The HfP chat thread – Friday 20th August

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• Anna says:

  20 Aug20 August 10:48

  My Chronomics test for returning from Mallorca in a couple of weeks has just arrived – what sort of experiences have people had with them?

  • James W says:

    20 Aug20 August 15:23

    Very good, used Chronomics for ‘return to UK’ test a couple of weeks ago returning from Rhodes. Follow the instructions and you can’t go wrong, the test is nasal only. Take pic of result and upload to Chronomics portal. Within a minute of uploading I received notification that my fit to fly certificate was available for download, assume they must use some form of AI to verify the upload.

    A few weeks earlier I used Qured for return to UK. They were also good but there was the faff of the video meeting. No video with Chronomics, much easier and faster. With the BA discount there’s an excellent £79 bundle rate for the return to UK and Day 2 PCR. Don’t need to be flying BA either, even though they ask for booking reference you can enter any six characters.

• Andrew says:

  20 Aug20 August 10:57

  Just had this through – but I’ve already had a full refund several months back…

  “Dear Guest,

  Thank you for contacting Optiontown.

  We would like to advise you that the BA Flight Pass xxxxxxxx refund has been initiated to your original mode of payment account.

  Please note the transaction details below:

  Refund Amount: £xxx.xx

  It takes few days to appear on your original mode of payment account depending upon your bank policies. We would advise you to please check with your card issuing bank/ account.

  Also, please be advised we are coordinating with BA for the refund of the cancelled booking and shall communicate you the status shortly.”

  • Rob says:

    20 Aug20 August 11:59

    That took a long time ….

  • Aso40 says:

    20 Aug20 August 12:30

    Also just got this for a refund that actually came through in June. They had been ignoring my emails about an outstanding refund for another pass with cancelled flights, so at least used this as an opportunity to get some attention on that!

• MKB says:

  20 Aug20 August 11:10

  Friday morning vent. BA are doing this regularly to me.

  Flying on a weekend break to a destination with a civilised lunchtime-ish departure — BA’s only flight of the day to that destination — and, then, 14 days before, after I’ve firmed up all the ground arrangements either end, the flight is retimed to an early morning departure.

  If BA were consolidating several daily flights into one, I’d get it. But when they only planned to run one flight?

  I guess the truth is it makes no sense to initially schedule a flight at 07:00. If they put it in at 11:00, their +/- 4 hours rule means they can move it to anytime between 07:00 and 15:00 with impunity.

  Night-before hotel at LHR now booked. Just have to work out how I can rebook my destination car rental without taking out a second mortgage….

  • Aristeides says:

    20 Aug20 August 11:55

    Yep, the car rentals are the killer now. This happened to me in Malta and they let me have the car early, which is fine, but I had to beg them to keep the original drop off time. It was really quite generous of them (Hertz franchisee) to do so considering the missed opportunity to gouge.

• Graeme says:

  20 Aug20 August 11:11

  Query regarding Oyster cards. We are going to London in October with 2 under 11 kids. Does a normal Oyster card allow free travel with an adult or is it only visitor Oyster cards that does this? Thanks in advance.

  • PM says:

    20 Aug20 August 11:38

    Normal card is fine, even contactless debit/credit is fine. Kids must be under 11 of course.

    Use wide gates please to avoid injuries.

  • Rob says:

    20 Aug20 August 11:54

    Doesn’t matter.

    Don’t need Oyster cards now, contactless credit cards work fine and are virtually the same pricing (pedants will be along to fill in the gaps 🙂 )

    • KP says:

      20 Aug20 August 13:05

      Makes sense to use oyster if you need railcard discount. Also its easier to track journey details with an oyster

      • Andrew says:

        20 Aug20 August 13:19

        And sometimes to use a paper ticket. There are still a few ticketing anomolies out there.

    • Paul says:

      20 Aug20 August 15:54

      +1 no discernible difference in pricing using Amex and you get points👍

      • Graeme says:

        20 Aug20 August 17:40

        Thanks all, I read somewhere (can’t recall where now) that contactless didn’t allow under 11 to travel free. Thanks for the advice, may not bother with Oyster if that’s the case.

  • Bill says:

    20 Aug20 August 15:17

    National Rail isn’t free

• YC says:

  20 Aug20 August 11:25

  If an IHG hotel decided to upgrade your room due to status, will this show up in the app like Marriott? Or you will only find out on arrival?

  • AnotherUser says:

    20 Aug20 August 11:29

    Varies depending on the hotel, I’ve found

  • meta says:

    20 Aug20 August 11:30

    Yes, it will unless they upgrade you when you arrive at check-in. Then it might not.

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    20 Aug20 August 13:04

    If they upgrade you before arrival then it shows in the app.

    If they upgrade you at check-in, then no.

• Graeme says:

  20 Aug20 August 11:26

  Any chance of a Hilton sale soon or inside knowledge Rob??

• Harry T says:

  20 Aug20 August 11:29

  Data point: received my HSBC card with a letter saying the annual fee was £0.00 but I’ve been charged the fee with the statement now, about 19 days after opening the account.

  Has anyone in a similar position contacted HSBC to complain/appeal and had a successful outcome?

  • KBuffett says:

    20 Aug20 August 11:33

    This was covered by a couple of people in the last few days.
    I would have no hesitation raising a complaint and continuing to escalate if you’ve got a letter stating the fee is £0
    They simply cannot make errors like that and then charge you.

    • Sam G says:

      20 Aug20 August 13:28

      Someone reported they did get the fee refunded. I don’t particularly think you’ve got a leg to stand on otherwise (as someone who has recently paid it!) , all through the application process it’s stated at £195

      • Harry T says:

        20 Aug20 August 13:51

        The letter saying £0 for the annual fee is at best misleading, though. I agreed to pay the £195 annual fee when signing up but was then given the impression it would be waived. And we know a lot of people have had their annual fee waived this year!

• AnotherUser says:

  20 Aug20 August 11:31

  I’m flying back from Spain soon. Anyone recently travelled back with a lateral flow (rather than PCR) pre travel test? No issues after the government ‘advice’ to get a pre-travel PCR?

  • PM says:

    20 Aug20 August 11:41

    No issue at Stansted. You will have your PCR anyway on day 2.

    • AnotherUser says:

      20 Aug20 August 12:46

      Thanks PM!

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    20 Aug20 August 12:25

    By extension – any recommended antigen tests that you could get while already over here?

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