The HfP chat thread – Thursday 8th October

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Anon says:

8 Oct8 October 10:53

Can anyone confirm if Bicester Village Amex offer can work with multiple transactions if the total value is over £300 please?
- Andrew says:
  
  8 Oct8 October 10:59
  
  Well I was wanting confirmation of this too and rang Amex who said it was on one transaction, but I don’t really believe them as firstly, £300 is quite a high value and and considering they are offering it to 50,000 card members to save to card, the chances of that many people spending £300 in a single small boutique are low (this isn’t like spending £300 in Harrods) and also it uses the term ‘eligible spend’ rather than ‘eligible transaction’ so I’m thinking it will work on cumulative. But without confirmation from others that it has worked this way on other times the offer has run, or this one, I’ll go down the gift card route which is included and available from the visitor centre.
  - Anon says:
    
    8 Oct8 October 11:07
    
    That’s what I was thinking as well, and if I did go down the gift card route the next thing I would need is confirmation that you get Triple Avios for purchasing gift cards…
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      8 Oct8 October 11:34
      
      You don’t get any for the gift card but you will once you use the gift card to make an actual purchase.
    - Andrew says:
      
      8 Oct8 October 11:41
      
      I did get confirmation of that from Bicester yesterday. And this also means you can redeem the offer in multiple cards and claim the Avios for them all as normally you can only claim Avios on the same card.
- Sarah says:
  
  8 Oct8 October 18:50
  
  I went on Tuesday, bought a gift card and used that for purchases. It is not accepted in Prada, Jo Malone and 2 other stores but not a problem for me. The offer was triggered within 2 minutes of buying the card
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    8 Oct8 October 22:39
    
    Yes important to ask if anywhere is excluded before you buy.
    
    I don’t remember Jo but recall Prada which wasn’t an issue for me.
Pete says:

8 Oct8 October 11:10

Worth noting if you are waiting for BA FTV tickets to be re-issued: travelling tomorrow, they still hadn’t been re-issued yesterday, so I called and insisted they did it there and then (the reservation had been created a good 6 weeks ago). The gentleman at the Indian call centre was able to get it done and I’ve just had the £18 I was due back on my AmEx. When I called last week I was assured it would be done “soon”, but it felt like too much of a risk leaving it to BA two days before the flight…! So my advice would be to keep an eye on re-issues if you are in a similar situation – I know a few people have mentioned this before, but don’t think they got this close to departure!
YH says:

8 Oct8 October 11:24

Regarding the current 50% Avios booking sale. Does anyone know what happens if I book flights now, then after the sale ends, I decide to change the dates. Would I only have to pay the £35 change fee or would I also have to pay the other half of the Avios?
- Bs says:
  
  8 Oct8 October 15:00
  
  No change fee (BWC), no reassessment of avios costs as long as you stay in the same on-peak/off-peak bands (as per T&Cs, and I’ve already moved mine to Sept where avios costs are double).
  - meta says:
    
    8 Oct8 October 15:27
    
    If there is a difference in surcharges it won’t process the payment even if it is peak to peak, off-peak to off- peak. Not sure if you book and charges are lower. I tried already, so cancelled within 24h over the phone. It was F booking so got through immediately via You First.
Wollhouse says:

8 Oct8 October 11:31

Ba offer for business £999 – £200 more than the 50% off Avios offer but you keep your Avios and get more for the booking. But… with Avios you can cancel for £35. Book with confidence you get a voucher. That’s fine, but… does the voucher have to be used for the same person?? Or is it simply a credit than can be used by me however I wish. My BAPP 241 was dame passengers only. Don’t want to be stuck w a voucher for a person I don’t wish to travel with! Thx
- Rhys says:
  
  8 Oct8 October 11:36
  
  …only works if you want to travel before March, of course. 50% off Avios is available until June.
  - Wollhouse says:
    
    8 Oct8 October 11:42
    
    Do you mean using the voucher? Or if I cancel the flight in March and get a voucher, I have to use it before 31 March?? Book or travel? And for anyone or only the person who I had originally booked a flight for? Thx
    - Wollhouse says:
      
