The HfP chat thread – Friday 11th December

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• Baresi says:

  11 Dec11 December 14:17

  Hi,
  I am thinking of booking flights in March
  LHR – OSL using BA and from OSL – DOH – BKK using Qatar. Now 1, when i check in at LHR are my bags checked in to my final destination BKK? or 2, do i have to go to arrivals hall collect luggage at OSL and then check in again for my Qatar flight? 3, if i have to collect luggage do i have to self isolate/another PCR test or am i technically transiting as not going to leave airport?
  Same applies to my return flight Qatar BKK – DOH – OSL and BA flight OSL – LHR

  Any help most appreciated
  Thanks in advance

  • Mike P says:

    11 Dec11 December 14:30

    BA will not interline baggage with other oneworld carriers. You would have to collect and re-check. I’d say your chances of this itinerary being possible in March are minimal.

    • ChrisC says:

      11 Dec11 December 15:14

      You missed out the rather vital ‘on separate tickets’

      On a single ticket BA will interline with the best of them. Heck they’ll even interline with VS!

  • Young L says:

    11 Dec11 December 14:38

    I had similar trip at beginning of 2020, using BA to OSL, then Qatar took me to DOH then to SYD.
    BA wouldn’t check-in my luggage to SYD, said it was not possible. I had to collect and check-in my luggage at OSL.
    But on the way back, Qatar checked in my luggage all the way to LHR.

  • The real John says:

    11 Dec11 December 14:40

    1 – absolutely no chance
    2 – yes
    3 – if you are not an EU/EEA/Swiss citizen, resident or an immediate family member of one, you probably won’t be allowed into Norway, so it’s a moot point. You have to fulfill the entry requirements of Norway.

    On the return, QR will usually check luggage to LHR, but they are not obliged to.

    • Baresi says:

      11 Dec11 December 19:50

      Thanks for info guys 🙂

• Linda says:

  11 Dec11 December 15:03

  I have had two e-mails from BA in the last week changing our upcoming flights in 2021 downgrading them from First to business. Have just rang on the 0800 number got through straight away they have put us on a A350 for both flights and allocated us two seats in the middle for no extra charge, (if we want to change those allocated seats we will have to pay extra).
  They have also refunded the extra Avios paid to upgrade new tickets allocated and Avios already in account.

  One lady put me through to the Lloyds Avios line to save me redialling to re issue the tickets and refund my Avios. Cannot complain had excellent service from both agents.

  Just hoping we get the new Club suite and to actually go on these trips.

  • Anna says:

    11 Dec11 December 15:09

    HI Linda – you know you’re entitled to 75% of the avios paid on a downgraded leg (once flown), not just the difference between F & J?!

    • Linda says:

      11 Dec11 December 15:29

      Can you explain what that means , as I am a bit thick? When it comes to working out what I get.
      They would not return my £75 paid to upgrade my original booking and wanted another if I cancelled, so just holding on they cancel my March flight, they also offered the Voucher!,,

      • Anna says:

        11 Dec11 December 16:38

        EU261 entitles you to compensation of 75% of the cash or avios you paid for any leg of a flight which is downgraded – it’s discussed on here many times per week. I’m not totally sure what you originally booked – was the £75 the extra “taxes” for upgrading from J to F? In any case, whatever the total avios cost of that leg (e.g. 80k avios if you flew LHR-JFK in F at peak time), you are entitled to 75% of (so 60k avios for the example cited, if my maths is correct).

        • Lady London says:

          11 Dec11 December 19:21

          If an avios booking then 75% of the avios as well as 75% of the fake taxes BA charges. So 75% of the ‘taxes’ you paid also to get back is your right – except APD and a very small amount for things like genuine airport charges.

          BA’s view is that possession of your money is 9/10ths of the law apparently. They will now take the view that you were quite happy to settle for just the F-J difference, I should think.

          Unsticking BA the limpet from your 75% refund will be like opening a tin without a tin opener now.

          Good luck. Fly it, keep your boarding pass and go for it. Since you’ll have to earn it back by MCOLing it you might as well put in the fees for your upgrade to First and any seat reservation fees that have now arisen – another item BA is being a limpet about and deserves to be sorted in court on.

          Good luck.

        • Lady London says:

          11 Dec11 December 19:26

          Courts can only award money for this, sadly, and the rate you would reluctantly have to accept back for the 75% of avios you paid is 1.6p per avios.

          Get your calculator out and you will see why BA the limpet was happy to refund you F-J and no word about the 75%

        • Linda says:

          11 Dec11 December 20:17

          it was only one leg of the booking in First and they have refunded all the Avios difference paid as it was on a companion voucher as well.

          The £75 was for the original change to upgrade to First from Club when it became available.

          I was surprised they have put us in seats together for if I have got it right at no charge only if we change what they have allocated us. The seats are not ideal but am not changing as we would then have to,pay at least another £100 each.

