Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The HfP chat thread – Saturday 11th December

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Comments (293)

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

  • Andy says:

    About to cancel a pair of J award seats to MLE, outbound on December 30th, returning on January 9th (in case anyone is interested and they’re released again).

  • swifty says:

    Morning! So I’ve been away a long bit thru illness, and I need to bring myself up to speed. Can I re extend 2 4 1 ba vouchers that I have booked and cancelled and kept as e vouchers? There is maybe £500 cash tied up there, and I think I have 2 expiring in april 22. And another which expires 2023. Would anyone mind giving me a quick recap on the rules, it’s been a tricky time for me. Thanks

    • Rob says:

      Evouchers have been extended to 30 September 2023 already. This is ‘travel by’, not ‘book by’. You should assume there are no further extensions coming.

      At any point you can ring BA, pay the £35 per person cancellation fee and break up the FTV. Your 241 would immediately expire, of course (assuming it is now out of date) but you get the £500 and Avios back in your pocket rather than sitting in BA’s pocket.

      • Sam says:

        Hi Rob, does this article still stand- https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2021/08/06/how-to-extend-british-airways-amex-2-4-1-companion-voucher/.

        I have a 2 for 1 voucher expiring in Jan 2023 and have no idea as to destination yet/who will go with me and could do with extending it to Sept 2023. If I do the FTV, then I can extend to Sept 2023 – e vouchers are the same as FTV? Thanks!

        • AJA says:

          If you go for a FTV with the 2-4-1 you have to phone to use it. It is not an e-voucher and is not visiblein your BAEC. A FTV is basically a flight booking except without actually containing any flights.

        • Rob says:

          Evouchers are only for cash flights. Avios flights get a Future Travel Voucher.

          • Greg says:

            I’ve cancelled 3 avios (return leg only) flights in the last 12 months and got a voucher of some sort. The first one I got all my miles and taxes back (no penalty) but last week got charged £35 when doing the same thing. Vouchers were for cancelling 1 way only but email didn’t have any value whatsoever. I just took whatever they gave me back, which was approx 50% of what I had paid.

          • Sam says:

            Thanks all. So if my understanding is correct, FTV’s have an end date of April 2023 if I use my 2 for 1 and then cancel and get an FTV? I don’t recall the end dates for FTV’s were extended past April 2023? Thanks.

      • swifty says:

        oh Thank you. So my e voucher, extended til 23, and my 3x ftv with companion voucher run out in april 22. Guess I’ll be taking any redemption in any class just to use them. There is no way to rebook another holiday using them and hope for a cancellation by BA then to extend it? I’ll be waiting to trigger what will be my final 2 4 1 til my renewal date August 2022 and then out completely of BA.

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    Morning all, quick one – have to book a few (less than 6) colleagues flights for next year. Aside from payment card, any means to maximise opportunity?

    Booking using my card for tickets in their name, any anecdotal challenges around that?

    • Anna says:

      Any clue on airline/route?!

      • Chrisasaurus says:

        Sorry! Heathrow to US, served directly by AA and BA

        • Anna says:

          You can certainly use your own payment card (and get 3 Avios per £ if using BAPP) but any awarded Avios plus Tier points would go to the person travelling.

        • JDB says:

          Remember that for travel to the US, airlines are obliged to share reservation data with the US authorities, including credit card data and third party ticket purchases can create red flags. To the extent that any of your colleagues are not actually travelling with you or need to change their flights, they may need the card details.

    • BJ says:

      Refer each so that you get the referral bonus and then let them book on their own cards?

    • Biki says:

      If with BA can you sign up for on business and get some points from that too?

  • AJ says:

    Morning all, are there any walk in vaccination centers in London that offer the Covid booster jab to under 40s?

  • Sam says:

    Hi all, are hotels.com stamps still expiring at the end of this year if not completed a stay within 12 months. I have 7 stamps and don’t want to lose them but not been anywhere for over a year.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      £3 hostel booking for 1 in your fav Indian/Asian country will extend them all

      • Barraclough says:

        I did this successfully in 2020 but when I tried again early this year (twice) no extension of date was given. I may have been unlucky but check in may now be required.

        It does look though from the app that Hotels.com stamps have all recently been extended to 30th June 2022.

    • Barraclough says:

      My Hotels.com app says:

      Due to the pandemic, all stamps and reward nights have been extended until at least 30th June 2022.

      Book and complete at least one stay before the end of June 2022 to ensure your expiry date is extended by another 12 months, from date of checkout. Please note, your account may not reflect this change, but we’ll remind you of this date 3 months in advance so you can plan your travels accordingly.

      • Sam says:

        Thanks @Barraclough, you are right. It doesn’t say on website but when you log in it states that!

  • Rh says:

    We landed and did the Halo Day 2 test at the Sofitel LHR T5 on Wednesday at 20:20 and got the negative results emailed to us by 04:30 the next morning. £58 each. Great service.

    • iamlost says:

      I have a couple of questions about Halo.
      1) How do you get the Day 2 booking reference for PLF? There’s literally no mention on their site
      2) Can I use this test as a pre-departure PCR, again their website just refers to Day 2 but I live near T5 and would prefer this to a postal kit

      • JenT says:

        1. It comes in the email you receive immediately after booking.

      • Rh says:

        Hi,
        1. It comes on the email.
        2. Yes you can – w head the tests on 08/12 PM and my partner used yesterday to travel to Faro. VeriFLY accepted her day to as a pre-departure test and she checked in and travelled fine.

    • Diydegsy says:

      Hi do you know what the latest time is to have tests as I thought the last appointment was 7pm?

      • Rh says:

        We booked the 19:00 test, but didn’t arrive until 20:20 and lots of people testing there. If you call the Sotitel and ask to put through they will be able to confirm.

  • The Original Nick. says:

    I’m going to be at Birmingham airport in a couple of hours – has anyone been recently and been able to get into the Aspire lounge via PP?

  • Sandgrounder says:

    Everton FC ticket office are on Shop Small.
    Hehehe

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