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The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 16th February

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

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General

Comments (365)

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

  • memesweeper says:
    16 Feb16 February 08:41

    My HH points earning — which is mostly through the bendy one — seems to have plummeted… anyone know what MCCs are in/out for points earning these days?

    • ComeFlyWithMe says:
      16 Feb16 February 17:04

      Yeah there are significant issues since mid-Jan. What were you putting through via Bendy – Ernie is struggling.

  • Rich says:
    16 Feb16 February 09:08

    Curve refund bafflement.

    Had a £2 authorisation from Tesco Pay+, which hadn’t been refunded, 17 days later. I contacted Curve support last night, no response. But the refund is now showing on my Barclaycard statement (with a date of 29 Jan, but at the top of the timeline).

    No refund showing in my Curve timeline – either now, or back on 29 Jan.

    Is this how it’s supposed to work? How am I supposed to keep track?!

    • Genghis says:
      16 Feb16 February 09:14

      Doesn’t the original £2 show as being reversed out, i.e. £0, rather than there being a +2 and a -2?

      • Rich says:
        16 Feb16 February 11:50

        Definitely a +2 and a -2 on Barclaycard statement. It seems to have gone through as a purchase and then refund, rather than an authorisation that expired.

        Just the charge on Curve, refund doesn’t appear anywhere (although maybe it will in a few days, who knows).

        • The real John says:
          16 Feb16 February 15:17

          It’s just one of the quirks of Curve. I don’t use it for anything that has the potential to be refunded but I try to use it for other things to keep them happy for my MS

    • Harrier25 says:
      16 Feb16 February 11:21

      It’s very hard to keep track of refunds to Curve when used for day to day spend, which is one of the reasons I stopped using it daily and now only use it on a few monthly utilities payments to keep alive the cashpoint withdrawal option.

    • cinereus says:
      17 Feb17 February 11:43

      Curve doesn’t do a new line for refunds. The original payment will have been amended.

  • TGLoyalty says:
    16 Feb16 February 09:21

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-56078511

    Looks like the Dublin Dodge is alive and kicking in Scotland! Nonsense!

    • Super Secret Stuff says:
      16 Feb16 February 09:59

      So silly. Why is wee’ ol’ Nichola even trying other than to try and win votes by basically bluffing everything

      • TGLoyalty says:
        16 Feb16 February 10:39

        Considering the people thought it applied to them so booked and were then told the can go home because they transmitted via Dublin makes a mockery of it.

      • BJ says:
        16 Feb16 February 13:55

        They have been trying to get Westminster to close the loophole from outset.

    • Colin MacKinnon says:
      16 Feb16 February 10:05

      Well, it is not the Dublin Dodge exactly – since it applies equally to England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man too!

      Just a shame that the first person to follow the new Scottish rules, and be quite cheery about it, then finds out that the rules don’t actually apply to them!

      The 100-year-old legacy of the partition of Ireland has led to a lot of solutions and a lot of complexity. The Common Travel Area was one of the solutions, and also the cause of great complexity with regards to Brexit!

      To me, the Dublin Dodge – at its extreme – means you can get out of all quarantine/self-isolation rules, and the double testing. Just fly into Dublin and then travel to the UK on a separate ticket. (Maybe take the bus to Belfast, and then you are definitely “inside” the UK with no paperwork.) No international flights into Wales, and you can’t take a bus from Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man!

      No UK passenger locator form to fill in, so no “lies” to tell. No phone calls from NHS track and trace and no 2 and 8-day tests.

      As the UK slowly heads towards breakup – the Northern Irish are now looking to the south as a way of getting back into Europe, the Welsh think they may be about 10 years behind Scotland on the path to independence, and Scotland…? – we are going to see more of these policy clashes as more and more powers are devolved.

      But the Scottish government plan did also work: of the 65 people booked on the only direct international flight into Scotland (Turkish Airlines), only four actually travelled.

      • Rob says:
        16 Feb16 February 10:46

        How did it ‘work’? Surely the other 61 flew into England and then on to Scotland?

      • IanM says:
        16 Feb16 February 12:00

        That must be the first Scottish Government plan to work then (even tho it didn’t) total shambles right now with Herr Nicola using Covid to deflect from her own domestic issues

        • Jayne says:
          16 Feb16 February 13:18

          Yawn

        • Aston100 says:
          16 Feb16 February 13:28

          IanM, as an immigrant in Belarus, are you allowed to pass judgement on the nation that you deserted?

