jul30 July 09:12

          I’ve seen this when cashing out not when buying bonds.

          If a fraudster wants to put money into my NS&I account they are welcome.

          • guesswho2000 says:
            31 Jul31 July 05:46

            I’ve been getting this when logging in recently, doesn’t happen every time but catches me by surprise when it does, as my phone is usually on the other side of the house somewhere.

      • Harry T says:
        30 Jul30 July 07:43

        Thanks.

  • Secret Squirrel says:
    30 Jul30 July 08:14

    Damp Squid then..😅

    • Andrew says:
      30 Jul30 July 08:20

      *squib

    • Anna says:
      30 Jul30 July 09:36

      Squid do tend to be damp, being ocean-dwelling creatures. Fireworks, on the other hand, are generally kept in dry conditions to preserve their effectiveness.

  • Nik says:
    30 Jul30 July 08:22

    Can anyone advise on the best way, or best time to get through to the BA call centre.
    I’m ringing 0800 727 800 and using various combinations of menu selections (none of them exactly fit my situation), however they all seem to end up with the polite lady saying words to the effect of “We’re too busy right now, call back later”

    • Lyn says:
      30 Jul30 July 08:32

      People have mentioned not choosing any of the options as a way to get through.

      • ChrisC says:
        30 Jul30 July 09:52

        20 minutes last night at approx 6pm.

        I didn’t choose any of the options (as per previous advice on here)

        Someone else posted In yesterday’s Gatwick BA thread that they got through in 40 minutes when calling around the same time as I did

    • Scallder says:
      30 Jul30 July 09:24

      Try the US line if you can – have always got through (to someone in the UK) in under 5 mins

    • Roberto says:
      30 Jul30 July 09:32

      Try as they open or at 7:30pm – these are the times historically with the lowest call volume.

  • Carol says:
    30 Jul30 July 08:25

    Melia hotels refused to refund me for a stay that didn’t happen in April, as it was non refundable. However, Curve have managed to extract a refund for me after 8 weeks. Hope this helps those who posted on here with a similar situation

    • MadeUpName says:
      30 Jul30 July 13:44

      Thanks Carol, was it a full 8 weeks wait? As I’m waiting on a curve charge back they have raised with Aegean Airlines.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Learn more on our About page.

VAA

Latest comments

Latest Forum Posts

Get 30,000 points bonus with American Express Platinum

Amex Gold

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.3 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

Get 20,000 bonus points and your first year free with American Express Gold

Amex Gold