The HfP chat thread – Friday 20th August

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Steven says:

20 Aug20 August 19:09

Evening everyone.

I have a flight booking which BA had to reroute me on following a small claims court saga but I may now need to cancel.

Does anyone have any experience of how BA treat this?

Does it follow the original flight booking?
ChrisC says:

20 Aug20 August 19:10

Q re BA Hols

What are experiences on getting refunds for a holiday made with a mix of cash and an FTV?

Full cash refund of everything?

Refund of cash but FTV returned as another FTV?

Ta.
- Harry T says:
  
  20 Aug20 August 19:23
  
  Should be a cash refund, from what I understand, if the FTVs were all cash. Of course, BA IT may conspire to create a mess!
  - ChrisC says:
    
    20 Aug20 August 19:30
    
    That wa my understanding as well but Bremen are saying different.
    
    I’m taking the cash refund and voucher at the moment and will dispute with BA Hols management at Waterside on that and a couple of other issues over what I was told, then did then told that I ‘misunderstood’
    
    It seems Bremen use different rules than UK & RoI
    - Harry T says:
      
      20 Aug20 August 20:38
      
      Did you cancel the holiday or did they? It might be different if it’s a voluntary cancellation but obviously it’s a messy affair. In the event of a cancellation by BA, my understanding is you are entitled to refund of the paid balance in cash. I hope this doesn’t turn into a drawn out palaver for you!
      - ChrisC says:
        
        20 Aug20 August 21:02
        
        They cancelled flights on both trips I had booked – week after I booked so I had a snit and decided not to go so asked for a refund but they said it had to be cash and deposit.
        
        It’s been a palava from the start to be honest hence writing to BA Hols HQ next week to make management aware.
        
        I’ve recovered from my snit and rebooked anyway. Saved £150 over the 2 ex AMS trips so silver linings!
      - BJ says:
        
        20 Aug20 August 21:18
        
        They cancelled, you’re entitled to all your money back period, this is not monopoly we’re playing.
Ruth4325 says:

20 Aug20 August 19:47

I’m just about to cancel flights in October to Athens and wanted to double check I know the implication of what I’m doing! I am cancelling a CE booking made using 2x241s EDI-ATH (I had a surfeit of 241s 🙂 ). If I cancel the flights and take a future travel voucher everything – vouchers avios and money is wrapped up in that voucher for me to use a future date in 2022 or 2023 – as far as I know. Is there a cancellation fee when I cancel and is there anything stopping me using the FTV (with the 2 ‘old’ i.e. pre 1st september 241 voucher) on a reward flight say to Japan next year? I’m not combining old and new 241 vouchers, so presume this is ok, just have to pay the extra avios and money? I do know that having the FTV might make it harder to secure the 4 reward seats due to the admin involved. Has anyone actually tried to redeem a FTV with 241s at midnight +365?
- ChrisC says:
  
  20 Aug20 August 20:36
  
  If you just cancel and have everything returned to your account then yes there is the admin fee to pay
  
  If you cancel and take the FTV there are NO admin fees to pay. (note if BA cancel and you want everything back there is no fee so it might be worth waiting until closeer to scheduled departure to see if that happens)
  
  When you come to use the FTV for (say) Japan then yes you pay the additional avios and cash
- BJ says:
  
  20 Aug20 August 21:28
  
  To add to what Chris replied, just be careful with the expiration dates of your 241s. If these are compromised then the FTV route extends them into spring 2023. Be aware that the FTV if taken needs to be used for those named.
  - AJA says:
    
    20 Aug20 August 22:14
    
    The FTV is now valid until end of Sep 2023. BA extended validity earlier this month. Rob did an article about it.
    
    https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2021/08/04/british-airways-future-travel-voucher-extension/
    - BJ says:
      
      20 Aug20 August 22:20
      
      Thanks, seem to have missed that one.
Toby says:

20 Aug20 August 19:48

How do I ensure HSBC prem tell me about the offers on account? I’ve checked marketing opt ins (that I can find)….

