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The HfP chat thread – Saturday 20th 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 (206)

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

  • Bee says:
    20 Feb20 February 06:31

    I just looked on my nectar account and it seems that the 1600 points I transferred to my BA account on the 25th of jan was refunded on the same day. Did this happen to anyone? And i wonder why?
    I got a confirmation email from nectar when I made the transfer but no email to say it was refunded.

    Can I rectify this? And the deadline for the transfer has passed for the 1000 avios.

  • TimM says:
    20 Feb20 February 06:34

    Given that the UK has only just started locking international travellers up (at their own expense), I imagine we won’t hear anything from Boris on Monday regarding overseas travel. I always seem to have a holiday booked just a few weeks away but it keeps getting put back a few weeks, forever.

    • BJ says:
      20 Feb20 February 07:11

      It is quite obvious there are not going to be any overseas holidays until after Easter. Summer now looking a bit better than 50/50 IMO but I doubt they will take a decision before May. Looks to me they will want all 9 priority groups to receive their second vaccine and then some time to see what happens before there is a very substantial relaxation of rules. But having said all that there seems to be an increasing sense of optimism but we have been there before and seen what happened.

    • The Lord says:
      20 Feb20 February 07:33

      After may bank holiday my guess, dependent on which countries will have us

      • kitten says:
        20 Feb20 February 12:17

        +1
        letting people out for Easter now the government has finally begun to get some resolve, could kick it off again even if the more worrisome variants are kept in check

    • Andrew says:
      20 Feb20 February 08:05

      We will hear very little from Boris on Monday on dates for anything other than schools reopening. Everything else will be wait and see at this stage.

      • Michael C says:
        20 Feb20 February 08:18

        Pleeease let us be able to travel 30 mins afield for walks/picnics, etc.! That plus schools would do me for the time being.

        • Grant says:
          20 Feb20 February 08:22

          The current Regulations do not stop you from travelling 30 mins in order to go for a walk.

          • Mr(s) Entitled says:
            20 Feb20 February 09:23

            That all depends upon which police officer you bump into (if any). Whilst you may be right, they rarely react well to being told they are wrong.

          • Tiff says:
            20 Feb20 February 09:48

            The current regulations in England permit that. But not in Wales.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            20 Feb20 February 10:44

            I still read stories of people being fined for being on a walk in the wrong town.

            I’m sure lots of the public and the police would rather the advice changes sooner rather than later so meeting outdoors isn’t a crime. It shouldn’t be as it’s the safest way to meet loved ones.

          • Sandra says:
            20 Feb20 February 11:20

            @TGL – not really a surprise they are fined if they are walking in the wrong town, the advice is to stay and walk locally. It infuriates me that mountain rescue teams are having to put themselves at risk going out to rescue idiots who’ve driven miles to walk away from where they live and often those people are badly equipped walking somewhere they wouldn’t normally go.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            20 Feb20 February 11:53

            Sandra we can go round in circles on this but advice isn’t law and there’s no definition of local in it. Interpretation leads to confusion and like I said I’m sure everyone just rather the advice was changed.

            People walking in places without the proper equipment is a problem all year round at all times anyway it’s not some how more of an issue now.

    • Russ says:
      20 Feb20 February 09:56

      Yep they do but one day it will be ‘GO!” and you’ll forget all this.

      Incidentally I haven’t lost any money with all the bookings that have been cancelled, it’s all been refunded. Hope everyone else enjoyed similar.

      • Sandra says:
        20 Feb20 February 13:54

        TGL – my definition of local is the same as the dictionary definition ‘relating or restricted to a particular area or one’s neighbourhood’. So common sense tells me you walk, cycle, run etc from your own front door around your own local area. Maybe that needs spelling out for some people but I still don’t see how local is hard to understand or confusing. If I drive 5 miles to walk, I’m not local, I’m in the next village – I know I’m lucky I live in a rural area & can walk from my front door but sometimes I like to walk elsewhere and I’d have to drive to get there, currently I don’t do it, I walk from & back to my own home.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          20 Feb20 February 15:45

          Like I said one persons local is another persons too far (and you are very lucky to have a nice walk on your doorstep.)

          The word “local” has defined distance.

          Why it’s hard for police to enforce and hard for people to gauge.

          Like I said people can argue for days what’s local. Which is why I echo Michael C requests to stop the “local” nonsense ASAP for everyone’s sake.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            20 Feb20 February 15:46

            That should have said

            The word “local” has no defined distance.

