The HfP chat thread – Saturday 6th November

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

• xcalx says:

  6 Nov6 November 11:20

  A few questions please.

  Could anyone advise if flying from MAN to LHR landing 1810 and the next day 1035 to BGI will the bags be checked through or will I have to collect and re check at LHR.

  Are the Pods working from Thistle hotel.

  I remember reading about a way to get lower rates for the Sofitel T5 (any link if still working)

  Finally can I get from the CP T4 to T5 by tube and not bus TFL shows a bus route.

  Trying to decide which hotel for a night over at LHR

  Thanks

  • kitten says:

    6 Nov6 November 11:26

    Secretescapes or lastminute for sofitel

  • Anna says:

    6 Nov6 November 11:38

    As long as it’s all on one PNR, you should get the bags checked all the way to BGI, we’ve done this a few times en route to the US or Caribbean.
    We usually end up staying at the Sofitel as the convenience outweighs the cost, whichever other options I look at! They have some (relatively) decent rates on their own website at the moment, I’ve booked a fully flexible stay for next June for £188 and put a cheeky note on the booking asking for an extra bed, we’ll see how that works out!
    Will look at secrets escapes as well nearer the time.
    Do tell us about your lounge experience at MAN!

    • Oliver says:

      6 Nov6 November 13:17

      By default, bags should be checked all the way through for a connection of less than 24h. However, if you want your bags overnight, you can ask at bag drop to check them for the first leg only.

      Just check the label before you say goodbye to your bags! It will say LHR only if it’s coming out at Heathrow, or LHR and BGI if it’s going all the way.

      • Anna says:

        6 Nov6 November 15:07

        It doesn’t matter how long the connection time is, if it’s not all on one PNR they will probably refuse to check them through.

        • Oliver says:

          6 Nov6 November 17:31

          Good point – my reply is assuming all one PNR. I have no experience of trying to through-check bags with separate PNRs.

          I always get my checked bags back for overnight connections. The 24h ‘rule’ seems to be consistent across BA, IB and AY.

        • xcalx says:

          7 Nov7 November 07:26

          Yes one PNR

    • davef says:

      6 Nov6 November 16:44

      Lounge at MAN will be the Escape T1. It’s average to poor.

      But then you have a 15-20 min walk to the spookily closed T3 gate’s142 through dark and cold corridors.

  • Rich says:

    6 Nov6 November 13:00

    You can go by tube, but you’d have to get the tube to T2/3 and change. The bus will be quicker.

    My go to for easy access to T5 is the Premier Inn. It’s not luxury, but it’s 5 min by bus.

    • ChrisC says:

      6 Nov6 November 13:46

      Tube not current running to T4.

      • xcalx says:

        6 Nov6 November 14:33

        Thanks to everyone.

  • Rob says:

    6 Nov6 November 15:36

    Sofitel – search HFP for last minute.com secret hotels

• Super Secret Stuff says:

  6 Nov6 November 11:39

  Just seen this video ok the history of American Express, very interesting. Annoying voice though

  https://youtu.be/hPPNJ0_Dyhk

  • Phil W says:

    6 Nov6 November 12:41

    Enjoyed the content but that voice, it’s enough to make you consider ending it all.

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      6 Nov6 November 13:53

      I had exactly the same thought🤔 🤣

  • Rich says:

    6 Nov6 November 13:02

    This came up in my recommendations today too. Interesting history – I never knew about the Wells Fargo connection. It started to look like the world’s longest sales-pitch – was surprised not to see a referral link at the end of the vid!

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      6 Nov6 November 13:56

      Yeh I was surprised as well. Also surprised that the US government basically tried to close Amex. Could have been the end of them if they hadn’t of started diversification.

      Yeh I was surprised to not hear about a refer a friend after blatantly trying to sell it long winded and massaging the egos of Amex card holders 🤣

• Bobri says:

  6 Nov6 November 11:50

  Any recommendations for a card to pay 5k to HMRC?

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:

    6 Nov6 November 13:33

    Someone else’s?

    • ChrisBCN says:

      6 Nov6 November 14:10

      😂

    • Peter K says:

      6 Nov6 November 14:29

      😂

• Mco says:

  6 Nov6 November 11:51

  BA cancelled LHR-NCL on Christmas day. They only have a 725am flight the day before which doesn’t connect with the inbound from the USA. The 26th is at 1505 which means a stop of 7hrs at LHR which I don’t want to do.

  No trains on Christmas day so only option is to drive up. Can I ask BA to pay for the car rental? Or if I drive down myself the parking and petrol?

  • Blair says:

    6 Nov6 November 13:22

    Someone else asked the same query about a week ago and got lengthy responses. Worth tracking back in the comments. Someone who contributed may be along soon to tell you the day to check.

  • Nick says:

    6 Nov6 November 13:55

    They won’t pay for car hire. They will reroute you on an alternative flight if there’s one available (e.g. LH, KL). If no flight exists at all, they’ll pay for your hotel until the next flight they do have. But there’s no provision for car hire, and no regulation to rely on that says they should.

    • Mco says:

      6 Nov6 November 16:28

      So in that case I should ask them to reroute me on a KLM flight via AMS instead? Will they do that?

      • memesweeper says:

        6 Nov6 November 16:35

        They may put up a fight but legally you’re within your rights to demand it.

