The HfP chat thread – Thursday 8th July

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

• Oli says:

  8 Jul8 July 16:07

  I’ve raised a claim with BA to pay for replacement flights that I purchased with AF following the cancellation of the BA flights. They refused to pay for the AF flights. In my last email, I asked if it was their final answer before I raise a claim with MCOL; they responded suggesting I should complain to the CDER.
  I think there is a consensus from HfP readers that MCOL is better in this case. Can i still do MCOL even if BA suggested CDER?

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    8 Jul8 July 16:10

    You can always do MCOL. CDER is free though.

  • meta says:

    8 Jul8 July 16:12

    Yes! They said that to me and I still went with MCOL. They like CEDR because it doesn’t cost them extra. Please also claim interest and any postage costs as well.

    • meta says:

      8 Jul8 July 16:13

      MCOL is also free to you because if you win or settle, BA will pay the fee.

    • Lady London says:

      9 Jul9 July 00:17

      CEDR arbitrator is allowed to make a decision they think reasonable. They are not limited to what’s actually law. So if your case is dodgy do CEDR.

      MCOL is court. Judge is obliged to follow the law. So if the law in your case is strong, unquestioningly do MCOL.

      Much, much more chance of a perverse decision at CEDR. Though currently feedback seems to be that CEDR cases are being heard rather sooner than MCOL.

      If I had the law on my side (and EU261 is strong law and track record here of it being enforced) I wouldn’t go near CEDR. I would not be looking for favours, and would not want to take the risk of a perverse decision by CEDR.

• Eligold says:

  8 Jul8 July 16:11

  After getting nowhere on Twitter, and following @Lady London’s expert advice I called BA this morning (with recording) and after all the beating round the bush, he eventually conceded that indeed they DO have a partnership with Lufthansa and he offered me the flight on the same day.as my cancelled BA to Lyon, France.
  It’s eight of us, and costing BA a pretty penny but then who asked them to cancel the flight.
  It’s a long connection which means we’ll be travelling all day which is super annoying but, tough!

  My remaining issue with this is that I assume I won’t be covered by my platinum insurance, since the flights won’t be booked on my credit card. (I didn’t even book my original avios flight with my platinum, as I didn’t have it yet, and booked originally just to keep hold of the seats at 50p a booking and planned on canceling and rebooking at £17.50 plus avios)

  • meta says:

    8 Jul8 July 16:15

    Result! It actually costs them probably about the same as your original tickets because they have agreement with Lufthansa and are not paying the publicly available rates.

    • Eligold says:

      8 Jul8 July 16:38

      Good point

    • Lady London says:

      9 Jul9 July 00:24

      guessing about 10%.

      A lot, lot less than if you’d paid Air France and charged BA.

      Note that now your journey is longer, and especially if you have to change in Frankfurt in time beyond your original journey, after the flight don’t forget to put in your receipts for reasonable meal/refreshment costs if they were at times you’d have already landed on your original booking.

      Even with these expenses ‘duty of care under EU261/UK261’ BA should be grateful to you for the money you’ve saved them.

      • Tomgold says:

        9 Jul9 July 00:52

        we’ll actually be arriving only an hour later than had we gone with BA, but we’ll need to leave much earlier, which is terribly annoying but better than nothing

  • Alan says:

    8 Jul8 July 22:19

    Re Amex ins. I was in a similar position a couple of months ago and rang them to see if I would be covered.

    The CS rep couldn’t help but transferred me to their underwriters at Axa, who confirmed that not having the Ames Plat at the time of booking was an acceptable reason for not using it and that we would be covered.

    • Tomgold says:

      9 Jul9 July 00:51

      that’s very interesting.
      I spoke to someone on the out of hours emergency team, she reckoned that since this is only a very small part of a bigger trip, which is mostly on the Platinum, i should be okay, but she couldn’t confirm and suggested that I call back in the morning

• David says:

  8 Jul8 July 16:12

  Is Mexico the best / most feasible destination for a last minute long haul trip this summer following today’s announcement?

