The HfP chat thread – Friday 5th November

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• Jonathan says:

  5 Nov5 November 13:35

  What’s the best number to call BA at midnight to book sought after redemptions please?

  • Rhys says:

    5 Nov5 November 13:50

    USA probably

• Rash says:

  5 Nov5 November 13:36

  Hi all, I’d like to start renting cars again with Avis or Europcar. Does anyone have any ways of bringing the cost down (codes etc.) ? In the past I had used the Hertz Australia ‘trick’ but there is no Hertz location close to me open at a convenient time so looking for other possibilities. Thanks

  • Paul says:

    5 Nov5 November 14:24

    QEEQ feature Europcar quite heavily, and seem quite competitive, and are very good at functionality (changes, cancellations etc..). Diamond membership can usually be worth it (~£60, which has generally been saved on first rental…)

  • APPL says:

    5 Nov5 November 16:58

    If you have Accor account, you should get at least 15% off at Europcar. Higher if you have any status, but just opening ALL account will get you 15%.
    https://www.europcar.co.uk/deals/accor-le-club-accorhotels-1

• David says:

  5 Nov5 November 13:38

  Any clever way of cashing out Airtime Rewards? The company pays my phone bill so no real desire for the money to go there if I can get it to cash instead?

  • Reney says:

    5 Nov5 November 14:44

    One person previously reported getting it paid out by paypal. But that seemed like an exception rather than a rule.

    I pay my family’s phone bill, by gifting them credit.

    I’m on o2 and wonder if I buy disney plus via them if that will come off the credit on my account?

    • rams1981 says:

      5 Nov5 November 18:32

      Disney comes off bill and can be paid with AR

  • Danny says:

    5 Nov5 November 14:48

    I also noted the comment about paypal route and messaged airtime.. a straight no.
    I have quite a bit of credit and wonder if I will need to move from SIMO to handset included contract to get the cash out.

    • Ben says:

      5 Nov5 November 16:14

      You can redeem to a card if you have over £20 of rewards. I’m with Tesco Mobile whom AR don’t support and I have redeemed to a debit card a couple of times.

      • Toaster says:

        5 Nov5 November 16:39

        You can only cash out to bank/card if the mobile provider is not supported by Airtime Rewards.

        • ben says:

          5 Nov5 November 17:10

          Could you change the listed airtime provider to one that AR doesn’t accept ( such as Tesco or Sky Mobile? ) Maybe too much hassle – easier just to gift someone.

• Munch says:

  5 Nov5 November 13:38

  Yes twice, waiting for the third.

• Thywillbedone says:

  5 Nov5 November 13:45

  Hi all.

  A few questions on an itinerary:

  • Have a redemption one-way booking with Avios back from BKK with Cathay via Hong Kong. Cathay has cancelled the first leg to Hong Kong and I have been put on a flight which is three (3!) days earlier than the second leg …meaning, I guess, an airport hotel for the duration. Should this mean I can cancel the entire booking with no admin fee to BA? (there is a ‘cancel your booking’ on the booking but wanted to make sure it cancels everything and not just the first leg

  • My outbound in December with Qatar has been a Q-suite 777 for about 6 months but has now changed to a non-Q-suite 777. What is the % chance of it going back to a Q-suite version again? I know they are famed for equipment changes …I can live with either product but just haven’t sampled Q-suite so was keen to

  • Any recent views on Oman Air’s J product? Fly them a few years back and found them great …but now see some negative reviews mainly around refunds etc (what airline doesn’t) but wondered how they are hard/soft product wise

  Thanks!

  • John says:

    5 Nov5 November 14:25

    Transits through HKG must be less than 24 hours, so that’s now an illegal ticket. I don’t know what clicking that button will do but you are certainly entitled to cancel everything with no fees.

    It’s not covered by EC261 or the UK equivalent though it may be worth seeing whether BA/CX offer any rerouting options.

• Peter says:

  5 Nov5 November 14:24

  Just looked at my Nectar partner offers and there is 1000 Nectar points if I use Nectar Amex between 4/11-31/12, I use it very often so very surprising offer 🙂 no need to save, free 1000 points..

  • Aston100 says:

    5 Nov5 November 16:48

    Thanks for the heads-up. I just checked and my version is for 1500 Nectar points.

    • Rich F says:

      5 Nov5 November 17:53

      Excellent, 1500 points on my card.

