The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 29th June

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• Rma says:

  29 Jun29 June 12:41

  As the US haven’t recognised the Astra Zeneca vaccine yet, would I have problems with overnight transit in Miami en route to Barbados?

  • BuildBackBetter says:

    29 Jun29 June 12:52

    Is that a ‘transit’?
    Aren’t you clearing immigration?

  • Jonathan says:

    29 Jun29 June 12:52

    When? You wouldn’t be allowed to transit US at the moment unless you fulfill criteria to be admitted to US (eg. citizen, spouse/offspring of citizen).

    Transiting a country covered by the proclamation (including the UK), even without exiting the airport, counts as physical presence within that country and triggers the application of the proclamation.
    The proclamation also applies to traveling through a U.S. airport to get to another country.

  • Anna says:

    29 Jun29 June 13:08

    As above you can’t just “transit” the US, you need to clear immigration and need to be in possession of an ESTA, or equivalent if you’re a non-US citizen, and authorisation before travel, which you won’t get right now if you’re travelling from a country on their naughty list.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    29 Jun29 June 13:52

    Literally no one knows what will happen

    The presidential proclamation is still in place and your are banned from boarding a plane to the USA if you have been in the U.K. in the past 14 days (there are a few exceptions but transiting isn’t one of them) and the AZ vaccine stuff is just conjecture

    • TGLoyalty says:

      29 Jun29 June 13:53

      To add You could go to Croatia/Mexico/Turkey etc etc and wait 14 days before you travel to the USA and your vaccine status doesn’t even matter

      I have no idea why the proclamation is still in place to be honest.

      • Arran says:

        29 Jun29 June 15:59

        Especially when the Delta variant is there already

        • Anna says:

          29 Jun29 June 16:53

          Indeed, they’ve been told by their scientists that it will be the dominant strain within weeks. They can’t blame us for that!

• GaryE says:

  29 Jun29 June 12:47

  I am planning to fly to Belfast from Heathrow (BA) in August with two children under 12. As far as I can see this is all within the CTA so should require no testing either way for any of us, but is anyone aware if BA themselves require any testing to board the flights either in London or Belfast? I appreciate that any information is based on the current situation.

  • JC says:

    29 Jun29 June 14:04

    No issues travel to/from NI. Did it at the weekend. No testing needed.

  • Pete M says:

    29 Jun29 June 14:28

    Nothing needed currently, unlikely to change.

    • joe Jordan says:

      29 Jun29 June 22:15

      Actually the latest guidance for those travelling to to from CTA to/from N.I. is that 3 LFT test maybe required.

      https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/coronavirus-covid-19-travelling-within-common-travel-area

      • Sukes says:

        29 Jun29 June 22:54

        @ Joe Jordan is correct but it is worth emphasising that the lateral flow testing is an advisory and NOT a requirement for visitors to NI from CTA.

• Chris says:

  29 Jun29 June 14:13

  Interesting to see entry requirements for Wimbledon include vaccination / lateral flow result displayed in NHS app. After taking one of the NHS rapid tests this morning was curious to see how smooth this might be.

  Reported test result online and the result wasn’t showing 30 mins later. Says may take 2 hours but usually less. Two hours later the app just spins when you select “Get your NHS COVID Pass” -> “Continue” -> “Event trials”. Either it has my result but something isn’t working or the entire thing has fallen over. Guess they get away with it because it’s just in “trials”.

  • SteveJ says:

    29 Jun29 June 14:38

    Works as expected on my end, result showed in NHS app within an hour of submitting. Zero issues.

  • Polly says:

    30 Jun30 June 00:37

    I gave up and cancelled my ticket…

• AEB says:

  29 Jun29 June 14:19

  Hi, was looking for a bit of advice/experience on what to do about a rejected amex section 75 claim.
  Launched a claim last June after Lufthansa cancelled flights for April. Charged back for the flight through AMEX after I was unable to get hold of Lufthansa for a refund. Chargeback initially granted but then revoked after Lufthansa claiming they offered vouchers (they didn’t and they didn’t even tell me my flight had been cancelled!!). After launching the section 75 last June and ringing upwards of 10 times , I received a rejection of my claim today. AMEX have said that under section 75 they cannot assist as the product is under £100. My output was £193.10 (the breakdown is £88 for ticket then £105.10 accounts for taxes/charges). This seems out of line since I wouldn’t be able to book my flight without the accompanying taxes and charged being included with the ticket cost.

  Any advice would be great!

  • ChrisBCN says:

    29 Jun29 June 16:16

    Did Lufthansa refund taxes & charges, meaning you are only out of pocket the £88? Assuming they didn’t – Amex told you it was rejected for being under £100, it’s quite easy to prove it was more than that, so you need to get back in touch with them and tell them to confirm the amount of the charge you are disputing… Hopefully you get somebody sensible!

