The HfP chat thread – Thursday 7th January

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• Leafwarbler says:

  7 Jan7 January 10:16

  BA appear to have cancelled all flights to Lanzarote until 13th Feb. Not that Mr Drakeford would have allowed us to leave Wales in January (and probably February too)

  • James says:

    7 Jan7 January 13:07

    Good for Mr Drakeford. If only his English equivalent had the same understanding of how to reduce the spread of an airborne contagion and good public health management.

• NvT1115 says:

  7 Jan7 January 10:27

  May have been mentioned elsewhere but it looks like Amex and Shangri La are parting company at end of March so no more Plat complimentary Jade status or link into the Kris Flyer programme

  • Pangolin says:

    7 Jan7 January 10:40

    Yes. No more getting Kris Flyer Gold just by doing 3 segments on Singapore or Silk Air!

  • Sandgrounder says:

    7 Jan7 January 10:46

    Had an email recently extending my Silver for another year, shame to lose it going forward though. Not least because Qatar matched it to gold for me (!)

  • dave says:

    7 Jan7 January 12:08

    A bit of a devaluation for the amex platinum then

    • kitten says:

      7 Jan7 January 14:51

      a further devaluation

  • YC says:

    7 Jan7 January 12:37

    Jade looks ok till end of year

    • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

      7 Jan7 January 20:42

      My Jade level membership card obtained via Amex Bus Plat last September currently shows ‘valid thru 12/22’ so there is still hope for existing members that we may get to leverage some value out of this before expiry!

    • TGLoyalty says:

      7 Jan7 January 20:57

      It says those with Amex plat will be downgraded 31st March elsewhere online. Shame if thats true.

  • Youllnever says:

    7 Jan7 January 13:39

    So there’ll only be Hilton left for free breakfast. Sad day.

• BS says:

  7 Jan7 January 11:12

  My dragonpass has renewed, and all my visits have been rolled over, as they said they would.
  I had only used 1 out of 6 (so 5 remaining)

  • Jody says:

    7 Jan7 January 11:38

    Mine too, checked after reading the end of the chat thread from yesterday.

• mark says:

  7 Jan7 January 11:15

  Just got my BAPP card upped to 2.5 points for every £ spent by a very helpful AMEX agent.

  • Aleku says:

    7 Jan7 January 11:32

    how did you manage that?

  • Eric says:

    7 Jan7 January 11:41

    Got the same as well for 3 months. Wonder what happens after if I call in and try to cancel again…

  • Mark says:

    7 Jan7 January 11:45

    Picked up the phone and told them I wanted to leave basically. Lol

    • dave says:

      7 Jan7 January 12:07

      I just did the same after reading your comment and got the extra 1 avios per £1 spent for three months. thanks for the nudge!

      Now if only Amex Platinum would give me something !

      • sprout says:

        7 Jan7 January 14:25

        Just did exactly the same – thanks Mark.

  • Jonathan says:

    7 Jan7 January 13:13

    That far outperforms the Amex Gold card which gives 1.6 Avios per pound if exactly £15K is spend in a year ! Even if it is only valid for a couple of months or so

  • Sharon says:

    7 Jan7 January 14:36

    +1 very easy

• Chris says:

  7 Jan7 January 11:43

  I read reports on another forum of UK border control at LHR yesterday asking for documented proof of travelling for work at check-in and calling employers to verify (and passengers being offloaded from a flight to DXB as their travel was deemed non-essential). Is anyone else aware of similar reports at LHR yesterday/today? I am surprised that BA has not yet cancelled flights on some other routes that are clearly 99% leisure travel routes and not work.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    7 Jan7 January 11:47

    because the reports are complete nonsense.

    • Pete says:

      7 Jan7 January 11:49

      It would be really interesting to hear from anyone who was at LHR in the last few days, because my impression also is that people are making these things up… Or it’s perhaps a short-lived show of force by Border Force?

      • TGLoyalty says:

        7 Jan7 January 11:53

        considering border force are there to enforce immigration and customs laws/regulations and breaking the UK stay home guidance isn’t covered in any of those regs/laws it’s complete BS.

        The police could, do you believe the police are interviewing each and every person boarding a flight let alone offloading them and their luggage. How many flights are being delayed by hours?

        • Anna says:

          7 Jan7 January 11:56

          It sounds very dubious. All the police could do would be to fine you for leaving your home for a non-essential purpose. I doubt there is any power to force someone off a plane for this (unless it’s been specifically written into the regulations this time).

        • Pete says:

          7 Jan7 January 11:57

          I posted about this in December – where Border Force certainly were interviewing people at Luton and Gatwick on exit about their reasons for travel, etc. A number of people chimed in with their experiences too – so it’s not entirely far-fetched. Remember you could just stop a handful of people per flight and create further concern/fear.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          7 Jan7 January 12:03

          They do that anyone even pre Covid.

        • Blenz101 says:

          7 Jan7 January 14:10

          Plenty of reports on the ‘Brits in Dubai’ Facebook groups of this happening. Seems there is at least some attempt to enforce the regulations this time around.

