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The HfP chat thread – Friday 19th November

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General

Comments (467)

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

  • Phil says:
    19 Nov19 November 13:04

    For anyone that’s interested – it’s taking around 15 minutes to get through to sales/Avios redemptions on the BA Gold number at the moment, which isn’t too bad given what must be chaos.

    Was able to book a redemption using a FTV and get an outward one-way redemption booked yesterday linked to an inbound 2-4-1 booking and recover the points.

  • chris says:
    19 Nov19 November 13:11

    I am planning to travel on a domestic BA flight (economy) then onto a connecting (club Europe) flight should I get access to BA lounge on first flight?

    • Anna says:
      19 Nov19 November 13:25

      Hmm – you used to be able to do this if all on one booking but I think it may have changed since BA brought in Club Europe on domestic routes.
      If you look in your booking underneath the individual flight there’s usually a couple of lines about lounge access, if applicable.

      • Chris says:
        19 Nov19 November 15:35

        Thanks there was no business class on Glasgow flight. And it does not mention lounge access anywhere. I have got extra baggage on both flights.

  • Anna T says:
    19 Nov19 November 13:35

    Trying to phone BA on 0344 4930787 to add a return on 2-4-1 booking but can’t get put through. Any other numbers I could try please? ( I’m blue ). Thank you

  • The Canuck says:
    19 Nov19 November 14:08

    BAEC still down for anyone? Tried a load of different browsers, cleared cookies, tried the app….. nothing. What a joke in this day and age

  • Junior says:
    19 Nov19 November 14:32

    Flying to Japan on Sunday. Anyone have any experience of what it’s like clearing immigration etc at the moment?

  • Ty says:
    19 Nov19 November 15:11

    Just been notified that Heathrow regret to inform me that POD parking will operate a shuttle bus service from 22 November until further notice. Now you know…

  • Stephen says:
    19 Nov19 November 15:20

    Booked to fly to Japan with ANA (using Virgin miles) in April 2020. I’ve managed to re-schedule (by finding award seats) to Dec 2020, April 2021, December 2021, but it’s looking unlikely that we’ll be able to fly. I have managed to find outbound flights for April 2022, but no return flights. ANA/Virgin have cancelled the December 2021 flights, and on one booking (out of three) put in replacement flights. After posting on here, I was advised to send a “letter before claim” and MCOL to Virgin Atlantic and ANA to their registered office address. Received a generic response from “Executive Office” at Virgin Atlantic saying they can only book what is provided by ANA. No response from ANA (emailed a few directors and legal representatives with no response). Replacement flights with ANA (one-way) cost £25,639.70. Does anyone have any contacts at Virgin Atlantic/ANA that could assist with the re-routing/re-booking, or is it better to press on with the MCOL? Thanks

    • Andy says:
      19 Nov19 November 16:03

      To press on with MCOL wouldn’t you need to buy the flights for the 26k before being able to make the claim?

      • meta says:
        19 Nov19 November 17:53

        Not necessarily. Have you put it in your LBA to Virgin/ANA that you will claim the cost of replacement flight to the tune of £25k+?

        You only need to buy the flights because it is otherwise hard to put an accurate figure to the claim. If you’re reasonably confident the price won’t go up to higher that £25k+, you can just obtain a quote at the time of making a MCOL claim and go with it. I suspect Virgin will quickly settle once they see that figure. If MCOL awards you that money, you don’t have to actually fly though…

    • Lady London says:
      19 Nov19 November 17:59

      What exactly are you trying to book.
      What exactly is being denied.
      Which part of your existing flights was cancelled. Is new flight number proposed different.

      No you shouldn’t have to actually reserve your desired flights although that makes things more easily provable. I would suggest you provide at least 3 round trio example quotes on different airlines only 1 of which should be ANA, for the trip you’re being denied rerouting rights to (4 or 5 would be better as we are talking large amounts). If accepted you run the risk of winning MCOL but if prices moved meanwhile you could find it short money (and no further recourse). Up to you. Doubtless airlines rely on most people being unable to shell out but I think a varied set of quotes all hinting around similar price points should be sufficient to prove market replacement cost.

