The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 25th May

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ChrisC says:

25 May25 May 17:25

The double TPs for BA Holidays emailed perked me up until I read this in the detailed T&Cs

– hotel / car element must be booked for the entire length of the holiday.

– Solo travellers are excluded as booking is for a minimum of 2 people.

The first I can understand but the second is just anti solo traveller.
- Ja says:
  
  25 May25 May 17:28
  
  Absolutely agree. I travel 99% solo. I think that’s discrimination
  - Patrick Cold says:
    
    25 May25 May 17:48
    
    Now there`s a lawsuit I`d love to read.
- Alex says:
  
  25 May25 May 17:31
  
  it’ll be to stop business travellers from racking up excessive amount of tp’s
  - ChrisC says:
    
    25 May25 May 17:38
    
    The minimum 5 night condition stay would stop most of that.
    
    And a simple “must include a weekend” condition would put even more off. Weekend could be Fri and Sat or Sat and Sun nights.
    - meta says:
      
      25 May25 May 18:09
      
      Even for some of us who are not solo travellers, this is a non-starter. First, it is very rare that I found competitive prices on BA Holidays compared to booking separately. Secondly, if I am away for more than five days, it would certainly be for substantially more than 5 in which case I would switch hotels. Thirdly, the types of hotels that I would be staying are sometimes not available on BA holidays. Finally, no hotel loyalty benefits.
      
      For example, I have a 2-week trip to Iceland in September and the only hotels available through BA Holidays are in Reykjavik…
      - Rob says:
        
        25 May25 May 19:05
        
        Just do ‘Flight and Car’ and don’t collect the car ….
      - meta says:
        
        25 May25 May 20:12
        
        @Rob and pay the inflated car rental prices, no thanks!
      - Jonathan says:
        
        25 May25 May 21:08
        
        If you’ve never found a deal with BAH then you haven’t tried very hard! Normally very easy to get flight plus car for no premium (or even cheaper) than flight alone. Also often have access to cheaper fare buckets close to departure.
        
        Add in the extra Avios, flexible payment terms & far superior service you get from BAH CS then it’s a no brainer. As Rob says, just don’t pick up the car if you don’t need it.
      - meta says:
        
        25 May25 May 21:24
        
        @Jonathan the problem with this promo is that you need to take a car for the whole duration of the trip. Iceland also ain’t cheap and cars are currently in high demand. I have booked BA holiday before, but they have significantly increased prices since the green list was announced. Funny thing is, I am actually needing a car in Iceland, but BA is charging 3x more than any of the local companies.
        
        The only time I found it worthwhile to use BA holidays is when I want to go to the US.
- Amy carpenter says:
  
  25 May25 May 18:06
  
  Glad you pointed this out, I’d never have noticed and was very tempted, that is total discrimination. I’m rather outraged actually. How is that alllowed? 🤬
- Andrew says:
  
  25 May25 May 18:44
  
  BA should just give everyone a status extension and stop messing around with things like this.
  - Richie says:
    
    25 May25 May 22:41
    
    You’ve hit the nail on the head there.
- Niall says:
  
  25 May25 May 20:07
  
  I think the anti solo traveller thing is really annoying and makes the offer a lot less appealing.
  
  I am single but usually don’t travel solo.
  
  Booking probably fairly expensive flights with relatively short notice at a time when you can’t be confident the flights will even happen is something which is fine for me solo but I’m not going to try to convince someone else…
  
  Definitely not a good impression from terms like this.
The cyclist says:

25 May25 May 18:25

Outraged? More important things in life to worry about, I mean who cares, my dear old aunt is in her late fifties on her own, and no partner about 20 odd stone (probably a reason for the above) and she manages just fine. So you lose out on a few tier points, big deal , crack open a beer or three, light up big doobie and chill
- Amy carpenter says:
  
  25 May25 May 18:34
  
  No, think I’ll stay outraged ta.
  - mark2 says:
    
    25 May25 May 18:40
    
    Special offers when you buy two of something are quite common, even BOGOF.
  - Colonel Blimp says:
    
    25 May25 May 18:58
    
    I think you should stay outraged , I encourage you to write a strongly worded letter to your local MP, and ask for the chap in charge at BA holidays to be taken to task and given a jolly good wigging …..it wouldn’t have happened in my day.
  - Patrick Cold says:
    
    25 May25 May 19:03
    
    Well said Amy! What a revolting notion.
    - The cyclist says:
      
      25 May25 May 19:07
      
      If you call my aunt revolting i’ll send her round to sit on you Pat 🙂
      - Patrick Cold says:
        
        25 May25 May 19:52
        
        I would never call a lady anything of the sort.
  - Erico1875 says:
    
    25 May25 May 19:11
    
    You can only be outraged so many times before it becomes ineffective.
    Personally, I would save my outrage for something more worthwhile
    - Amy carpenter says:
      
