The HfP chat thread – Saturday 13th November

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• Definitas says:

  13 Nov13 November 02:15

  Looking for PLF advice. We are returning from the US in 2 weeks and looking at ordering day 2 tests. Do we have to order them individually for reference numbers for PLF or can I order for both of us on the same order?

  • Tarmohamed says:

    13 Nov13 November 03:15

    Depends where you get them from? Some websites allow you to have multiple people on the same booking, some don’t. From my question yesterday, I’m getting the kits from simplytestme.co.uk and it seems you need to fill it in separately for each person.

  • Paul says:

    13 Nov13 November 05:00

    Chronomics allow multiple individuals on single purchase and codes are consecutive.

    • Definitas says:

      13 Nov13 November 16:19

      Thanks

  • ianM says:

    13 Nov13 November 08:27

    I presume it’s okay to order a day 2 test two or three weeks in advance?

    • Tracey says:

      13 Nov13 November 09:13

      Yes it’s fine. Though if your travel gets cancelled you will have bought needlessly.

  • ianM says:

    13 Nov13 November 08:35

    Does it make any difference if I am arriving from USA into LHR with Virgin and then taking a totally separate BA connection to EDI same day? I mean no complication just with one day 2 test to cover me into England?

    • Paul says:

      13 Nov13 November 09:07

      It’s fine but you’ll get emails from Tom at Chronomics ever day telling you to register the kits!

      • ianM says:

        13 Nov13 November 16:05

        Not if I go with simplytestme.co.uk 🙂

• r* says:

  13 Nov13 November 02:27

  Ive just had a txt from easyjet saying my 0625 scheduled flight to KEF has been delayed to 1500 ‘due to high winds in Keflavik which will be out of limits for us to operate’.

  They seemed to be very eager to state that ‘this disruption is outside of our control and is considered to be an extraordinary circumstance’, are they actually absolved of eu261 delay liability and so I’m not due any compensation?

  Its kindof annoying as I’m only going for 2 days and this has rendered the first day basically useless.

  • Tarmohamed says:

    13 Nov13 November 03:16

    How empty is the plane? I remember flying AMS-LTN and there were about 15 of us in total including crew, they had to balance the plane for take off and landing.

    • r* says:

      13 Nov13 November 03:24

      Seat map was relatively full when I checked in last night.

    • Sandgrounder says:

      13 Nov13 November 03:32

      Vedur.is
      18-20 m/s, yellow warning. Looking at the KEF site, a lot of the US flights due early have been pushed back as well.

  • Paul says:

    13 Nov13 November 05:00

    Very common in Iceland.

  • Paul says:

    13 Nov13 November 05:01

    Very common in Iceland

  • Craig says:

    13 Nov13 November 06:42

    Winds gusting in excess of 70mph, I’d be even more annoyed if they did try to go. No combo due, definitely outside the airlines control!

    • Paul says:

      13 Nov13 November 09:08

      But duty of care still applies and they should feed and water

      • Craig says:

        13 Nov13 November 09:27

        Absolutely.

      • Blenz101 says:

        13 Nov13 November 09:31

        Why can’t he feed himself. He isn’t going to be at the airport on an outbound flight until at best 3 hours before departure. He won’t be in the airlines hands until that point.

        Granted if it is pushed back significantly again once airside but on an outbound it would seem a pointless waste of everyone’s time claiming for his lunch.

  • HH says:

    13 Nov13 November 07:29

    I have a friend on board BA894 to KEF that’s taking off from LHR now. So the wind can’t be that bad…

    • r* says:

      13 Nov13 November 09:47

      Looking at KEF arrivals, the only flights that have been delayed are EZY from LTN and MAN, every other flight from europe (other than an icelandair flight from DUB which was an hour late) was arriving basically as normal.

      • HH says:

        13 Nov13 November 10:28

        She just landed and described it as mild wind. Seems like EasyJet overreacted.

