Chat thread – Tuesday 30th January

TJ wrote:

Painful experience at the IC Westlake in Hanoi last night. Checked-in late and upgraded to a junior suite…all good so far.

But the key cards didn’t work. Reception staff then came along and affectively forced the door opened and took our bags in only to be greeted by a very angry customer who was already occupying the room! It took them another 20mins to try and figure out what happened and reassign us another room (I think the customer shared the same surname as me and they assigned him my room). Anyway, expecting the manager to get in touch this morning with a proper explanation before we thankfully move onto the MGallery in the old quarter.

Oh wow.
The current occupant may be able to claim substantially.
“Dear hotel GM, I was rudely interrupted by your staff. I would have knocked them both out, but I was already engaged in furiously knocking one out at the time.”

Anyone had much experience changing planes on a non connecting flight in hong kong? changing from BA to HKExpress with 2 hours 40 and assumed that would be a reasonable amount of time, but have just been told its tight

Crazy to be travelling with a toddler too 😀

JDB wrote:

s75 doesn’t really help on a non-refundable fare, even if the airline has messed you about for what they will say are operational reasons and probably the difference in price between PE and Y doesn’t amount to much.

Why do you say a s75 claim wouldn’t work? I would have said AC selling a PE ticket but then downgrading to economy without offering a refund of fare in cash amounts to misrepresentation.

Misrepresentation is a false statement of a material fact made by one party which affects the other party’s decision in agreeing to a contract. If the misrepresentation is discovered, the contract can be declared void.

A seat in PE on a wide body 787 plane is not the same as an economy class seat on a single aisle A319. If it was the same then the airlines could not charge more for it. It plainly costs more otherwise AC wouldn’t be offering credits. It’s not the same situation as swapping a superior business class seat for an inferior one, eg, Club Suite vs Old Club World.

Therefore I’d reject AC’s offer of useless vouchers and claim the full cost of the tickets off the credit card company who are jointly liable on the basis that AC won’t refund in cash. You obviously can’t claim the credits and a full refund – It’s one or the other. The fact that AC has offered credits shows that AC accepts there is some difference between their PE and economy service. I’d say that is evidence of misrepresentation.

For anyone staying at Ritz-Carlton Tenerife, Abama around 16th Dec to 22 Dec, I would suggest to check the price again for a potential new booking.

davet wrote:

Anyone had much experience changing planes on a non connecting flight in hong kong? changing from BA to HKExpress with 2 hours 40 and assumed that would be a reasonable amount of time, but have just been told its tight

Crazy to be travelling with a toddler too 😀

Done this last year with HKExpress and BA but in the opposite direction (had two-hours and a bit). You don’t have to clear immigration, just go to one of the transfer desks, they’ll take your luggage tags (if you have them) and send them to BA plane. You’ll have to do security check again though.

I don’t think there would be any difference HKExpress to BA.

AJA wrote:

JDB wrote:

s75 doesn’t really help on a non-refundable fare, even if the airline has messed you about for what they will say are operational reasons and probably the difference in price between PE and Y doesn’t amount to much.

Why do you say a s75 claim wouldn’t work? I would have said AC selling a PE ticket but then downgrading to economy without offering a refund of fare in cash amounts to misrepresentation.

Misrepresentation is a false statement of a material fact made by one party which affects the other party’s decision in agreeing to a contract. If the misrepresentation is discovered, the contract can be declared void.

A seat in PE on a wide body 787 plane is not the same as an economy class seat on a single aisle A319. If it was the same then the airlines could not charge more for it. It plainly costs more otherwise AC wouldn’t be offering credits. It’s not the same situation as swapping a superior business class seat for an inferior one, eg, Club Suite vs Old Club World.

Therefore I’d reject AC’s offer of useless vouchers and claim the full cost of the tickets off the credit card company who are jointly liable on the basis that AC won’t refund in cash. You obviously can’t claim the credits and a full refund – It’s one or the other. The fact that AC has offered credits shows that AC accepts there is some difference between their PE and economy service. I’d say that is evidence of misrepresentation.

Thanks all for your thoughts and advice. I’ll push AC as hard as I can and then try the S75 route. I’ll report back just in case it’s relevant for anyone else how this turns out.

ohooper wrote:

Hi All! Feeling a little frustrated at how I’ve somehow not been able to use my companion voucher to much use this year.

Expires end of March and it seems the only places available that we (Fiance and I) fancy are all in Europe, where flights are only about £50 anyway!

