Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The HfP chat thread – Friday 27th November

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

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

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the de facto repository for random comments and questions.  With the news flow being lighter, we are running fewer ‘Bits’ articles.

The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind.  At this tricky time, and given that many of you are at home, we want the HfP community to have a place to chat.

HFP-Wordmark-Black

Please only comment under the main articles on the site if your comment is directly related to the topic of the article.  This has long-term benefits as it keeps the commentary relevant for people who read those articles in the future.

By default, HfP shows the last page of comments under the article.  If you want to see the first page of comments and read them all from beginning to end in order, click here: https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2020/11/27/the-hfp-chat-thread-friday-27th-november/comment-page-1.  The page will refresh with this article but the comments will now show the first page and not the last page.

Old chat threads are hidden from the HfP home page.  If you want to look for something in an old thread, click here.  This brings up all the articles in our ‘General’ category which includes the chat threads.

Category

General

Comments (322)

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

  • Mco says:
    27 Nov27 November 12:43

    Anyone know if Lastminute.com allows you to cancel and rebook with 24hrs? My flight dropped by £50pp since last night.

  • Super Secret Stuff says:
    27 Nov27 November 13:09

    Melia back in on .de price has gone up a bit but still great value. 2 x 55,000 ones cost me £398 inc shipping

  • Mco says:
    27 Nov27 November 13:42

    Anyone dealt with BA for Finnair flight cancellations? Just spoke with them and the lovely lady said she can put a request in for Finnair to release flights but there is no guarantee and if they say no my only option is cancellation. They only have one flight to Helsinki a day now which is heavily booked but still has seats in full classes and I can’t go via AMS or CDG for quarantine purposes.

    EU261 applies in this case right? Finnair cancelled my avios booking and haven’t rebooked me.

    • Anna says:
      27 Nov27 November 14:01

      You are entitled to re-routing but obviously they can only put you on flights that are actually going, and there might not be a direct option.

      • Lady London says:
        27 Nov27 November 18:58

        BA are just trying to be cheap ‘asking Finnair to release a seat’. Possibly they’re asking Finnair to give them a seat at a really low interline rate. EU261 says if there’s a cash seat available in your same travelling class BA is supposed to book it for you – even on another airline – if they cancelled your flight.

        So BA can do that now as Finnair and their system have the same access. Any delay or ‘need to ask Finnair’ is either BA hoping they can get a cheaer class of seat off Fimnair or, more likely, BA has already decided not to reroute you on another airline regardless of the legalities. If they wanted to they could have reticketed you on Finnair already.

    • Lady London says:
      27 Nov27 November 18:30

      is your flight definitely cancelled or have you just been offloaded? both these cases would be presented to you as a flight cancellation.

      It’s an outside chance but approaching Christmas it’s just possible.

      • Lady London says:
        27 Nov27 November 18:49

        PS if your flight is cancelled by BA then you do have a right to be rerouted. It doesnt matter if there are only cash seats available on a suitable alternative, you are entitled to one of them to be rebooked into if it’s in the same cabin level you were cancelled from.

        If the operating airline refuses to provide a reasonable reroute ( noting that the timings and length of any indirect route are going to be very different as compared to a direct route) then your recourse is to book a cash seat on a reasonable alternative in the market and claim off BA including any extra meals and overnight required. You can take this to MCOL if you have to.

        It sounds highly likely to me that the closest reasonable alternative would be a Finnair direct flight.

        Actually BA is required to.pay even a higher cash cost for a seat to reroute you, it’s not your problem to pay this but it seems BA likes to bully people and deny them their rights and many here are suing them and winning when BA has forced them to pay out of their own pocket (perhaps hoping the person wont or wont be able to)

        So if BA refuses I’d keep careful note of who you spoke to and date and time of the call, not enter into any further discussion, book your own seat on Finnair, and file your moneyclaimonline dot gov dot uk immediately for all costs.

  • Craig says:
    27 Nov27 November 14:06

    Well my only non-refundable travel purchase has backfired, Christmas at Kew non-refundable even though we’ve been placed in Tier 3 and can’t travel. They can swing for their membership from next year. Fuming.

  • Rob says:
    27 Nov27 November 14:06

    I haven’t!

  • meta says:
    27 Nov27 November 14:44

    @Cat and others – Langley just confirmed to me that they will be opening.

    • Stanley says:
      27 Nov27 November 15:04

      Great. we are there 5th Dec. Hope the indoor pool etc is open.

      • meta says:
        27 Nov27 November 15:59

        Let us know how it goes. Remember to contact hotel to prebook things as there might be capacity restrictions.

        • Stanley says:
          27 Nov27 November 16:16

          Yep will do. Have booked dinner. debating the massage/booze trade off to hit 400 quid…….

  • Lady London says:
    27 Nov27 November 14:46

    +1
    Hilton was diabolical via Taco Bell -when they were at 4-6% (and did not have a condition busting any Hhonors members down to 25pc of that) they simply never, ever paid out. Everyone said the same.

    Then Taco introduced user feedback – and around that time Hilton simply disappeared.

    They are back recently but given their record I should think they won’t pay out. And if someone is HH member then at 1pc they’d be better to go via hotels.com instead and get a 10pc free night accrual plus any Taco positives.

    • Super Secret Stuff says:
      27 Nov27 November 15:33

      I started using it a while ago, a bit more obvious but still hidden

  • BrianS says:
    27 Nov27 November 14:50

    Has anyone had any luck extending IHG Premium C/C nights beyond 31/12/20?

    Never had the opportunity to use due to restrictions and now in Tier 3 so no chance before the expiry.

    • Dr C says:
      27 Nov27 November 15:14

      You can book for a date in the future, its just needs to be booked by that date if that helps

      • Anna says:
        27 Nov27 November 15:21

        I don’t think you get it back though if you cancel after it’s expired.

        • EwanG says:
          27 Nov27 November 16:07

          I asked them on chat 2-3 weeks ago if they were going to extend them. They said they were not aware of any plans to do so at that time, and that many others had already asked the same question. I will be asking them again next month, by which time hopefully they have decided, or if not it will prompt them to take action, failing that I will make a booking for 2021 just before it expires.

    • Anna says:
      27 Nov27 November 15:18

      Treat someone who lives elsewhere to a night away somewhere nice? You could earn a lot of brownie points using it for somewhere like the IC Park Lane!

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Learn more on our About page.

VAA

Latest comments

Latest Forum Posts

Get 30,000 points bonus with American Express Platinum

Amex Gold

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.3 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

Get 20,000 bonus points and your first year free with American Express Gold

Amex Gold