The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 28th September

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• Oliver says:

  28 Sep28 September 13:53

  I recently discovered that BA no longer pays for lounge access at OTP (and many others across Europe, it seems).

  Any first-hand experiences of whether I can expect some goodwill Avios if I put in a complaint?

  • Pete M says:

    28 Sep28 September 14:18

    No chance – I complain about twice a month about this and the replies usually make me even angrier than the lack of lounges itself.

    • Pete M says:

      28 Sep28 September 14:19

      (But please do complain, as the more complaints, the more likely they’ll do something about it!)

      • Oliver says:

        28 Sep28 September 18:21

        Thanks all – will put in a complaint and report back if I get anywhere.

  • AJA says:

    28 Sep28 September 14:19

    Good luck with that. But definitely complain. Especially if you are travelling CE as that lounge an integral part of the fare and the service differential over choosing economy.

  • Ka says:

    28 Sep28 September 14:30

    I think the days are over where complaining you only got 3 meatballs instead of 4 or that the contrast on your telly wasn’t right would automatically get you 5000 complimentary Avios.

    I’d quote the Club Europe marketing to them about expecting it to be a premium experience,how it was planned to be a special occasion and how disappointed you are, etc (unless you were on a £200 return tier run).

    I’m not a consumer lawyer but I’d imagine BA’s t+c’s would cover any legal obligation but following the HfP mantra, if you don’t ask you don’t get.

  • Char Char says:

    28 Sep28 September 15:03

    Seeing as CE is meant to include lounge access, choosing to not pay the provider anymore saves BA money but the consumer misses out, something not right there are many levels!

    I’d choose economy and pay for the lounge if needed.

• Rich says:

  28 Sep28 September 13:55

  Just noticed in Cafe Nero app (quite useful – heavy in the promotions, and you can store your Amex to pay with)

  Buy two coffee vouchers for £3 with Pay by Bank app. Exclusively for HSBC and Barclays customers. Enjoy a free drink or give it to a friend! Max 10 purchases per customer. See Help Centre for full T&Cs

  • Rich says:

    28 Sep28 September 14:10

    Just done. Very quick. Can use on any hot or iced drink, voucher valid 90 days.

    Reasonable value even if you use it for 2x £1.90 espressos, Even better if you are into giant creamy ice milkshake things.

    No credit card points, obviously, but who cares at this discount.

• Matthew says:

  28 Sep28 September 13:59

  Just a heads up incase you have the same issue. Apparently from 4 Oct, passports that have > 10yr expiry (i.e. issued before renewal date) like my wife’s who has almost 10yrs 9 months validity, may not be able to travel to Europe if you are in the extended period of validity. My wife’s passport actually has 8 months left of validity but in the eyes of ‘Greece’ in our example, it is no longer valid as it’s >10yrs since issue. So rapid passport application renewal required before half term….

  • Simon says:

    28 Sep28 September 14:15

    been like this for a while. there is a handy checker on .gov site that tells you if your passport is valid for any EU country you pick…..

  • Andrew H says:

    28 Sep28 September 14:15

    That’s the same for ALL EU (and EEA?) countries.

    It’s not new, just the government has kept this benefit of Brexit surprisingly quiet

    Some EU countries want 3 months left, some 6 months on the date you plan to LEAVE. You can be asked for proof of your arranged departure when entering.

    These are the rules for non EU nationals

    https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/entry-exit/non-eu-nationals/index_en.htm

    • Anna says:

      28 Sep28 September 14:22

      They haven’t kept it quiet at all, there have been several public information campaigns and widespread media coverage. All passport holders who might be affected by it were being contacted as early as 2019 (I know because I was one of them).

      • Matthew says:

        28 Sep28 September 14:52

        My wife wasn’t contacted and to be fair I wasn’t aware of the potential problem until today.

        • John says:

          28 Sep28 September 15:52

          Not sure how you expected her to be contacted. Your passport details are not linked to any address. Furthermore it’s a decision by other countries, should Germany ask the UK for all issued passports which might be affected and then attempt to get their details?

          UK gov have done the best they can which is to publish notices in the news and on the gov website and the media makes a big deal of this once in a while.

        • Anna says:

          28 Sep28 September 16:02

          John, of course they are, you have to give your address when you apply/renew, and it’s usually delivered to your home unless you make other arrangements. But in any case, I got text notifications from the Passport Office mid-2019 before the Brexit extension was implemented. I then renewed my passport early for a Christmas trip and didn’t actually need to. Then didn’t use it after that for 18 months because of the pandemic! But there was plenty of information out there.

