The HfP chat thread – Thursday 25th November

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• Benilyn says:

  25 Nov25 November 15:05

  T5 LHR, what galleries lounge is best / is there any difference? Never been, and travelling with a baby if that’s any difference

  • Brian W says:

    25 Nov25 November 15:20

    I’m currently in South and find it slightly better. North often seems more of a rabble in my opinion.

  • Lynx says:

    25 Nov25 November 15:20

    There is not much difference between them. The lounge at the B gates is normally the quietest, but it wasn’t open on Tuesday morning so I had to take the walkway back to the main terminal. The North lounge is probably easiest as it is on the same level as security, and very close to the North security. For the South lounge you have to go along and down and back along and up and up again…

  • Aston100 says:

    25 Nov25 November 16:13

    Just checking, I’ve got a flight to Dulles IAD next month in Club.
    I’ve got an Amex platinum.
    Are the BA lounges going to be any better / worse than the ones I can get into with Amex Platinum / PP (not that I have much success rate with PP anyway).

    • Cats are best says:

      25 Nov25 November 16:20

      The BA lounges are better.

      • George K says:

        25 Nov25 November 16:33

        I rate the food offering on the Plaza Premium lounge higher than what you get at Galleries. But that’s just me!

      • Babyg says:

        25 Nov25 November 17:08

        The Galleries are zoos at times, and its difficult to get a seat… since they dropped the bubbles the drinks are on par with Plaza Premium.. given the choice i would go Plaza Premium..

• Wollhouse says:

  25 Nov25 November 15:06

  Just got a “joyful” tax bill…. I have curve and Virgin. Curve advertise paying HMRC as a benefit. Up until whatever date in December (can’t remember?) the £10k limit doesn’t exist. But, if I push all my tax through, should I now expect my Virgin CC to be cancelled? I am using curve as advertised but had Creation card pulled (maybe related, maybe not- I used my curve card for normal purchases, and paying hmrc- nothing else). No unsure whether to use curve “as advertised”??? Others’ experiences appreciated! TIA

  • Travel Strong says:

    25 Nov25 November 15:11

    “Make hay whilst the sun shines”

    No reports of any curve/virgin issues.

    Virgin have always reviewed accounts if they have concerns about transactions, nothing new there. But I had my account reviewed and told all okay and carry on, with plenty of curve transactions… including a virgin savings account deposit! (the one that earnt air miles).

  • PaulH says:

    25 Nov25 November 15:16

    ….. similar situation to myself.
    Been paying my CT bill for last few weeks – £9k a day curve – my fronted card is my captial on tap biz card (avios points or 1% CB).. no problem so far and all working well.
    Will stop on 5th Dec which is the date (I think) the new limits come in, and probably downgrade to the blue card.
    Not ideal as I am paying my CT bill early – but cannot see any other way of earning points after this function becomes useless.

    • wollhouse says:

      25 Nov25 November 15:21

      thanks all. well, i shall crack on then. the miles might help soften the pain….

      • Gary says:

        25 Nov25 November 15:32

        £10k bendy fronted limit starts from 1Dec. Before that, final Bendy beardy push up to the beardy credit limit as no VS points awarded after that.

        • Wollhouse says:

          25 Nov25 November 15:37

          Wait…: I may have missed this as I was so hacked off with the creation cancellation. When the £10k limit comes in, are you saying there’s no VS miles after?? If so… Commences swearing as won’t be able to push everything through and pay off in time.

        • Gary says:

          25 Nov25 November 17:54

          You continue to receive VS points regardless of curve changes. However the max amount of Vs points per billing cycle is capped to beardy’s credit limit.

        • Wollhouse says:

          25 Nov25 November 17:58

          Thx Gary- I can push more then. Reduces swearing;)…..

        • Wollhouse says:

          25 Nov25 November 17:58

          Thx Gary- I can push more then.

    • David says:

      25 Nov25 November 15:22

      If CT is Council Tax, why is this perceived a problem? My LA clear say ou can pay by Direct Debit, ther own payment card (PayPoint or similar) or online with debit or credit card (just not Amex).

      • Lynx says:

        25 Nov25 November 15:29

        I think Corporation Tax, especially as there is reference to £9k a day. I don’t think Council Tax has got that high, yet… 😀

      • Genghis says:

        25 Nov25 November 15:30

        Corporation Tax? Not known council tax to require multiples of £9k.

