The HfP chat thread – Sunday 3rd January

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General

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Tarmohamed says:

3 Jan3 January 04:22

Membership rewards points on Platinum for airline spend, am I correct in believe I should get 2 MR points for each £1 spent with an airline? I’ve only seem to have got 1 point per £ in a few transactions with Emirates and Etihad?
- James says:
  
  3 Jan3 January 04:51
  
  Booking through Amex Travel will score you 2x MR points
  - James says:
    
    3 Jan3 January 05:13
    
    Maybe I got this wrong… this is the wording from Amex:
    
    Platinum Card® Members
    Earn 5X points on all flights, prepaid hotels, and vacation packages and 2X points on cruises booked through American Express Travel. This includes 5X points on our curated collections, Fine Hotels + Resorts® and The Hotel Collection, where you’ll enjoy added benefits to enhance your stay.
    - Tarmohamed says:
      
      3 Jan3 January 05:22
      
      I’ll have to review that during the day, I’ve got a booking with a Hilton booked directly, but it is part of The Hotel Collection but £100 more but gives me £75 odd room credit. Might be worth just doing it for the 5x points?
      
      Booking through Amex Travel – a bit of a hassle when looking to purchase Economy and wanting to upgrade. We regularly fly with Emirates and their website shows you award upgrade availability whilst booking economy flights.
    - Rob says:
      
      3 Jan3 January 05:55
      
      …. if you have a US-issued card.
- Waddle says:
  
  3 Jan3 January 05:47
  
  Additonal MR point when booking with airlines directly is only for the Gold card. Platinum has no additional MR unless booking through Amex Travel. Some flights are still upgradable if booked through Amex Travel, you just have to ensure you book into the correct fare bucket.
blenz101 says:

3 Jan3 January 04:33

Nope. This is a benefit of the Gold Credit Card not the Platinum. Quick check of the Amex website will confirm this for you.
- Tarmohamed says:
  
  3 Jan3 January 04:46
  
  Thanks – disappointing to know!
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    3 Jan3 January 09:52
    
    You have to be careful and make sure you only read terms for the UK issued cards.
    
    US and other countries have very different terms for the same colour products.
Tarmohamed says:

3 Jan3 January 04:50

Since the last time I’ve paid our VAT bill, 3 months ago, HMRC are now charging business debit cards a surcharge 0.6%, so I decided to try my Curve card and it wanted to charge nearly 1%.

My Curve card does have Commercial written at the back, and starts with 5375
- Waddle says:
  
  3 Jan3 January 05:48
  
  This means it will be recognised as a business/commercial MasterCard. Start a chat with support within the app and request a personal one as a replacement.
- Ian M says:
  
  3 Jan3 January 07:10
  
  I had this problem a few months ago with my curve, but the charge was 0.1% not 1%. I spoke to Curve and they issued me with a personal debit card as replacement. No charges now 🙂
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  3 Jan3 January 09:54
  
  Are you sure you are working out the % correctly? Should be 0.1% if HMRC are charging more there’s another issue.
  - Nick says:
    
    3 Jan3 January 10:35
    
    This is an interesting question… surely if you’re using it to pay a VAT bill, then it should be a Commercial rather than Personal card, as it’s companies that are liable for VAT? Wonder what Mastercard thinks about that.
    - Genghis says:
      
      3 Jan3 January 10:46
      
      Sole traders can also be liable for VAT. E.g. HfP.
    - Tarmohamed says:
      
      3 Jan3 January 17:23
      
      Until last quarter, I’ve been paying the VAT bill on a business debit card without surcharge. I’ll now set up vat payments via Amex Transactions, pay the odd 1% surcharge
  - Tarmohamed says:
    
    3 Jan3 January 17:22
    
    My bad, it is 1% on Curve and 0.6% on Business Debit. It is a VAT bill for a Limited company. I’d imagine if I tried to pay my SA with curve it would’ve also tried to charge me 1%. I will contact curve for a replacement card once I get back from travelling.
    - Tarmohamed says:
      
      3 Jan3 January 17:25
      
      I retract my % comment. It’s a Sunday and my brain isn’t working. It was a £5k vat bill, £2.xx charge on business debit and £4.xx charge on curve.
Baji Nahid says:

3 Jan3 January 05:21

Anyone who status matched or applied to status match with TAP.