        • Matthew says:

          28 Sep28 September 17:51

          Either way – I’m not complaining. Just highlighting incase it catches anyone else out. We are going away in 3 weeks so it would have been a disaster. £177 lighter and my wife is off to the passport office next week!

    • AJA says:

      28 Sep28 September 14:24

      The thing is although this issue is caused by Brexit the UK was an exception in allowing us to renew passports significantly before the expiry and allowing the unexpired validity of the existing passport to be added on to the new one. Most other countries just give 10 years validity from the date the new passport is issued meaning you just lose the unexpired validity.

      • Rui N. says:

        28 Sep28 September 14:48

        Yeah, in a lot of countries passports in practice have a 4.5 year validity max, as they only have 5 years to begin with, and then many countries ask for a minimum of 6 month validity when enter said countries.

    • mark2 says:

      28 Sep28 September 14:24

      Isn’t that like non EU countries?

      • Anna says:

        28 Sep28 September 14:44

        No, there are plenty of non-EU countries which only require the passport to be valid for the duration of your stay (though it’s always wise to have a bit of leeway in case your departure is delayed).

• DMW says:

  28 Sep28 September 14:18

  Am I right in thinking new bookings of BA Holidays offer less flexibility in changes than BA Flight only? Changes to Holiday bookings can only be done up to three weeks before departure – am I reading the website correctly?

  • Cabal of rabid baboons says:

    28 Sep28 September 17:46

    Yup , pay in full 3 weeks before and you’re committed to travel or lose your money

• berneslai says:

  28 Sep28 September 14:25

  I feel like this has been done to death but I can’t get a definitive answer. Travelling to Spain with my 12.5 year old daughter on 15th October. Does she need a negative PCR test before travelling or does she fall under some “travelling with vaccinated parent” rule that I can’t find? I’m about to arrange the PCR test unless someone tells me otherwise.

  • Anna says:

    28 Sep28 September 14:46

    She needs a test but it can be rapid antigen, taken either within 48 or 72 hours of arrival, can’t remember which it is now.

  • BLT says:

    28 Sep28 September 17:16

    Not sure the answer above is correct, this was the latest info I found:

    They currently request that travellers from the UK who are not fully vaccinated at least 14 days prior to entry must have taken a Covid test within 72 hours before arrival in Spain and tested negative.

    The test must be a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT): eg PCR, TMA, LAMP or NEAR.

    Antigen tests are not accepted if you are travelling from the UK to Spain for tourism.

    All passengers (including children under 12 years old) travelling by air or sea must also complete and sign an online Health Control Form no more than 48 hours prior to travel.

    • Anna says:

      28 Sep28 September 20:51

      NAAT tests include Rapid Antigen Tests, this isn’t the same as the free lateral flow tests you can get from the NHS. If you look at the tests Collinson is doing for entry to Spain, they includes RAT and PCR, but the former is less expensive.

      • BLT says:

        28 Sep28 September 23:07

        I’ll just go with the info from gov.uk on uk to Spain travel:

        Testing and vaccination requirements for arrivals from the UK
        The Spanish government requires all arrivals to Spain from the UK (excluding children under the age of 12 years old) to present on entry one of the following:

        documentation certifying that you have undertaken a COVID-19 nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT – e.g. PCR, TMA, LAMP or NEAR) within 72 hours prior to arrival in Spain and tested negative. Antigen tests can only be used in certain limited circumstances (as outlined in section ‘k’ of the ‘Entry requirements for entry in Spain from third countries’ on the Spanish Ministry of Health ‘Travel and COVID-19’ page) and are not accepted if you are travelling from the UK to Spain for tourism purposes (see Reason for travel to Spain below for further information).

• Steve in Croydon says:

  28 Sep28 September 14:29

  Just received an email from BAEC stating that certain Household Account changes won’t be available from 04Oct to 17Nov, presumably due to IT changes. These are apparently “improvements”.
  God help us with BA’s IT track record!! Why 6+ weeks for this? I’ll be saving screen-shots of everything relevant to my HA – names/balances/etc.

  • berneslai says:

    28 Sep28 September 14:32

    1 week UAT, 5 weeks of rollbacks.

