The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 24th February

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• Roger says:

  24 Feb24 February 13:29

  Is there a telegram private chat group for HFP?

  • OP says:

    24 Feb24 February 13:37

    Would be interested in any such thing for miles/points 🙂

    • Harry T says:

      24 Feb24 February 14:04

      It would be just filled with 200 questions a day about what “Bendy” is and what Rob is going to do with his Virgin points 😂

      • ankomonkey says:

        24 Feb24 February 15:15

        🙂

  • Super Secret Stuff says:

    24 Feb24 February 15:01

    Would prefer Discord

    • Aston100 says:

      24 Feb24 February 16:13

      Discord is great. I admin a couple of servers.

    • AG says:

      24 Feb24 February 18:07

      A discord server would be great actually

  • Lord Doncaster says:

    24 Feb24 February 18:20

    £100 a month to join a chat?!

• Harry T says:

  24 Feb24 February 14:16

  Just received an email informing me I can receive 5 nectar per pound for spend at argos until 3rd March.

  • Steve S says:

    24 Feb24 February 14:34

    Me too, plus another Juicy bonus. 150 points if I shop twice this week.

  • Andrew says:

    24 Feb24 February 14:43

    And at Habitat.

• bill says:

  24 Feb24 February 14:38

  https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/czech-airlines/csa-czech-airlines-has-announced-a-collective-redundancy-to-the-labour-office-430-jobs-threatened/

  Czech Airlines ČSA has sent a notice to the Labour Office that it intends to lay off all its 430 employees. This was written in Wednesday’s Hospodářské noviny, whose confirmation of the mass redundancies was confirmed by Tereza Löffelmanová, chairwoman of the Aircraft Crews Trade Union.

• meta says:

  24 Feb24 February 15:24

  Further data point. I managed to move my Maldives BA flights booked in the Avios sale from March to December (just before Christmas) online.

  Yesterday straight after receiving cancellation email there was nothing available and this morning only Christmas eve flight available (didn’t work for me) and some dates in February 2022. I just checked again and saw a few dates the week before which works perfectly, so grabbed those. So I suggest if nothing is visible straight away, hold off before cancelling and check in the following days.

  • meta says:

    24 Feb24 February 15:28

    Just to add this is beyond 12 months from original ticket.

  • Mouse says:

    24 Feb24 February 15:59

    BA is only showing me availalility online for 2 weeks after my booked dates. Have checked several times now. This was in the half price avios sale with a 2-4-1 though. Frustrating.

    • meta says:

      24 Feb24 February 16:06

      Same here, but managed to change it. Remember there are no flights between May and November so you need to go further in the calendar for later.

  • DT says:

    24 Feb24 February 17:06

    Hi Meta, did you come across any errors relating to not being able to book the change more than 365 days beyond booking date and just kept trying? Or did it go right through first go?

    I’ve been trying to do this for a number of weeks now, but every time I try it tells me that I can’t book beyond the 365 days of original booking date. Would really like to save the hassle of having to call through to make the change!

    • meta says:

      24 Feb24 February 17:11

      Nope. It went straight through, e-ticket email received instantaneously.

      I did it via the app though as I was checking it there. Maybe that’s why.

      • meta says:

        24 Feb24 February 17:13

        Further to this, I was just checking it and there were dates beyond 365 days the first time I looked, but none that I wanted until a few hours ago.

        • Michael C says:

          24 Feb24 February 20:13

          Meta, did you happen to notice if the days you ended up booking for had Avios availability? I was told this was why some dates appeared and others not (and like you, I found something available “playing around” with a couple of dates, 12 months from the BA cancellation, with the new dates being 15 months from original ticketing).

        • meta says:

          24 Feb24 February 20:53

          @Michael C No, zero reward availability for any dates beyond April this year. It’s Maldives after all. These tickets are hard to find in CW.

      • DT says:

        24 Feb24 February 17:20

        Thanks for the tip, am trying with the app now but when I click on the booking and click change booking, I get the error that I need to be signed in to the account who’s 241 voucher it is and then “select view or change an existing booking”

        Am currently logged into the correct account, am I blind or is there a different spot in the app to go to to change a booking?

