The new HFP chat thread – Tuesday 12th May

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

• Chris Heyes says:

  12 May12 May 05:35

  I’m “NOT” a Boris fan, but look the science thought Covid is here what can we do ?
  Herd mentality if it works problem solved,Cant blame anyone for the thought (might have worked)
  But tooo many deaths (need to abandon but can’t acknowledge) all logical stuff.
  Italy overwhelmed, Science says might happen here need hospital beds (rack up capacity)
  But how many no one knows ? Our NHS can’t cope with flue (NHS words every winter)
  The AIM IS: Not to save lives yet ? because science says cant but to keep NHS going save lives 2/3 weeks down the line (worked)
  Could have saved more lives by telling everybody to wear “Masks” (would have worked) but if everybody was chasing masks there wouldn’t have been enough for NHS staff plus riots because not nearly enough for uk.
  So that was out (now gradual introduction of masks (government says face covering but really they mean masks without making a shortage)
  Yes the government made mistakes along the way, but who dosn’t !
  shortages PPI, TESTING EQUIPMENT ect but who the hell thinks we have a perfect (or ever had) Government
  The future couldn’t quarantine visitors earlier tooo many of them (not the staff ready to sort it)
  only a few visitors it becomes easier even uk citizens are easy to trace.
  ANYONE going to a Hotel make it the hotel’s responsibility to inform on whereabouts of guests
  Plus a simple wristband (or ankle) trace (can be done for about £15 in bulk) wearer to pay
  loads of outrage but easy to implement
  So i wouldn’t jump to blame Boris or anyone else because no one knew what was to befall the UK
  But of coarse everybody on here knows the future
  What are you doing with your Virgin miles Rob, that’s meant to be a joke (who cares unless you are giving them to anyone who writes on this chat lol

  • Spursdebs says:

    12 May12 May 06:57

    Boris fan or not just be great full the British electorate wasn’t dumb enough to vote the other bloke and his motley crew in. They bleat on things weren’t done quickly enough and it took them neatly 5 months to elect a new leader who is more beige than my hall walls with the charisma and personality of a chair leg.

    • Callum says:

      12 May12 May 07:53

      If you’re using the process to choose a party leader as a metric for ability to manage a pandemic then you have an incredibly short memory… Any idiot could see the conservative process was FAR more chaotic…

    • BrightonReader says:

      12 May12 May 07:54

      So it took just under 4 months (not nearly 5) to select a leader.

      It didn’t stop the opposition scrutinising the government. And when you look back they did do a lot of things Labour suggested they do. Mind they ignored the issue of care homes for far too long.

      And I’d rather some beige competence than colourful bluster.

      • Craig W says:

        12 May12 May 08:03

        This comment made me laugh. Labour haven’t scrutinised government effectively in the entire period Jeremy Corbin was leader. This is widely accepted by all who stood opposite him over the period

        • Craig W says:

          12 May12 May 08:24

          Indeed. And I have already forgotten how to spell his name apparently!

        • davvero says:

          12 May12 May 13:15

          If Corbyn wasn’t opposition why did we have the biggest smear campaign in history to ensure he never made power? Someone who had campaigned against racism all his life made out to be the biggest racist ever while Boris talking about ‘letterboxes’, ‘bank robbers’ and ‘watermelon smiles’ was swept under the carpet?

      • Andrew says:

        12 May12 May 09:31

        You seem to be using the term “Opposition” and “Labour” as if they are the same party.

        In recent times, the main organised opposition at Westminster has been the SNP, not Labour. Despite not being an MP, Nicola Sturgeon had far more airtime on any news channel than old Jeremy.

        Even today, the news reports first what Boris says, then Nicola, then Social Media and if there’s time Kier has a runner-up slot.

    • CV3V says:

      12 May12 May 09:07

      If all you are after is a few minutes of entertainment in place of convincing credible leadership then agreed Boris is your man, he’s a perfect fit for the short attention spans many people have these days.

      At least weeks PMQs Keir Starmer was impressive, Boris kept looking behind himself looking for some rowdy jeers as backup, seemed to forget no one was there and looked lost.

    • Optimus Prime says:

      12 May12 May 12:13

      Be grateful we avoided chaos with Ed Miliband!

