The HfP chat thread – Monday 18th October

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• Rosie says:

  18 Oct18 October 18:51

  Can club Europe pax still use first class wing and lounge at LHR T5 or has that stopped

  • Rob says:

    18 Oct18 October 19:33

    Stopped – Club lounges are now open, as indeed is 5B I think.

    • The Original Nick. says:

      18 Oct18 October 20:22

      And there rammed as I posted on Friday.

    • PMG says:

      18 Oct18 October 20:44

      Went to 5B today, open Thursday to Monday only according to the sign outside it.

      Very quiet and well worth going there and back to T5A to get my flight to Munich 😊

    • Peggerz says:

      18 Oct18 October 21:37

      I was in T5 Galleries South and T5B yesterday. T5B was a delight, the kind of place you’d always wished Galleries South to be, but it never was……. Check carefully the opening days tho because, as stated, the hours are in hiatus atm.

  • Andrew says:

    18 Oct18 October 20:03

    Unless you’re Gold or above

• BigMac says:

  18 Oct18 October 18:53

  I’ve not posted on here for ages – but glad to see a random thread to hopefully answer my “hopefully” straightforward random question. I’m looking at booking a flight from Prague to London City and I have two (well three, including the economy hand luggage only or baggage) options – Economy or Business. Given I will be going to London City (I’m a mere “leisure” traveller and only used London City once – but I assume all the actual planes are “smaller” and hence only four seats to a row – i.e. no middle seats? So, looking at the info on the BA website, the only difference between the Economy (with baggage) and the Business seems to be:

  Business:
  Guaranteed window or aisle seat
  2 x 32kg / 2 x 70lb checked baggage allowance
  Dedicated check-in area
  Contoured leather seat with guaranteed window or aisle

  Compared to Economy:
  Free seat choice from 48 hours before departure
  1 x 23kg / 1 x 51lb checked baggage allowance
  Contoured leather seat

  Well, I don’t need an extra case – so therefore the only difference appears to be the “dedicated check in area” – I’m assuming this isn’t lounge access with loads of freebies – so given the business fare is more than double, it doesn’t appear to be much value?

  Thanks for any guidance or clarifcation.

  • Joe says:

    18 Oct18 October 19:39

    Correct and a few miles and tier points, but prob not worth double

  • ChrisC says:

    18 Oct18 October 19:44

    Correct no lounge at LCY even for those travelling for ‘business’.

    In CE you’d get more avios and TPs so that may be a consideration plus a proper meal rather than a snack in economy.

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:

    18 Oct18 October 20:54

    You will get lounge access in Prague with Club Europe and the catering is better (a meal and wider alcohol selection). Whether that’s worth the extra is entirely up to you. In your case I’d book economy and see if any upgrade deal is offered in ‘manage my booking’

• Sam says:

  18 Oct18 October 19:32

  stupid question – can anyone tell me the best phone number for adding a return flight to an existing Avios booking please?

  • Babyg says:

    18 Oct18 October 21:17

    its depends on your status, if youre logged into ba.com this link should work – https://www.britishairways.com/travel/contact-executive-club/public/en_gb

• Stu N says:

  18 Oct18 October 19:40

  Apart from priority check in, if there is a lounge and fast track for BA customers at Prague you’ll get that access to that, and a somewhat better meal and drinks on board. Otherwise little benefit to CE going to City. Even less for flights departing from City.

• Shaw West says:

  18 Oct18 October 19:52

  Is there any Spanish bank that doesn’t charge an ATM access fee of EUR1.85

  • ChrisBCN says:

    18 Oct18 October 20:07

    Depends which bank your card is with (for example, I don’t think Santander UK debit cards charge for withdrawals from Santander ES machines).

  • bill says:

    18 Oct18 October 20:10

    I read on another site that Sabadell doesnt charge an ATM fee.

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    18 Oct18 October 20:37

    If you don’t have a santander account to use at a santander atm…

    I used unicaja atm for free a couple of months ago.

