The HfP chat thread – Friday 11th September

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

• MinR says:

  11 Sep11 September 12:22

  I keep getting rejected for the Marriott Bonvoy status match challenge. I’ve submitted:

  – Hilton Gold status evidence (obtained via Amex Plat.)
  – Evidence of stay at a Hilton in the last 12 months.

  I have Marriott Gold via Amex Plat but looking to match to Platinum Elite. The rejection email claims ‘After reviewing the documents you submitted, we were unable to approve your registration because the documentation you provided was incomplete or illegible.’

  Grateful if anyone can advise.

  • DaveL says:

    11 Sep11 September 13:42

    Because Hilton Gold matches to marriot gold (which you have) not platinum. Different if you were Hilton diamond…

    • Rhys says:

      11 Sep11 September 13:57

      No, Hilton Gold matches to Marriott Platinum! https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2020/08/28/new-marriott-bonvoy-launches-generous-status-match/

    • Tom H says:

      11 Sep11 September 15:55

      Nope, I have all the above as per OP. And matched to plat. I was rejected first time then second time sent screen shot from app of card, then screen shot of the bill from a recent stay again from the app

      • MinR says:

        11 Sep11 September 16:37

        I was already aware the HH Gold matched to Marriott Platinum.

        I’ve raised a query about it and asked what exactly do they need as evidence in addition to what I’ve submitted.

• Lady London says:

  11 Sep11 September 12:23

  Hahahahaa so it’s not just me then.

  As advised by Hertz staff I now add a note to every booking “No upgrade”. If I think they’re really going to be stuck not having a B car to give me (such as Dec-Mar when my place’s vehicles are all huge estate cars for families going skiing, I even add a “if necessary, downgrade OK”. Never book an A car, btw.

  If they still try to give me a huge car when I’m there as I’m a female I have an advantage. I just bat my eyelashes and sound afraid and say I have trouble parking and I’m frightened of driving a biiig vehicle. It goes counter-nature as some of you may have guessed I’m not like that but having got better at it over the years it usually works.

• Pete C says:

  11 Sep11 September 13:23

  Hello all, if I book a flight using an FTV and the flight is cancelled, can I get the value of the booking refunded back on to the original card used for the initial booking?

• Colin says:

  11 Sep11 September 13:34

  Hello all. As a very irregular poster but a travel agent based in NI who reads HfP daily, I am often amazed at peoples usage of Avios and Virgin Miles (both of which I collect and use) and what some folks regard as `value`. For me personally, a lot of the real value is in mitigating the notorious `taxes, surcharges and carrier fees?`. We all know that for example, a BA economy long haul is a waste of Avios as the various fees are still payable and a straight cash fare with rival carriers is often cheaper/as cheap as the BA charges. Even travelling BA with the likes of a 241 in CW, the taxes can be astronomical, diluting the true Avios `value`. As an example – I went business class `around the globe` last July (thank God I did it last year and not this) with my aircraft geek son of 14 using a combination of Avios/Virgin miles like this – DUB/LAX in business class on Aer Lingus (booked via BA Executive Club – much, much cheaper taxwise than booking via Avios), LAX/HND in Delta One (Virgin Miles – bargain at 60000 miles pp + all of $6.40 taxes), 2x internal Japanese JAL business class (under £4.00 pp taxes), NRT/HKG in JAL business class (booked via BA Executive Club and a low tax route), and finally HKG/DUB in Cathay Pacific business class (low tax route – much lower that BA via LHR), also booked via BA Executive Club. Total cost IN TAXES (regular Avios/Virgin Miles obviously) for the whole lot was £248pp, of which the majority was DUB/LAX. I would suggest that folks seriously consider taxes when calculating where the real redemption values are to be found as my `fag packet calculations` for the value per point for the above is way, way in excess of the figure most folks seem to regard as a good deal. Not trying to be a smart arse but …. always look at the taxes/charges as it often makes one helluva difference to the overall cost/value.

  • marcw says:

    11 Sep11 September 13:53

    That’s too complicated to some folks here.
    Actually, the best use of Avios for CW is buying a cheap WT+ Fare and upgrade using Avios. You also get a chunk if Avios back.

    • Colin says:

      11 Sep11 September 14:35

      Would agree re WT+ and upgrade … IF you start trip on UK mainland (excl INV), otherwise, get yourselves over to Dublin, destinations permitting.

    • Anna says:

      11 Sep11 September 15:28

      What are these cheap WT+ fares you speak of? I tried this once to GCM, the WT+ price came out at £2200 pp which was only £300 less than CW!