    • Dave says:

      12 May12 May 13:26

      Now that’s funny. Boris Johnston hasn’t been leading anyone or anything. All bluster.

  • Simon says:

    12 May12 May 07:04

    Excellent post. Always loads of criticism. If people actually said what they would have done differently I might give them some credibility. But every decision is criticised by one group or another. Every decision. They have and will make mistakes. But are continually taking the least worst decision for the benefit of the country.

    Sunday as an example. A slight change in the rules to allow exercise and some travel and everyone is up in arms. What about this? How about that? What if?? If he’d left it the same as the rest of the UK there would be people saying ’ let us go out!’ It’s an imposible position. A unique situation. An unenviable job for the decision makers.

    • Spursdebs says:

      12 May12 May 07:23

      Some People have lost the ability to think for themselves or make simple basic decisions. All you need is some good old fashioned common sense.

      • Simon says:

        12 May12 May 07:30

        Exactly what I said to my wife last night. World is full of moaners.

        Of course it distracts us from talking about my beloved Spurs which my wife is eternally grateful for!

        Stay safe

        • Spursdebs says:

          12 May12 May 07:38

          Haha in the words of my 9 year old grandson “ spurs really are useless nanny, but we still have to support them as they need all the help they can get”
          As I said to him supporting them is a good education in managing disappointment and expectations. A good life lesson I think!

        • SimonW says:

          12 May12 May 08:04

          from another Spurs Simon – Our first ever unbeaten April, and people still moan !!!!

        • Spursdebs says:

          12 May12 May 08:09

          We could be Liverpool supporters, fancy being miles ahead in the points a couple of games away from
          Lifting trophy and a worldwide pandemic comes along and scuppers that.

      • Chris Heyes says:

        12 May12 May 08:44

        Spursdebs Common sense would be “Don’t plan a flight for at least 12 months (if that)
        Cancel all Holidays, Hotels until at LEAST 2021 lol but who has any common sense ?

        • Anna says:

          12 May12 May 13:21

          You’d be amazed at how many people don’t actually have any common sense. In the public sector we have an awful lot of exposure to them!

      • PerkyPat says:

        12 May12 May 09:38

        Ah yes, good old British Commonsense. Shame on those other countries using science, expertise and intelligence. We’ll show them how its done with a bit of genial bluster and pluck.

      • AJA says:

        12 May12 May 11:23

        I agree some people seem to have lost the ability to think for themselves. They appear to want the government of the day tell them in minute detail what they can and can’t do and then whinge when it doesn’t suit their particular circumstances.

    • Yuff says:

      12 May12 May 07:23

      Isn’t hindsight great when making decisions…….oops I forgot the ones doing all the criticising have the benefit of hindsight whilst the ones making those tough decisions didn’t, how strange…

      • Josh says:

        12 May12 May 09:57

        And hospitals here weren’t overwhelmed like those in Northern Italy were.

      • AJA says:

        12 May12 May 11:19

        Being pedantic, it isn’t hindsight but foresight. Hind means after the event.

      • Lady London says:

        12 May12 May 11:23

        The learnings from Italy helped other Western Europe countries including the UK. Loosening of restrictions in those is about the same as for the UK. Yes we could have locked down earlier and saved lives. But the difference was a matter of days then the government took prompt action. Unfortunately even those few days mean 000’s more deaths due to the sneaky long period this virus is in people infected before showing itself. So those few days also worsening considerably the time we are locked up.

        Its brought out how much poor performance of NHS supply chain is costing the country economically. Patients and staff died due to this. The country is losing GDP and the ability to pay for things people need because of the productivity that is being lost.

        Lets throw out NHS supply chain, who failed us and are a monumental source of waste in the NHS and bring in supply chain leadership from car industry companies. Car industry has this expertise and are a bit less busy now.

        Lets get people under 65 back to work with the onus on the employer to prove if a specific location for the work is required with the default right of the employee to work from home.

        It seems travel will be organised by zones of countries who agree to accept each others’ residents. with travel across zones to be requiring greater safeguards as soon as science can provide them reliably. Quarantine being Lowest Common Denominator resort if all else fails which looks like being 6-18 months and maybe forever.