      • Blenz101 says:

        13 Nov13 November 10:34

        So EZY have taken a more risk averse approach than other airlines. What is your point? You have been told the reason for the delay, it isn’t going to change and you won’t be getting compensation.

        You have sufficient time to speak with EZE and/or your insurer to look at a cancellation/reschedule.

        • meta says:

          13 Nov13 November 10:53

          Easyjet have been known to lie about weather reason. I had it a few years and have called them out on it. EU compo promptly paid. If every other airline is landing on time, then you can prove it with airport control report on weather conditions. Just get KEF airport control to confirm the weather conditions were okay.

        • Blenz101 says:

          13 Nov13 November 11:21

          But know that meta seems to be uniquely placed among regular travellers in getting compensation and catching airlines out.

          The weather reports this morning did show huge gusting winds and are still showing 70kph now. EZE will have filed the reason as a weather safety / delay and will likely respond to any claim as such.

          If you attempt to claim anyway and the judge accepts the airlines view that KEF may not have been safe to land at this morning and there are no other diversion airports in the area you will lose your court fees or be charged the CEDR fees.

          There is no compensation to be had for EZE overreacting or playing it cautiously. You either prove they outrighted lied and conditions were perfect but all their crews overslept at different bases or you lose.

        • meta says:

          13 Nov13 November 11:59

          What matters is ATC report on condtions, normal weather forecast doesn’t matter. A couple of years ago (maybe even longer), a guidance was published outlining all the details on what constitues as weather, technical, etc. delays and how it’s looked at under EU261 issued by EU. I can’t seem to find it at the moment, but I do remember that ATC report is specifically mentioned.

          Obviously there is a slim chance that you lose, so you can gamble £35 at MCOL if it matters to you and you can be bothered. Maybe you won’t even have to spend £35 as Easyjet will not want to test it in court after you present them with ATC report. I’d say obtain that first in writing from KEF and send it with your request for EU compo.

        • Lady London says:

          13 Nov13 November 12:58

          Meta if you find that ATC interpretation guidance could you post sometime please? Would be very useful.

  • Lady London says:

    13 Nov13 November 12:54

    Has flight number changed? Easyjet does seem to like to call a flight cancellation and rebook onto another flight, a reschedule.

    • Memesweeper says:

      13 Nov13 November 13:46

      Good shout

    • r* says:

      13 Nov13 November 13:57

      Flight num is the same afaik.

      Meta, to get atc weather reports is it just a matter of contacting kef atc and they will send?

      • Bill says:

        13 Nov13 November 14:24

        Avia weather app is quite nice for aviation weather. Temporary from 12000 to 1700 gusts of 62Knts is as strong as the wind gets

        • Bill says:

          13 Nov13 November 14:28

          Also note that each airline has standard operating procedures for each aircraft type. The wind threshold MAY kick in lower for easyJet A320-214 (G-EZOI is down to operate this sector) than a BA A320-232 (G-MIDS which operated this sector)

        • r* says:

          13 Nov13 November 14:53

          Is 62knts something that would normally prevent a plane from landing?

          Pilot just said winds were 75 mph that was preventing planes from landing and that they wouldnt gave been able to have opened the doors due to wing limiters or something?

      • Michael C says:

        13 Nov13 November 14:41

        Also, at least in days of yore, didn’t Easyjet have a lovely asterisk along the lines of “your flight is delayed but you still have to check in at the original time”?!

        • r* says:

          13 Nov13 November 14:54

          At least this one said checkin was moved to 3 hours before the new departure time! 🙂

      • meta says:

        13 Nov13 November 18:55

        I haven’t done it in a few years. Yes, contact KEF atc or even KEF’s customer services.

• David D says:

  13 Nov13 November 06:09

  Anyone flying FROM GLA or EDI today, ensure you take extra time due to the number of delegates leaving COP26.

  • Duncan Stevenson-Price says:

    13 Nov13 November 06:12

    Flying tomorrow from Edinburgh. Hopefully won’t be too bad but planning to allow a little extra time just in case.

