The HfP chat thread – Thursday 21st January

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Craig says:

21 Jan21 January 11:33

Reading about the progress with vaccinations in the Seychelles, do people think it is worth booking a BA Holiday there for Easter or am I wasting my time?
- Anna says:
  
  21 Jan21 January 11:39
  
  OOh Seychelles, there’s an idea for May half term!! Easter not looking great, if I’m brutally honest with myself (looks like OH will be having his first proper holiday in nearly 2 years in bloody Lancashire). Obviously you could book & pay the deposit, then get a refund if BA cancels, or a FTV if you cancel, it’s a relatvely low risk option.
  - Super Secret Stuff says:
    
    21 Jan21 January 12:29
    
    Both Easter and May probably not realistic unless you have both jabs and can prove it. Still very risky tho
    - Anna says:
      
      21 Jan21 January 13:10
      
      Why would countries which don’t require jabs now suddenly start demanding them? it’s probably not going to protect their population, after all. And I can’t see popular destinations excluding themselves from the family holiday market by barring unvaccinated 20 -50 year olds and their kids.
      - meta says:
        
        21 Jan21 January 14:05
        
        It’s either vaccination or PCR test. If you have proof of vaccination they let you in, if you have a PCR test they also let you in. Remember you can only stay at certain hotels. Currently anyone who’s been in the UK in the last 14 days is not allowed to enter regardless.
        
        On another note, Iceland allows this as well now (but needs to be a vaccination from EU country). You need to email a copy of proof and then they verify. Poland and Cyprus are close to introducing similar. Also yesterday, EU has voted to accept antigen tests done within EU countries as acceptable for travel within EU.
      - Super Secret Stuff says:
        
        21 Jan21 January 15:32
        
        Vaccinations mean they’re less likely to import the virus, meaning they can keep covid rates low and make the whole destination attractive to everyone
      - Anna says:
        
        21 Jan21 January 17:25
        
        Sorry, @meta, that was a general comment about vaccines, not specifically about Seychelles – I don’t think it’s a major destination for families in the same way as places like Florida or Dubai. It looks as though it’s not a summer route for BA in any case so it would be a non-starter anyway this year!
    - Jody says:
      
      21 Jan21 January 15:20
      
      I’ve just done some tinkering with our Easter plans, as I think it is very unlikely we’ll actually be going on our booked trip to Tenerife. Flights are with easyJet (re-arranged from last year), hopefully they’ll be cancelled so I can get a refund, if not I’ll see about moving them. Hotel was booked through hotels.com and prepaid, I’ve cancelled that one for a full refund and booked another which is pay at property, and also has free cancellation.
  - ChrisBCN says:
    
    21 Jan21 January 14:38
    
    Changed your tune since yesterday!
    - ChrisBCN says:
      
      21 Jan21 January 14:38
      
      (at Anna)
      - Anna says:
        
        21 Jan21 January 15:54
        
        No I haven’t, this is a thread about Easter, we were discussing the summer yesterday!
      - ChrisBCN says:
        
        21 Jan21 January 16:04
        
        April/May was yesterday! Easter is in… April
      - Anna says:
        
        21 Jan21 January 17:22
        
        ? Yesterday I was talking about the possibility of travel to the US by summer (meaning May – August. This post was specifically about Easter travel plans (April, as you say). Two completely separate things!
      - ChrisBCN says:
        
        21 Jan21 January 19:09
        
        Check again… You replied to my post mentioning April/May… Don’t worry about it, it’s fine to change your tune!
Aman says:

21 Jan21 January 11:37

Has anyone heard or know if Qatar are going to hold a sale? I’ve a voucher from a flight we cancelled from March last year and 2 months left to use it and would love to book a sale fare!
- memesweeper says:
  
  21 Jan21 January 13:36
  
  Historically they’ve done them at mid/end Jan. So maybe soon, or maybe not this year at all…
Will says:

21 Jan21 January 12:50

Would love a longer article comparing all the sweet spots for different FF schemes – along the lines of your Dubai trip. That would be a real value-add especially for MR points and where to send them… I imagine we all have our own favourites (AA LHR or EU to NZ/OZ on Qatar at 85k/115k must be mine) but there must be some BA sweet spots (well, maybe) and many others, such as several Virgin partner redemptions.
Linda says:

21 Jan21 January 13:18

Doe anyone know when BA have cancelled their flights up to.