        Hopes of a vaccine are foolish. I believe the solution lies in finding out what mechanisms the virus uses and disrupting them or finding a way to kill it. its clearly working dufferently otherwise we’d have cured it in cats or made more progress in similar viruses like cold or flu. So a harder look at what can we break about it not just futilely trying to think our current nethodology of constructing vaccines will work for this – it won’t, at least not safely.

        I’m pretty impressed with what the Chancellor has done but we’ve all got to pay for it so let’s get normally healthy people back to work as soon as we can.

    • Ken says:

      12 May12 May 08:06

      Why can’t it be more nuanced than that?

      I think the handling so far has been utterly shambolic (lockdown too slow, abandon track and trace, PPE) and hardly hindsight when we had Italy in plain view but Sunday’s announcement was about right in speed of easing the lockdown. People have got to get back to work.

      I think the claim of 100k tests by end of April by stuffing a load of tests in envelopes is ludicrous – but equally without that pressure it would have taken much longer to build test capacity.

      Also ‘the science’ isn’t and is rarely perfectly settled agreed upon.
      It’s (and was at the time) a range of views.
      We (the politicians) chose to go down the herd immunity route. It was against WHO advice at the time and barely any other countries went down that route.

      If any defence begins “but Jeremy Corbyn” you know you are in trouble.

    • Callum says:

      12 May12 May 08:14

      On the off chance you’re the only person in the country who hasn’t been subjected to these rants, a few of the things they could have done differently include:

      1) Taking it seriously from the beginning – i.e. not having the leader of the country going on about ignoring basic advice and going round hospitals shaking hands. If he actually showed up to the numerous meetings about it before the crisis hit, maybe he would have taken it more seriously. The crisis also hit the UK comparatively late to many countries – there always would have been a shortage of testing kits/PPE etc regardless of what the government did, but if they started stockpiling earlier then it would have been less severe. Likewise, closing schools/restaurants/bars etc. were all done far later than other countries did – most of whom ended up being far better off.

      2) Clear messaging. Boris supporters (including those who pretend they don’t actually support him) may think it’s been clear but it’s demonstrably not been. Half the country aren’t just acting confused for the fun of it. Other countries give strict orders – Boris half heartedly reads out a restriction then goes on about personal liberty, making your own mind up about whether you should follow it or not but he “hopes you will”, announces you should “live life as you normally do” etc. And yet people feign shock when people interpret that as letting them break isolation rules?

      3) Herd immunity. I don’t doubt a scientist, somewhere, has suggested it as a plausible strategy for Covid-19, I don’t believe for a second that health authorities came up with any kind of consensus to encourage it. It’s the kind of thing Trump would do – hear a sound bite that matches his pre-conceived beliefs and run with it.

      Don’t get me wrong, a perfect response by the government would have still resulted in a tragic crisis, but don’t twist facts and pretend that Boris is doing a great job. I’m sure more detailed analysis after the fact will uncover far more.

      • Ken says:

        12 May12 May 08:19

        Eloquently and perfectly put Callum.

      • Cat says:

        12 May12 May 08:47

        +1 Callum, we don’t always agree, but the government’s response has been utterly shambolic.

        Also, that

        COVID alert level = R + number of infections

        equation made me scream obscenities at the TV screen. Apparently, today we are on a COVID alert level of 190,651.9, or thereabouts.

        Couldn’t they just find somebody with some level of numeracy and scientific literacy to vet the guff that they put out there?

        • Josh says:

          12 May12 May 09:42

          Most people won’t read that with the mind of a scientist though.

          Most will see it as the Alert Level depending on the R value and the number of infections.

        • RussellH says:

          12 May12 May 11:06

          Cat,
          Thanks for reassuring me that I am not the only person in the country who shouted at that ridiculous “equation”. Even my partner, who is a retired hospital consultant, was not upset, but she always argues that medicine is not a science.

          In this respect, Boris is probably typical of many outwith the scientific community who think that a classical (in both the broad and narrow senses of the word) education is the summit of educational achievement, and that actually understanding some of what is going on and accepting that there are other things that you do not understand, is somethjing to be looked down upon.
          I am, for some reason, reminded of the classics student whose room was across the corridor from mine in my first year at uni. In a very patronising tone (you are a scientist, you understand these things) he brought me his electric cooking ring which did not work. He had miswired the plug (devices did not come with a plug in 1966), having switched earth and neutral. I still wonder whether he would have survived if he had switched earth and live.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          12 May12 May 11:24

          It will be active infections not total since we started counting

        • aDifferentSimon says:

          12 May12 May 12:08

          I’m sure most would have read it as: COVID alert level = R + f(number of infections)
          where f() has not yet been decided, will constantly change and we may promise to release the source code but, ho ho, we won’t.

