The HfP chat thread – Sunday 16th May

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747_Brat says:

16 May16 May 03:36

Where can I find the third party authorisation form to submit to Amex, so that I can discuss player 2’s account on her behalf?
- Sina says:
  
  16 May16 May 05:09
  
  https://www.americanexpress.com/content/dam/amex/en-gb/resources/disclosure-form/third-party-disclosureform.pdf
  - Harrier25 says:
    
    16 May16 May 07:56
    
    Thank you. That is the form that should generate many more MR points for me, on behalf of my wife!
  - Lol says:
    
    16 May16 May 08:41
    
    Brilliant! No longer will I need to cajole my reluctant player 2 wife into phoning when a problem occurs. A couple of weeks ago quite a few regulars on here complained about the disinterest of their OH. Anyone know of similar links for other rewards and points providers?
    - Genghis says:
      
      16 May16 May 08:42
      
      BAEC one is v useful
      - Lol says:
        
        16 May16 May 09:45
        
        Thanks Genghis. Just got nominated to manage my wife’s BAEC account.
    - Polly says:
      
      16 May16 May 10:20
      
      Plus, you can cancel on chat, so she doesn’t even have to phone in for that…. useful. Best form ever.
  - 747_Brat says:
    
    16 May16 May 11:41
    
    Thanks Sina.
    Is it possible to upload it somewhere or send it electronically, rather than the snail mail address listed on the form?
    - Aston100 says:
      
      16 May16 May 12:03
      
      Go to the document upload centre on your Amex online account
      At the bottom of the screen, under Important Links, click on ‘form & document centre’.
      At the top of the page, click on ‘login and upload’.
      
      They will accept a photo or scan of the signed form. Make sure you’ve filled it in correctly, including both player signatures and a suitable phone password.
      
      Bear in mind, Amex will still want to authenticate Player 2 and hear the request from them if the subject matter is card cancellation. Once authenticated, Amex will allow Player 1 to then takeover the request for cancellation and any bargaining that takes place.
      - 747_Brat says:
        
        16 May16 May 12:52
        
        Thanks Aston
Laura says:

16 May16 May 04:31

Atlantic Airways are relaunching their summer direct flights to the Faroe Islands in June, so a new opportunity to travel to a green list country that isn’t Portugal.

Just a bit confusing what the pre-travel and arrival quarantine procedures are, especially for vaccinated travellers.

Atlantic Airways says one thing, but to confirm on the government website. Government website says a second thing but says they follow the rules of Denmark. The Danish government website says a third thing which is completely different.

My sort of understanding is that fully vaccinated travellers need a free test on arrival and are recommended to get a second free test on day 4. Just not clear if a test is needed before travel too.
- bafan says:
  
  16 May16 May 04:35
  
  Oh nice spot, Laura! That’s been on my list too, ever since I did a Tokyo B2B in CPH and saw a Atlantic Airways plane at a gate.
- Rich says:
  
  16 May16 May 08:50
  
  My take would be that the Faeroe Islands Gov advice trumps everything else, but that doesn’t help you if the check-in agent is following out of date rules!
Craig says:

16 May16 May 05:50

Contacted Virgin to check on my Credit Card voucher issued last year. Was surprised to find I have TWO vouchers showing on my account, one expiring Feb 23 and one Jun 23? Has anyone else experienced this?
- Amy carpenter says:
  
  16 May16 May 06:17
  
  Yes. They are woeful at letting you know and you only seem to find out if you bother to check your state run where you’ll see one line relating to it. I suspected I had one but found I had two, I was amazed. Using them is proving to be a headache. I can’t seem to get how to use them stuck in my head, think I’m confusing it with avios half the time.
  - Amy carpenter says:
    
    16 May16 May 06:18
    
    Statement that should say.
  - Craig says:
    
    16 May16 May 06:29
    
    I think because there are various options rather than a straight companion voucher. With the recent Amex MR referral and retention bonuses I should have enough for a Upper return somewhere if I can find availability.
  - egold says:
    
    16 May16 May 08:01
    
    I just redeemed a voucher for an Upgrade for 2 people 1 way.
    will be my first time experiencing Upper class.
    It took ages for them to answer the phone but once i was through, the whole process was very straight forward.
  - Travel Strong says:
    
    16 May16 May 10:44
    
    @Amy re: using them. I just think of it as a “2 for 1.5 if booking upper” voucher rather than a 241. Or a “2 legs upgraded from eco to premium” voucher. Other than that, just need to find dates with reward tix availability. (Yes, there are other uses of the voucher, but these are the common ones).
- Stuart says:
  
  16 May16 May 06:44
  
  I had that a while ago as well. I thought I had 1 but they said I had 3 – a welcome surprise!
- Jonathan says:
  
  16 May16 May 07:07
  
  I was told that when you’ve reached the £10k/20k spend to trigger the voucher, you get emailed, telling you about the voucher you’ve just earned. I didn’t get one (or don’t recall) such an email with the upgrade only voucher that was issued September-October last year for the plus cards only
  - The Original Nick says:
    
    16 May16 May 07:49
    
    I never received an email. I had to just look on my account to find it.
    - Craig says:
      
      16 May16 May 08:18
      
      I’m assuming that’s the credit card account, I can’t find it anywhere in the Virgin Flying Club account?
      - JohnT says:
        
        16 May16 May 08:45
        
        No, it is one line on your flying club transactions at 0 points. “You have qualified…”
      - The Original Nick says:
        
