The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 18th May

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• meta says:

  18 May18 May 07:06

  So who grabbed a deal at all major European IC/Kimptons on points yesterday for Early May Bank Holiday weekend?

  • Anna says:

    18 May18 May 07:21

    I booked the Bath Indigo at 30k pn (supposed to have been there the same time this year but the Kimpton Charlotte Square was a very good alternative!). We’ll be mid-GCSEs so can’t risk being stranded abroad.

    • meta says:

      18 May18 May 07:28

      Great. IC Le Grand Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Rome,… were all at 40k points. I also saw Kimpton Amsterdam for 25k points and Paris one was 45k.

      • Anna says:

        18 May18 May 07:36

        Lol, did you book them all?! I am looking for something in October (not even half term) but points prices are crazy!

        • meta says:

          18 May18 May 07:46

          No, I just booked the new IC Rome. I am hoping they do something similar for the Jubilee weekend.

      • avstar says:

        18 May18 May 08:34

        Amstel, Kimpton Paris, IC Rome…..

    • Chris Heyes says:

      18 May18 May 11:42

      Anna I do hope you pass lol

  • Harry T says:

    18 May18 May 07:54

    I booked the Amstel in Amsterdam for 40k a night. Bit easier for me to get to than Rome or Bath. I’ve already got the Kimpton in Paris booked for 40k this summer 😊. Thanks for the tip yesterday, you got me looking in the right direction.

    • Harry T says:

      18 May18 May 08:01

      I notice the Friday night for that weekend (I didn’t have enough points to book Friday as well) is now 77k, up from 40k!

      • meta says:

        18 May18 May 08:29

        Everything has gone back up. Rome one has no availability on Saturday night either and other nights are now 70k.

• Melvin says:

  18 May18 May 07:14

  Morning. Ryanair have rescheduled my upcoming flights. My return trip has been pushed back to the next day so they are offering a refund or move if I don’t want to accept the change. When I’ve contacted them they say I can move +1 or -1 day. Is this correct or should I be able to move to when I want?

  • Yorkieflyer says:

    18 May18 May 07:15

    That’s the line they stick to nowadays and I’ve not managed to budge them, HUACA etc

    • James Pleasant says:

      18 May18 May 07:36

      Ryanair’s policy for cancellations (yours is a cancellation) is as follows (they emailed this to me this month: [you may contact our Customer Care Team (subject to opening hours) or go to the airport ticket desk, in order to exercise your standard right to re-routing to your destination, under comparable transport conditions, either at the earliest opportunity or at a later date at your convenience subject to seats being available. Our Customer Care Team can also assist if you require other re-routing options, such as earlier re-routing on an alternative airline, train, bus or car hire.
      If you avail of re-routing at the earliest opportunity, you will be entitled to (and where applicable provided with) reasonable meals and refreshments, hotel accommodation, transport between the airport and your place of accommodation (hotel or other) as well as transport to or from an alternative airport, as applicable.
      We’ll do our very best to provide care, however if reasonable care is not offered, even though it should have been, please keep all itemised receipts for reasonable expenses you may incur. You will need to submit these to Ryanair to claim back your expenses.]

      But as you say, when I phoned them to use this policy – in my case getting them to re-route me on a competitor airline on the same route – they refused. A policy of encouraging people to get a refund, best for Ryanair. However, my agent was quite helpful and said to re-route myself at my expense, obvs keep all receipts, then send it to them for a refund of the difference. I understand from what a lot of people say online that Ryanair are quire fair about this refund policy – & they have an easy-to-use portal to facilitate this.

      As it happens, my May cancellations were all £9.99+/- cheapies and I will keep them for now, probably re-using them to get tickets on the same route at Xmas, Easter etc to save money. I always have the option of a refund. It wasn’t worth getting a refund of the difference on my competitor airline fares this May as the fares I found were just as cheap as Ryanair’s, cheaper if you include the 20kg checked luggage.

