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The HfP chat thread – Monday 10th May

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Comments (363)

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

  • Rory says:
    10 May10 May 10:33

    Has there been any clarification about orange countries? Am I right in thinking that we’re allowed to travel there, but it’s just strongly recommended we don’t? (Obviously with the understanding of quarantine on return)

    • James says:
      10 May10 May 10:37

      You’re completely free to travel to any country on 17th May onwards.

      But check your destination country will let you in.

    • Jonathan says:
      10 May10 May 10:46

      The government don’t want you travelling there’s unless it’s necessary, but that’s more advice than a law against travel, which we’re still in for the next week

      Needless to say, but for North Ireland, Wales and Scotland, different laws apply

  • 747_Brat says:
    10 May10 May 10:40

    Just received an email from Qatar, They have introduced Hotel & Car Rewards, where you can redeem Qmiles to stay at a hotel or on renting a car. Don’t know of the value per mile, but my guess is it is not going to be great!

    • Jay says:
      10 May10 May 11:05

      I was put off by the line: ‘Planning a staycation in London? Stay at hotels such as Best Western Mornington Hotel’. If that is the best they can team up with in London then sad state of affairs.

  • M says:
    10 May10 May 10:59

    Would I be breaking any IHG membership rules if I’d to put a night at a hotel booked with free night cert on eBay?

    • Rob says:
      10 May10 May 11:10

      The risk is that whoever buys the night can’t check in.

    • ChrisC says:
      10 May10 May 16:00

      The question I would ask is would you buy such a voucher yourself?

      Probbaly not.

      People have had hotel / airline points accounts closed down because of things like this.

      And as Freddy mentions what will you say if they do cause trouble and IHG contacts you about how you know these people and holds you responsible for any bad behaviour and damage.

  • Eric the Half a Bee says:
    10 May10 May 11:00

    Indigo Bath: have a booking for next month – to those that have experience, is the breakfast either:
    A) worth £15 pp
    B) likely to be discounted if I contact the hotel in advance?

    Thanks

    • Benilyn says:
      10 May10 May 11:31

      2 – you will never know unless you ask 🙂

    • Anna says:
      10 May10 May 11:56

      Quite often there’s an offer to add breakfast to a booking and it’s usually about half the price of the “walk up” rate (generally it’s a price per room instead of per person). I sometimes contact the hotel in advance and ask if I can book breakfast at that price if I’m booking a rate (e.g. points) where you can’t add breakfast online. They want yout money so usually say yes rather than risking you then getting breakfast elsewhere. Keep a record of this though, as it can get lost in the system and you may have to prove you’re entitled to the lower price!

      • Anna says:
        10 May10 May 11:58

        Indigo Bath looks to be charging full whack, though, so I’d probably go elsewhere for breakfast!

    • Eric the Half a Bee says:
      10 May10 May 12:05

      Thanks for the feedback guys – I’ll contact the hotel and see what they say. I would be willing to pay full whack if it is an exceptional breakfast though.

      • Peter K says:
        10 May10 May 12:53

        Went last October/Nov and I thought it was a poor show to be honest. There was a small cold buffet and the hot breakfast was 2 small slices of bacon, one slice of toast (!), an egg, a mushroom, a small sausage and half a tomato. Very stingy and not exceptional quality to make up for it.

        They crammed everyone into a tiny area as well, so tight the waitress had difficulty getting between chairs!

        The in room breakfast was much better for the money and enjoyable, though understandably only a toasted sandwich for a hot item.

        • Eric the Half a Bee says:
          10 May10 May 13:53

          Thanks for the review Peter. Doesn’t sound great for the money TBH so may look for brekkie alternatives in the area. It’s a shame as the restaurant looks pretty nice on the website.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            10 May10 May 23:37

            There is decent casual brunch spot about 5 mins down the road from the indigo called Framptons

            Sure there are many other great spots you could get a good spread for £15pp

    • Jonny says:
      10 May10 May 16:27

      Went a few weeks ago, was room service only, didn’t sound bad but was fairly limited (had to choose an option from each of 4 or 5 categories, though no “full english”). So we got from elsewhere (delicious selection of bread/pastries from Bertinet!)

      Assume by the time you go the restaurant will be fully open though so might well have a much better selection. Wasn’t any discount for booking early though so I guess you can just see if you fancy it when you get there!

  • Olivia says:
    10 May10 May 11:26

    Interested to know how many people actually have flown on a flight they booked in the 50% Avios sale last year.

