The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 24th March

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• Ryan says:

  24 Mar24 March 15:27

  I’ve had many many times my monthly bill in from Airtime, it simply gets carried forward for your next bill/s

  Once I built up over £100 and they allowed me to take a bank transfer which was very very nice…

• Lee says:

  24 Mar24 March 15:34

  @ANNA
  Points from CC just landed on my IHG account, still no luck with 25k bonus for Spire

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    24 Mar24 March 15:47

    @Lee:
    You have spent 55k on the ihg card this year?

    • Lee says:

      24 Mar24 March 15:58

      No, but 25k bonus for Spire were showing on my OH’s account today. Also see comments from first page.

    • Grant says:

      24 Mar24 March 16:00

      2 points per £ spent on the Premium card

  • Anna says:

    24 Mar24 March 16:09

    Thanks – so do we think this is on top of qualifying for Spire this year, which I should hit next month? Nothing extra showing on mine or my OH’s account which is very annoying as IHG has basically legged up both over with the bonus Ambassador free night certificate offer from last autumn!

    • Secret Squirrel says:

      24 Mar24 March 17:21

      Anna: I hit spire in Feb, claimed the 25k bonus. Just checked my account and no additional 25k bonus.

    • Lyn says:

      24 Mar24 March 21:11

      Anna, this 25K seems to be the bonus that IHG promised when they extended Spire status from last year for people who hadn’t otherwise qualified.

      As far as I know only the UK and the US offer IHG credit cards so people in many countries had no way to qualify last year with limited travel, and this is presumably aimed at keeping those Spire members loyal to IHG.

• Rob says:

  24 Mar24 March 15:52

  Any help appreciated:

  When booking ANA redemptions using VS miles, the agent has informed me that it is possible to book open jaw.

  Would this include a routing such as:

  FRA – HND
  HND – BKK

  Desperately hoping this is the case but don’t know what the routing rules are. I was informed for example that I could ‘return’ to the USA as my inbound.

  Thanks

  • @mkcol says:

    24 Mar24 March 17:26

    Couldn’t the agent tell you?

  • memesweeper says:

    24 Mar24 March 18:13

    Ppen jaw has an IATA definition, which your proposed routing would not meet. Both the flown legs must be longer than the ‘gap’ between the origin and final destination IIRC.

  • ChrisC says:

    24 Mar24 March 19:31

    FRA – HND then HND – BKK isn’t an open jaw

    An Open Jaw would be something like FRA-HND then e.g. BKK-FRA where you make other arrangements to get between HND-BKK

    If you say what routing you want to try and do you’ll get better advice. And avoid using terms like ‘open jaw’ if you aren’t clear what it actually means.

  • kitten says:

    24 Mar24 March 20:08

    that is actually a one way from FRA to BKK which just happens to route via HND as that’s ANA hub.

    As @memesweeper says you could make the return leg BKK to USA but that would only work if the gap (distance) between FRA and your USA destination is less than both FRA-BKK and BKK-your USA destination.

    However there are other obscure rules (IATA) that mean mileage may actually count too in which case ANA’s particular situation routing via their hub making this one a particularly high mileage route might also begin to matter.

    My head hurts. I think I’ll go and lie down now as this is getting obscure even for frequent flyers.

• James says:

  24 Mar24 March 16:11

  Sure someone has discussed this already, but couldn’t find it!
  I have several canceled BA flights over the next few months. I know these can be changed to same route for a future date. But does this change have to be made BEFORE the originally booked outbound flight?
  Or can you let that pass and amend the ticket to a new flight later?

  • Jonathan says:

    24 Mar24 March 16:49

    If you want to change yourself through MMB then it needs to be before date of flight. Advantages are that some people are managing to go beyond the usual 12 months from ticketing date window. It won’t work if you have anything other than a simple return flight (ie. no connections, open-jaw, upgrades etc).

    If you’re happy to deal with rebooking over the phone & go along with BA’s restrictions or you just want a refund then that doesn’t have to be done before the flight date although I’d be careful here if your outbound flight is running & it’s only return leg that is cancelled.

• Craig says:

  24 Mar24 March 16:16

  Booked a return in F this morning from Singapore using full Avios. Phoned You First just now, answered almost immediately, companion voucher that I used for the outbound applied and half the Avios back in my account within minutes.

  • Mike says:

    24 Mar24 March 16:32

    Any indication of when BA might use the new CW seats for Singapore? The current J/F seats are gross.

    • Craig says:

      24 Mar24 March 16:34

      Who knows right now, just hoping to get travelling again. Hopefully a few days in Singapore followed by a fortnight in Bali.

      • Aston100 says:

        24 Mar24 March 16:41

        Is that the best and/or most economical way of getting to Bali using Avios and a companion voucher?
        Is Hongkong any better since presumably you can use avios on Cathay HKG > DPS?
        Or did you prefer to use a LCC from SIN?

        • TicknBash says:

          24 Mar24 March 16:54

          Worth noting that HKG is cheaper in avios and taxes compared to SIN and its harder to get a OneWord flight out of SIN – unless you route via KUL for MAS.

          Otherwise Air Asia for the short hop but Air Asia you can kiss flexibility and refunds goodbye should there’s any changes to your plans.

