The HfP chat thread – Friday 15th January

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• Cuchlainn says:

  15 Jan15 January 04:35

  EY have notified me of minor changes (10 to 15mins) to both legs of a UK domestic flight booking in April (BFS to EMA). Was hoping to get a refund but it has not been offered – can I request a full refund even though flight changes are minor ?
  Also, flights were originally booked on 05/03/20 – was this before the cut off date for the official declaration of yhe current pandemic for insurance purposes ?
  TIA

  • BJ says:

    15 Jan15 January 06:45

    No, you cannot expect refund for that. BA was 2h and they have recently doubled it to 4h. Always worth a try though, you never know for sure unless you do. For insurance you need to check your own policy details. Regardless though, you will need goid reason not to travel and those reasons don’t include no longer wishing to travel.

    • BJ says:

      15 Jan15 January 06:47

      *good

      • JohnT says:

        15 Jan15 January 07:27

        Even if you cancel can get taxes etc back?

        • ChrisC says:

          15 Jan15 January 08:02

          Depends on how much they are and what, if any, admin fees the airline charges.

  • John says:

    15 Jan15 January 06:54

    I guess you mean EZY? EY is Etihad

  • ChrisC says:

    15 Jan15 January 08:44

    According to this the policy for a refund with easyjet for s chedule change is 5 hours

    https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/flight-changes/

    Whether your insurance will cover you will depend on the policy and if the reason you don’t want to travel is covered.

    And whether a claim is worth making (or not) will depend on the policy excess provisions.

• James K says:

  15 Jan15 January 07:57

  Anyone got any good tips on contacting Curve customer service? On Tuesday I withdrew some cash from an ATM – the money didn’t appear but the charge has still gone thru. No response to my contact thru the app and only robots to an email suggesting I try to solve with the merchant directly before seeking chargeback (the Santander branch where the ATM is housed is closed.) some years ago this happened and I remember the card issuer (first direct) sorted it out within 24 hours…

  • Wollhouse says:

    15 Jan15 January 08:09

    James, I rang the lost or stolen credit card number on the back of the card and spoke to a live person. At the same time I also sent a message via FB which they replied to via email (I included this info in the IM)My issue was resolved about 15 minutes later. Not sure if it was the call or the FB message that got it resolved but it definitely wasn’t the multiple emails that had previously gone ignored;) hope that helps.

    • Wollhouse says:

      15 Jan15 January 08:11

      Although, it might be easier to go direct to Santander. They have tracking internally on what cash they held/dispensed from the ATM and their daily records should already show a mismatch.

      • Andrew says:

        15 Jan15 January 08:31

        Discrepancies should always be reported to the card issuer.

        If you suspect a discrepancy could relate to an illicit physical adaption to the machine, it is always helpful to report to the relevant operator too of course.

        Depending on how busy the machine is, it might only be balanced once a fortnight.

  • Harrier25 says:

    15 Jan15 January 08:13

    Curve Customer Support are totally useless. I’ve had this issue and when I demanded they raise a chargeback Curve refunded the funds instantly. I have no faith in Curve anymore due to a whole host of issues, hence why we barely use their card anymore.

  • Neil says:

    15 Jan15 January 09:39

    Hi James. This has happened to me a couple of times and the charge usually disappears after a couple of days as they realise the money wasn’t issued. If it does go through you might need to fill in an ATM dispute form with Santander as it’s their machine.

  • dezbez says:

    15 Jan15 January 09:39

    I had this exact same issue recently James. I raised a query with them through the app – it took a few days to get back in touch but they did and they resolved very quickly when they did. I had a ‘receipt’ from the ATM to show the funds hadn’t been taken which may have helped.

  • Martyn Ford says:

    15 Jan15 January 09:51

    I find that if you contact through the app and wait a couple of days they are very helpful.

• William Mackenzie says:

  15 Jan15 January 08:17

  I have tried to google this but no help. TAP PORTUGAL have cancelled my flight back to the uk but won’t find me another flight on an another airline. Are they under an obligation to do so under eu law?