        16 May16 May 08:45
        
        Go to your Virgin Atlantic account flying club account /App and click on Overview then My Activity and then you should see ‘ You have qualified for a credit card reward voucher’
      - Craig says:
        
        16 May16 May 08:54
        
        Thanks. I have 2 lines, one showing ‘Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card – Reward Qualification’ and You’ve spent £10,000 on your credit card – call to redeem your Reward’. That explains two vouchers but I only held the card for a year so not sure what happened?
AndyW says:

16 May16 May 07:41

Anyone have experience of moving virgin reward flights after a cancellation – Virgin have moved some flights I have to LA in May by a day, didn’t call it a cancellation though it clearly is. Was hoping this would hoped as I actually want to move to October anyway, but no upper availability. Just interested if I am in for a battle, in theory I shouldn’t be I know.
- The Streets says:
  
  16 May16 May 07:53
  
  Yeap it happened to me for a flight to Hong Kong just before Christmas. I rang up and said the new date (a day later) didn’t work. I then had the option to freeze the flight i.e. ring back with a new date when I was ready or to cancel and get my points and money back
  - AndyW says:
    
    16 May16 May 08:46
    
    Cool thanks, will call Monday and hopefully won’t have to battle
    - Jonathan says:
      
      16 May16 May 14:07
      
      They insisted on reward availability for my Cape Town flights. Booked for January but cancelled. Could have any date until end April but beyond that redemption seats only. As it happened there was something that worked in December so just took that in the end but did try for January’22 with a couple of agents with no success.
egold says:

16 May16 May 08:03

is there officially an option of downgrading the Virgin credit card to the free one?
Virgin very kindly sent me an email to expect the annual charge in June. they clearly state that to avoid the charge you need to cancel the card and wait 6 months to reapply
- Jonathan says:
  
  16 May16 May 10:25
  
  There’s no way to officially downgrade, other than cancelling the card, waiting 6 months and hope that they won’t offer a stingy credit limit when you return for the free card!
- Sandgrounder says:
  
  16 May16 May 10:37
  
  You can try applying for the free card while you still hold the other one, it worked for me. Credit limit was quite a bit lower than the paid card though.
  - Travel Strong says:
    
    16 May16 May 10:47
    
    This generally works everytime with virgin money if you just use a different email address! Thats the limit of their IT.
    - Jonathan says:
      
      16 May16 May 12:53
      
      How easy it to change the email address they have on record for an individual?
      
      I might try this tactic since I’ve got a premium card I’ll be cancelling in September, and I’ve also got a couple of email accounts I can’t remember the email’s address! but I should be able to access without too much difficulty
- Travel Strong says:
  
  16 May16 May 10:49
  
  You can apply after cancellation without waiting 6 months, and if you are rejected then appeal in writing explaining the circumstances.
egold says:

16 May16 May 08:08

I’m desperately looking for car rental 25-27th May from Heathrow. can’t seem to find anything for less that £100.
I’ve got the Amex £50 off £200 on my gold and also have a platinum card.
booking via BA-Avis will give me a free additional driver which i need.
Booking via Amex travel with Amex gold will give me £50 back once I spend £200
really not sure how to proceed.
I don’t understand the Hertz Australia thing – if it still exists
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  16 May16 May 08:50
  
  Surely how to precede is to compare the BA quote and the equivalent with an additional driver via Amex travel is the £50 off actually a real saving or not?
- John says:
  
  16 May16 May 09:09
  
  Start a fresh instance of your browser, go to Hertz.com and change your country to Australia then search as normal
  - egold says:
    
    16 May16 May 11:18
    
    it’s outrageously expensive
    - Rob says:
      
      16 May16 May 13:35
      
      Hertz Oz with Amex Plat discount code (assuming you have it, as the code strips the insurance) is usually best. That said I have been looking for half term and the deals are not there.
- Aristeides says:
  
  16 May16 May 10:19
  
  Use Autoslash.com. Make sure you have Hertz Gold Plus (via Amex Plat) for free second driver.
- Andrew says:
  
  16 May16 May 11:38
  
  £100 for a 3 day hire is an utter bargain at the moment.
  
  The hire companies slashed their fleets during Covid and they are stuffed with the manufacturer’s chip issue the same as everyone else.
Saiz says:

16 May16 May 08:15

I have the Amex Gold Card for 5 months. Do I need the Priority Pass card to avail the two airport lounge visits as I haven’t received it.
- Andrew says:
  
  16 May16 May 08:17
  
  You do yes. Call them up to chase.
Wally1976 says:

16 May16 May 08:16

Recently downgraded my BAPP card to the free version and received a letter yesterday from Amex saying that they couldn’t transfer my Avios as the name on my BAEC account doesn’t match the name on my Amex account. Very strange as nothing has changed on either account (apart from the fact that I downward the Amex card).

Anyone else had this? Hoping a quick call to Amex will sort it out but concerned i might end up going round in circles.
- Genghis says:
  
  16 May16 May 08:45
  
  I had it recently with wife’s BAPP. Full name needs to match now, including middle name. I changed name on BAEC by submitting passport scan, told Amex to link again and then a couple of weeks later it linked.
  - Nigel says:
    
    16 May16 May 08:55
    
    I’m in the same boat. Thanks Genghis – that’s useful!
  - Wally1976 says:
    
    16 May16 May 09:55
    
    Ah, I did notice when I checked my BAEC account that it didn’t include my middle name. Thanks Genghis
    - Polly says:
      
      16 May16 May 10:27
      
      Every single digit has to now match. Same thing Friday setting up a new transfer for relative to baec from plat. Best leave out middle names when at registration methinks.