        • Anna says:

          11 Dec11 December 20:30

          But as LL said, they owe you a lot more than this so it’s no surprise they acquiesced to everything else.

        • Lady London says:

          11 Dec11 December 20:59

          PS 75% is due to you *for each seat* ie twice over if you used a 241

          Some people apparently have felt guilty BA was flying them for free… or they were being paid to fly.

  • Hugh says:

    11 Dec11 December 16:17

    We have also been downgraded from F to J for a flight in June. Collective advice on here the other day seemed to be to not accept the downgrade, still fly and then claim after we had flown 75% of the Avios paid at 1.6p. However the downside of this plan is I can’t reserve seats, although TBH I don’t think I would pay to reserve seats anyway. It sounds like you were able to reserve seats for free, so I am not wondering if I should reluctantly accept the downgrade as some people were saying this doesn’t affect your rights to claim. Any thoughts anyone?

    • Jill ( Kinkell) says:

      11 Dec11 December 18:38

      I phoned and stated I was very unhappy at the downgrade, but in order to maintain the itinerary , I felt forced to accept the change. I asked the agent to make a record in my booking of my extreme reluctance to accept change as it was an involuntary downgrade and not my choice. That was 2 days ago.I’m going to phone up and check the note was made!

      • Hugh says:

        11 Dec11 December 19:18

        Did the agent let you reserve seats (I have no status!)?

        • Jill ( Kinkell) says:

          11 Dec11 December 20:16

          Well, I asked which seats we were allocated, didn’t like them ( 2 middle seats 1st row) and asked for different ones . Not sure if being Gold made a difference. I chose 2a,3a as we like window seats, then changed through MMB to rows 9 , 10 as both seats have 2 windows.. it’s a daytime flight so quite happy if there is a bit of foot traffic etc.

    • Lady London says:

      11 Dec11 December 19:43

      Seriously @Hugh are you saying you’d forgo £1700 or even lots more, on some routes, for the sake of just what? something near £100 to reserve a seat ? Each to his own, I suppose.

      Or maybe just pick up the phone to reserve a seat ?whilst carefully avoiding giving any hint you would accept just the difference in class, such as for safety’s sake declining any refund of the difference and mentioning you will also be looking for the 75% refund of the cost of First that you’re entitled to for this involuntary downgrade ?

      At 1.6p per avios for 75% of the avios you paid, plus 75% of the major chunk of the so-called ‘taxes’ cash. Or if you paid all cash, then 75% of your cash back or close to that. Plus you still get to fly in J.

      Just too much trouble ?

      • Hugh says:

        11 Dec11 December 20:05

        @Lady London. I probably worded the post badly. I definitely don’t want to lose the right to any compensation, just that I have seen mixed messages about whether to contact BA or not and I would quite like the option to reserve seats! You are probably right that I should ring BA and be careful what I say! Thanks for your advice.

        • Lady London says:

          11 Dec11 December 21:12

          call for your seat is safest

          I’d have no problem stating to them where I was going with this if any talk by them of fare difference and refund arose. @Jill Kinkell’s approach was softer but just as assertive. Up to you what approach you choose.

          If you would give away £800-£3000 of imvoluntary downgrade compensation, per seat, even on a 241 for the sake of a £100 reservation fee and a little effort, then you are probably BA’s ideal customer.

• Anna says:

  11 Dec11 December 15:14

  I have just had a mailing from Amex which seems to suggest that I would get 6k MR points for “inviting a friend” and another 6k points if they are approved. It’s not clear if they actually have to apply for the first 6k to be awarded. Has anyone else seen this?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    11 Dec11 December 15:35

    got the same It’s just a badly worded way of saying you have a bonus if they are accepted for a card.

    • Anna says:

      11 Dec11 December 16:24

      It is really badly worded!

  • mark2 says:

    11 Dec11 December 16:55

    I received today in the post an expensively printed offer for 1500 Avios if I spend £100 on a crd for which I have got a letter from Amex confirming that it was cancelled some time ago!

  • Lady London says:

    11 Dec11 December 19:47

    People have had 12k bonus for referrals before

• Anna says:

  11 Dec11 December 15:19

  Also the spend £400 at IC/Kimpton/Regent offer has just appeared on the same card. I wonder if it’s anything to do with no having used said card for a couple of weeks now!

  • Phil says:

    11 Dec11 December 16:43

    Same offer just arrived on my Amex Plat either yesterday or Wednesday with an expiry date of 31/12/20. I use the Amex Plat fairly regularly tbh, so don’t think usage was the trigger. I also got Shop Small on my BAPP Supplementary card on the same day, without challenging Amex. I think there was a “blockage” but quite frankly who knows how Amex Offers work, I don’t think Amex do.