  Minimal entry requirements versus Asia, Caribbean etc.

  Risk seems to be it could be added to the red list – likely?

  Any other suggestions? Got Avios and 241s burning a hole in my pocket and ideally want something further afield than Europe.

  • JDB says:

    8 Jul8 July 16:57

    Mexico is great. We have been there in December for four of the last five years. I’m not sure where in the country you are thinking of, but on the Pacific coast where we go (Zihuatanejo) the weather is apparently quite unpleasant in the summer. The temperature doesn’t change much all year round, but in the summer months it is very humid, quite a lot of storms + mosquitoes! I’m not sure about the Caribbean side. Worth checking before you book.

• TimM says:

  8 Jul8 July 16:16

  Possibly a little late in the day but I will try anyway.

  Before travelling from Kalamata, Greece to Manchester via Heathrow on Saturday, BA have said that under English quarantine rules we cannot leave airside at Heathrow.

  BA cancelled our original flight on Sunday and there is no same-day connection. We are rebooked KLX-LHR on Saturday then LHR-MAN Sunday with the advice from BA to book our own hotel and claim the costs back from ‘Customer Relations’ which we did.

  Now we are told by BA we cannot leave airside by law. I have contacted BA and they say they have helped us in rebooking our flights but we must still comply with the Covid regulations, i.e. stay on the airside of T5 even though it will close overnight.

  Suggestions?

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    8 Jul8 July 16:22

    Not seen any law that prohibits you leaving the airport.

    Indeed, you can self-isolate that one evening in a hotel I’d have thought. Just need to put it on your passenger locator form.

    Sounds like them trying to save some cash by not putting you up in a hotel.

  • Jonathan says:

    8 Jul8 July 16:22

    That’s ridiculous. You won’t be able to remain airside overnight unless you try & hide in a toilet cubicle! It’s a transit and as per rules you can go landside (even transfer to a different airport) to facilitate this. They’re confusing Amber & Red rules.

  • Sam G says:

    8 Jul8 July 16:43

    It’s specifically allowed in the regulations

    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-quarantine-when-you-arrive-in-england#changing-the-place-where-youre-quarantining

    “it’s necessary and permissible for you to stay overnight at accommodation before travelling to the place where you will be quarantining for the remaining period”
    “If this happens, you must provide full details of each address where you will quarantine on the passenger locator form.”

    • TimM says:

      8 Jul8 July 17:30

      Sam G,

      Many thanks. I will proceed on that basis and hope for the best.

      • Lady London says:

        9 Jul9 July 00:32

        ….make sure you claim hotel, transport to and from hotel, meals and refreshments (non alcohol), wifi at hotel, from BA under duty of care EU261/UK261.

        Best if you call them now and make a point of asking them to provide hotel etc. Technically you have to give them a chance to refuse otherwuse your claim could be rejected. Record or take notes immediately of who you spoke to “agent ref.”, time and date.

• Crafty says:

  8 Jul8 July 17:05

  London weekend away with my wife, no children no dog, our only chance at this for many months. 2x IHG free nights. Kimpton Fitzroy or IC Park Lane? Any others I should consider?

  • TJ says:

    8 Jul8 July 17:40

    Are your free nights capped at 40k points? You won’t get the Park Lane for 40k and best I’ve seen Kimpton recently is around 46k points. The various London Indigos are all worth checking out however and can be secured for less the 40k cap.

    • Crafty says:

      8 Jul8 July 17:59

      Why would they be capped? I don’t think so. They’re from the IHG Premium credit card.

      • Pete says:

        8 Jul8 July 18:30

        40,000 capping is for the free night from Ambassador promotion

  • DJ says:

    8 Jul8 July 19:57

    IC Park Lane, if you have the ambassador status. I’ve just used my 2x IHG vouchers to book with Park Lane. They have already upgraded the room to Superior room.

