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Titus Adduxas wrote:

Having just recovered from Covid the NHS tell us not to take a PCR test for 90 days, yet to get back into the UK from the USA we have to take a PCR test after two days, which of course we are quite likely to fail despite being Covid free.

When travelling to America you need either a negative test or a proof of recovery within the last 90 days. They seem to understand the basics that having had Covid quite recently gives you extra protection and you are highly unlikely to have Covid.

Is anyone else aware of whether in fact this will be changed in the UK any time soon; given the huge number of people that have now had Covid there must be plenty of people in my position.

The 90 days isn’t an absolute; there are various exemptions and return to the UK after travel is one of them. I’m not sure there will be any rush to change the rules, but who knows. In terms of the added protection of recent infection, one of the issues in SA was the surprising rate of re-infection.

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The Savage Squirrel wrote:

HGI Snowdonia is near Snowdonia, DT Cadbury North is near the Mendips, Avisford Park nr Arundel is near the South Downs, and hell, even the seemingly couldn’t-be-less-inspiring DT Newbury on the M4 is near the the Ridgeway and North Wessex Downs!

The Newbury one is quite grim and in a poor location. If you are interested in the Ridgeway/North Wessex Downs which has loads of fantastic paths/tracks you may be better to stay in Reading and take the train to Goring (15 mins) or drive where there are a number of restaurants as well as being on the Ridgeway. You can walk c. 20 mins along the river to the Beetle & Wedge. Regular pub of the year winner – The Bell in Aldworth also not far off the Ridgeway. I think there is a HGI in Abingdon not too far also.

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malteser wrote:

Hi how do i find out if we have the new club suites on our LHR-JNB flight BA 0057 27 January?

You can see it from the seating plan – if its 1-2-1, then it’s Club Suite if it’s 2-3-2 it is old seats. Looks like you are in luck!

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Yes, it’s quite normal. I have two ‘bookings’ on flight BA8699 LHR-YYY. You will find these ghost segments in ordinary cancelled bookings as well as FTV ones.

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n166 wrote:

great to be on the forums finally!

less flight related and more investing related – what do finance guys on here think of the possibility of an impending ‘crash’ or further pullback in stocks? seems like there is a big announcement on interest rates tomorrow by the US Fed that might swing it one way or the other?

I have been investing for 40+ years and markets look/feel very toppy to me. People need to do what’s right for them, but I have taken a lot of money off the table after spectacular gains in markets since the March 2020. One also wants to be positioned in remaining holdings for inflation/stagflation, rates eventually going up and stocks that still either offer value or genuine long term growth potential at an acceptable price. Therein lies the peril of index funds!

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elguiri wrote:

BA asking me to use verifly app before returning from TFS. From what I’ve read on here, it’s only worth using verifly if you are hand luggage only?
Can I just ignore this, or is it smoother to do the verifly thing too? We have checked luggage, for avoidance of doubt.

We were asked to do VeriFLY from MEX last week. It’s very quick and easy, so nothing to lose. We had luggage and the guy at the desk asked if we had done VeriFLY and as soon as he saw the green OK, didn’t want to see anything else whereas others at adjacent desks had slow scrutiny of PLF, test bookings and vaccine certs, so it was worth doing.

[JDB]

@SteveJ – I should also have mentioned that if someone wants to get into the serious ‘fuel dumping’ you really, really need to know what you are doing; it’s not for the faint hearted and many amateurs do get denied boarding. On HfP there are many super experienced travellers, but also a huge community of inexperienced ones to judge by the remarkably basic questions.

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SteveJ wrote:

JDB wrote:

Maybe you would be better to stick to this activity on FT? This is a respectable site and we really don’t need to be polluted with a thread that requires code words to cover up its dubious nature. The last code wording/grifting action on here didn’t end well.

No need to panic JDB, nothing dubious here, it’s simply trying to avoid fuel surcharges, book two singles instead of a return, book an open jaw to a neighbouring city, that type of thing.

What you mention is of course entirely innocent, helpful and widely discussed on HfP, but if you look at the FT thread it is completely different, goes into very grey areas, and there is a reason why they use code words and have a moderator who deletes uncoded posts. I am fully familiar this ‘scene’ having worked as a travel agent in 1981 when local offices / station managers of BA and other airlines positively encouraged it to boost their bonuses. Manual tickets and a smart red pencil saved people a lot of money.

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bartas8891 wrote:

There is already a thread dedicated to fuel dumping on FT where I am relatively active under the same username. I have been doing FD for almost 10 years, but I don’t know any FDers from the UK so it would be nice to see some action here.

Maybe you would be better to stick to this activity on FT? This is a respectable site and we really don’t need to be polluted with a thread that requires code words to cover up its dubious nature. The last code wording/grifting action on here didn’t end well.

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LostAntipod wrote:

Actually i based that CCA 1974 language on researching prior HFP comments. But thanks for commenting, I appreciate it.