  • Shaw West says:

    18 Oct18 October 21:29

    Thank you. No Santander card. Let me check out at sabadell or unicaja. Santander meanwhile wanted to charge me 7EUR for using bendy

  • Anuj says:

    18 Oct18 October 21:40

    This may be out of date by:
    ATM operator charges:
    Banca March – Fee free
    Abanca – Fee free

    Bankinter – 4€ Fee (was free)
    BBVA – Charge 1.87€
    Bankia – Charge 1.75€
    Caixa Bank – Charge – 2€
    Santander – Charge 7€
    Cajamar – was free, now is 1.85€
    Banco Sabadell – Charge 1.90€
    Cajasiete – Charge 1.85€

    Source: https://community.monzo.com/t/monzo-in-spain-wiki/5152
    The mondo travel wiki is very useful to find out free atms and other quirks.

    • Anuj says:

      18 Oct18 October 21:41

      Note santander is free if you have a British Santander card. If you have a select account, it’s free in any Santander atm even those outside Spain.

      • Sandgrounder says:

        18 Oct18 October 22:02

        Not all of the Santander ATMs are free for customers, the one at the branch opposite the San Eugenio shopping centre in Tenerife wanted a fee from my dad.

        • stevenhp1987 says:

          18 Oct18 October 22:40

          I’d have withdrawn and then complained.

          It should be free for all santander customers in Spain.

    • Shaw West says:

      18 Oct18 October 22:01

      Awesome. Thank you Anuj

    • cinereus says:

      19 Oct19 October 04:34

      Can confirm this was correct as far as I tested recently.

• Mart says:

  18 Oct18 October 20:13

  Advice appreciated! Family friend had booked an all inclusive to Jamaica with TUI. Due to go a week on Saturday for one week. Told today cancelled and all moved to the following day, so now going Sunday-Sunday. They can still go but it is a bit of an inconvenience and they are sure the Sunday was much cheaper at point of booking. What are options re getting some sort of refund/comp? Thanks.

  • Blenz101 says:

    18 Oct18 October 20:25

    Check the TUI website will all be laid out. From memory TUI are being pretty generous so they will be able to take a refund or move the holiday to an alternative future date.

    Your friend can presumably price the holiday sun-sun now and see how it compares to what they paid. If less I’m sure TUI will cancel and rebook on the same call so they will benefit from the difference back.

    There is no legal right to compensation here but see what TUI say.

  • Jerry says:

    18 Oct18 October 20:33

    Standard Tui Compensation payable in the event of cancellation is included in the booking terms. Looks like £30 per person at this notice (7-14 days before departure). Suggest your friends read the T&C which are linked at the bottom of the booking confirmation. T&C also covers price changes.

    • Jerry says:

      18 Oct18 October 20:36

      ‘Major changes’ payment not ‘cancellation’ compensation. If the change is not acceptable full refund. As Blenz101 says best to talk to Tui after reading T&Cs.

• The Original Nick. says:

  18 Oct18 October 20:28

  Could I ask on frequent flyers LHR – JFK of WT+ prices? I’m finding prices at around £750 ish for next July/August with BA. Has anyone had experience in the prices being cheaper? I’m lookong at booking and UUA to Club.

  • Rob says:

    18 Oct18 October 20:30

    Remember that UUA adds in the additional surcharges for Club so the net fare is lower than £750 (as a separate ba.com search for just WTP will bring up).

    • The Original Nick. says:

      18 Oct18 October 20:47

      Hi Rob – I don’t understand? I was looking at booking a WT+ flight and then upgrading to club using avios and any fees or taxes to pay. From what i can work out is that if I paid for WT+ I would then have to pay 48000 avios plus taxes.

      • ChrisC says:

        18 Oct18 October 21:10

        No additional taxes but there will be additional BA surcharges to pay.

        What I would do is price up

        WTP as present
        WTP as above then price of upgrade UUA and cash element
        CW as cash

        The additional surcharges will be roughly the difefrence between the basic WTP fare and the CW fare

        Then I’d check the CW cost and using 48000 avios to make it a part pay with avios booking.

      • Rob says:

        18 Oct18 October 21:30

        From what you wrote, it implied you were doing the upgrade during the original booking process, in which case you’d be shown a WTP price with the extra surcharges added (I think).

• George says:

  18 Oct18 October 21:17

  Airtime code OCT5 for £5 back on £15 spend

  • rams1981 says:

    19 Oct19 October 00:15

    Thanks

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