The HfP chat thread – Thursday 30th September

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Liz says:

30 Sep30 September 09:34

Has anyone received the £55 back from the Amex BAPP fee overcharge when their renewal was in Aug but got charged the £250 in Sept. I phoned a couple of weeks ago but there is no sign of the credit yet. Was told it was a known issue and it would be refunded.
- Blindman says:
  
  30 Sep30 September 09:49
  
  Supposedly will be corrected on your next billing statement.
- Jen T says:
  
  30 Sep30 September 09:49
  
  Same here – known issue but asked for patience(!). When I asked them to hurry up, they said since my payment wasn’t yet at its due date, I could wait a while longer…
- SteveJ says:
  
  30 Sep30 September 10:11
  
  Same. Wonder what happens if I pay statement balance less £55 and they haven’t sorted it in time.
  
  TBH not going to risk it, but this is a real poor showing from Amex.
  - Paul says:
    
    30 Sep30 September 11:44
    
    I was told on more than one occasion that there is no budging, and that as my fee ‘renewed’ after August there is nothing that can be done, despite my anniversary being in August. If it is going to be auto adjusted I’ll be pleasantly surprised but I am not holding my breath.
    - SteveJ says:
      
      30 Sep30 September 14:34
      
      TBH I’m referencing a new card sign up in Aug with a Sept first statement date.
      - Paul says:
        
        30 Sep30 September 15:09
        
        There shouldn’t be any differentiation between new applicants in August and those with Anniversary’s in August like myself, however this is exactly what Amex are trying to do! They seem to be aware of and happy to refund new applicants their £55 however not those existing members with an August anniversary with the new fee billed in September – or so is my understanding.
Andrew says:

30 Sep30 September 09:37

Just been perusing parking options at Heathrow and noticed my favourite Car Park is missing.

Anyone know the current status of NCP Flightpath (T2/T3)?
- Craig says:
  
  30 Sep30 September 11:56
  
  All closed at the moment, mostly tied in to quarantine hotels. I had an email 3 days before about T5 Hilton, good job I’d made a backup plan.
Bobri says:

30 Sep30 September 09:41

Could you please help invent a way to buy an iPhone for Mrs Bobri that maximises avios or voldemort or PAW points?
- Sam says:
  
  30 Sep30 September 09:57
  
  Discussed several times this week in the bits if you have a trawl
  - Bobri says:
    
    30 Sep30 September 10:26
    
    Thank you. Bits or daily chats?
    - Sam says:
      
      30 Sep30 September 10:37
      
      Chats like this thread
- Bobri says:
  
  30 Sep30 September 13:30
  
  Thanks a lot! Almost went with PAW + Argos + BA store
Mark says:

30 Sep30 September 09:48

Has anyone tried redeeming their new BAPP companion ticket and found they have to pay with the card that it was earned with as per the t&c’s? Appreciate this can change at any time but if anyone has recent experience of this it would be helpful to know. thanks
- Dave says:
  
  30 Sep30 September 10:03
  
  Any Amex is fine.
- Simon says:
  
  30 Sep30 September 11:29
  
  Did this yday. The dropdown options were “Amex” “Personal Amex” or “Business Amex”….. so dont see how they claim it must be the amex used to earn the voucher!
Raveon says:

30 Sep30 September 09:48

Re: Yesterday’s chat, the old Accor webform for setting up sub 3000 point transfers seems to be gone / down (“Oops. Looks like something is not right. Please contact your administrator. 400 – invalid_request_object: Authorization server can not verify the signed request). Maybe seen too much traffic from HfP readers?
- Ed says:
  
  30 Sep30 September 09:53
  
  I was posting about this. the 404 error has been off and on the past few weeks (and possibly previously). Maybe try again later?
  - Raveon says:
    
    30 Sep30 September 10:22
    
    Any tips on how to format the Iberia number? Kept saying invalid when I tried (a few combinations) yesterday. Thanks in advance.
    - Ed says:
      
      30 Sep30 September 11:50
      
      I can’t remember exactly what worked. Whether I needed the IB at the start or not? Definitely needed to add some zeros before the more personalised number.
Liz says:

30 Sep30 September 09:52

If finally reached Spire Elite again but I already got the 25000 pts back in April. Are people getting this twice this year or just the once.
- Sam says:
  
  30 Sep30 September 09:56
  
  Only once for me
- Anna says:
  
  30 Sep30 September 10:01
  
  Liz – I was told I couldn’t have them but I argued that giving me the earlier 25k as a “goodwill gesture” was completely meaningless if they were then going to effectively claw them back by denying them when I re-qualified for Spire. They relented after a few emails!
  - Rui N. says:
    
    30 Sep30 September 10:12
    
    Anna, who did you contact? I also didn’t get the extra 25k, and I’m all for complaining.
  - Travel Strong says:
    
    30 Sep30 September 10:21
    
    I argued it for an hour with absolutely no joy – I used IHG customer service and failed, but Anna went via Ambassador customer service and succeeded.
    - Anna says:
      
      30 Sep30 September 10:30
      
      I did (via email) – in this instance I felt it wasn’t really acceptable to give out a goodwill gesture then decide it was an early Spire reward!
      - Reney says:
        
        30 Sep30 September 10:54
        
        l argued online and no joy.
      - Paul says:
        
        30 Sep30 September 11:45
        
        Anna where exactly did you argue it via email?
    - Anna says:
      
      30 Sep30 September 16:30
      
      Via the IHG Ambassador email address.
RussellH says:

30 Sep30 September 10:12

I have not been following the Chat Thread for some time, so this may have been posted before. But in case not:

Some of us who still have a Marriott MarsterCard from Creation got a Promotion called “Limited Time: Earn Triple Points on Purchases” – triple points During June + July.

Points were due to post by last weekend at the latest, but have not done so. I have it on reliable authority that Marriott were informed on Tuesday 28 Sept there was a delay with the file going to Marriott from BNP (Creation). My contact has been advised the those promotion points will post in the next 14 business days:- e-mail from yesterday morning.
- FFoxSake says:
  
  30 Sep30 September 10:45
  
  Comments yesterday (or day before?) suggested that any spend via Curve was going to be excluded. Despite T&Cs not mentioning this exclusion.
  Anyone planning to challenge this?
  - RussellH says:
    
    30 Sep30 September 12:13
    
    Does not affect me.
    I suspect that my contact at Marriott would be able to find the answer, but I do not feel comfortable asking what, in my case, would be a purely hypothetical question.
    I suspect that they have enough on their plate keeping Creation liaising properly with Marriott.
- Lenin says:
  
  30 Sep30 September 15:04
  
  June/July Creation Marriott bonus points have just been credited to my Marriott account. “UK Special Bonus for Spend”
  - Guernsey Globetrotter says:
    
    30 Sep30 September 16:43
    
    That’s good news for you. Nothing in my account yet though, even though I have not been having any curvacious encounters! YMMV I guess …
Hannah says:

30 Sep30 September 10:14

Maybe a bit of a long shot but there seems to be a mine of knowledge among HfP-ers – does anyone have any tips on booking F-class redemptions with Emirates? I’m looking at travelling DXB to LAX or SFO just before Christmas and there is only one possible option at the moment which isn’t too practical date wise – any inside knowledge on when additional seats may become available?
- WMorrison99 says:
  
  30 Sep30 September 12:00
  
  For the last 4 months I’ve been monitoring EK F award space for a trip in October. I’d been told that F awards typically open up 2 weeks or less before travel.
  For my dates, the space opened up about 4 weeks before. My advice would be to book a cancelable J redemption and just keep checking.
- Blair says:
  
  30 Sep30 September 12:19
  
  Try pricing a business itinerary and see if you get the seat with upward arrow symbol indicating a points upgrade to First is possible once you have completed your booking. Or they can do it all in one go on the phone.
- Rob says:
  
  30 Sep30 September 13:10
  
  Look at the next few days and track what opens up. Will give you a feel for short notice availability. Assume you have looked at MAN and LGW.