• John says:

  13 Nov13 November 06:16

  We have ruby status and are trying to book our free seats on a BA flight to UK. We are within 7 days of our departure but BA wants to charge us for our seats. We have an Alaskan Airline MVP (ruby status.)

  • Memesweeper says:

    13 Nov13 November 07:43

    Try through ‘manage my booking’ on another 1W airline: RJ or Finnair for instance.

  • Lyn says:

    13 Nov13 November 16:06

    It could be worth a phone call to Alaska Airlines customer service to see if they can help. There may be a technical glich since Alaska only joined OW fairly recently.

    Are you sure your Alaska MVP numbers are correct in the British Airways booking? As Memesweeper suggests, you can access the booking via another OW web-site. Qantas would also work well just to check this – not to book the seats though.

  • ChrisC says:

    13 Nov13 November 17:07

    It may be within 7 days but for some reason it only kicks in based on the scheduled departure time of the flight not the clock ticking over at midnight.

    • Lyn says:

      13 Nov13 November 19:11

      Exactly this. It is basically 7 x 24 hours before flight departure. But it is sometimes two or three hours late.

• Gareth says:

  13 Nov13 November 06:31

  Morning, looking for a points hotel somewhere sunny in Europe end of April. At the minute looking at Sheraton Tenerife(too family orientated ) or CP Limassol. Any other suggestions? Thanks,

  • Matt says:

    13 Nov13 November 07:01

    Thanks CP Limassol looks nice. Hadn’t heard / considered before.

  • Oh! Matron! says:

    13 Nov13 November 08:28

    Stayed at the La Caleta. Thought it was lovely. Don’t remember there being any kids at all when I was there.managed a couple of days of work whilst I was there so it couldn’t have been that bad!

  • pauldb says:

    13 Nov13 November 09:05

    Malta or Crete (Domes)? A heated pool would be useful anywhere but the Canaries.

    • Gareth says:

      13 Nov13 November 10:44

      Thanks- going to domes in may actually. Malta not a bad option but canaries seems certain for weather. Will explore TA reviews for Sheraton!

• Matty says:

  13 Nov13 November 07:26

  My daughter was refused the status match by ITA because she was under 16. Email said; ‘ We are sorry to inform you that we cannot proceed with your request since Volare program currently does not allow the registration of children under 16…’

  Although the website had actually allowed her to register and she had no difficulty entering her date of birth and she had received the ‘Welcome to Volare, our loyalty program’ email. Oh dear… 🤪

• Anna T says:

  13 Nov13 November 07:40

  Morning. Do US hotels ( Las Vegas and Hawaii I’m looking at ) usually partake in Black Friday discounts? Thanks.

  • MisterE says:

    13 Nov13 November 08:08

    Aston Hotels are worth checking out for Hawaii, although I don’t think are in any frequent points schemes

  • Blenz101 says:

    13 Nov13 November 09:41

    You would likely need to sign up to individual hotels mailing lists to see this.

  • Mel T says:

    13 Nov13 November 13:20

    Ditto signing up to each hotels loyalty program – a few years ago I got a good deal on Cyber Monday for the Vdara, and ended up in a huge apartment with 270 degree panoramic views.

• Jonathan says:

  13 Nov13 November 08:14

  Any recommendations for a hotel in the Florida keys next October half term with 2 young children please?

  • QwertyKnowsBest says:

    13 Nov13 November 10:04

    Hilton key largo. Devent Beach and activities. Useful as with free breakfast if you have HH status.

    • QwertyKnowsBest says:

      13 Nov13 November 10:05

      *Decent

    • happeemonkee says:

      13 Nov13 November 13:27

      No free breakfast at Hilton Hotels in the USA at the moment unless you have lounge access and it is open. They are giving a dining credit instead which usually doesn’t cover the cost of the breakfast but you can use it towards other food purchases.

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