• r* says:

  11 Dec11 December 15:33

  I contacted creation about my IHG certificate having not posted and their reply was: IHG is going to give an update about certificates with a 2020 expiry before the certfiicates expire (I didnt actually mention anything about the expiry of the existing cert, but it kinda suggests the aug 21 rumor may be true…) and that after qualifying for a free night it can take up to 6 weeks to appear, so I guess I cant really push them until that 6 weeks is up (its been 3 weeks so far)

• memesweeper says:

  11 Dec11 December 15:33

  I’ve upgrade my phone. Installed Curve app on the shiny new one, but for the life of me can’t get online purchase approval notifications through. Curve support are maintaining a disciplined radio silence — any suggestions for a fix?

  • memesweeper says:

    11 Dec11 December 15:34

    I’ve upgraded! grrr…

  • Andrew says:

    11 Dec11 December 16:29

    Android?

    Have you tried going into settings to make sure you’ve authorised notifications for that App?

  • Connor says:

    11 Dec11 December 16:41

    Exact same since I got my 12 Pro Max. Just using the SMS for now as it’s more reliable anyway.

    • memesweeper says:

      11 Dec11 December 17:07

      Yes, notifications are authorised, and
      Yes, it’s a 12 Pro Max

      • Genghis says:

        11 Dec11 December 17:29

        Strange. All working ok on my 12 pro max. IOS and app all up to date? Uninstall and reinstall.

        • Genghis says:

          11 Dec11 December 17:35

          As an aside, I was on the beta programme but it stopped working so now just using the main app. Not sure if applies to you.

  • Sina says:

    11 Dec11 December 17:09

    approve transactions using SMS or email?

    • memesweeper says:

      11 Dec11 December 17:16

      I am. But I liked the notifications! so easy…

      • The Savage Squirrel says:

        11 Dec11 December 19:06

        I have lost the SMS option and can only have the slightly flaky notifications. It works 90% of time but SMS was foolproof – wish we could swap 😀 😀

        • memesweeper says:

          14 Dec14 December 07:58

          Finally fixed it. Uninstall app, and reinstall — sorted.

• Helen says:

  11 Dec11 December 15:56

  I’ve booked a BA holiday GLA – CPT return. The outbound GLA flight at 1745 has been cancelled and I received an email to advise they’d moved me to the 1915 flight (arriving LHR 2035). CPT flight departs at 2145 (too tight?). Today I received a text from BA holiday giving me 4 choices and advising that if I don’t respond within 72 hours the booking will be cancelled and the money refunded in full. I requested a callback but nervous at they’ve advised it be within 10 days. Any advise?

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    11 Dec11 December 16:05

    1.hr 10 mins is a valid connection time, and everything is in T5 now, I think. You don’t give dates. So you and your luggage should make it.

    If not, BA will give you a night in London and fly you the next day.

    However, they should also move you to an earlier flight if you’d like.

    ps. GLA-LHR flights tend to arrive early now that Heathrow is so quiet that there’s no need for holding and the associated schedule padding.

    • Helen says:

      11 Dec11 December 16:23

      Booking is for 18 February. Fare was c £1000 in club so definitely don’t want a refund.

  • ChrisC says:

    11 Dec11 December 17:16

    60 mins is the MCT for a T5-T5 transit.

    If CPT was still operating T3 then it’s 90 so this connection wouldn’t have been valid.

    if the GLA flight is delayed and depending on the length of the delay then BA have been known to expedite passengers by having staff meet them to escort them through the terminal to sending a car for a gate to gate transfer.

    BA will do its utmost to get you on the CPT flight.

    If their suggested connection is too uncomfortable for you then investigate what other GLA flights there are that will get you there earlier in the day (even if it means sitting in the lounge / terminal for hours and hours)

    If EDI is an option then check flights from there as well. They should be flexible.

    The thing is to be prepared with options when BA call you back so you can say ‘can you put me on xxxx flight’

    BTW I got an email yesterday about a cancelled flight AA and a text from BA hols this afternoon with the 4 options showing when clicking the link. I need to check what other flights are operating that day before responding.

    If I chose the ‘call back’ option and they don’t within the 72 hours then from my reading of the link in the text my booking is still safe because I will have contacted them within 72 hours.

    Of course despite the ‘phone lines are busy’ message you can still call them.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      11 Dec11 December 19:10

      T3 is closed for the foreseeable future.

      • ChrisC says:

        11 Dec11 December 20:02

        hence why I wrtote

        “If CPT was still operating T3 ….”

    • Helen says:

      11 Dec11 December 22:01

      In normal circumstances I would be happy with the short connection but the PCR test it’s more of an issue. Guess i’ll be sitting in the lounge for 4 hours 😔

• Sundar says:

  11 Dec11 December 16:03

  +1 Going up in price as well soon ! 🙂

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