The HfP chat thread – Sunday 6th June

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• The cyclist says:

  6 Jun6 June 12:51

  AS 75% of the adult population are at least partially vaccinated and under 30s getting offered the jab from next week, its time shake the shackles of Blundering Boris and ignore the government edicts that are restricting our basic liberties. I have booked to an Amber list country ( Croatia) will I be self isolating when I get back? Not a chance.
  The government want to us to stay in the UK to boost the domestic economy and as a control measure. Its already one rule for the governing elite ( see Michael Gove)and one for the plebs.

  • Phil W says:

    6 Jun6 June 13:09

    🎣

  • Aston100 says:

    6 Jun6 June 13:43

    I was down in London last week.
    As the week progressed and the weather got hotter, the number of people wearing masks seemed to decrease proportionately. The underground was impossible to social distance and there were many people without a mask at all.
    Seemed to me that many people in London have just given up caring now.

    Can’t say I blame them.

  • Super Secret Stuff says:

    6 Jun6 June 13:45

    I agree on the Michael Gove thing, it’s outrageous that they’re acting like this yet again.

    Re you not quarantine, in the nicest possible way, I hope you get multiple fines. If you want to go chase some sun abroad, least you can do is keep any variants to yourself because we don’t need variants mixing even more than we’ve already got

    • Aston100 says:

      6 Jun6 June 13:48

      I think it is amusing that people will continue to vote for this bunch of clowns whilst at the same time acknowledging the government circus routine and the cronyism etc

      • Aston100 says:

        6 Jun6 June 13:48

        Actually, that isn’t amusing at all. It is bloody scary.

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          6 Jun6 June 13:50

          It is absolutely bonkers, I laughed at people that say it would be worse

        • kitten says:

          6 Jun6 June 22:47

          So is the alternative

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      6 Jun6 June 13:49

      For absolute clarity, I’m not too concerned about current variants, they can already circumvent the vaccines a bit already. A new variant could do a proper job and royally screw us back fo square one

      • TGLoyalty says:

        6 Jun6 June 13:59

        Can not live in fear forever … this is never going away

        We have a significant number of the at risk population vaccinated. The NHS will no longer be over run it’s time to go back to a real normal.

      • AndyW says:

        6 Jun6 June 14:12

        The issue for me is that if a variant appears anywhere in Europe, in fact possibly much of the world, under current rules it will probably be here before we know about it and will spread. The rules are not strict enough to prevent it, case in point with the Indian variant which arrived when all travel was only supposed to be for essential purposes and is now the dominant strain. Close the borders or don’t, but these half measures are no good and are unsurprising for a government that has struggled to make the tough but unpopular decisions fast enough.
        For the record, never voted any other way than Cons (yet) so this is not a political rant, and I would be opening up travel…

        • Char Char says:

          6 Jun6 June 14:46

          Funny how everyone is an expert but when nothing materialises they don’t apologise for their wrong predictions.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          6 Jun6 June 15:18

          The current amber isolation rule means only the traveller has to isolate not the entire household….people can stick to the law and a new variant still get out.

        • Anna says:

          6 Jun6 June 18:15

          And one or more members can test to release on day 5, so if that’s valid, why does the rest of the household need to wait till day 8? Effectively this means that the person being released on day 5 could still be infected, in which case why allow it (apart from making more money for the test suppliers)?

      • Super Secret Stuff says:

        6 Jun6 June 21:10

        I knew this comment would get a bit of heat. At the end of the day, we face one of two choices: global Britain where you can’t go to the pub but you can fly anywhere or slightly shut away Britain until cover circulation goes down globally. To such an extent that the chances of variants mixing or new variants forming are tolerable.

        If we move too soon, we shoot ourselves in the foot because the Indian variant will mix with say the South African variant and we have a more transmissible virus that gets around the vaccines. It’ll be February / March 2020 all over again.