  • Harrier25 says:
    19 Nov19 November 16:05

    Austria going into a National Lockdown from Monday for a maximum pwriod of 20 days. The Germans will be next…..and then God help us all when the 4th covid wave falls at the feet of Boris the clown during December!!! 😱

    • Anna says:
      19 Nov19 November 16:44

      Austria and Germany have significantly lower vaccination rates than the UK though. I think we’re actually already in the 4th wave, but vaccines are largely preventing people becoming seriously ill.

      • Harrier25 says:
        19 Nov19 November 17:05

        The 4th wave hasn’t arrived here yet but is sweeping in from the east of Europe. Due to total incompetence I don’t think we ever received properly from the first 3 waves!

        • Anna says:
          19 Nov19 November 17:13

          But the boosters are well under way and the government has seen sense on fully vaccinating young adults now.
          I hope I’m right or I’ll have another January of eating frozen party food if Xmas is cancelled again!

          • Jody says:
            19 Nov19 November 17:46

            Can’t beat frozen party food! 😁

            I’ve been stocking up, as the gluten free stuff is finally hitting the supermarkets. Beige buffet is my favourite kind of tea over the Christmas period!

          • Mike says:
            19 Nov19 November 19:19

            Anna it’s definitely worth heating the party food up !

      • TGLoyalty says:
        19 Nov19 November 17:12

        Factually incorrect. Germany and U.K. have the same vaccine rate.

        • Anna says:
          19 Nov19 November 17:19

          They don’t though – the worst hit areas of Germany have significantly lower rates of vaccination, which is driving regional restrictions, e.g. Bavaria.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            19 Nov19 November 17:49

            They do at a country level which is exactly what you referred to.

            You could start getting into the same argument about parts of the U.K. too ie east London is very low compared to the average etc

        • Rob says:
          19 Nov19 November 19:16

          It is spread differently though. The UK rate is far higher amongst those age groups at risk, and far lower amongst children.

          • Worksop Dave says:
            19 Nov19 November 20:07

            London has one of the lowest vaccination rate but also has the lowest covid rate.

            Make of that what you will

          • Rob says:
            19 Nov19 November 20:41

            Herd immunity down here I think. I’d say mask wearing was 20% max at Royal Opera House last night despite guidance and 0% at Loyalty Summit before that and rates remain low.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      19 Nov19 November 17:17

      ONS data shows infection rates are actually falling across the U.K.

      Good level of Natural immunity in the under 40’s plus good levels of vaccine take up in over 50’s means lots of people won’t be needing critical care due to C19, wasn’t this all about hospital pressure in the first place?

      When you look at hospital admissions across Europe they are significantly lower than last winter with a similar number of “cases”

      • Anna says:
        19 Nov19 November 17:19

        https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-13/germany-s-east-west-vaccine-divide-leads-to-record-covid-cases

        • Harrier25 says:
          19 Nov19 November 17:57

          It’s the alarming rate that cases are rising in Austria and Germany which is the issue. The fact that too many people have put covid in their rear view mirror is a concern in the UK and when you add in the fact that the take-up of the booster jab is still fairly low when measured against the take-up of the first 2 jabs means that we too could also have a problem during December/January, because it will arrive here on either an easyjet or Jet2 flight.

        • Worksop Dave says:
          19 Nov19 November 19:30

          Doesn’t change that Germany doesn’t have a lower vaccination rate than the U.K., which is what you said and is fake news

      • Worksop Dave says:
        19 Nov19 November 19:54

        Germany also has a lot more hospital beds per capita than we do. We’re not far off being a third world country when it comes to that. Even Italy has marginally than us.

        Pretty embarrassing really for such a great country 🇬🇧

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