The HfP chat thread – Monday 13th September

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• BlueHorizonUK says:

  13 Sep13 September 11:44

  Anything about the bank you can say in public? Are they same/better/worse than any of the other digital banks like Starling or Monzo?

  Thanks

  • Alex says:

    13 Sep13 September 12:10

    So far it’s just an app shell, but they are iterating incredibly fast.

• LM says:

  13 Sep13 September 12:01

  I’m wanting to travel to Turkey on the 23rd. If I book the flight through BA and it doesn’t change from red to amber would I be able to refund?

  • Optimus Prime says:

    13 Sep13 September 12:25

    Yes, you’d get a Future Travel Voucher instead of cash though.

• Save East Coast Rewards says:

  13 Sep13 September 12:05

  Got an email from Bendy saying that my subscription payment had been rejected. Turns out it was the seagulls supplying bendy. But seagulls shunned bendy within days of making amends. So I logged in and discovered my first (and last) subscription payment was Jan 2019 and it says next payment Jan 2020! It looks like it got forgotten about since then. I have the option of doing nothing and then my bendy will move to the free version. As I no longer have the superexpensive seagull and just the black flying seagull instead I don’t have a Priority Pass lounge card so I sometimes use the Lounge Key with bendy to access lounges at £20 a go which is usually slightly cheaper then paying at the door. But now BA are starting to renew lounge contracts this is less needed (and not worth £150 on its own anyway).

  But the looking at the benefits it also has collision damage waiver car hire insurance which might be useful now I lack the posh seagull.

  Sorry about my poor attempts to speak in code. My ability to speak HfP code is worse than my Italian

  • Memesweeper says:

    13 Sep13 September 12:53

    You might get similar benefits package from another provider for slightly less. Check your regular bank for a start. Don’t forget to factor in the phone insurance. I pay enough to HMRC to make the shiny beckham-like one worth it, in the absence of this I’d struggle to make a case for it.

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:

      13 Sep13 September 13:46

      My problem is as I’m currently based in Italy I’m not on the electoral roll in the UK and they seem to have better finance products in Italy. Although there’s some new challenger banks Italian banks tend to charge more fees than UK ones. So might be worth keeping bendy if I decide to not renew my BA seagull when the higher fee is due (the BA card does have some travel related insurance benefites).

      Other option is a new amico flessibile in Italia. The gabbiano platino seems to have similar benefits to the UK version but the annual fee is charged monthly rather than annually. Milano stopped issuing BA branded cards last year before I had a chance to get one (it was a Visa card – but discontinued). Curva has the option to charge the fee in Euros too, so I need to find the cost of that to see if it works out better

  • Laura says:

    13 Sep13 September 13:04

    This is brilliant! Made me chuckle!

  • Greenpen says:

    13 Sep13 September 13:16

    At least Italian sounds like poetry even if you hav’nt the remotest idea what your being told!

• The Canuck says:

  13 Sep13 September 12:24

  I’ll be coming back to the UK for less than 48 hours soon. I understand that I still need to book a Day 2 test even though I won’t be in the country by Day 2.

  Is this correct? If so, are there still the £0.99 fake ones that will get me a code for the PLF?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    13 Sep13 September 12:32

    Yes still need to book one. There’s the £20 in Chester.

• J says:

  13 Sep13 September 12:45

  We’re doing Chronomics fot to fly tests for a family trip tomorrow. My wife’s test was all fine, but my daughter’s said ‘Barcode not recognised’ for the test cassette. Has anyone experienced this? And, if so, how was it resolved.

  • Anna says:

    13 Sep13 September 12:48

    Unless you can contact Chronomics quickly, I would get your daughter to a local pharmacy and get a separate test done as she won’t be allowed on the plane without proof of a negative test. Then claim back from Chronomics later.

    • J says:

      13 Sep13 September 12:56

      Thanks Anna, we also have a return to the UK test for my wife to take with her and I opened it to see if it would be compatible as a replacement for tomorrow… The box was empty! So, 4 tests bought, only 2 provided.

      • Anna says:

        13 Sep13 September 13:34

        Not great service! Your hotel might have a doctor they use for testing, but check the price as it can be a lot more expensive than going to a local clinic or pharmacy. Or most airports are offering them but unless you’re close enough to make an extra trip you’re cutting it very fine as the result may not come back before you need to get on your flight.

  • Oliver says:

    13 Sep13 September 13:47

    I recently had “unrecognised” on a Chronomics return-to-UK test. Possibly a result of trying to do 2 tests at once?

