The HfP chat thread – Friday 8th October

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• Diydegsy says:

  8 Oct8 October 10:44

  If I have a future travel voucher from BA can I use it to book flights to Las Vegas next year even if there is no avios availability for CW ? Thanks everyone, I know this has probably been done to death but didn’t think I would be in this position so appreciate any info.

  • Pete M says:

    8 Oct8 October 10:50

    No.

  • Anna says:

    8 Oct8 October 10:58

    If you only want to go to Las Vegas and there’s no avios availability, and you need to use the voucher, I would consider using it for a reward flight to somewhere in the US where there’s better availability (think NYD/IAD/ATL) and get a cheap domestic connecting flight.

    • Mikeact says:

      8 Oct8 October 11:35

      Or an AA domestic with Avios….beware though..you have to pay extra for your luggage, whereas if you have Skyteam miles, use Delta with free luggage..cheap taxes with either.

      • David says:

        8 Oct8 October 12:38

        Do you say extra even if you are silver/gold?

        • Mikeact says:

          8 Oct8 October 13:06

          ‘Fraid so…

      • Jonathan says:

        8 Oct8 October 18:39

        Are you sure no bags for One World Saphire/Emerald? Was always 2/3 free bags even on Basic Economy & Avios redemptions. Think Ruby/Bronze even got 1 free.

• Tom says:

  8 Oct8 October 10:56

  Any thoughts on when the next 80-100% bonus point offer on purchasing HH points might come along?
  I realise the previous one ended very recently. I now have the unexpected need to top up to the tune of about 12,000 points for a high value return redemption.

  • Russ says:

    8 Oct8 October 11:08

    Don’t Hilton let you reserve pending you get enough points by the redemption date?

    • Rob says:

      8 Oct8 October 11:43

      No, that’s Marriott – and it doesn’t lock in the rate either which could still move up.

      • Russ says:

        8 Oct8 October 12:20

        Ah – is that so. Did not know that. Thanks Rob.

  • BJ says:

    8 Oct8 October 13:08

    100% at the moment unless it ended just recently.

    • Tom says:

      8 Oct8 October 14:59

      It ended recently, unfortunately! I know they are usually fairly frequent. I’ll keep my eyes peeled!

• November says:

  8 Oct8 October 11:07

  Good morning, has anyone who won in the Nectar to Avios conversion competition that ran earlier this year had their points post yet?

  I had an email on 08 Sep saying I’d won a prize and that the points would post within 28 days, that should have been Wednesday, but nothing yet. The email was bang on time within the competition T&Cs, had my name, was from an avios.com address and didn’t phish for any extra information through links etc so I think it was genuine.

  • MrHandBaggageOnly says:

    8 Oct8 October 13:43

    In the same boat here. Email arrived on 8th Sept, everything looked correct.

    Planning to email next week if nothing has turned up.

  • Andrew H says:

    8 Oct8 October 15:04

    Nectar chat is actually quite good. Have had Connect issues sorted that way.

  • November says:

    8 Oct8 October 15:22

    Thank you both, I’m glad I’m not the only one waiting. I think I’ll give it till next week too and then reply to the avios.com address that the notification came from unless anyone knows a better Avios contact?

    Given the email came from Avios I’m assuming they’re running the promotion and not Nectar so am doubtful Nectar Chat would be able to help in this instance. May still be worth a try though.

  • Kevin C says:

    8 Oct8 October 19:06

    I’ve not had mine either.

• Liz says:

  8 Oct8 October 11:11

  I have a few Avios in Aerclub which are about to expire. I cannot find the bit in the Aerclub account that allows me to push them out to BAEC and the BAEC website says it’s not working when I try to pull them. It’s a long time since I’ve done this I can’t remember how to do it from Aerclub !

  • Liz says:

    8 Oct8 October 11:16

    I’ve found it !

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:

    8 Oct8 October 11:17

    Log into avios.com with your Aerclub details and look for the combine my Avios option

  • BJ says:

    8 Oct8 October 13:13

    Under my account or name or sonething in top left quarter of desktop screen IIRC but it is not right at the top or left edge.

• Laura says:

  8 Oct8 October 11:12

  Some amazing prices for flights to MLE via SIN ex BCN in the spring.

  I had mentally planned out a glorious holiday to the Maldives with city breaks to Barcelona and Singapore at either end and then realised that we probably still won’t be allowed into Singapore. Sigh

  • KK says:

    8 Oct8 October 11:15

    Keep an keen eye out on avios availability for MLE. Managed to get club world return yesterday for a week in December school holidays as BA seem to be adding extra flights now it is off the red list

  • manilabay says:

    8 Oct8 October 11:26

    Singapore might surprise you… There’s talk of a Vaccinated Travel Lane with the US. The UK is part of the same risk grouping as the UK with the UK being an important destination for SG travellers. The only complication in this scenario is that on the Germany VTL example you have to take a special designation VTL flight from Lufthansa or Singapore Airlines – transit via a third country airport like BCN would invalidate your ability to travel to SIN quarantine free. This is all hypothetical though.

