The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 26th August

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• YH says:

  26 Aug26 August 11:06

  Data point on BA refunds.

  I received a cancellation email on 21st August for a September CE flight to ARN. Called the main number the same day to request a cash refund. Money back in my account this morning. 5 day turnaround, including the weekend, pretty good.

• AndyK says:

  26 Aug26 August 11:08

  That was my concern that 30 months was for earlier issued BAPP and won’t apply to new cards.
  Maybe check in the app post-upgrade?

• Aston100 says:

  26 Aug26 August 11:08

  Hello, purchased some bonds for the first time ever.
  Received this message:
  “The new Bond numbers will be entered into the prize draws once you’ve held them for one full calendar month following the month you bought them.”

  Just so I am absolutely certain, can anyone kindly confirm it means the bonds I purchased this week will be entered into the October draw?
  Thanks.

  • FFoxSake says:

    26 Aug26 August 11:13

    Correct. Buy in August, you won’t be in 1st Sep draw but you will be in the 1st Oct draw.

    • Aston100 says:

      26 Aug26 August 11:24

      Thanks for confirming.

  • Rhys says:

    26 Aug26 August 11:23

    Correct

  • AndyK says:

    26 Aug26 August 12:36

    You can see the date each bonds purchase will be eligible for the draw on the dashboard under “Bond record”

• Aston100 says:

  26 Aug26 August 11:36

  Does anyone have any experience of Premium Economy on Lufthansa a340-300 planes?
  Spotted some flights during school summer holidays 2021 for just under £700pp return from a local UK airport to Bangkok.
  Economy is £470pp (or £400 for the hand luggage only fare).
  The PE fare appears to be attractive in my personal opinion given it is also an overnight both ways, as well as flying from/to a local airport rather than London.

  But, if Lufthansa PE on such an old plane turns out to be just economy with a slightly wider seat and an extra free suitcase, then I’d rather pay the £470 instead.

  Thanks in advance for any opinions on the fare price as well as the PE experience on LH772/LH773 or just a Lufty a340 in general.

  • Vit says:

    26 Aug26 August 12:21

    @Aston, I’ve done this route on multiple occasions back when LH still flying from ABZ. Got upgraded to PE once as I think it was sold out on Economy on Xmas eve back in 2014! In my case, there were not many additional benefits apart from the larger seat as I was Silver due to being Oil & Energy club member which offers 2 pieces of 30kg bags and lounge access.

    Transfer in FRA is uneventful. Lots of plane-spotting spot if you’re into it.

    Seat-wise was okay. Similar to PE on BR 777. Foodwise again was okay. I prefer BR any day though! I still prefer 777 compared to A340 though. But would prefer A350 compared to 787!

    Paying £270 for upgrading or not is a personal choice. 🙂

    • Aston100 says:

      26 Aug26 August 12:40

      Thanks for the input.
      It’s about £222 more for PE vs Economy. £692 vs £470.
      My current internet searches seem to indicate PE on an a340 on this route is fairly poor.
      No curtain between Economy and PE. Same food as Economy but on proper plates I think. No fast track. No priority boarding. No dedicated check in desk. 7 abreast 2/3/2 compared to 2/4/2 in Economy.
      Doesn’t sound very good at all.
      (Business Class is about £2.3k pp).

      It doesn’t sound like it’s worth paying the extra for PE just to get a few extra inches of pitch and 2 free checked bags. Unless I’ve missed something?

      • Vit says:

        26 Aug26 August 13:01

        Yup! You’ve said it all. Not for me as well. £470 for Economy is pretty good. That’s what we normally paid for back in the days. LH used to have 3 flights out of ABZ (one at 530am!) and occasionally they changed their departure times / flight number — we had no problem changing our date and chose a more civilised departure time as well if you book direct with them!

• Scott Yam says:

  26 Aug26 August 11:56

  Virgin CC upgrade voucher questions

  Following the recent changes, if I buy a cash ticket on PE and use the voucher to upgrade to Upper,

  1) would I have to pay additional taxes?

  2) would I earn tier points based on PE or Upper?

  • Rob says:

    26 Aug26 August 12:42

    1. No APD, not sure about Virgin’s own ‘fuel surcharges’
    2. We don’t know, probably PE

    • Jonathan says:

      26 Aug26 August 13:13

      APD is same in PE & Upper. The Carrier Surcharges (YQ) are much higher in Upper so will almost certainly have to pay the difference.

      I also noticed yesterday that the YQ on a cash fare in PE is approximately £100 less than on a redemption in PE. This is unusual so made me think they have deliberately done this to extract more cash from people using voucher to go from cash PE to Upper.

      Ballpark figures were £680 for PE to NYC then a difference in YQ of about £350. Total being just north of £1k plus using your voucher. That’s about the cash price I’d aim for ex INV or EU. Didn’t check on other destinations.

• Nik says:

  26 Aug26 August 12:12

  Does anyone know if the BA 777s that have been updated to Club Suite also had their First Class seats updated? i.e. Do they have the newer First Class seat (with fixed screen) or the older one (with swivel screen)?

  • Rhys says:

    26 Aug26 August 13:30

    Same First seat (so not the 787 F seat) but refurbished

• Stoneman says:

  26 Aug26 August 12:40

  Is it still okay to go to France or Germany without needing to quarantine on arrival? Reading through the guidance on the links about COVID that BA provide it seems I am okay to visit either without quarantining at their end (I know I need to quarantine in the UK coming back from France but that is fine).

  • PerkyPat says:

    26 Aug26 August 12:53

    Germany no problem at present, Check FCO website for latest advice on other countries

    • Stoneman says:

      26 Aug26 August 13:07

      Thanks for the confirmation. I find the FCO’s language somewhat opaque. A simple “you can go here no problem” list would much better suit the simple minded like myself.

• Ron says:

  26 Aug26 August 13:26

  Using Avios to book AA domestic flights, it comes up as business and Avios required is 3 times of economy, but AA only have domestic First and economy. If I book the flights, will I be in domestic First? And should it be 4 times of economy for their domestic First like what Alaska charges? Thanks.

  • Anna says:

    26 Aug26 August 14:28

    Yes it says Business on the selection page but it’s AA domestic First. We flew AA First from MIA to BOS, it was twice the avios of economy (presumably as there’s no cabin in between) and the taxes were $6 each which was awesome. It was a most pleasant experience, I would definitely recommend it on domestic flights over 3 hours. Although it’s more like CE than CW, the plush recliner seats are light years ahead of the CE offering with the middle one blocked.

    • Ron says:

      26 Aug26 August 15:07

      Thanks for the reply. I seems to recall it has been mentioned on here that BA changed the Avios required a while ago for flights without PE, they still treat it as if there were PE and charge 3 x economy for business. If your flight was before the rule change, then that would explain why the Avios required only twice of economy.

      I’m trying to work out the best option to go from SF to Hawaii, AA has lots of flights (also lots of Avios seats) from LAX but none from SF. Or I can fly AS, either cash tickets or 4 x economy for First.

      • Sa Spill says:

        26 Aug26 August 21:53

        FWIW we used AS from SFO-OGG last August and had a great flight. Fantastic crew in First, great F&B. Only downside is no lie flat but we took a morning flight so is wasn’t a dealbreaker.

      • Polly says:

        26 Aug26 August 23:42

        Ron,
        AA only do flatbeds out of DFW to HNL, so that would need to be your route for more comfort. But as a day flight, not having a flatbed is less of a problem, l guess.

        • ioe says:

          27 Aug27 August 04:46

          You will likely get lounge on AS but not AA. Food and service on board about the same but I’d do AS if you haven’t done it before.

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