Typical of TAP playing hard ball as it is nothing new with them. But they’re trying to find excuses for not wanting to do status matching anymore. I’ve been excluded because i have “supposedly“ did not responded within the time frame which is complete and utter CR4P! Also they sent out communication to me on Christmas day. Someone at TAP HQ must’ve been bored! Have emailed to ask for an explanation.

“We regret to inform you that your Application for the Status Match Campaign has been Excluded because we did not receive a response, within the deadlines stipulated in the Regulations, to the request made in our previous email”
- Ct says:
  
  3 Jan3 January 07:27
  
  I applied on 24/11 and just got an email confirmation on 1st Jan at 22:37 confirming matched :
  
  The TAP Miles & Go Program is pleased to inform you that your Status Match Campaign Application has been Validated. You are now eligible for a TAP Miles&Go Gold status match.
  To continue your journey in this Campaign, you must, within the next 10 days, subscribe to one of the TAP Miles&Go Clubs which allows you to accumulate miles, even without travelling. Some of them will count towards the renewal of your status. Others you can use in discounts, awards and benefits with TAP Air Portugal. Alternatively, you can purchase 4000 miles or more at the Programme’s Miles Store.
  
  What are the next steps?
  Access your customer area to proceed with the purchase of the TAP Miles&Go Product that you consider most advantageous for you.
  If necessary, within a few days, a TAP Miles&Go agent will contact you to answer any questions you may have about the Programme, the Campaign and the Products we suggest as proof of commitment.
  
  I have since gone ahead and enrolled in the Club Tap Miles&Go Basic – waiting further confirmation on next steps from them
  - Sina says:
    
    3 Jan3 January 15:11
    
    My wife applied on 25/11 haven’t heard back yet?! 😕
Waddle says:

3 Jan3 January 06:08

Good morning folks. What is the most efficient way of upgrading from BA Blue to BAPP nowadays? Does online no longer work?
- DJ says:
  
  3 Jan3 January 08:35
  
  Upgrade before £10,000 spend. And yes, you need to phone them now.
Charlieface says:

3 Jan3 January 06:24

LBG/HBOS offers take a while to track. No email
I think CC and DB is the same
Louie says:

3 Jan3 January 06:26

Does anyone know how to find out which Etihad flights can be booked using AAdvantage miles without ringing AA? Etihad’s website used to identify GuestSeat vs OpenSeat availability with the former available to AAdvantage and the latter not, but it doesn’t distinguish them any longer.

I can’t find any flights that don’t cost eyewatering amounts of Etihad miles on their website, way more than their mileage charts suggest, but from what I’ve read that is because you now have to pay the taxes and surcharges using miles. But you can’t work backwards to find out how miles you would have been charged net of the taxes and charges (and thus if a GuestSeat or OpenSeat) without knowing how much Etihad are valuing their miles at….
- Louie says:
  
  3 Jan3 January 06:27
  
  *how MANY miles*
- BuildBackBetter says:
  
  3 Jan3 January 09:43
  
  Are you not seeing availability on AAdvantage?
- AJA says:
  
  3 Jan3 January 11:03
  
  What route, cabin and dates are you looking at? You should be able to search on the AA website or the Aadvantage app. It seems LHR to AUH is 20k miles in economy each way. Early feb doesn’t show any direct flights but you can fly BA to Cairo and then to AUH on Etihad.
Michael C says:

3 Jan3 January 06:29

UK residents in Spain with no digital residence ID card now being refused boarding at Heathrow (however incredible it may seem, until not so long ago, the residence permit was a sheet of green A4 paper with your details on, but no photo…).
- BS says:
  
