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The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 6th July

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

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General

Comments (481)

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

  • ayearinmx says:
    6 Jul6 July 15:18

    Has anyone also lost the ability to book Hotels.com bookings with BA number?
    My usual link – https://www.hotels.com/britishairways is no longer working either….

  • PaulC says:
    6 Jul6 July 15:21

    Please can someone confirm that Hampton by Hilton hotels give free breakfast with any room booking rate? Thanks

    • Mark says:
      6 Jul6 July 15:32

      Yep and the last few I stayed at didn’t even ask room numbers etc and it was a bit of a free for all

      • David D says:
        6 Jul6 July 20:43

        That is because all Hampton by Hilton hotels include breakfast in the rate.

  • Lottie says:
    6 Jul6 July 15:36

    For those that were asking yesterday, I finally booked our Malta trip to find it confirmed on the website 5 miniutes ago they wont admit our Astra Zeneca vaccine (one was an indian batch) aargh i think i’m giving up with travel, now i have to spend the afternoon cancelling everything i spent the morning booking. My fault for not checking again this morning, but just a warning for others in the same situation.

    • Anna says:
      6 Jul6 July 15:53

      Malta’s been doing a few U-turns of late though!

      • Lottie says:
        6 Jul6 July 16:51

        I know but i don’t want to chance it as we go in 4 days. Not sure whether to chance the Balearics with the case numbers going up or stick with a rainy week in a caravan in the UK! The PDF shows the batch numbers too, so cant get away with just flashing the paperwork.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      6 Jul6 July 15:58

      So they are specifically checking Bath numbers on the app?

      Because the pdf will say Vaxzevria

      • JDB says:
        6 Jul6 July 16:06

        The PDF does also unfortunately show the batch number. As @Anna says, Malta keeps changing, many EU countries are accepting the Indian batches and also the MHRA is supposed to be working with the EMA to get those batches approved.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          6 Jul6 July 16:19

          I know. So they are going to check the batch number on every cert? It’s only 3 batches in U.K. but how many others used worldwide …

          • JDB says:
            6 Jul6 July 16:29

            Maltese bureaucracy is legendary! They are as bad, if not worse than the French, so yes I think there is a chance they will check. It would seem rather pointless to disallow those batches and then not check for them. It is also possible that airlines might look at check in as they may get fined if you are refused entry. Doesn’t really seem a great risk to take. Have to hope they will change their position or EMA gives the OK.

          • Anna says:
            6 Jul6 July 16:58

            Spanish bureaucracy is the same, which I why I gave a hollow laugh when a pharmacist suggested they would be likely to offer a few hours leeway for a pre-departure test result! IME they try their best to find something wrong with any kind of documentation.

        • Pete says:
          6 Jul6 July 18:07

          But to my knowledge the NHS COVID Pass letter (not the PDF from the app) that you can order online and Malta accepts, doesn’t include batch numbers?

    • stevenhp1987 says:
      6 Jul6 July 17:27

      Malta scan the QR code using an app to validate.

      They didn’t check any batch codes when we went over the weekend just gone. The guy didn’t even know how to process a UK NHS Covid Passport and had to get help elsewhere.

      I’d be surprised if their app is checking the batch numbers.

  • Lumma says:
    6 Jul6 July 15:46

    Anyone got an Octopus Energy sign up code?

  • Ali says:
    6 Jul6 July 16:14

    My Curve account was blocked last month and I was asked to provide KYC documents, which I did. But the Curve teams seems to be too slow in responding and usually takes 7-10 days to reply after multiple follow-ups. Anyone else facing this recently and knows how to get it resolved early?

    • Simon says:
      6 Jul6 July 21:29

      Be relentless and keep opening new chat requests. I even phoned the number on the back of the card. The KYC took about 2 months in the end and they were still annoyed about the volumes of hmrc even tho I sent them screenshots of their own website promoting metal and hmrc.

  • Crafty says:
    6 Jul6 July 16:38

    Marriott Bonvoy lists its UK contact number as 800 085 8179. I have tried adding a zero to the front, but this doesn’t work. Does anyone know how to actually call this number? Or have another one (I and my wife have both googled without success, bizarrely enough)?

  • Luke says:
    6 Jul6 July 16:39

    Phoned AMEX to cancel my Platinum – no offers to keep me, cancelled within 2 minutes. I don’t think I’m very profitable… wasn’t using most of the features. Will leave it a week or two and then open the Gold card for the priority pass perk.

  • Tomgold says:
    6 Jul6 July 16:44

    @Lady London
    regarding the canceled BA flight to Lyon you responded about yesterday.
    Firstly, Thanks.
    this is the transcript so far:

    [BA] Thanks for providing your details… There isn’t any flights on the 15th July to Lyon unfortunately. There is on the 16th July? We can also offer you a full refund? Tom
    8:40 AM
    [ME] Hello and thank you for getting back to me.
    I do not want a refund. I need to get to my destination on the specific date.
    If there is no BA flight, that would require you to reroute me to my destination using a different airline as per UK261 formaly EC261.
    Air France for instance, do have a connecting flight to Lyon on the 15th at a similar time.
    These are my legal rights.
    Thank you
    8:59 AM
    [BA] We would only be allowed to rebook you onto flights that we have a affiliation with and Air France isn’t an airline we would be able to rebook you onto unfortuantely. Tom
    1:15 PM
    [ME] well then why don’t you rebook me onto an airline that you are affiliated with?
    ———————————————————————-
    Is this enough for me to go ahead and book new flights already?
    (in reality, I prefer to book myself on my Amex Platinum, so that I get my Travel insurance, and then claim it back from BA)
    Something tells me that if this representative on twitter can’t spell, she most certainly doesn’t know policy or law.

    • Mouse says:
      6 Jul6 July 17:38

      If you book your own flights and then BA offers you Lufthansa via Munich you might be stuck with two lots of flights

    • Sam G says:
      6 Jul6 July 18:15

      There is a Lufthansa option and BA can rebook onto that, tell them to check the customer guidelines. I was thinking Swiss and then arrange a transfer or train was a good option but you all need to be vaccinated to transit Switzerland to another Schengen country

      Otherwise you’re good to go with a rebooking IMO but you’ve got the hassle of the MCOL claim after to deal with

      • Lady London says:
        6 Jul6 July 21:27

        I’d do Paris then train to Lyon it’s same country and very in quick.

        Eurostar might even give group rate for that number of people if you phone. If flight costs unreasonable and you can prove it I’d probably mcol that as the replacement

    • Lady London says:
      6 Jul6 July 21:24

      Try again, phone perhaps, get agent’s “reference” and either record the call or note time/date and their actual refusal.

      Your Twitter person was just trotting out BA’s usual legally incorrect bromide. Get an actual refusal.

      You could look up next best alternative on LX or LH and ask them to reroute you onto that flight – stating you’ve been told they do reroute on those. Make sure you state that’s just something you checked as well as the AF alternative and you are open to any other reasonable reroute on any airline they can give as you need same day of travel as booked as near to original time as possible. Make sure you ask and record refusal /keep notes for each seat you booked – cover them all.

      If they still refuse book alternate transport at current going rate (keep comparative evidence) and send Letter before Action asap and carry on as outlined previously by meta and Jonathan. Because they’re arrogantly denying you such obvious rights include 8% statutory interest on everything in your claim as well as any extra transport and meals they cause you

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

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