The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 24th February

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Yuff says:

24 Feb24 February 10:44

Anyone know how you can check if a Qatar flight is Qsuites or not.
Just booked auh-lhr via doh for May half term.
Could only book economy from Dubai even though business available from doh. Not allowed to book economy to doh either online or via CS 🤷🏻‍♂️
Was able to book from auh in J, I can choose the seats from auh -doh but not Doha – lhr
Anyone any suggestions
- meta says:
  
  24 Feb24 February 11:15
  
  Do a dummy booking on Qatar website and it will show you which flights have Qsuite. It’s a bit hard to spot on mobile version, so I would use desktop site.
- Russ says:
  
  24 Feb24 February 11:19
  
  Seat guru for Qsuite check.
  - Yuff says:
    
    24 Feb24 February 11:31
    
    @meta thanks
    
    I tried seat guru but it’s not clear which version the plane is.
  - ChrisC says:
    
    24 Feb24 February 14:02
    
    That website is notoriously unreliable for its supposed function of providing seat maps and is rarely updated for either new plane types, refurbishments and removals from fleets.
    - Russ says:
      
      24 Feb24 February 14:36
      
      Ah yes Chris C, I forgot you had to take what was written with a pinch of salt.
- Jay says:
  
  24 Feb24 February 12:20
  
  Try Expert Flyer – never had issues in getting accurate seat maps up.
- Secret Squirrel says:
  
  24 Feb24 February 15:16
  
  Expert flyer
  - Yuff says:
    
    24 Feb24 February 19:09
    
    Will do, thanks guys
Genghis says:

24 Feb24 February 11:00

100% bonus based on normal selling price, so what 0.8p / avios? If you’re a buyer at that price and you’ve a specific need for them, not too bad a deal.
Catman says:

24 Feb24 February 11:21

Hi all I wonder if I could tap you for some advice…

I flew out to BKK on BA CW in March 2020 for a 2 month holiday. This was an Avios.com booking and I originally paid with a combination of cash, Avios and a Lloyds upgrade voucher.

My May flight home was cancelled and I rescheduled it to the end of October. Of course, that too was ultimately cancelled.

I rang Avios.com to reschedule again. The agent said that he would have to check and would get back to me. Next day I received a refund of £204 being the BA taxes on the return flight. But I also received an email from Avios.com that I was due a refund of £204 and 75,000 Avios. I checked on BA and that would have allowed me to book a 1 way flight CW to LHR.

However, I never received the Avios. I have complained a couple of times and have now received 34,000 Avios – I am not sure how they calculated that, I am guessing that they think that is half of the 78,000 Avios I originally paid!!!

I am going to try again but any advice would be appreciated.
- Anna says:
  
  24 Feb24 February 12:15
  
  Have you still got the original booking confirmation? It should show how many avios you paid. How may avios was the return leg without the upgrade from the Lloyds voucher, is that the 78,000 you refer to? I’m guessing there may be some confusion as these bookings are done manually with the avios team issuing your ticket at the rate for the lower cabin so it may need manual adjustment the other way as well!
  - Anna says:
    
    24 Feb24 February 12:19
    
    This confusion can work both ways – I somehow only managed to get a total of 8000 avios for 2 outbound CE seats to NCE in August using my last ever avios voucher (originally from MAN but now going via LHR), I’m not sure what it should have been but this sounds a bit on the low side …
  - Catman says:
    
    24 Feb24 February 12:37
    
    You pay 150,000 avios for a CW return flight LHR to BKK – the Lloyds upgrade voucher gets you a 72K discount so you only pay 78K. At the minimum, I think I should get back the cash, 39K of avios (50% of the avios I originally paid) and 36K of avios being 50% of the Lloyds voucher. This equates to the email tha Avios.com sent me
    
    I also don’t feel that I have asked for a refund so do I still have EU261 rights? They flew me out here but now they are expecting to make my own way back….
    - ChrisC says:
      
      24 Feb24 February 13:50
      
      It may not be 50% if the date of one flight was off peak and the date of the other was peak
    - Anna says:
      