      25 May25 May 19:55
      
      What’s not worthwhile to you might be worthwhile to others. I’m in a couple but prefer to travel alone and get more leave than my bf who has already booked all his this year. I really think it’s discriminatory. Everyone should be able to partake in an offer like this. Single travellers already get battered by SPS routinely.
      So if it’s alright with everyone else I will carry on thinking it’s sh*t. 🙄
      - kitten says:
        
        25 May25 May 20:00
        
        Good one @Amy
      - Andy says:
        
        25 May25 May 20:56
        
        Discriminatory? This is an offer and the business can decide the terms and which customers it wishes to target. It is no different to the companion offers Lufthansa and Swiss launch every so often. While it may be annoying, as I’m a single traveller myself, it is not discrimination…
- Harry T says:
  
  25 May25 May 19:03
  
  I imagine BA is aiming to attract the business of leisure travellers at the moment, and I guess they would rather a couple or family booked than a solo traveller, as more passengers = more money spent on the booking. We have this discussion every time LH/LX offer companion fares.
  - ChrisC says:
    
    25 May25 May 20:12
    
    I am a leisure traveller who flies in Club.
    
    Is my money suddenly not good enough for BA?
    
    I have over £5 grand worth of forward holiday bookings.
    
    Companion fares are a different kettle of fish.
- gillydee says:
  
  25 May25 May 23:31
  
  Old aunt! Late fifties !!! I’m outraged😤. Old doesn’t start till your eighties at least.
Mr Barraclough says:

25 May25 May 18:57

I’ve just tried to make a transfer from Solihull to Che via Bendy but a message came up which said I was trying to pay a card denominated in PLN, Polish Zloty. All my cards use GBP. I cancelled it, tried again but same message. Has anyone had this problem, and better still a solution?!
- Aston100 says:
  
  25 May25 May 19:31
  
  Yeah, don’t use Bendy.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  25 May25 May 19:45
  
  There’s 0 need for bendy
Jay H says:

25 May25 May 19:50

Double Tier points on holiday bookings With BA
- Andrew says:
  
  25 May25 May 20:07
  
  See the comments on the current and last few pages
Travel Strong says:

25 May25 May 20:15

Latest GIB testing reports from travellers sunday and today is that they are indeed charging £30 at GIB for a certificate for the otherwise free test, should you be leaving within 72hrs and also using it as the pre-departure test. Fine with me.

More concerning, someone was turned away by Easyjet at *LGW* unless they paid for a test LGW before a GIB flight… which is a totally fictional requirement, not required by UK, Easyjet, or GIB.

So thats both LHR/BA and LGW/Easyjet that are inept at adjusting their business to changing entry requirements whilst simultaneously advertising themselves as open for business and keen to get people flying again.

If the airlines want people to start booking flights again – stories of being incorrectly turned away at the airport need to be Nil !
- Rich says:
  
  25 May25 May 20:58
  
  That sounds odd. Turned away at check in or boarding? Presumably they would have turned everybody away, since nobody would have been tested?
  - Travel Strong says:
    
    25 May25 May 21:09
    
    Check in. I would like to think these things can be successfully argued and sorted out. Immediate visions of the original ‘Airline’ series at Luton, with flustered customers and patronizing staff abound!
    - Rich says:
      
      25 May25 May 21:53
      
      Gosh that takes me back! Although my memory is of patient staff against customers who think their tardiness or lack of passport is somebody else’s fault.
      - Travel Strong says:
        
        25 May25 May 22:59
        
        You are correct, I should have typed
        *Immediate visions of the original ‘Airline’ series at Luton, BUT with flustered customers and patronizing staff abound!
Crafty says:

25 May25 May 20:49

What’s the most efficient way to get USD out of PayPal? I only have a UK bank account.
- Travel Strong says:
  
  25 May25 May 20:55
  
  You can convert between currencies within paypal but of course only at the rate which paypal choses to provide… unsure how good that is currently but used to be acceptable for double/triple digit sums.
  
  The most efficient way though is to hold it in there IF you ever buy items in USD. Save losing out twice on currency conversion.
- Harry T says:
  
  25 May25 May 20:56
  
  Transfer to a Wise or Revolut dollar account?
  - Crafty says:
    
    25 May25 May 21:45
    
    I have Revolut. So would this mean:
    – Transfer USD to USD, fee free, from PP to Rev
    – Within Revolut, transfer from USD to GBP, at a rate that’s presumably attractive?
    
    Sorry for the basic question, I deal in foreign currency very rarely.
  - bafan says:
    
    25 May25 May 22:27
    
    +1 @ Harry T.
- Rob says:
  
  25 May25 May 21:50
  
  Have an easy life, swallow your banks FX fee and move it to your UK account 🙂
Tom says:

25 May25 May 20:53

NHS website now allowing age 30+ to book jabs.
Alan says:

25 May25 May 20:56

Is there a problem with using Curve to pay HMRC at the moment. I just tried to make a a small payment (£20) and it didn’t go through. Just the generic error message on HMRC and nothing on Curve.