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The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 7th September

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Comments (469)

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

  • aDifferentSimon says:
    7 Sep7 September 15:52

    Are there any priority pass lounges open in Gatwick North?
    The PP websites lists No1 but didn’t the leave the PP network?

  • The Accountant says:
    7 Sep7 September 16:02

    If BA cancels my flight more than 2 weeks in advance due to the route currently not operating:

    A. Do they have to legally rebook me onto another flight (even non-BA) if I request it?

    B. If yes, does it have to be the dates I want (same as original booking) or can they say they choose the dates?

    C. Does this also apply to tickets booked with avios?

  • Pete M says:
    7 Sep7 September 16:11

    Both Randox and Express Test now have big billboards on the Tube, you know it must be good business that will carry on for a while…

    • Hak says:
      7 Sep7 September 16:41

      Suspect this is here forever. It will be the same as having to take your shoes off and being touched up by some weirdo at security check in.

      • David says:
        7 Sep7 September 19:14

        Isn’t it weirder to think that airport security are actually touching you up?

        • Rob says:
          7 Sep7 September 19:48

          It’s only a matter of time before a suicide bomber detonates something stuck up his bum and compulsory anal probes are brought in ….

        • Aston100 says:
          7 Sep7 September 19:55

          I don’t think he was talking about the security people…

      • bafan says:
        7 Sep7 September 22:47

        Hopefully the prices will come down.

  • Nicky says:
    7 Sep7 September 16:21

    Do we know anymore information yet on when Mr Biden may open the borders to USA for us Brit tourists?

    • Andrew says:
      7 Sep7 September 16:27

      Anyone’s guess – possibly in time for Thanksgiving/Christmas, but could well be into 2022. I wouldn’t be surprised if we hit the 2 year anniversary for this.

    • The Canuck says:
      7 Sep7 September 16:54

      Truthfully, as someone who’s travelling between Canada and the US a lot, I don’t think he’ll open it up anytime soon. The ban is polling very well and general sentiment is that no reason to let Europeans in given domestic and trans border travel is doing very well. Biden needs whatever he can get to keep his approvals up.

      Same thing with Canada, Trudeau is going to take a hit on Sept 9th and given the Election he’s just called, I’m surprised he’s going through with it.

      TL;DR: I wouldn’t put money on the US opening this year, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Canada reverses course on Europeans/Non-US INTL

      • Nicky says:
        7 Sep7 September 17:49

        Bummer, had next weeks Florida holiday cancelled and now it is a possibility that my Christmas/New Year Trans Atlantic cruise may be cancelled too. Getting a bit sick now: 7 holidays cancelled since March 2020

      • James says:
        7 Sep7 September 18:29

        US won’t open this year now imo I think march to April of next.

        Don’t agree Canada will reverse their lifting of travel restrictions any time soon, their most recent justification for it was low positivity rates amongst incoming travellers and don’t see that drastically changing.

        • The Canuck says:
          7 Sep7 September 18:41

          The mistake you’re making is thinking this is based on science, it’s nothing but politics, and the public don’t really care about anything more than transborder travel.

      • Liam says:
        7 Sep7 September 23:04

        The ban is polling well? I’m interested in that data. I live in the US and no one here seems to have any idea that there are any restrictions on people visiting from the UK and Europe. This seems particularly true of those Americans who’ve spent time across the Atlantic over the summer. And it’s a fair enough assumption, I guess—why wouldn’t the reverse journey be true for Europeans?

    • Harrier25 says:
      7 Sep7 September 18:38

      Biden is struggling to stand on his own two feet at the moment, so unfortunately we’ll have to allow him to concentrate on one thing at a time.

      God, the Americans have had a rotten luck with their Presidents over the past 5 years!

    • Jeff Greene says:
      7 Sep7 September 20:37

      No idea. Neither does anyone else.

  • Simon says:
    7 Sep7 September 16:24

    Many apologies if this has already been asked over the last few days, but I’ve not had chance to be on chat for a week or so now due to work, annoyingly:

    Is anyone else finding Creation transactions are not posting to their accounts?

    I made perhaps 10 transactions in the last week of August (direct ones and some Che top-ups for various bill settlements), which I duly settled within 24 hours… only, none of these transactions have appeared on my Creation dashboard (even though, in the case of Che, top-up credit was duly received and spent) and now I am running a circa £2k credit and this has been so for about a week now. I appreciate Creation can take a couple of days to update, but not usually a week, at least for me.

    Has anyone else been finding similar? Many thanks in advance.

