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The HfP chat thread – Monday 16th August

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Comments (290)

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

  • Memesweeper says:
    16 Aug16 August 13:24

    Obscure Amex ICC question

    Just called up to transfer some UK to ICC USD MRs. I was told this is for the *whole* UK MR balance only… HUACA … or is the rule? Inconvenient but not a show stopper for me …. I guess I can transfer the whole USD MR balance back if I need to do a UK redemption?

    • meta says:
      16 Aug16 August 13:26

      That’s a new one. HUACA. You lose 38% if you transfer back due to exchange rate.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        16 Aug16 August 13:36

        You don’t lose 38%. You’d only lose any difference in exchange between the two transfer dates.

        U.K. MR to USD ICC will be converted at today’s USD exchange rate/GBP. Any transfer back would be the same.

        I know you can only transfer once per year but is that in each direction or any direction?

        • meta says:
          16 Aug16 August 14:31

          Got my thinking wrong. However, lasz time I did it transfer was not instant. It took a day or two. So you do risk some exchange rate fluctuation.

      • Memesweeper says:
        16 Aug16 August 14:08

        HUACA success 😁

        thanks all

    • BJ says:
      16 Aug16 August 13:36

      And when you call back please risk one for the team and ask if we get a pro rata refund when cancelling the ICC 🙂 AFAIK nobody has ever confirmed this.

    • Memesweeper says:
      16 Aug16 August 14:23

      Supplementary question: how long might this GBP to USD MR transfer take?

    • Cabal Of Rabid Baboons says:
      16 Aug16 August 19:31

      you can’t do a reverse transaction for 12 months, its one transaction per year.

  • Roberto says:
    16 Aug16 August 13:33

    Just got a lovely Chesterfield sofa delivered from Argos thanks to the Avios link up with Nectar.

    • BJ says:
      16 Aug16 August 13:41

      I got a £5 ebay voucher … but then got email with 15% off selected merchants (almost certainly not argos) for Nectar members.

      • John says:
        16 Aug16 August 15:32

        I referred myself to paypal and got £20, plus the old account randomly gave me £5 as a “welcome back” because I hadn’t logged in for 2 months

  • Hugo says:
    16 Aug16 August 13:44

    Anyone know whether fast track passport control at stn is worth it? Arriving at 1750 today

    • Pete M says:
      16 Aug16 August 14:01

      Very unlikely – egates are working at most UK airports with no further checks, although haven’t been to STN in a while.

  • Hugo says:
    16 Aug16 August 13:44

    Anyone know whether fast track passport control at stn is worth it? Arriving today

    • Matthew says:
      16 Aug16 August 15:42

      If arriving 2230-0000 then yes. Otherwise it won’t be too long. Normally approx 10-15 arrivals during the hour you are scheduled so unless major problem you’ll be fine.

    • Tony1 says:
      16 Aug16 August 16:02

      Most flights are FR, and from my experience last week ( and talking with gate agents ) they are only about 50% full. So unless there is a lot arriving at same time, and a problem at security, not worth the extra money. HYMMV. We landed on FR at 3pm last Saturday, que small. Time from door open to car park coach 30 mins.

  • fw says:
    16 Aug16 August 13:46

    Reposting my question from last nights thread, I posted it pretty late:

    Hi, anyone got experience with Chronomics for travel to Croatia? Wanted to check that there were no issues with the tests since they are unsupervised. May plan a backup test at the airport just in case otherwise…

  • Tracey says:
    16 Aug16 August 13:50

    Anyone know about short stay parking at LGW North?
    Offspring pre-paid for parking at long stay, but by mistake drove in, and immediately out of the short stay car park. He took the ticket as he went in but the barrier opened as he left (probably within a minute), so he has had no opportunity to pay. Can’t find a way to pay online for short stay parking as supposedly the barrier shouldn’t have opened without payment.
    Left for me to sort out. I could pay the £5 charge for drop off parking online by midnight tonight, but he didn’t drive through the drop off area and the reg recognition for the drop off zone can’t see his car having entered the drop off zone either. So that seems pointless.
    Phone line doesn’t answer and online chat just hangs.

    • Pete M says:
      16 Aug16 August 14:06

      Could it be that as he left so quickly there is no charge? No experience with LGW’s car parks, but TfL, for example, allows for this on an Oyster card.

      • John says:
        16 Aug16 August 15:37

        Not quite true.

