The HfP chat thread – Thursday 11th November

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• Yorkshire Rich says:

  11 Nov11 November 13:29

  Afternoon everyone. A couple of quick questions off the top off my head to see if I’m missing something obvious.
  We are looking at an honeymoon at the end of January for 3 weeks. Originally had Australia and Bali booked, but we had to re-think. South Africa appears to be leading at the moment.
  I’ve got just under 100,000 avios at the moment and a companion voucher so after having a play around, it appears there is availability is business class to Johansberg but only economy to and from Cape Town. If We book Johansberg business then fly back from Cape Town, I suspect I can’t use my BA vouchers to pay for the taxes after using my Avios.

  I may still use BA holidays and add a hotel in my stay. Sorry for been disjointed but thanks in advance for anyone that can point me in the right direction.

  • Harry T says:

    11 Nov11 November 14:17

    I don’t actually understand what your question is – could you please clarify? Cape Town is a hard route to find Avios availability on in Business or First.

    • Yorkshire Rich says:

      11 Nov11 November 14:31

      Sorry Harry, I knew I was waffling when I wrote it. Spent a few hours looking now. Think I’ve decided on using the BA holidays which when I finally have the patience to ring them and wait on hold, I can get all my vouchers together and pay for it that way.

      • SteveJ says:

        11 Nov11 November 14:37

        Can you use a companion voucher on BA holidays? I’ve genuinely never even considered it.

      • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

        11 Nov11 November 14:39

        Rich, I don’t think your 2-4-1 voucher or Avios can be applied to a BA Holidays booking. However, if you have BA e-voucher credits they can be. Also, if you book a BA package you will benefit from the double tier points (and other incentives) currently in play for trips booked by 22 March 2022 and started by March 31.

        • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

          11 Nov11 November 16:02

          https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2021/08/28/british-airways-holidays-double-tier-points/

      • Harry T says:

        11 Nov11 November 19:21

        No worries – I’m going to Cape Town in January on a BA Holiday, so see you there! Hope you have a good honeymoon.

        I don’t think you’d have much chance of booking a return in business or first to Cape Town in January using Avios and a 241, unless you pay for the super sensitive version of seat spy, and even then it’s not guaranteed.

  • BuildBackBetter says:

    11 Nov11 November 15:20

    Bali is a good place for honeymoon and you’ll get very good value on hotel spending (use Emyr to book and get benefits).

    • Sam G says:

      11 Nov11 November 15:33

      Wouldn’t be booking now for January though – still requires quarantine, airlines haven’t added any direct flights & tbh January weather can be pretty rubbish! S.A. is a good shout for Jan but I’ve heard that things are busy & pricey so make sure you check prices for hotels, car etc and be happy with everything before booking flights

• Simon says:

  11 Nov11 November 13:33

  Adblocker in browser?

• Pete M says:

  11 Nov11 November 13:54

  What’s people’s view – QR crew cutting in front of everyone queueing at regular T5 North security. When I queried it with the security manager he thought I was being completely unreasonable and “THEY MUST GO IN FRONT BECAUSE THEY ARE CREW”. I actually think that unless they can use the separate crew channel they are bog-standard passengers and have 0 priority whatsoever. Oh I do wish North Fast Track would reopen…

  • Alex says:

    11 Nov11 November 14:03

    You are unreasonable and you also sound entitled.

    • Yorkshire Rich says:

      11 Nov11 November 14:13

      +1

      • Super Secret Stuff says:

        11 Nov11 November 15:28

        +2

        • Blenz101 says:

          11 Nov11 November 16:39

          Stick me down as a + as well!

  • the_real_a says:

    11 Nov11 November 14:04

    Imagine having to queue 1 hour every day just to start your shift…

    • Pete M says:

      11 Nov11 November 14:13

      It just doesn’t feel particularly fair or professional. To me it suggests they are somehow superior people, particularly over the passengers who pay their wages who watch them swan in front of them. This is surely why airports have crew channels or separate entrances like BA?

      • QFFlyer says:

        11 Nov11 November 14:21

        Well the pax won’t be going anywhere unless the staff get there, so maybe it’s in everyone’s interests to let the staff get through so they can do their job?

