The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 28th April

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• Anna says:

  28 Apr28 April 12:13

  LL, meta and others who responded to my post about easyJet moving my departure time by 7 hours – I’ve gone into the booking and it does look as though I can change these flights to any airport and date and not be charged a change fee per se. Some days there is zero charge, some a few £ extra to pay which I am guessing reflects a difference in pricing. Given that there seem to be a fair few £0 options available, I’m thinking this might be an acceptable alternative to trying to get a refund out of the airline (though they have been faultless with giving previous refunds on cancelled flights, IME).

  • Joe says:

    28 Apr28 April 12:20

    New Easyjet policy today – any flight can be changed on these conditions (all bookings up to Sep 2021).

    https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/easyjet-flights-holiday-passengers-change-b1838808.html

    • Anna says:

      28 Apr28 April 12:35

      I can’t keep up with all the different airline policies! This is great though, as I can travel another time.
      I’ve also noticed that easyJet are selling flights for most of 2022 now – I know this is booking far ahead even for HFPers, but the prices are very low, e.g. £70 return to PMI in August (I know you have to factor in all the add-ons but this is still pretty good for this time of year!
      Might book a late summer trip for the family before the teenager starts college next year, will help with the Platinum sign up also!
      On a less happy note, EJ seems to have dropped MAN-VIE altogether.

      • Anna says:

        28 Apr28 April 13:02

        Taken the plunge and booked OPO for the last 2 weeks in August next year, £160 each with leg room seats and hold luggage! Road trip to Vigo and back, hopefully.

        • meta says:

          28 Apr28 April 14:22

          Great news! You could also try IC Porto (stunning!) and also Six Senses Douro Valley should be bookable on points by then hopefully.

        • Anna says:

          28 Apr28 April 14:32

          I’m considering it, @meta but the teenager will be with us and it will be completely wasted on him. Might wait until it’s just the 2 of us again! Fancy IC Porto, though.

        • Michael C says:

          28 Apr28 April 16:02

          Anna, the fiestas in Viana do Castelo 18-20 Aug. are lovely!

      • Aston100 says:

        28 Apr28 April 13:03

        “On a less happy note, EJ seems to have dropped MAN-VIE altogether.”

        It means nothing to me.

        • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

          28 Apr28 April 13:08

          Classic Aston 🙂

        • Genghis says:

          28 Apr28 April 13:24

          Exactly. I didn’t realise why European Cargo Services BV would be of interest. U2 perhaps?

        • Anna says:

          28 Apr28 April 14:33

          Impressive for a young ‘un 🤣

    • r* says:

      28 Apr28 April 15:44

      Currently cancelled flights can be moved to any date for free, does this policy change put that at risk?

  • Lady London says:

    28 Apr28 April 13:17

    Yes they have had this policy for a long time.

    However note it does not include the full refund which EU261 entitles you to.

    Nor do they inform you of your full right to be rerouted on alternative flights, even someone else’s, if you still really need to travel as close as possible to the original departure time, also accorded you by EU261.

    So this policy is not really giving you your full rights and is also not informing you of those full rights – which IIRC they are supposed to do.

    Those full rights supersede any practice, choice, rules, terms and conditions, inabilities of the airline. They must provide them if they’re there in EU261 and you want them.

    I personally find on a weekend away to shift from a morning or even lunchtime flight, to arrive late evening in a lovely destination where I would have activiites during the Friday, for only a weekend break to be unacceptable. Though I do understand Easyjet would move to the evening, perhaps figuring more people could get out of work to make the evening flight so they might have a better chance of getting more of the plane filled by shifting it to the evening for this destination.

    I simply would not accept such a move on a Friday for a weekend break. However if you’re happy to switch to another flight at another time, this is what Easyjet is hoping you will do and it’s definitely going to be more frictionless.

    I’d be looking if BA or AF/KL could get me there for my original landing time. with MAN though, there may not be any realistic alternatives to preserve your original departure time even on other airlines.

    I hope you have a lovely weekend whichever you choose.

    • Anna says:

      28 Apr28 April 14:28

      Thanks LL – it has got more complicated now if you see my later comment!