  • Lady London says:

    6 Nov6 November 17:21

    Well BA is responsible for the reasonable costs of getting you to the final destination that you booked. Even if that requires a ground link. Ryanair learnt that a few times when they abandoned passengers at a different airport.
    Of course on Christmas Day those costs are going to be much higher than normal. But that’s not the passenger’s fault.

    Provided it can be proved no trains no buses that would get you to NCL reasonably close to the original landing time and ideally 3 different ways available on the day , of getting there were quoted (Chauffeur, hire car with one way drop charge, mileage @45p per mile each way +parking, if you wouldn’t otherwise have been forced to provide your own car), I think provided you’ve shown these efforts a judge should award.

    This is because getting home on Christmas Day as you booked, is getting home on the most special day of the year, and getting home on Boxing Day doesn’t cut it. I’m assuming you have children to get home to for Christmas or elderly parents that need the comfort of having their only son/daughter (ideal 🙂 ) with them on Christmas Day as every other Christmas Day in their life etc.

    If you’re young and single and don’t have such commitments that you booked a returm home to NCL on Christmas Day to meet, you should ecpect to suck it up at the Sofitel and I’d book it now.

    I’d be interested to know what poster JDB would advise.

    • Mco says:

      7 Nov7 November 13:14

      Thank you

• Kevin C says:

  6 Nov6 November 12:07

  I can’t use Sainsbury ShopSmart on my iPhone in Local stores because I get an error message that I need to be signed into iCloud when I try to check out using Apple Pay. I am signed into iCloud. Has anyone encountered this, worked out how to fix it?

  • Cranzle says:

    6 Nov6 November 12:14

    A fix was mentioned in the comments this week. Sorry I can’t be more helpful, I didn’t pay much attention as it’s not of importance to me.

    • Kevin C says:

      6 Nov6 November 12:27

      I think it was a fix for a different problem but very happy to be contradicted. I wouldn’t say it was of utmost importance to me but it would be nice to have it fixed as I have a ShopSmart price reduction on 150 nectar point Pink Lady apples.

      • Nectar Collector says:

        6 Nov6 November 12:42

        You could use one of the shopsmart store hand scanners instead as an interim if your Pink Lady purchase is urgent!?

        • Kevin C says:

          6 Nov6 November 13:30

          Unfortunately the little stores don’t have any scanners. It isn’t an issue in the bigger stores as you don’t have to use Apple Pay in those.

  • Chrism20 says:

    6 Nov6 November 19:33

    They can call it up on a till by scanning the QR code on your phone IIRC but it’s a pain to do.

    A small number of locals also have the QR codes on the self scan like what the main supermarkets have.

• Ryan Gill says:

  6 Nov6 November 12:09

  Is it generally the case that if I use the Ba Executive shopping portal, avios as well as tracking by Airtime Rewards will occur (if retailer is on both obviously)?

  • Cranzle says:

    6 Nov6 November 12:14

    Yes

  • Andrew says:

    6 Nov6 November 13:49

    And what about triple dipping with NatWest Rewards, or similar?

    • Mattb says:

      6 Nov6 November 15:03

      I triple dipped with natwest, airtime and Virgin portal for the morrisons offer a while back. All 3 have paid out.

• xcalx says:

  6 Nov6 November 12:57

  Thanks LL and Anna. I think we will go for the Sofitel. Great if the bags stay checked from MAN saving having to recheck. Not a lover of Hotel bars and would have preferred a hotel with a few local bars and restaurants nearby.

  • Paul says:

    6 Nov6 November 14:51

    5 minute Uber into Colnbrook, recommend The Ostrich…

  • Lyn says:

    6 Nov6 November 17:37

    If for some unknown reason they won’t check your bags all the way through from MAN, you could always use twilight check-in (for the next morning) once you get to LHR.

• JM says:

  6 Nov6 November 13:03

  No luck via chat with AMEX Platinum retention bonus when asking to cancel – just told no offers, option to downgrade to gold/green. Worth trying again on phone or likely to get same?

  • SteveJ says:

    6 Nov6 November 13:13

    Worth trying again during weekday Brighton working hours.

  • Alex says:

    6 Nov6 November 13:31

    Call them and make sure you speak to someone from Brighton. I had an absolutely clueless person from an Indian CS team over chat who offered to move my Plat to monthly payments when I complained that I don’t see a reason to keep paying the card given the lack of travel benefit utilization for the next 3-6 months. He even asked me about the fee on my BA PP card (not raised as an issue by me) and then said he couldn’t do anything about it. I then called Brighton and had 35k in my account within an hour…

    • DaveL says:

      6 Nov6 November 14:18

      RE the monthly payments thing … is that an option from day 1 (or, in my case, month 2)…? Would they refund the remainder of the year if they agreed to move me over, or is it something they only do from year 2? Thanks for any tips

      • SteveJ says:

        6 Nov6 November 14:55

        Whenever you like, they’ll need to send a replacement card.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          6 Nov6 November 15:29

          It’s odd because not everyone gets a new card. I didn’t.

        • DaveL says:

          6 Nov6 November 15:48

          Ok thanks. Odd that they would need to send a replacement card (and presumably for supps) just because fee payment changes…

  • Rich says:

    6 Nov6 November 14:04

    I had 35k yesterday

    • Rich says:

      6 Nov6 November 14:05

      Via a call, not chat

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