The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 5th January

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• Anna says:

  5 Jan5 January 14:39

  More expertise, please. I have booked flights to MIA for August, 2 using avios & 241 and 2 as a BA holiday. For the second booking there was no availability in the CE cabin on the domestic connection coming home, and of course the booking system doesn’t allow mising & matching. I couldn’t get through to BA to make the booking on the phone, and wanted to be certain we are at least all on the same flights, so I booked the BA holiday with WTP/ET flights. I suppose one option would be to put the teenagers in WTP but it would be nice if we could all use the lounges etc.
  Am I going to be able to upgrade the WTP booking with avios? There is CW availabilty on the MIA-LHR but not the LHR-MAN leg (which wouldn’t be an issue).

  • ChrisC says:

    5 Jan5 January 14:54

    If there is avios availability then you should be able to upgrade using avios + whatever BA surcharges there are.

    You need to call BA hols to do the upgrade.

  • BJ says:

    5 Jan5 January 17:06

    You can mix and match, you just choose the stopover option and put arrival in and out of LHR on the same date. Whether you can upgrade BAH flights using avios does not depend only on avios being available, it also depends which code they book you under so you might or not be able to do it. Personally I’d scrap it all under 24h rule and book California, the climate is better and much more to interest both adults and teenagers, not that there is anything wrong with Floridà, its just taat California has so much more to offer.

    • Anna says:

      5 Jan5 January 18:05

      Thanks both – we done both in the past and I think the flight to MIA is much more convenient given it’s a couple of hours shorter and we have a domestic connection on top. We’re going to do a week at Miami Beach and a week near Orlando, maybe do a day at the Star Wars theme park.

      There’s no stopover option on a BA holiday booking, or I’ve never seen it anyway! I suppose worst case scenario we could try and get a cash upgrade at the airport if there’s availability.

      • ChrisC says:

        5 Jan5 January 18:19

        it’s part of the ‘custom’ trip option on the main BA homescreen menu once you;ve clicked ‘flight and hotel’

        You can then put individual flight sectors and dates.

        (it’s the same option to select a single nights hotel to turn a flight only into a holiday booking so enabling only a deposit to be paid)

        IIRC you can’t cancel a BA hols booking under the 24 hour rule if you booked it on-line. But you could get a voucher which you could then apply to your actual booking.

        • Anna says:

          5 Jan5 January 18:43

          Yes but I’m sure you can’t mix and match cabins even if you do this! There’s only 1 drop down box to select the class of travel you want to go in.
          But as I’ve only paid the deposit and as you say could get a voucher I will try another booking and check all the boxes!!

        • Andrew says:

          5 Jan5 January 19:55

          If you first go to book flight only, select the mix and match cabins and flights you want and then when you get the flight quote you’ll get the option to add car or hotel and then it just prices based on this mix and match flight you have selected, adding the additional cost for hotel or car and then to the Holidays page for payment/deposit.

      • BJ says:

        5 Jan5 January 20:33

        Jetlag is also less of an issue with Florida given time difference and given your comments that could be important to you. The space centre is worth visiting too IMO, it was one of those places I had not much enthusiasm for but changed my mind once I got there.

        • Lyn says:

          5 Jan5 January 22:42

          BJ makes a good point about jet lag. Another consideration is the length of time you’d have to wear a mask continuously on board in addition to departure / arrival. I think masks will probably still be required for travel in August, even with progress towards vaccinating people.

• JonathonM says:

  5 Jan5 January 14:50

  Hi, some time back (Oct 20 i believe), BA kindly extended the expiry date of Companion Vouchers set to expire before the end of March 21, by a further 6 months.

  Has anyone had experience of BA extending vouchers which are due to expire slightly after this? i.e in April –
  one of ours is set to expire at the beginning of April, however given the current circumstances I think its fairly unlikely to be used until later in the year.

  Is anyone aware of BA extending? or is there any benefit it me attempting to contact them and ask the question for a 3/6 month extension?.

  • Robman says:

    5 Jan5 January 15:16

    We are in the same boat. When I called BA Customer services before xmas they informed me that there was no current information on vouchers expiring after March 2021, but to call in Jan/Feb if there had been no update. Surely they’ll have to extend as the lockdown means no travelling for leisure purposes.

• Dave says:

  5 Jan5 January 15:19

  Can you swap companion vouchers between bookings? I have a booking for April 2020 with a voucher that expires Jan 2021. I also have a booking for December with a voucher that expires March 2022. I’m pretty confident my December booking will happen, not very about April.

  Ideally if my flight got cancelled i’d like the reissued Jan 2021 voucher to be used for my December booking with that voucher then beng able to be used by me up till March 2022.

  Is this at all possible ?

  • AJA says:

    5 Jan5 January 15:25

    Unfortunately this is not possible.

• Princess says:

  5 Jan5 January 15:31

  Hi! Can someone help to understand how Marriott calculate points you earn per stay?
  I was lucky enough to use 2 Marriott promotion (spend £400 get £400) back in December during the little break from lockdown.
  I still had Platinum status during those two stay

  I spend £400.25 at the W and I got 1548 points (1032 Base + 526 Elite Bonus)
  I spent £401.25 at the JW Marriott Grosvenor and I got 3282 (1521 base + 761 Elite Bonus + 1000 Extra)

  I picked the 1000 extra at check-in because breakfast was included but I don’t get how they calculated the base. If it make any difference in both case around £250 was the price of the room the rest was food

  • TGLoyalty says:

    5 Jan5 January 15:45

    You should look at your bill to see what the ex VAT total was and if it looks correct as alcohol some other spend like spa are still 20%

    you should get 10 base points per $ spent and then a 50% bonus for being Plat

    if it was £400 of all 5% VAT items I’d expect around 4900 base points @ 1.3$/£ as the rate is always loaded in Marriott’s favour.

