The HfP chat thread – Thursday 26th August

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• PointsChaser says:

  26 Aug26 August 13:36

  I will be picking my wife up at LHR T2 arriving on a UA flight from SFO on Monday. Not sure how long it will likely take for her to clear immigration. Have things returned to “normal” where you would expect to clear in 30 – 60 minutes or is there a reasonable chance for long queues taking > 60 minutes?

  • John says:

    26 Aug26 August 15:28

    Apparently longer queues now because some immigration staff have been sent to process the arriving refugees

    • Lawro says:

      26 Aug26 August 17:51

      Family members had a 3-hour wait last night at LHR – apparently due to the above reason…

      • Rob says:

        26 Aug26 August 17:51

        I paid a substantial premium to fly into City next Sunday vs Heathrow – looks like I made the right choice.

• C says:

  26 Aug26 August 13:36

  Will BA cover the hotel cost if they have moved my LGW to LHR and now I will have to connect the night before and have an overnight in LHR. Thanks

  • LS says:

    26 Aug26 August 14:09

    They should cover it, but in reality will not without you suing them through MCOL

    • Lady London says:

      26 Aug26 August 15:09

      …and then you will win and get your fee back (plus 8% pa statutory interest if you remember to add it to your claim) as well as all your reasonable costs for meals, refreshments (no alcohol, transport to and from hotel, comms (eg a couple of phone calls, or hotel internet) etc., if your journey is now longer because of this.

  • Sam G says:

    26 Aug26 August 15:07

    If it’s one single ticket and it wasn’t previously an overnight connection it should be a straight forward EU 261 duty of care claim after travel for hotels and meals excl alcohol via the BA customer service web form

    Don’t forget to check options again – what you’ve been auto rebooked onto might not be the most sensible option. Also consider leaving the booking for now without accepting the changes – this gives you a free pass to cancel for cash, change dates or take advantage of any better routing options that pop up nearer the time

    • Lady London says:

      26 Aug26 August 15:14

      You are right Sam G it sounds like a cancellation potentially and not just an airport change (either gives you the chance to choose a reroute ie completely rebook your whole ticket set of flights onto different later date(s) of your choice, or to ask for a different routing/different set of flights in order to achieve as close to the original flight timings as can be achieved. It’s the passenger’s choice not BA’s.

• David says:

  26 Aug26 August 13:48

  Expert Medicals ordering seems to be up and running again – just purchased 2 within the last 5 mins.

  • Jody says:

    26 Aug26 August 15:37

    Thanks for this. Think it was mentioned late last night as well. Been following along and have bought the day 2 tests ready for our long weekend to Ibiza (moved from last year) in September. Used Collinson unsupervised antigen test for the fit to fly certificate for the way back (will take with us). £23 using AMEX20 discount code.

    Tonight we’re off on a 10 driving holiday round Scotland. Have spent hours planning it, not easy to find safe places to eat when you’re vegetarian gluten free! Anyway, am sure it will all work out, and we’ve packed emergency supplies including a camping cooker just in case! Really looking forward to the trip, my husband is Scottish and it’s something he’s always wanted to do but not had chance to as annual leave spent doing other things. Seemed like the perfect time to do it this year.

• S says:

  26 Aug26 August 13:55

  Bit of a strange one, I made an AMEX Platinum insurance claim in November 2020 for £300 but they have refused to pay out on a recent claim (£500), as it turns out the claim in November 2020 was paid twice (a week or so apart) – have confirmed this with my bank.

  No apology from them about the muddle-up – anyone else had a similar issue/think it’s reasonable for them to reclaim the full overpayment 8 months later?

  • the_real_a says:

    26 Aug26 August 14:11

    Its reasonable for them to reclaim in full, but compensate for any admin work you needed to do. £300 is a low amount for some, so very possible to go unnoticed. They have no reason to decline a future claim for their negligence. Complaint required.

  • LS says:

    26 Aug26 August 14:12

    Yes, reasonable to reclaim overpayment, and certainly in that timeframe. It is unreasonable for them to refuse new claims on the basis of a previous error by them. Make sure you put a complaint in, and ask for compensation for incovenience, as well as the value of the new claim (if valid). You won’t get the full £300, but you’ll chip away what they owe them.

    • LS says:

      26 Aug26 August 14:23

      I would also just add, companies can act very strangely when they overpay you. An old employer overpaid me for 2 months after I left, and I did not notice until reconciling accounts for a tax return, as I had moved accounts, and the money was paid in to an old unused account.
      The company said quite aggressive things, including ‘fraud’, despite it being me who told the company about it (they didn’t notice either), and finally grumpily saying if you didn’t notice, you wont have spent it, so you can pay us back immediately (I could, it had just sat in the old account that whole time). Added a very sour note for something that should have been simple and easy.
      On the plus side, unbelievably, they did let me pay the money back via credit card, so I got a few avios!