    • Luke says:
      7 Sep7 September 16:26

      Curve transactions are definitely taking longer to hit the Creation statement lately. Apparently this is due to Curve, not Creation.

    • Swiss Jim says:
      7 Sep7 September 16:46

      I am in similar position, slightly higher balance. Last post was for 28/8 transaction, posted 2 days ago (strangely 29/8 still missing). Che top-ups. Slightly unnerving, but points still posted so reasonably confident this is ok.

      • Reney says:
        7 Sep7 September 16:56

        Simon there is a discussion on page 1, look for a comment by Gurnsey Globtrotter who has provided some really helpful reference point.

        I find top ups that go through 2FA will post +2 days, but those that don’t is taking a week and counting. The interest is going to hurt!!!

        Due to previous comments about being shut down by Creation for going into credit. I have not settled that one transaction which doesn’t even appear in pending. Will have to live with the interest.

        I find deleting the card daily before topping up and re-add will trigger 2FA.

        • Simon says:
          7 Sep7 September 17:08

          Reney, that’s really useful to know and much appreciated — thank you. 😉

        • Harrier25 says:
          7 Sep7 September 18:45

          Reney, until the transactions clear from pending no interest is charged.

          • Reney says:
            7 Sep7 September 20:08

            @Harrier25, do you mean show up in pending? or clear pending and actually posted?

          • Harrier25 says:
            7 Sep7 September 20:21

            Clear pending and actually posted.

          • Reney says:
            7 Sep7 September 21:20

            🤞that you are right. Last month I paid off everything on the day it was posted and I got a decent size interest bill.

          • Harrier25 says:
            7 Sep7 September 22:02

            Really? In the recent past when I judge it right, by pure luck, I see no interest and a few pounds when I’m not so lucky and the payment in follows 12 hours or so later.

      • Simon says:
        7 Sep7 September 17:06

        Thanks for this, Jim.

        • Harrier25 says:
          7 Sep7 September 18:42

          No issues for me. My Curve to Creation transactions are taking the usual 48 hours to show.

          • Youllnever says:
            7 Sep7 September 18:51

            What about Che transactions?

          • Harrier25 says:
            7 Sep7 September 20:23

            Fine @Youllnever. Did one last week. Cleared from pending after the usual 48 hours.

          • Youllnever says:
            7 Sep7 September 20:48

            Weird – I did a Che transaction last Wed., and it was reflected on the available balance immediately. However when I checked my account again yesterday/today, it’s now disappeared from it. No signs of the transaction at all now.

          • Reney says:
            7 Sep7 September 21:44

            Youllnever, my che transaction from last wed also have not posted yet

  • pauline says:
    7 Sep7 September 16:30

    If I spend a week in a red country and travel home via an amber / green country to avoid quarantine how do I calculate the 10 day period. Proposing to arrive in amber country on the 15th (2am) . Can I return on the 25th or 26th. Also if you fly to the UK at 2am does that day count as 1 of the 10 days. Apologies if this has already been covered. Hoping the Maldives will come off the red list and this won’t be necessary!

    • Richie says:
      7 Sep7 September 17:06

      It seems a day ends at around 4am and starts at 4am. 11 nights in an amber country may suffice.

      • Anna says:
        7 Sep7 September 17:26

        I don’t think that’s correct – changes to the traffic light system take place at 4 am but for quarantine purposes etc the day ends at midnight, otherwise there would be a huge amount of confusion around dating.

        • ChrisC says:
          7 Sep7 September 17:38

          Isn’t the arrival day counted as day 0 no matter what time you arrive?

          So if you arrive on a Monday that’s 0 then your day 1 count starts with Tuesday. Day 10 would be Thursday the week after and free to travel on the Friday after 10 full days

          Same as the day 2 test – arrival is Day 0 not Day 1.

          • WaynedP says:
            7 Sep7 September 17:53

            Correct.

            Arrival day (15th) = Day 0

            You need 11 nights counting from the first night of Day 0. Equivalent to 10 full, clear days (excluding Day 0) both outside of Red and outside of UK.

            Can return to UK after 00:00 on day 11 (=26th), not before.

            Am in same position myself returning from JNB via DUB. Fingers crossed none of us have to go through with it in the end.

  • r* says:
    7 Sep7 September 16:31

    I have a 241 that is a booked on 2 pnr. Both have been cancelled, I want to change the date of the inbound first and deal with the outbound later. When I go to manage my booking and select a new date it says theres no availability for selected date.

    Theres no avios availability on the date I want to move it to, tho there is a few days later and Id be ok with that if it means it just gets booked with 1 call, its also within 12 months of the flight date but outside of 12 months of the booking date

    Whats the best number to use to get this resolved with least resistance, would it be better to use the avios phone number or a different one/skype?

