The HfP chat thread – Friday 9th October

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C says:

9 Oct9 October 11:10

I booked two one ways using the 241 voucher for the outbound from Inverness and booking the return using full avios back to Manchester. I’ve called up BA twice today and they refused to link the bookings and insisted I had to cancel the return journey and amend the outbound to a return. I gave in as I didn’t want to waste another 2 hours calling up again. I’ve never had a problem doing this before. Has anyone else?
- Vit says:
  
  9 Oct9 October 11:17
  
  I guess you’re doing that to save on tax & surcharge? And if you’re going to amend your outbound to a return, your tax will shoot up as well?
- Genghis says:
  
  9 Oct9 October 11:24
  
  Previously you were given an option:
  
  1) Cancel the return leg and amend the outbound leg, but there was a risk that the return leg would go back into reward inventory. This way the two legs were on one PNR. This way you could get avios back and taxes were trued up / down (good for New York, not so for Hong Kong)
  
  2) They keep the return leg and outbound legs as they are, refund you the avios only and do not true up / down the cash (not good for New York, good for Hong Kong). The two legs stayed on separate PNRs.
  
  Then they only allowed option 2.
  
  From your description of requesting to “link the bookings”, it seems like you were asking for option 1, which they no longer allow?
  - C says:
    
    9 Oct9 October 12:09
    
    No I was asking for option 2. Both agents checked with a supervisor and said it couldn’t be done and the only way around it was to do option 1 so the taxes were adjusted. Up by about £30 pp in my case.
Matt B says:

9 Oct9 October 11:40

Apologies if already mentioned, but I recall reading BAPP 241s issued by end of September were given 30 months to use instead of the normal 24. My wife’s just arrived in her account issued today with an expiry of April 2023 so looks like the extension is still being applied.
Anna says:

9 Oct9 October 12:15

FlyerTalk reporting a proposed increase in APD from January! The government really has lost the plot.
- marcw says:
  
  9 Oct9 October 12:36
  
  https://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/387462/apd-to-increase-despite-industry-pleas
- ChrisC says:
  
  9 Oct9 October 13:00
  
  April not January according to the article linked to my marcw
  
  You can post a link to flyer talk!
  
  But it’s riduculous decsion especially as they have previously announced the new rates more than a year in advance to enable airlines to update their systems. Now they will likely spend a small fortune to collect the revised rates for already tickketd flights (unless the government exemots those)
- BJ says:
  
  9 Oct9 October 13:46
  
  Thanks Anna. By the way, you and @TG and others might want to be aware that the Christmas market etc in Edinburgh has been cancelled this year if you hadn’t heard already. Also, I added some thoughts to our recent discussion for you.
  - Anna says:
    
    9 Oct9 October 14:16
    
    Ooh interesting!
    Thanks – yes someone mentioned about the Xmas markets but there’s so much to do in Edinburgh anyway, as long as you can pre-book the galleries and museums and there’s food, I’ll be happy!
    - Anna says:
      
      9 Oct9 October 14:18
      
      I’d also like to visit Holyrood again (it’ll be the 3rd or 4th time). I’m a complete Mary Queen of Scots nut, read every book that gets published about that period and can’t get enough of the places where the whole tragic drama played put!
      - BJ says:
        
        9 Oct9 October 20:04
        
        I’m more interested in Mary’s Milk Bar myself but this may be of interest to you .
        https://www.visitscotland.com/info/tours/mary-queen-of-scots-day-tour-28059655
      - BJ says:
        
        9 Oct9 October 20:07
        
        And this
        https://www.rabbies.com/en/blog/guide-places-connected-mary-queen-scots
Dips says:

9 Oct9 October 13:24

SeatSpy has suddenly shown a lot of availability overnight. (Long haul in CW)
I remember when using RewardFlightFinder there was often a discussion about “delays” in the feed between BA and their system, does anyone know about SeatSpy in this regard? How fresh is SeatSpy data?
- Rhys says:
  
  9 Oct9 October 13:55
  
  Within a couple hours I believe
- Craig says:
  
  9 Oct9 October 14:29
  
  Getting a bit fed up with Seat Spy, a few weeks ago it reported F availability for BKK, a route that doesn’t have a First cabin. Today it’s showing J availability for April/May that doesn’t exist on BA, about to cancel my subscription.
  - BLT says:
    
    9 Oct9 October 15:03
    
    I cancelled mine a couple of weeks ago. No response to support questions, unreliable availability displayed and finally was only showing BA availability at T-330.
    - AndyW says:
      
      9 Oct9 October 18:09
      
      Yep cancelled mine as well unfortunately, just wasn’t working
Ilga says:

9 Oct9 October 13:27

Does the Hyatt friends & family rate for healthcare workers count towards status? There are some rather good rates around for those who are able to get away (…)
- Harry T says:
  
  9 Oct9 October 14:38
  
  Unsure but I think they don’t count. Check the T&Cs. The Marriott Helsthcare Heroes rates count toward status.
C says:

9 Oct9 October 13:41

I’ve never had an issue with being approved for an Amex card before but I applied for the green card today and got an instant rejection. Nothing has changed in my circumstances or credit file, a decent salary and I have had the full range of Amex cards previously. Anyone else had this problem?
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  9 Oct9 October 16:41
  
  The problem with a question like this is that no one will have you exact same profile.
  