        • BJ says:
          16 Feb16 February 14:03

          There must be some reason why she enjoys higher approval ratings than the other UK party leaders. No doubt covid has much to do with it where virtually every stat in Scotland is better than England despite the Scottish government being hamstrung by the limitations of devolution.

      • John says:
        16 Feb16 February 15:17

        None of the stuff about ROI and NI is currently accurate. Following earlier complaints, Garda National Immigration Bureau is now passing passenger info to NI and GB authorities.

      • Lady London says:
        16 Feb16 February 15:34

        What’s the barrier between DUB and BFS? geography is my weak point

        • Border man says:
          16 Feb16 February 15:59

          There’s about 100 miles of mostly motorway between DUB and BFS with no physical barrier on the border.

        • John says:
          16 Feb16 February 16:55

          Garda Immigration checkpoints on the southern side. People pretending to get dental treatment are now being prosecuted. With roughly 3% vaccination rate in ROI, tempers are fraying, and there’s been a noticeable tightening on enforcement, even since last week.

          GDPR is irrelevant, politics takes priority (similar to Germany blocking Austria, Czech borders regardless of EU law).

          • Michael says:
            16 Feb16 February 23:02

            And bear in mind, Gardai have set up a checkpoint at the entrance to DUB security so unless you can guarantee airside transit be prepared to explain your reason for travel. €500 fines being doled out….

  • Jimmy says:
    16 Feb16 February 09:34

    Anyone else having problems with bendy and seagulls? Using Safari on Mac and iPhone – after entering pay details – it just logs me off rather than actually allow me to pay.

    • TJ says:
      16 Feb16 February 12:04

      They seems to be a general problem at the moment which they are working on (I was using just my bank’s debit card). They have suggested clearing cache/cookies to see if that works. They also suggested using the app to make payment. I ended up just calling them up to make payment over the phone.

      • Jimmy says:
        16 Feb16 February 12:07

        Tried the app too. Maybe need a windows machine.

        • fivebobbill says:
          16 Feb16 February 12:33

          Wouldn’t bet on it, happens every single time via windows for me as well. Always logs me out when I try to make initial payment, but then bizarrely always goes through at the second attempt!

      • Jay says:
        16 Feb16 February 19:03

        Happens in Windows and Mac Safari and fond that anti virus software was blocking a cross tracking cookie which was needed for hand off of payment. Disabled the cookie block feature and it worked for me.

    • memesweeper says:
      16 Feb16 February 12:15

      It’s nothing to do with bendy AFAIK. The iOS app works fine everytime for me, use that.

  • Maria J says:
    16 Feb16 February 10:05

    Morning all! Trying to rebook my DXB flight but BA told me yesterday that BA’s policy is only to re-book you within 12 months of the original booking date. Does anyone how to get around this? Surely EC261 should prevail? Thank you in advance

    • Maria J says:
      16 Feb16 February 10:10

      I forgot to say that I booked it with 2-4-1 and 50% Avios.

      • Rob says:
        16 Feb16 February 10:43

        It is physically impossible to move an airline ticket beyond a year from the original booking date.

        EC261 won’t help here. Whilst in theory you can rebook to a date ‘at your convenience’ BA will argue that this is not meant to give your carte blance to pick super-peak weeks and is only meant to allow you to reject specific times and dates suggested which don’t work for you. I think a judge would agree with BA here.

        • meta says:
          16 Feb16 February 10:52

          It’s physically possible, but we don’t know whether BA cancelled the flight or not.

          Singapore Airlines does ticket changes beyond 12 months without a problem. They’ve done it twice for me already. Many other airlines do the same. They just need to re-ticket at no extra cost to you. It’s BA’s problem that they are unwilling to override their IT system.

          Judge wouldn’t agree with BA as the law is clear in case of cancellations. Any date really at your convenience, not BA’s in case of cancellation.
          It’s BA’s decision to cancel, have peak/off peak dates, change ticket prices.

          @Maria J have you tried changing dates in Manage my booking? The system will sometimes allow you to do that beyond 12 months. (This also proves that it is physically possible.)