          • Genghis says:
            20 Feb20 February 16:24

            If one’s “normal” is to travel the world, is one’s “local” the whole of one’s own country?

            Or an astronaut to at least stay on the Earth?

          • Tiff says:
            20 Feb20 February 16:38

            All irrelevant. I can’t find the word “local” in the legislation relating to England, except in the context of “local authority”, “local government” etc. May be different in Wales. The way this has been legislated with amendments by paragraphs (for instance, “In paragraph 2- (b) in sub-paragraph (3)- (i) in paragraph (a), omit “and (d)(ii)””) is a terrible way to make law on the fly, and inevitably leads to multiple discrepancies between the law and the guidance.

          • The real John says:
            20 Feb20 February 16:53

            That’s just how all legislation is amended.

            When the government has more money they should really redesign the web interface to show the actual text that is being added and removed.

          • Charlieface says:
            20 Feb20 February 19:44

            If you look at the primary legislation, it should have each amendment inline in brackets. If the Legislation team have bothered to update it yet

        • bafan says:
          20 Feb20 February 16:54

          I ran into Central London today as I do every Saturday, and none of the people I saw today have been there during Lockdown 3. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people with another version of local area lol.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            20 Feb20 February 17:45

            You recognise everyone you’ve ever ran past!

            That’s one hell of a memory

        • A says:
          20 Feb20 February 20:36

          And let’s remember the requirement to remain local doesn’t feature in the actual regulations themselves, it’s only a non-statutory request from government essentially.

          • Tiff says:
            21 Feb21 February 09:23

            It is law in Wales:
            “exercise must start and finish at the place where the person is living or where a member of the person’s extended household is living, or
            (b) where, for reasons of physical or mental illness or impairment, or a disability (within the meaning of section 6 of the Equality Act 2010), the person needs to exercise in another place, exercise must take place in an area local to the place where the person is living.”

  • TJ says:
    20 Feb20 February 06:42

    I have an Amb weekend voucher that is due to expire 1st May. It has already been extended once…is it likely that IHG will extend again? Or will IHG extend if I call them?

    • BJ says:
      20 Feb20 February 07:22

      I think I saw comments from Rob or others during the last few days that they let some vouchers expire but I don’t recall the details.

    • K says:
      20 Feb20 February 07:32

      In our household, we had 2 Amb weekend vouchers and 2 RA free nights expire recently. We tried several times, but were told no more extensions. All gone.

  • BJ says:
    20 Feb20 February 07:02

    Have you received the 1000 avios? If so, just keep quiet and say nothing. If not you can raise a complaint with Nectar and/or BA.

    • Bee says:
      20 Feb20 February 07:09

      No 1000 avios – that is the issue.

      • BJ says:
        20 Feb20 February 07:20

        Suggest you proceed to a complaint then. I would try Nectar first, suggest that a goodwill gesture of 800 NP to compensate you for the loss of 500 avios would resolve the matter to you satisfaction. I recommend you try that on a weekday, not the weekend. I don’t recall the start date, perhaps you transferred them to early?

        • Bee says:
          20 Feb20 February 07:25

          Thank you I will do that. The start date was the 25th of Jan. I ensured i didn’t do it on the 24th when it was announced on Hfp.

  • S879 says:
    20 Feb20 February 07:29

    What is people’s experience of Easy Jet refunds during COVID. Should I completely avoid booking with them. I am reading their policy online but want to know personal experience.

    • Anna says:
      20 Feb20 February 07:36

      EasyJet has been exemplary at issuing refunds (especially compared to BA!) Obviously check the Ts and Cs on any booking as they are subject to change, but both lots of flights I had cancelled last year were fully refunded within 4 weeks via a straightforward online process.

      • Rhys says:
        20 Feb20 February 08:50

        From what I remember from all the comments last summer easyJet wasn’t that exemplary! You had to email or call them, no site function to request refund…..so very similar to BA.

        • Yuff says:
          20 Feb20 February 08:58

          I’d agree with that, I changed a flight to BA and tried to cancel ie get a voucher which I was entitled to but there was no way of accessing a voucher or re-booking.
          You could not email them, and I gave up on the phone after 40 mins.
          I did a chargeback but they argued the flight wasn’t cancelled, I haven’t got round to arguing about the chargeback although I have a screenshot, as evidence at the time, of a message sent on Twitter which they did not respond to.
          It was about £120 and I have quite a few BA vouchers I’ve lost count of where they all are and not too inclined to chase anything currently.

