The HfP chat thread – Thursday 31st December

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• Tarmohamed says:

  31 Dec31 December 02:26

  Is there a way to use United Miles and Marriot points towards a single booking for 1 night?

  • BJ says:

    31 Dec31 December 05:25

    You can convert your MP miles to Bonvoy points at 1:1 if you are a Premier member.

    • ChrisC says:

      31 Dec31 December 06:42

      That would be the only way.

      I don’t see a mechanism for paying X% of the cost with one set of points and Y% with another.

      Rob wrote an article about converting points from one programme to another fairly recently but it generally involves losing lots of points on the intermediary steps.

    • Tarmohamed says:

      31 Dec31 December 12:42

      Just a standard member and these mileageplus points are just orphaned as we don’t fly west very often. Thanks though!

  • Pangolin says:

    31 Dec31 December 11:11

    I think it would make more sense just to buy the points (assuming the cash rate for that night justifies it).

• Stephen says:

  31 Dec31 December 05:18

  EU261 claim – Aerlingus

  Flight was scheduled with Aerlingus on 2nd January from Birmingham to Dublin, but has been cancelled due to Irish government travel ban.

  Managed to get a rescue repatriation flight with Ryanair today from Manchester to Dublin for 95 Euro

  Submitted a EU261 claim after receiving advise on here as Aerlingus could only rebook onto partner airlines, but they responded

  It is our policy to reimburse guests for reasonable receipted out-of-pocket expenses as a result of the disruption to our maximum liability. However, claims of a consequential nature such as pre-booked expenses, alternative flight costs, or another airline ticket, medical expenses, lost wages, etc. are not covered.

  Do you think it’s worth taking it further? They are stating the best they can offer is a refund if the Aerlingus flight but no rerouting with other airlines

  Thanks

  • BJ says:

    31 Dec31 December 05:35

    A very individual decision; depends how important the principle is to you, and how you value your time and how much time you have in relation to the potential sum involved.

  • BS says:

    31 Dec31 December 06:14

    For €95 I wouldn’t bother taking them to MCOL or court – personally it is too much hassle. Do they have any sort of arbitration they have signed up with?

    Alternatively, if you paid by credit card, and the total cost of the original ticket was >£100, you can claim the cost of €95 off the credit card under Section 75. I would consider this worth doing as it is 10 minutes work writing the letter, and it is usually successful, with easy escalation to the (free) FOS if they say no.

    • ChrisC says:

      31 Dec31 December 06:35

      Depends on how much the original EI flight cost compared to the €95 of today’s flight. Hard to give advice without knowing that.

      Is this actually a specially organised repatriation flight or one already part of the Ryanair schedule?

      Personally in this case I’d take the refund and accept any extra costs over that of the Ryanair flight as part of the cost of getting home sooner and safer.

  • Anna says:

    31 Dec31 December 08:21

    I think you would need to choose between taking the Aer Lingus refund and pursuing them for the cost of the replacement flight. I imagine the former course of action might be simpler.

  • AJA says:

    31 Dec31 December 11:10

    Just take the refund from Aerlingus if the cost of the original ticket was below £100. Otherwise try a s75 claim assuming you paid more than £100 for your original ticket on a UK credit card.

• BJ says:

  31 Dec31 December 05:57

  @Saveeastcoastrewards and others: any idea what time of day LNER release tickets? According to their website a new batch should be released today but still bookable only until 5 February. I wish they would get their act together on the timetable; no doubt they will blame covid but the issues date back into 2019. LNER take my prize for worst travel company of the year by a long way. So tired of them that I’ll switch back to flying or take the long way round with west coast, whatever it’s called now.

  • ChrisBCN says:

    31 Dec31 December 06:46

    West coast got named after a kitchen company…

    • BJ says:

      31 Dec31 December 08:35

      Had to look 🙂

      • ChrisBCN says:

        31 Dec31 December 09:07

        😉

  • Harry T says:

    31 Dec31 December 07:56

    To be fair, they have refunded me this year when their own terms said they didn’t have to. Their releasing of tickets has been very patchy though, which I can understand. I believe there are major works planned during January, so it may be they are anticipating they could be extended further and impact the timetable? Or they just assume everyone will be in tier 4 and not be able to travel anyway?

    • Anna says:

      31 Dec31 December 08:26

      Avanti West Coast were shocking with me when I couldn’t travel to Edinburgh a few weeks ago due to the Scottish lockdown. They told me I had to go to a station to get my tickets changed; I did and the ticket office was closed due to staff shortages. I wasn’t able to go to a different station before the travel date passed and Avanti just shrugged and said tough. I submitted a complaint but they never even responded.
      Transpennine Express, on the other hand (with whom I’d booked our return journeys) provided me with a voucher for the full amount within 48 hours of submitting a claim online.

