The HfP chat thread – Friday 21st May

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

• Ali says:

  21 May21 May 10:25

  Looking to open a S&S Lisa account, which can be topped-up using Bendy. Any recommendations?

  • BuildBackBetter says:

    21 May21 May 11:15

    Bristol accepts hong kong through bendy

• MD says:

  21 May21 May 10:33

  @marcw Yes, there are already. Stayed at the WA Chicago last year. Nice hotel but the $15 daily credit for breakfast barely bought a coffee and croissant. Pathetic really. Ended up having breakfast elsewhere and using the credits in the bar.

  • marcw says:

    21 May21 May 11:14

    I know! It’s pathetic.

• Harry says:

  21 May21 May 10:35

  Hi. Could someone please advise on duty of care if BA change your flight by 3 days retuning to UK. If we are a family of 7, could we stay in an apartment instead of hotel and what would be reasonable to bill BA for per night?
  Many thanks

  • Rob says:

    21 May21 May 10:45

    BA’s rule of thumb seems to be £200 BUT if the local market is more expensive – and you take screenshots showing what is available at the time you book – you can claim for more.

    • Genghis says:

      21 May21 May 10:50

      £200 per person, right?

      • Rob says:

        21 May21 May 10:56

        Very unlikely. No problem booking 4 x £200 rooms for 4 people but don’t try to claim for an £800 suite for a family of 4 if the hotel would have let four into the £200 room.

        • Tom says:

          21 May21 May 12:35

          I had to CEDR BA for the remaining £500 of an £1100 care costs claim. They capped it at £600 (3 nights) – and this cap was definitely per room, not per person.
          When I lodged the CEDR for the difference, pointing out that EU care legislation doesn’t provide an upper limit for care costs, they paid up before it reached an adjudicators desk.

• Andrew says:

  21 May21 May 10:40

  Seatfrog?

  I’m not investing. Any thoughts on the unfortunate timing of the investment with “Great British Railways” appearing to be bringing everything in house?

  • Anuj says:

    21 May21 May 10:43

    I just don’t see how there could be much profit in the company. The potential however is huge but not under that leadership, the app, logo and whole proposition is dated.
    They could have transformed it into an aspirational platform for upgrades across a wide range of services along with some kind of paid lounge access and then with a slick app just pushed it on instagram. The influencer type would be all over it

  • Rob says:

    21 May21 May 10:44

    You saw what happened to Trainline shares yesterday ….

    It isn’t clear what flexibility GBR will give operators over pricing, but it is totally possible that GBR runs this and the operators are only paid for providing a train and a crew (a bit like an airline wet lease) which would kill Seatfrog.

    • Pete M says:

      21 May21 May 11:29

      Or they sell/licence their technology to GBR ticketing. That is the approach they are trying with continental railways.

  • Andrew says:

    21 May21 May 11:34

    Is it just me or does Great British Railways remind you of Great British Air from Come Fly With Me?

    • Pete M says:

      21 May21 May 11:39

      We’ll have to see what’s in the fruit salaaad Andrew! 🙂

      • Tom says:

        21 May21 May 12:37

        … will first class include a tiny glass of orange juice and a complimentary browse of the daily mail?

      • Andrew says:

        21 May21 May 12:38

        Love that scene when she’s describing the first class service and that after force-feeding you with a box of chocolate truffles they dim the cabin lights for a few seconds and then serve a full English breakfast – that’s so what I do in BA First! 😂

        • The cyclist says:

          21 May21 May 16:37

          Unfortunately its on the no broadcast list at the BBC along with Little Britain, as they are deemed to be homophobic and racist respectively

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    21 May21 May 11:45

    The formatting of the MAU chart in the pitch deck (actuals and forecast look the same) is outrageously cheeky

    • Pete M says:

      21 May21 May 11:48

      They have picked up £1.6m so far though…

      • Sandra says:

        21 May21 May 12:27

        I considered it and as Pete M says they do seem to be getting the investment this morning but the pitch deck and the GBR announcement don’t inspire me & despite several questions asking how the announcement affects them there had been no response from Seatfrog last time I looked.

        • Pete M says:

          21 May21 May 12:44

          I did note: “The amount raised on the progress bar includes £739,863 invested under a convertible loan agreement. This amount was unspent at the time the pitch went live.” (Not investing myself by the way)

  • Clive says:

    21 May21 May 12:29

    I would be buying STX

• Raisa says:

  21 May21 May 10:54

  Tried to cancel my BAPP card today and they tried to convince me to downgrade to the free BA card – they said that unless I do that, my companion voucher will be cancelled?! I thought that wasn’t the case (I have other Amex’s which I can use to pay the taxes!)

