The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 28th July

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• Michael C says:

  28 Jul28 July 13:11

  So BA have just cancelled the return leg of my LHR-IOM-LHR with Loganair im August (I believe the route is being permanently eliminated as from 10 Aug, our return is 13 Aug).
  MMB only allows me to seek different dates on same flight, and says nothing available (because I don’t go as far back as 10 Aug, which is of no use to us).
  Before I ring, do BA have to get us back to Heathrow? There is a little asterisk in the email “if you accept a flight to a different airport, we will not cover any costs for reaching your original airport”.
  So I’m guessing I could ask for IOM-BHX with Loganair, getting home ourselves (not bad), or IOM-MAN / MAN-LHR?
  (I can of course just get refund, but LHR outbound already has HEX/hotel involved).

  • Ian_H says:

    28 Jul28 July 13:48

    You have a right to be rebooked – call them and tell them you want IOM-MAN-LHR as that gets you to original destination.

  • Lady London says:

    28 Jul28 July 14:18

    Illegal. BA is indeed legally responsible for all and any costs including ground transport, to get you to and from the exact same airports as your original booking if they cancelled your flight.

    Too bad if they are no longer flying the route or if at the time you booked they no longer have an agreement with someone else to fly you. BA is still responsible for getting you to and from your original airports.

    I am really surprised if BA is making this illegal statement in print, that the CAA isn’t on BA like a ton of bricks shutting down BA from doing that. Regulation of consumer aviation services really needs to be removed from the CAA who are simply not doing their job and apparently just too cosy with BA.

    • Michael C says:

      28 Jul28 July 14:38

      I’d thought that from other posts of yours, LL. Thanks a million as always for the legal insights!
      Will report back after I’ve steeled myself up to the landline being on hold for a couple of hours…

  • John says:

    28 Jul28 July 14:40

    Well, if you accept a different airport they don’t have to cover the transfer costs, but you have no obligation to accept it.

    • Lady London says:

      28 Jul28 July 14:54

      They are responsible for transport from and to the original airport(s). That’s the right a ticket gives.

      Obvs if there is no extra cost involved then this won’t stick and would be unfair. But passenger is perfectly entitled to accept another airport at either origin or destination or both making it subject to extra costs for ground transport or other transport to the new airport being covered.

      Otherwise this being Corsica I suspect OP could MCOL the full costs of rerouting from the original airport via Paris on Air France? Well if BA wants to be that stupid….

      They owe the extra costs incurred to reach any alternative. Notify them up front.

      • Lady London says:

        28 Jul28 July 15:00

        Note rerouting via MAN or anywhere BA can do is also fine. The ticket rights and duties cover origin and destination they have flexibility not to do same intermediate stops. Needs to be as reasonably close as poss to original timing.

        Work with BA and be reasonable but know also that if journey or wait goes over more mealtimes or adds nights then also under duty of care BA owes the cost of these and transport to and from any extra hotel

        • Michael C says:

          28 Jul28 July 17:14

          Quick follow-up: both chat and phone refusing to do me IOM-EDI-LHR (only possible combination) as IOM-EDI is Loganair and “not an airline we have an agreement with”. Will only offer refund, despie me claiming it’s my right to have a reroute.

      • Lady London says:

        28 Jul28 July 15:01

        *sorry not Corsica

        • Nick says:

          28 Jul28 July 18:39

          @LL in this case your anger should be directed at Loganair, not BA, as LM are the operating airline of the flight (and therefore on the hook for EU261). It’s a bit unfair to rant about ‘BA cancelling’ a flight they were never going to operate in the first place…

        • Lady London says:

          28 Jul28 July 20:07

          Nick on the day of flight or shortly before it would be Loganair I would agree.

          However the position now is that OP has purchased a flight under a contract with BA that is subject to the UK261 / EU261 statute ( the statute provisions overriding BA’s
          contract if BA’s contract or practices would offer less)

          As such, having purchased his ticket from origin to destination, passenger has the right of duty of care under EU261 at any time after ticket purchase until and including his flight. For the avoidance of doubt not just within 14 days of the flight. Compensation only operatea within 14 days of flight but duty of care operates even months ahead.

          Accordingly BA is responsible for providing transport fron origin to destination under duty of care which outranks any BA rules, desired practices or incapacities.

          Since you think LM is the more reaponsible Nick then let’s suggest the OP name both BA and LM as defendants at MCOL and let the judge sort it out. (I wouldn’t advise CEDR on this one.)

• Sandra says:

  28 Jul28 July 13:12

  Data Point – IHG 5K bonus points for a 1 night stay by 29 July that appeared in the app for some people March/April then disappeared. I used the missing points form in the members area on the website to query the 5K points not being credited (Spire Elite & usually Ambassador when travelling regularly). Got a reply within 12 hours saying sorry not eligible to which I replied with a copy of the screenshot I had kept, told them if their IT was at fault that is their problem & asked did they really want to lose future custom for the sake of 5K points & that I am becoming increasingly disillusioned with IHG rewards recognition compared to HH. Had a second response within 12 hours awarding the 5K points as a gesture of goodwill. Took about 15 mins of my time in all – It’s the principle that matters not the small amount of points!