      24 Feb24 February 15:18
      
      Surely the cost of a CW flight normally costing 150k avios using the Lloyds voucher would be 100,000 avios, i.e. the avios price of PE, with the voucher amounting to 50k avios which is the difference between PE and CW? So for one cancelled leg you would expect 50k avios back (or less if off peak, which might come to 34k!)
      - Anna says:
        
        24 Feb24 February 15:20
        
        Don’t forget the Lloyds voucher gives you an upgrade to the next cabin, which is different in long haul than short haul, i.e. it gets you from economy to club for short haul, but only economy to premium economy on long haul. I think you might actually have got the right amount back if you were travelling off peak.
- Matthew says:
  
  24 Feb24 February 15:10
  
  They never ‘returned’ the Avios for a cancelled flight to me either but actually they were sitting in my ‘old Avios’ account which I couldn’t access. But there is a workaround, log into BA exec and then combine my Avios, I then saw them sat in Avios.com to pulled them back into my BA account. Might not work for you but just sharing incase it helps others…
- James says:
  
  24 Feb24 February 16:17
  
  I had a very similar experience.
  I had a HKG-LHR-HKG CW ticket booked using ltsb voucher. I flew HKG-LHR then the return was canceled. Avios would not redate it beyond one year from issue so no choice but to refund.
  I received back exactly half of what I paid (so 39k I think) plus some wrongly calculated taxes (about half, which is clearly wrong as the LHR-HKG sector would have much higher charges).
  I went back and forth re the missing taxes, and also any possible credit for the lost voucher / CW flight. I never got anywhere, but I intend to follow up.
  Did anyone ever get anything better for such a cancellation? Increased avios, or a new single use voucher, would seem fair….
Backpacker says:

24 Feb24 February 11:23

Spanish Banks – Bank Sabadell new crazy fees for payments.

Beware anyone here who has a spanish bank account and/or sending money to a business/friend spanish bank account – Yesterday I sent 50 euros to my bank sabadell account to pay a bill, only to be hit with a crazy new fee – 0.35% for any transfers from the UK with a MINIMUM FEE of 18 euros – this is a euro-euro simple transfer!
They also charge a minimum of 22 Euros for sending a euro payment to any euro bank account in the UK.
You should all be aware of these potential fees if sending payments or transferwise cash to spain..

Sabadell are a horrible outfit – they also charge 4% to withdraw euros from a ATM in euros outside Spain, and ongoing fees for debit cards etc, but the high fees for UK payments (instituted without warning) are a new low. It’s time for a new bank account in spain, somewhat urgently – can anyone reccommend a new Spanish Bank for a non-resident without these type of fees?
- Yuff says:
  
  24 Feb24 February 11:39
  
  I paid someone who must have a Sabadell acount, they ,an aged to get the €18 back.
  I suspect I will need a Spanish bank account soon 🤦🏻‍♂️
  There is a bank here that doesn’t not charge atm fees when I withdraw €
  I will check which one it is
  - Backpacker says:
    
    24 Feb24 February 11:52
    
    Thanks for the feedback Yuff.
    Beware – I have looked at a lot of Spanish banks they are not as simple and good as the UK banks – there are hidden fees everywhere for simple everyday banking.
    
    But Sabadell the last 2 years = Ryanair of banking. New fees/gotchas endlessly.
  - ankomonkey says:
    
    24 Feb24 February 15:12
    
    Deutche Banke didn’t charge me for withdrawals in Spain last summer.
    - yorkieflyer says:
      
      24 Feb24 February 21:05
      
      Kutxabank in Spain too
  - Lord Doncaster says:
    
    24 Feb24 February 18:17
    
    BankInter?
- Anuj says:
  
  24 Feb24 February 11:44
  
  Starling do a Euro account. Mine is free, I’m not sure if new accounts are still free.
  A less heard of option may be Fineco bank. They’re owned by the huge Italian bank unicredit. You get a free euro or gbp card and it also comes attached with a really cheap sharedealing service which is more reliable than something like trading212. You may want to check what fees they charge for euro bank transfers
  
  I wouldn’t use revolut. I think they’ve added new fees, and regardless they seem to block your account randomly. It’s an exercise in futility getting it unlocked reading comments around the web.
- Sina says:
  
  24 Feb24 February 12:14
  
  Openbank is great, it’s part of Santander but none of the rubbish from them! With a great app and I’ve never paid any fees!
- Nic says:
  
  24 Feb24 February 12:40
  
  Many Spanish banks are applying charges to receieve UK transfers now. They are even doing so for Euro IBAN transfers from UK based banks which is very naughty and they shouldn’t.
  