• Definitas says:

  28 Apr28 April 13:43

  Somebody recently posted a recommendation for a hotel in Key Largo but a search has not revealed it. Please can anyone help? Thanks

  • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

    28 Apr28 April 13:51

    Found this (randomly) in a Qatar Airways article comments on March 7th when @Qwertyknowsbest said “Look at the Hilton Curio on Key Largo, good kid friendly beach.” Was that what you may have seen?

  • Anna says:

    28 Apr28 April 14:30

    We’ve booked 5 nights for four of us at the Curio Barker’s Cay resort in Key Largo in August. 60k points pn night v $500 cash, so a bit of a no brainer. It looks lovely but I’m not getting my hopes up until travel to the US is decided one way or another!

    • Anna says:

      28 Apr28 April 14:34

      I’ve even got the email for reservations so let me know if you end up booking it!

      • Jayne says:

        28 Apr28 April 15:16

        Why?

        • Anna says:

          28 Apr28 April 16:17

          Is that specific to one of the above posts, “Jayne”, or are you just channeling a little mid-week existentialism?

• The Savage Squirrel says:

  28 Apr28 April 13:58

  I think it was Anna and Baker’s Kay (Curio) but may have made that up entirely in my imagination :D.

  • The Savage Squirrel says:

    28 Apr28 April 13:58

    reply to Definitas

• Aston100 says:

  28 Apr28 April 13:59

  Hotel bookings (made in mid 2019) for summer 2020 were moved by the hotels to 2021 in lieu of refunds, as the countries in question were not open for tourism and the rates were non refundable.
  Those countries are likely to remain closed to UK tourists this summer.
  The hotels are offering the opportunity to push back a further year to summer 2022.

  I contacted my card company (not Amex) and started an s75.
  The card company has responded with:
  “Both merchants re-arranged the bookings from 2020 at your request and they are both being honoured in August 2021. The service is still available and both have confirmed that they are going ahead.

  The services purchased were for a stay at both hotels, which did not include flights. The responsibility to reach the destination lies with you as the traveller and neither merchant are responsible for your travel arrangements, individual travel requirements nor any travel restrictions you may experience, including those imposed by individual governments or territories.”

  Not sure whether to simply accept this or try to argue again that the countries are not letting tourists in (I did explain this when filing the s75) regardless of ability to fly there.
  It seems the hotels in question are open for domestic tourism and this may have clouded matters.

  Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia if that helps.

  Any thoughts please?

  • Genghis says:

    28 Apr28 April 14:06

    The question is whether the hotels were open for business in summer 2020 and able to deliver on the contract.

    If not, clear failure to deliver on the contract and credit provider joint and severally liable for the merchant’s failure to deliver on that contract under S75.

    If they were open, it’s not their fault you weren’t allowed into the country so be happy with them moving the dates.

    • Aston100 says:

      28 Apr28 April 14:30

      Surely that is madness.
      What is to prevent a hotel from denying refunds by just pretending they were open and would have gladly provided you with services had you been able to somehow (illegally?) bypass the closure of their country and bypass the lack of direct flights?

      • Genghis says:

        28 Apr28 April 14:42

        You’ve made a non-refundable booking. If the hotel was open, they’re holding up their end of the bargain. The fact that you couldn’t get into the country doesn’t result in their breach of contract.

        • Joe says:

          28 Apr28 April 14:58

          It might not be a breach of contract per-se, but you might argue that the contract has been frustrated by Government level restrictions on travel/quarantine? If so, you likely have some recourse and protection under s75, but it will be a messy argument!

        • TGLoyalty says:

          28 Apr28 April 15:08

          @Joe see your point around frustrated contract but If hotels were open and you were unable to travel and hotels won’t refund then that’s what travel insurance is for

    • ChrisC says:

      28 Apr28 April 22:43

      That’s what I was told when I contacted MBNA last year. Just about the first question they asked was was the hotel open and when I confirmed it was they said it wasn’t a matter covered by them. It was a separate booking from the flights.

      Luckily I was eventually refunded by the hotel for some reason I didn’t query too much as it was supposed to be a non refundable booking.

  • Chas says:

    28 Apr28 April 16:48

    This sounds like one for travel insurance.