        If you exit the same station within 2 minutes you pay double the Z1-6 fare (or if this happens further out than Zone 6, double the fare to Zone 1).

        If you exit the same station between 2 and 30 minutes you pay the fare to the nearest station.

        If you exit the same station after 30 minutes you again pay double the maximum fare.

        However, if you do this up to 3 times a month you may be automatically refunded – but to get refunded you must use your oyster at least once in the next 6 months starting the day after it happens.

        • Mouse says:
          16 Aug16 August 15:52

          How bizarre, why the huge penalty for <2mins?

        • Pete M says:
          16 Aug16 August 16:19

          I stand corrected, although you’re not entirely correct: “Between 0 – 2 minutes: a maximum fare. If you re-enter the same or a different station within 45 minutes, you’ll be refunded. This doesn’t apply if you take a bus or tram before re-entering a station.” Did this change fairly recently?
          https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets-and-oyster/pay-as-you-go/touching-in-and-out

          • Mouse says:
            16 Aug16 August 16:37

            But see also: “You can get a refund if you have been charged for touching in and out at the same station without making a journey. […] We aim to automatically refund you for a same station exit if you have not had one in the last 7 days.”
            https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/refunds-and-replacements/touched-in-and-out-at-same-station

          • MW says:
            16 Aug16 August 18:13

            I hav had to claim this back when I got charged this penalty fare. Basically, got to the station and realised there is no train any time soon, exited and took an uber. They refunded it without too many questions, so wouldn’t worry too much about it.

          • C says:
            16 Aug16 August 22:24

            I used to have this happen all the time at my local station (Network Rail, within the Oyster zone), and rarely got charged. I would enter, see that the next train was delayed, and instead walk to the nearest Tube station. Most of the time there was no charge, and when there was it was easy to get it refunded online. It likely helped that it was my daily commuting route, so usage patterns would show that I made the journey regularly .

    • Tracey says:
      16 Aug16 August 14:13

      Twitter to the rescue. All fine apparently. If the barrier opened he was still within the grace period.

      • Tariq says:
        16 Aug16 August 14:51

        A lot of car parks have this programmed in, particularly if they have dodgy/no capacity monitoring – ie in case you drive in, can’t find a space and then leave straight away.

  • Tim Rogers says:
    16 Aug16 August 14:13

    BA have cancelled my ALC-LHR flight on 10th September.

    There are no other BA metal flights that day, but there is a Vueling codeshare (BA*VY) available, running from ALC to LGW, just a few hours earlier.

    BA are refusing to rebook me on the BA*VY flight free of charge and instead are only willing to offer a BA metal flight on the following day, which isn’t convenient for me.

    What is the process for handling this kind of case?

    • Sam G says:
      16 Aug16 August 14:43

      Book yourself on Vueling. If it’s more expensive then DON’T take the refund but go via CEDR for the Vueling fare under your EU 261 rights of equivalent convenient transport . MCOL is an option but CEDR doesn’t require any initial outlay from you and seems to be working albeit quite slowly

      • Tim Rogers says:
        16 Aug16 August 14:57

        If you’re going to take this route, is there anything you need to tell BA? Do you need any evidence that they refused to rebook you?

      • Tony1 says:
        16 Aug16 August 15:56

        Just be aware that the hand and hold luggage will not be the same as BA, and make allowances for that. Vueling is “known” to weigh hand baggage ( and have in my experience hard seats )

        • Sam G says:
          16 Aug16 August 16:24

          Easyjet is preferable IMO, Vueling is a very bare bones experience!

          • MW says:
            16 Aug16 August 18:04

            I’d say even Ryanair is preferable to Vueling. I travelled with them once (“thanks” to my Corp travel mgmt at the time buying a BA codeshare) – never again.

  • DK says:
    16 Aug16 August 15:01

    Advise needed please. I have a FTV for 2 adults containing 2-1-4. I need to book a trip for both of us plus our son now. Will it work? Any issues?
    It’s not easy to reach BA atm so really want to be prepared before calling.

    • Anna says:
      16 Aug16 August 18:03

      Shouldn’t be a problem to process, but if son is over 2 you would need for there to be a redemption seat available for him as well as the 2 adults.

      • DK says:
        16 Aug16 August 19:13

        Thanks Anna. I know that I need 3 reward seats available as booked for 3 of us before. I am concerned that there will be pricing problems as FTV is for 2 people and 3rd children ticket needs to be added

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

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