  Which means Starling is not an answer.
  
  However, Transferwise has allowed me to convert GBP to EUR and then send those EUR locally to my Spanish account for 35p.
  - Lol says:
    
    24 Feb24 February 12:58
    
    Nic – you beat me too it! As you say, transferwire charges are small, and I’ve found payments go through immediately. I hope the European Payments Council, who manage SEPA, are going to come down hard on those Spanish and other banks who are charging UK customers.
- Lol says:
  
  24 Feb24 February 12:55
  
  Sabadell do not charge if the transfer is made via an EU member state prefixed International Bank Account Number (IBAN). Transferwise use such an IBAN and I’ve had no charge from Sabadell for payments via them. The problem started on 1 January 2021 with Brexit, when some Spanish and other banks started levying a charge for payments via GB prefixed IBANs. I’m hoping they will stop as they are wrong to make such a charges as the UK remains in the Single European Payment Area (SEPA), through which banks do not levy charges different to what they do for their domestic customers. If opening a Euro account with one of the Fintechs make sure they use an Iban not prefixed GB. Unfortunately Monese use a GB prefix and Sabadell charged me 18 euros for a payment on 4 January which I made via Monese, hence my move to Transferwise.
  - Backpacker says:
    
    24 Feb24 February 14:39
    
    Thanks for a very detailed & knowledgeable reply!
    Good to know transferwise still works for now. Agree it appears wrong given UK still part of SEPA.
    Amusing thing is Sabadell (as an ex LLoyds bank division) has loads of UK customers, but have not told any of us about the new charges… 🙂
    - Sina says:
      
      24 Feb24 February 14:44
      
      Sabadell is/was not ever part of Lloyds! 😬
      - lgflyer says:
        
        24 Feb24 February 15:07
        
        Lloyds Bank used to have a small presence in Spain (targeting mainly British expats) and it was purchased by Sabadell in 2013
    - marcw says:
      
      24 Feb24 February 15:26
      
      Sabadell bought TSB IIRC.
      - 747_Brat says:
        
        24 Feb24 February 16:13
        
        That explains why TSB is so miserable!
      - RussellH says:
        
        24 Feb24 February 16:29
        
        They did, and apparently now planning to get rid of it.
        
        The big TSB online bank cockup a couple of years ago was due to a botched transfer from the Lloyds platform to Sabadell.
        
        I still have a TSB current a/c – origiannly worth it for the 5% they paid on balances up to £1500. Now I am just waiting for a suitable transfer offer…
    - Lord Doncaster says:
      
      24 Feb24 February 18:15
      
      Try Caixa? They haven’t applied charges to UK transfers yet…
  - RussellH says:
    
    24 Feb24 February 16:51
    
    It might be well worth your while reading here:
    https://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/news-insights/news/brexit-1-january-2021-onwards-get-ready-end-transition-period
    There are a lot of similar comments about Spanish banks levying €18 charges, also Crédit Agricole charging someone €16.
    There is this comment from the EPC Secretariat on that page:
    “It is indeed up to each payment service provider based in the UK and in the other SEPA countries to take all the necessary steps to ensure that SEPA payments to and from a payment service provider in the UK are properly processed.”
    
    Further:-
    Transactions to be executed or settled as of 1 January 2021 involving a UK-based payment scheme participant must contain:
    For and Instant Credit Transfer instructions from the Originator:
    The full address details of the Originator.
    The BIC code of the Beneficiary Bank when the Originator Bank explicitly requests this data element from the Originator.
    
    Previously all that was required would have been the IBAN; now it appears that banks need to include the BIC too, and if it is not there, some banks will, no doubt try it on.
    
