The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 31st August

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

• Donna says:

  31 Aug31 August 08:29

  I am considering applying for the HSBC credit card; does this allow access to the lounge in Doha?

  • Ls says:

    31 Aug31 August 08:37

    Yes, via lounge key, but none of the good lounges.

  • SteveJ says:

    31 Aug31 August 09:00

    In Doha you really want to be in THE lounge, it is very impressive.

    • John says:

      31 Aug31 August 09:04

      The whole airport could be described as THE lounge

    • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

      31 Aug31 August 11:34

      Is this referring to Qatar’s Al Mourjan lounge in Doha or another one please?

      • SteveJ says:

        31 Aug31 August 12:43

        Yep, Qatar’s own is THE one. It’s as big as some regional airports.

      • Donna says:

        31 Aug31 August 13:48

        I was referring to the Qatar lounge, now that they removed this from the cheaper business tickets and a long stopover is likely to be a drag without THE lounge! First world problems, I know.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    31 Aug31 August 09:11

    The oryx lounges in Doha are awful

    Literally mind boggling how such a new and otherwise upmarket airport has two of the worst non home airline lounges in the world.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      31 Aug31 August 10:50

      Oh yeah. The oneworld status business and first lounges are just as bad

      • WaynedP says:

        31 Aug31 August 12:11

        In what respect ?

        Just relative to the fabled Al Mourjan, or are we talking objectively deficient ?

• Ant says:

  31 Aug31 August 08:39

  I have a booking using Lloyds voucher to South Africa. If i decide not to go and cancel what are the charges and do I get the voucher back?

  • BigSi says:

    31 Aug31 August 09:34

    @Ant, as far as I know if you cancel you lose the voucher. You can effectively keep the voucher by changing the booking and paying the £35 change fee pp for up to a year in advance. If the flight gets cancelled then no charges and you get your money back and the voucher. ATM the voucher must be used by the end of Oct for travel up to end Oct 2022.

  • Andrew says:

    31 Aug31 August 09:44

    If you cancel online you’ll get an FTA which has avios/cash/voucher in it, and has to be used by 30 Sept 23 (that means all travel, not just booking), and the same named people need to be on the trip

    If you cancel by phone, or chat you lose £35 per person per booking. I THINK you lose the voucher too

• CS says:

  31 Aug31 August 08:52

  Has anyone tried to exchange a Qatar travel voucher for cash? FAQ on travel vouchers note the original ticket price can be refunded to original form of payment, less any no show penalty. Thanks

  • The Savage Squirrel says:

    31 Aug31 August 15:33

    I’m trying at the moment. Travel was to Perth in Mar 20 so now not looking possible to make that trip in forseeable future. Progress so far = zero. Haven’t responded to Email at all. Not even to say no or even acknowledge. Not impressed so far; 2 weeks and counting.

  • GillyDee says:

    31 Aug31 August 16:26

    Yes, had a trip to SGN via ARN booked for travel in Nov 2020. Converted to a FTV and I called up in May for a refund – hit the Gold card about 2 weeks later.

• Dominic says:

  31 Aug31 August 09:11

  I’m probably well behind the curve here, but as an FYI you can now fly to Italy without the 5 day quarantine.

  • DI says:

    31 Aug31 August 10:59

    You should say bendy, we don’t want everyone to know 😂😂😂

    • The Urbanite says:

      31 Aug31 August 11:10

      😂

    • Peter K says:

      31 Aug31 August 11:49

      😂

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:

    31 Aug31 August 11:42

    You’ll still need a test and be vaccinated. However if you’re staying 5 days or less and not vaccinated you can still enter the country for work reasons

• Craig says:

  31 Aug31 August 09:18

  I need help with a BA Companion voucher question.

  I’m trying to redeem two vouchers at the same time for four people. My wife and I have a household account (I’m considered to be the ‘head’), with two ‘Family and Friends’ listed.

  As things stand, we have a total of four vouchers two earned by me and two by my wife. The travel dates we’re looking at don’t allow me to use my vouchers so we’re trying to use my wife’s. We can make a dummy booking on my BA logon for four people, but when we try to use my wife’s vouchers the BA website will only let us use one voucher per booking. There’s a difference in that my account has square ‘tick boxes’ next to the vouchers whereas my wife’s has circular dot boxes.

  I currently hold a BA Premium Amex and my wife held the blue version. We were told that to be able to use two vouchers together you have to be a Premium Amex cardholder and that’s what the problem is. Having upgraded her card, the problem’s still there. It was only upgraded yesterday so whether there’s a time lag somewhere, I’m not sure.

