The HfP chat thread – Monday 5th October

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• Aliks says:

  5 Oct5 October 09:07

  In September, we had a weeks holiday in the Cinqueterre region of North Italy. The plan was to fly with BA out to Pisa and back from Genoa, but in mid August BA cancelled all flights from Genoa.

  Sigh, more hassle, but these are troubled times, so in early September I sat down to do some replanning. The best alternative was a Ryanair flight Genoa to Stansted the same day as the cancelled BA flight.

  I called BA to reschedule, but all they would offer was an alternative flight from Milan or Pisa – they point blank refused to pay for Ryanair as “they are not one of our partners”. After a bit of thought and consultation with HfPers, I called back to ask for a Pisa flight on the following day. I pressed the agent on whether BA would pay expenses, and he confirmed that reasonable costs like a train fare to Pisa and one night in a hotel would all be OK. He couldnt give me written confirmation of this, but said he would put it in the notes against the booking reference.

  Anyway the holiday went off well, BA had full flights both ways, and we didnt catch anything nasty. On Thursday last week, I filled in the BA claim forms online, attached scanned receipts and of course you know what comes next . . .

  This morning I get an email from BA: “… I’d like to inform you that we’re not liable to reimburse your additional expenses, as we’ve already informed you about your cancelled flight at least 14 days before you were due to depart, using the contact details in your booking…..”

  This came from BA customer relations and looked like a boilerplate response. Anyone recommend a good way forward?

  • Matt says:

    5 Oct5 October 10:57

    Reply pointing out that the 14 day limit is only for compensation, not repayment of expenses. Point out that they had explicitly agreed to cover in advance. Ask them to check the notes in the booking/listen to the recording of the call.
    Ask them to pay up or state that their answer will not change so you can take it to CEDR/MCOL. If they won’t budge take it to CEDR or MCOL – I think either route would work.

  • ChrisBCN says:

    5 Oct5 October 11:48

    It’s a standard first reply to put people off and will likely have no bearing as to if they pay up or not. Reply back to them as Matt states.

  • Lady London says:

    5 Oct5 October 13:22

    Complete and utter b+llocks from BA.

    They must also dishonourable or incompetent given the agent said he would note BA’s promise on the PNR. They only promised what you’re fully entitled to by law with or without their agreement anyway.

    Call in the week normal hours ideally 8am-3pm make sure you’re not talking to India. Give them 30 days to pay in full to your bank account otherwise you will take them to court in which case they have to pay an additional 8%pa pro rata statutory interest and due the way you’ve been treated you will also ask the judge for payment for your preparation time at your professional rates.

    Don’t hang around just MCOL this disgusting company on Day 30 if they don’t pay on time.

    In case you did get someone who didn’t loom properly at the PNR the first time, I would call in daylight ask them nicely again suggest they look at the ,PNR.

    Life’s too short to waste dealing with British Airways so if the second person doesn’t sort it then charge them mileage at 45p per mile in your rental car for Genia to Pisa distance as well.

    • Lady London says:

      5 Oct5 October 13:26

      * or your private car
      **or a friend”s car

      • meta says:

        5 Oct5 October 13:56

        Don’t waste too much time with BA. I am at MCOL stage with them at the moment for my cancelled flight back from Porto. Basically they point blank refused any rerouting or duty of care. In one of my exchanges with CS the agent actually admitted they are liable, but in subsequent paragraph stated that they are not going to pay up. After that I just filed with MCOL. It is all outsourced to overseas agents. They reply in the middle of the night and keep on banging about BA not being liable.

        • Lady London says:

          5 Oct5 October 15:48

          I hope you take BA “to the cleaners” on this @meta.

          Not so much for us, but for all the “little people” BA is clearly set up to deliberately abuse by systenatically denying their rights and causing them stress and expense.

        • meta says:

          5 Oct5 October 17:34

          @LL I am absolutely going to! I am determined to go all the way, but unfortunately I think BA will settle the claim once it reaches their legal department and probably at the last minute. It is all pretty farcical.

        • Lady London says:

          5 Oct5 October 20:10

          so long as BA settles not just your original claim but also 8% pa statutory interest pro rata plus ideally a further amount for having p+$$ed you around then you will have to accept it otherwise look unreasonable to the court. It has to cost them more than if they hadnt p+$$ed you around otherwise they will just keep on doing it.

          If I was lucky enough to be in that position I’d seriously consider saying No let”s go to court as it’s in the public interest as this is repeated systeatic denial of passenger rights by a dominant player in the industry and try to invite a Daily Mail reporter. But sadly I think at MCOL level it’s practically all decided by desk not by a hearing 🙂

• Ali M says:

  5 Oct5 October 09:10

  Hi guys.
  Any airlines who are still not requiring COVID 19 negative pcr before boarding?
  (yes I am aware its safer that way and I am aware that the rules are there for a reason etc etc)

  • Andrew says:

    5 Oct5 October 09:23

    Most airlines don’t require it unless the destination government requires it for entry, in which case they will enforce at check-in as they would for a Visa check etc.