      • BJ says:

        31 Dec31 December 08:54

        LNER will, in theory, not refund even if you are in Scotland Level 2 at times of ticket purchase. I don’t know if things are different in practice. During my conversation with them they stressed they even ran services during lockdown so I had plenty of opportunity to use my vouchers … adhering to covid guidance or even breaking the law to travel seemed irrelevant to them.

    • BJ says:

      31 Dec31 December 08:44

      They informed me in writing back in August they would extend my evouchers if I contacted them close to expiry (today). Consequently, I did not use them but now they are refusing to extend them despite seeing their earlier written assurances. I now need to use them or lose them. I can only book until 5 /2 which is useless so £20 in change fees for them each time I have to change ticket.

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    31 Dec31 December 08:40

    Apple for hijackjng this Q – has anyone had LNER vouchers expiring 31dec extended? Bought loads with nectar points last time there was a double up promotion but then COVID so obviously not used – totally forgot about them

    • BJ says:

      31 Dec31 December 08:58

      Yes, many got them extended but many like me didn’t. See latest comments above. I strongly advise you to call CS today, do not risk twitter or email.

  • Craig says:

    31 Dec31 December 09:05

    It’s actually Network Rail that control some of the capacity, often if you are looking to book a weekend then LNER can’t release until they know what maintenance has been planned.

    • BJ says:

      31 Dec31 December 09:22

      At point of evoucher sale I was supposed to be able to use them to book travel to London 6 months in advance on a weekday and 3 months in advance on a weekend. Never happened so I didn’t get what they sold me in a manner of speaking. Other sales outlets sell tickets based on historical availability/timetables without causing a catastrophe so I don’t know why LNER will not do the same.

      • Craig says:

        31 Dec31 December 09:39

        I agree wholeheartedly, I had tickets booked to London when the first lockdown happened. Initially LNER refused to refund me even though I couldn’t travel, I would have accepted a voucher but they didn’t even offer this. I got there in the end but only by threatening MCOL. Railcards are another point of contention, no partial refund or extension even though I couldn’t use it for the majority of the year it was valid for.

        • Nick says:

          31 Dec31 December 11:47

          Railcards are indeed very annoying, but the blame for this lies squarely with the government, not the train companies. There was a plan put together to allow customers to benefit but it was vetoed by their new paymasters over the summer.

• AviosNewbie says:

  31 Dec31 December 07:09

  Where does Hilton show the points statement in the HH login? I’m probably being daft but cannot find any section that shows the history of points accummulated.

  • Doogie says:

    31 Dec31 December 07:34

    You’re right it’s confusing! Activity /Filters/ Other Activity makes my Barclaycard points show up – it defaults to upcoming stays filter only

  • Anna says:

    31 Dec31 December 08:29

    You can see it in the app go to “Account”, then “Points Activity”.

• Allan says:

  31 Dec31 December 07:27

  Anybody else having issues logging in to M&M card management today?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    31 Dec31 December 09:18

    Yes website not loading.

• Manya says:

  31 Dec31 December 07:38

  any suggestions on private Villa type rentals in Dubai which mirror or have use of resort facilities/services? I could obviously just book a Villa at one of the many hotels but I’m looking for cheaper alternatives for a longer term stay.

  • Rob says:

    31 Dec31 December 08:20

    Airbnb has apartments in combined hotel and apartment resorts which would seem to offer best of both worlds.

  • BuildTheWall says:

    31 Dec31 December 08:48

    Marriott has villas and homes, but most might not have the facilities you are looking for. Worth checking.

• John says:

  31 Dec31 December 07:54

  What’s happened to Labriz? Is it bust?

  • Pangolin says:

    31 Dec31 December 11:28

    What makes you say that? Some rumour on FT? Don’t see anything on the website to make me think they’ve gone under.

    Email them if you’re concerned about whether they’re still a going concern for HH bookings: sezlb at hilton dot com

    Or save your beans for next year when the Mango LXR opens!

  • babyg_wc says:

    31 Dec31 December 14:47

    Think they either have ultra low bookings or a covid outbreak, they are relocating bookings to the northholme, but all speculation, as above I’d ring them..

• Ayearinmx says:

  31 Dec31 December 08:03

  On the AMEX platinum card you get £10 Addison Lee credit per month… Does this roll over if you don’t use it so becomes £120 by 12th month, or is it literally £10 per month and it disappears if you don’t use it in each individual month?

  • Jonny O says:

    31 Dec31 December 08:09

    It is once per calendar month. Use it or lose it

    • ayearinmx says:

      31 Dec31 December 08:15

      that’s definitely not as useful

      • Andrew says:

        31 Dec31 December 09:08

        Especially if you don’t live in London.

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