        By waiting a bit longer, the risks reduce for the UK. That said, I do recognise how frustrating it is and all I want to do is go on holiday. However, I refuse to act in a self entitled manor as some of government and the general public do.

    • The cyclist says:

      6 Jun6 June 17:51

      I won’t get multiple fines, the chances of a Covid Marshall or whatever they are called this week knocking on my door are close to zero. It’s the same as getting into your car and driving 80mph, on the motorway. Initially after passing your test you abide by the rules of the road. In time everyone drives at 80+ on motorways, as you become aware that the chances of getting stopped for speeding are infinitesimal as there are so few traffic officers around to enforce “the rules”.

      • The motorist says:

        6 Jun6 June 18:39

        Please drive at 80mph on Midlands & Northern ‘Smart’ Motorways and see what happens…

      • Super Secret Stuff says:

        6 Jun6 June 21:16

        Good luck. I’d expect the number of checks to increase even more sometime soon.

        https://www.civilserviceworld.com/news/article/mitie-lands-90m-contract-for-quarantinecompliance-checks

        https://www.gov.uk/guidance/self-isolation-compliance-checks-after-international-travel

  • Andrew says:

    6 Jun6 June 13:58

    Safest option would be for UK Government to suspend the passports of people who’ve been offered, but made the lifestyle choice not to be vaccinated, as at 31st August.

    Better still if other countries agree to do the same.

    • Genghis says:

      6 Jun6 June 14:31

      Ridiculous comment!

    • Char Char says:

      6 Jun6 June 14:44

      You sound, fun, how about just stay at home clapping.

      • Muhammad Abdullah says:

        6 Jun6 June 14:48

        Best comment

    • Babyg says:

      6 Jun6 June 16:41

      Andrew is obviously trolling or incredibly thick, there are many reasons for not taking the vaccine (and yes ive taken my jab).. Perhaps you should move to Australia where they dont/wont let there citizens in/out. Oh wait, youre not allowed in.

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      6 Jun6 June 21:17

      Andrew, you do make me laugh!

  • Anna says:

    6 Jun6 June 14:10

    I have also booked an amber country but will absolutely be isolating when I get back. I’ll stick to the letter of the law but I certainly don’t think that (being double jabbed by then and still observing social distancing) I pose any more risk on re-entering the country than football match-attending ministers, G7 delegates, migrants or anyone else who seems to have more right to come and go than us tax-paying plebs!

    • Cats are best says:

      6 Jun6 June 14:22

      ^this.

      That is assuming BA don’t cancel my flights again – the only thing denting my ability to ‘book with confidence’ is the concern BA will cancel!

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      6 Jun6 June 21:19

      Glad you are doing your bit. I agree on the government point, it is ludicrous. I mean somehow people voted for Boris, no wonder the country can’t be trusted to be sensible until laws are put in place!

  • bafan says:

    6 Jun6 June 14:22

    I’m going to visit my fiancée in a few weeks in Sweden and have yet to book a ticket back to Plague Island. May base myself out of there for a while unless something urgent comes up. Expensive testing every time we come and go is not appealing. If I had known this chain of events I would never have moved to the UK. The appeal of living here is earning good money then spending it abroad 😂.

    • Aston100 says:

      6 Jun6 June 15:23

      Please please please post that comment on an appropriate daily mail article. The apoplectic responses will likely keep me amused all day.

      • Anna says:

        6 Jun6 June 18:19

        Aston, I am currently kicking myself for booking the same return flight as the rest of the family! I could have had an extra week or 2 in Spain – or in Gibraltar and not have to isolate at all when I come back, while spending the money I’ve saved over the past year.
        Seriously though, if I didn’t still have a school age child I would be looking to go abroad for several months over the coming winter.