  • Pete M says:

    28 Jul28 July 13:30

    I think being Ambassador helps here – a bunch of us succeeded. But someone mentioned the other day they are planning to take them to MCOL as they won’t budge for them…

    • Sandra says:

      28 Jul28 July 13:38

      For the time being Ambassador hasn’t been renewed as not gone/going anywhere to use it but I guess they can look back over the account several years & see past travel etc. I don’t think, even on principle, I could be bothered to MCOL for 5K points though!

      • Pete M says:

        28 Jul28 July 13:43

        Me neither, but I agree with the sentiment that IHG have been behaving quite badly on various fronts recently and perhaps need some firmer prodding!

  • Vin says:

    28 Jul28 July 15:45

    I was told the offer was ‘targetted’ and that I hadn’t registered and hence I wasn’t eligible. Had sent screenshot with original missing points claim.
    I replied that the offer was visible in my IHG App after I had logged in with no facility to register so it was misleading to say that it was Targetted. In their response they state that my comments have been shared with the ‘management team at the IHG Rewards centre’ . That was 2 weeks ago so well done @Sandra for getting something out of them 🙂

• Jody says:

  28 Jul28 July 13:21

  Our easyjet flight to Tenerife on 28th December has been cancelled from Luton. Looks like they’ve cut the schedule from there which is annoying. Currently they’ve put us on the Gatwick flight, but left us as coming back into Luton.

  Think we’ll probably leave it a couple of months to decide what to do and see what’s happening with travel in general. Maybe they’ll release flights for Christmas 2022 before we need to make a decision and we can move it til then!

• Eppleby Green says:

  28 Jul28 July 13:27

  11 sept 2020 I booked BA LHR to Chicago First Class with 2/4/1 and Avios.
  1 July 2021 email from BA say our ‘seats changed due to operational reasons’.
  1 July 2021 email from BA confirming seat change as per my request. I made no such request. Checked MMB and found we had been downgrade to CW because of equipment change ro A350. Contacted Customer Services told them that I did not agree downgrade and requested alternative carrier. No response.
  Several emails back and forth re: compensation, rerouting etc, all of which resulted in a negative response from BA. I reiterated that I did not agree to the downgrade.
  22 July 2021 email from BA informing us booking had been cancelled and offering refund or FTV. Took FTV.
  23 July 2021 FTVS arrived. Phoned BA to rearrange flights to Easter 2022. All done by agent but this is where I think I made a misstep. I did not mention that I still not agree to the downgrade and I accepted seats in CW assuming that the equipment was still an A350!
  Today, 28 July 2021, found out that equipment changed to Boeing 787-9 which as First Class cabin! BA refusing to reinstate my First Class booking.

  Is this right?

  • Pete M says:

    28 Jul28 July 13:32

    Did they ever refund you the difference between F and J?

    • Anna says:

      28 Jul28 July 13:43

      I’m just thinking that – did you check if your FTV was for the original F booking or the downgraded CW?
      Also once the flight was cancelled by BA you could have insisted on being re-routed in F at a later date as you had not accepted the downgrade.
      If you really want to travel in F you could get another FTV and wait and see if any F availability opens?

      • Sam G says:

        28 Jul28 July 14:14

        Shouldn’t need to FTV again , you should have got some Avios back when rebooked for Easter 2022 into J and you can do a free change into the F seats if they open up (set up a seatspy award)

        The misstep was taking the FTV on the 22nd, at this point you still had an F ticket (assuming the downgrade hadn’t been accepted) and you then should have been able to get into F for Easter 2022 without needing Avios seats. As soon as you took the FTV it’s irrelevant what class it was originally for

        • Lady London says:

          28 Jul28 July 14:26

          exactly. you had to stick to your guns wanting First. FTV acceptance (if you accepted and they did not just unilaterally refund or force FTV) broke the chain of your rights to First. Now you have to start again.

          Better would have been to do nothing when they cancelled the flight except call them and have them you still insisted on First and now that cancelled will reroute according to your UK261 / EU261 rights later when you have time to replan – and will call them later – but meanwhile you are not refunding and not taking an FTV

        • Eppleby Green says:

          28 Jul28 July 14:58

          I have never agreed to accept the downgrade! But I did accept the FTV so I assume that I am snookered. BA conned me nicely.

• Panini Boss says:

  28 Jul28 July 13:52

  Anybody got an electricity supplier referral link that they wish to share? Just about to revert to an EDF standard tariff (from another horrible tariff) so need to move supplier forthwith.