    There’s no guaranteed upgrade if you book your stay with Kimpton.

    • Toppcat says:

      8 Jul8 July 20:17

      I’m not a massive fan of IC Park Lane. The rooms are *small*. Depends what part of London you want to be in as well – the IC is obviously great for Hyde Park and surrounds, Kimpton for Bloomsbury/British Museum, other IHG hotels will be better for Soho / Covent Garden / St Paul’s / East End etc.

      • Toppcat says:

        8 Jul8 July 20:18

        I should say I have never stayed at the Kimpton, so don’t have a view on that. I would probably go with the Kimpton for that reason!

        • Crafty says:

          8 Jul8 July 20:57

          Would anyone take a punt on the IC O2 reopening by first weekend of October?

      • David says:

        9 Jul9 July 02:17

        Kimpton rooms are tiny (base rooms that are bookable with free night certs).

    • ianM says:

      9 Jul9 July 00:02

      Stayed at the Park Lane a few weeks back – it was terrible, small room twin beds like skateboards. I’d be disappointed if I’d paid £350 for that.

  • @mkcol says:

    9 Jul9 July 20:17

    I had exactly the same scenario, but with my husband 😉

    I plumped for the Kimpton.

• Tariq says:

  8 Jul8 July 17:17

  Never seen them in there, I assume it’s because they are too much of a competitor for Argos (part of the same group)

  • ThinkSquare says:

    8 Jul8 July 18:30

    Good point, but I think I’d struggle to spend £300 at Argos. Guess it’s going to have to be stocking the wine rack instead 🙂

    • Kevin C says:

      8 Jul8 July 19:33

      I couldn’t find Amazon so bought a John Lewis voucher. I got the rebate just fine.

• Travel Strong says:

  8 Jul8 July 17:20

  No joy on with Brighton Amex Platinum retention attempt today (“nothing can offer you on this occasion”). Got retention points in March though (a week before annual renewal), and will try again in 1 month before I cancel for real.

  • Andrew says:

    8 Jul8 July 17:25

    Any mention of offers coming our way with the current £175 expiring next week?

    • Travel Strong says:

      8 Jul8 July 17:35

      Nope and I did ask. They were keen to remind/make sure I had used the £175, but were unaware of anything coming down the line. I am about to use Donald Russell and IHG offers on the card, so it was a bluff this time… but won’t be if USA is still closed to me through August. If that happens my travel plans won’t kick off again until April and keeping Platinum won’t pay off.

• Maximus says:

  8 Jul8 July 17:26

  Curve has just emailed out changes to their product: Curve send will close on 6 September, and go back in time will only work for transactions from the last 30 days.

  • Crafty says:

    8 Jul8 July 17:27

    Plus Commercial cards to only now be used for business purposes – think this will mean annoying admin for many!!

    • sprackish says:

      8 Jul8 July 18:06

      I have one of the old cards which says ‘Commercial’ – I could fudge things because I’ve got my own Ltd Company but I really actually only ever use Curve to manage spend via personal cards. What annoying admin do you envisage? The email states to get in touch with them in order to get a consumer card free of charge. Other than that do you expect there to be any other difference in how we can use Curve?

  • Travel Strong says:

    8 Jul8 July 17:38

    Curve send looked like a good wheeze if you had a willing Player 2. The Curve Cash received can be used to pay Amex without fronted fee’s on Curve Blue.

  • Maximus says:

    8 Jul8 July 18:52

    I also have one the “business” branded cards. Why did they issue me this card in the first place?

    • Rob says:

      8 Jul8 July 19:09

      Because they can charge substantially more to retailers.

      • KBuffett says:

        8 Jul8 July 19:18

        Can an individual get both cards?

        • Rob says:

          8 Jul8 July 21:13

          The impression from the email today is that you could have both to separate business and personal spend.

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