The HfP chat thread – Saturday 11th September

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• BP says:

  11 Sep11 September 02:43

  Anyone at SSDV next week?

• DZOO says:

  11 Sep11 September 03:03

  Return leg in booking is cancelled / outbound still flying – anyone know how to make sure I won’t be counted as a no-show for outbound? Want to rebook outbound 1 year to the date so clearly need to wait post 2021 departure date to do that… BA chat has not been helpful to date.

  • Paul says:

    11 Sep11 September 05:38

    You must call ba do not no show.
    They can do this easily now and I did this at beginning of August and rebooked last week. New e tickets issued a few days later.. You keep the original PNR.

    • BJ says:

      11 Sep11 September 06:11

      The problem is ISTR a few comments recently that BA were not adding the notes when requested while telling the pax they had. I get that people have challenges with travel dates, vouchers etc at this time but trying to accommodate them is not without risk or hassle. Wherever possible I think it is best just to take full refunds and not try to micromanage vouchers and policies for what are often small, and sometimes even uncertain benefits.

      • Toby says:

        11 Sep11 September 07:17

        Yes, they seem to want to avoid this. But you can insist – I said something like “I do not want a FTV or a refund. Please can you note on the flight that I will not fly it and will rebook as soon as I can reorganise the full holiday”. Then the agent did it and a fee mins later the booking changed on my account to “cancelled”.

        • DZOO says:

          11 Sep11 September 08:35

          Thanks, I’ve called and requested as suggested but only the return is showing as cancelled (the outbound status has not changed) in MMB. Will call again tomorrow to confirm. @BJ all sensible points – and I don’t have much confidence that the note is actually on the booking – tickets were booked in 50% off sale from last year into F so going to take my chances here.

        • Nick says:

          11 Sep11 September 09:21

          I wouldn’t worry too much. You certainly should call if the outbound is still operating as it’ll make your life easier later, but technically you don’t have to, it still counts as a cancellation with full options. It’s just that when you do call later it’ll have to be sent to a specific back-office team to validate that the cancellation was implemented before the first flight on your booking, then the ‘no show’ restriction can be lifted.

• Maciek says:

  11 Sep11 September 05:35

  I have an upcoming BA Holidays booking for the US for early October, with deposit due next week. I remember seeing someone posting that holiday has to be viable, otherwise the refund is due. Is that indeed the case? How far out is that viability determined? I have enough FTVs already, so I’d rather get a cash refund unless I can kick this can down the road. Thoughts?

  • Mattb says:

    11 Sep11 September 06:34

    We’ve just a late October BA hols booking effectively cancelled. Newark flights were cancelled and had an email saying if they don’t hear from us in 7 days will just refund to card.

    What is exact FO advice at the moment… I’ve lost track? If they advise against US travel then I think BA would have to cancel. If they say OK to but the US says you can’t come anyway is that treated differently?

  • Nick B says:

    11 Sep11 September 06:49

    Hi there. I was in this situation with the Seychelles being red list. I spoke to BA Holidays and they said to request a refund at the 3 week point when the full payment would be due. They would then issue a refund and not an FTV for your deposit. Mine all went through fine and deposit was returned in a few days.

• R says:

  11 Sep11 September 05:51

  Prague hotels

  Really cannot decide where to stay. I have flex bookings at 3 hotels – Marriott (Gold status), Hilton Prague (Diamond) and Radisson Blu (no status)

  Based on my status, I should probably go for Hilton but I don’t really care about free breakfast/exec lounge or an upgrade (all of my recent (11) upgrades were a bit of a disappointment and i could say the same about breakfast).

  Which out of these hotels would HfP readers recommend? Feel free to suggest other hotels too

  • Can says:

    11 Sep11 September 05:54

    Hilton is pretty central in Prague.

  • K says:

    11 Sep11 September 06:08

    Have travelled throughout Europe all summer. lounges were closed at IC, Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt at every location I’ve been. Some gave you a pitiful drink voucher (one!) and some had a corner setup for water, soft drinks and crisps. Pitiful. I would call the hotel first and check what they offer. They used Covid as an excuse, but thought a drink voucher will suffice.