  • Ste C says:

    28 Jul28 July 13:55

    Might not be the cheapest for you but if it is:

    https://purepla.net/rfm/gFdQMgcp

  • rams1981 says:

    28 Jul28 July 13:55

    Here’s mine for Igloo: https://refer.igloo.energy/ashanr1786

  • Nick says:

    28 Jul28 July 13:55

    Sure, we get £50 credit each – thanks!
    http://share.octopus.energy/smart-wolf-912

  • Harry T says:

    28 Jul28 July 13:56

    I’ve posted an octopus referral link that will hopefully pass through moderation. We have a fairly complex meter situation and we’ve been pleased with their customer service. You can also reduce your direct debit to £1 a month and use Amex to top up the balance.

    • Rob says:

      28 Jul28 July 13:58

      No it won’t, because you weren’t the first 🙂

      • Harry T says:

        28 Jul28 July 14:04

        Scooped again! 😊

    • DZOO says:

      28 Jul28 July 16:10

      Credit refunds now go back to payment card not bank a/c btw

  • Clive says:

    28 Jul28 July 18:11

    PFP are very competitive and offer £50

    https://refer.pfpenergy.co.uk/clivegeorgef-3

• RTS says:

  28 Jul28 July 13:56

  Has anyone tried getting a green charge card, then ringing through to amex to upgrade to platinum for the 20k points on 4k spend offer?

  • Ste C says:

    28 Jul28 July 14:00

    why not just get someone with the 70k referral offer to send you a link? (I have one if you want it)
    or is it because you aren’t eligible for that one?

    • Benilyn says:

      28 Jul28 July 15:14

      @ Ste C – can you send me a link to, no spaces or asterisk: r o n a k i t a v o d @ g*m*a*i*l .*c*o*m
      If you reply back here so I know what time you sent it in case someone tries to sneak in 😉

      • Ste C says:

        28 Jul28 July 15:18

        Thanks, Just sent the email through to you now.

    • RTS says:

      28 Jul28 July 16:18

      I wasnt aware there was one! Pls can you email me too? r t s 4 j u n k @ g*m*a*i*l .*c*o*m

      Thank you.

      • Ste C says:

        28 Jul28 July 17:38

        Thanks, just sent it. (was driving home)

• Mark says:

  28 Jul28 July 13:58

  Has anyone received their Barclays Premier 25k avios sign up bonus yet? I cant remember how many months after opening the account they were supposed to hit (opened my account in March) so wanted to see if others had received anything yet.

  • Swiss Jim says:

    28 Jul28 July 14:20

    +1 identical circumstances, thoughts. Seems like we’ve been waiting over long…

  • Benilyn says:

    28 Jul28 July 15:15

    ask for your relationship managers email, email them, should be sorted in short order

• Graeme says:

  28 Jul28 July 14:09

  Some twists to my Hertz query yesterday….

  Weeks ago I e-mailed a handul of very high up people begging for help – overnight, someone actually responded having had it passed to them, and they’ve now passed it on to someone else to help.

  However, BA have just cancelled our flight home altogether (and all Bastia flights until May ’22). There’s a flight from another Corsica airport that will work (which I’ll get onto BA about), but that will leave me with a ‘returning the car to a different airport’ fee – can I get BA to pay that under Duty of Care? I assume it’s no different to a ‘late’ fee/extended booking, which we largely agreed was on BA (thanks LL!).

  • Lady London says:

    28 Jul28 July 14:29

    they are responsible for all extra costs to another airport if you agree so same answer as yesterday. Tell them so upfront

    • Graeme says:

      28 Jul28 July 14:34

      Brilliant, thank you. Now I just have the joy of ‘encouraging’ them to book me on Air France flights….

      • Richie says:

        28 Jul28 July 14:41

        Is a fast boat to Nice and then flying from there on BA practical?

        • Graeme says:

          28 Jul28 July 15:07

          At a glance; sadly not quite practical enough. Even so it’ll still involve getting BA to cough up so it’ll be a battle/MCOL job either way. Thanks though.

        • Lady London says:

          28 Jul28 July 15:22

          Keep it reasonable Graeme and ensure to advise BA of approx costs involved and why, upfront.

      • Graeme says:

        28 Jul28 July 15:26

        Thanks LL, I will do. With ferry costs and extra transport there wouldn’t be any saving for BA anyway. The Air France flights I can book are about £150 each – really not the end of the world for them.

        Having spoken to them they’ve said there are no partner re-routing options, but accepted that a one-way fee would be something I could claim back from them. I’ll call later and ask them to book the Air France flights/inform them of costs for their notes.

        • Lady London says:

          28 Jul28 July 20:13

          Keep good notes and dates and times of conversations. More than one report on here of BA agreeing to duty of care then denying the claim when submitted

        • Graeme says:

          28 Jul28 July 20:47

          Well I’ve assumed they’d deny everything and that I’d just have to include it when going through MCOL for EU261 rerouting on the Air France flights (£178 each in the end) – but I’ve made notes (and thank you again!).

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