      • TGLoyalty says:

        11 Sep11 September 16:23

        Depends on the destination but I’ve done this on £450/525 WT+ fares to Dubai Twice

        Never upgrade while buying the WT+ fare as you get bizarre costs quoted.

        • Anna says:

          11 Sep11 September 18:35

          That may be the trick I have been missing!

  • Genghis says:

    11 Sep11 September 14:58

    The other side of the coin, of course, is how people earn their points and any opportunity costs involved. Ie. Converting from Tesco at 2.4 avios / £ is not free since those clubcard points could have been spent on hotels.com etc so likely cost over 1p ea, or if earned from ongoing spend on a points earning credit card, depending on card, may still cost a penny each.

    • Harry T says:

      11 Sep11 September 16:04

      I spent some Clubcard points recently to get three times value on a Two Together railcard. Better than converting to Avios IMO.

      • Genghis says:

        11 Sep11 September 16:51

        It‘s a good use of clubcard points if you’d otherwise pay cash for the railcard, but really 2.7x as there’s always a 10% off code kicking around. But you only need one railcard per year. Same with Tesco delivery saver, now 3x. That’s genuine 3x. Genuine high spend 3x are v rare these days. Uber RIP.

        • Harry T says:

          11 Sep11 September 19:40

          Agreed! We were going to buy it anyway as it will save us plenty of money, even on advance fares. Real shame about Uber.

  • Aston100 says:

    11 Sep11 September 14:58

    Colin, that’s all very well if you have flexibility.
    Some people can only travel at certain times of the year; may not be able to do an ex-EU departure for reasons of convenience; may be limited in where they wish to go due to specific interests etc

    • Anna says:

      11 Sep11 September 15:26

      I imagine Colin isn’t that flexible unless he took his son out of school!
      But Colin – a lot of people (like me) tend to stick with BA redemptions because of the 2 4 1 voucher which makes redemptions much better value. We generally travel as 3, in school holidays, which makes redemptions even more valuable to us. Once OH and I are travelling as a couple again, off-peak, we are likely to just do one BA redemption with a 2 4 1 each year and use QR and other airlines with better option from MAN (assuming there will still be international travel by then!).
      Also, you are lucky your teenger is an aviation geek. Mine hates travelling and hot places and can’t wait till he’s old enough to stay at home!

      • Colin says:

        11 Sep11 September 17:47

        Anna – I take your point and can fully understand your situation. My own RTW trip was done 23 July – 28 Aug 2019 which I think you will find ties in with English school holidays as well as my NI ones? I have previously used 241 vouchers but stopped whenever I did the maths and realised that an Amex Gold (admittedly. I am a TA an benefit from booking lots of customer flights at double points – a superb Gold perk) was much more beneficial to me than ANY BA card on a cost/benefit ratio – simply because I am able to use Amex reward points on airlines/routes offering lower taxes and therefore offering better points value – always better value than a 241 if I look hard enough and avoid UK mainland departures. No doubt that 241s are a sensible use of Avios IF you are prepared to accept the scandalous BA `taxes, fees and carrier surcharges`. Personally, I don`t accept them and look elsewhere as the only thing that matters to me is bottom line cost – and those taxes/fees with BA (and Virgin) tend to ensure that the bottom line cost is much less elsewhere. Having said that, I still find superb value in the RFS short haul rewards ex London, despite the good old days of free regional connections being long gone.

        • Anna says:

          11 Sep11 September 21:19

          That was my point, if you’re limited to travelling in school holidays you haven’t got much flexibility, therefore you’re doing really well achieving your redemptions!

• Darren says:

  11 Sep11 September 14:01

  Windsor/Ascot area hotels.

  Looking for hotel recommendations west of London, been checking SLH and Stoke Park and Great Fosters look nice, although it doesn’t need to be that level. Had a lovely stay in Hotel Indigo in Stratford last month, anything similar in this area? I was thinking boutique or country house(ish).
  I have SLH, Hyatt and Marriott offers on my Amex, which would be nice.

  • Rob says:

    11 Sep11 September 14:20

    Is Monkey Island open? That is SLH.

    • Darren says:

      11 Sep11 September 14:31

      It is SLH but doesn’t have availability that I can see, might not be open? It’s for next week and the weather looks favourable.

      Thinking of a split between this 3 days and the south coast 2 days.