    Best to ask each hotel to review as you are well short.

    • Princess says:

      5 Jan5 January 16:00

      Thanks to explain I thought that I got too little. Do you think I should contact the 2 hotels individually or just Marriott customer service?

      • TGLoyalty says:

        5 Jan5 January 16:03

        If you have a PDF copy of the bill and its been 10 days since check out (imagine it has) then yeah contact Marriott to review. you can use the missing stay report link on your account.

        • Princess says:

          5 Jan5 January 17:02

          great! thank you! I’ll do that. I’ll share the outcome

        • Tariq says:

          5 Jan5 January 17:49

          This is what I did when I felt that I had been diddled a couple of times last year. They seem to correct it, eventually, and to a fashion.

  • Kai says:

    5 Jan5 January 15:49

    Makes no sense. I earned ~10,000 points for such stay also being Platinum.

    • Princess says:

      5 Jan5 January 16:01

      Thanks for sharing, hopefully I can get something more…

  • WaynedP says:

    5 Jan5 January 16:05

    Agree with replies. You appear to have been short-changed. I spent £303.60 at a Protea Hotel in SA in December (6 nights bfast included, bargain) and got 3031 Marriott Bonvoy points (607 base+2424 to take it up to 10x spend) using my MB Amex card.

  • Cat says:

    5 Jan5 January 18:36

    Yes just adding my voice here, so that you can speak with conviction when you object, you were definitely short changed. I got over 14,000 points, after my roughly £700 stay at the Langley (with £450 off).

    I hope they sort the points out quickly, Princess.

    • Princess says:

      6 Jan6 January 08:10

      Thanks Cat! I will share what they say, great to know how much I should expect!!!

• Michael C says:

  5 Jan5 January 15:35

  Is there no way to tell how much is on a BA voucher code apart from ringing them?

  • AJA says:

    5 Jan5 January 15:43

    Are you referring to a FTV? The voucher should be the price you paid for your original ticket that you swapped for a FTV. So if you have the original booking ref and can work backwards to the date you purchased the ticket you should be able to work out what it is worth. Otherwise just phone BA.

    • Michael C says:

      5 Jan5 January 15:50

      It’s only the return half, AJA: for some reason, being BA, I have the feeling it’s not going to be simply half of the total price, although I don’t know why!!

      • ChrisC says:

        5 Jan5 January 16:25

        Why it isn’t 1/2 –

        For one thing proper taxes like APD are asymetric.

        Same as airport and other fees. They can be more on the outbound than the return or vice versa.

        BAs surcharge may also vary. As could the base fare.

        Therefore simply dividing by 2 does not reflect how the total fare is made up and therefore what you’re due back

        This is how most airlines do it. It’s not specific to BA.

        • Michael C says:

          5 Jan5 January 17:17

          Totally agree, Chris – it’s more to point out the ridiculous procedure of BA of sending an email with a Voucher code but never including the amount the said voucher is worth!

• Benilyn says:

  5 Jan5 January 15:39

  Just to double check on how to extend my BA 2-4-1 voucher (expires May or Jun 21). I use the voucher on avios booking, cancel the booking (pay £35 cancel fee), and I will get a FTV voucher with 2-4-1 extended into 2022? And all my avios on the redemption will return as normal?

  • Chas says:

    5 Jan5 January 15:52

    No, the avios get wrapped up in the FTV too.

  • Tracey says:

    5 Jan5 January 16:43

    No £35 to lose if you take a FTV. Also the cash, the Avios and the 2-4-1 are all wrapped up in the FTV. When you come to spend the FTV any smallish amounts of Avios or cash will be refunded to you if you spend less and you can top up cash or Avios if you need to. The 2-4-1 is extended to April 2022 as soon as it becomes part of a FTV.

    • Benilyn says:

      5 Jan5 January 17:10

      Thanks, ok need to have a think, probably still worth it.

      • Benilyn says:

        5 Jan5 January 17:11

        I guess European flight with RFS is the cheapest way to go?

        Actually doesn’t matter too much as I will be using on transatlantic flgiht so cash and avios use will be high.

        To cancel flight, do you need to do over the phone or can you do online?

        • Anna says:

          5 Jan5 January 18:50

          You can get a FTV by cancelling online.

• avstar says:

  5 Jan5 January 16:05

  hilton halving its status match challenge stay requirements for gold/diamond make turkey redemptions even more of a no-brainer – if you can get there and get in!

• 747_Brat says:

  5 Jan5 January 16:12

  @Nick_C
  Based on your recommendation, I reached out to MLP which managed the switch offer on behalf of Metro Bank. But I received the usual boilerplate text. I have now replied asking for my issue to be escalated, since I have now crossed the timelines they mentioned for receiving the incentive. I will keep you updated, and will surely let you know when I receive the incentive.
  Cheers.

  • Nick_C says:

    5 Jan5 January 16:43

    Thanks Nick!

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