The new HFP chat thread – Tuesday 7th April

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• Joe says:

  7 Apr7 April 16:49

  Any way to stay at Raffles in Singapore on points?

  • Rob says:

    7 Apr7 April 18:06

    Yes, Accor points. The problem is that the Accor scheme is revenue based, so the points you need is the cash price that night divided by 0.2 Eurocents.

  • fivebobbill says:

    7 Apr7 April 19:17

    Stay across the street (quite literally), the JW Marriott Singapore is outstanding!

• PerkyPat says:

  7 Apr7 April 16:50

  Just had an email from Iberia. I have a flight on 20 May MAN-MAD. Am being offered a voucher if I want to cancel, with an extra 10% if I cancel before 15 April. Voucher valid until June 2021. Also being offered a date change.

  • Vit says:

    7 Apr7 April 17:34

    10% additional to the whole ticket price. Qatar offers 10% but excluding tax and call to book new flight via call centre will cost you £25.

• philco says:

  7 Apr7 April 17:00

  I think the article is optimistic as to what would likely happen if VS goes under and I say that as somebody who is sticking with my VS miles (i.e., not transferring them out).

  • Rob says:

    7 Apr7 April 18:03

    No, not at all. VGLC almost certainly has no money to fund redemptions. Even now it must be on the verge of going under, since VA isn’t buying miles off it and it is still funding redemptions.

    Anyone who thinks otherwise should look at what happened to airberlin TopBonus (owned by Etihad and so nominally separate from the airline) or Jet Airways JetPrivilege (same). Programme either goes bankrupt immediately or devalues to a fraction of the previous value of your miles.

    • Jessiefan says:

      7 Apr7 April 18:08

      What is the likely safer route then to book a reward flight with FC miles
      a – using Virgin Atlantic
      b – Delta

      and what payment method might give most protection?
      a – A credit card (Virgin Money?) with s75 protection
      b – AMEX Platinum, a charge card with insurance?

      Or is it all hands to convert which will surely precipitate a failure

      • Charlieface says:

        7 Apr7 April 19:43

        Credit card for S75. Pref book with the airline you intend to fly directly

• Rahaney says:

  7 Apr7 April 17:32

  Is dropping from the plat to the green just for those who would lose their mr points otherwise? I have a gold in its first year. Wasn’t the ARCC pushed as being better??

  • Rob says:

    7 Apr7 April 17:54

    ARCC is better. However, there is (targeted in theory, seems to work for most) 20k upgrade bonus for going from Green to Platinum which you could try to get yourself back to it. We can’t write about it openly because in theory it is targeted but you can google the link.

    • Rahaney says:

      7 Apr7 April 18:03

      Hi Rob,
      Thanks for the response, I’ll pm you,
      Cheers

    • Doug M says:

      7 Apr7 April 21:17

      Rob,

      https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/benefits/upgrade/platinum-charge/

      Isn’t that Amex saying it’s so?

      • Rob says:

        7 Apr7 April 21:44

        No, because you wouldn’t know that link existed if I hadn’t told you about it or Amex hadn’t emailed you.

        • Doug M says:

          8 Apr8 April 08:49

          So putting it on the website and topping the google search results doesn’t count as a public offer?

        • Rhys says:

          8 Apr8 April 08:52

          Take it up with the FCA!

        • Rob says:

          8 Apr8 April 10:03

          No. I very much doubt that, legally, you can argue that. A court would argue that a company cannot be expected to password-protect any webpage which is not meant to be read by the general public.

          For example … HFP competitions are illegal in Northern Ireland. If the Northern Ireland Assembly tried to prosecute me (since HFP is accessible in Northern Ireland) a court would almost certainly find that I am not expected to password-protect competition pages on HFP and only release the password to readers who could prove they did not live in Northern Ireland. At most, I would be found to have a duty of care to stop anyone who lives in Northern Ireland from being confirmed as the winner.

• Benj says:

  7 Apr7 April 18:27

  Try emailing the hotel directly for an update. I had a similar thing with Intercontinental Istanbul – turned out the refund had to be processed by the hotel, but the finance team was not at work to process the refund due to C-19. They’ve promised it will be processed when they are back in the office.

• Liam says:

  7 Apr7 April 19:26

  Alaska becomes the latest US airline to extend status through 2021: https://blog.alaskaair.com/coronavirus/frequently-asked-questions/

• Clive says:

  7 Apr7 April 19:52

  Any suggestions please: Have an OTA booking for a hotel which is not part of a large chain and has no CV19 cancellation policy in Hong Kong. Rate is Non- Ref and of course cannot get into HK without quarantine. Supposed to be there in a week but no answer on cancellation from OTA.

• Brian W says:

  7 Apr7 April 20:02

  Data Point for those waiting VFC transfers to HH. My miles left my VFC account on 25th March and arrived in my HH account today.

  • Peter K says:

    7 Apr7 April 21:05

    Thank you.

  • Heathrow Flyer says:

    7 Apr7 April 23:29

    Thanks Brian.

    Same date as you for request. HIltons have arrived today.

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