  • BJ says:

    11 Sep11 September 06:31

    As HH Diamond I always got upgraded to a suite at Hilton Prague. They have executive floor with own reception and concierge. Lounge is large, and was well stocked in normal times. More civilised placed to eat breakfast, almost a full scale buffet in there plus a decent selection of a la carte dishes which I usually opted for. Chocolates and fruit platter in the room too. The hotel is large and has a full range of facilities. The location is good but there are many better -situated hotels if you just want to step out the door into the midst of more touristy stuff. If staying on cash not points then I recommend you check what packages Corinthia hotels have available as they are often good value.

  • Cats are best says:

    11 Sep11 September 06:49

    I believe there are two Hiltons, I’ve stayed at the plain Hilton and didn’t enjoy it: rammed with multiple large groups ‘doing Prague’ and stripping the breakfast buffet bare, though that’s probably not the case at the moment. Not stayed at the Hilton Old Town, but it looks cosier.

    • BJ says:

      11 Sep11 September 07:57

      There is Prague Hilton and Prague Hilton Old Town.

    • John says:

      11 Sep11 September 08:31

      Old town also had lots of China tour groups previously. But Hilton Prague is huge so more tour groups. As BJ says, as their lounge is also huge it makes it more civilised

      Old town lounge is small, but cozy is the right word

      • Save East Coast Rewards says:

        11 Sep11 September 11:40

        The Prague Old Town is my favourite of the two by far! Better located and I’ve always had good upgrades. Last time I was there was 2019 and the lounge was full. They started writing on a drinks voucher so I thought oh great instead of the lounge I’m getting one free drink. However, they were giving free drinks at the bar for lounge guests for the two hours and also set an equivalent buffet up in the bar.

        I’ve not been during COVID times. They may be less generous now.

        • BJ says:

          11 Sep11 September 12:47

          Old Toen is usually more expensive though if paying cash. No idea about points rates these day. All my stays bar one in the past were for work and paid cash so that’s how I ended up in the big one.

  • Harry T says:

    11 Sep11 September 12:19

    None of these – stay at the Augustine. I stayed last year and was upgraded one category to a very spacious and well appointed room. It’s a unique and gorgeous hotel with an excellent location. I was Gold when I stayed. The breakfast was actually very cheap and quite good.

    • R says:

      11 Sep11 September 13:24

      I’ve stayed there once, my room was located in the front, close to the tram line, and I could hear the noise and feel slight vibrations. I don’t think I’d stay there again after that experience – luckily, it was only a 2 night stay

• TimM says:

  11 Sep11 September 05:54

  The extra legroom seat I paid for in Euro Traveller for my 4hr flight KLX-LHR in a few weeks’ time has been moved to Club Europe but sadly not me with it. I am a little over 6’4″ and there are no extra legroom seats now available on that flight. (BA did not reallocate me a seat). Apart from a refund of the seat charge, is there anything I can do?

  In the good old days, I used to carry a doctor’s note saying that I would medically benefit from extra legroom seating – though usually I never had to ask, the check-in staff would spot me in the queue – but these days even short people can simply pay for them. Hence I do. I feel very unhappy been turfed out of my seat, and so far in advance of the flight, with no similar seat offered.

  • Jonathan says:

    11 Sep11 September 07:51

    There are no extra legroom seats available though so not sure what they can do? You could wait & see if the CE cabin shrinks again which it often does in the days before departure (though at that point the first 2 rows of ET are still either completely blocked or only available to Golds but they will be released at T-24).

    Otherwise pay for CE & the guaranteed empty middle seat which I find helps as you can sit at a slight angle which gives an extra couple of inches or just pay for an aisle seat & stand up every 20 mins.

    I factor the long flights on SH aircraft into my destination decision making so Greece is an occasional destination for me!

    • TimM says:

      11 Sep11 September 08:02

      Sound advice Jonathan, thank you. I will hope the CE cabin shrinks again. Failing that I will choose an aisle seat near the ‘aft bar’.

      • Nick says:

        11 Sep11 September 09:27

        If the CE cabin has expanded you may well find a cheap POU/AUP pops up. The curtain can only sit at 9 or 12+ but not in between because of the exit rows, so there’s likely to be 2 empty rows they need to sell. They probably only moved it because of 2-3 people, but created 12 extra seats.