  Personally, I think it may have something to do with the BA Household account? Also when we make the dummy booking, we’re being charged two lots of avios and two vouchers. Is that correct?

  Any help would be very gratefully received as we’ve only got a couple of weeks to get this sorted now!

  Thanks.

  • BLT says:

    31 Aug31 August 09:37

    If I understand your question, I think the answer is you need to phone BA to book 2x 241 on one account, it can’t be done online.

    • Craig says:

      31 Aug31 August 09:42

      Hi BLT

      Thanks for the reply. I did wonder that too, but the strange thing is that I can do 2×241 on my account but not using my wife’s account. I would just use my account, but one of the vouchers expires before we want to travel, so that’s no good.

      Any thoughts on the Avios charge – 2 vouchers + 2 x Avios?

      • BLT says:

        31 Aug31 August 09:53

        With regards the Avios charge if a route is 100k Avios return per person and £500 fees then using 2 x241s should add up to:
        200k Avios for 4 people and £2000 fees.

        • Craig says:

          31 Aug31 August 10:14

          That makes sense and it’s what it’s charging me online. Thanks

    • Babyg says:

      31 Aug31 August 10:43

      you can do 2x 241 online? ive done this a few times (via ba.com not the app), has the feature been taken away?

  • Gin and Tonic Please says:

    31 Aug31 August 09:52

    You could book using the two vouchers on your account for earlier dates, then cancel the booking to get a Future Travel Voucher. And then phone up to use the voucher for the dates you actually want. Bit of a faff but means you won’t lose the voucher that’s going to expire.

    • Craig says:

      31 Aug31 August 10:15

      Interesting idea. I’m trying to avoid having to call them as soon as the seats get released, but if it saves the voucher it could be worth it! Thanks.

      • pauldb says:

        31 Aug31 August 13:20

        As suggested, you can’t combine your wife’s 2 blue vouchers. Only premium vouchers can be combined. If they were earned from a blue card, upgrading to a premium card won’t upgrade your existing/historic vouchers.

        Do you really need to be on one booking (i.e. use one of your vouchers and one of hers)? If you do then book with yours and FTV them – but then yes you will be have to phone to rebook.

• David S says:

  31 Aug31 August 09:32

  Having tried to book FTF tests with ExpressTest yesterday I thought they were booked out at our local centre as every Saturday slot had gone. As it’s a football stadium, perhaps these sites only operate 6 days a week. Something to be aware of. The headline price was also showing as £80 instead of £59 at the airport sites,

• Diydegsy says:

  31 Aug31 August 09:33

  Are there any checks on if a day 2 test is actually completed? I booked 6 for our group in Chester drive through testing centre for £20 each but I forgot my son is working away when he comes back from holiday so can’t attend but we will have the codes for our PLF forms so wondering if he should just complete a home test or do I need to order a new one?

  • Totally confused says:

    31 Aug31 August 09:42

    No one checks as far as I know. Which company is they with?

    • Totally confused says:

      31 Aug31 August 09:42

      *That!

      • Diydegsy says:

        31 Aug31 August 09:51

        https://0044covidtest.com/products/day-2-oc

  • RegularPoster says:

    31 Aug31 August 09:56

    Embarrassingly…. there will be no consequences for not completing the test.

• Chas says:

  31 Aug31 August 09:34

  I’ve settled on what I think BA’s new low cost venture at Gatwick should be called: BAsic (although some HfPers may think that this name is just as apt for their main operation…)

  • Pete M says:

    31 Aug31 August 09:52

    Like it!

  • Eppleby Green says:

    31 Aug31 August 10:13

    Perhaps it should be BAsick (of their very negative Customer Services attitude).

  • Peter K says:

    31 Aug31 August 10:18

    That is very good, but unfortunately someone already mentioned it on the original article!

    • Eppleby Green says:

      31 Aug31 August 10:28

      I didn’t see that! Only the BAsic!

      • Peter K says:

        31 Aug31 August 11:51

        Mine was a reply to BAsic, not your comment on BAsick. It’s just the way the comments stack/look on Wordpress that makes it hard to tell the flow sometimes.

    • Chas says:

      31 Aug31 August 11:58

      Doh! Definitely not trying to plagiarise someone else’s great idea. Well done to whoever’s brain clearly works much faster than mine…

  • BJ says:

    31 Aug31 August 11:01

    😀

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