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The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 29th September

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Comments (539)

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

  • Jord says:
    29 Sep29 September 08:02

    I know it’s been discussed multiple times however i’m receiving conflicting answers.. I have a BA Holidays booking- 5 nights to iceland (double tier points). Ba have cancelled the outbound flight and put us on the same flight a day earlier but not amended our hotel. What are my options here? if we ask to be rerouted on icelandair (significantly more expensive) will we lose the double tier points? Will they honour the extra night in a hotel if we took the new flight? Does this give me the right to pick new dates even through its a holiday booking? Thanks

    • Anna says:
      29 Sep29 September 08:13

      Sounds like you’re not the only one having these issues (see above).
      Unfortunately you don’t have the EU261 re-routing rights with a package booking as with flight only so I think your options are either accept the change or cancel for a full refund. You’d need to speak to them about the hotel booking – one option might be to return a day earlier so you still have the same number of hotel nights, otherwise your insurance might cover an extra night due to the disruption.
      BA Holidays are not covering themselves with glory with all these cock ups!

      • Mikeact says:
        29 Sep29 September 08:24

        Bit of an exaggeration, 1000’s go away with no problems at all. All holiday companies have their odd clitches., even low cost carriers.

        • Anna says:
          29 Sep29 September 09:16

          3 cases cited here by 8am, clearly they are struggling with so many flight changes but not adjusting hotel and car bookings is very sloppy. Additionally it’s extraordinarily difficult to get hold of BA to address these issues just now. LCCs have behaved consistently better than BA throughout the pandemic!

          • Pete M says:
            29 Sep29 September 10:33

            “LCCs have behaved consistently better than BA throughout the pandemic!” I would fundamentally disagree Anna. BA have been a pain, but I have not lost a penny on bookings with them. The same absolutely cannot be said about EZ or FR!

          • Anna says:
            29 Sep29 September 10:36

            Pete M – that’s not my experience at all. I’ve had 4 or 5 Ryanair and easyJet cancellations since last year and in every case I’ve had no issue getting a refund or change online or via email in a timely fashion. I would go so far as to say it’s changed my travelling habits, perhaps permanently, after 2 seamless trips on Ryanair this summer.

      • @mkcol says:
        29 Sep29 September 16:18

        I’m just back from a fantastic week long BA Holidays booking in the Highlands, staying at HGV Ballater.
        Couldn’t fault any of it despite being a picky bugger.

    • roberto says:
      29 Sep29 September 09:03

      I think they will cover the extra cost of the extra night with no issues. Call to chat to them but its pretty much a slam dunk that you will get them to cover the extension.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        29 Sep29 September 09:59

        Yes they will which would be the case under EU261 (duty of care is not suspended)

        In fact covid shouldn’t even be a factor now it’s purely changes for commercial reasons.

    • Jord says:
      29 Sep29 September 10:11

      They have actually just texted me this morning with my options: Accept the new flight and ba holidays will be in contact with me about the additional cost for the extra night (so looks like they’re unlikely to cover it), request a voucher or a refund… They’ve given me until midday tomorrow to make my mind up which isn’t very long considering how hard it is to get in contact with them.

      • Anna says:
        29 Sep29 September 10:31

        I thought those would be the options, no EU261 for holiday bookings. There’s no reason they can’t move your return flight though, if there is one available, and shift your hotel booking forward by one night, but it depends how amenable they are feeling.

        • Pete M says:
          29 Sep29 September 11:07

          I am genuinely glad things have worked out for you with LCCs Anna – my experience is that when everything is going fine, they are indeed absolutely fine. But I have found FR, in particular, an absolute nightmare in the last 18months – not recognising tests, massively understaffing check-in desks, disabling online check-in, not loading pre-paid food onto planes, making zero effort to wait for passengers who were stuck at their understaffed check-in, closing down complaint tickets without even reading them… And EZ’s “book with confidence” where they will happily let you (for free!) convert a £150 booking into a £20 whilst “forgetting” the difference… I am on exactly the other side of the spectrum to you – where I would have been more open to LCCs in the past, I would now have to be positively desperate to opt for one.