      8 Oct8 October 12:11
      
      So…Just spoken to BA. Under the book with confidence voucher, I can cancel the trip for the other party and get a Megavoucher which can be used for anyone so long as 1) I paid for the original booking and 2) It is an original booking and had not been reissued based on a date or time change. So I’ve cancelled the 50% Avios ticket, booked under this promo and then rebooked MY ticket under the new offer saving £500. So all I need now is for the USA to let us in!
mark ellis says:

8 Oct8 October 11:47

BA 50% off Avios. RESULT !! we had booked for Singapore business class next June for 185K points and a companion voucher. Rang BA yesterday (waited an hour!!) and they cancelled and rebooked exactly same reward flights and returned 87K points to my account!
- Craig says:
  
  8 Oct8 October 11:58
  
  I’m tempted to try, Bangkok booked April/May but there is no availability and it’s booked as 2 singles. Just wondering if it’s worth the risk?
  - Dan says:
    
    8 Oct8 October 14:12
    
    I took the risk and lost on BKK – inbound didn’t go back into award inventory or they were quickly snapped up before I could re-book. However, very happy with the Tokyo alternative booked for the same dates and a considerable saving!
Naveen says:

8 Oct8 October 12:02

Hi, I’ve been gifted 1 million Avios – what should I do considering the current situation? Thanks.
- Alex M says:
  
  8 Oct8 October 12:18
  
  First thing to do would be to brag about it on HFP – achieved. Just kidding…
- Rhys says:
  
  8 Oct8 October 12:19
  
  Take a look at our Avios Redemption University series – that should give you a primer of what the best options are. The good thing about Avios books is that they are cancellable for a full refund minus £35, so they have a lot of flexibility.
  
  https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2020/04/06/how-do-you-book-flights-using-avios-points/
  - Naveen says:
    
    8 Oct8 October 15:17
    
    Thanks Rhys. I will be having a thorough read alter tonight.
- Name says:
  
  8 Oct8 October 12:24
  
  Upgrade peoples flights, if you are feeling generous?
- meta says:
  
  8 Oct8 October 12:57
  
  I’d try and book a multi-partner RTW trip in F, but probably wait till 2022 for that. There will be other promos for sure. The current Avios sale is just the beginning.
  - IG says:
    
    8 Oct8 October 13:23
    
    Is there any hidden benefits from multi partner trip w avios? I have some avios and F rtw doesn’t seem too bad
    - meta says:
      
      8 Oct8 October 15:34
      
      Yes, as it’s priced per mileage range, so you can squeeze as much as you can within same pricing. You can also mix and match various oneworld airlines. If I had 1 million Avios, I would combine it with nested 241 bookings and do 3-4 months of traveling. It’s not easy thing to book though. It needs really good planning with gc map.
      - IG says:
        
        8 Oct8 October 17:43
        
        Not using 241s unfortunately but the rest still relevant.. thx
        
        You mean that as long as trip booked to specific place if I add additional stops on the way (keeping under some limit of miles) it’s the same price in avios?
      - Rob says:
        
        8 Oct8 October 17:49
        
        Correct. We have articles on this.
  - Naveen says:
    
    8 Oct8 October 15:20
    
    That’s a great recommendation. The current 50% promo looks great on paper but I find it a bit too soon. I have a feeling that, as you said, more (good) things are coming.
- Harry T says:
  
  8 Oct8 October 14:42
  
  Please add me to your household account?
  - Naveen says:
    
    8 Oct8 October 15:21
    
    I add you today, no avios left tomorrow.
    - Lady London says:
      
      8 Oct8 October 23:48
      
      If it’s not a rude question, what does one have to do, to be gifted 1 million avios ? 🙂
Tim says:

8 Oct8 October 13:11

Has any one else had a strange experience after downgrading from Amex Plat to Green (or Gold i guess)?

Within 10 days of doing so my credit limit on my blue BA card was cut from £4000 to £800… Requested an increase, denied, rang them up denied, told to wait 3 months, waited 3 months again denied… I am unable to refer a friend on the either card. I have no offers on either card either.