I just found this Uber Eats one by accident:

“Get 50% off your next 2 Uber Eats orders (maximum £10), when you pay with your HSBC Premier, Premier World Elite, or Rewards Credit Card.”

https://www.hsbc.co.uk/credit-cards/products/premier/promotions/cash-back/
- Memesweeper says:
  
  20 Aug20 August 21:13
  
  “ To be eligible for the promotion, apply the code in the Uber Eats app “ …
  
  what code?
Sukes says:

20 Aug20 August 20:30

I wanted to feedback a very positive experience of Ryanair rebooking process. Notified this a’noon of cancellation of return Oct BHD-AGP (route now appears dropped entirely & will end 13 Sept). Cancellation email set out very clearly & in full my EU261 rights and attached the full EU261 text. Email also informed that in addition to my EU261 rights I could move the flights to any other route on the RYA network within -/+ 14D of original dates for no change fee + no fare difference. The latter benefited me more than EU261. So through ‘MMB’ I was able online to change to a different departing country. Fares selling at more than cancelled fare cost had zero additional charge attached. Fares selling at less than cancelled fare cost were going to have the difference refunded to me, which must be a RYA first! All done online in less than a minute, email confirmation received instantly, & my add-ons for luggage have been automatically moved to the new flights. New flights currently sell at double what I paid for the original flights. Also saved myself a 2.99% Amex FX fee. In all can’t fault Ryanair’s communication, options and self-service rebooking process today.
- Harry T says:
  
  20 Aug20 August 20:39
  
  Nice, glad to hear it!
  - Sukes says:
    
    20 Aug20 August 20:48
    
    Cheers Harry T, fingers crossed no more cancellations…having read other posters ongoing misery with BA call centres I’m loathe to book anything with BA that would leave me with an FTV rather than an eVoucher. Rya impressed me today (apart from dropping their new bhd-agp route lol).
    - BJ says:
      
      20 Aug20 August 21:38
      
      To be fair to BA I’ve had zero problems with them until the phone lines this week, and that was short-lived thanks to HfP. Still, good to hear something positive about Ryanair for a change, in truth the media’s bark is probably a lot worse than Ryanair’s bite and as we know MOL craves news, even bad stuff.
    - Harry T says:
      
      20 Aug20 August 22:19
      
      Tbf Ryanair don’t often cancel flights, IME. Good luck, anyway!
- Lady London says:
  
  20 Aug20 August 21:04
  
  Well done Sukes.
- Memesweeper says:
  
  20 Aug20 August 21:17
  
  I’ve had two excellent experiences today, a Qatar cancellation and a Singapore non-standard booking. Both online except the final part of the SQ booking when they phoned me to collect a card number for payment. If the same had needed to be done with BA I’d have been on the phone for hours and hours.
  - BJ says:
    
    20 Aug20 August 21:42
    
    Nonsense, just 1h 2m … then you would have been disconnected 🙂
    - BJ says:
      
      20 Aug20 August 22:23
      
      Only x3 for me and even that was demoralising.
- AJA says:
  
  20 Aug20 August 22:36
  
  Since we are talking service recoveries I want to give a very positive shout out to Warner Leisure Hotels. 3 weeks ago I booked a 3 night break for this weekend for me and my mum (it is a birthday present for my mum). Yesterday they phoned to let me know that unfortunately they had to cancel due to a covid outbreak at the hotel. As a service recovery they offered to move my mum and I for free to another of their hotels (she chose Studley Castle near Stratford upon Avon) AND refunded the full cost of the original holiday. Very impressed.
SteveC says:

20 Aug20 August 21:39

Can gift cards be bought with nectar points at Sainsbury’s ?
- BJ says:
  
  20 Aug20 August 21:47
  
  Not any more I’m afraid, used to be very useful. No harm in trying I suppose but I think people reported that the tills had been reprogramed to prevent it.
  - Andrew says:
    
    20 Aug20 August 22:20
    
    And at Argos?
    - BJ says:
      
      20 Aug20 August 22:25
      
      I’ve never tried Argos. Does Argos ebay sell giftcards, would that work?
      - Andrew says:
        
        20 Aug20 August 22:47
        
        Gift cards are supposed to be blocked from nectar redemption on eBay regardless of who sells them – of course depends if they have been properly listed as a gift card though.
BJ says:

20 Aug20 August 22:49

Bollinger Special Cuvee £27ish at amazon with a special subscribe and save offer. Seems to be a £20 discount on supermarket prices. I’m not a drinker so apologies if I’m missing something. I guess it might come in handy when calling BA.
- Will says:
  
  21 Aug21 August 05:19
  
  Does anybody pay full price for champagne these days? 25% off would be minimum discount to look for. Having said that £26 per bottle of Bollinger is a good deal and I have taken it up.
Amy says:

20 Aug20 August 23:13

Has anyone had Clubcard points credited for the amazing tesco credit card deal with hotels.com that Rob shared last month?
- Will says:
  
  21 Aug21 August 05:17
  
  Think it takes something like 14 weeks to credit