    • Chas says:

      28 Apr28 April 16:49

      Just seen that TGLoyalty made the same point. Sorry for the duplication.

    • Jonathan says:

      28 Apr28 April 18:32

      I’ve heard of many instances were insurers just say straight away that they won’t pay out if a voucher has been offered, regardless is to whether or not the voucher isn’t worth the piece of paper it’s printed on

      • ChrisC says:

        28 Apr28 April 22:49

        Insurance is about making good on a loss you have incurred.

        If you have a voucher for the same amount as you spent then you haven’t actually lost anything (yes I get people may not be able to travel on a future date but that’s a different issue)

        You are also supposed to mitigate your losses so with many insurers if you claim for a flight they expect you to have claimed fees and taxes back from the airlines and will adjust your claim downwards even if you hadn’t claimed those from the airline be use you haven’t mitigated the loss.

      • Lady London says:

        28 Apr28 April 23:25

        doesn’t stick though. Eurostar tried to enforce vouchers but it didnt stick

  • Lady London says:

    28 Apr28 April 23:21

    Were you refused refunds on the first move ? in other words did hotels deny you refund when they weren’t allowing you to stay and forcing rebooking. Nonrefundable should actually be refunded if the hotel won’t fulfil the booking on their side.

    If so then I would state you were forced into an unwanted move when you asked for a refund and the hotel denied this and forced you to rebook.

    If you actually voluntarily agreed to rebook then I agree with @Genghis. Quite possible they’re lying though about being open, as another poster hints.

    UK laws about frustrated contracts are hard enough to argue in the UK without trying to get this enforced in most of the world where possession is 8/10ths of the law.

• Anna says:

  28 Apr28 April 14:24

  I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy! I’ve just tried to move an easyJet flight from October to May next year – it’s showing a small charge for fare difference which is ok, but there’s no indication whatsoever whether my seat selection etc will be honoured. I paid quite a bit more for row 1 seats plus bigger hand luggage not obviously not happy if these won’t be included in the new booking. Has anyone done this recently?

  • Joe says:

    28 Apr28 April 15:01

    See Condition 9.4: https://www.easyjet.com/en/terms-and-conditions

    • Anna says:

      28 Apr28 April 15:05

      Thanks – so it’s a gamble basically, change to the new flight and hope that the original seat is available?! Think I’ll be trying to get a refund after all.

      • Joe says:

        28 Apr28 April 15:06

        Seems like it – which is useless. I would be tempted to try to ring them first, or try a dummy booking of the new flights and see if the same seats are available for selection (and at what price) – take screenshots!

        • Anna says:

          28 Apr28 April 16:19

          The problem is you can’t do seat & luggage selection on the re-booking until after you’ve confirmed the dates and paid the extra, if applicable. I need to check if you can then change the flight a second time if you can’t get your seat/hand luggage.

      • Lady London says:

        28 Apr28 April 23:29

        Their practice has been to honour a seat selection, luggage etc when you move a cancelled flight – plus I would think it’s the law. Obvs the same seat might not be available. Just call them. From about 12 noon seems best.

• Frequent Flier 999 says:

  28 Apr28 April 15:03

  Not sure if it’s been asked anywhere else, but how long on the Amex Platinum Business card before the 100,000 bonus shows? I seem to remember with other cards there was a little “tracker” when you log in to you account. I’ve only had the card 3 weeks or so (although am about £150 from the spend bonus).

  • Ryan says:

    28 Apr28 April 15:47

    I contacted the agents via the app to keep checking

    My 100k points posted within a day of the payment which hit £10k being cleared

    You only have until Friday to redeem them in for £900!

• 747_Brat says:

  28 Apr28 April 15:04

  First time raising a chargeback dispute for a transaction carried out using Curve. What is the best way to raise a dispute with them – email, call or in-app messages?
  Thanks.

  • Joe says:

    28 Apr28 April 15:43

    Email/online portal – they are normally quick to respond.

    https://support.imaginecurve.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360007232997-How-do-I-raise-a-chargeback-claim-

    • 747_Brat says:

      28 Apr28 April 18:11

      Thank you

• mutley says:

  28 Apr28 April 15:17

  Ditto re wine flyer, also the 2750 from Hackett as well 🙂

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