The HfP chat thread – Monday 17th May

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

• Connor says:

  17 May17 May 17:52

  Anyone been offered a retention bonus on a business Platinum?

• Alex says:

  17 May17 May 18:03

  Has anyone had any success with getting BA to re-book their flights past the 12 months validity period?

  LHR-JFK flight cancelled in June and ideally we’d like to travel in November now to see family. 12 months is up on in Oct 2020

  • Sharon says:

    17 May17 May 18:28

    Yes, 12 months was up October 2021, rescheduled to April 2022 without a problem by phone

    • Alex says:

      17 May17 May 19:24

      yes i meant Oct 2021 is 12months date.

      I can only move it by 2 weeks online which is extremely unhelpful.

      I’ll give them a call nearer the date then as i know it’s very busy currently

  • John says:

    17 May17 May 19:04

    Have you tried online

  • Memesweeper says:

    17 May17 May 20:02

    Yes — multiples times multiple tickets all Avios. Last one was a real effort as the call centre initially refused. Most have involved at least some escalation, one was done entirely online.

    • MKB says:

      17 May17 May 20:16

      How did you escalate? Transfer on phone to supervisor? Legal letters?

  • Joe says:

    17 May17 May 21:18

    Yes – both online and by the phone – no issues at all.

  • Will says:

    17 May17 May 21:45

    I’ve got an interesting situation with respect to this.

    Had a flight booked, booking made in March 2019 for Dec 2020 with a GGL joker paid avios. In Dec 2020 I rescheduled for March 2020 as dates didn’t suit closer to time. Wouldn’t let me extend past 365 from booking as expected.

    Broke collar bone and had to have surgery in feb 2020, phoned BA to cancel as doctor advised against travel and BA encouraged me to not cancel but to put the booking on hold.

    Disappeared from MMB and exec login.

    Then of course covid happened, phone lines constantly saying only call if your flight is within 24 hours else for online or wait.

    So waited, finally bit the bullet in Feb just prior to year and persisted through despite phone lines saying only if flight within 24 hours.

    Got told I’ve lost my avios (240,000) as it’s too long now since original booking date which they are taking as Dec 2019 (actually change date)

    They’ll refund tax + fees but not avios.

    No terms emailed when they put it on hold, no notification of cancellation l etc.

    They’ve dug in, very annoying.

• John says:

  17 May17 May 18:31

  My BA Tel Aviv to LHR downgraded from First to club ( assuming due to change of plane)
  Reading rules on 75% compo for downgrade seems to suggest I am not eligible as not flying from EU. Is that the case?
  Thanks

  • Jonathan says:

    17 May17 May 18:37

    London is now outside the EU, however all EU laws were copied and pasted into UK law, so you’re still eligible to claim compensation

    • Genghis says:

      17 May17 May 18:50

      As flying on an “EU” airline.
      Israel has something similar to I believe though obviously harder to enforce.

    • Lady London says:

      17 May17 May 21:41

      yup BA is a UK/EU airlin so any of its flights in the world covered by EU261 also now in UK law as well as EU

• TheInsiderFly says:

  17 May17 May 18:41

  Any good recommendations for a hotel on Crete? Thinking of a week late in the summer for myself and OH. No kids, so family friendly not necessary.

  • Rob says:

    17 May17 May 19:34

    The Domes properties are well regarded, part of Marriott.

    • TheInsiderFly says:

      17 May17 May 20:13

      Thanks Rob. I saw a couple of articles on them including Elounda so I’ll check them out.

      • Char Char says:

        17 May17 May 20:30

        Yes hire a car though, transfers are £100 each way and £20 for each trip out from the hotel

  • David Butcher says:

    17 May17 May 20:12

    The Radisson Blu at Milatos is excellent

  • Harry T says:

    17 May17 May 21:10

    Domes of Elounda has a good reputation. We booked a week in October – Emyr got us a special package with lots of extras, and we don’t have to pay at time of booking. Well worth asking him for a quote.

    • meta says:

      17 May17 May 23:40

      I can also recommend Domes Zeen. Very close to Chania, so if you like to eat somewhere in town that’s an option. The staff is really great, they also threw so many freebes, incl. paid dinner and transport at the most expensive restaurant in Chania, free mini bar every day, afternoon snacks, etc.

      • Rob says:

        18 May18 May 07:31

        Sinead went there and was VERY positive about it (and she is hard to impress) – sadly we never got a review finished before she went on maternity leave.

• Zoe P says:

  17 May17 May 19:06

  Hi all. Does anybody have the Japan booking phone number. Have tried the ones online and they say number not recognised. Thanks

• James Pleasant says:

  17 May17 May 19:23

  So Border Force have got 3 hour queues in T2 Arrivals Immigration, flights from red India standing cheek by jowl with other arrivals. For 3 hours. Not Heathrow’s jurisdiction, squarely BF.

  You’d have thought it wouldn’t be that difficult to separate people arriving from red countries from other arriving people.

  We’ve all been in Immigration queues where you sort of get waved through without much in the way of checks. My last UK arrival was to Bristol, where they needed a quick sighting of my locator form, and these days you’d have to add on PCR test evidence. But that took us about 20 seconds.

  So why don’t they have clearly different levels of checking for green/ amber countries vs red – and stop red arrivals breathing all over the green & ambers?

  • Liam says:

    17 May17 May 21:22

    When I flew LAX to LHR in March, I was struck by the fact that, as you say, the red-list line was right next to us and people were walking around pretty freely. Not only that, but despite all these social distancing notices on the floor, everyone was packed into the queue like sardines so you had people in front, behind, left, and right of you pretty much at all times with no two-metre gaps or any sign of people trying to enforce it.

    When I landed back at LAX, there was barely a soul around beyond the 20 or so people who’d been on our flight. The flip side is they weren’t asking for the same level of documentation that the UK decided was necessary, so I’m not saying either approach was perfect.

• Navara says:

  17 May17 May 19:23

  Enjoy your first drinks in the pub this evening 🍻🥂🍷🍾Things are looking quite normal here in Cornwall including the weather 🌧

• Aston100 says:

  17 May17 May 19:34

  Given the comments spread throughout this chat thread, I must be in a minority of people who have benefitted from the IHG ‘flash sale’ today.
  I’ve cancelled and rebooked 4 of my stays.
  Savings were around £120; £52; £60. The 4th stay was changed to a points booking of 12k per night from the previous cash price of almost £70 a night for a HIX – I suppose this could be viewed as either almost £100 saved, or given the points cost virtually nothing, then it would be £300 saved…

  I note the Voco St Davids has dropped from somewhere around £250pn to under £190pn. But I booked it ages ago on points for about 30k per night (now nearly 50k per night).

  I’m pleased.

  • The uncivil servant says:

    17 May17 May 19:36

    Well done.
    Now who do you think will win the championship play off final?

    • Aston100 says:

      17 May17 May 19:42

      I feel the Bournemouth Soccer Team will win the franchise.

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