The HfP chat thread – Sunday 5th September

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D R says:

5 Sep5 September 13:36

Hi everyone. I booked the outbound part of a CW trip (using avios and companion vouchers) a couple of weeks ago and the return flight is due to be released tonight.

Is the best way to ensure availability still to call the US number at 1AM, or do I need to wait until the UK number opens at 8am?

Sorry for the basic question, but it’s been a few years since I’ve done this.
- BJ says:
  
  5 Sep5 September 15:16
  
  A few comments of late that the 1am USA option isn’t working well, if at all, anymore
  - D R says:
    
    5 Sep5 September 15:45
    
    Do you know if that is because people can’t get through or the agents wont update the booking?
    - Jonathan says:
      
      5 Sep5 September 15:57
      
      1AM BST is closing time for US number so basically the agents don’t want to stay on the line for 20 minutes sorting out a complex booking when they could be on the way home to bed. Note that the US number actually diverts to agents based in U.K. at the moment.
      
      Japan is better as 1AM is in the middle of their working day but the office is closed at weekends (tonight should be fine though).
      - Genghis says:
        
        5 Sep5 September 16:15
        
        The Japan contact centre opens at 9am local time (which is 1am BST / 12am GMT), so the start of their working day.
      - D R says:
        
        5 Sep5 September 16:25
        
        Ok thanks. If Japan is a better option, anyone know the number please?
      - Hugh says:
        
        5 Sep5 September 17:01
        
        US office wouldn’t let me book at 1am the other week, they told me to ring a different number which then said we are closed. HUACA’d three times with same results, but I got lucky and was able to book online. A thread on here about a week ago suggested Trying Japan on +81 03 3298 5209. Good luck, please post and let us know how you got on as I need to book my return next week.
      - D R says:
        
        5 Sep5 September 19:47
        
        Thanks. Sounds like I may have a challenge getting the seats. Sometimes it feels like BA go out of their way to make thing that should be very simple very difficult.
        
        I’ll post an update once booked (if at all) with how I got on.
Chrisasaurus says:

5 Sep5 September 13:42

Pretty poor showing last night on BA2633 – hour late and no food onboard at all but no announcement of the fact (text) until minutes before boarding and even that unhelpfully just said “No hot meals” rather than the truth which was “No food at all”. With the hour delay we all had three hours to buy food if we had known and instead plane full of families with schoolchildren all killed an extra hour at ALC only to then go without dinner needlessly.

Food wasn’t loaded on the outbound so was known hours earlier – between that and the single flight attendant in a 10 row CE cabin it wasn’t a great effort from BA.

Fully intend to make a stink about the lack of food and more so lack of a heads up – anyone any experience on how best to route that? Email/Online form to CS likely to get a decent considered response?
- Alex M says:
  
  5 Sep5 September 13:46
  
  on my recent 3.5 hrs long flight from Moscow the food was a bag of crisps and a small bottle of water, so I am not sure you’ve missed a lot…
- ChrisC says:
  
  5 Sep5 September 13:56
  
  The response will be a non apology apology and a few thousand avios.
  - Jeff Greene says:
    
    5 Sep5 September 14:00
    
    People will complain about BA’s service on here (rightly) but then carry on giving their money to them 🤷🏻‍♂️
    - Chrisasaurus says:
      
      5 Sep5 September 14:37
      
      The service was mostly what I paid for, and beats the hell out of the experience the Easyjet pax we’re having in the massive snaking checking queue next to us.
      
      That doesn’t mean I won’t hold them to account for the shortfall – those 5 seats weren’t cheap yesterday and I expect to receive what they promise.
    - Char Char says:
      
      5 Sep5 September 18:33
      
      Money to BA unnecessarily i think not!
    - Paul says:
      
      5 Sep5 September 20:01
      
      Because there is no real alternative.
      - Jeff Greene says:
        
        5 Sep5 September 22:13
        
        There’s loads of airlines that fly from Heathrow. I’ve almost always been able to find an alternative to BA
- Anna says:
  
  5 Sep5 September 14:08
  
  I think we got 5k avios each a couple of years ago because we were on the back row of CE and there wasn’t enough time to get to us on the 45 minute hop from LHR to MAN!
  Very poor that on this occasion pax weren’t alerted sooner if BA can do this by text.
  - Chrisasaurus says:
    
    5 Sep5 September 14:35
    
    That would be a start, it just didn’t have to be such a crappy experience – we were sat in the lounge telling them not to eat, whiling away the hours! Things happen and better they leave without catering than wait and end up needing to drop a sector to make it up during the day – but sending a text just before boarding is a kick in the teeth.
    