          • Mikeact says:
            29 Sep29 September 17:04

            I totally agree..some on here are happy to continually criticise BA while happy to give LC carriers 10/10..totally ridiculous. Makes you wonder why they bother coming on here.

          • Anna says:
            29 Sep29 September 21:05

            MikeAct – why, this isn’t a BA forum the last time I looked?! If that’s someone’s experience then I don’t think it’s your decision as to whether it’s ridiculous or not.

      • Lady London says:
        29 Sep29 September 14:00

        No way should you accept extra costs for the extra night. If you’re willing you might agree to have one less night at the back end of the hol but i will suspect ba flights dont work. But on principle I’d accept no extra cost for this overall.

        However due package holiday regs you might find they will unilaterally refund you within 7 days.

  • Kevin says:
    29 Sep29 September 08:03

    Paid IHG HI with Amex yesterday and it just slightly over £200 (incl FX). Would this able to trigger the Amex offer or it calculates without the 3% FX?

  • Anna says:
    29 Sep29 September 08:06

    Not discussed much recently but trains! I managed to get very reasonably priced tickets to Edinburgh for next month, but there’s an exhibition I really want to go to in London over the next few months and even booking 3 months out prices from Manchester or Preston are £100 return! What’s the issue with rail travel to the south?! I’d ideally like to go in January but don’t want to buy tickets then find the travel costs extortionate. It would only be an overnight stop so options like coach or driving (took 5 hours to get from home to the Kimpton Fitzroy last time) aren’t really an option.

    • BJ says:
      29 Sep29 September 08:11

      Are you sure they have released tbhe advance tickets yet? It’s not exactly 3 months, I suggest you try again early Friday morning.

      • Anna says:
        29 Sep29 September 09:18

        I’ve checked the whole of November and December to see what prices are like 3 months out, there are no low fares available. Some dates in December are showing no or only one service!

        • Alan H says:
          29 Sep29 September 15:09

          Last week I booked Avanti tickets from Birmingham to London for mid November which (with a senior railcard) was just £20.30 return which I thought was pretty good.

    • Rich says:
      29 Sep29 September 08:12

      Are you looking too soon fit the Advance tickets? £94 sounds like an Off-Peak Return, which is a walk up fare.

      Advance tickets usually released 12(ish} weeks out, but less over Christmas and New Year

      • Rich says:
        29 Sep29 September 08:16

        If you pop your dates into LNER.co.uk, it will tell you if those dates aren’t on sale yet, and you can set up an alert

        • BJ says:
          29 Sep29 September 08:28

          By the time they send out the alert most of the best prices are gone on most popular routes and times in my experience.

          • Super Secret Stuff says:
            29 Sep29 September 08:48

            Best thread of advice here, other than the fact it’s the wrong operator. Same principle, advance weekday tickets go on sale 3 months ahead unless rare engineering’s works. Advanve weekend tickets only go on sale once National Rail confirm if the line is open, part clossed or clossed

    • John says:
      29 Sep29 September 08:24

      Release of advance tickets and train timetables has been a shambles over the last few months, in my experience. I mostly travel Avanti, and there was one memorable occasion where they didn’t release tickets and train times for a weekend until two weeks before. They’ve been pretty hopeless in making bookings for trips between London and Manchester over the last few months.

      You can check their train website to see which dates they’re booking. It may well be that yours aren’t released for advance tickets yet.

      • John says:
        29 Sep29 September 08:57

        Weekend diversions and engineering are often not confirmed until very close to the date.

    • Michael C says:
      29 Sep29 September 08:26

      I looked at Oxford-Manchester, which is direct, for December (within the three months). GBP225 for 2 adults and a child. BA was cheaper. Will end up leaving at crack of dawn and parking for a week, far cheaper, unfortunately.

      • John says:
        29 Sep29 September 08:58

        That’s crosscountry for you – complete ripoff

      • Anna says:
        29 Sep29 September 09:48

        It would be so handy if there was a daily MAN-LCY flight! Even the weekend one has been pulled now they are not running the regional routes any more.