          • kitten says:
            20 Feb20 February 13:09

            Yes Easyjet spent a lot of time last summer claiming they had only rescheduled flights wgen they’d cancelled them. They lied and tried to obfuscate this by sending out cheery little emails telling people that “in order to be able to transport as many people as possible/get everyone off on their holidays” or similar, the passenger’s flight time had changed.

            Whereas what Easyjet had done was to cancel every flight on the same day except one, and move all passengers onto that one flight.

            Of course they obfuscated this by not mentioning any flight numbers at all, in their cheery casual little emails.

            I had a couplr of agents telling me a move of up to 5 hours was considered acceptable by Easyjet and that it was only a fight reschedule when it was obvious they’d consolidated flights and it was in fact a move to a different flight number.

            They even tried to claim that moves from a 7.00am flight to a different flight scheduled almost 15 hours later was only a reschedule.

            I advised them it was a cancellation and I would be invoking my EU261 rights.

        • BJ says:
          20 Feb20 February 09:12

          Yeah, between that and the bags I’m not even prepared to look at Easyjet. Currently exploring possibilities with Jet2, a first for me but I feel they are much more worthy of our support than Easyjet or Ryanair. I don’t want to find myself on a 737MAX so Ryanair is out too. On tbe hotel front zi’m really losing patience with Hilton and their cash rates.

          • kitten says:
            20 Feb20 February 12:31

            BJ reading your comment above I’ve got to the same view on all of these. I won’t need Jet2 routes for a long while now but after their really decent treatment of their customers when they tbemselves were under adversity they will be next up for anything new.

            Same about Hilton cash rates they seem to have closed hotels rather than go with the market though. Every Hilton (though esp Hampton which I favour I’ve wanted to.stay in has had 3 or 4 good alternatives at half the rate since Covid.

            Commercial properties cant currently be repossessed before April ( special law similar to for renters) but for the sake of hotels I would like to see that extended to 1-3 years provided some payments are being made after 1 year. Probably.not fair on property investors though to have protective law as nice to let hotels get back on their feet.

          • BJ says:
            20 Feb20 February 13:09

            @kitten, Jet2 are taking bookings more than a year in advance which is why I’ve been having a look. Not certain I will book anything but if they have routes of interest from EDI I will consider them. Missed out on our first visit to Canaries last spring so hoping 2922 will allow us to catch up on that. The problem with the closing Hiltons is they are pushing rates up at those remaining. Increase seems to be roughly 50% and in some places it’s just mad. For example, in Dundee they want £80 for Hampton on nights you can take your iuck between Indigo and Staybridge for £50.

        • Anna says:
          20 Feb20 February 10:39

          But that’s my experience! I didn’t have to spend ages on the phone OR have to chase up refunds which got lost in the system, so that’s 2 points easyJet scores over BA for me. These were both at the end of last year, so I assume that’s more indicative of what’s happening now than last summer.

          • kitten says:
            20 Feb20 February 12:34

            only recent Anna. Early on as Rhys says Easyjet were as bad as British Airways with even less chance of getting a reply from customer service. Getting a reply if you do get forced to contact them has not been something I’ve had even before Covid actually.

        • kitten says:
          20 Feb20 February 12:21

          +1
          I believe it’s got to the point where they prefer people to take refunds rather than have the rerouting liability. Helped of course by the fact that they raised finance that Rob said would take them through the summer.

    • TimM says:
      20 Feb20 February 07:36

      EJ do refund. They make you complete an online form as a small hurdle that will catch some if the details don’t match perfectly. They are very slow – 6 to 8 weeks – but not as bad as Ryanair. Don’t accept the future travel voucher (which only takes 2 clicks) as it is an absolute pig to use and the subsequent booking is not accessible online.

      • Bill says:
        20 Feb20 February 08:12

        None of that is accurate TimM. Recent refund took 4 weeks over Xmas and by. Vouchers can be used online during payment unless issued in the phone.

    • Rich says:
      20 Feb20 February 08:27

      Requested three refunds last month for flights that i hadn’t touched since cancellation. Two came through after a month. Still awaiting the third.

      A lot of people say if you phone up, you can get to the top of the queue, but I wasn’t in a hurry.

    • Jody says:
      20 Feb20 February 08:39

      I phoned, and my refund was back on my card in a couple of days.

