The new HFP chat thread – Friday 27th March

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We have decided to run this new daily chat thread on Head for Points.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the defacto repository for random comments and questions. It is unlikely that the news flow will be so big over the next few weeks that we will need many ‘Bits’ articles, however.

The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind. At this tricky time, and given that many of you are stuck at home self-isolating, we want the HFP community to have a place to chat.

Please only comment under the main articles on the site if your comment is directly related to the topic of the article. This has long-term benefits as its keeps the commentary relevant for people who read those articles in the future.

We will review how this works after a few days:

we could potentially split it into a daily travel and non-travel chat thread

we may install some basic forum software

we may start suggesting potential topics for daily discussion

Let’s see how it goes.

We will do a separate article in a day or so about how we plan to run the site over the next few weeks. Take care!

Category

General

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

Liam says:

27 Mar27 March 16:41

I just rang up to cancel my Platinum card, for which I was about to be charged the £575 renewal fee. I wondered if I might be incentivised to hang onto it, particularly if lots of people are currently cancelling such a travel-oriented card, but nothing at all. I don’t particularly mind—I don’t use it much (which is possibly the reason they just let me go) as I live in the US now and I didn’t make a fuss—but I know a few people on here have wondered about the possibility of retention offers, so I thought this might be a semi-useful data point.
Andy says:

27 Mar27 March 17:07

From The Guardian (Business live ):

“Virgin Atlantic, the airline founded by the billionaire Richard Branson, is going to ask the government for a big bailout, the Financial Times has reported.

Here’s a snippet from the FT’s report (£):

Virgin Atlantic will in the coming days ask the UK for a package of commercial loans and guarantees worth hundreds of millions of pounds, as the carrier battles the aviation industry’s worst crisis in decades, according to people familiar with the matter.

A bailout of a company so closely linked to a billionaire would be deeply controversial – indeed, it already was controversial when Flybe, bought by a consortium backed by Branson, was offered assistance.”
sohan says:

27 Mar27 March 17:08

Miles & More + coronavirus:
I have 7k miles expiring end of this month; has anyone seen anything about them extending? My account still says same date when I log in…
- Rob says:
  
  27 Mar27 March 17:39
  
  They sent out an email the other day saying that they would do ‘something’ about status renewal but I don’t remember seeing anything about expiry.
  - sohan says:
    
    27 Mar27 March 17:49
    
    Thanks Rob, yes saw that… poor form by Lufty. Guess I’ll dump them into a voucher!
Billy says:

27 Mar27 March 17:25

Just been called by the Ibis Heathrow cancelling my booking for 5th April. They are closing for the foreseeable
Secret Squirrel says:

27 Mar27 March 17:54

Just seen a copy of the BA cancelled flights departing LGW until April 14th over on FT, mainly long haul. Do BA really think this is all going to be over in less than 3x weeks?
- Rob says:
  
  27 Mar27 March 19:42
  
  We have this as an article, will be Sunday now though.
  - Secret Squirrel says:
    
    27 Mar27 March 21:09
    
    Rob,
    What’s your view on the cancelled flights restart dates?
    Most are only 17 x days away, will BA keep pushing back cancelled routes by 2-3 weeks at a time?
    When was the proposed dates that BA were only flying fuel efficient craft on routes?
    - Rob says:
      
      27 Mar27 March 22:09
      
      I would be VERY surprised if BA flew the flights it says it will.
- Lady London says:
  
  27 Mar27 March 23:40
  
  Thought BA just pulled their everything out of Gatwick.
Mike G says:

27 Mar27 March 17:57

If you accept a voucher and the company subsequently fails, do you still have the ability to charge back on CC or are you assumed to have replaced the original CC transaction with a subsequent non CC one…
Charlieface says:

27 Mar27 March 18:04

I thought BA and Easyjet were nickel and diming valued customers, I’ve changed that to farthing and hap’nnying
Clive says:

27 Mar27 March 19:42

Any suggestions what to do with 2000 Accor Pints which are going to expire?
- Shoestring says:
  
  27 Mar27 March 19:43
  
  set up auto convert to Iberia (search Headforpoints on Google)
  
  it will only take you about 5hrs to figure it out – but time well spent
  
  works fine for me
  - Shoestring says:
    
    27 Mar27 March 19:46
    
    no minimum
  - Lyn says:
    
    27 Mar27 March 20:34
    
    Or automatic conversion to Qantas points, if they are any good to you. Easier (much) to set up than Iberia and useful if you happen to want to keep Qantas points going, Also no minimum
  - Secret Squirrel says:
    
    27 Mar27 March 21:10
    
    Last time I tried this route, Computer said No!
- Rob says:
  
  27 Mar27 March 19:44
  
  What’s the Iberia minimum? 2k or 3k?
  
  Can you get the €40 hotel voucher or do you actually have to book to get the saving?
  
  What’s the minimum Club Eurostar transfer?
  - Lady London says:
    
    27 Mar27 March 23:46
    
    You could make a far-ahead hotel booking ensuring to take the fully flex rate. Input the voucher. When you cancel a fully flex IME voucher comes back 0-10mins into your Accor account.
    
    Accor now has workspaces (like Regus but could be nicer) at a growing number of hotels.
    S o could be one way to cash out.
- BJ says:
  
  27 Mar27 March 19:49
  
  Drink them very soon 🙂