      • Andrew says:
        29 Sep29 September 11:35

        With a family Railcard?

        Be mindful of quirks of the booking system. For example, did you know that an anytime return from Oxford to Manchester costs £196, but just £140 from Banbury? It doesn’t cost £56 to take the train between Oxford and Banbury.

    • Anuj says:
      29 Sep29 September 08:35

      Try trainsplit.com and trainpal. While trainline does train split ticketing to save money, unlike the other apps it’s limited to just one split afaik whereas the others often show me cheaper splits.

      • Super Secret Stuff says:
        29 Sep29 September 08:45

        They a bit of a scam though, they charge you 10% of the savings they calculate, which sometimes adds up to more than the cheapest tickets I can find. Plus you are effectively self insuring the connections etc.

        • Anuj says:
          29 Sep29 September 08:49

          That’s not true, they charge 10% of the saving which obviously can’t be more than the cheapest ticket (if the splits aren’t cheaper it just shows a normal ticket). Trainpal also doesn’t charge 10%.

          Secondly if you miss your next train (due to a delay or cancellation) using a split ticket you’re entitled to be allowed to still make your journey as normal on the next train.

          • Super Secret Stuff says:
            29 Sep29 September 09:24

            They calculate the savings based of off a walk up off peak ticket which means that if an off peak is £100, an advance from end to end is £60 and split ticketing is £59 then they charge you 10% of £41. Costing you £63.10 instead of £60. A real example I had from one of these sites a while ago. Point is you need to be very careful

        • Gavin says:
          29 Sep29 September 08:52

          You can use it to work out the cheapest splits though, and then buy them yourself elsewhere. Especially useful for split ticketing on one train (no changes) so no self insurance required

          • Super Secret Stuff says:
            29 Sep29 September 09:25

            Very true, although personally any tickets worth doing this I normally have an advance

        • John says:
          29 Sep29 September 09:06

          Trainpal is a scam company owned and operated from China (via a virtual office in Hong Kong).

          Trainsplit is a reputable company owned and operated from the UK. Since they do not operate any trains or stations and therefore do not have any ticket machines, they can’t make any money that way (train operating companies get commission when their ticket machines are used to collect tickets bought online). Margins on train tickets are close to nothing.

          Trainsplit has decided on an optional “donation-style” model to cover their considerable hosting and development costs. You are free to use their search engine without paying for it and buy elsewhere, denying them even the paltry commission.

          If you have an issue with trainsplit, the site owners are very responsive on the rail UK forums. If you have an issue with trainpal, I suppose your card company will deal with it, but if that doesn’t work good luck trying to enforce anything in China.

          • Super Secret Stuff says:
            29 Sep29 September 09:27

            I have to admit I am not too familiar with trainsplit but it sounds like one of the only companies I would trust. Also Love Rail UK Forums! Not been on for ages though.

            In honnour of the ASDF movies, I Like Trains!

        • John says:
          29 Sep29 September 09:12

          As per the National Rail Conditions of Travel, condition 14.1, you can use any number of tickets for a journey. As per condition 20, your planned itinerary must meet the minimum connection time at all stations (unless staying on the same train).

          If you are delayed you are entitled to complete your journey on a later train even if you held a time-specific ticket. Although, like BA and rerouting, you may encounter hassle; unlike BA, writing to the train company 2 or 3 times generally gets you a refund without needing to threaten court.

          • Super Secret Stuff says:
            29 Sep29 September 09:58

            Yeh that condition got added a while ago, however the catch comes when you come to walk across from say Kings Cross to St Pancreas. You need to be aware that there is some risks attached to this, but generally yes you will be OK and in the worst case you can always continually write to the train company in protest until they refund which they will.

            BTW is one of the greatest locations for split ticketing even on off peak tickets. Same with Reading (sometimes)

    • Keely says:
      29 Sep29 September 13:36

      Bit late to comment Anna but whenever I need to book train tickets (always London/Sheffield so can’t comment on other routes/operators) megabus consistently comes out cheaper so might be worth checking.