        • meta says:

          24 Feb24 February 17:32

          This is what I did. When I open the app, as is it my next flight, I had big notification that my flight has been cancelled. I scrolled down and there was Manage button. I clicked on that and it took me to the booking page on the app. Then on the top there was Rebooking/Refund options. I clicked on that and it took me to the same page as on the desktop. I scrolled down and clicked on Find a different flight (BA rebooked me on the next flight), then I was taken to the page where I could click on Change date. I played with dates and then it was showing me various availability (mostly nothing, just a few dates in February and 24 December) until now when I was able to find a date, click on it or rather touch it and it let me proceed.

        • BJ says:

          24 Feb24 February 18:01

          @Meta, how far in advance of 365 days were you able to book?

        • meta says:

          24 Feb24 February 18:26

          @BJ To the end of schedule I think. It was showing me 11 Feb 2022 as available.

        • BJ says:

          24 Feb24 February 21:21

          Thanks @Meta, I have one I would like to move. I’ve been quite relaxed about it, figure that BA will prefer to retain the cash and have me on their own metal at my pleasure as opposed to losing both the cash and avios to one of their partners which would otherwise happen.

  • TJ says:

    24 Feb24 February 19:07

    I’ve also successfully managed to move 2 cancelled flights online – booked as part of the 50% redemption offer – way beyond the 365 validity period. New ticket numbers have been generated. The only thing I don’t know is if BA will try to apply the additional 50% Avios at some stage in the future. Hopefully not.

    • meta says:

      24 Feb24 February 19:20

      They won’t and can’t legally. I will take them to MCOL for the Avios value if that’s becomes an issue. They should have notified about any extra charges during rebooking process and they haven’t. I also have UK261 to fall back on.

      • TJ says:

        24 Feb24 February 19:30

        That’s my take on it too. Really daft that BA CS refuse to budge on the 365 issue when you call them (in most cases) and yet their IT system is happy to oblige!

    • Mouse says:

      24 Feb24 February 20:04

      TJ, did you also use the app or was it the website?

      • TJ says:

        24 Feb24 February 20:54

        I just used the website…a lot less squinting!

        • BJ says:

          24 Feb24 February 21:44

          @TJ, how did you get it to show you more than 365 days in advance please? I just had a look and the last date I can see is 13/2/22.

        • meta says:

          24 Feb24 February 22:34

          @BJ Hm, maybe it’s actually end of schedule for award bookings, 355 days out.

        • BJ says:

          24 Feb24 February 22:43

          Yes, I think when TJ states more than 365 s/he is referring to the original ticket date, not from today as I first thought.

• MKB says:

  24 Feb24 February 15:54

  I have just received a somewhat unprofessional email from The Langley — much underlining, not signed by an individual, inaccurate rationale — but essentially telling me that they are not re-opening until 17 May and all reservations before then will be cancelled if not re-scheduled by Sunday. Daresay this will affect a few on here.

  • A says:

    24 Feb24 February 16:10

    Received the same email. Replied expeditiously in the hope of finding other points availability…

  • Harry T says:

    24 Feb24 February 16:18

    The Langley are not very obliging at rebooking points stays without paying a difference. To be honest, I find this a little poor for a hotel of their purported calibre. Conversely, whether points or cash bookings (often deeply discounted healthcare rates), I’ve found every W hotel to have excellent customer service and they won’t hesitate to move my stays whilst retaining the rate.

    • MKB says:

      24 Feb24 February 16:30

      I have now had a first reply from Gosia Gortych, the Reservations Manager, confirming your assessment.

      Even if I move my Off-Peak reservation to another Off-Peak date later in the year, they will not honour the 10% discount that applied to Rewards bookings when I made it.

      Definitely, starting to feel like a hotel to avoid sadly.

      • MKB says:

        24 Feb24 February 18:33

        I’ve now moved my reservation to another off-peak date and been charged the extra 4,000 points. I’m going to raise a complaint with Marriott but I won’t hold my breath.

        Although marriott.com is showing Rewards availability at The Langley only until 16 October, the Reservations Manager helpfully told me:

        “I have access to the inventory up to the 14th of February 2022 and I can see the following “off-peak” dates:

        Wednesday, the 20th of October 2021
        Wednesday, the 3rd of November 2021
        Wednesday, the 10th of November 2021
        Wednesday, the 17th of November 2021
        Tuesday, the 1st of February 2022

        All the remaining dates are at 50,000 or 60,000 points.”

