The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 3rd November

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• John says:

  3 Nov3 November 15:49

  Just set a new personal best for LHR arrivals – 20 minutes from touching down to getting on the 490 home (Twickenham). Exit row so had to wait for the slowpokes in rows 1-10 before I could even stand up, unlike before covid, and the bus was ready to go just as I ran out of customs which saved an up to 12 minute wait

  • davef says:

    3 Nov3 November 16:53

    If only all arrivals could be like this.
    I once made it from door opening on VS at JFK to my hotel near Penn Station in Manhattan in 75 mins. Immigration, baggage, Air Train and subway all just smooth as silk.

• Jack says:

  3 Nov3 November 15:51

  Don’t know if meta is around, but wanted to ask if you’ve had to MCOL BA twice in the past?

  I won at MCOL before at a hearing where I was refused rerouting rights under EC261. I’m in a similar case now, avios flights to Sydney, and BA refuse to rebook after they have cancelled, citing the 1 year ticket validity rule.

  I’ve tried several times to get a reroute, explained what happened before and even emailed the people at the legal team who handled the previous case, but had nothing back. In this case I’d be booking flights on BA itself most likely, which is quite strange (they are cheapest for the dates/class I originally had).

  Or am I likely going to have to issue a claim to get them to at least negotiate first? Quite a frustrating situation, it surely can’t be worth their or my time, you shouldn’t need to go to MCOL everytime they cancel a flight and you request reroute? Thanks in advance.

  • JDB says:

    3 Nov3 November 16:09

    If you haven’t already, you should write BA a letter (by post, recorded delivery, as well as email) before action as part of the pre-action protocol, giving them 14 days to respond. You have done this before, so know the ropes, but it’s usually good to set out a chronology of events as well as a description of what happened – ie what will effectively become your particulars of claim and your desired remedy. If you show you mean business, that will hopefully cause them to offer to settle without going to MCOL, but you have only really got one chance as they are unlikely to want to enter into a dialogue.

    • JDB says:

      3 Nov3 November 18:04

      It looks like –

      IBERIA LINEAS AEREAS DE ESPANA SOCIEDAD ANONIMA OPERADORA, Waterside Orient 2a, West Drayton, Harmondsworth, UB7 0GB

      per Companies House

  • meta says:

    3 Nov3 November 16:16

    Still here. BA cancelled twice on me on a route to Porto. Both the first and second time, I just purchased tickets on my own and claimed after my trip. The first time, I went normally through CS and all the way to MCOL. BA settled three days before the hearing was due. The second time, I just sent a letter by post to BA legal at Waterside address. In the letter where I outlined all the relevant legislation and the fact that I won at MCOL previously. Gave them 14 days to comply or I am going to MCOL which will mean X amount extra costs for BA. Within five days got an email from BA legal offering EU compo, covering all extras plus a refund. I did the same for another claim in between, but it was a case of extra duty of care only.

    I think letter is better than email, it just shows that you will actually make an effort and willing to take it all the way to MCOL. Emails are too easy to ignore and too easy for CS/Legal assistants to copy paste irrelevant answers.

    • Jack says:

      3 Nov3 November 16:46

      Thanks very much, will take your advice and send a letter. I don’t want to go to MCOL and want to ensure I’ve exhausted all options beforehand.

      • ChrisC says:

        3 Nov3 November 17:48

        Don’t tell them that!

        You need to tell them that this is your ‘letter before action’

        They need to know you’ll actually take them to MCOL unless it’s resolved.

        • Paul says:

          3 Nov3 November 17:59

          Anyone know the address to serve Iberia at in the uk?

• elguiri says:

  3 Nov3 November 16:31

  Saw some talk of SIPPs a day or so ago. Looking to move a child’s pension to somewhere with lower fees (currently 1.2% pa) and better visibility (currently get yearly printout of performance). Not much currently saved in it (£250/year added). Thoughts on where would be best?

  • Oliver says:

    3 Nov3 November 16:36

    I like fidelity, no platform fee for junior accounts

    • BuildBackBetter says:

      3 Nov3 November 17:15

      +1 for Fidelity

  • Pete1968 says:

    3 Nov3 November 17:33

    AJ Bell, Interactive Investor and Hargreaves Lansdown are commonly reckoned to be 3 of the best low cost platforms. Not too much difference between them. But see comment above, ie no platform fee for Fidelity. Check this out and their other costs – between the 4, you probably have 4 good options. My 3 let you micro-manage investments in real time which is a massive advantage IMHO.

    • Pete1968 says:

      3 Nov3 November 18:50

      J Powell currently doing a very good job at the Fed press conference (FOMC meeting/ no rate increase as expected/ measured tapering as expected). All very reassuring so far and markets/ European futures turning up moderately at this point.

      Steady as she goes.