        • Pete M says:

          11 Nov11 November 14:28

          Or arrive in time for this to not be necessary? I’m intrigued by people’s views on this, as we certainly would not get away with this in my (also service) industry. But maybe I am being unreasonable and crew are indeed special 🙂

      • Will says:

        11 Nov11 November 14:50

        They are superior. They fly the plane so in the domain of air travel I think you’d prefer them to be on your flight in time.
        Of course you may prefer to have a go at flying it yourself if you think we’re all equal 😉

      • Jimmy says:

        11 Nov11 November 16:52

        “Pay their wages”

        God – you sound so entitled, petty and I hope not to ever meet someone like you IRL.

        • Pete M says:

          11 Nov11 November 17:45

          Thanks, Jimmy, hope we do run into each other soon! 🙂

  • Harry T says:

    11 Nov11 November 14:25

    I bet you would also complain if your flight crew got stuck in a queue and your flight was late taking off 😂

    • RobL says:

      11 Nov11 November 14:30

      Or they went out of hours and the flight was cancelled.

  • Rich says:

    11 Nov11 November 14:29

    My only surprise is that they don’t have dedicated security somewhere back of house to use. If they don’t then having priority access is of course fine and the norm around the world.

    • Pete M says:

      11 Nov11 November 14:36

      BA do, but guess QR can’t use it. I would have no problem with them using the priority lane either, it’s shoving past people that doesn’t sit right.

      • Mike says:

        11 Nov11 November 22:07

        Pete M – please make a note to self based on the fact you are not quite as important as you think you are. This theory may be evidenced by the fact that if you don’t get on the plane nobody really cares – whereas if the crew doesn’t get on the plane everybody cares!

  • SteveJ says:

    11 Nov11 November 14:42

    I do think Crew should be allowed through and I also think they should have a dedicated line so that the cut through isn’t as “in your face”

  • John Gallagher says:

    11 Nov11 November 15:41

    Just bring an infant with you. Seems that is acceptable to jump straight to the front of the queue 👹

    • Yorkieflyer says:

      11 Nov11 November 17:12

      Yes this is in my view a genuine source of irritation, pay for fast track and get stuck behind multiple families carting their little precious abroad taking the kitchen sink

  • Lady London says:

    11 Nov11 November 16:04

    So why did they not use the separate crew channel then.

  • John says:

    11 Nov11 November 16:08

    Crew always jump to the front. I was at the front of the queue at Schengen immigration and crew kept arriving…

    • Tom says:

      11 Nov11 November 17:00

      This is totally normal the world over (at locations without dedicated crew lanes). I’m surprised it’s mentioned here.
      On long haul flights duty hours are precious. It’s normal for a crew to arrive at an outstation at STD -80. They simply don’t have time to queue, nor would you want them queueing if you were on their flights.

  • Aston100 says:

    11 Nov11 November 18:57

    I had a variation of this at Changi a couple of years ago.
    KLM crew carrying drinks in their hands cut to the front and waved through.
    I had to hand my drink over to be disposed off. When I asked why it was OK for the plane crew to take drinks through, the security people just shrugged.

  • N says:

    12 Nov12 November 03:36

    I’m a QR captain. We do this everywhere that doesn’t have an available dedicated crew security lane. As do all other airlines. Never seen anyone bothered

    Perhaps more ridiculous than the queue jumping is the fact that such a rigorous check for 110ml of yoghurt is performed on someone with an axe behind his seat

• Tazzy says:

  11 Nov11 November 13:59

  In relation to platinum dining offer, can I call any of the restaurants and purchase a gift voucher? I’m based in belfast and no restaurants included in ireland! We will be going to London next Easter, but likely to have cancelled platinum by then. Thanks on advance

  • SteveJ says:

    11 Nov11 November 14:40

    It needs to run through their tills and the one place I know on the list who sell vouchers is the Ivy, and they process vouchers on a different (not valid for the promotion) system.

    Your best bet is to call around and explain what you’re trying to do, I’ve not heard anyone successfully report back being able to do this.

    • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

      11 Nov11 November 15:00

      Hawksmoor sell vouchers but no idea on the process.