    They even simply have bought some food while I was sorting out reassigned seats since we’d been allocated an exit row for three of the kids 🤦‍♂️
  - Jonathan says:
    
    5 Sep5 September 16:18
    
    5k is the set amount for no food on short haul no matter what length/time of day/circumstances. If that’s acceptable to you then it’ll be offered without a fight. If you want more then you’re looking at MCOL & an uncertain outcome.
    
    Some people advocate sitting in the last row on the short hops from MAN or LBA with a view that 5k Avios is preferable to the meals you get as it’s very common they don’t reach row 10+ in the 20mins available.
Jimmy says:

5 Sep5 September 14:13

So applied for a credit increase on wifes VS card – when ive done them on mine they have gone straight through. However the time they want to talk!

Bit worried they will manually go through transactions – much of which are not organic.

Any advice from the hive mind? Im half tempted just to leave it.
- Tom says:
  
  5 Sep5 September 14:38
  
  I would think it would be unlikely they go through your transactions, more likely they want to know why you want the credit increase and to confirm salary etc. Having said that inwouldnt chance it if you have been doing a lot of MS.
- Benilyn says:
  
  5 Sep5 September 17:09
  
  It’s a formality, I had the same, no issue. They just ask what new limit you wanted etc
  - Jimmy says:
    
    5 Sep5 September 21:47
    
    Thanks – but most of my spend is, shall we say not exactly diverse!
aviosnewbie says:

5 Sep5 September 14:54

has anyone here been to Morocco recently? Any views on how safe it is covid-wise at the moment? Considering 4 nights during Oct half term to Marrakesh.
- Char Char says:
  
  5 Sep5 September 18:34
  
  About as safe as anywhere considering nobody has control over a virus.
  - Rob says:
    
    5 Sep5 September 19:25
    
    Vaccinated? What are you worrying about?
    - Chrisasaurus says:
      
      5 Sep5 September 20:25
      
      Morocco being put on the red list?
      - Jeff Greene says:
        
        5 Sep5 September 22:14
        
        Yep. Pretty obvious stuff reall
- Paul says:
  
  5 Sep5 September 20:02
  
  It will be safer than here
Jonathan says:

5 Sep5 September 15:03

What is the number to call BA in the US ?
Andrew says:

5 Sep5 September 15:07

Looks like the new Open Access operator, East Coast Trains Limited, is going to start late October. They’ll be running a few services a day between the Capital and London (and vice versa). Here’s an example schedule (Hopefully it’ll format ok).

EDI – 09:11, MPT – 10:27, NCL – 10:48, KGX – 13:48
EDI – 16:12, MPT – 17:25, NCL – 17:40, SVG – 20:21, KGX – 20:47

KGX – 10:45, NCL – 13:43, MPT – 13:59, EDI – 15:17
KGX – 14:36, NCL – 17:47, MPT – 18:02, EDI – 19:15

Standard Class Only. Note services don’t stop at York.
- Super Secret Stuff says:
  
  5 Sep5 September 17:43
  
  Ahhhh missed that, thanks Andrew!
KS says:

5 Sep5 September 15:16

Has anyone had any experience with car subscription from Cazoo? I’m looking at their subscription model and it says there is a flat early cancellation fee of £500. Does that mean I can cancel my subscription of 36 months at 6 months which comes out cheaper than paying for a term of 6 months?
- Memesweeper says:
  
  5 Sep5 September 15:46
  
  None. But I have experience with “onto” who I couldn’t recommend highly enough. Referral available if desired.
  - KS says:
    
    5 Sep5 September 16:47
    
    Thanks. I looked at onto but Cazoo is coming out significantly cheaper for my search.
David says:

5 Sep5 September 15:24

Does anyone feel that it’s a bit random when you phone/chat to Virgin to change a flight – I have no idea how they work out if you owe them money or not.