WE have a re booked one from Covid last March booked for this March, which will obviously be not going to the USA. When I rang in October to rebook another cancelled flight I was told it would cost me £70 to cancel and to wait for it to be cancelled.

We were also downgraded on this flight and they gave us two seats together in business, FOC for the downgrade. I presume we would lose those as well with no recompense.

Also how many times can you rebook a cancelled Avios 2-4-1 flight as the voucher with it being extended runs out in June 2021. I have looked on the BA site and nothing about extending companion vouchers any further or info on cancelled flights. Many thanks for any replies.
- Anna says:
  
  21 Jan21 January 14:04
  
  You can re-book using a 241 as many times as you want within the validity period. You have until 24 hours before to cancel an award flight so you have a few weeks yet to see if BA cancels. Which route is it? Rob and Rhys have a better idea of which services are likely to be cancelled or not.
  I think you would lose the seats unless you rebook over the phone and persuade the CSA to retain them (as in move the flight to another date rather than cancel and get your avios & cash back), though of course if you made a completely new booking in F you would get free seat selection with that.
  - Anna says:
    
    21 Jan21 January 14:05
    
    If there’s no other way of re-booking and you don’t want to lose your 241, you can cancel your flights yourself and get a FTV which will be valid until April 2022. You won’t have to pay the cancellation fee either.
memesweeper says:

21 Jan21 January 13:41

IC George in Edinburgh. Apparently reward nights will be loaded into the system for later in 2021 after they reopen.
babyg says:

21 Jan21 January 14:28

They have pull AUH ( i was originally going 2020 ), ive now booked LHR – DXB for the first wkend in Dec 2021, but F1 is being moved to 2nd wkend, and there are no reward flights (club or better) for that wkend, hence id like to book a flight that will be cancelled (hopefully)and move that booking to the wkend i need 🙂
Sally says:

21 Jan21 January 14:40

I booked a two flights in the Virgin sale so thought I might as well apply for the BA status match. I have had my Gold status extended to Jan 22 but have no physical card. According to a couple of posts on here this should be no problem as I can submit a screenshot of my membership.

I did this and got turned down with a comment that my screenshot shows my name in blue not gold, and that I should contact BA about this and reapply when it was corrected.

The page I sent was my membership account page with additional information selected to show my tier points.

The name colour they think is wrong is the lower one beside the circular Gold logo. It is in blue and always has been in blue whatever status I have at the time.

Have I got a problem with my membership or is Virgin employing a budding Inspector Clouseau to validate the requests.
- memesweeper says:
  
  21 Jan21 January 14:49
  
  Personally I’d have screenshot the page on the phone app showing the status. But I’m not making my claim for another four weeks so can’t yet report if that’s working.
  - Sally says:
    
    21 Jan21 January 16:21
    
    I have just checked my App and it contains exactly the same information – and my name is in blue there as well.
    
    Maybe there is an account problem but it would be hard to explain to BA why I am bothered about it and I doubt saying I want it fixed to do a competitor status match would wash.
    - AJA says:
      
      21 Jan21 January 16:34
      
      Have you tried clicking on the card on the BA app on the My account page? If you do that it expands the card to fill most of the screen. I am Silver with BA and it shows Executive Club, my current Avios balance then in big lettering Silver (white on a grey background) and my name and says Valid until 31 Mar 2022. Beneath that is a barcode inside a white rectangle and beneath the barcode it displays my EC number.
      - Sally says:
        
        21 Jan21 January 17:33
        
        Hi, thanks for taking the trouble to reply
        
        I have the banner which on mine is a Gold background with white lettering but it is the name below that (below the circular logo) they are saying should be in gold but is in blue, on both the web page and phone app.
      - Gin and Tonic Please says:
        
        21 Jan21 January 21:15
        
        Just checked my account and my name is definitely in blue as well, and I’m sure always has been. I’d try to send a screenshot of the card from the app (which looks totally different from the website), as suggested above and see if that works.
Dr C says:

21 Jan21 January 14:48

The Virgin Tesco 2000 points auto convert bonus, does this transfer just the points in your account to virgin points or does it convert existing vouchers as well, the website really isn’t clear. It keeps mentioning auto exchange clubcard voucher into points implying all vouchers in your account rather than just the ones you have earned recently, anyone know?
- Dr C says:
  
  21 Jan21 January 15:19
  
  I found the answer from a previous thread. Only the virgin points that you collected will be transfered