    • John says:

      8 Oct8 October 11:52

      Enter Schengen in Germany and they won’t know if you move to other Schengen countries for the 21 day period – but in theory they could ask for proof

      • Sam G says:

        8 Oct8 October 12:20

        It’s only 14 days now. But you need to have been vaccinated in Germany or Singapore to use the VTL flights + I absolutely wouldn’t be lying about anything to Singapore !

        • John says:

          8 Oct8 October 13:53

          True, I’m banned for life anyway because of something my dad did.

    • Sam G says:

      8 Oct8 October 12:16

      A stopover on a VTL flight is actually kind of doable- either leave before 3pm on day 3 (e.g. land on a Monday, get out before 3pm on a Wednesday) you only do the arrival test or stay a bit longer and only do the day 3 test (but not day 7). The negative is you need to quarantine in your hotel room awaiting the arrival test result which scuppers day 1 plans + it’ll quickly get pricey

      The Barcelona flight stops in Milan so unlikely to become a VTL flight I’d have thought

      Singapore local case numbers are high currently which means a tight border becomes far less of a benefit to health so I imagine we’ll see things easing quite quickly now

  • xcalx says:

    8 Oct8 October 12:46

    Some amazing prices for flights to MLE via SIN ex BCN in the spring.

    Brings back happy memories from the BMI days (a nice zone 2 to 10 redemption) Done it twice to MLE and once exited at SIN. Flight has a short stop at MXP.

    • Laura says:

      8 Oct8 October 13:31

      I actually found some direct ones from BCN but yeah, most are MXP.

      A few years back I did MAD-LGW-MLE with positioning flights with Ryanair to get to Madrid. I didn’t realise that I could leave at LGW on my return without penalty so I did a night in Madrid at either end.
      Doing that was still half the price of just booking LGW-MLE even though it was exactly the same flights!

      • Sam G says:

        8 Oct8 October 14:15

        the schedule for next year is just the placeholder – in reality all the Barcelona flights have been operating via Milan and I’d have thought that could be the case for quite a while yet

• BlueHorizonUK says:

  8 Oct8 October 11:28

  Does anyone know when BA might start direct flights to BKK again?

  • Rhys says:

    8 Oct8 October 11:37

    Flights are bookable from early January.

    • BlueHorizonUK says:

      8 Oct8 October 11:45

      Apologies should have said I have flights booked from 9 months ago for flying out on a direct BA flight in Early December and returning Early Jan but looking at BA.com there are no direct flights so not sure what the BA plan is as we are in October so not long to go.

      • Sam G says:

        8 Oct8 October 12:17

        9th Dec they start

        • Sam G says:

          8 Oct8 October 12:19

          Whoops Rhys is right – 10th Jan it’s been changed to. The flights are still scheduled though but zero’d out – I wonder if they’ll be put back on sale now Thailand is off red + borders are supposedly about to open

  • TGLoyalty says:

    8 Oct8 October 11:39

    realistically no one can get in so what’s the point of flights?

    • Rob says:

      8 Oct8 October 11:40

      Finnair is £1040 return from LHR, MAN, EDI until well into 2022. £835 from Stockholm.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        8 Oct8 October 12:26

        They could be 50p but if the country won’t let you in they’re worthless. Perhaps these other carriers have cargo reasons for running?

        Obviously essential travel and citizens / residents are exceptions but I can’t see BA sticking on multiple flights unless there’s serious cargo demand.

    • Andy says:

      8 Oct8 October 12:05

      In theory Bangkok is open from the 1st November

      • Wollhouse says:

        8 Oct8 October 12:36

        And Samui sandbox was 1 October. But your USM flight has to be on the same PNR as your BKK flight….AND (unless BA has now changed) BA landed after all the approved linking flights had left… so even if you didn’t mind not being able to use your 241 voucher, you still can’t use BA…

  • Rhys says:

    8 Oct8 October 11:50

    I imagine now that Thailand is off the red list we may see flights return sooner.

    • meta says:

      8 Oct8 October 12:26

      I have booked return in Dec/Jan only a week ago on BA as Plan B.

    • BJ says:

      8 Oct8 October 13:27

      Vaccinations have been significantly ramped up, latest is they expect to complete by year end with things opening up from January.

  • BJ says:

    8 Oct8 October 13:25

    Qatar is a major shareholder in BA and they have 5 destinations in Thailand and just as many in UK.

• Ant says:

  8 Oct8 October 11:32

  Hi just spoke to BA Exec re my flight booked with Lloyds voucher that has been cancelled. The flight is in Nov and has been cancelled and BA moved me to another flight a couple of hours difference. I would like to rebook for April but they are refusing as it was ticketed in Feb.
  At this point happy to go down the CEDR route but they have just told me that if i don’t cancel before the flight departs in Nov i will be considered a no show. I asked if they can put a note on the booking that i will call after and the answer was no.
  As i have paid £600+125,000 avios i am concerned that if CEDR does not conclude the case before then i will lose it all.
  What do you think? If i submit a CEDR today how long will it take?