  3 Jan3 January 07:19
  
  Yup. Not too much sympathy though: Seeing as the majority of the country is in tier 4 lockdown, and Christmas was cancelled (excepting just Xmas day in some areas) I don’t know why there is a sudden post NY rush unless they were breaking rules.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    3 Jan3 January 09:58
    
    There are still many reasons why people need to be elsewhere (and elsewhere could have been here). Regardless of Xmas being cancelled a few days some were already here and they were free to travel to T2 areas which became T3/T4 very quickly.
    
    If you have nothing constructive to add why bother?
- ChrisC says:
  
  3 Jan3 January 08:35
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jan/03/britons-living-in-spain-barred-from-madrid-flight-in-post-brexit-travel-row?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
  
  And being refused boarding In error by BA/IB staff.
  
  Wonder why the woman who regards Spain as ‘home’ is coming back to the UK for husbands medication. This sort of health tourism needs to stop!
  - Sandgrounder says:
    
    3 Jan3 January 09:10
    
    The man running out of medication is trapped at Heathrow and he needs to go home to Spain get more, presumably having only brought enough for the trip.
    
    Re the initial post, a certificate for residence is not so unusual, some member states don’t even issue that, you just get a tax number. As an EU citizen you have a biometric document (passport, ID card) issued by your home state to demonstrate your right to travel and reside within the bloc. Non-EU residents are generally issued with a biometric photo ID card to prove they have acquired these rights.
    - ChrisC says:
      
      3 Jan3 January 09:29
      
      Ok so I misread the article so apologies for that.
      
      But you really shouldn’t just take enough medication for the scheduled length of your trip.
      
      What if the flight had been delayed because of weather or a sudden closure affecting either airport?
      - Sandgrounder says:
        
        3 Jan3 January 10:05
        
        Very true. Hopefully they will learn from this experience.
      - David says:
        
        3 Jan3 January 12:21
        
        ChrisC -, by “the trip” we would be talking about their entire travel from Spain to the UK, stay in the Uk and then this flight back again.
        
        Keep also in mind there have been other flight cancellations due to Covid and travel disruption, so this person could have already ended up being in the UK a bit longer than they had anticipated.
        
        Also, there are challenges getting some medicines prescribed for long periods – so people getting lower on remaining doses as their trip nears an end is quite a common concern for many people – even without any Covid, brexit or even weather etc disruption.
  - Lady London says:
    
    3 Jan3 January 13:05
    
    Denied boarding also means the airline that incorrectly denied boarding is responsible for duty of care for those passengers until the airline provides them a later flight.
    
    So at a minimun hotel accommodation at any reasonable local market rate, any transport needed to and from the hotel and 3 meals incl nonalcoholic refreshments, for any days/nights or part, until the airline provides a flight.
    
    Such a pity that it may be onerous for an elderly or disabled etc. customer to walk any further than the Sofitel adjoined to Terminal 5 where BA /IB flights are at Heathrow.
    
    Ask the airline to provide as you have to give them the chance. Then book your own, kerp receipts, claim iff airlibe. If refused get theur final answer, no to 3 requests or no payment after 8weeks of trying or no communication (any one will do) then go straight to mcol which is not onerous and you will win.
    - Nick says:
      
      3 Jan3 January 17:08
      
      @LL, very good point… but sadly this case is not black and white for IDB. The reason BA stopped accepting the paper certificates is because several of their customers were denied entry on arrival in Spain using them and were returned to the UK (which BA obviously had to arrange). They could (and likely would) argue that given this, they didn’t offload incorrectly, and the lack of clarity and consistency from Spanish authorities was ultimately to blame. I have some sympathy for them here, it really is ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’. I don’t know whether they offered food and hotels upfront, of course, it might have been done as a customer service gesture at the time.
      - kitten says:
        
        3 Jan3 January 17:23
        
        Nick I agree with you that the airline denying boarding incorrectly should not be required to compensate. However I am sure that duty of care would be required from the airline ie hotel,meals etc because duty of care is required regardless of cause if boarding was incorrectly denied. EU261 works to protect passengers for duty of care very well generally and Im sure this case would be due it.
        