          Couples/groups apparently being pulled out of queues to check in to DXB flights and questioned. Other reports of people being offloaded.

          Not seen any of this firsthand myself but if the desired effect was to cause people to think twice it seems to be working.

        • S says:

          7 Jan7 January 14:27

          I recall mentioning a few days ago that this was going to start happen, to much disbelief from many. Get used to it.. the govt. is waking up (better late than never)

        • Anna says:

          7 Jan7 January 14:56

          I’m not for one minute condoning any rule-breaking but again, where in the Covid regulations does it say Border Force can stop you taking a flight?!

        • Nick says:

          7 Jan7 January 15:38

          Nowhere… but the police can demand to know why you’re out of your home. Particularly in an airport, which is classed as a restricted place and gives law enforcement agencies power to do so.

        • S says:

          7 Jan7 January 15:48

          Indeed, police have the power to send you home. They don’t need the power to specifically off-load you from a flight. You do what’s necessary to get home, or face the consequence of breaking the law (which goes beyond paying a fine, obviously).

          Funny how people were keen to point out that travel wasn’t specifically prohibited, only leaving home was. But now can’t see how the Police have the liberty to offload you without a specified power for offloading!

        • TGLoyalty says:

          7 Jan7 January 16:05

          So then that’s the police not border force.

          If it’s police dragging people off planes in these “reports” I might believe them

        • Anna says:

          7 Jan7 January 17:15

          Precisely what TG said. Border Force are not the police and can’t give you a Fixed Penalty Notice either! Airport police are there to respond to serious incidents with would potentially put lives at risk, not to question travellers about summary offences.

    • Jonathan says:

      7 Jan7 January 15:07

      Without getting into the truth or otherwise of these reports the police can compel you to return home. A fixed penalty notice is 1 way they can dispose of you but equally they could take you to the station to be interviewed or just report you to the CPS with a view to bringing you before a magistrate.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        7 Jan7 January 16:51

        I’ll love to read about that one in the papers when it happens.

        • Anna says:

          7 Jan7 January 17:21

          Me too – “MP5 – toting cops issue fine to holiday maker”, the DM would have a field day! I can’t imagine most of them even carry the necessary MDT and printer.

      • Anna says:

        7 Jan7 January 18:15

        Unless they arrest you, they can only “take you to the station” if you expressly consent to it.

        • Nick ex cop says:

          7 Jan7 January 22:46

          Interesting to see the amount of ‘ Barrack Room’ lawyers who have appeared on here with ‘ legal advice’ and views about who can detain you and for what at airports, its akin to the amount of Facebook users with medical degrees and equally irritating.
          Police can detain you, without arrest for whole host of things, customs/Border force have even greater powers to make your travelling plans cease. What I dont get is why it is even being questioned, the advice is ‘ stay at home’ and the sooner people get that stuck in their thick heads the sooner the virus,stops spreading

• Bianca says:

  7 Jan7 January 12:59

  @Wollhouse if you’re here today could you tell us more about the “are you traveling for a permitted reason, otherwise we will refund” message you got from BA holidays – any idea why you got that instead of the “your trip has been refunded” that a lot of other BA holiday bookings are getting? Is there anything about your situation that is less holiday-like (e.g 1 person in J vs family of 4 in Y), or not a leisure heavy route, or something?

  • Wollhouse says:

    7 Jan7 January 13:20

    I have a flight from Edi to Orlando with a car. I was going to see my parents who live there and to help as my dad fell off a ladder, but BA would t know that! My options weren’t “am I travelling for a permitted reason” it was 1) keep booking,I intend to travel 2) FTV 3) refund. It said if I didn’t respond by 8 jan I would be automatically refunded. I selected 1 because I got a really good price and, as soon as I’m legally able, I want to go help the parents, so I’m waiting for a cancellation so I can request a reroute. I suspect his is coming as BA today changed my edi-Lhr flight so that I now land AFTER the Lhr=mco flight departs…hope that helps clarify?

• QFFlyer says:

  7 Jan7 January 13:28

  Amex Platinum/Centurion losing Shangri-La Golden Circle (and indirectly Taj/SQ benefits) as of 31/3 https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/amex-axes-fast-track-status-for-shangri-la-hotels-singapore-airlines?fbclid=IwAR1X7rG7KfyMSwVGwjPEnvQ4Sv5Beh2zIvqZxaSNXHvCDGfOUBABZtvufNg

  • TGLoyalty says:

    7 Jan7 January 15:04

    No Taj status either … shame

• bill says:

  7 Jan7 January 14:39

  i’ve signed up to Trading 212. i’ve completed the ID requirements. do i now sublit a referral code in my profile ?

  • Ste Cox says:

    7 Jan7 January 14:59

    on the web, top right hand corner click the menu there and then ‘use promo code’ near the bottom. add the referral code in there. once you add £100 you should get the free share. if you need a code here is mine:

    4KCL7AN

    • Ste Cox says:

      7 Jan7 January 15:01

      can also do the same though the app.

      Menu (bottom right) then ‘Use promo code’

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