Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The HfP chat thread – Thursday 3rd June

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We are running this daily chat thread on Head for Points during the coronavirus outbreak.

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Comments (362)

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

  • Jonathan says:

    Are BA still extending new 241 vouchers by 6 months . I can click one over now but don’t need it yet and was going to wait till much later .

    • JohnT says:

      Can you wait till September?

    • WaynedP says:

      See thread on pg 2 of You can’t combine new and old BA Amex 241 vouchers article.

    • Vit says:

      Interested to know this as well. We need to get one by 31st August — cannot wait till Sept. So would be good to get the additional 6 months.

      • Chris says:

        Triggered one last week and it’s got an expiry date of 30th November 2023

  • Rich says:

    For anyone following my attempt to use my Prenetics LFT, I finally succeeded last night.

    They give zero information about the process. Went to take the test yesterday and it required a barcode, which wasn’t on the test packaging. Luckily my flatmate at home was able to find a code printed on my PCR kit, and the Prenetics website accepted that.

    No video call, just follow the prompts in your browser and upload a photo of the results. Which is fine, except the final Submit button didn’t do anything!

    Phone lines closed after 5, but I did get a reply to my email a few hours later giving me a new barcode number and suggestion to ‘try it in Chrome’.

    Success, but more stress than necessary.

    • FFoxSake says:

      Glad you got it sorted. A whole new world of travel hurdles for us to negotiate out there…

      • Pete M says:

        Gosh, not easy at all – thanks for the tips, though!

  • MadeUpName says:

    Morning, does anyone know if you can cancel a BA flight within the 24 hour cooling off period and do it all on line without fees? As given todays newspaper speculation I’m considering booking alternative flights home from Faro in the next few days in case Portugal gets moved to amber (and don’t fancy calling!)

    • TGLoyalty says:

      You have to phone to cancel from experience

    • John says:

      No you must call

      • MadeUpName says:

        Thanks both

        • Mark says:

          I did it via online chat last week after spending fiercer trying to get through and thought I might miss my 24 period. They did it very quickly and had the refund the same day

  • Jonty says:

    Sorry if answered 1,000 times before. I have an avios booking for end of August I won’t use. I understand I’ll get a more flexible refund if BA cancel. How long before the flight are they likely to cancel if they do?

    • JohnT says:

      Think its 2 weeks to avoid needing to pay compensation..

      • Jonty says:

        Thanks

        • Pete M says:

          Compensation is effectively suspended at the moment due to Covid, so the two weeks do not apply. BA are cancelling flights at any point, although the schedule is already rather thin so I am not seeing as many cancellations as we have in the past. I’d generally suggest waiting until about 48hrs before the flight and if they don’t cancel by then doing it yourself.

    • Rob says:

      What we’ve seen recently is that BA stops selling tickets a few weeks in advance but doesn’t officially cancel until 2-3 days before. This is how it maximises revenue. Keep an eye on whether tickets are still being sold.

  • GT says:

    I’ve just been searching for BA flights to Mauritius next year. There is nothing available in any class. Does anyone know if BA has removed MRU as a destination ?

    • Anna says:

      It’s possibly seasonal.

      • GT says:

        There’s nothing available at any time in the next 12 months

        • GT says:

          Please ignore previous comments. Flights have now reappeared. Must have been a glitch

    • Jonathan says:

      Use cheapest fare finder on the app, that’s the easiest way to look at dates for seasonal routes, or the routes that don’t operate on a daily basis

    • Stuart says:

      I got premium economy seats for March next year. I got these at the end of April.

  • JohnT says:

    DragonPass have finally issued a refund for my unused Dufry visits and also extended membership to 7/22 as a good will gesture. Quite pleased.

  • Tracy Regan says:

    My IHG Premium Credit Card now says “spend £20,000 to receive a free night voucher”. Is this an error? Last year it was £10,000. I’m still trying to get my free night from 19/20 so I could do without something else to sort out!

    • APPL says:

      Still showing £10k for me. My new year started in April, and luckily got all previous vouchers on time.

    • Sandra says:

      Still showing 10K and tracking towards that spend on that on mine. In any case, to increase the figure I would have thought they’d have to notify everyone in writing anyway as it would be a change to the original T & C’s?!

    • Benilyn says:

      How much have you spent? Is that on the website or app?

      • Sandra says:

        The tracker I can only see if I log on to the website, not on the app.

      • Tracy Regan says:

        I’ve spent around £5000 but it says I’ve spent £5000 of £20,000 for the free night. I think the problem might be that a few years ago I upgraded from the free card so sometimes they think I’ve got the free card.

  • meta says:

    I received a survey yesterday from IHG offering me 2500 points for completing it. It wasn’t that interesting on that note, but it seems IHG is reconsidering their elite benefits. On top of my head some of the options included the following:
    – free breakfast for elites
    – Club lounge access
    – Suite upgrade vouchers (several options with varying amounts)
    – Guaranteed suite or room upgrades for elites
    – Early check in and late checkout guaranteed
    – Vouchers for guaranteed late checkout (several options with varying amounts)
    – £35 F&B spend (£15 and £50 were other options)
    – Spa credit
    – Free parking
    – Access to special events
    – Access to dedicated texting service for elites

    • Jonathan says:

      I had similar about 18 months ago. I was briefly excited but clearly came to nothing. Made me think they’re just dangling a carrot to keep you loyal but no real intention of actioning any of it!

    • Rob says:

      Wow, some of that stuff would actually be useful!

    • stevenhp1987 says:

      Had the same email.

      Spent 20 minutes filling in the forms and answering multiple questions to reach a screen telling me: “Thank you for your interest in our survey. Unfortunately, we are no longer accepting additional responses. Thank you for your time.”

      I doubt I’ll see those 2,500 points…

      • meta says:

        I had the message to thank me and that points will be posted within 4-6 weeks. I took a screenshot so I can chase them if it doesn’t arrive. My partner received it a few hours later and it didn’t let him complete the survey at all as they’re no longer accepting responses. I think T&C in the email say first 3000 to fill in the survey only.

    • Janeyferr says:

      I received it too. I basically chose all the options with Free Breakfast.

    • the_real_a says:

      Free parking and Free Breakfast please! When parking is often 30% the cost of the room in regional hotels its the single most reason for me choosing an alternative hotel.

    • Dave says:

      Just completed the survey only to then be told we’re not taking any more responses. Why couldn’t they have told me that before I started!!
      Should’ve read the comments here first.
      The survey, just like their loyalty program, was a waste of time!

      • Rob says:

        It is quite impressive. Offer you points in their loyalty programme by telling them how to improve your experience, then after you’ve done it telling you that you can’t have the points ….

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