The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 18th August

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Chris says:

18 Aug18 August 10:15

EDI-BGI went on sale this morning, just £5-£7k for Upper Class this winter….can’t see that route lasting long at those prices
- ChrisC says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 10:27
  
  Takes a couple of days for the cheaper fare buckets to be loaded.
- Andrew says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 10:32
  
  On the other hand, going out on the 2nd January, back on the 11th January for £475 (sitting at the back of the plane) sounds like a welcome relief to the misery of Scotland in January.
David S says:

18 Aug18 August 10:20

With yesterday’s reported changes to the BKK flight times, the return flight is over 12 hrs later than originally booked. Is BA on the hook for providing comp for an extra days stay ? Any thoughts from the community as to whether BA will tag Phuket onto the overall flight plan – would save us booking additional separate flights.
- Richie says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 10:33
  
  The new flight timings are much better, they seem to revert back to previous operations’ timings.
- Sam G says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 10:35
  
  you won’t be staying an extra night as it’s switched from mid morning to late night departure, so no compo will be due
  
  I think there is a good chance of Phuket being added if BKK arrivals need hotel quarantine still. I certainly wouldn’t book any internal flights yet as travel rules/flights between Bangkok & Phuket keep changing & it’s been harder to get cash refunds in Asia generally even when flights are cancelled
  - David S says:
    
    18 Aug18 August 10:45
    
    Thx – had planned to go from hotel to airport so most of the day without a hotel room is the issue. Although a night flight is good news
    - Richie says:
      
      18 Aug18 August 11:14
      
      Late check out options seem to be more plentiful in Bangkok than other cities.
      - Clive says:
        
        18 Aug18 August 12:01
        
        or you could book rooms on an hourly rate 😁
      - Sam G says:
        
        18 Aug18 August 12:40
        
        LOL yes indeed!
        
        Bangkok is definitely one of the better cities for arranging a late check out deal in my experience, hotels there are rarely full & they’re usually extremely accommodating, especially if you book direct or one of the agent programs.
        
        Otherwise I’ve booked a cheapo hotel near my main hotel if I didn’t fancy paying for a late check out or full night if my main hotel was pricey. Dumped my stuff there in the morning, gone about my day and then gone back and checked in and had a shower/rest before heading to the airport. I’ve even stayed the first night in the same hotel before if we were going somewhere swanky or to a villa etc and I was arriving late at night, I hate paying top whack for a night I’ll barely use!
    - Blenz101 says:
      
      18 Aug18 August 13:42
      
      I’m sure the hotel will look after your luggage. If they make a charge for it (50bht?) then BA will compensate you 😊
- Aston100 says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 11:38
  
  There was mention of BKK turning into a seasonal route. What is the season in this case?
  Has there been historic low demand in UK school summer holidays? I appreciate it will be wet weather over there at the time, but enough to discourage UK tourists?
  - Sam G says:
    
    18 Aug18 August 11:56
    
    IIRC it was going seasonal even before COVID, the same time it switched to 787. They can send the aircraft to the US nearly twice in the same no. of hours in their peak summer instead. Most people head to Thailand to escape the Euro winter as it’s hot/wet in most of the country in our summer.
    
    The season next year ends at the end of April and will likely then restart the last Sunday of Oct when BA switches to it’s winter schedule.
    - Aston100 says:
      
      18 Aug18 August 17:01
      
      Thank you Sam.
- Polly says:
  
  19 Aug19 August 12:38
  
  Refused to tag us on to kul from sin
LessCleverAndrew says:

18 Aug18 August 10:21

241 extension question:

My 241 (issued May 2019) originally was due to expire May 2021, then was extended to November 2021. If I understand it correctly it is due one more 6-month extension to May 2022? Or would that be two extensions to November 2022?

Reason for asking is that I have used it to book a trip this August that I now need to cancel – but I can’t currently see the extension status so cant make an informed decision whether to cancel versus convert to an FTV.
- JohnT says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 16:32
  
  Thought you could see all 241s on desktop ba site?
  - Rob says:
    
    18 Aug18 August 16:54
    
    You can, used and unused.
Triath5 says:

18 Aug18 August 10:30

Getting rusty with my understanding of BA Silver tier benefits.

I’m booking a UK – US (West Coast) flight looking at Economy and comparing prices. For the privilege of adding 1 checked bag I’m being charged almost 25% more of the fee, which is surreal and no longer makes the price a slam dunk. I thought Silver’s baggage allowance would cover this, so looking to the hive mind for the best way of doing this.

Looks like Silver’s baggage allowance doesn’t apply to HBO fares – what’s the point then? It’s practically a useless benefit as you’d always end up buying the fare with a bag.