    • AL says:

      28 Sep28 September 14:42

      Oh, berneslai, you optimist! A whole day of go/no-go meetings, three days of UAT during which someone points out that the system doesn’t work on day one but this isn’t realised until day three, a complete outage on day six (a weekend no less!) because someone deleted the database accidentally, then a slanging match between Tata, or whoever’s doing this, whilst the rest of the organisation deals with a go/no-go meeting. Two weeks of rollbacks and a final ten or so days getting marketing to agree messaging to apologise to BAEC members and finally a few days to deal with the customer service backlog…

      And, if all that goes to plan, that’s a successful operation!

      • elguiri says:

        28 Sep28 September 16:16

        +1

      • Lady London says:

        28 Sep28 September 17:24

        You forgot the one-month overrun.
        And the “soft launch” that’s full of bugs and almost non-functional.

        Then 1 year till the core functional spec is met, 2 years or never for most of it to work properly.

        But the Big 4 consultancy will have had all timesheets and project milestones signed off week by week by week. So no exposure there.

        • Gruntfuttock says:

          28 Sep28 September 19:04

          LL – Absolutely true 🤦‍♂️, says someone involved in project delivery with complex software add ons years ago. (ATC). Software engineers had us over a barrel (allegedly 😂)

• Ste C says:

  28 Sep28 September 14:39

  Question time:
  I currently have the AMEX Plat card and I am going to get my OH to refer me for the Rewards card, partly for the referral bonus on their account and so I have a “holding account” for my MR points if I cancel the Plat.
  My question is, do I need to do anything special when applying for the new card? should I be logged into my account before following the referral link or will it all get linked later when I add the new card to my online account?

  • Rich says:

    28 Sep28 September 14:43

    I’ve always done it logged out. Then added the new card to my existing account when it arrives. Never failed.

    The new card might be linked to your existing MR account, or might have its own. You can call them and ask to merge

  • Ikaz says:

    28 Sep28 September 14:46

    Nothing special required from you, when you register it might ask you for your other amex number, they might use this to link your MR accounts. When you activate the new card, do it from your current account, if it doesn’t work, wait a couple of days to activate card. If Amex creates 2 separate MR accounts, they can link them on chat or call.

    • Ste C says:

      28 Sep28 September 14:46

      Thanks

  • Swiss Jim says:

    28 Sep28 September 14:59

    Why do this when it starts the 1st year free clock running? Are you about to cancel Platinum, or is it more an enhanced bonus points play?

    More importantly, because I hadn’t clocked this if true, if I cancel my Platinum card having taken out a Gold Rewards Card, are the Platinum earned membership Rewards automatically (or on request) transferred to the Gold Rewards Card or are they lost? If transferred that’s interesting…

    • Rich says:

      28 Sep28 September 15:02

      As long as both cards are earning into the same MR account, then you can cancel one, and they all stay alive. You need to have a card earning MRs, and make sure the second card isn’t accidentally pointing at a different account.

  • Rich says:

    28 Sep28 September 15:05

    You could also get the Amex Rewards Credit Card. Benefits: no fee at all, so it keeps your MRs alive as long as you want. Still 1MR per £.

    The benefits of the PRG are enhanced earning if you spend > £15k, the lounge pass, Deliveroo credit, and better RAF deal. Potentially better offers too. But you have to cancel after a year if you don’t want to pay £140.

    • Swiss Jim says:

      28 Sep28 September 15:21

      Thanks Rich, appreciated.

• Clive says:

  28 Sep28 September 14:45

  The World’s Top 10 Airlines of 2021 by Skytrax
  Qatar Airways
  Singapore Airlines
  ANA All Nippon Airways
  Emirates
  Japan Airlines
  Cathay Pacific Airways
  EVA Air
  Qantas Airways
  Hainan Airlines
  Air France

  • Paul Pogba says:

    28 Sep28 September 15:15

    BA improved from 19th to 11th: https://www.worldairlineawards.com/worlds-top-100-airlines-2021/

    Would Alex Cruz or Sean Doyle take the credit for that?

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      28 Sep28 September 15:32

      Whichever increased the Skytrax budget 😉

  • Russ says:

    28 Sep28 September 15:24

    Thanks Clive.

    Not sure about the first spot.

    • Paul Pogba says:

      28 Sep28 September 16:08

      If they can win the competition to host the World Cup why couldn’t they win SkyTrax?

      • r* says:

        28 Sep28 September 18:13

        The same criteria is required to ‘win’ both, isnt it? 😀

        • Paul Pogba says:

          28 Sep28 September 19:06

          I have no idea what you mean 😉

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