The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 9th November

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• Andrew says:

  9 Nov9 November 15:30

  Just won £40 off a return Economy class flight from Manchester to the US or Barbados in the Aer Lingus 5th Birthday prize draw.

  I kinda suspect a lot of people will be getting that one…

  • Andrew H says:

    9 Nov9 November 15:32

    I just won a digital book download through Sky VIP.

    I bet I am the only winner.

  • Scott says:

    9 Nov9 November 15:36

    Sure I got some £100 offer the other day, but £40 as well from popping the balloon…..

    • Andrew H says:

      9 Nov9 November 15:47

      £40 for me too…

  • davefl says:

    9 Nov9 November 16:47

    I got that, was a waste of a click

  • BlueThroughCrimp says:

    9 Nov9 November 17:04

    Same. BDAY5400 is the code

• YC says:

  9 Nov9 November 16:05

  Earn and redeem on RC yacht now live – pretty sad rates (hope this isn’t a precursor to dynamic pricing). 180,000 for $1,000 and earn 5pt/$1

  • N says:

    9 Nov9 November 16:18

    not much exciting for status on board either.

    it’s a no from me!

• ken says:

  9 Nov9 November 16:11

  Stayed at Manchester V&A Marriott a couple of weeks ago on a points redemption.
  Was surprised to see a £198 charge on my credit card.
  Phoned today and response was ‘oops – we can see it was on points, we will refund’.
  Just seemed like it was a frequent occurence.

  • Jim says:

    9 Nov9 November 20:59

    I had a similar experience with Mr & Mrs Smith at Bovey Castle. I’d paid the room rate in advance but then found it on the bill at check-out with the extras. Again, “ooops” was the explanation…

• gc812 says:

  9 Nov9 November 16:12

  BA’s policy of picking a random date for ‘ticket validity’ date continues! Tried to rebook my cancelled reward LHR-MIA for the same dates next year (15-29th Oct 22) to be told booking must be completed before 25.12.21.
  This is neither 12 months from when I booked nor 12 months from the original flight but is bizarrely 12 months from when they finally sent me the email confirming the return flight had been added to the original outbound booking.
  Oh and can only be rebooked if Avios seats are available of course……!

  • Lady London says:

    9 Nov9 November 17:05

    Will be 12 months from last reissue date of ticket then. So there’s more consistency than at first appeared. Not that BA’s policy is correct according to statute that overrides BA’s wishes and incapacities you get to choose date convenient to your own limitations not theirs.

    Additionally as pointed out by charlieface IATA (governs ticketing rules) does provide a useable procedure which removes date limitations on reissuing tickets in the case of irrops which is what them cancelling your flight comes under. BA apparently chooses not to enable their systems for this permitted procedure. They are however easily capable of issuing a new ticket to sort this it is not a biggie.

    I encourage you to search this Headforpoints website. This comes up almost daily and several of us have posted almost daily accordingly. Look particularly for posts by Jonathan and meta with “letter” or “LBA” for detailed instructions. Note airline can only reroute/rebook you when the flights you want are actually showing as available. Which is mostly 355 days ahead. You only get one shot.
    So you must make sure both your desired outgoing and return flights are showing for them to be able to rebook you.

    • gc812 says:

      9 Nov9 November 17:17

      Thanks LL. My 355 days ahead was today hence the call to rebook. Ive kept up to speed on the advice here and have sent an email to Customer Relations. From there it’ll be a letter to their legal department and the then off to CEDR

      • Lady London says:

        9 Nov9 November 19:58

        Forgot to say that if they cancelled your flight then no matter how or how much you paid for it, eg by avios or as 2nd seat of a 241, BA is not allowed to insist the same type of seat is available for you to sit in on the date you choose that is convenient to you to rebook to (ie reroute). If there’s a seat being offered for sale in same cabin you have a right to it. Airline is not allowed to insist on an award seat being available for you to reroute into if they cancelled your flight. It’s specifically stated in EU261.

        This also applies, for example, if you bought your ticket in a sale eg a cash or avios sale. Some BA agents have been reported as tellibg passengers they will have to pay fare differences or avios differences to rebook to new dates because the sale dates have passed. Not true, if BA cancelled a flight on your ticket True, if it’s just you wanting to rebook without any of your flights having been cancelled. I am surprised BA agents seem to get confused about these things so often.