    • John says:

      3 Nov3 November 18:51

      What does micro-manage in real time mean? I use fidelity for my child’s junior ISA and can buy and sell whenever I want, commission is a bit high at £10 but I just make it back in trades

      • Pete1968 says:

        3 Nov3 November 19:03

        elguiri said they only got bi-annual printout of performance so I assumed they couldn’t see what was going on by the minute/ second as you can with many other platforms.

        I have an ISA with XYZ who shall remain nameless where they are giving me £250 for joining, I pay £150 a month and can get out next month AFAIK, after 4 months. I pay in £600, they give me £250 as a thank you for joining (ie after 4 months), I can then move the ISA to a better provider. So highly unlikely to lose money. But to answer your point: I can’t see how well my money is doing, it’s completely dark. You get a yearly bonus based on performance, luckily payable pro-rata if you don’t stay in the full year.

        • Pete1968 says:

          3 Nov3 November 19:20

          I/ we have 3 of them 🙂

        • BuildBackBetter says:

          3 Nov3 November 20:00

          You can’t pay in to another ISA provider in same year, can you?

        • Pete1968 says:

          3 Nov3 November 20:05

          Yes: you can. Just not 2 at the same time (Stocks & Shares ISA.) I will claim my £250, switch the ISAs from XYZ to AJ Bell next month – then pay in the rest of the £20K.

        • BuildBackBetter says:

          3 Nov3 November 20:50

          Spill the beans Pete 😉. Give us a clue!

        • Char Char says:

          3 Nov3 November 23:23

          If £150 a month is just the charge and no trading look elsewhere that is ridiculous

        • Char Char says:

          3 Nov3 November 23:24

          Lol I see you meant pay in £150 a month

  • Andrew H says:

    3 Nov3 November 22:02

    Or Vanguard. Lowest costs but only their own funds

• J says:

  3 Nov3 November 16:35

  Avis / Hotels.com status match – anyone actually had their request processed yet? Trying to match from Avis PC to Hotels.com Gold. Filled in the online form twice now (after waiting the stated 15 business days in between) but nothing yet.

  • BP says:

    3 Nov3 November 16:50

    Yep. Took about 4-5 days.

  • Toby says:

    3 Nov3 November 18:29

    Yes, in about 7 working days. I did it early on. It resulted in being given a 4 category upgrade. Pretty happy!

  • J says:

    3 Nov3 November 21:03

    Thanks… think I need to do some escalating/chasing then!

• Anna says:

  3 Nov3 November 16:48

  More shout outs for Emyr! Finally decided to go with the Regent in Berlin (it looks so pretty!) and his rate with the usual goodies is actually 40 euros less than the room-only “Member Advance Saver Rate”. I cannot rate this young man highly enough. To top it off, the room upgrade, although technically dependent on availability, showed in my IHG account instantly.

  • Harry T says:

    3 Nov3 November 16:51

    Emyr is a top lad.

    • ChrisC says:

      3 Nov3 November 16:55

      He’s done several bookings for me. I just wish I’d actually been able to use them!

      • Anna says:

        3 Nov3 November 19:35

        Yes, I had to cancel the first 3 or 4 he made for us but can confirm you get treated very well when you manage to complete a stay!

        • David says:

          3 Nov3 November 19:45

          Having taken 12 days to get a refund from Amex for a FHR booking – I will probably use Emyr again – as you rarely pay up front from the same perks.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          3 Nov3 November 20:00

          Not that Emyr doesn’t do a great job but You don’t have to pay upfront for FHR stays either.

• Aliks says:

  3 Nov3 November 16:57

  Amex Travel / Health Insurance – Chile is asking for all visitors to show proof of $30,000 medical insurance, including any costs originating from COVID.

  This is a very low level compared to the normal £5mn on travel insurance policies.

  Does BAPP or Amex Gold provide this kind of cover?

  • Youllnever says:

    3 Nov3 November 17:57

    Try looking it up on the Amex website? The insurance docs should be in the relevant card’s webpage.

    • Aliks says:

      3 Nov3 November 18:06

      I did that first – and it was unclear what medical issues were covered.

      • Youllnever says:

        3 Nov3 November 18:12

        From what I can see, neither cards provide this cover – where are you seeing this confusion?

      • Roy says:

        3 Nov3 November 21:56

        Only Plat provides proper (medial) travel insurance AIUI. Sure others will correct me if I’m wrong

• George says:

  3 Nov3 November 17:07

  Airtime Rewards currently has Wilko at 8% until Sunday, possibly account specific. Good opportunity to buy some gift cards, although I’m still waiting for my last two transactions to track from Friday 29th.

• PK says:

  3 Nov3 November 17:07

  Received a travel refund which resulted in my BAPP going into negative Avios balance. My statement date is around later this week. What will happen if I don’t put enough spend on my card before the statement date? Will Amex take the negative Avios from my BAEC account or will the negative balance get carried over to next statement month?

  • Andrew says:

    3 Nov3 November 17:23

    The latter

  • Rob says:

    3 Nov3 November 17:31

    Carried over

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