Nothing has changed with my credit file, never missed a payment with Amex, on my Plat card i was spending a decent 5 figure sum a year. It would appear that Amex don’t want to do business with me anymore but today they have allowed me to upgrade my Blue BA card to BAPP (i am £300 away from £10k spend) which surely debunks that theory?
- Harry T says:
  
  8 Oct8 October 14:43
  
  I saw one other person have a similar experience in these comments. It does seems oddly aggressive behaviour. Has your general credit worthiness outside of Amex taken a hit recently?
  - Tim says:
    
    8 Oct8 October 15:07
    
    Zero changes at all. And have looked at checkmyfile which gives details from multiple credit agencies. I think my plan is to hit the 2-4-1 then close all my card with Amex and give it a break for a few months and then try and open a new card and see what happens!
    - Lady London says:
      
      8 Oct8 October 23:52
      
      I wouldn;t do that right now.
      You might find if there’s a general credit crunch, it could become even harder to get limits back again on a new application.
- Sina says:
  
  8 Oct8 October 18:53
  
  They’ve placed a £1900 limit on my Gold, Plat and Harrods cards yesterday!
  
  Not knowing I called today to make sure my £3k transaction in T5 willgo through and they told me about the limit. Sent some bank statements to appeal the decision but unlikely that I could make that spend tomorrow and reach my annual spend for the bonus! Very annoying as there was no communication! And no problem with my credit file or replacements!
  - Lady London says:
    
    8 Oct8 October 23:53
    
    Will you have to split the expense in T5 across 2 cards then?
  - Lady London says:
    
    8 Oct8 October 23:54
    
    On reflection, you are lucky you called ! It could have been a bit embarrassing and puzzling if you got to T5 and got a decline….
- Lady London says:
  
  8 Oct8 October 23:51
  
  Hum. Could Amex, like other card providers we might suspect, be under pressure to reduce their lines of credit to customers ? It would make sense that they would ring-fence Platinum card holders from such initiatives, but the moment you only had a blue BA, you were subject to such a mass initiative to reduce people’s credit lines. ie are they working from the bottom up, reducing limits on the low-end cards first and your timing just a bit unlucky to have no flag saying “has a Plat so don’t touch his limit” on your account?
  
  Just a theory…
- Connor says:
  
  9 Oct9 October 00:21
  
  Same here, reduced from £13k to £5k back in May. Absolutely no offers (not even shop small) and can’t get a credit limit increase, even though I’ve been putting through £5-10k a month.
Anna says:

8 Oct8 October 13:15

Has anyone bookied with Emyr and split it into 2 bookings? I need 6 nights in Abu Dhabi in April but the benefits are per stay so presumably we would get double if we made 2 x 3 night bookings? My northern sensibilities are telling me this would be a better deal 🤣
- Rhys says:
  
  8 Oct8 October 13:26
  
  Ask him!
  - Anna says:
    
    8 Oct8 October 13:29
    
    I am not sure of the etiquette for these things…
    - ChrisC says:
      
      8 Oct8 October 13:38
      
      Just send him a message and ask!
      
      I’ve found him to be incredibly helpful in answering queries and he’ll tell you if this is possible or not.
      
      To get maximum benefit you could ask if you could book it as 6 separate bookings and get the $100 credit per day! or 3 bookings of 2 nights each.
      - Anna says:
        
        8 Oct8 October 14:19
        
        I’ve asked if he can do 3 nights in my name and 3 nights in my OH’s. I assume that way we’d also both get Bonvoy points which we might need to keep both our accounts alive by then!
    - Rhys says:
      
      8 Oct8 October 13:49
      
      The worst he can say is no 🙂 Emyr is very friendly!
- Harry T says:
  
  8 Oct8 October 14:44
  
  Emyr is a very amenable and friendly fellow – I’ve made a great many bookings with his assistance. Just ask him what he can do. He will even tell you to book an alternative deal if it’s better than what he can offer – a true gentleman of integrity.
  - Anna says:
    
    8 Oct8 October 16:17
    
    Sounds like it’s no go – apparently the hotel would be likely to refuse the 2nd credit if they realised it was the same guests on both bookings. Already got the IC booked for 5 nights so I don’t think I’d be popular if I threw a third hotel into the mix!
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      8 Oct8 October 16:22
      
      I was going to say you would need to leave the property to get benefits elsewhere or check out (late) then have your OH check in (early) but that would mean moving room.
      - Anna says:
        
        8 Oct8 October 16:59
        
        Apparently they would suss that out and refuse the second credit, so not worth the incovenience!