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The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 22nd September

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We have decided to run this daily chat thread on Head for Points during the coronavirus outbreak.

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Comments (252)

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

  • Stephen Walker says:
    22 Sep22 September 16:15

    Hi all. Hopefully not a stupid question but isnt the inventory for a full Avios redemption of a seat the same as the inventory available to upgrade to that class from a lower class? I have a WT+ booking in Dec and my rewardflightfinder alert just alerted me to availability. On ba.com it says there are 5 CW seats available for full avios redemption but MMB won’t let me upgrade and it says call BA. Just called them and lady said there is no availability. Am I just being too quick off the mark or does this seem a little strange?

    • BJ says:
      22 Sep22 September 16:44

      Inventory for upgrades is the same as inventory for rewards. However, not all fare buckets can be upgraded nor can bookings made with avios. There should not be a problem with WT+ to CW in most cases. Was your booking via BA Holidays or a third party ? If so, then it is possible you have WT+ bookings that cannot be upgraded. Be aware that RFF and seatspy are not always reliable. It is possible the 5 seats you saw on BA were gone or being held before you called the agent. Check if they are still there and if they are call again. If tbere agent states again that there is no availability ask them to check again and ask if tbere is any other reason you cannot upgrade your existing bookings.

    • pauldb says:
      22 Sep22 September 16:44

      That is strange: it should be the same. Does it come up if you try and make a fresh Book & Upgrade booking. Could you take a FTV and rebook yourself with the upgrade at booking, unless the WT+ fare is now uncompetitive?

      • Stephen Walker says:
        22 Sep22 September 17:04

        Thanks All. It is a cash booking flight only direct with BA albeit one that has been changed slightly from the original cash booking (origin of return flight changed). The availability is still there if I look to do a pure Avios redemption. Not exactly a “hot” route so unlikely 5 seats are just going to disappear instantly. Will try again later and see if I have any different luck. They said it was an issue that the availability wasn’t there rather than it was my booking that was the problem. However, someone behind the scenes is busy manually calculating a FTV for me (10 days and counting) relating to that itinerary change so maybe that puts a “freeze” on any change to the booking? Will keep an eye out – dont expect availability to disappear as every one of the 2 flights/week for the next 2 months has at least 2 CW available.

  • Aston100 says:
    22 Sep22 September 16:18

    As I can’t seem to reply to Anna’s post on the first page (is there a limit to the number of nested replies?) I’ll post this here instead:
    Anna, you said you paid £5.99 for breakfast at the Newcastle Indigo.
    When was this please?
    When we stayed at the one in York about 5 weeks ago, they wanted £15 each, with a limited selection. Obviously we laughed at them and ate out instead.

    • BJ says:
      22 Sep22 September 16:48

      Inexpensive option to add breakfast sometimes appear during the reservation. I’ve see it for £5 or £ 6 at Indigo Dundee also.

    • Anna says:
      22 Sep22 September 16:48

      It was about 5 weeks ago, there was also a smoked salmon and scrambled eggs option for about £3 more.
      Hotels all seem to be doing their own thing with breakfast at the moment. The Voco in Solihull had a superb hot and cold offering for £10 pp when we were there last week, but the Durham Indigo in July was doing a bag with juice and a croissant for that so we declined and went to McD’s!

      • Anna says:
        22 Sep22 September 16:52

        Just remembered, we did have a hot breakfast one morning at the Durham Indigo, it was okay but quite limited and small portions, you got what they brought to the table and couldn’t ask for more of anything. The cold grab bag was the same price and definitely not worth it!

        • BJ says:
          22 Sep22 September 17:02

          Was your breakfast experience reflective of your wider stay experience? I had been thinking about trying Durham but already having seconds thoughts.

          • Anna says:
            22 Sep22 September 18:17

            Durham is a lovely city and the surrounding area has some lovely places to visit, however a lot of attractions were closed during the summer, I don’t know if they have re-opened yet. The Indigo hotel itself is fabulous – my son and his cousin were put in a twin room the size of a junior suite which they were very impressed with!