          • whiskerxx says:
            16 Feb16 February 11:01

            I have successfully re-booked tickets for cancelled BA flights beyond a year from the original booking date four times now. First time was on the phone, next three online. The re-booked flights all came with the original PNR and all had new ticket numbers. So BA might say it is impossible to change a ticket beyond a year from original booking date, but it is perfectly possible (and reasonable) for them to issue a new ticket.

          • Maria J says:
            16 Feb16 February 11:04

            @meta Initially they emailed saying the flight out was downgraded. However, when I go to manage the booking it says the flight out it’s been cancelled (although the lady on the phone denied it). I’ve just tried to change it and it only allows me to accept the change or contact them.

          • meta says:
            16 Feb16 February 11:12

            @Maria J Sometimes BA sends out a cancellation email for downgrades. This is possibly a downgrade rather than outright cancellation. Have you checked whether you can book the ticket for your date/time for cash? If you can, it means that the flight has not been cancelled.

          • NickAnon says:
            16 Feb16 February 11:25

            Similar problem – I’ve had the return leg from KUL cancelled. (BA not flying that route any more?) (booked with 241 + 50% sale)
            I can change destination to SIN which is fine, but would like to change dates to next year and i’m told I can only change up to booking date of October. Dates online to change to go up to 355 days ahead, but it only searches for KUL anyway.
            Only option is to cancel for a refund and hope for another sale I think?

          • Michael C says:
            16 Feb16 February 11:28

            Yep, the day I received my cancellation, a calendar opened up on MMB for twelve months as from that day.

          • Lady London says:
            16 Feb16 February 12:50

            If you are downgraded consider flying it and claiming the compo (75% of what you paid for F back if busted down to J, a bit lower % for downgrades from other classes)

            Do not be in a hurry to accept this. You have till shortly before the flight to decide. But if you fly it and going for involuntary downgrade compo make sure it’s kept clear in any dealings that you are reluctantly taking the downgrade but not by choice

          • Lady London says:
            16 Feb16 February 15:38

            downgrade is sent out as a cancellation by airlines I think so check it the way @meta has suggested

          • Lady London says:
            16 Feb16 February 15:39

            PS and offloading you also will arrive as a cancellation.

        • memesweeper says:
          16 Feb16 February 12:26

          It’s not “physically impossible ”, BA have done it for me twice with Avios bookings, both involving 2-4-1s. Perhaps BA don’t want to, perhaps some agents don’t know how, but it’s absolutely not impossible.

          I’ve also had a third one, which was booked through Ye Olde Avios.com which was proving very hard to move. The agents flatly refused to do it, offering only the usual +/- a few weeks. Asking them to check them the PNRs on two other bookings which had been moved beyond 365 days eventually caused them to find a way to make it happen. It’s taken hours, they are very cross and feel like I have exploited “a bug in the system”. Nonetheless, it’s done.

          The legal position is arguable if they’d denied me my rebooking request but I think my position would be strong. Given BA’s willingness to play to the dots and commas of T&Cs then so will I on EC261. Had they refused any of my requests I’d have booked a fully refundable ticket and put in an MCOL claim for the value of it (fully refundable is the closest thing you can buy to an Avios booking). They’d have plenty of time to mull over if it was ”physically impossible” while preparing for the case. In the unlikely event I loose, the ticket is refundable. They can make good on the original booking any time before the case goes to court and I cancel my refundable ticket. I’m lucky I have the funds to do this, but I am sufficiently belligerent. 🙂

          • Rob says:
            16 Feb16 February 12:33

            I think “It’s taken hours, they are very cross and feel like I have exploited “a bug in the system”” is about as close to ‘physically impossible’ as people will want to get 🙂

          • Lady London says:
            16 Feb16 February 12:51

            It’s easy for BA to issue a new ticket when it suits them.

        • JW says:
          16 Feb16 February 13:44

          I booked flights in early Feb-20 for mid Jan-21 with Avios – 355days in advance. Called BA on 3rd Jan-21 to push them back to May-21- I wanted to do this the flights were not cancelled – no problem for BA to do this and no fee just an extra few pounds as taxes had gone up. They are now scheduled for 15 months after the original booking date…

        • Charlieface says:
          16 Feb16 February 14:18

          @Rob Of course it’s physically possible, stop putting out garbage.