  • Blenz101 says:

    11 Nov11 November 16:46

    Even if they did sell the vouchers via the front of house system most places are going to be uneasy about taking a credit card over the phone and then presumably posting you the voucher.

    Would leave them very open to fraud and a potential chargeback with no way to cancel the voucher.

• elguiri says:

  11 Nov11 November 14:17

  and in the small print “Please note we are unable to reply to any emails received so please do not reply to this email.”
  Would normally expect something along the lines of this email address is not monitored, please do not reply to it, but as it’s worded, seems to tally with other people’s experiences with trying to get answers from them…

• Paul says:

  11 Nov11 November 14:17

  I can’t see anything online however wondering if the BA Accelerate Business card offers a bonus on the first supplementary?

  • Rob says:

    11 Nov11 November 15:28

    Don’t believe so. This card operates outside the normal Amex parameters, eg no referring in or out.

• Mick S says:

  11 Nov11 November 14:24

  Hi – a bit of advice/opinion on a points/tax query I have.

  I am a self-employed IT Consultant and have dual-citizenship with Australia. Next August (2022) I am going out to do some work for a few months over there. I have the outbound flight booked, paid fully with Avios, just had to pay £’s for the tax.

  So my questions
  1. I intend to put the taxes on my tax return – would it be tax year 21/22, or 22/23 ?
  2. Can I put a £p value to the points I have used and also include in the tax return?
  3. and same for Hilton points which I am using for the entire stay?

  • Harry T says:

    11 Nov11 November 14:27

    1) surely 22/23 for the UK tax year? Australia runs from Jan to Jan, I think. Depends on your tax residency.
    2) and 3) don’t think so

    • QFFlyer says:

      11 Nov11 November 14:29

      Australia is 1 July to 30 June.

      • Harry T says:

        11 Nov11 November 19:24

        My bad! Sorry.

  • QFFlyer says:

    11 Nov11 November 14:31

    1 – 22/23
    2 – I guess so, but am by no means certain. No idea what the ATO would think of that.
    3 – Ditto 2.

    • QFFlyer says:

      11 Nov11 November 14:34

      Actually scratch my original thoughts on 2 & 3, I’m near certain the answer is no, solely based on the fact that the ATO determined that miles/points have no cash value.

      https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/threads/can-you-claim-a-tax-deduction-for-work-travel-booked-with-ff-miles.67649/

      https://community.ato.gov.au/s/question/a0J9s0000001GidEAE/p00040569

      • Mick S says:

        11 Nov11 November 15:23

        so this is leaning towards putting these into an Australian tax return, as opposed to UK e

        • bsuije says:

          11 Nov11 November 19:46

          Presumably you’d have to do 2 tax returns – one in the UK and one in Australia and then claim double tax relief in one of them (probs the UK one)?

  • Will says:

    11 Nov11 November 14:53

    In terms of 2 and 3 I would do a screen print of the equivalent cash rate and claim against that.
    If you get an audit your method is clear and reasonable and obviously not an intention to defraud tax man.

    I’ve always found intent key with dealings with hmrc which aren’t done to the letter.

    • Sean says:

      11 Nov11 November 16:10

      Did you declare and pay tax on the avios and points when you earned them? That would show your intent.

  • Lady London says:

    11 Nov11 November 16:11

    Yes charge it to tax this year if you want to. Keep a copy of the contract with its location and start date in your tax records just in case. If the work gets cancelled you’d have to reverse it in next tax year. I’d do this unless my accountant advises otherwise.

    Airline and hotel points can only be claimed at a cost if you have a receipt that you bought them or effectively bought them at a cash value.

    • Mick S says:

      11 Nov11 November 16:35

      ah, thats interesting.

      Well i’ve recently purchased 160,000 Hilton points (for 100% bonus) purely for this purpose so I know exactly the cost. Avios probably a non-starter, although I might buy some if a decent promotion lands.

      Thanks

• Andrew says:

  11 Nov11 November 14:41

  All 40 of my current offers are showing correctly in my BoS App, and a further 35 offers showing correctly in my HfX app.

  • Chrism20 says:

    11 Nov11 November 17:49

    @Andrew thanks, must be something with my app. I’ll try deleting and reloading before contacting them.

    Thanks

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