  Age, wages, current cards, other loans etc
  
  I’ve heard stories of them tightening up but that really means they have adjusted their acceptable risk profile. Previously acceptable customers are left out in the cold.
  
  Could always appeal and ask to be reconsidered by a human rather than a computer?
- Tim says:
  
  9 Oct9 October 16:54
  
  Did you close the accounts this year? I downgraded my Plat to Green back in April and i have seen my credit limits on my BA card be slashed, i know longer get any offers at all and unable to refer friends. My last 12 months with Plat i spent high 5 figures, never missed a payment, nothing has changed with my credit file…
  - C says:
    
    9 Oct9 October 20:47
    
    I’ve closed a BA card this year but that’s it. They’ve also reduced my partners BA card limit significantly. It seems like they really are tightening up.
Doug says:

9 Oct9 October 13:41

Not sure if this has been covered, but Italy now requires covid 72h certificates for arrivals from the uk. They do it there for free too, but may take either 30-1h or 48h… I just did a checkin for my BA flight tomorrow AM without knowing the trouble.
Harry T says:

9 Oct9 October 14:36

Asked about retention offers for my Gold card – free first year ends this month. Given double points for all expenditure for three months. That stacks with the airline and Amex travel bonuses that exist as part of the card package.
- Nick says:
  
  9 Oct9 October 15:04
  
  Was that the only option you were offered? I am surprised they did not offer bonus points or fee reduction. I am also up for renewal next month on my Amex Gold, so would love to know your experience.
  - Harry T says:
    
    9 Oct9 October 16:26
    
    I specifically asked if they would also give me a bolus of points up front but this was denied.
- stevenhp1987 says:
  
  9 Oct9 October 15:11
  
  hmmm, my Gold year just finished. Did you call or go via online chat?
  - Anna says:
    
    9 Oct9 October 15:18
    
    You have to call for these offers. I spoke to them yesterday and told them I would use the card with the best deal for my Xmas shopping and was offered 5000 bonus points if I spend £1k by 31/12. Easily achievable even if Xmas wasn’t looming!
    - stevenhp1987 says:
      
      9 Oct9 October 15:22
      
      Are you literally asking for retention deals? Or basically saying you’re going to cancel (I assume the later…)?
      
      The former just sounds wrong to me somehow!
      - stevenhp1987 says:
        
        9 Oct9 October 15:36
        
        Update:
        
        Spoke to a friendly representative who outlined my ability to downgrade to the free MR card once my points hit.
        
        She also applied a bonus 5,000 offer once I’ve spent £1k on my card in the next 3 months. Interesting to apply/offer the bonus after recommending downgrading to the free card though?
      - Super Secret Stuff says:
        
        9 Oct9 October 16:29
        
        Say you can’t justify the fee for the card and say you’re thinking about cancelling. Is there anything they can do before I cancel.
        
        Sometimes take a little convincing.
        
        I got offered double points for everything or 5,000 bonus points for me it was better to go for the 5,000
      - Anna says:
        
        9 Oct9 October 16:58
        
        No – it’s pretty obvious I’m not going to cancel 3 months before my year end when I’ve triggered the 10k bonus points! I said I was thinking about where to put my Xmas outlay and asked if they had any spend offers. They then “looked at my account” and said this offer was available to me. They could have said there was nothing on offer if they wanted to.
- Harry T says:
  
  9 Oct9 October 16:25
  
  I said I was thinking of cancelling and wanted a retention offer. The same approach yielded 40k points when I threatened to cancel my Platinum card. Unsure what the logic is to their process.
  - Super Secret Stuff says:
    
    9 Oct9 October 16:32
    
    I think it depends how much money they make from you. Must be an algorithm. 40,000 for platinum sounds right to me as the fee is 4 times more, more travel orientated etc.
    - Andrew says:
      
      9 Oct9 October 16:36
      
      Yes 40,000 seems to be the standard Platinum now, it was 20,000 in June but that was when the value of the points if converting to cash was double – so both amounts would give you a £180 statement credit to go some way towards your £575 annual fee.
  - Travel Strong says:
    
    9 Oct9 October 19:40
    
    When I called to cancel platinum earlier in the year, the response was: “You read Head for points don’t you?” followed by “Me too” and a pleasant chat resulting in a retention offer.
    - Harry T says:
      
      9 Oct9 October 19:52
      
      Haha that’s great!