        Defo no compo.though and that’s fair enough.
      - Nick says:
        
        3 Jan3 January 17:33
        
        @kitten my point was that it’s not clear that boarding was ‘incorrectly denied’ – BA had some of their passengers returned to the UK because Spanish immigration rejected these papers on arrival. What would you have done… continue to send more people with them, or offloaded to avoid the hassle? As I said, not clear-cut. What has happened today is the Spanish central authorities have realised the miscommunication and sent out a message to their immigration desks reminding their own officers that they are acceptable. As a result, airlines have started accepting passengers again.
- ChrisBCN says:
  
  3 Jan3 January 09:41
  
  Who’d have thought that removing the rights of people to travel freely would cause people to be unable to travel freely…
  - BuildBackBetter says:
    
    3 Jan3 January 09:49
    
    Who would’ve thought that people wouldn’t read the rules even after 4.5 years of talking about it…
    - Anna says:
      
      3 Jan3 January 11:59
      
      The associated tweet refers to covid restrictions, so it’s not 100% clear what’s caused the issues.
      - Nick says:
        
        3 Jan3 January 17:09
        
        Covid restrictions caused by brexit. Before brexit, different documentation was acceptable. Now Spain can ‘take back control’ too and insist on whatever rules they want.
  - Anna says:
    
    3 Jan3 January 11:56
    
    Surely this is to do with Covid, not Brexit? It’s astonishing how far people are prepared to stretch this …
    - BuildBackBetter says:
      
      3 Jan3 January 12:40
      
      Lol Anna, just trolling. Life seems boring after the deal was signed.
      - RussellH says:
        
        3 Jan3 January 13:12
        
        Never feed a troll.
- BuildBackBetter says:
  
  3 Jan3 January 09:47
  
  Good. Hope this red tape reduces the amount of state and private pensions spent abroad.
  Silver lining and all that…
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    3 Jan3 January 09:56
    
    It’s their money they can do what ever the hell they like with it!
    - BuildBackBetter says:
      
      3 Jan3 January 10:03
      
      Not after avoiding 45% income tax in UK on the way in.
      - kitten says:
        
        3 Jan3 January 10:39
        
        not everyone for the 45%. Many saved when no tax relief was available, or still saved when their income did not qualify for reduction.
        
        Pensions are earned whether private (the lucky few despite HfP readers profile being yes to that one) and should be drawn as and where the person that accrued them sees fit.
        
        I take it you’re one of the fortunate ones buildthewall if you’re under the impression it’s 45% that only the very top end of earners in the UK ever qualified for.
      - TGLoyalty says:
        
        3 Jan3 January 11:25
        
        Yes. Because they’ll pay any tax due when it’s withdrawn later in life.
        
        The government isn’t giving you relief out of the kindness of its heart it’s doing it so you don’t become a state burden.
        
        So I’ll maintain it’s their money and they can do whatever the hell they want with it!
      - David says:
        
        3 Jan3 January 12:22
        
        ??? – what are you talking about buildbackbetter
    - BuildBackBetter says:
      
      3 Jan3 January 10:06
      
      And to answer the qn directly, yes, it’s their choice, but hope this makes it difficult.
      - kitten says:
        
        3 Jan3 January 10:41
        
        Welcome to your midden then.
  - SteveD says:
    
    3 Jan3 January 12:43
    
    The irony of this comment on a travel-focused website.
    
    Presumably pensioners should avoid foreign holidays and domestic consumption of anything imported also?
    - ChrisBCN says:
      
      3 Jan3 January 17:33
      
      There is some nonsense being spoken today!