        • Navara says:

          6 Jun6 June 20:25

          That’s my winter plan. Escape to Dubai if it goes Amber

  • Ash says:

    6 Jun6 June 17:16

    Typical cyclistsays – self entailment at its finest, ignores rules that apply to everybody and then blames others when it all goes wrong…. Pathetic

  • Goodgrief says:

    6 Jun6 June 17:29

    And if everyone had your attitude then we will never get out of lockdown. Be sensible – if you don’t want to quarantine then don’t go. Unbelievable how me mrs me some people are

• HeadingForNoPoints says:

  6 Jun6 June 12:56

  A lot of chat about amex plat retention points again, I took out the card in December and was offered 2 batches of points in the space of 3 weeks which was very generous to say the least, I think there is little or no discretion about the retention offers, it is what the system generates for the agent to offer.

  Its been 6 months now since I last received points, any anecdotal evidence of how long people have waited to call again and successful gotten another offer of points? I know its not 1 batch of points every 12 months because I’ve had 2… so would be nice to get some data points before I call again

  • Jonathan says:

    6 Jun6 June 13:14

    Recent reports have included people being denied as already had a retention offer in previous 12 months. You won’t know till you try though.

    Personally I’d be happy calling at a weekend/evening as the Philippines staff seem happy just to read the script & give you what the computer says. I don’t believe any of the agents (Brighton or overseas) actually have the discretion to give you points (or more points) than the computer says.

    • Andrew says:

      6 Jun6 June 13:23

      I would agree with that. I got the initial 20k last May that we all got and then rang up several times over the autumn, winter and early spring, but always offered nothing. Then following reports of the 12 month rule I looked back to find the date of the initial referral, waited a couple of days after this May, gave them a call and sure enough, 50k was offered. I think it’s all up to the computer rather than individual agents, but everyone’s account is treated differently so call and see what the computer can offer you.

      • Super Secret Stuff says:

        6 Jun6 June 13:32

        Question of the day is how does this computer system work?

        I have never waited 12 months and always got a retention offer from Brighton

        • Aston100 says:

          6 Jun6 June 13:45

          Always?

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          6 Jun6 June 13:58

          All 3 times I’ve asked

        • HeadingForNoPoints says:

          6 Jun6 June 14:05

          For the same card? by retention offer I meant lump sum points for the platinum charge card, nothing else

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          6 Jun6 June 21:21

          For the same gold card

    • Aston100 says:

      6 Jun6 June 13:46

      “Personally I’d be happy calling at a weekend/evening as the Philippines staff seem happy just to read the script & give you what the computer says”

      Fully agreed.
      I would avoid Brighton for once.

• Rma says:

  6 Jun6 June 13:49

  Any indications if BA will extend tier point collection years again?

  • ChrisC says:

    6 Jun6 June 14:28

    BA have never extended collection year dates

    What they have done is reduced the points required for each status level.

    And no indications they will do anything more than they have already.

  • Andrew says:

    6 Jun6 June 15:15

    They have done blanket extensions for some or all Exec club members. With no meaningful return to travel in 2021 I would expect BA to at least extend the status for the 50% of members which didn’t get the second extension earlier this year.

• David says:

  6 Jun6 June 14:10

  My wife and I have been arguing with Avios agents about re-booking our return flights to LAS which have been cancelled by BA. We booked in the Half Price Avios Sale last October. We want to re-book for dates that are beyond the one year validity of the ticket. Agents say that we can re-book for dates within the one year validity for no extra cost but for the dates we want we need to pay the 62.5k Avios we saved plus the cash difference in the tickets. We have argued that we are entitled to re-book for dates that suit ourselves without having to pay extra, mentioning EU261 etc – but to no avail. We have been given the option of booking for dates within the validity year or a refund.
  We believe from reading previous posts that the next step is MCOL. How would that work? Do we take the refund then re-book for our preferred dates then claim for the extra cost? Say we have to pay 62.5k more Avios plus £200. Can we claim for just the cash or do we put a cash value on the Avios and claim for the total value?
  Thanks in advance for any advice on this.