    Anyway, I force closed the (iPhone) browser and logged back in, then it worked.

    Also, after uploading your test results, go into the account section and make sure the photos uploaded successfully. One of ours didn’t, and we were lucky to spot it before the result validation window closed.

• Definitas says:

  13 Sep13 September 12:51

  Has anyone managed to enter the US either directly or indirectly through a third country and successfully used the NHS certificate of Covid vaccination as proof?

  • H says:

    13 Sep13 September 13:07

    I believe the US does not require proof of vaccination (not yet anyway). We entered via Mexico last month (after spending 15 days there). Negative COVID test (antigen is fine) required 3 days before arrival into the US.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    13 Sep13 September 15:02

    They don’t require proof of vaccination to enter the USA?

    Or do you mean to access certain venues in NYC etc?

  • The Canucks says:

    13 Sep13 September 15:08

    No one at the border gives a toss about vaccination proof or even your test result. Only the airline cares about the test result.

    I can only speak for NYC but no business really care about your vaccination proof either, NHS one will be no problem

    • The Canuck says:

      13 Sep13 September 15:08

      No one at the border gives a toss about vaccination proof or even your test result. Only the airline cares about the test result. I can only speak for NYC but no business really care about your vaccination proof either, NHS one will be no problem

• Mike P says:

  13 Sep13 September 12:52

  Has anyone got experience of topping up an Octopus Energy account with a credit card and later receiving the money back to their bank account?

  • John says:

    13 Sep13 September 13:34

    Yes, but you have to wait several months. Their policy is to only refund money originally paid by DD, but after some time their system gets confused as to what was paid by DD.

    They do say that you are welcome to call them and ask for a refund of credit card money – I don’t intend to try this.

    • Mike P says:

      13 Sep13 September 14:07

      Thanks John, that’s helpful.

    • Paul says:

      13 Sep13 September 15:27

      What could the implications of holding a large credit balance with them funded via CC, and then requesting it to be refunded to ones bank account be?

  • Terry says:

    13 Sep13 September 14:08

    My last refund was made to my Amex rather than my bank account. They have changed their policy. Proportional refunds made to accounts/cards which made the payments. In my case most was made to Amex and a small amount (10%) to my bank account.

  • Aaron C says:

    13 Sep13 September 16:34

    I’m not sure I’d want to given how often small energy suppliers go pop – HUB closed just last month. I’m sure you’d get your credit balance back through the OFGEN supplier of last resort but I wouldn’t be holding more than a nominal sum in credit balances with any of these outfits.

    • AL says:

      13 Sep13 September 21:44

      This depends on your definition of “small”, of course. I noticed with interest that Confused.com now lists Octopus as a large supplier!

• TJ says:

  13 Sep13 September 13:13

  Can I check my understanding on the refund rules for an involuntary downgrade by BA. I paid 136k points in the 50% Avios sale for a return trip in F for two. The return leg has been downgraded to J. So my understanding is that I can claim – after the flight – 75% of the cost of the return leg.
  – Do I ignore the fact that I purchased the flights during a 50% offer in which case I would be claiming 102,000 Avios (or £1632 at 1.6p per Avios)? Or can I only claim half that sum?
  – What’s the reference point for the 1.6p factor?
  – What’s the best way to notify BA in advance that this is an involuntary downgrade?

  • ChrisC says:

    13 Sep13 September 13:24

    You claim based on the actual price you paid for the downgraded leg. Exclude any non BA costs such as airport fees and proper government taxes.

    I think the 1.6p / avios is based on the cost of buying the number of avios you are claiming for.

    When you make your claim to BA you make it for the avios. You will only get cash if you have to take it to MCOL because you can only make cash claims with them.

    • Lady London says:

      13 Sep13 September 15:24

      I’d be unspecific in my claim to BA after the flight. I’d just email asking for “75% reimbursement of my First Class flight due to being involuntarily downgraded to Club ” according to involuntary downgrade provisions in EU261 which are now also in UK law.

      If I have to MCOL there’s no way I don’t want the cash at 1.6p per avios instead of the avios. So I’d be unspecific in my first request to BA and wouldn’t want to have specified a currency (avios) on my request then change it on the related MCOL. So first request not specific, see what they refund, have to accept it if it’s avios, but on MCOL specify the cash total.

      • Lady London says:

        13 Sep13 September 15:25

        1.6p has been regularly accepted in previous MCOLs as what an avios is worth. That’s because it is BA’s rack(et) rate for selling avios.

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