    Trouble is, if you kick up a fuss, the bank may just close your account. This happened to me in Belgium in pre-Euro days when the cheapest way to transfer from the UK was to send a bank draft in BEF. I got these from a currency broker in London, but their HO was in Washington DC. They printed their own drafts, which gave greater prominence to the USA address, while the name of the Belgian Bank and its Bruxelles address were in about 5pt type. The bank insisted that they were not Belgian drafts, and when I quoted “Banque Bruxelles Lambert” and the address in Bruxelles they closed the a/c becuase “by disputing the charges I was no longer treating them with respect.”
    - Lord Doncaster says:
      
      24 Feb24 February 18:32
      
      Sounds par for the course for anything that involves Brussels. Never visited a worse dump.
      - RussellH says:
        
        24 Feb24 February 20:52
        
        ??
        One of my favourite places – Bruxelles, not Doncaster that is.
        😉
- Lady London says:
  
  25 Feb25 February 04:17
  
  Why did you accept this instead of the rerouting to which you were entitled?
  
  It’s *you* that chooses if you take a refund or a reroute.
  
  Just wondering why you weren’t straight on the phone back to them rejecting the refund completely, telling them you want a reroute and it is your choice not theirs, and insisting on whatever other flight I want at no extra cost which is my right. If they’re not running a flight on a day you choose to travel they must book you in same class on another airline (make it a UK or European airline if you can so as to still have these protections which accrue to you under EU261)
  
  If you choose a refund it gets BA off a lot of hooks so I wouldn’t.
AviosNewbie says:

24 Feb24 February 12:42

Sorry if already asked, but I couldn’t find the answer in the old posts – I just applied for a Future Travel Voucher from BA, and received their email – but it doesn’t show up in my executive club account. Is that the way it is? And if so, how can I confirm what the value of the voucher is? My original booking was an avios ticket for 3 people with a 2-4-1 voucher. And now I have 3 FTVs
- memesweeper says:
  
  24 Feb24 February 12:55
  
  It does not appear in your BAEC. You need to keep a spreadsheet with the details.
  
  Others have reported that collective bookings get broken up into multiple vouchers, so you may be correct with ending up with three vouchers. It’s not necessarily a problem, and you can create one booking with the three vouchers again if you call up.
- Anna says:
  
  24 Feb24 February 15:23
  
  Your vouchers are your original ticket numbers so you will have one for each person travelling. Your original booking confirmation will show what you paid in avios and cash.
Terry says:

24 Feb24 February 12:57

Question on Amex offers. I had the PayPal offer, used it to buy something off eBay, got the offer redemption email and the credit. After about 4 days seller said they don’t have the item in stock so refunded. Transaction and offer credit were correctly reversed. The offer no longer appears in My saved offers or used offers. Had an email from Amex today saying offer expires soon. Is the offer still valid?
- Andrew says:
  
  24 Feb24 February 13:29
  
  Should still be there, but call them to double check and they can apply it to your account if it’s dropped off because of the refund issue.
- Phil H says:
  
  24 Feb24 February 13:52
  
  I used mine a second time after being refunded for the first item, all happened automatically, credit reversal then new credit.
Jon G says:

24 Feb24 February 13:01

Just cancelled my BA holidays booking (to US East Coast) and received a full cash refund to my bank account. Flights were fully operational so that was a pleasant surprise. My deposit was paid for using a Future Travel Voucher so was 100% expecting it to go back into one.
Tony Soprano says:

24 Feb24 February 13:09

Hello all, I wasn’t able to find an answer elsewhere so hoping this isn’t obvious or hasn’t been asked before.
Have the 500 bonus Avois points (for converting +1600 Nectar) posted for anyone yet? Yet to receive anything and wanted to double check. Additionally I recall seeing the 2 x Necator bonus should be posted as a lump sum after the bonus period ends.
Thank you!
- Rob says:
  
  24 Feb24 February 13:25
  
  No-one has received anything yet.
  - Tony Soprano says:
    
    24 Feb24 February 13:47
    
    Thanks, Rob!