  • memesweeper says:

    15 Jan15 January 08:24

    It’s EC/261 2004. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/261/contents

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    15 Jan15 January 08:25

    Interesting question – we don’t live in the EU any more though so may not matter either way…

    • William C Mackenzie says:

      15 Jan15 January 08:36

      Yes but it is an EU company with a flight departing EU so therefore caught by the regs.

    • Rhys says:

      15 Jan15 January 08:42

      EU261 applies regardless of your nationality. An American could claim under EU261 if they were departing an EU country or flying an EU carrier.

    • ChrisC says:

      15 Jan15 January 08:50

      EU261 has been UK law since 2005 (via statutory instrument passed by our Parliament)

      It will remain law until Parliament repeals or replaces it.

      In any case TAP is covered because it is an EU based airline.

      But saying that is the easy part.

      TAP is a very reluctant follower of EU261 provisions and enforcement in Portugal is apparently not good.

  • Nick_C says:

    15 Jan15 January 09:21

    EC261 is only part of the story though.

    The UK Government has banned airlines from carrying pax from PT to the UK. TAP could argue therefore that the contract has been frustrated, and simply give you a refund.

    Realistically, what do you expect them to do when they are not allowed to fly you to London?

    • memesweeper says:

      15 Jan15 January 09:25

      re-route via Paris.

      The same has happened with folks in South Africa unable to fly home direct. Virgin and BA are obliged to re-route them, mostly via the Middle East I believe.

      This somewhat undermines the intention of the flight ban, but this is the law as it stands AFAIK.

      • Anna says:

        15 Jan15 January 10:19

        I’m sure UK nationals/residents are still allowed to return.

        • Nick_C says:

          15 Jan15 January 11:10

          They are. But not on a direct flight from PT.

• Kevin says:

  15 Jan15 January 08:24

  Have anybody received the 5k bonus promotion points for IHG hotel stay and paid with IHG CC?

  • Travel Strong says:

    15 Jan15 January 12:47

    Not yet. Was giving them January to credit it before chasing in Feb.

  • Peggerz says:

    15 Jan15 January 17:41

    I got mine today for a stay 2nd week of December.

    • Kevin says:

      15 Jan15 January 21:26

      Cool I’m going to wait till end of Jan before chasing it.

  • Mark Peterborough says:

    15 Jan15 January 21:42

    I had a stay in November , after initially querying it with via the IHG Service twitter team , they emailed me back advising me that it could take 6 weeks to post . After 6 weeks had passed , I emailed them on Wednesday to ask for an update , they responded that they would pass it on to their Speciality Team .
    The points posted today.

  • Travel Strong says:

    16 Jan16 January 00:41

    The 5k has now landed, sometime in the last few hours

• NC says:

  15 Jan15 January 08:32

  BA have just moved my flight from a 2am departure to a 10am departure. This means I will have to pay for an extra night’s hotel accommodation. The flight is more than 14 days away. Am I on the hook for the extra night or do BA have a duty of care etc obligation in these circumstances?

  • AJA says:

    15 Jan15 January 08:42

    BA is on the hook for hotel and meals as they have duty of care under EC261. Alternatively you can push for another flight more suitable or go for refund and cancel as it is a change of more than 4 hours.

  • Rhys says:

    15 Jan15 January 08:43

    Duty of care. Or refund/reroute etc if you prefer.

    • Aston100 says:

      15 Jan15 January 11:46

      And yet when my overnight flight was changed to a morning departure (over 10 hours difference), BA say they won’t pay for a hotel.
      But then again, BA have been talking absolute rubbish on almost every phone call I have had with them since Covid.
      The comments section here and on FT suggests many people are being told misinformation or outright lies by BA.

      In my case, I am intending to ring BA back again nearer the time (just in case flights change once more) and tell them I am going to be staying at a hotel; that they have a duty of care; that I will be expecting them to pay for the hotel & breakfast; that I want this noted on my booking.

      Someone really really needs to start a group action via the regulator. I am sure many people will pile on board with their own examples.