          It’s a simple override, and under IATA rules they are supposed to do it.

          • Rob says:
            16 Feb16 February 15:42

            You’re missing the point. This is a VOLUNTARY BA change. It doesn’t ‘have’ to do anything. If BA VOLUNTARILY offers to let you change dates, irrespective of Avios availability, within 365 days of booking then you are stuck with BA’s rules. It doesn’t matter if a good agent can override it.

            This is totally different to what counts as ‘date at your convenience’ when it comes to changing dates under EC261. If I was the abritrator and you came to me saying you had told BA you insisted on your rainy reason Maldives tickets being moved to Christmas week because that was ‘convenient’ for you, I would tell you to take a hike and make you pay BA’s costs.

        • Lucy says:
          17 Feb17 February 13:03

          With respect it’s evidently not “physically impossible” and no amount of goalpost-shifting will change that.

    • Keith says:
      16 Feb16 February 12:05

      I’ve had an odd one. Made a Amex 241 Edinburgh to Sydney First Class Booking in March 2020 for travel in March 2021. The 50% offer came along so I then cancelled, took a voucher and rebooked for January 2021 using 50% offer. They then cancelled the January 2021 flight and allowed me to change to September 2021. Now that the September 2021 flight has been cancelled they tell me my ticket is only valid for rebooking to March 2021. It boggles the mind. If that’s the case how did I end up with September 2021 flights at all? Ideally I’d like to rebook for Jan 2022. Wonder if I should just hang on incase BA bring forward reinstating flights to Australia like Qatar.

  • Doommonger says:
    16 Feb16 February 10:46

    Buyers beware, ordered items in Hackett sale, on the 5th February and no sign of goods 12 days later, no sign of bonus Avios either.

    The Doomster

    • Aston100 says:
      16 Feb16 February 11:02

      Surely that is a case of gloom rather than doom?

    • Harry T says:
      16 Feb16 February 17:20

      That’s odd, I’ve made three orders and promptly received emails to tell me when they’ve been processed and shipped. Avios take a month or something to process though.

  • Paasan69 says:
    16 Feb16 February 11:11

    Good morning all.

    In early January I applied for a status match with Marriott. I received Platinum Elite for 90 days and to retain this status I need to stay 15 nights during this period. So far, I’ve done 6 and need another 9 by early April. Now, I’ve recently taken out the Marriott Bonvoy AmEx and received the complimentary 15 nights in my account. Question: Do these nights count toward the status match/challenge or will I still need to do the 9 nights within the period for the match? It shouldn’t be too problematic though with the Double Nights/Points promotion that starts today as I have a couple of stays lined up, would just like to know if these are needed or not to qualify. Thanks in advance for any answers.

  • Russ says:
    16 Feb16 February 11:25

    Had to titter at the Daily Mail’s photos of the the meals inmates were being served on the Bath Rd. Those cardboard boxes are reminiscent of SAS in J except SAS staff are keen to remind you “…no it’s ‘The Cube’ Sir”

    Also love how some people are complaining about the airport view when the Renaissance hotel is known world over to be the mecca of aircraft enthusiast spotting. There are many people who would gladly go into quarantine for that view alone for ten days.

    • Russ says:
      16 Feb16 February 11:30

      Just to add a bit of irony, I was in hospital over Christmas and the security between those who had it but weren’t on ventilators and those there for other reasons was incredibly lax. Also now going in every other day and apart from the chap at the door I can come and go freely. In effect I can come out of the hospital, drive down to Waitrose, do some shopping whilst mingling with other shoppers, then come home. Bizarre.

      • Andrew says:
        16 Feb16 February 12:33

        Not really.

        There’s about 180 Covid patients within 50 metres of my desk. I’m just about to leave my office and go for Wokkies*, I’ll pass within 10 metres of them on my way.

      • Callum says:
        16 Feb16 February 12:54

        I’m not aware of any Covid wards in my hospital having security – mine certainly didn’t.

        I wouldn’t think it was particularly necessary and no one attempted to leave my (or any other) ward to the best of my knowledge. I’m not really sure what the legality of that would be anyway – they can presumably just discharge themselves to get past security, it’s not a prison.

        I’d wager there’s a big difference in attitude between someone hospitalised for it and someone who feels like they’re in perfect health in (expensive) precautionary quarantine with resentment.

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