          • BJ says:
            22 Sep22 September 20:40

            Thanks Anna, I agree, Northumberland is my favourite English County. Hadn’t tried this hotel though so will work it into our next Eastern road trip which I guess will take us down to Cambridge and back.

            Hope your visit to Edinburgh will go well despite the circumstances. Not sure how things will shape up this year but Christmas at the Botanic Gardens is going ahead, an experience you might enjoy as something a little different.

            https://www.rbge.org.uk/whats-on/christmas-at-the-botanics-2020/

      • Gerard says:
        22 Sep22 September 21:18

        How would you rate voco.

    • John says:
      22 Sep22 September 18:01

      The Manchester Indigo charges £10 if you agree at check-in. Not been recently though

  • Fred S says:
    22 Sep22 September 16:25

    Regarding the BA Amex Companion Voucher, any thoughts on the 6 month extension going beyond end of this month?

    • BJ says:
      22 Sep22 September 16:51

      Would have said not but might now depend on fallout from growing cases and new restrictions being imposed in UK and elsewhere.

    • Anna says:
      22 Sep22 September 18:53

      I wouldn’t worry too much at the moment, if you trigger it now it will be valid until March 2023!

  • DK says:
    22 Sep22 September 16:38

    Is Amex slow with avios transfer and vouchers?
    Avios left account 2 days ago and still nothing in BA account

  • Charlieface says:
    22 Sep22 September 16:45

    I missed the comments on the AA/BA Joint venture article, but I think there should be regulation to force all airlines to interline. There is no logical reason why any two tickets should not be combinable (I grant you that half round-trips might be a bit difficult)

    • BJ says:
      22 Sep22 September 16:55

      Our logic and BA logic are chalk and cheese.

    • ChrisC says:
      22 Sep22 September 17:42

      Interlining bags costs money and adds complexity.

      Why should say Easyjet be forced to interline bags onto say Lufthansa when they have absolutly no connection or vice versa?

      Remember that many airlines won’t even interline to themselves if you have separate tickets to encourage you to buy through tickets from the start.

      • Charlieface says:
        23 Sep23 September 00:00

        Bags themselves don’t cost to interline really, because they just print the label and send it through. It does mean they are on the hook for liability though, which is why I believe EZY don’t do it.
        I’m really discussing interlining tickets, not bages. I’m not asking airlines to actually sell such tickets on their websites, but to allow TAs to construct them. Most tickets (even straight on-way fares) allow combining only with their own fares or their partners/alliances. It’s completely arbitrary, because settlement is done via IATA anyway, and the only reason stopping it is revenue protection.

  • Anna says:
    22 Sep22 September 17:01

    Has anyone else noticed that the Ambassador free night is terrible value at the moment? The prices clearly haven’t been adjusted to reflect what the current “Best Flexible” rates are. To use it for a weekend in December at The George, just to cite one example:
    Advance Saver Rate (but still refundable up to 3 weeks before stay) – £160 pn
    Breakfast included (same cancellation policy) – £187 pn
    Best Flexible Rate – £230 pn
    Ambassador Rate – would be £282 as that’s the price of the most expensive night!
    When you get to suite level you’re looking at about £100 difference between the Ambassador price and the Best Flexible, and £200 difference when you look at current B & B rates.

    • Anna says:
      22 Sep22 September 17:05

      So for £90ish extra you can get 4 breakfasts (I imagine the breakfast at The George isn’t cheap), save your free night certificate and hope a better opportunity to use it comes up!

    • TGLoyalty says:
      22 Sep22 September 18:43

      The amb voucher gives the last night free not you pay for the most expensive night(s)

      I’m using mine for kimpton in Edinburgh. £150 per night for a king deluxe or use my voucher and get it for £217. I’m actually staying a third which I’ve tagged on as a rewards stay @ 32500 points vs £175 cash. I’ve gone this way round so hopefully I can keep an upgraded room all the way though.

