The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 10th August

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Jonny says:

10 Aug10 August 09:33

In case it helps anyone:
FRANCE & COVID:

LCY-NCE 8 Aug
OLCI unavailable.
LCY Check-in agent (to me) – “thanks for using Verifly, it really speed things up”
LCY Check-in agent at next desk (to another in our party) “What’s Verifly? Can I see your paperwork?”

Flight totally full.

NCE immigration – barely looked at any paperwork, no passport stamp. Through in 5 mins despite being last off plane. EU-line (1 desk) was slower than non-EU line (2 desks).

9 August – Pass Sanitaire rules widened. Restaurant booking advised new rules active when booked by phone, and again when we arrived. Scanned QR codes from our TousAntiCovid apps for each in our party even though eating outside. Waited for one to return from loo so could check all of us!

QR not checked at supermarket late that night.

TousAntiCovid app now does verify, not just recognise NHS QR codes.

Hope Chronomics pre-return LFT accepted by ‘BA’ check-in agents on return flight.
- Gavin says:
  
  10 Aug10 August 11:06
  
  I’ve read that you can now show the NHS QR code directly (the second dose QR) which will also verify with the TAC verify app, so no need to download and use TAC?
  - Jonny says:
    
    10 Aug10 August 13:09
    
    Possibly so, though seems to need fewer clicks to access the QR code in TousAntiCovid than in the NHS App!
- John says:
  
  10 Aug10 August 13:22
  
  No passport stamp may cause problems when leaving (more likely if not leaving from France
R says:

10 Aug10 August 09:46

Marriott Bonvoy 25k spend voucher

Hey guys, did any of you experienced any issues with the voucher? I did not receive one in February. I did not notice until June when I contacted Amex, then Marriott. They said that the issue was the address on my account (billing vs Marriott Bonvoy one – I have two). They said they’d contact Amex to confirm it. It’s been almost 2 months and I still did not receive my free night award certificate.

I have contacted Marriott again about this 3 weeks ago, but still haven’t heard any news or received anything. I’ve phoned them on both occasions (which was surprisingly costly). Is there any way to speed this up/do you have any tips on how to speed up the process?
- meta says:
  
  10 Aug10 August 10:00
  
  I had a similar issue 2-3 years ago when I opened my card. I met the spend in Sept, but voucher was not issued till February. I opened a case with Amex and Marriott and it was resolved in about 2 months after a bit of chasing. The voucher then got the extended expiry date. Since then I earned another one, I had two earned in one year. It actually suits me well as now I can book two nights instead of just one. Perfect for a weekend break. I still haven’t used those as they kept getting extended.
  
  So if you want it to work to your advantage you can wait a bit.
Ant says:

10 Aug10 August 09:49

Melia points – i am struggling to get the points for our F&B spend added to my account. The hotel is saying I need to speak to Melia and when I call the Melia number they advice to complete a claims missing form but even when i did that 3 weeks ago the points are still missing. Any suggestions?
- fivebobbill says:
  
  10 Aug10 August 10:37
  
  Are you calling 0800962720? I had an issue claiming via the online form last week, but when I called this number the guy just asked me for my booking reference and the points were added to my account next day
  - fivebobbill says:
    
    10 Aug10 August 10:39
    
    Sorry, missed the F&B bit…
Ron says:

10 Aug10 August 09:50

I’ve given in! We had a 241 booking for this summer in US, both outbound and inbound flights cancelled. Ability to change flights option disappeared in MMB after the original flights date, so rang BA and agent insisted she can only rebook through FTV and rebook dates must have Avios seat available. Agent was quite rude on the phone, but I can’t be bothered to hang up and ring again and the new outbound date has got 4 CW, so I just let her do it, just hope inbound has 4 CW when it become available. What’s odd though, she said I won’t get any email regarding new flights until I book the inbound, so atm I have no email and nothing in BA App showing we are actually got the seats. The only thing I can see is once she rebooked us, 4 CW disappeared on Avios search, so I guess I just have to trust that’s us!!
- Blindman says:
  
  10 Aug10 August 09:52
  
  I hope you recorded the call.
  - Lady London says:
    
    10 Aug10 August 10:51
    
    +1 Blindman
    With that totally incorrect and bullying response from BA they’d just lose any patience I had with them.
    