  • G says:

    5 Nov5 November 21:57

    Thanks for the heads up, only 1000 points here

• William says:

  5 Nov5 November 14:26

  Can anyone advise on this?
  Wanted to make an executive reward booking off-peak BER-LHR-LAX. Was no availability, but individual flights were available, CW BER-LHR and WT LHR-LAX. Had an FTV for a CW BER-LHR so had to call anyway, and eventually managed to get a confirmed reservation with CW BER-LHR and WT LHR -LAX (on the same ticket, which is important as the connection time in London is about 2 hours which might be close if they refused to check luggage through).
  Agent was very nice but couldn’t ticket it as didn’t know what the taxes would be – my understanding was they would be lower as no APD due in the UK as connecting).
  Agent promised to call back – of course didn’t and spent 4 hours on the phone today… eventually got someone who took credit card details to pass on but gave me a price of my voucher + GBP 298.59 + 21,900.
  This is far higher than booking the LHR-LAX WT reward seat individually, and surely my voucher should cover the BER-LHR CW leg.
  I said OK eventually as I just need a ticket and can’t spend another day trying to contact them (still don’t have a ticket actually but we’ll see…)… is that pricing wrong? It’s about GBP 100 + 10,000 avios higher than booking the flights individually.
  I guess the question is, does RTF not apply to connecting flights?
  If it should, how can I get them to reprice it without cancelling the booking? The CW BER-LHR is no longer showing as available.
  If it does become available again, is there any way to get them to put the flights on the same booking so I can check luggage through and not have a very stressful 2 hours at terminal 5?
  Any help gratefully received!
  Thanks

  • Anna says:

    5 Nov5 November 15:30

    Presume you mean CE, not CW for BER-LHR? That would cost about £25 in RFS fees (though sometimes it’s a bit lower from Europe to UK). So around £275 fees for LHR-LAX in economy, plus whatever was on your voucher, which sounds a bit on the high side. Another reader had a similar issue with a flight from NI not long ago, I think there are issues with pricing some departure cities which they don’t seem to know how to get around.

  • John says:

    5 Nov5 November 15:34

    If you mean RFS when you say RTF, then no it doesn’t apply, you’ll have to pay the full taxes and charges for the whole ticket.

    FTVs only contain the number of avios and pounds you paid, they are not for one flight on a specific route. So yes your FTV will have enough avios for BER-LHR (also note that it’s Club Europe not Club World) and yes there shouldn’t be any APD, but if you paid the RFS charge (£25?) for BER-LHR that won’t really cover any of the charges for BER-LAX.

    Furthermore since there are multiple avios pricing options for every redemption (the “original” amounts typically being the best value) it’s quite difficult to say whether that quoted amount is correct.

    Maybe if you say what prices you are getting for individual flights, and then see the price for the whole ticket on another date where there is availability, it might be clearer, I can’t be bothered to look up the prices.

    It’s nearly impossible to get BA to agree to put flights booked separately on one booking.

    • William says:

      5 Nov5 November 15:50

      Thanks, sorry yes meant CE. My voucher is for 9,500 avios + GBP 25, which would cover the BER-LHR in CE part if RFS applied – but I don’t know how to find out what that would cost if RFS does not apply.
      I’m seeing 16250 avios + GBP 175 for the WT flight from LHR – LAX. Which is a lot less than the 21900 avios + GBP 298.59 + voucher that they are charging me…
      Is there any way to check what the cost for connecting reward flights should be if RFS doesn’t apply, or am I just stuck with whatever they come up with?
      Otherwise, is there any chance of convincing the checkin person at BER to check my luggage through, or of making a 1 hour 50 min connection at terminal 5 having to recheck my bags?
      Thanks!

• WearyTraveller says:

  5 Nov5 November 14:29

  I referred my friend for Amex Gold from my Amex Platinum. He was filling in the application and got to the ‘Good news, you’re approved. We just need a few more details from you’ screen and then closed it by mistake 😅.
  Given it already did a credit check on him, what should he do now? Call Amex? Or will they send him an email prompting him to continue where he left off with a link? Or should he make a new application and it will approve him automatically because he was already approved today?

  • ChrisC says:

    5 Nov5 November 14:43

    I’d call and not start a new application.

  • Benilyn says:

    5 Nov5 November 14:43

    Call and see what they say at first instance

  • Simon says:

    5 Nov5 November 15:09

    he’ll get an email tomorrow saying “looks like u havent finished your application, click this link to finish it”

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