The new HFP chat thread – Friday 14th August

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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 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.

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Category

General

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

JanH says:

14 Aug14 August 15:01

Any ideas re ;Bangkok Airways. I have 2 internal flights which I booked in February for December. According to the website tickets booked before April 30th for travel up to April 30th 2020 can be refunded or dates changed. Tickets booked after that are subject to stated fare conditions. I can not find any guidance for tickets booked before April 30th for travel later in the year.
Any ideas anyone?
- meta says:
  
  14 Aug14 August 16:55
  
  My parents got a refund minus $50 admin fee for both of them for Bangkok Airways flights. Flight was due to depart in early August. Booked Dec last year. Contacted end of June. They said refund will take 60 days, so they are waiting till the end of this month before S75 claim.
- Sukes says:
  
  14 Aug14 August 22:44
  
  The status quo would apply ie the original terms of your booking.
Hanif says:

14 Aug14 August 15:26

Apologies If This Has Been Covered,
Insurance Question
If I book a holiday to a place where there is FCO advise against all but essential travel , but before I go on holiday the FCO advise is lifted, will insurances typically cover you? or will they state that I booked while FCO advise was in place and not cover?
Many Thanks
- Rob says:
  
  14 Aug14 August 16:51
  
  You’re covered if it comes off the FCO list by the date you fly and you fall ill whilst away.
  
  However, if you book a flight to a country on the FCO list and later decide not to fly due to it being on the list, you clearly won’t get a refund via insurance as you already knew on the date you booked it was restricted.
  - Hanif says:
    
    14 Aug14 August 17:55
    
    Thanks Rob!
tony says:

14 Aug14 August 15:28

Can I ask, which website is it that tells you when a flight is cancelled, whether the carrier believes EU261 is payable?

Thanks
- Lady London says:
  
  14 Aug14 August 19:11
  
  ??
  what the airline believes or wants to happen, will be in any emails they’ve sent you. In particular in your original confirmation email.
  
  However airlines dont always mention fully what they should. EU261 is a statute and statutes override contracts if what your airlinr says (contract = airline rules) is different. Google various sources for EU261 which is quite readable text.
  
  All EU and UK airlines should treat you at least as well as EU261 provides. EU261 also covers jouneys on any aircraft departing the UK or EU even for non UK/Eurooean airlines (not the journey back).
- Lady London says:
  
  14 Aug14 August 19:20
  
  If you want to know why a particular flight was late or cancelled I believe expertflyer has the official reason given for about 48 hours after the flight? there is another source too – does another poster know?
  
  Currently compensation parts of EU261 will be impossible to claim for cancellations as a general rule. This is because prevailing Covid environment counts as ‘exceptional circumstances’ which exempts airlines from paying compensation. However EU261 is still in force so you still have the rest of it – in psrticular the right to request rerouting, and duty of care if required.
@mkcol says:

14 Aug14 August 15:52

It’ll be interesting to hear what the outcome of any claims for denied boarding is.

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/wizz-air-greece-locator-form-passengers-denied-boarding-coronavirus-a9662701.html
- Lady London says:
  
  14 Aug14 August 19:30
  
  🙂 sounds like Wizz has gone a bit over the top. If Greece did not make that field mandatory then it sounds like Wizz was over-egging it. It would help to know if Wizz had actually had a passenger denied at Greece immigration because of this.
Andrew porwol says:

14 Aug14 August 16:11

Availability in November to maldives has popped up today if anyone is interested
meta says:

14 Aug14 August 16:57

Bunch of cancellations for September today. Had 3 sectors cancelled today!
- meta says:
  
  14 Aug14 August 17:11
  
  That’s for BA.
James says:

14 Aug14 August 17:00

I paid for my family to go on holiday which has since been cancelled due to COVID. BA phoned me offering me a voucher (a day before they cancelled flight which would have entitled me to a cash refund) which I accepted.

At the time I was told that I could use the vouchers as I wished. However, I have tried using it tonight and was told I could only use the vouchers that are in the same names as the original travellers. My problem is 3 of the original travellers are unlikely to be traveling half way round the world anytime soon (pregnancy). Am I stuffed here or is there anything that can be done?
- Rob says:
  
  14 Aug14 August 17:36
  
  If this was a pure cash flight, BA will – at some point soon – convert the voucher to an eVoucher. This can be used online by anyone (albeit max one per booking) so you could take them.
  
  If it was a mix of cash and Avios, the voucher can’t be converted due to BA IT issues.
  - James says:
    
    14 Aug14 August 18:26
    
    Thanks Rob.
    
    It was a pure cash booking.
    
    So I have 7 vouchers in total (7 people originally travelling), I am trying to book 4 flights for 4 of the 7 that were originally travelling. From what you said am I right in thinking the other 3 vouchers will convert to evouchers soon and I will be able to use these myself rather than for the other 3 original travellers?
    
    Thanks
MorrisM says:

14 Aug14 August 17:25

I’ve seen it mentioned here but need advice please.
1) Using curve for IHG card is there a daily limit? I am talking for normal purchases that I could be doing on the IHG direct.
2) If there are limits, what are the daily/weekly limits?
Many thanks. M
- Travel Strong says:
  
  14 Aug14 August 17:48
  
  I read on here before that the limit was 350 per transaction / 750 per week – so I kept it to that.
  
  Then I tested more this week and successfully put through 3 times the above amounts! (1000 per transaction / 3000 this week)
  
  …. Or so I thought: contactless transaction on my IHG card was refused this afternoon! Maybe they have put a block on the card. I have had no contact from creation yet though.
- mark2 says:
  
  14 Aug14 August 18:32
  
  The limits page on the app (from Account page will tell you your limits.
  - MorrisM says:
    
    14 Aug14 August 18:39
    
    On which app? curve or IHG?
    - memesweeper says:
      
      14 Aug14 August 19:48
      
      The Curve App will tell you your Curve limits
      
      IHG card is effectively limited to £ 100 / day or £ 700 / week on ‘cash like’ transactions. There’s no indication on the app or online of where you stand with that. I’ve never managed over £ 300 in one go.
      - Travel Strong says:
        
        14 Aug14 August 21:16
        
        where do you get these numbers from? I have exceeded those numbers most weeks / most transactions this year.
      - Travel Strong says:
        
        15 Aug15 August 10:40
        
        Update: my card was not blocked, working fine today. The ‘limits’ on IHG card are unsubstantiated tosh – try as much as you want and see what works for you.