There’s 2 of us travelling, and Player 2 has no status. So I guess a scenario could be I buy the 1 x ticket WITH baggage (plus Silver 2 x 23kg bags) and P2 a HBO fare only but we can share the allowance?

I know it’s a bit of a rant, I just really am struggling to like BA these days.
- John says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 10:34
  
  HBO means HBO for all, so yes if you have 2+ bags you should do what you suggest.
- ChrisC says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 10:44
  
  Golds don’t get status baggage allowance on a basic / HBO Y fare either.
  
  Share the allowance as you let him put his stuff in one case?
  
  That;s fine but you’d need to check it in under your name / allowance.
  - Pete M says:
    
    18 Aug18 August 11:06
    
    And don’t tell the check-in person what you are doing – it will send them into a total spin otherwise!
- marcw says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 13:11
  
  Fly with AA and then you get free luggage even on basic economy.
  - Jonathan says:
    
    18 Aug18 August 16:22
    
    This. Book AA metal using a BA codeshare & you get the status based luggage allowance even on HBO. Trade off is slightly reduced Avios earnings.
- Louise K says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 15:09
  
  If you need a car / hotel even for 1 day/ night then book a BAH and the price includes a bag. Worth comparing v flight only.
Benilyn says:

18 Aug18 August 10:47

Anyone stayed at Shard Shangri-La on a rainy day – if so how was it? My booking looks like its going to be rainy 🙁
- Mouse says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 11:32
  
  Depends on the cloud level – as long as the clouds are high enough it’s still fun in the rain
- Michael C says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 11:47
  
  It will still be dramatic. And you can justifiably fill your face in Borough Market all day!
Anna says:

18 Aug18 August 10:54

BA Twitter – I booked the inbound of a 241 trip separately (minimal difference in “taxes” on that route), couldn’t face calling to ask for the half avios back so asked via Twitter, After a few days got a response asking for all the details. Sent all the details, few days later got a response saying can’t be done on Twitter, please call. I tweeted back saying calling impossible and you absolutely can do this on Twitter. Few more days later avios back in account! Long drawn out but better than an hour on hold then getting cut off.
- Matt M. says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 11:05
  
  That’s interesting Anna thank you. I’m in the same boat so will give that a try.
Vit says:

18 Aug18 August 11:01

Hello all, new to hotel points game. Having a small stash of IHG points. Never had opportunity to use them. I am looking to visit a friend in Brum and we are planning to spend new year’s eve in Liverpool — hoping to see firework. I can see that Holiday Inn Express Liverpool – Royal Albert Dock charge £201 or 35k points per night on 31st — which means my point value is around 0.57p per point. Is my math correct? I see somewhere Rob values IHG point at 0.4p. Booking point also allows me free-cancellation too which is what we prefer.
- ChrisC says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 11:20
  
  That’s what I calculate it to be as well.
  
  I also value them as 0.4p based on spending £1,600 for 400,000 of them.
- Harry T says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 11:21
  
  I make it 0.56p, which is pretty good for IHG these days. If the stay is important to you and you value the flexibility, I think it makes sense to use points.
- Aston100 says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 11:39
  
  Also keep an eye on pricing for the nearby Staybridge and the very impressive Indigo.
- Vit says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 12:10
  
  Thanks all. Very good to hear!
  
  @Aston, was looking at indigo but no reward night available (£175 a night) while staybridge is 42k points!
- John says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 14:10
  
  It’s 0.57p per point if you would be willing to pay £201 for an HIX. I would not.
  
  If you agree with 0.4p per point, you could consider that you’re getting the room for £140 (but no points earned)
Stephen says:

18 Aug18 August 11:17

Does anyone know if American Express business cards show up on personal credit file? I’ve checked CreditKarma which only shows my personal card, but mortgage lender is saying there is something unexplained on the report (and they cannot say what it is). American Express were unable to give a clear answer when I spoke to them yesterday
- Memesweeper says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 11:36
  
  Lenders can be really unhelpful, and sometimes can’t tell you which agency gave them the information that is poorly reflecting on you.
  
  Checkmyfile.com (free for 30 days) gives you chapter and verse from all of the big four. Useful if considering a mortgage application.
- Memesweeper says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 11:38
  
  … it’s unlikely to be Amex. They rarely ‘hard’ check existing customers applying for new products in my experience.
  - Jonathan says:
    
    18 Aug18 August 16:25
    
    They don’t run a hard search usually but they still report all your accounts balance/payment history so could be the source of the problem if a late payment etc on a business card.
- Rob says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 12:16
  
  Card has personal liability so they will treat it like a personal application.