        That might help others.

      • kitten says:

        24 Feb24 February 23:28

        stinky.

        not a classy hotel then.

        • Lady London says:

          24 Feb24 February 23:38

          Does The Langley have any idea how a hotel of the level The Langley claims it is, would normally be expected to treat its booked guests in these circumstances? Applying any difference in rate to bookings moved when it is the hotel who is cancelling, is just tacky. Perhaps with the exception of of Christmas week to New Year.

          Does The Langley only want to provide a decent level of service when they have Leonardo di Caprio stsying to make a Fiat commercial, and the rest of the time they want to be a holiday cottage?

        • Crafty says:

          1 Mar1 March 11:24

          Agreed. It’s been on my avoid list for a couple of months now.

    • Anna says:

      24 Feb24 February 16:53

      Yes, they will make you pay the extra points. When I checked last week there were still a handful of May/June dates at 36k points. My stay is early June so hoping we make it this time!

      • TGLoyalty says:

        24 Feb24 February 21:33

        The 10% off offer ended 21/2/21 so they are back to 40k until March 3rd when it’ll go up a category.

        • Russ says:

          24 Feb24 February 22:35

          Thank you for the reminder TG, I miss the site’s ‘offers ending soon’ round ups.

        • Rob says:

          25 Feb25 February 08:21

          It still exists – we update it for internal use. It will be back as soon as travelling restarts.

    • NC says:

      25 Feb25 February 04:41

      After 4 stays there my view is that the Langley is a beautiful hotel, let down by a staff of school children who have no idea how a hotel should be run, let along a luxury hotel.

• Baji Nahid says:

  24 Feb24 February 15:59

  Is the nectar website working for folk on their desktop browsers? Everytime i go on, i keep getting the message “OOPS WE ‘RE HAVING TROUBLE” in both the nectar points widget and also the offers widget.

  I’ve tried chrome,FF and IE to no avail

  • avstar says:

    24 Feb24 February 18:44

    cookie problem. clear your cache empty the cookies and should be working after

• Mouse says:

  24 Feb24 February 16:02

  Does anyone know whether it’s legal to record a call with BA customer services? Would I need to inform the agent I was doing it, or ask their permission? Would it be admissible as evidence in court?

  • Tom says:

    24 Feb24 February 16:10

    It is legal to record the phone call. It should be permissible by the court but ultimately up to the judge.

    • Tom says:

      24 Feb24 February 16:11

      And you do not need to seek their permission to do so.

  • Aston100 says:

    24 Feb24 February 16:12

    You can tell them you are recording the call.
    All companies seem to have a recorded announcement advising you the call is being recorded ‘for staff training purposes’ or something, so I’m sure you’ll be fine to reciprocate.

  • Anna says:

    24 Feb24 February 16:13

    Perfectly legal. don’t forget what’s admissible (or otherwise) in a civil court – which presumably is your intention! – is very different to what’s admissible for a criminal hearing.

    • memesweeper says:

      24 Feb24 February 18:03

      If the on-hold message tells you the call is recorded, then you can assume the agent knows the call is recorded. Keeping your own copy as well is fine.

  • Mouse says:

    24 Feb24 February 18:56

    Thank-you for all the input Tom, Aston100, Anna & memesweeper.

• Charlie says:

  24 Feb24 February 16:22

  Could anyone help me understand something. My sainsburys credit card says
  Nectar points earned this month 553
  Loyalty points transferred 115
  The Loyalty points have registered in my nectar account but I don’t really understand what these are or how they are earned over Nectar points?
  Thankyou

  • AJA says:

    24 Feb24 February 17:00

    I don’t have a Sainsbury’s credit card. What description does the 115 points have in your nectar account? Does it say loyalty points? Is it possibly the nectar points earned on the previous statement transferring in arrears? Also have the 553 points transferred (I’m guessing not) or could it be bonus nectar points as you get more for having the credit card.

    • Charlie says:

      24 Feb24 February 17:22

      Description reads,
      Sainsburys bank
      Bank- Credit card 115
      On my credit card statement it simply says
      Nectar points earned 553
      Bonus nectar earned 0
      Total points 553
      Loyalty points transferred 115

      Definitely not points from a previous month.
      Maybe ill call them tomorrow and ask, thanks for the reply

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