The HfP chat thread – Thursday 14th January

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

We have decided to run this daily chat thread on Head for Points during the coronavirus outbreak.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the de facto repository for random comments and questions. With the news flow being lighter, we are running fewer ‘Bits’ articles.

The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind. At this tricky time, and given that many of you are at home, we want the HfP community to have a place to chat.

Please only comment under the main articles on the site if your comment is directly related to the topic of the article. This has long-term benefits as it keeps the commentary relevant for people who read those articles in the future.

Old chat threads are hidden from the HfP home page. If you want to look for something in an old thread, click here. This brings up all the articles in our ‘General’ category which includes the chat threads.

Category

General

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

MadeUpName says:

14 Jan14 January 14:38

What do people think about BA re-starting European flights from Gatwick this year? I think highly unlikely, but keen to hear views. We have one booked for mid-May…
- memesweeper says:
  
  14 Jan14 January 17:47
  
  I have no special information, but I think not; at least not unless the summer season really picks up
- ChrisBCN says:
  
  14 Jan14 January 17:47
  
  Maybe possible towards Christmas
- ChrisC says:
  
  14 Jan14 January 22:55
  
  What route?
  
  I’d expect it to be switched to LHR at some point which would allow you to cancel for a refund if that’s what you wanted.
  
  I have LGW – AMS booked for august and expect that to be moved.TBH I booked expecting it to be moved but it was cheaper than LHR and LCY.
  
  IMHO the earliest BA European flights will return to LGW will be end of October and the return of the Winter season.
Jim says:

14 Jan14 January 15:04

BA have cancelled my flights to Dubai. I was using a companion voucher with expiry date of November 2021.
If I take a refund will expiry date be extended by 6 months.
Thanks
- Mo says:
  
  14 Jan14 January 15:25
  
  Will only be extended if you take a FTV, won’t be extended if you take a refund afaik
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  14 Jan14 January 15:25
  
  Your guess is as good as anyone else’s.
  
  What you could do is get your refund then book a 4500 avios RFS for you and your +1 of choice then cancel for an FTV and it’s extended until April 22. Only downside is your +1 is locked in.
- AJA says:
  
  14 Jan14 January 16:10
  
  Was the Nov 2021 date the original expiry? BA extended the expiry dates by 6 months a while ago even for vouchers that were used. Have you checked your BAEC account to see what the expiry date is?
- Anna says:
  
  14 Jan14 January 17:07
  
  When were you travelling?
M says:

14 Jan14 January 15:31

I have got 1731 Miles & More miles; I also have 606 Flying Blue miles 😀 Is there anything at all I can do with these?
- Rob says:
  
  14 Jan14 January 15:55
  
  Er, no 🙂
- Andrew says:
  
  14 Jan14 January 16:03
  
  Some airlines let you donate spare miles to charity.
- Pangolin says:
  
  14 Jan14 January 18:32
  
  You can try buying something on Worldshop. You’ll probably get a teapot cover for that amount of miles 😉
Tom says:

14 Jan14 January 15:32

I have a flight to Hong Kong with Virgin (bought in the redemption sale last year). The flight isn’t until June but Hong Kong is not my ultimate (planned) destination. At the moment you can’t transit Hong Kong airport unless on the same ticket. I appreciate June is a long way off but i am a lot less confident that this trip will go ahead than i was when i made the booking. What are my options with Virgin? Can i move dates? Change destinations? Voucher? I know i can refund minus a small fee per ticket but then i lose the 50% discount on the tickets.
- Mo says:
  
  14 Jan14 January 15:48
  
  I can’t imagine you could do much other than refund unless the flights were cancelled.
  