      • James Pleasant says:

        18 May18 May 07:58

        Actually when I said I wanted to fly on a competitor airline, my Ryanair agent at first told me to get a refund then to contact Ryanair to get the ticket cost difference back. This is obvs incorrect: once you get a refund, Ryanair have no further responsibility or liability.

        I challenged him, explained this & he backed down straight away – so I don’t know if he was reading from a script or just made an honest mistake.

        • Lady London says:

          18 May18 May 10:27

          doesn’t matter what any airline says, or wants, or says their system won’t let them do. Doesn’t even matter what’s in their terms and conditions.

          EU261 overrides all that and gives you many rights including right to rebook at your later chosen date, hotel meals for any gap if you decide you still need to travel as close as poss to original timing, etc.

          You can also choose to take a refund. Your choice not airline’s. Don’t because as soon as you do you’ve lost the above rights.

          EU261 giving this applies to any UK or European airline’s flight anywhere in the world and to any other airline if flight is departing UK/Europe

• M says:

  18 May18 May 07:50

  36 year olds can book a vaccination now.

  • James Pleasant says:

    18 May18 May 08:05

    George Eustice just said 35 on Sky News. Anyway, that’s only when you sign yourself up for jabs online, & I get the impression even that age restriction can vary by region. But if you go direct to your surgery or pharmacy, you can often get it much younger than 36 already depending on supplies and how well they are doing at rolling out the vaccs.

    • Anna says:

      18 May18 May 09:39

      Yes my sister is 35 and has got her appointment.

• YC says:

  18 May18 May 07:55

  Amex Relais & Châteaux offer – Some excellent restaurants on the list

• Yorkieflyer says:

  18 May18 May 08:29

  Want to order a qured antigen test for return to UK but you seem to have to specify the date of return when ordering?

  • Pete M says:

    18 May18 May 15:49

    Just put any old date in, doesn’t make any difference.

• marcw says:

  18 May18 May 08:31

  To anyone interested or curious: they guy that used to run updated on airline schedules on AirlineRoute is back.

  For now, only twitter though: https://twitter.com/theaeronetwork

  • Rhys says:

    18 May18 May 08:46

    Excellent!

• Leigh says:

  18 May18 May 08:31

  Amex offer on my Gold card: the Economist subscriptions, spend £179 or more get £45 back. I’ve been waiting for the Economist Avios offer this year, this is better than nothing.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    18 May18 May 08:33

    I’m hoping there will be a boosted points offer via Avios or Miles and more before the offers up.

    • Leigh says:

      18 May18 May 08:55

      Good idea, will wait a few weeks and hope that the boosted Avios offer will come back in time.

  • BuildBackBetter says:

    18 May18 May 12:17

    Do the avios offers work if you cancel a current sub and get a new one in spouse name, but same address? Will economist pick up on the same address? Am keen on the physical copy only.

    • Leigh says:

      18 May18 May 14:16

      Should work as the offer is for new subscriptions. I did some something similar and received the Avios. No need to cancel though considering that there won’t be any refund.

• Manny_D says:

  18 May18 May 08:31

  Probably not the typical question, but has anyone ever had an issue of Amex not collecting a direct debit on the date due? Says my DD date was today, however, no funds have been taken from my Current Account as of yet (DDs usually clear around 2am).

  • Anttelli says:

    18 May18 May 08:37

    This often happens, particularly when the date falls on a weekend. Mine this month was due on 2nd May but was only finally taken on 6th.

  • Chris P says:

    18 May18 May 08:38

    Mine often goes out a couple of days after the date – especially if the date is a Monday. I’m sure they won’t forget!

    • Manny_D says:

      18 May18 May 08:54

      Yeah here’s hoping. Just want to ensure it is cleared before the due date which falls on a Sunday. Hopefully it’ll come out tomorrow.

      • John says:

        18 May18 May 09:10

        Isn’t the Amex DD date usually a week or more before the actual due date

        • Manny_D says:

          18 May18 May 09:13

          I think it is different for a Charge Card. My DD due date is the 18th and the pay by date is the 23rd.

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