  • meta says:

    8 Oct8 October 11:37

    Recorded the call? If so, just present that as proof that your rights have been denied at MCOL. I would also write to BA’s legal department, stop deal with useless customer services. Once legal dept gets inundated with such complaints, maybe it will trickle down.

    • JDB says:

      8 Oct8 October 12:29

      It is unlawful to record a telephone call without the consent of the other party.

      • Lady London says:

        8 Oct8 October 18:15

        Not correct JDB.
        Under UK law only 1 party needs to be aware.
        BA records calls anyway and I always assume I am being recorded

    • JDB says:

      8 Oct8 October 12:34

      This would usually make it inadmissible as evidence. Make a note of the contents of the call with date/time, name/reference and ask BA for the recording to be sure it will be admissible.

      • meta says:

        8 Oct8 October 13:20

        No, it is not illegal to record a phone call as BA is already recording the calls anyway and if you tell the agent that you’re also doing this.

        BA somehow always magically loses the recording when you request it from them. I usually mention at the beginning of the conversation with the agent that I am also recording this as they are. Never had an issue with this. I had recorded a call and went to MCOL before and won on that basis. You can’t interpret law without providing full context.

        • meta says:

          8 Oct8 October 13:25

          And further to this, it is admissible as evidence in court even if you have recorded in secret, but then you need to apply for permission from the court and you also give the other party chance to listen to the recording. I always send all evidence with the letter before action.

        • JDB says:

          8 Oct8 October 17:06

          @Meta my post was correct, and you simply elaborated. The fact one party is recording does not mean they have given their consent, so as you say you need to tell them before recording.

      • Anna says:

        8 Oct8 October 16:52

        It’s absolutely not illegal to record a phone call. If it’s a company or agency doing it, they have to tell the person on the other end (unless they have a RIPA), but if it’s a private individual there’s no such responsibility.

        • swifty says:

          8 Oct8 October 17:54

          hurrah for the sense! It’s not illegal, it’s just frowned upon 🙂

  • Anna says:

    8 Oct8 October 11:37

    You need to call avios.com. not BA. I recently got a flight which was booked last October with a Lloyds voucher to fly last month moved to next April (and also to a different destination), with no quibble. It was a bit fiddly as they had to cancel the original flight and rebook it but they were perfectly happy to do it.

  • Mikeact says:

    8 Oct8 October 11:49

    A couple of hours difference ? Is that all. I think you’ll be on thin ice with any claim.
    Just cancel for a small fee..and lose the so called upgrade voucher.
    Interestingly I called yesterday…only 21 minutes on hold..as I have two expiring this month. I need to call back despite all calls recorded as I wasn’t quite convinced with what I was told. I shall be booking the first one in the NA zone for around May time. The ticket will be valid of course for 12 months ie September from now. He said that if BA or myself want to cancel, I can change it for the usual fee, book again in the same zone and, more importantly, the voucher will still be applied. We will see.

    • Anna says:

      8 Oct8 October 12:01

      avios.com will move the flight even if it hasn’t been cancelled. No need to get BAEC involved.

      • Ant says:

        8 Oct8 October 12:37

        Thanks Anna. I did call avios.com but got the same message, that they cant do it. Only move it to a year from ticket validity

        • Anna says:

          8 Oct8 October 12:48

          I would try HUACA in that case, they did it for me. Don’t ask, just say you’re aware that this flight can be changed by cancelling and rebooking – their systems always seem a lot more amenable to manual adjustments. It’s worth trying again, anyway, before you go down the legal route.
          Just too clarify – you should have been given the option to accept the new flight, did you respond to this? If so and you accepted the new timing you’re unlikely to be successful at CEDR or MCOL.

      • Mikeact says:

        8 Oct8 October 13:13

        Up until recently, they, Avios/Lloyd’s, were offering a lot more flexibility…similar but not quite the same as BA themselves.
        Now though, with things getting back to normal, the rules are gradually coming back in, whether that’s hotels or airlines….unfortunately.

• Jas says:

  8 Oct8 October 11:34

  Looks like the supplementary card process has been tighten by amex and the points seem to be taking a lot longer than normal to get credited? anyone else noticed

  • Anna says:

    8 Oct8 October 11:43

    Yes, mentioned by a few of is recently. I was told 60 days.

  • Sam G says:

    8 Oct8 October 12:21

    I requested a couple of supps a while ago that haven’t been issued, I actually want them so need to call in and chase up but something does seem to have changed

  • Kevin says:

    8 Oct8 October 13:17

    I want to get a supp platinum card for my sister who is staying with me during her several months in uk but denied due to i cant provide a proved of her name on UK address despite she is on the supp of my BAPP or used to on platinum card.

  • Paul says:

    8 Oct8 October 13:48

    yes, had a supp card approved 4-5 weeks ago, no sign of points yet. Chased and they told me wait a while

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