    In that conversation : “Is that your final answer then?” . On Yes, Letter Before Action emailed or posted (signed-for) requesting they pass a copy immediately to BA Legal Dept.
    
    Refer to EU261 provisions for rerouting regardless of the availability of award/avios seats. Following BA’s cancellation of my flights booked I require to be rerouted on the following dates and flights as follows [your wanted flight no’s and dates]. Kindly confirm my reroute as above has bern completed within 21 days failing which I shall proceed to purchase flights from an alternative carrier at retail rates and will sue British Airways for the cost. Sincerely, me.
    
    Give them 28 days and file an MCOL for flights with a carrier that is not part of BA’s transatlantic JV. So not BA, IB, AY, EI, AA (that way they know it’ll cost them actual retail cash and not their no-extra-cost internal accounting). This one is open and shut and you’ll win at MCOL with the small fee back and 8% pa interest for any delay.
    
    When BA keeps their staff this nasty and stupid and bullies customers in this way then they lose the right to patience and any forbearance a passenger might have given them. On the rare occasion to have the law clearly on your side and with this systematic abuse still deliberately being perpetrated by British Airways (they’ve had long enough to train their staff) don’t let them waste your time just go for it.
    - Richie says:
      
      10 Aug10 August 11:09
      
      It appears BA continue to act unreasonably as regards EC261, does this contravene something in English Law? I’m not a lawyer.
      - ChrisC says:
        
        10 Aug10 August 14:06
        
        EU261 is UK law and has been since 2005 and nothing has changed other than a couple of minor things such as the compensation are now fixed £ values.
        
        When I did an LBA a couple of years ago I posted it direct to BA legal at Waterside. The specific box number is on the website or if you google “BA Legal depart,ent”
      - JDB says:
        
        10 Aug10 August 14:13
        
        Unfortunately, it’s just a policy of obstruction that a lot of big firms adopt across all sectors and it probably makes 80-90% of customers go away/give up, so the policy is generally annoyingly effective. I helped someone with a complaint to a financial institution recently, the initial proposal was £100 for ‘inconvenience’ which was not the issue at all, after the next letter it was over £25k…
- Anna says:
  
  10 Aug10 August 12:28
  
  The overseas agents can be unbelievably rude,they must have a clause in their contracts saying that as long as they stick to the (often inaccurate and unhelpful) script, they can’t be sacked!
  - Lady London says:
    
    10 Aug10 August 13:31
    
    Who cares? If they dialled a British Airways number and the person answering said they were British Airways and gave an answer on behalf of British Airways then it is not the passenger’s fault British Airways is letting a group of people speak on their behalf they have not correctly trained.
    
    All the better if it is a foreign ca centre because they are unlikely to realise that answering the passenger “Yes, this is our final answer” means it’s perfectly reasonable for the passenger go straight to MCOL without waiting any longer as soon as a representative of BA uses those words. Quite likely a foreign call centre operator would go right ahead and confirm that’s the final answer if asked (culturally and/or not realising full legal significance but not your problem)
    Otherwise, ie if you can’t get them to say final answer, a couple more attempts or letting 8 weeks pass trying and not making progress, would be regarded, for example, as having made reasonable efforts before doing an MCOL. Getting the magic “this is the final answer” or BA refusing to deal with it anymore lets you go straight to MCOL.
    