      • David says:

        25 Nov25 November 15:46

        Haha, yes, I only skim read. My bad.

• Shaw West says:

  25 Nov25 November 15:19

  And BA Black Friday Sale “For a limited time only, we’ve got 20,000 seats available to selected US destinations for only £299 return.”

• Anuj says:

  25 Nov25 November 15:31

  Trying to cancel a cancellable Amex travel booking for tomorrow, their live chat on the website always states it’s closed no matter the time (tried yesterday too) The phone is just ringing on hold endlessly. Any advice?

  • Anuj says:

    25 Nov25 November 15:36

    Forgot to say, tried emailing them but the email says they aren’t checking emails and to use phone or live chat.

    • AndyGWP says:

      25 Nov25 November 20:00

      I’ve just used live chat… not sure what to suggest – try a browser using incognito mode maybe?

  • FCP says:

    26 Nov26 November 05:27

    I spoke to them by phone earlier this week. Selected the call back as would be more than 10 minutes. Was about 1 1/2 hours…
    Chat never live for me either.

• Will says:

  25 Nov25 November 15:48

  FFS Tesco are sticking to their guns on the 750 CC points from hotels.com, saying its is only for those who received the email. Final response. Reiterated £25 compensation for the hassle in chasing it (declined as insufficient) and said I can still go to FO (which I intend to) within 6 months. Expressed disbelief that they are so stupid not to make this clear in the Ts & Cs. Rob, you have been a bit silent, do you have a view here as this was promoted via HfP? Perhaps there are SO many £1 bookings that it would cause a Tesco plc profit warning????

  • Danny says:

    25 Nov25 November 16:33

    Get a life and move on Will!

    • Will says:

      25 Nov25 November 16:44

      Thanks Danny for your worthwhile input. 750 cc is worth a lot more than some of the items on HFP (say £50-£100 towards a 2 for 1 J redemption IMHO) and large banks shouldn’t make up the rules as they go along.

      • Blenz101 says:

        25 Nov25 November 20:36

        750cc points is at best worth £22.50 and you have been offered £25. Jesus.

        Win some, lose some.

  • JDB says:

    25 Nov25 November 16:58

    Is Tesco relying, in its final response, on the offer T&Cs stating the offer is not transferable? Or one of the other many exclusions?

    • Will says:

      25 Nov25 November 17:11

      ‘After reviewing your account and speaking with our Commercial Team, I can confirm this promotion was targeted for specific customers. We emailed all our customers who the offer was applicable to, and I can confirm your account wasn’t emailed or applicable for this offer. I understand you’d seen this promotion on hotels.com and it doesn’t state that you’d only be applicable for this if Tesco bank send you an email. However, it states, ‘Offer is subject to availability’ and this offer wasn’t available to your account. All customers who were applicable for the offer were emailed and they’ve received their points’ (Love from Tesco xx)
      Any reasonable person would see this as nonsense as it was still available when we booked.

      • Will says:

        25 Nov25 November 17:16

        I would interpret ‘transferable’ as ‘booking for another person using your tesco card’

        • JDB says:

          25 Nov25 November 18:00

          They use the terms ‘offer’ and ‘booking’ in what appear to be logical places and it is the ‘offer’ that is described as non-transferable, in addition to the term they cite that is earlier in the terms. I agree that particularly the ‘availability’ is open to interpretation, but the transferability less so, and if Tesco can demonstrate the offer was targeted and you were not on the list, you may not win this one, but it’s not impossible. I have had two run ins with Tesco Bank on T&Cs and been quite impressed with their grasp of the detail and logical responses, although in both cases they have written several pages explaining why I was wrong, but then giving me what I had asked for as a gesture of goodwill. One inconsistency that may help you is that they say the promotion is provided by Hotels.com LP and Tesco and the former published the terms on their website. Those terms are sufficiently long that they could have been more specific re targeting.

  • Rob says:

    25 Nov25 November 17:33

    No view. It was forwarded to me by a reader. As you know, the terms said nothing about it being targetted so we ran it.

    • meta says:

      25 Nov25 November 18:25

      Also make sure you actually stayed before making complaints and have proof of stay (such as invoice from the hotel). They might want to deny you points later based on that fact alone. Many people booked rooms for 1p hoping it would trigger the bonus without ever planning on actually staying.