    Our LHR-LAX trip was cancelled due to take place last week, rebooked for October obviously paying the difference in miles. The BA Avios team member we called was excellent (ignoring the fact he kept us on the phone chatting for ages + wait time and the total cost of the call was £64!!! Nice fella so let him off!) and mentioned a lot of people coming across the same thing – cancelled in the sale and having to fork out the rest of the miles.

    Given the sale was last June/July – I can’t imagine may managed to take full advantage of it?

    • Travel Strong says:
      10 May10 May 11:47

      If the airline cancelled and not you, I would have expected to be entitled to rebooking, and not to have to pay the difference in miles. That is certainly my expectation if my Virgin 50% off miles tix get cancelled… but perhaps my expectations are overly ambitious or optimistic?!

      • Ed says:
        10 May10 May 12:22

        BA must’ve done very well from sitting on all those taxes and surcharges over past year or so.

    • Travel Strong says:
      10 May10 May 11:59

      also – wow, I did not realise the cost many operators charge per minute just for 0844 calls! I’ve been charged £16 for a BA call this week without even noticing!

      Is there any reason calling the +44191… number for ‘outside of UK’ wouldn’t work and be fee free?

      • C says:
        10 May10 May 12:56

        I have tried similar work around, and found that the ‘foreign’ number puts me on endless hold. Surprise, surprise, but the 0844 number picks up after a reasonably short hold.

        • Lady London says:
          10 May10 May 18:08

          If 0844 is generally a surcharged number then BA is not allowed to provide it as the way to reach them, to existing customers. They are supposed to provide a local-rate number (eg 01 02 03) or free number readonably prominently for any existing customer that might need it.

          Conceivably you could recover your costs for the call although might need to go via comms Ombudsman (whom I found to be prawns)

    • Joe says:
      10 May10 May 12:29

      Not flown yet. Booked 2 tickets in early Oct 2020 (the 50% off sale was October).

      1. Been moved three times (voluntarily twice, and once after cancellation). Now booked for late Oct 2021.

      2. Cancelled and moved to Apr 2022 (onto peak dates)

      Not paid any additional Avios due to the cancellations.

      • Pete M says:
        10 May10 May 12:44

        Olivia – I am confused here. If BA cancelled, you didn’t need to pay anything extra, they should have moved you for free to a date of your choosing (ostensibly within 12m of ticket issuance, but there are ways around that too). How on earth did you rack up £64 in call charges? BA have a freephone number in the UK or a local one as well?

        • Travel Strong says:
          10 May10 May 12:59

          Re: the phone bill. I also got caught out. BA exec club number is advertised as 0844 and is 7p/min plus my mobile operator charges 45p/min – didn’t even check myself until olivia mentioned the £64 bill! That would be 2hrs on the line with my mobile network. I will use the regional ‘calling from abroad?’ one in future!! Oldest trick in the book and can’t believe I didnt spot it. I wrongly expected 0844/0845 to be within my inclusive minutes.

          • Mike says:
            10 May10 May 13:37

            I always Skype call – with headset on the quality of perfect

          • Olivia says:
            10 May10 May 13:55

            Yes this is how I got caught out. The mobile operator charges did us in. A rookie mistake.

            We took a FTV which included 2for1 voucher and 12m of ticket issue didn’t want to take the risk. We initially thought we were going to use it next summer but option came to go to the Austin GP in Oct and have taken the gamble!

          • Lady London says:
            10 May10 May 18:18

            Just to make it worse, you do know that a big chunk of those excess charges for calls are actually given by the phone networks to the company you’re actually calling?

            Why do you think the phone doesn’t just ring when you phone a company till someone answers your call like it used to? No, the connection is made and billable minutes start right away. Then you spend a time on hold that the company gets all the stats about from the network. Dynamically in real time if they want, such as if it’s a call centre.

            Before surcharged numbers were banned as the only readsonably promiment way for an existing customer to reach a company, I was certain Ryanair knew exactly how long they were keeping customers on hold for and probably making more from phone company ‘termination charges’ (as it’s called) than from flights….

        • Travel Strong says:
          10 May10 May 13:01

          Or maybe not, as comment above implies the local number doesnt pick up!

          • James says:
            10 May10 May 13:05

            A lot of phone systems can see you dialed the intl number when you’re in the UK and don’t allow it. To hide your number for one call, enter 141 before the number you’re calling.

          • Magic Mike says:
            10 May10 May 20:42

            Ofcom are currently consulting on banning revenue share on calls…

        • Lady London says:
          10 May10 May 18:01

          +1 if BA cancelled your booked flight the law says they cannot charge anything more for any seat if you choose to be rebooked rather than refunded.