      • kitten says:

        15 Jan15 January 13:07

        BA’s setup being deliberately to deny EC261 rights even before Covid, this is one case where I *would* ‘kick them while they are down’ even though it’s not very British to do that.

        They well deserve it.

• AJA says:

  15 Jan15 January 08:38

  We are still covered by EC261/2004 – the UK transferred it to UK law as part of the withdrawal agreement. But in any case TAP is an EU airline and the OP was flying from an EU airport so is covered anyway. The trouble is getting TAP to carry out its obligations. I guess the withdrawal of service is due to the UK ban which kicked in this morning. I think OP should contact his credit card and invoke the dual liability rule provided the fare was over £100 and get them to buy alternative flights via another country such as Spain.

  • AJA says:

    15 Jan15 January 08:39

    That was an answer for William Mackenzie above.

  • Genghis says:

    15 Jan15 January 08:44

    Been a UK SI since 2005?
    https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/975/contents/made

    • AJA says:

      15 Jan15 January 08:50

      Thanks Genghis. I thought that but I think it was specifically mentioned as part of the withdrawal negotiations that the UK will not revoke the law post 31 Dec 2020 as part of its ability to diverge from EU regulations.

      • The real John says:

        15 Jan15 January 09:53

        But are the UK law and the EU law the same thing?

        Can an EU law be enforced in the UK or would you need to enforce it in the EU?

        If you lived in Portugal and your BA flight to Lisbon was cancelled, would EC261/2004 apply or is it the UK law that applies, in which case would you need to try enforcing the UK law in Portugal?

        • ChrisC says:

          15 Jan15 January 10:17

          They are one and the same law at the moment.

          They will only diverge if either the UK or EU (courts or Parliaments) make a change and the other side don’t make the same change.

        • AJA says:

          15 Jan15 January 10:23

          This is my interpretation (I am not a lawyer): I think the intention is that the EC261 regulation continues to cover EU airlines on EU flights departing from the UK and arriving to the UK as it did before Brexit. In addition although BA or Virgin or EasyJet may now not be considered as EU airlines anymore the UK equivalent law applies to both UK arrivals and departures to any destination as they are covered as UK airlines. I also think the UK equivalent law covers any other airline departing the UK but not the other way around. In other words no practical change. The thing is since the compensation bits of EC261 and its UK equivalent have been suspended due to Covid-19 I don’t know for certain.

      • kitten says:

        15 Jan15 January 13:14

        AJA compensation in EC261 is completely separate from duty of care. Duty of care applies regardless of notice given and covers…. well… duty of care as well as it being passenger choice to take refund, reroute on reasonable flights similar timing, choose a later date convenientto passenger to reroute etc. regardless of exceptional circ’s, as in the regulations, possibly exempting airline from paying compo even while they don’t ever lose the duty of care responsibilities.

• 747_Brat says:

  15 Jan15 January 09:44

  Just got billed the annual fee for the M&M Card. Am I right in thinking that there’s no renewal bonus?
  Thanks.

  • Rob says:

    15 Jan15 January 10:16

    No bonus

    • 747_Brat says:

      15 Jan15 January 17:16

      Thanks Rob

• Neil says:

  15 Jan15 January 09:44

  Hi all! I have the BA premium Amex so will be using the companion voucher at some point, which I know has to be on BA. This aside, what’s everyone’s personal experience of sourcing the best use of Avios as a redemption. I’ve tried to price flights on Iberia but you have to move all your Avios to them to get an online price. Any suggestions? Happy to save them to use for Australia.

  • memesweeper says:

    15 Jan15 January 09:59

    – Pick the long haul destination you really want
    – Call up at midnight with 355 days to go, book the outbound
    – Do the same for the return when those flights are available
    – travel in Club

    • Neil says:

      15 Jan15 January 18:58

      Cheers!

  • Rob says:

    15 Jan15 January 10:16

    Iberia’s website will price redemptions without you having the points – I do it all the time.

    Try this – https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2019/12/16/what-is-the-best-value-avios-redemption-per-mile-flown/

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