        • TimM says:

          11 Sep11 September 13:14

          Also noted. Many thanks Nick.

• meta says:

  11 Sep11 September 05:55

  BA Galleries South total zoo this morning. Hot drinks (assisted) and juices (self-serve) no longer delivered to table. Seems like table ordering via QR code will be gone soon…

  • BJ says:

    11 Sep11 September 06:36

    ‘Nice’ to see BA loubges getting back to normal then.

  • Gary says:

    11 Sep11 September 07:15

    shame as table delivery was far more civilised

    • Jonathan says:

      11 Sep11 September 07:54

      Was never going to be sustainable in the First Lounge let alone Club once passenger numbers bounced back.

  • Tom says:

    11 Sep11 September 07:31

    Food delivery was a bit shambolic too. The two chefs arguing with the servers all morning.

  • Dave says:

    11 Sep11 September 13:06

    Good, I had to use that awful table service QR code thing last year in the Business Lounge and hated it. I don’t want table service, I want it how it use to be.

    Ordered Sandwichs got 3 different ones, 2 of which I did not like but no option to remove when ordering. Had to wait for food and drink to be delivered, better seat by window appeared in between so moved to watch the runway then had to keep an eye out for my order as table number was then different.

• Can says:

  11 Sep11 September 06:37

  Anyone has a referral for Bolt? Thanks

  • RM84 says:

    11 Sep11 September 07:05

    ROXANNEMDW – will get you a £5 discount off your first ride.

    • Can says:

      11 Sep11 September 07:30

      Thank you!

    • Dave says:

      11 Sep11 September 07:47

      Is Bolt good? Potential alternative fo Uber?

      • Rob says:

        11 Sep11 September 08:14

        Cheaper than Uber, generally worse (and drivers don’t get sick pay etc unlike Uber).

      • SteveJ says:

        11 Sep11 September 09:41

        Depends on your location, fewer drivers so often a long wait. Far cheaper than Uber so may be worth the wait

  • Andrew says:

    11 Sep11 September 08:30

    I tried Ola a few times but the location tech is appalling compared to Uber so drivers never knew where I actually was. And far fewer drivers so wait times longer.

  • Idrive says:

    11 Sep11 September 09:13

    If you want here is mine!

    https://bolt.onelink.me/sbJ2/dfc71c68

    I am also looking for an Igloo referral if anyone wants to share!

    • Danny says:

      11 Sep11 September 09:16

      Here is my Igloo referral:

      https://refer.igloo.energy/daul1607

      • Idrive says:

        11 Sep11 September 09:23

        Thank you will apply in the next few days as soon as i have some time!

        • thehornets says:

          11 Sep11 September 11:32

          Be aware, their prices are just about to go up and this increase may not be reflected in price comparison sites

• Steve says:

  11 Sep11 September 06:53

  I unexpectedly have to go to Germany in a few days. I just read the rules and they look straightforward, but just wanted to check: as I’m fully vaccinated, I need to fill out a digital registration form, but don’t need a test to travel?

  And then from previous comments here, while the NHS QR code can’t be scanned, I should be OK getting into hotels, restaurants etc with that and/or my paper NHS England vaccination certificate?

  • Dave says:

    11 Sep11 September 07:45

    Yes fine, depending on where inGermany you are going to you might want to download the Luca App. We needed it in Munich to check into venues

    • Perkypat says:

      11 Sep11 September 09:39

      Luca app seconded. Germany more strict than most. You may have to show vax cert. FFP2 masks required for ubahn etc.

  • GeorgeJ says:

    11 Sep11 September 10:27

    Yes you are correct. Drove through Germany a couple of weeks ago and the NHS certificate, paper or download are fine for accommodation and restaurants in Stuttgart.

  • Phil W says:

    11 Sep11 September 10:40

    Correct. I’d recommend downloading the Luca app, saved us a lot of time in Munich last month. FFP2 masks were mandated in Bavaria last month as well, however I’m not sure about the rest of Germany and/or whether those rules have been relaxed. They were for sale in every supermarket for €0.50 though and were reasonably comfortable.

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