        • Cat says:

          12 May12 May 15:40

          @TGLoyalty – that is with active infections!

          With total cases, it would be 223,060.9.

        • Cat says:

          12 May12 May 15:45

          @aDifferentSimon, I rather suspect that f(number of infections) will involve pulling a number between 0 and 5 from one’s [redacted], that depends more upon political expediency, than Science.

          @RussellH are you sure it wasn’t Boris himself?

        • RussellH says:

          12 May12 May 20:01

          Cat,

          No, it was not Boris
          He would have only 2 yrs old at the time.
          🙂

      • Doug M says:

        12 May12 May 08:57

        Nice one Callum, spot on.

      • Josh says:

        12 May12 May 09:50

        It’s rather difficult to order additional stockpiles of PPE when there are long lag times between order and receipt…or when your orders are confiscated by other governments.

        If only all the NHS procurement managers did an adequate job…

        • mark2 says:

          12 May12 May 11:11

          Exactly; why do people blame the government? It is NHS management who are to blame.

        • J says:

          12 May12 May 11:31

          Yes blame the NHS which has endured a decade of under investment by the Tories…

      • AJA says:

        12 May12 May 11:38

        Callum on the whole I agree with you but I do think the majority of the population are far too willing to abdicate responsibility for their own actions.

        Regardless of the government’s p*ss poor reactions and subsequent decisions we all could see what was happening in China and then Italy, Spain and France but far too many still went about our daily lives with the attitude of many that this was a “pussycat” virus and the thought that it won’t affect us.

        Look how many people went to the Cheltenham Festival or football matches in March and then on the first weekend of lockdown how many went to Snowdonia national park and how many went sunbathing in Clapham Common.

        I do not excuse the government for its actions but I do also acknowledge that we individually have a responsibility to ensure that our own families are safe and protected as much as possible. We did not have to wait to be told to stop going out or to buy PPE for ourselves. Indeed many went panic buying toilet rolls as they collectively sh*t themselves.

        Instead of arguing is it safe to do action A or action B and arguing whether the government got it wrong we could all do our own bit and be alert to the dangers posed by this virus.

        • Rob says:

          12 May12 May 11:56

          Not entirely sure that you can compare inviting half of Madrid to Liverpool or letting 250,000 go to a race meeting to the minimal risk of sunbathing on Clapham Common or hiking in Snowdonia (the latter two are now officially OK and the former was always unofficially OK based on my regular visits to the heavily policed Hyde Park).

          You only have 2 options now:

          * spending the next 5 years indoors. And look what happened when Julian Assange tried that …. (forget the bit about fathering 2 kids)
          * get on with your life and if you die, you die (but you probably won’t, unless you’re high risk)

          …. with the caveat that if everyone does the first one, you’ll find there is literally nothing left when you emerge in 5 years.

        • AJA says:

          12 May12 May 13:01

          Rob I wasn’t comparing the football or Cheltenham attendance to sunbathing on Clapham Common or hiking in Snowdonia or whether it was officially ok or not. I was saying that seeing what Italy, Spain and France were going through logically it wasn’t the most sensible idea to go mingling with thousands of complete strangers at sporting events even though at that point it was’t official guidance not to.

          Also the moment the lockdown was announced thousands decided not to stay indoors as advised and instead went sunbathing in relatively close proximity to strangers or turned up in their thousands to go hiking in Snowdonia i.e they did the complete opposite of the guidance but now complain that the UK has the highest death toll in Europe.

          I agree with the options we have now but again we just need to be sensible about it all – we don’t all need to be spoonfed by the government, and many do understand the government’s latest slogan despite the media trying to tell us how confused is the message.

        • davvero says:

          12 May12 May 13:25

          Hiking in Snowdonia is still not permitted unless you happen to live next to it. Only England has the new rules

        • Anna says:

          12 May12 May 13:27

          According to the Welsh First Minister, it’s not ok to go hiking in Snowdonia!