  • AJA says:

    29 Jun29 June 16:46

    Further to what Chris writes go back through your past statements and find the original charge by Lufthansa to the account. Is the £193 for a single ticket or is it for two tickets? Either way I’d argue that the £100 minimum is the total paid in one transaction.

    Secondly even if Lufthansa refunded the taxes and fees you are entitled to a full refund. Amex is jointly liable for refund so should be on the hook for the balance if Lufthansa won’t play ball.

    • kitten says:

      30 Jun30 June 00:52

      Amex is only strictly jointly liable if credit card type. Not if chargecard. If chargecard you’re relying on card industry voluntary operation of chargeback scheme.

      Having said that Amex’s own voluntary policies are usually excellent by all accounts of Rob and posters here.

  • Lady London says:

    29 Jun29 June 17:15

    appeal to Amex pointing out the original single line total paid for the ticket on your statement etc.

    ask them to review their decision and mention how disappoint

    • AEB says:

      29 Jun29 June 18:21

      Thanks everyone! I gave AMEX a ring and i am awaiting someone from the section 75 team to call! Expalined that despite the ticket price being £88 I still paid £193 because of taxes and charges (which is also shown on AMEX statement!) if i don’t have any luck i’ll be off to the FOS!

  • Sam G says:

    29 Jun29 June 18:25

    Did you speak to Lufthansa again? They had a meltdown but I did eventually get some refunds from them late last year

• meta says:

  29 Jun29 June 14:20

  Further to my Hotel Indigo Bath incident, I am pleased to report I got all my points back and they also offered a complimentary stay next time. Points are still not back in my account, but they said it can take 7-10 days.

  • YC says:

    29 Jun29 June 14:26

    Excellent result! But would you go back even if it was free?

    • TGLoyalty says:

      29 Jun29 June 14:35

      Because of noise from inconsiderate guests and a meek night manager?

      I would

      • meta says:

        29 Jun29 June 14:50

        Hm difficult one. Apart from noise issues, there were other issues in both rooms and also the chaotic operations in general. The staff might be well-intentioned, but they are inexperienced.

        Maybe in a year, once they get to grips with running a fully booked hotel. Then there is also the fact that there are other places to visit and Bath is not the kind of a city you’d go to twice unless you had some specific business.

        However, they are currently awaiting the approval of planning application for more works (as it’s grade listed building).The chat with GM was very illuminating.

        • Yuff says:

          29 Jun29 June 15:16

          I had a similar experience with incompetent service at the New York Waldorf Astoria, anything that couid go wrong did go wrong, however they knocked 50% off our bill/or 2 free nights. I said we’ll take the 50% off however it’s unlikely we’ll ever come back unless you give us the free nights which they did.
          We did go back, I think it was 2002 a few years later, they gave us a 2 bed suite and the service was superb, like it should have been the previous trip, it was like a different hotel, so never say never …..

  • Anna says:

    29 Jun29 June 16:22

    Another @meta result!

• Matthew says:

  29 Jun29 June 14:32

  Just called in to cancel and reached Brighton. Told them I wasn’t expecting to travel until next summer and have only been targeted for / taken advantage of the most recent 175 Waitrose offer (Didn’t end up getting the first Platinum “COVID” offer or the Marriot offer due offers IT issues I experienced last year). Was offered 75,000 points with no spend for “my loyalty” or the option to downgrade to Gold free for a year. Took up the 75k points offer. My last retention offer was the very first COVID retention offer they ran back in May (IIRC?) of last year.

  • Reney says:

    29 Jun29 June 14:45

    👍 wow. Have you put a lot of spend on the card throughout the year?

    • Matthew says:

      29 Jun29 June 14:54

      I put most of my spend on my BAPP for the 1.5 avios / quid earning rate. I probably spend less than a couple hundred a month on my Plat these days – it mostly only gets used for whatever offers are on it.

• TGLoyalty says:

  29 Jun29 June 14:36

  Are the rates exactly the same with the same cancellation terms etc

• Rory says:

  29 Jun29 June 15:32

  Looking for some good luxury hotel recommendations in London for tomorrow night. Anyone had some good experiences recently? Usually stay at the Langham but it’s a little more expensive than I’d like at the moment.

  • Rob says:

    29 Jun29 June 15:49

    It’s Wimbledon …. lot of good options will be busy. I’d guess further east you go, the lower the Wimbledon effect.

    • Rory says:

      29 Jun29 June 15:56

      Ah crap. Forgot about that. Would explain why everything seemed a bit more expensive.

  • Harry T says:

    29 Jun29 June 16:47

    I stayed at Great Scotland Yard the other weekend, which I would highly recommend.

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