Regrettably, while the majority of people here are very helpful, there are are a number of ‘armchair’ experts on various topics who don’t have a scooby. You want to do your own research before going to FOS. This is link to the CCA 1974 section.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/39/section/98A

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LostAntipod wrote:

I complained to Creation in October set an end Oct deadline. They replied Dec 1 rejecting all my claims, namely
– award of free IHG night or cash alternative, since I met the spending threshold, and by false promises, denied the opportunity to direct that spend to other reward programs;
– annual fee refund, since they terminated my account a month prior to the end of the account year;
– I noted that they did not comply with S98A of the Consumer Credit Act (1974), subsection 4 (b) and (c), and FCA Principle 6

I am checking these forums for a bit more feedback before I hit up the Ombudsman. I have already needed to use the Ombudsman once this year, after being screwed over by AGEAS Insurance on the market value of my car following an accident. I did have to wait a few months, but I received over £2000 that AGEAS were unwilling to pay until the FOS intervened – at the bottom end of what I expected but happy nonetheless since it was free. I provided a lot of detail and all correspondence to the FOS, which made their job pretty easy as I had the insurer bang to rights. So I am optimistic they will find that Creation have done the wrong thing here.

LostAntipod wrote:

I complained to Creation in October set an end Oct deadline. They replied Dec 1 rejecting all my claims, namely
– award of free IHG night or cash alternative, since I met the spending threshold, and by false promises, denied the opportunity to direct that spend to other reward programs;
– annual fee refund, since they terminated my account a month prior to the end of the account year;
– I noted that they did not comply with S98A of the Consumer Credit Act (1974), subsection 4 (b) and (c), and FCA Principle 6

I am checking these forums for a bit more feedback before I hit up the Ombudsman. I have already needed to use the Ombudsman once this year, after being screwed over by AGEAS Insurance on the market value of my car following an accident. I did have to wait a few months, but I received over £2000 that AGEAS were unwilling to pay until the FOS intervened – at the bottom end of what I expected but happy nonetheless since it was free. I provided a lot of detail and all correspondence to the FOS, which made their job pretty easy as I had the insurer bang to rights. So I am optimistic they will find that Creation have done the wrong thing here.

Consumer Credit Act 1974 section 98A 4 (a)(b) and (c) do not apply – that is for removing credit, not closing your card. It is 3. that applies here and requires no reasons to be given. Once they moved to immediate closure they will be relying on paras 5 or 7 where again no reasons need be given. It is worth getting these things right (check with someone other than me!) as if you have strands of your claim that make no sense, it detracts from any good points you may have. It is surprising you haven’t had a fee refund as many seem to have had that.

Whatever the reason/cause (and who caused it) for not reaching the anniversary date, that makes it a bigger mountain to climb to get the voucher. Previous cases may not technically be precedents, but the decision has been the same in multiple cases and multiple firms, even if the firm has closed an account.

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@jj – if you are going to give a reading list to people, they also need to read the terms and conditions (card terms + points ones) which they have signed up to. I’m not sure which part of those terms you are suggesting might be unfair once you have actually read them which I don’t think you have.

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@cinereus – what are you suggesting to @Tom and others is the relevant legislation to “simply” cite in respect of points/free night vouchers?

[JDB]

I’m not convinced you will get very far, but it’s worth a try. There is still the outside chance of a full or partial climb down by Creation and IHG’s position may get clarified soon, all of which will make it clearer as to whether it is worthwhile to go to the FOS. Obviously, you need to complain to Creation first and wait 8 weeks + to get a final decision. You can go to the FOS after 8 weeks even without the decision, but then all you are doing is rehashing your complaint, not appealing the decision, so you are at a big disadvantage. Either way (for the complaint/FOS) keep it clear, concise and specific (ie not just saying you have been unfairly treated; spell out precisely why/how) and reference the terms or other documents as applicable. Various people have suggested collating all the bits of poor service they and others have encountered which is appalling advice as that is just noise that is irrelevant to the disposition of your case. If they have said something specific to you in a call, subsequently not honoured, obviously that is relevant but whether someone got a credit limit increase during the closure period is immaterial and just a distraction. You should provide a brief chronology of events – the letter, any subsequent calls, letters etc. and put this as a front page to a single PDF with all the correspondence, notes/transcripts of calls, statements showing points and 0 transferred + any other relevant docs. For the FOS, I would look at their form, cut and paste the three headings of their online form and write them in a document to cut and paste once you have a final version. Then attach the aforementioned PDF.

Precision is important – I have read hundreds of FOS decisions and all Creation decisions relating to cards in the last few years + a few of their loan ones. They are very good at winning on small technical points. A particular moment of danger seems to be that they are remarkably effective at getting preliminary decisions overturned by a final Ombudsman decision, so even if you win at the preliminary decision stage, you make wish to consider adding anything new or that they have missed as otherwise Creation will. In this process, bear in mind that unlike in a court process, you don’t get to see their submissions which works to their advantage.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by JDB.

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This has been on the BA website since the extension.

“Your new trip booked with your voucher must be fully completed by 30 September 2023 (departure and return).”

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/incident/coronavirus/vouchers-refunds#faqvoucher

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Before going to MCOL, you should read the link to the Civil Procedure Rules in the MCOL guidance. It refers to litigation being the last resort and that ombudsmen should be used first where available. In this case you have a statutory recourse to the FOS, so you will be expected to use it. If I were Creation (which, contrary to popular HfP opinion, I am not) I would apply to have your application struck out with costs and you will be at risk of costs etc. for non compliance with the CPR anyway. If you don’t win at the FOS, you can MCOL afterwards but don’t necessarily expect a different answer. To the extent that you have had your fee refunded, so you are just chasing your anniversary night award it isn’t clear if that is actually claimable at MCOL?? It looks more like a ‘loss of opportunity’ claim??