• Cranzle says:

  9 Nov9 November 16:13

  Am I correct in thinking that any booking via BA’s website that includes a car hire and/or hotel booking for 5 nights or more will qualify for double tier points?

  The reason I seek clarification is that BA Holiday’s doesn’t appear to have a dedicated website and seems to effectively be the main BA website. I don’t want to get caught out by booking on the wrong section of the website.

  • ChrisC says:

    9 Nov9 November 17:32

    No don’t assume that.

    I always book via the main landing page on BA.com selecting the flight + hotel or flight + car option.

    Any other way does not automatically make if a holiday but a package which isn’t the same thing.

    So starting a flight only booking and then adding a hotel / car is not the same as booking them together.

    You can also tell it’s a holiday because unless you are booking very close in to travel it offers you the option to pay only a deposit and it shows only a single price not a separate flight cost and a hotel cost

    • Cranzle says:

      9 Nov9 November 18:11

      Oh no. Does anyone know how I can cancel quickly and easily? Is there a 24 hour cooling off? I am booking three weeks from travel, so no deposit option. However, it only ever showed a combined price, no seperate flight cost.

      • Cranzle says:

        9 Nov9 November 18:19

        Or does anyone know how I can confirm that it qualifies for double tier points? I’ve walked through booking the way ChrisC has suggested, and I’m conviced it’s the same as what I have booked. Everything looks the same and the prices are identical.
        However, it doesn’t mention anywhere about Double Tier Points during the booking/checkout process.

  • Darko says:

    9 Nov9 November 18:51

    T&C says that your case will qualify for double tier points if the booking is flight + hotel or flight + car

• Keely says:

  9 Nov9 November 16:15

  Afternoon can I revisit the (boring )topic of applying eVoucher to BA holidays . I know strictly speaking this isn’t allowed but also know others have done it. Tried via email (baholidsys@BA.com ) no response (twice over 9 days). Any other email or route others can suggest please? Thanks

  • ChrisC says:

    9 Nov9 November 17:39

    You could try chat but at the moment they are snowed under with seeming everyone trying to use their vouchers.

    Have you checked on MMB that the voucher hasn’t actually already been applied?

    It reduces the amount of the original booking (‘total price’ line) rather than showing up as a payment (‘additional payments received’ line).

• HH says:

  9 Nov9 November 16:26

  Am I imagining, or has Mauritius changed its rules for vaccinated tourists for the worse? I could swear the only requirement was a PCR before flying in when I booked a few weeks ago. Mauritius Now now lists out further testing (which isn’t even mentioned on gov.uk Mauritius travel advice)…

  – You will be required to take a free PCR test on arrival at the airport (day 0).
  – You will be required to do a self administered antigen test on day 5 of your holiday
  – You can explore the island after you receive a negative result from your PCR test on day 0

  Anyone with recent experience to share?

  • HH says:

    9 Nov9 November 16:50

    Apologies, I see these rules are for “Other Accommodation”. For hotel stays it’s:

    – For hotel stays a mandatory antigen test is required on arrival at your hotel (day 0) and again on day 5 of your stay. These will be chargeable subject to your hotel policy
    – You can explore the island after you receive a negative result from your antigen test on day 0

    • Tracy Regan says:

      10 Nov10 November 16:41

      I’m going to Mauritius this month. I asked the hotel reservations manager to clarify what testing would be required and what would happen if we tested positive. This is the reply:-

      Please note that upon arrival at the airport you will have to do a PCR Test, if you are negative you will be allow to be at the hotel and upon arrival at the hotel on D0 and D5 you will have to do an Antigen test that cost 6 € per test.

      If ever and we do not wish, you are tested positive to Covid 19 at the airport, you will be isolated in a hospital for 10 days.

• Nicky says:

  9 Nov9 November 16:44

  Has anyone heard of/used Dam Health Tests for the 2 day lateral flow test upon return, which is supervised on site and if so would you recommend?

  • Travel Strong says:

    9 Nov9 November 18:43

    Is it more than £12? If so I cannot see any reason to use them over simply test me

  • Peggerz says:

    9 Nov9 November 19:55

    All I know about DAM Health is that they’ve just shelled out £1m to sponsor the DAM Health stadium ( otherwise known as mini Murrayfield) home of the mighty Edinburgh Rugby 🏉. Had never heard of them before this.

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