  That said, Virgin are always super helpful when I call and numerous people have reported staff bending rules to help them out so worth calling and trying to see what’s possible.
  - Tom says:
    
    14 Jan14 January 15:56
    
    It just seems strange that they wouldn’t want to be flexible. They ran the unprecedented sale to get money in the bank, their finances can’t be any better than they were when they ran the sale and people still aren’t travelling. Why would they want to give my money back rather than rebook me for 6 months time or whatever.
    - Jonathan says:
      
      14 Jan14 January 16:10
      
      Because once things get back to normal they’ll assume they can sell that seat to someone for more than the 50% miles & fees you paid?
      - Tom says:
        
        14 Jan14 January 16:48
        
        That doesn’t help their cash situation whilst things are not back to normal which was the reason they ran the sale though does it. Everyone knows they ran that sale to get money in the bank. If i can’t fly (because things still aren’t back to normal) and get a refund they haven’t got the money again.
Aston100 says:

14 Jan14 January 15:37

Well I can confirm I sent someone £100 this week, as PayPal gift.
I received an email confirming I’d triggered the offer.
On my Amex online account, I can see the £15 statement credit.
DJ says:

14 Jan14 January 15:55

– Fine Hotels & Resorts
– The Hotel Collection

Do I get qualify stays and points if I book Marriott, Hilton, Radisson and IHG hotels from the programmes above?

Also will they recognise my hotel status too?

Thanks,

Winston
- Jonathan says:
  
  14 Jan14 January 16:11
  
  Yes & Yes but only if it’s an FHR/THC rate.
  - DJ says:
    
    14 Jan14 January 16:19
    
    Thanks
- Phil says:
  
  14 Jan14 January 17:28
  
  With InterContinental hotels I’ve had some very good experiences with FH&R. For example, the IC Carlton Cannes will honour the FH&R Upgrade and my Ambassador upgrade, which gets you from a Classic Room to City View Room on to a Sea View Room. In addition, the FH&R F&B credit will stack with the Ambassador F&B credit and I often get my Spire Free Drink Voucher as well.
  
  There is a space in the final confirmation page on the Amex Travel website to put your loyalty card account number. I find that the reservation will often appear on my IHG app within 24 hours.
tony says:

14 Jan14 January 16:13

On the BBC website…

UK-bound arrivals from South America and Portugal to be banned from Friday over concerns about the Brazilian coronavirus variant
- kitten says:
  
  14 Jan14 January 18:14
  
  What’s particularly bad about the Brazilian variant?
  - MonkeymaN says:
    
    14 Jan14 January 18:20
    
    It makes your hair fall out in ‘intimate places’.
    - Mike says:
      
      14 Jan14 January 18:23
      
      There’s no humour when dealing with a deadly virus that has killed more than 100,000 Britons.
      - The Savage Squirrel says:
        
        14 Jan14 January 18:29
        
        All the more reason when it’s affecting everyone. Gallows humour one of the most useful kinds.
      - Tariq says:
        
        14 Jan14 January 19:24
        
        Fake news. Nowhere near 100k and even if it was, it’s insignificant in the context of a population of 66 million and a world population measured in billions.
      - Callum says:
        
        14 Jan14 January 20:40
        
        Humour is a perfectly normal and valid method of dealing with trauma. Even the Covid+ patients I look after use it – not to mention every single member of staff.
      - Magic Mike says:
        
        14 Jan14 January 22:32
        
        I lolled.
        
        And on the 100,000 deaths, that’s with covid not of covid. An extreme example:
        Day 1: test positive, no symptoms
        Day 28: run over by a bus
        That’s recorded as a covid death…
    - kitten says:
      
      14 Jan14 January 18:37
      
      I set you up for that. But I would really like to know the true answer.
      - mr_jetlag says:
        
        14 Jan14 January 18:54
        
        Not enough data yet, but mutation similar to RSA strain which is more infectious than Covid Classic.
      - Anuj says:
        
        14 Jan14 January 23:21
        
        The ONS figure which is delayed by a few weeks because they only count deaths OF Covid verifies that the headline figure is pretty accurate. Don’t trust everything you see on social media. And excess deaths are much higher than the average which again is more evidence.
Andrew M says:

14 Jan14 January 16:26

Has anyone been able to get Virgin to match status to another airline apart from BA in the current promotion? I’m trying to match to my Etihad status but the agent is insisting that the rules are different when it matched airline isn’t BA. They insisted on me supplying my flying history to –

“show you have sufficient travel on the VAA (or JV) network to maintain the status”

This isn’t mentioned anywhere on the status match website. They only ask for proof of status with the other airline and a booking with Virgin.
- Rob says:
  
  14 Jan14 January 16:52
  
  This is correct.
  
  The BA match has special terms. For other airlines, you are operating under Virgin’s usual status match terms which require you to show regular travel on the other airline on VS routes.