  • Anna says:

    6 Jun6 June 14:15

    Don’t take a refund as this is effectively accepting the cancellation. It sounds like you’ve tried more than one agent already so probably fed up with HUACA. Have you tried moving your flights via MMB? This gives the option to move beyond the 12 month period unless you have complications such as a connecting leg. I have noticed my cancelled AGP flights can still be moved even though I accepted a change from LGW to LHR, I assume the calendar dates will continue to move as BA releases more availability.
    Read back over the comprehensive advice given in previous posts. My understanding is that you would have to book new flights then reclaim the cost from BA via CEDR or MCOL but there are things you need to do first like getting BA to concede that this is their final position and sending a letter before action.

    • David says:

      6 Jun6 June 14:29

      Thanks for your feedback.

      When I try to rebook via MMB, I get the message saying there is no availability for the dates, even though I know there is availability.

      • Jody says:

        6 Jun6 June 14:35

        David I’ve got exactly the same issue, and can’t move my flights in MMB. Phoned up on Thursday and told no way could I move them outside of ticket validity of 12 months. Asked the agent why BA aren’t complying with the legislation, she of course couldn’t answer me! I was told if not happy I needed to put a complaint in by going through the online form which generates a case reference number. I did this the same day, so far no reply (I appreciate it was only Thursday and we’re now on a weekend).

        If I’ve not heard back in a week I’ll chase.

        I do want to take this all the way through to MCOL, I don’t see why I should pay any extra avios or cash when BA are the ones that have cancelled the flights. I am a little bit worried about having to find fully flexible flights before I go to MCOL though, if I can’t find somewhere that will only take a deposit to hold them I’m screwed. When I looked at fully refundable flights on BA they were £26000, so clearly that isn’t happening!

    • Sam G says:

      6 Jun6 June 14:33

      you could try the app as well. But I had a flight that I couldn’t move online or via the app, seems very variable as to whether that’ll work or not

  • Lady London says:

    6 Jun6 June 15:43

    when exactly did you book. what travel dates out & back and which cabin class

    • David says:

      6 Jun6 June 16:50

      Booked on 6/10/20 for travel out on 14/6/21 returning 28/6/21 in CW

      • Lady London says:

        6 Jun6 June 20:14

        What date are you trying to move to

        • David says:

          6 Jun6 June 20:17

          Out 27/10 In 8/11

        • Lady London says:

          6 Jun6 June 20:41

          ok…the over 1 year is a grey area. it’s an IATA rule airlines adhere to. But in case of irrops (which flight cancellation techically is) IATA said if an airline endorses ticket “INVOL” then dates can be extended. Frankly it’s easy enough for an airline to issue a new ticket anyway if they want to.

          I think it’s perfectly reasonable for people to find that due to work restrictions they can only travel at certain times of the year particularly long enough to make a longhaul worthwhile
          Or they may have needed to travel to attend a private or public event that will not recur for some while. People they were going to meet on original dates may not be available again till some time later etc.

          Provided you have a ‘reasonable reason’ for why earlier doesn’t work for your new date.I think it’s worth pursuing. Looks like you may be moving a peak date trip to a non-peak date so does not look as though you are trying to exploit your misfortune.

          Follow the steps Jonathan explained on this daily thread 2-4 weeks ago in detail. This kind of problem gets commented a lot by me, Jonathan (excellent on procedure), meta (mcol’ed BA and BA caved), and others such as memesweeper and chrisc. you can find this one covered at least once or twice.a week in detail. you shouldn’t have to go back more than 1 month to get several times what you need.

        • Lady London says:

          6 Jun6 June 21:04

          PS you’ll see it in previous but std method at mcol is ask 1.6p per avios as that’s std BA selling price. I wouldnt want any more avios back anyway if treated like this I’d want the money.

  • Richie says:

    6 Jun6 June 19:04

    I’ve done MCOL with orange airline and CEDR with BA. Orange airline didn’t concede until after a preliminary hearing. BA lost at CEDR. Neither processes were easy, but I could be bothered and would do it again.