    • Anna says:
      7 Sep7 September 17:29

      I don’t think any number is better than others (though someone mentioned calling the USA I think), however you DON’T need avios availability to re-book if BA has cancelled your flight, do not let them tell you otherwise!

    • r* says:
      7 Sep7 September 17:29

      0344 493 0 747 just says they cant take the call and hangs up, lols. Lets see how far we get with twitter chat…

    • Lady London says:
      7 Sep7 September 17:33

      If a flight on your booking is cancelled then even if you paid all or some with avios you csn choose any date on which any seat in your booked cabin is being sold. Does not havevto be an avios seat.

      Check what’s selling on your preferred dates you have a right to those seats for your rebook om all the flights on your booking as of course you’ll prob need to redate the whole booking later both ways. EU/UK261 covers you for this and outranks any BA rule or system problem. Don’t let a BA agent deny you a seat being sold in same cabin.

      HUACA if you have to but get it all agreed in one change at the same time as you only get one chance with these rights.

      • r* says:
        7 Sep7 September 17:53

        The current problem is that I cant even talk to an agent or even get in a queue to talk to an agent. Both the 747 and 787 numbers both hang up after saying they wont be able to put the call through to an agent.

    • ChrisC says:
      7 Sep7 September 17:41

      when were the flights cancelled?

      Usually best to wait a day or two before trying to change online as the ‘change flights for free’ routing for avios sosen’t seem to kick in straight away.

      As these are avios flights you should call the BAEC number.

      • r* says:
        7 Sep7 September 18:01

        I got the cancellation email 4 days ago. Is there a BAEC number which is actually being answered?

        I have tried 0344 493 0 747, 0344 493 0 787, 0191 4907901, 0191 490790 and all of them just say no one will be able to take the call and then hangs up. I cant even find a line which goes to a queue lol.

        • Anna says:
          7 Sep7 September 18:14

          Try Twitter. They leave a few hours between responses and say they can’t do stuff but they actually can if you persuade them gently!

          • meta says:
            7 Sep7 September 18:27

            Unless flight is imminent (meaning in the next 10 days), I always wait several weeks until I call or try to change. Cancelled leg means you have full rights, so no point in clogging the lines. But people obviously love to rush…

          • r* says:
            7 Sep7 September 18:58

            @meta outbound is in 10 days (and was cancelled months ago) and I was waiting for the inbound to be cancelled, I think its time to rush 🙂

  • GaryE says:
    7 Sep7 September 16:53

    Hi – can someone explain BA policy with booking reward flights. So my son (Silver member) booked reward flight for 2 people and the option to pay was 18,500 plus £60 – I went on to book the EXACT same flight (Blue member) for 2 people and the option to pay was 18,500 plus £1 – should I complain to BA/Avios. If anything I thought the cheaper option would be to the loyal Silver member – any idea what BA are trying to achieve with different points and money for different cardholders?

    • Swifty says:
      7 Sep7 September 17:17

      Could it be the fare bucket theyve sold the 2 and now gone into the next. Try just booking 1 flight and see if it is that fare price change

    • Rob says:
      7 Sep7 September 17:22

      You son has not earned 1 Avios in the past 12 months and so does not qualify for Reward Flight Saver pricing which lowers the taxes.

      • Anna says:
        7 Sep7 September 17:31

        If a member of a HHA hasn’t earned any avios in 12 months, do their avios still get used pro-rata for RFS bookings?

      • GaryE says:
        7 Sep7 September 17:45

        Rob – I haven’t flown either within the 12 months but have earned avios via alternative routes so does that make a difference.

        • GaryE says:
          7 Sep7 September 17:46

          I can’t remember but as it is till within the 24hours he can cancel the flight – but can I book it as head of the HHA but not travel on the booking is that allowed?

          • AJA says:
            7 Sep7 September 23:30

            @GaryE Does your son have a Nectar account? If so he can transfer 400NP to get 250 Avios. The transfer will be instant and then your son would be able to see the RFS fees. Remember that 18,500 +£1 is now the default but you can pay more cash and fewer Avios like before.

            Or as you say I think you can buy the flights on his and second passenger’s behalf, especially as he is in your HHA. I think he can cancel within 24hours. Alternatively if there is plenty of availability cancel for an FTV and then use the FTV to rebook.

        • Rob says:
          7 Sep7 September 18:05

          Yes. Any Avios from anywhere (except a transfer from Iberia or avios.com) counts.

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