Aw well, better to have had a lost, than not had at all… or not.

I post this welcoming any responses from experience, or advice!

You can still get solid value redeeming for club Europe (assuming it’s not the free BA blue card voucher which is economy only).

The longer European legs have a decent meal + provide welcome comfort and extra space of middle seat free vs the slimline seats at the back of the plane (especially on the “neo” aircraft).

Worth exploring destinations that BA fly to from Terminal 3 at Heathrow, so you can have a good lounge hop (Cathay Pacific and Qantas lounges, far superior to BA Galleries) pre-flight:

https://www.headforpoints.com/2023/04/20/british-airways-heathrow-terminal-3-routes/

Vienna, Krakow, Sofia, Valencia etc..

Does anyone have any tips on the cheapest way to make a fully refundable *economy* flight booking – specifically to Brazil?

High chance I will not travel and zero reward availability. However if I do need to go I need to go on a given day.

I’m aware of the current Uber flights ‘insurance’ offering (covered on hfp) but not sure how well it works in practice. I want a refund, not airline credit which the wording of the offer seems to indicate will be offered ‘if available’

AJA wrote:

JDB wrote:

s75 doesn’t really help on a non-refundable fare, even if the airline has messed you about for what they will say are operational reasons and probably the difference in price between PE and Y doesn’t amount to much.

Why do you say a s75 claim wouldn’t work? I would have said AC selling a PE ticket but then downgrading to economy without offering a refund of fare in cash amounts to misrepresentation.

Misrepresentation is a false statement of a material fact made by one party which affects the other party’s decision in agreeing to a contract. If the misrepresentation is discovered, the contract can be declared void.

We have debated these sort of points before. There isn’t a misrepresentation here; if it’s anything it’s a breach of contract. There is no misrepresentation as AC sold a PE seat in good faith but subsequently changed the aircraft to one which doesn’t offer PE, a very standard and legitimate operational decision; nothing has been misrepresented.

Yes, AC should refund the difference between the two classes, but that may amount to very little and they might possibly be entitled to do that in vouchers. I haven’t seen the terms of the purchase or fare conditions, nor know where the sale technically took place (to establish what one’s rights are) but a change of aircraft and downgrade on a Canadian domestic route may well not be sufficient to entitle the passenger to a refund of a non-refundable fare. Absent the relevant information, one can’t be too definitive. It’s also not clear whether the £300 in vouchers is a full refund but in a form the OP doesn’t want or a goodwill gesture or the difference between the two classes. The offer of vouchers isn’t probative of anything.

The bottom line is that s75 is very powerful, but it really isn’t the back door solution to every problem. Also, a chargeback might actually be more effective than s75.

Credit card providers unsurprisingly resist s75 claims quite strongly and you need to be very precise in making any such claim so, if eg you put forward your misrepresentation case, they will just say there was no misrepresentation, final answer. That then leaves you with a difficult and time consuming case to take to the FOS for a decision around Christmas time. I’m currently helping someone fight a s75A claim; the wriggling/obfuscation and fight the organisation is putting up is unbelievable.

If I were the OP, I would be escalating step by step within AC and hope to get the matter resolved by the end of next week at the latest.

Lol, I have never seen one of those @slidey! Of course I’ve seen Tripadvisor reviews such as “big shout out to Lindy Lou at the pool bar” but thought it was just Americans being effusive 😂

Are we entitled to EU261 compensation on Turkish Airlines, coming back from Istanbul? I have done a bit of a search and I am thinking maybe not cause it is a non EU country – would be happy to be proven wrong. 6 hours delay.

Aston100 wrote:

On yesterdays chat thread – thanks to everyone who provided info regarding cherry blossoms (or lack thereof) when visiting Japan in mid-May.
Related query: is August on the main island really as uncomfortable, hot and humid as a couple of blogs I skim read suggest?

The main island can get really quite warm, there’s a reason why they had to move the marathon part of the olympics to Hokkaido in the hope that the weather would be cooler (believe it still got pretty hot that year).

Despite going very often, we’ve really only been there a few times in Summer and I think if you’re a foreigner who is not used to the humid heat like you get in South East Asia, you’d find a it bit uncomfortable. With a car it might be more bareable (so that you don’t need to crowd in stations and accidentally hit peak hour sometimes). And most places indoor will have air conditioning.

Nature wise, it is still stunning – but you may find the time you’re able to tolerate the outside may be limited if you or your companion (you mentioned you’re going with people) aren’t used to it.