    • Darren says:

      11 Sep11 September 14:35

      Looks like it reopens in Oct

  • Lady London says:

    11 Sep11 September 19:03

    Penny Hill Park?
    Langley closed.
    Cliveden out of reach pricewise I guess.

    2 v nice restaurants in Bray on your doorstep – Heston (plus his pub I think) and the top end Roux one not far from there.

    • Darren says:

      11 Sep11 September 19:24

      Thanks for the restaurant tips, I’ll see if a reservation pans out.

• Jody says:

  11 Sep11 September 14:33

  Gave Amex a call following my issue that I put on the chat thread yesterday (basically a new gold preferred rewards card was activated by me yesterday and had a minus balance of over 3000 MR points as it appeared to have been linked to my old cancelled card).

  Chap was really helpful on the phone, agreed it shouldn’t have happened, and has sent a job to the MR team to get them unlinked. He did warn me it might take up to 10 working days before I see the change in my account. Does seem as if the old card wasn’t shut down properly, as the poster (apologies, have forgotten who it was, I have a terrible memory!) last night suggested. I appreciate the help with this.

  • Harry T says:

    11 Sep11 September 15:35

    It was BJ – he’s always one of the most helpful and knowledgeable posters here.

    Glad your issue has been solved.

    • Jody says:

      11 Sep11 September 16:06

      I knew it was something J, and whilst it was perhaps natural to assume BJ (or perhaps not, guess it depends on how your mind works!!!) I didn’t want to put that if it wasn’t.

      Big thanks to BJ for his assistance. And thanks Harry for clarifying.

• Harry T says:

  11 Sep11 September 15:34

  Would appreciate some advice.

  BA owe me 136,000 Avios and about £1300 for a cancelled 241 (they cancelled the flights). I’ve rung three or four times over the last couple of months and everyone I’ve spoken to has been very helpful. However, the delay is not acceptable. I have received refunds for other cash and Avios bookings during this time that have only taken a day or so post phone call to land in the right places. The 241 was cancelled on 6th August. Strangely the companion voucher has been returned to my BAEC account.

  What do people think I should do next? I could consider charge back or section 75 but I also want my Avios back.

  • Rui N. says:

    11 Sep11 September 16:06

    Have you tried dropping a message on Twitter?

  • meta says:

    11 Sep11 September 18:17

    @Harry T You can put a value to Avios in S75 claim. This can be the cost of purchasing 136k Avios at a full price.

  • BLT says:

    11 Sep11 September 19:47

    Have you tried Barefundhelper on flyertalk. Has helped me get a refund on 2 occasions within 3-5 days, second time after a Youfirst cancellation which took over 6 weeks

    • E says:

      11 Sep11 September 19:58

      Barefundhelper has stopped helping. Unfortunate as I’m still waiting for the cash back from an Avios cancellation (Avios were refunded the next day) that I requested in mid-July.

  • ChrisC says:

    11 Sep11 September 20:14

    Write to BA legal department (not customer services) briefly outline what happened and when and the promises made to you and give them 14 days or you’ll take them to MCOL.

    That’s likely to be much quicker than going to your credit card for chargeback / s75

    I did that last year and soon got a call from some one fairly senior in customer services with profuse apologies and payment made a couple of days later.

  • Sukes says:

    11 Sep11 September 20:52

    Escalate to a claim via an alternative dispute resolver to bring the whole thing to a head. BA use CEDR, full details are on CAA website https://www.caa.co.uk/Passengers/Resolving-travel-problems/How-the-CAA-can-help/Alternative-dispute-resolution/. It’s free to submit your claim, ideally submit proof of your complaint to BA in writing that is dated more than 8wks ago. Quote EU261 right to refund. BA will have 30days to respond to CEDR, if they fail to do so your case will be passed to an adjudicator for decision. I’ve just completed the process with regard to taxi costs incurred in Mar in relation to a cancelled easyJet flight where the expense was covered by EU261 but EZJ refused to pay up. eZJ then ignored my complaint. Submitted ADR claim end of Aug and 12days later EZJ agreed payment.

• Kevin says:

  11 Sep11 September 18:10

  During my phone call with Amex early this afternoon, I asked whether Marriot £50 offer for £200 spend is based on accumulative or one bill. They come back and said it must be within one bill 🙁

  • Rob says:

    11 Sep11 September 18:17

    Wouldn’t treat that as gospel. The Hilton ones were cumulative.

    • Kevin says:

      11 Sep11 September 18:22

      Would be good to learn from others who has experienced in this case.

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