  I also assume that if I downgrade, the validity of my companion voucher will still be 2 years (instead of 1 per the free card).

  • Harry T says:

    21 May21 May 10:57

    You can check the expiry of your voucher in your BAEC account, instead of assuming. You will not lose your 241 voucher if you cancel your BA card, based on my own recent experience and years of anecdotal evidence from this website and flyertalk.

    • Raisa says:

      21 May21 May 11:45

      Yes the voucher expires in November 2023 but just wanting to make sure that it won’t decrease by 12 months if I downgrade to the free BA card!

      Agreed that from my research online you don’t lose your 241 voucher if you cancel your BA card, although intimidating when Amex customer service tells you that you definitely do!

    • Chris Heyes says:

      21 May21 May 22:49

      Harry T Yes correct but because it’s in the t&c they could change it at any time they choose
      IMO They will at one time implement the t&c but not yet, that’s the risk you take
      otherwise they would have removed it from there t&c and the fact that they repeatedly quote it

  • Genghis says:

    21 May21 May 11:09

    Per the terms, you need to use the BAPP to pay for the taxes (seemingly not even understood by Amex).
    In practice, any Amex, not even one of yours. Been doing this a long time.

  • MW says:

    21 May21 May 12:09

    When my wife cancelled her BAPP they were really trying to get her to downgrade the card to the Free BA saying she won’t be able to use her voucher etc. I wish they didn’t do that as if I wasn’t next to her she said she would have downgraded without my advice, obviously not restarting the 24-month clock.

    As others have mentioned, no problem with the voucher once it’s deposited as long as you have access to (any) Amex card to pay fees – we usually use either my BAPP or her supplementary on my account as obviously they get double Avios with BA.

• Justin says:

  21 May21 May 11:15

  How much can you put through Beardy to Ernie (via Bendy) every month without them getting upset?

  • Ernie says:

    21 May21 May 11:23

    Whatever your limit is.

    • Magic Mike says:

      21 May21 May 19:03

      Ernie is a troublemaker, caning it every month is going to get you KYC’d. (And that’s not like KFC)

  • Liam says:

    21 May21 May 16:38

    Throw in a reference to Brighton or “the seagulls” and you’ve pretty much got the perfect HfP chat thread question!

• ashraj says:

  21 May21 May 11:16

  Hi needed some advice on IHG Edinburgh hotels for the fringe festival in August – i am confused between the Kimpton & the Intercon George. Prices on points and cash are similar. I’m a IHG platinum elite if that helps. Thanks

  • Peggerz says:

    21 May21 May 14:11

    Hi @ashraj
    Both very central with good transport connections. IC George is more ‘business’ than Kimpton. Personally I prefer the Kimpton Charlotte. Good staff, Aizle and Baba restaurants v good. Nice spa/pool. And if you’re not Amb then recognition should be about the same.
    In normal times, during the World’s largest arts festival, the prices would be very high for both premises. Are they like that during/post Covid?

    • Andrew says:

      21 May21 May 14:25

      I love the Fringe, but, there will need to be a considerable increase in air quality management. I’m not going to be quite so tolerant of musty or damp rooms with limited air movement in the future. Even the “better” venues are a humidity fest of damp kagools in a typical Edinburgh August day.

    • ashraj says:

      21 May21 May 14:37

      @Peggerz yes the cash rates are on the high side. I wanted to redeem my free night voucher and maybe book the other 2 using the IHG Ambassador BOGF weekend certificate. I have now read that the Military tattoo has been cancelled which i really wanted to watch. I may have to rethink my plans!

• Steve says:

  21 May21 May 11:19

  Hi, I’m about to cancel serval of my AMEX card (platinum + ARCC) so I can strart the 24m sign-up bonus clock. (also no retention bonus btw, bit disappointed. But I was given 50k last year so idk if I can get anymore)

  Just wondering if cancelling multiple cards raise any red-flags in AMEX system? Or should I wait a bit between each cancellations.

  • Harry T says:

    21 May21 May 11:24

    You might get offered a better retention offer if you try to cancel multiple cards at once. I can’t see why it would be an issue to do so.

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