      However, just noticed The George has popped up as bookable. Is it worth the extra cost? No reward nights so probably cost me £220 more cash but I’d get breakfast all 3 nights and save 32.5k points.

      • Anna says:
        22 Sep22 September 18:58

        On a Fri/Sat booking, the Sat night seems to be consistently more expensive! I’ve got a King Deluxe room for 2 nights at The George which cost 52k for 2 nights in the points sale IHG ran a few months ago, looking forward to trying it for a pre-Xmas mini break. As far as I’m aware you don’t get breakfast as part of the Ambassador free night so are you looking at booking a different rate?

        • Amber Lynn says:
          22 Sep22 September 19:10

          Oh Good lord, please tell me your not going on the 11th/ 12th?

        • TGLoyalty says:
          22 Sep22 September 20:24

          So on a Friday – Sun booking you’d get the more expensive Saturday night free.

          You’re right about amb only the 1 night non amb rate would have breakfast.

          • BJ says:
            22 Sep22 September 21:03

            I would recommend you guys pass on IC and Kimpton breakfasts and head out to Fortuna on Queen Street or Tani Modi on Hanover Street.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            22 Sep22 September 22:30

            @BJ thanks I’ll try them out. Any other lunch or dinner spots we should try.

          • BJ says:
            22 Sep22 September 22:54

            @TG, check their websites first to see if their menus appeal to you. Nit hard to beat hotel breakfast IMO if there are interesting options nearby. What sirt if foid fo yoh lije for dinner?

          • Wollhouse says:
            23 Sep23 September 07:50

            Dishoon has lovely breakfast options, and not just your standard English breakfasts.

      • Wollhouse says:
        22 Sep22 September 20:13

        Let us know what you think of the Edinburgh Kimpton? I’ve stayed in the Indigo and the staff were delighted to have guests, but I always liked the Kimpton Denver so I’m curious whether it’s worth the approx 50% uplift over the Indigo as I tend to use the hotel pretty much to sleep after a night out with friends!

    • Crafty says:
      22 Sep22 September 22:43

      Yes, I pointed this out in the comments a few weeks ago. Some of the pricing is so ridiculous that Rob told me out of hand I’d misread it – which actually I hadn’t.

      For this reason I have chosen not to avail of the current Ambassador sign-up offer that would, under regular pricing, have been attractive.

  • Tom says:
    22 Sep22 September 17:04

    Somehow i have managed to get 2 Mariott Bonvoy accounts. I have a booking on one but the other is Gold Elite. I can’t seem to find a UK phone number for them, can anyone help?

  • JRich says:
    22 Sep22 September 17:06

    I booked an Accor hotel as part the promotion. The promised points were never issued, and customer service has been anything but helpful. Avoid Accor and its dodgy promotions at all costs.

    • EwanG says:
      22 Sep22 September 18:42

      Which promotion?
      I had some issues with automatically receiving points under the ‘Super Bonus’ promotion over the summer. Initially customer services refused to award the points due but I held firm, politely pointed out t&cs and referenced false advertising and they reluctantly gave me the missing points – although I did point out their attitude is hardly driving customer loyalty! @Lady London had asked me to let her know how I got on, so now she knows. It did take a few emails but was worth it for the 1300 or so points I ended up receiving!

      • Lady London says:
        22 Sep22 September 19:04

        first success I’ve ever heard of with Accor. Well done.

        • EwanG says:
          22 Sep22 September 19:14

          Thanks @LL. It was clear they understood exactly the issue / my points and tried hard to wriggle out of it, but successful outcome achieved via well reasoned arguments and staying firm! It shows ALL do have some scope for discretion and doing best for the customer, just they usually choose not to, and influences my preference for who to patronise in future!

          • BJ says:
            22 Sep22 September 21:20

            I saw that ALL have a fast track status offer now if that’s of interest, but I didn’t bother checking the details.

          • EwanG says:
            23 Sep23 September 07:47

            @BJ. I’m already gold with ALL and on track to renew. I don’t believe that influenced their response, as there was no reference to status in the correspondence!

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