        • Craig says:

          24 Mar24 March 17:02

          Happy with LCC from SIN, it’s only a short flight. It was the best way of using my 241 I think and gives me other options nearer the time if needs be. I know HKG would be cheaper booking two singles, I’ll leave that for another day. It certainly used a stash of Avios but they are just sat there waiting to be used. Bali also gives me the option of booking Hilton and IHG using points allowing me to cancel easily if we aren’t in a better place next year.

      • KBuffett says:

        24 Mar24 March 17:33

        What month have you booked this for?

        • Craig says:

          24 Mar24 March 17:45

          Feb/Mar next year.

        • Tom1 says:

          24 Mar24 March 20:30

          Craig – if you have Amex plat, don’t forget the Shagri-la jade and SQ route to Star Alliance gold (infinite journeys) before they pull the Shangri-La benefits.
          Needs 3 SQ flights within 90 days, but using SQ for the SIN-DPS return is two (and not that diff in price to the LCC), and you could even route your return SIN-HKG (sq) and then HKG-LHR (ba) as an open jaw return. The lower taxes from HKG would prob pay for the extra SIN-HKG flight on SQ to complete the offer. Plus you can use the Cathay lounge at HKG!!

  • Aston100 says:

    24 Mar24 March 20:40

    Hi Craig, Bali (and Yogyakarta) are on my list of places to visit in the next year or two.
    I’d be interested in knowing which IHG property you end up booking and what helped you decide.
    I can see a number of decent options covering all budgets, and the new Kimpton looks interesting.

    • Craig says:

      24 Mar24 March 21:02

      Thanks Tom, already have Silver for seat selection using this method which has been extended so I think too late for Gold? Aston100, I’ve only been once before and stayed at the IC which we absolutely loved, lots of discussions on FT about the various. Trying the Conrad for 10 nights this time and then the IC for 6. Mostly because I have enough Hilton points for the 10 nights and Diamond should bring some decent benefits.

      • Anuj says:

        24 Mar24 March 22:28

        I think you’re allowed 3 months to carry it out, it might be worth emailing them and asking for an extension due to covid? I did it in December 2019. Doesn’t matter what fare class apart from group discount class fares.

  • Magarathea says:

    24 Mar24 March 23:42

    Were there any service fees charged for this transaction ie phone fee or booking change fee? I will be doing the same thing in a couple of weeks.

    • Magarathea says:

      24 Mar24 March 23:45

      This related to the Craig comment above about full fare Avois tickets to Singapore.

      • Craig says:

        25 Mar25 March 05:39

        No fee because it’s something you can’t do online.

        • Magarathea says:

          25 Mar25 March 08:34

          Thanks Craig.

• Stagger Lee says:

  24 Mar24 March 16:25

  Has anyone got any experience with an Accor credit voucher?
  I booked a hotel for Rammstein in Coventry which has been shifted again to 2022. The cheeky hotel only offered non refundable room rates but the current Accor policy allows you to shift such a booking to a future date, which I can’t do as it only books a year in advance.

  The other option is voucher for a stay in the same hotel up to 18 months from its issue.

  What I’d like to know is, can you book online with the voucher as that would probably be the quickest option to rebook.

  Also, are they strict on the ‘use at the same hotel’ policy?
  Cheers

  • Bill says:

    24 Mar24 March 21:35

    I think the website allows more than 12 months in advance

    • Stagger Lee says:

      25 Mar25 March 10:22

      I’ll keep an eye out for that. Cheers

• rams1981 says:

  24 Mar24 March 16:28

  Airtime/Virgin – has anyone used curve at Morrisons and had it track at both places?

  • Jonathan says:

    24 Mar24 March 16:53

    It won’t give you credit for curve & the underlying card. Tbh I’d leave Curve out of this as higher potential it won’t track at all plus you would lose the 10% Virgin money back if you have it.

    • rams1981 says:

      24 Mar24 March 18:29

      Underlying card doesn’t have an offer, I just did’n have it on me whereas had my curve. Hope it tracks (has worked for Greggs before for example)

• Red Flyer says:

  24 Mar24 March 16:48

  IHG question – I will hit 55k points next month when I intend to meet Spire threshold. I also want to buy Ambassador for 40k points. Do I need to wait to do both or is it cumulative and I can buy Ambassador now and will hit Spire next month as 55k YTD points but just 15k as balance at that date?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    24 Mar24 March 16:54

    your ‘status points’ continue increasing across the year independently of any redemptions (I think that’s what you are asking?)

    • Red Flyer says:

      24 Mar24 March 16:57

      Perfect – thanks. 😎

      • kitten says:

        24 Mar24 March 19:12

        Be very, very careful with Accor @Stagger. Is there any way you can take a refund and come back to book next year?

        If your booking type excludes refunds then I would strongly suggest you try to work out something directly with the hotel (get it in writing as staff change) and not rely on any Accor scheme.

        • kitten says:

          24 Mar24 March 19:15

          *Above for @Stagger Lee about his Rammstein cancellation.

          Puxxled why is Wordpress getting actually worse on mislocating replies.

        • Stagger Lee says:

          24 Mar24 March 20:03

          Cheers. Sadly it was a non refundable rate. The gig was supposed to be in 2020 and I was booked in on a refundable rate. The gig was rescheduled to this year more than a year in advance so when the rooms went to on sale again they jacked the priced up and only offered non refundable rates. Very naughty Indeed.
          The hotel can’t do anything at the moment as their system hasn’t got June 2022 available yet.
          Guess I’ll just have to hang fire and get the room switch when they are available.

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