  • G says:
    29 Sep29 September 08:08

    Great deal on at green chef if all the stacking works and you have the Amex and Nectar connect offers:

    3 meals x 4 portions +63.99 +3.99 (delivery)
    TaCoBell discount code and free delivery -21.99 -3.99

    You are billed 42, with the following to come:

    TaCoBell -17
    Amex -15 (3 meals x 4 portions is the sweet spot as spend needs to be over 39.99 on the Amex offer)
    Nectar connect -2000 points

    Total cost if everything tracks and you value nectar at 0.5p is 0. You make a small profit if you value Avios at 1p or you wait for Sainsbury’s double up

    • Toby says:
      29 Sep29 September 08:43

      Great! Except: double up seems to have been cancelled in favour of these new smart scan only offers….

    • Super Secret Stuff says:
      29 Sep29 September 08:50

      Good spot. Unfortunately my nectar connect offers are awful right now

    • NC says:
      29 Sep29 September 09:08

      It’s a shame Green Chef is woefully bad. Several missing/substituted/past-best items in my delivery so I wasn’t able to make any of the 3 dishes properly.

  • Adam says:
    29 Sep29 September 08:13

    We arrive DXB to LHR on 4thOctober will we need a day 2 test? It was said we will not need a departure test as our flight lands 7am however we do transit Doha as flying QR?

    • Harry T says:
      29 Sep29 September 08:19

      Yeah, you need a day 2. It’s the predeparture test that is being phased out from October 4th.

    • Rob says:
      29 Sep29 September 09:03

      Day 2 tests are not being scrapped …..

      • rich01924 says:
        29 Sep29 September 18:01

        Have a similar question as Adam here, coming back from the US, leave 3rd Oct but arrive post 4AM on the 4th…AA saying I still need a negative pre departure test otherwise I can’t board….I’m been stubborn and saying not – anyone want to referee for me (I know I’m just going to get the test anyway 🙂 now it’s just a principle thing)

        • TGLoyalty says:
          29 Sep29 September 20:33

          At the end of the day the carrier will want to be safe but the guidance is clear anyone landing after 4am Oct 4th and fully jabbed (from the accepted countries) doesn’t need a pre departure test.

  • Julia says:
    29 Sep29 September 08:54

    Any recommendations for a cheap Heathrow hotel? We usually get a good deal on the Leonardo via Hotels.com but apparently that’s closed for refurbishment until after our flight on 9th November.

  • Gavin says:
    29 Sep29 September 08:56

    Surprised to get two drinks vouchers as a Gold at HIX Terminal 5 yesterday. Most welcome though. Hotel is chaotic as always as a real United Nations of guests given its location. Overheard some contractors from the West Midlands describe it as one of the top 5 hotels they’ve stayed in – while the hotel is a perfectly adequate HIX and fine for its price point, it’s not in my top 5!

    • John says:
      29 Sep29 September 09:17

      Ahh, HIX Slough East, a nice place for £40 mattress runs when IHG used to run those crazy promos. Not sure why anyone would use it if they actually wanted a Heathrow hotel

    • TGLoyalty says:
      29 Sep29 September 09:31

      Imagine the hell holes these contractors get given when on jobs … Britannia is probably the usual standard.

  • Zara says:
    29 Sep29 September 09:25

    Does anyone have any experience using travelrepublic for hotel bookings? Tia

    • Anna says:
      29 Sep29 September 09:36

      We booked flights plus a villa through them a few years ago, no problems at all. I remember we only had to pay for the flights up front then the balance a few weeks before travel. They also took Amex, which was handy!

      • Zara says:
        29 Sep29 September 10:42

        Thank you Anna. I think if it’s amex I may try it and also contact the hotel to confirm they have the booking. The price however is less than half the price at hotels.com and 1/3 off their own website so I’m a little wary. We once used alpha rooms and got to a hotel abroad where they said they had no record of our booking. Just don’t want that happening!

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