  • Rob says:

    5 Oct5 October 09:48

    Very few airlines – Emirates is the main exception – are insisting on negative tests. The airlines only ask when the destination insists you have one, because the airline is responsible for repatriating you if you are not allowed in.

    • Louie says:

      5 Oct5 October 12:14

      Etihad require a test for all non-exempt passengers.

  • MinR says:

    5 Oct5 October 10:13

    Qatar Airways

    • marcw says:

      5 Oct5 October 11:21

      I think if you board from Philippines, you require a PCR test to fly Qatar Airways. Policy may have changed, but I think it’s still in place.

  • Ali M says:

    5 Oct5 October 17:28

    Thank you

• Keely says:

  5 Oct5 October 09:29

  Morning all , upgraded to BA Black, got my 2-4-1 but it’s only got 18 months not 30 months( this was before 30 Sept when they were offering extended expiry dates). Do I call BAEC or AMEX please to rectify? Thanks

  • Anna says:

    5 Oct5 October 09:32

    I think other people have found this and if you call Amex they will amend it.

    • Keely says:

      5 Oct5 October 09:33

      Thanks Anna

• Anna says:

  5 Oct5 October 09:31

  Harvey Nicks has got a 24 days of rum advent calendar for £97 – I might treat my OH as I got the Elemis one!

  • Pete C says:

    5 Oct5 October 09:41

    Only £80 at Master of Malt!

  • TGLoyalty says:

    5 Oct5 October 11:25

    FYI HN gift cards can’t be used online

    • Andrew says:

      5 Oct5 October 11:57

      They are offering a workaround at the moment due to some of their stores remaining closed. You shop as normal online and pay for your goods. Once the item has been dispatched, you email customer services with the gift card number and the order number and they will refund the card you used to pay for the goods with to the value of the gift card and the gift card balance goes down to zero.

  • Louise K says:

    5 Oct5 October 14:46

    Dont forget HN offers on AMEX – £30 off £150 if you can add something else.

• TomD says:

  5 Oct5 October 10:45

  Had a transaction that was pending past 30th September which only cleared 2 days ago. Still received 6 months extension for the BAPP companion voucher to 2.5 years.

• aDifferentSimon says:

  5 Oct5 October 11:48

  I’m a minor curve user.
  I do one transaction a month with virgin backed. Not HL (which was comment on yesterday) but not really a normal spend.
  It was declined today.
  Anyone else?

  • Grant says:

    5 Oct5 October 11:58

    FWIW, HL not working again today.

    • Genghis says:

      5 Oct5 October 12:26

      Backed by Creation? All change!

      • Grant says:

        5 Oct5 October 12:28

        Creation has never worked for me with HL. Branson was going fine until this month.

        • DJ says:

          5 Oct5 October 12:58

          Who is HL?

        • RussellH says:

          5 Oct5 October 15:19

          I assume that Grant uses HL as an abbreviation for Hargreaves-Lansdown – since I do. He may mean someone different, though.

        • Grant says:

          5 Oct5 October 17:09

          Apologies, yes, Hargreaves Lansdown

  • aDifferentSimon says:

    5 Oct5 October 12:13

    I tried a smaller transaction backed with a lloyds card and that went through.
    This is would be a disappointing development for virgin.

  • toomanylogins says:

    5 Oct5 October 17:46

    I tried a curve virgin transaction with Vanguard today and that failed – it was my first time trying there and I had read that worked a while back – not sure of the reason for failure.

• Nick Newbury says:

  5 Oct5 October 11:49

  Does anyone know does the NH hotels £50 off £180 offer apply to single booking or can it be accumulated?

  • Rob says:

    5 Oct5 October 14:15

    It should be cumulative and I, personally, would take a punt on that basis but you can never be sure.

• jason says:

  5 Oct5 October 11:55

  I know this has been discussed a while ago but just checking I am not missing anything, single club booking for LHR – ORD and ORD – LHR now showing at c1k??

  • Anna says:

    5 Oct5 October 12:59

    What kind of booking are you referring to?!

    • Colin MacKinnon says:

      5 Oct5 October 14:52

      You get that price to the USA on BRU-LHR-USA-LHR-LUX tickets – but beware the BA advert on Google Flights, it also says Business but when you click through it is Premium Economy on the transatlantic leg!

  • IG says:

    5 Oct5 October 23:07

    Just tried this and it’s £1.5k for 13-27 Apr 21 for club. Is this typical?

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