    The Letter Before Action abd giving them 21 days in writing then in fact doing MCOL after 28 just adds to how reasonable you are especially during Covid.
- Ron says:
  
  10 Aug10 August 17:36
  
  Thanks everyone, I’m glad I’m not wrong about rebooking options! I’ve rang again and a different agent has confirmed seats are held with our bookings and also said once inbound legs are rebooked, I will get email confirmation and will be able to see it in BA App.
  
  I’m not sure if the first agent is from a British call centre or not, but she was quite rude. When I told her I disagree that I need Avios seats available for my new dates, her answer was “have you got the BA policy in front of you?!”, I honestly was shocked! And eventually when I gave in about FTV, she said I will get an email about the FTV number and I wanted to stay on the phone until I get the email, but I still haven’t got the email after few minutes and she said “I said you will get an email, but it may not be instantly!” and she can’t tell me the FTV number. I was like… ok then, someone’s in a bad mood!!
VickyTM says:

10 Aug10 August 09:51

How does a BA e-voucher work if its a cash booking with an avios upgrade? Do you get the avios back and a voucher for the cash element, or is it all tied into the voucher? If it’s all tied into the voucher, does that mean you can only use it on a flight with avios availability for the same value?
Thanks
- Anna says:
  
  10 Aug10 August 12:31
  
  I think FTVs that contain Avios and cash can only be used for new award bookings but this may have changed at some point!
  - idrive says:
    
    10 Aug10 August 15:04
    
    just used FTV, it took me over 5 hrs on the phone (several different calls on hold that got disconnected) but then i spoke to a very nice CS that finalized the new booking.
    -I think that you can not use it for cash booking because at the first call (option 2 -cash booking -after option 1, new ticket) the cash team said “ah no, your FTV is Avios related you need to speak to the Avios team to use it to rebook we do not handle that”.
    -FTV can also choose other bands (i was offered to use more Avios and less cash than original booking) for the new booking but do not know details of redepositing.
Andrew says:

10 Aug10 August 09:53

Millennium & Copthorne has popped on on my BA Blue, £70 on a £200 spend. Just UK hotels showing on their list.
Chris says:

10 Aug10 August 10:06

Is there anyone with IHG Spire who received the 30k bonus this year then subsequently re-qualified for Spire who got their member benefit 30k for re-qualifying?

Just realised I trigged the ~57k point a few months ago and didn’t trigger the usual bonus
- Craig says:
  
  10 Aug10 August 10:34
  
  25k bonus? Was given a few months after status rolled over, I hit 55k a while back. It didn’t trigger again, tried with IHG CS but they weren’t having it. So basically everyone qualifies irrespective of how much you stay or earn.
  - Chris says:
    
    10 Aug10 August 10:49
    
    ah sorry Craig you’re right I meant 25k bonus. Oh well I suspected that was the case and well who can ever be bothered trying to get anywhere with IHG CS 😔
    - Anna says:
      
      10 Aug10 August 12:34
      
      I persisted and got 2 x 25k. I decided they owed it me after making Ambassador so useless this past year and also the insane points pricing we are seeing at the moment!
Guernsey Globetrotter says:

10 Aug10 August 10:17

Data point re Beardy to Solihull £50 test top-up done 06 Aug – it was pending until last night’s app outage but has now cleared with NO sign of any cash advance charge. When I tested Beardy with Che a while back the 5% hit immediately the transaction processed, so fingers crossed that this ‘feature’ remains! 🙂
- Reney says:
  
  10 Aug10 August 10:42
  
  Thanks for the data point. Any one has experience with HMRC and ernie yet?
  
  The problem as you alluded to is this ‘feature’ can disappear at any point and we can’t complain because we have been warned.
  - Sean says:
    
    10 Aug10 August 10:47
    
    still awaiting tx from 6th with ernie to clear from pending.
- Raveon says:
  
  10 Aug10 August 11:07
  
  Trouble is it could change at any moment! Just have to be prepared to take the hit.
  - Reney says:
    
    10 Aug10 August 11:12
    
    Agree!