      • Lady London says:

        26 Aug26 August 15:23

        Haha a company I worked for overpaid a number of supplier by 1 or 2 million – which was not much for them – then due to their own mistake refused to allow project orders to go ahead on those suppliers until repaid. The suppliers weren’t refusing to repay,most of them hadn’t even noticed, it was just taking admin time on both sides to reconcile and fix. Meanwhile projects with other expenses that couldn’t be cancelled and had to be paid on time (otherwise the project would fail) couldn’t order any more from these suppliers which was going to trash those projects causing billions… literally of losses.

        Dear Finance after their own mistake had simply blocked those suppliers in the systems. I knew about it because my job was purchasing systems and project owners came to me for help. I just told the line management to escalate it….. £Millions escalated at 10.00am was paid by 11.30. It’s one department (Finance or Purchasing) taking unilateral action without regard of context or consequences – and mistreating people overpaid when it was entirely the company’s own mistake.

        If this ever happens to you don’t put up with it. Be very precise and insist on an apology and consider asking for a retention by you on the repayment due to the inconvenience. Otherwise company won’t learn and will do unto others.

        This is why I advise if BA on an open and shut claim forces you to MCOL them then add every conceivable expense and interest rate onto the claim. As if denying you doesn’t end up costing them more then they will just keep on doing it.

    • Lady London says:

      26 Aug26 August 15:11

      I’d expect to keep £100 of the original amount overpaid, and to have Amex reassure me this and any future claims and dealings with them will not be prejudiced by their unfair handling of their mistake which you hadn’t even noticed.

• Char Char says:

  26 Aug26 August 14:15

  Anyone not got the Morrisons 7/10% offers, I seem stuck at 1% probably due to using them before

  • Paul Pogba says:

    26 Aug26 August 14:29

    I haven’t got it on either my BAPP or ARCC, the BAPP was last used in a Morrisons in June, the ARCC on 16 Aug.

    • Sina says:

      26 Aug26 August 14:41

      I got it on all my cards and supps! and used it the last few times.

  • Sean says:

    26 Aug26 August 14:51

    Was surprised to see it on BA card (at 7% though) despite having plundered it last time. Still working my way through the last bit of Amazon credit so now time to top up.

  • Char Char says:

    26 Aug26 August 15:03

    Interesting, I’ve not got it anywhere apart from a 1% cash back offer on one scheme

  • Jordan D says:

    26 Aug26 August 15:38

    Annoyingly, have it (between my wife and I) three times, but all on the cards I’m less interested in putting spend through. Still saved it once and will top up Amazon and a few other stores too.

  • BJ says:

    26 Aug26 August 17:38

    My parents have 3 cards each, on 2 of 3 cards in both cases.

• YC says:

  26 Aug26 August 14:16

  RC Yachts being delayed again. Wonder if they will ever launch…

  • pauline says:

    26 Aug26 August 16:01

    What is the revised date now?

• PK says:

  26 Aug26 August 14:21

  How much credit limit is too much credit limit?

  I have just crossed £60k across various credit cards I hold. Can it go against me when I am looking to get new credit cards, in which case I can cull few credit cards I don’t use often?

  I am also looking to remortgage in a year’s time, so don’t want to come across as someone desperate for credit on my remortgage application.

  • CarpalTravel says:

    26 Aug26 August 14:42

    A score is built up and is a relatively complex thing, the available credit facility is a small part of it. The period over which the facility was built up for example matters.

    What would make a big difference is how the facility “used” it is, say, making use of a 0% balance transfer offer and so having an ongoing balance. What would perhaps be even worse is actually having an ongoing debt balance which is accruing interest, but of course, that’d be madness. 😉

    My facility is quite a bit above 60k and Amex have just upped one of my card limits by ~8.5k, so I wouldn’t personally worry. If a remortgage is on the horizon then keep your nose clean payment wise and don’t open any new bank or credit accounts.

  • John says:

    26 Aug26 August 15:26

    If your annual income is £100k+ I wouldn’t worry at all. If your income is below £60k then I’d be looking to cull some cards but slowly

  • Andrew says:

    26 Aug26 August 15:57

    Do all your cards appear on all your credit reports?

    Due to a few quirks, none of my BoS or First Direct Accounts or Credit Cards appear on any credit report. That’s over a third of my credit facilities hidden from other lenders.

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    26 Aug26 August 16:25

    As a rule of thumb, I would recommend not having lines of credit that exceed your gross annual income.

    Caveat that my experience is all on the unsecured side; I don’t have experience with mortgage underwriting.

  • Toby says:

    26 Aug26 August 18:57

    I’ve heard your usage rate is heavily weighted — so I would keep an eye on that. On the mortgage question, best bet is to find a broker and ask them. The rules/flags change quite frequently

• CarpalTravel says:

  26 Aug26 August 14:47

  This might be of interest: https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/will-closing-a-credit-card-hurt-your-credit/

  • PK says:

    26 Aug26 August 15:02

    Thanks for the help CarpalTravel. This is very interesting.

    • John says:

      26 Aug26 August 15:26

      Take what Experian says with a pinch of salt as Experian does not offer credit cards.

      • Harrier25 says:

        26 Aug26 August 15:47

        Uhh? So what, it’s one of two major credit agencies, the other being Equifax, which all the financial institutions check when you apply for credit, so yes, what Experian say shouldn’t be taken with a pinch of salt.

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