    • Will says:

      29 Nov29 November 11:04

      thanks

• His Holyness says:

  25 Nov25 November 15:50

  I don’t think the automatic upgrades are going as high as the manual ones done by the staff. Whereas I would get a suite, its going to basically Exec Plus and there does seem to be 50% of the suites available for the automatic upgrade to run. I feel Lifetime might not be being prioritised as it should as my upgrade notification email only mentions Diamond.

  • John says:

    25 Nov25 November 16:02

    Just ask at check in then

    • meta says:

      25 Nov25 November 16:24

      Automatic upgrades are only 1 category up and I am certain that about 90% hotels are not participating. It’s all a gimmick. Don’t do a digital check-in and just ask when you arrive.

      • David D says:

        25 Nov25 November 16:28

        I don’t think it is only a one category upgrade, as a couple of weeks back I was upgraded three levels to an executive studio from a base level room at The Hague. I have also had other multiple category upgrades during the last few months whilst it was being trialled.

      • John says:

        25 Nov25 November 16:43

        Pretty much all hotels are participating. There won’t be an auto upgrade when occupancy is over 90%

        The auto upgrade will happen regardless of whether you do online check in

        • His Holyness says:

          25 Nov25 November 17:50

          Those aren’t the only criteria. It’s not just about 90%. See the Flyer Talk post. I imagine that’s where Rob got the info from.

        • meta says:

          25 Nov25 November 18:28

          @John That’s not true. See stories on Loyatly Lobby yesterday. And my partner was told by one hotel specifically that they are not participating! The T&C do say that hotels can opt-up and if so why doesn’t Hilton publish the list of exclusions.

  • VerdantBacon says:

    25 Nov25 November 17:24

    I’ve never had a decent automatic upgrade, I always ask at check in and usually get a suite if they’re available

  • Save East Coast Rewards says:

    25 Nov25 November 18:44

    Should lifetime be prioritised and why? Once you hit lifetime you don’t have status to maintain. That said I’ve hit 10 years of diamond in 2022 so if they are prioritised for upgrades it’s good news for me.

    I have already met the number of nights requirement for lifetime so it’s just the number of years I need to have

• TedL says:

  25 Nov25 November 16:11

  BA 241 voucher just popped up in my account and it is for 30 months. Did notice on the email advising me it was there, in the small print it says “Return flights must be booked at the same time as the outward journey is booked.”

  Is this a new term or has it always been there.

  • Hugh says:

    25 Nov25 November 17:13

    Wow, I never read the smallprint at the time as I assumed through HFP I knew all there was to know about the voucher, but I can see the same thing on my voucher awarded in September! It also says “ Companion Vouchers must be exchanged for a return ticket”. I would love to know if these are new conditions, if so feels like vouchers will be difficult to use on popular routes in future!

    • TedL says:

      25 Nov25 November 17:19

      Just noticed that now you mention it. Though I thought you could always book one-ways.

    • Mick S says:

      25 Nov25 November 17:29

      if thats the case its a bit of a game changer then. Gone is the option to book the outbound flight 355 days in advance, and then add the return later.

      Cant see it being the case, because this would make a long trip almost impossible.

  • Anna says:

    25 Nov25 November 19:07

    Try a dummy booking for a one way flight? I’ve never actually noticed that but it might just be one of those things that BA’s IT isn’t compatible with!
    It would be a good excuse for BA to stop refunding half avios or adding inbound flights, though.

    • Anna says:

      25 Nov25 November 20:08

      Seems possible still to book a one-way outbound.

• John says:

  25 Nov25 November 16:35

  BA amex points left my ba amex card 3 days ago – still not in account.
  Every other month in on 23/24 of month.
  Anyone else had issues this month.
  Waiting for points to transfer to close my card.

  • John says:

    25 Nov25 November 16:36

    Many people have had issues

  • Jody says:

    25 Nov25 November 17:05

    My points usually leave my Amex on the 12th and hit BA on the 13th. They still haven’t left Amex yet. I’m also waiting to cancel my card.

  • Jonathan says:

    25 Nov25 November 17:08

    Same here Avios points left Amex on 20th still not showing on BA.

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