    • Lady London says:

      6 Jun6 June 20:17

      what did you mcol the orange lot for

• Dan says:

  6 Jun6 June 14:16

  Has anyone since the launch the Tesco Club Card Pay card, taken the product out?

  Any reviews on it – is it any good and would anyone recommend?

  • Blenz101 says:

    6 Jun6 June 18:26

    What are you looking to find out exactly as the product is pretty accurately described on the website.

    3 month bonus points in Tesco is poor. For spend outside Tesco you can do better with Curve and pretty much any points/£ rebate card. Routes which work with the legacy debit card are already blocked.

• Sue says:

  6 Jun6 June 14:37

  Keeping Avios active – asking for a friend, Europe based. Has approx 50k balance about to expire in July, no imminent travel plans. What would be the cheapest/easiest method to prevent expiration? Unfortunately they don’t have an Amex card or IB Plus account.

  • BJ says:

    6 Jun6 June 14:47

    Easiest would be to just buy a thousand.

    • ChrisC says:

      6 Jun6 June 15:00

      That would also be the quickest given points earned from the shopping portal can take ages to appear.

      • Erico1875 says:

        6 Jun6 June 15:31

        Not for me. I regularly get Atgos and toolstation within a few weeks

      • IF1 says:

        6 Jun6 June 15:33

        Not really, just go with a merchant that’s pays out fast, selfridges for example, can always return the order. The points come through a day or 2 after despatch and the activity will reset the 36 months inactivity rule

        • ChrisC says:

          6 Jun6 June 15:55

          The person with the expiring avios is based in Europe though so not all the options re stores may be available to them

  • Harry T says:

    6 Jun6 June 15:31

    Buy something via the BAEC store that has faster payments – for example, lululemon pays out very fast. Or just pay for the lowest amount.

  • Tracey says:

    6 Jun6 June 17:58

    Find a friend with some nectars to send over.

  • Zoe P says:

    6 Jun6 June 21:00

    Order a takeaway via just eat on the shopping portal. Take a few days to arrive.

    • Zoe P says:

      6 Jun6 June 21:00

      The points that is not the takeaway. The takeaway would show up within an hour! Lol

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      6 Jun6 June 21:23

      Dominos always posts within 5 days

  • Sue says:

    6 Jun6 June 22:43

    Thank you to all for your suggestions 👍

• BJ says:

  6 Jun6 June 14:45

  I see a banner for co-op on here. I think somebody mentioned an offer for it a few days ago. Is it anything we can combine with the amex gold deliveroo offer?

• Russell says:

  6 Jun6 June 15:03

  Dear Friends, any advice on the following … I will use bullet points to keep it as clear as i can…

  I used my Avios to book my wife and daughter a flight to USA in January 2021, coming home on a code share with AA.
  They flew out fine, but then the return leg home got moved and we were offered a FTV. We accepted this for the part of the travel that related to the return leg, and made alternative plans to get them home.

  I have now gone to use the FTV which i am told must be in their names (wife and daughter) as that is how it was ticketed, rather than being considered my Avios as the original booker.

  I would love to get the Avios and Cash elements back in my name as we are needing to use them in that way, but is that not possible?

  Any advice much appreciated.

  • Harry T says:

    6 Jun6 June 15:34

    A) you should have asked for a refund when they cancelled and moved your flight, but we live and learn.

    B) your best chance is to use the voucher to book flights that are very likely to be cancelled and use that as a means to get a proper refund. I would recommend reviewing the flyertalk thread on future travel vouchers.

    C) these vouchers are always in the names of the people who were meant to be travelling, irrespective of who booked.

  • Anna says:

    6 Jun6 June 15:36

    FTVs have always locked in the original passengers, it’s one of the downsides (mentioned numerous times on here but possibly not realised by the less hardcore reader!).
    I can only think of booking new flights in the name of your wife and daughter then cancelling under the usual award Ts and Cs? I don’t know if you paid less cash on the AA flight but presumably you’d just have to pay the usual £35 pp cancellation fee.

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