      • JohnT says:
        20 Feb20 February 09:19

        Same here, very quick by phone even after initially using form. PS refund posts to CC based on original booking date so can be hard to find on CC statements.

    • Aston100 says:
      20 Feb20 February 09:16

      Took 8 months to get my refund from Easyjet for a flight they cancelled back in June last year.
      It was a poor experience as they had removed the ability to obtain a refund online and they seemed to have switched off their Web chat for a period of time. Only way to contact them back then was by phone. Would take 90 mins or so to get through. Had to phone many times.

      People have short memories these days and seem to quickly forgive and forget when an incentive is dangled in front of them.

      Easyjet and Ryan Air both behaved appalling for large parts of 2020. Don’t forget this.

      • Anna says:
        20 Feb20 February 10:42

        What incentive, exactly? I requested 2 refunds, and got 2 lots of money back without quibble within 4 weeks. BA are still making things difficult nearly 12 months on from the first cancellations, no online refunds unless they cancel, often have to spend ages getting through on the phone, waiting to be passed to another department then having to repeat the process again when your avios and/or cash get lost in the system!

      • kitten says:
        20 Feb20 February 12:37

        +1. Exactly what I saw going on at that time.

    • 747_Brat says:
      20 Feb20 February 09:34

      I got my Easy Jet refund after a month of cancellation last summer. But I have seen better experiences from commenters here who have reported receiving refunds in 2-3 days!

    • Ali M says:
      20 Feb20 February 10:16

      for me it’s been like clock work for two bookings!

      they keep u informed along the way – no need to call them up.If they have said 6 weeks,it comes in 4

  • Sam says:
    20 Feb20 February 07:41

    Signed up to the FT weekend using the link in tje article a few weeks ago and second time in a row for my first subscription and no delivery of the newspaper…reading comments on online forums…this appears to be a common problem – has anyone else had this also?

    • FG says:
      20 Feb20 February 08:42

      Yes, last week had this. Contacted chat support online: not very helpful, of the “computer says no” variety. Was told no physical delivery of the paper because of Chinese New Year (?) and to access an e version of the paper instead via My FT. This week however the paper is here physically!

      • kitten says:
        20 Feb20 February 12:39

        I believe the FT is in a direction of going digital overall. They’ve just completely cut the paper edition of one of their sub-papers I subscribe to.

    • DK says:
      20 Feb20 February 13:27

      Same here no paper last week and today. Considering cancelling

    • Bob says:
      20 Feb20 February 18:30

      Yes same here, no delivery for the first two weeks. Called up a few times, they’ve apparently credited the account for next year and sent back copies in post. Not given a reason for non deliveries. Third week today and delivery arrived early this morning so hopefully all sorted now going forward.

  • David says:
    20 Feb20 February 09:03

    Anyone with a recent data point on American Express referral points posting?
    I referred someone approximately 6 weeks ago, their card was issued approximately 5 weeks ago. My last referral posted within days, but American Express are saying they won’t look into it until 10 weeks.

    • Rob says:
      20 Feb20 February 10:43

      Should post within 48 hours of acceptance

    • Harry T says:
      20 Feb20 February 11:17

      They have been posting rapidly for me recently – the card and the referral points have arrived within a day or two of application

    • DK says:
      20 Feb20 February 13:28

      Got mine within 48 hours last week

    • Paul says:
      20 Feb20 February 18:40

      I’m yet to see a referral bonus for a –err– self referral 5 weeks ago. I did get the additional referred signup bonus so it clearly tracked. Unclear if it’s either slow to payout, or Amex have closed this loop hole (I’d not tried it before).

    • Travel Strong says:
      20 Feb20 February 18:53

      I self referred 2 days ago and got the card and points today.

  • Gothbe says:
    20 Feb20 February 09:19

    I want to check my uunderstanding of whether I will qualify for the sign up bonus on the BA premium plus. I believe i do qualify but is this correct based on the following. I currently have the Platinum buss card. I have held other personal Amex cards (Marriot) in the last 24 months. I have not held either of the BA cards for more than 24 months

    • stevenhp1987 says:
      20 Feb20 February 09:27

      If you’ve not had any BA card for over 24 months then you’re golden for the BAPP bonus.

      Not eligible for the free BA card bonus though.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      20 Feb20 February 13:15

      If it’s only the Marriott in the past 24 months then you are free to apply for Platinum or BAPP

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