          It’s a fact. 100% EU261 now incorporated into UK law. Fact.

          This applies to any seat whether booked for 50% avios, bitcoin, 2for1 or other voucher. They cannot charge you one cent more. Not for any reason. Whatever later date you choose to rebook to.

          No it does not have to be rebooked within the original sale offer dates. No jt does not have to be rebooked within 3 days before/14 days after, a wheeze BA often tries. No there does not have to be any avios seat available on your chosen flight. If a seat’s available for cash you get it free if in your cabin.

          If BA still says they can’t fly you or they dont fly that route any more they are responsible for booking you on someone else to get you there.

          This comes up nearly every day here.

          I suggest you call them back and demand your extra avios and any extra cash back. Raise a formal complaint if it’s not agreed to be handed back immediately. Give them 14 days max to give it all back then chase again.

      • John says:
        10 May10 May 13:06

        Did you move this online to go outside the 12 month initial booking date?
        Thanks

        • Olivia says:
          10 May10 May 13:57

          Originally when the flight was cancelled we thought we’d end up using the FTV for a holiday next year (inc 2for1 voucher so wanted that extended too) – however option to go to Austin GP in Oct which actually did fall into the 12m window so lost out.

    • Tariq says:
      10 May10 May 17:08

      Was booked to NYC in June that was cancelled by BA. Refused rebooking by You First due to lack of F availability, so have sent email to BA to demand rebooking for next April. No response yet… 🙂

    • yorkieflyer says:
      10 May10 May 17:15

      yes, SA at Christmas and rescheduled back on Qatar

    • Alan S says:
      10 May10 May 22:20

      Is cancellation (change of flight time/flight number) of the domestic connection on a transatlantic flight enough to count as cancellation of the whole ticket/trip?

      I’m also not sure BA have issued a ticket for the journey yet (due to be in 3 weeks), so when could I get them to rebook us for? Still next April/May (2022)?

  • Yuff says:
    10 May10 May 11:30

    Am I right in thinking an Avios flight from Dubai to LHR, via Doha, at May half term will be cancelled because flights from red list countries are banned?
    I want to re-book for Easter but assume I need to wait until it’s cancelled?

    • meta says:
      10 May10 May 11:46

      Maybe not. It might go ahead for cargo purposes…

      • John says:
        10 May10 May 11:59

        If passengers are not allowed to fly DOH-LHR, then regardless of whether the flight operates for cargo, it will be cancelled for passenger purposes and will entitle you to all the usual rebooking possibilities (and EC261 etc. if applicable).

        • Yuff says:
          10 May10 May 12:20

          John – that’s what I thought.
          Have BA been cancelling flights on Qatar recently?

        • Bob says:
          10 May10 May 13:00

          Since the recent update when Pakistan and 2/3 others were added, there are no longer direct flight bans from red list countries. Permitted passengers can still fly direct from red list countries but have to quarantine of course.

        • Jonathan says:
          10 May10 May 15:34

          Not if the operating carrier is QR.

          Operating not marketing carrier liable for EU261 so ex European carrier flying to U.K. has no rights.

          • Geoff says:
            10 May10 May 16:19

            Bob and Jonathan – interesting points – please clarify. Can Qatar now carry passengers from Doha to London?

  • Dave says:
    10 May10 May 12:06

    Hi all. Quick gold business card question. If one were to be eligible for the card (business, bank a/c etc.), but unlikely to be able to fully hit the targets needed on business spend alone, is it problematic to put some personal spend on the card from amex’s perspective (not from a personal accounting perspective)? I believe it should technically be business spend, but I’m wondering if Amex are really bothered in reality what it’s being used for, or whether it makes any difference? Wouldn’t want to do anything underhand, or rock the boat… Thanks.

    • Rob says:
      10 May10 May 12:10

      In practice Amex don’t care, as shown by the offers on my Business Plat for Sweaty Betty, Holland & Barrett, Urban Outfitters, Mac Cosmetics, Paul and – very unlikely to be visited for business reasons – Agent Provocateur.

    • Matt says:
      10 May10 May 16:09

      I’ve put £6k of “business travel” to Sandals on my Business Plat to meet the bonus spend last year, without a word from Amex. Only one data point, but there’s certainly no automatic system for looking for personal spend.

  • Reeferman says:
    10 May10 May 12:33

    Agent Provocateur. Definitely business use Rob – the oldest profession in the world, surely. 😉

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