        • Cat says:

          12 May12 May 15:53

          As HfPs most enthusiastic hiker, I think I should probably point out that hiking is not the best idea right now, unless it’s on an entirely gateless or fenceless path. People tend to put their hands in exactly the same places when going over stiles and opening gates, and the virus can survive for surprisingly long on those surfaces.

          Plus, now is not the time to be calling out mountain rescue if you get into difficulties on Snowdon.

      • happeemonkee says:

        12 May12 May 16:32

        What a fantastic post Callum

    • davvero says:

      12 May12 May 13:18

      Have a look at Corbyn’s tweets before the lockdown started. He was already giving advice at this point and he was right

  • The Lord says:

    12 May12 May 09:32

    I would rate the response as fine. Nothing exceptional and nothing catastrophic. Would the outcome be any different under Tony, Gord, Dave or Theresa? Probably not, maybe slightly better, maybe slightly worse. The machine of government and the scale of the NHS mean that being nimble and quick to respond are not traits that either offer unfortunately. In terms of messaging it has been pretty clear from day 1 to whatever day we are on now what is expected of me and my household and we will continue to adhere to that. Testing has improved massively, yes they fudged the figures on the 100k but they must have laughed at the ‘outrage’ that caused on twitter from the doubters and conspiracy theorists. One thing I have noticed is that things arent half as bad when you turn off the 24 hours channels and the twitter.

    My 2 cents anyway, stay safe all.

    • Rob says:

      12 May12 May 09:40

      You’ve read the bit about the NHS ‘we wrote our own because the rest of the world is rubbish’ contact app not working on iPhones or Google Pixel phones due to the inbuilt privacy locks?

      • The Lord says:

        12 May12 May 09:46

        I hadnt read that, my understanding was that it worked on all iOS phones after iOS11 and all Android after version 8. There was an issue with older Huawei phones but that is because they dont have access to the Google Play store.

        • Jek says:

          12 May12 May 12:21

          You are refering to the supported OS. The soon-to-be-abandoned app could never work because apps are not allowed to listen and broadcast via bluetooth in the background for longer period of times (that’s the simple version, it is actually a little bit more complicated).

          I wonder why they even testing it on the Isle of Wight when the physical limitations are clear? The developers (who very likely know that it cannot work) probably agreed to it as the only way to demonstrate to the politicians (who want a centralised system so that they can sell the data) that it does not work.

      • Charlieface says:

        12 May12 May 10:55

        This is the same NHS that have been told to stop sending private medical details by fax and send them by email instead!

        • RussellH says:

          12 May12 May 11:17

          Nothing about traing people to use secure e-mail, presumably!
          Personally, I have been really surprised at the demise of fax. Comparatively idiot-proof compared with e-mail. Much more secure.And potentially much quicker to produce.
          Only real downside is cost.

    • The Lord says:

      12 May12 May 09:46

      They would have been up in arms even if the govt had said they had conducted 99,999 tests

    • J says:

      12 May12 May 11:16

      I don’t have a problem with missing the testing target everyday. I do have a problem with the response being “but we’re going to do hundreds of thousands of tests a day”, with very little evidence of improvements being made. Own up to your shortfalls and work to fix them, don’t just double down on the empty rhetoric. Things any other PM would have done differently: Turn up to work, read the memos, listen to the experts, and not spend weeks shying away from a crisis to plan a baby/engagement announcement.

    • Lady London says:

      12 May12 May 11:41

      Good point @The Lord. I havent agreed with you all the tume previously but you are spot in, on this.

      I keep in touch and obey all that’s required but I switch off most newsfeeds most of tge time. Todays press and media, especially social media, seems only to go for clickbait and to do that by winding people up. The effect of this is to reduce people’s space for rational thought and adherence to requirements so that measures can work which is what is needed here.

      • Mike says:

        12 May12 May 13:41

        Its been shown that the more news you consume the less happy you are. Turn off the misery-merchants.

        The media have made this crisis much worse, trying to be a student politics level opposition, turning every question into a “gotcha” or demanding “apologies” from ministers. Not surprising that the press currently rank only slightly above China in the public perception at the moment.

        Yes, the government have cocked up a number of things (the NHS app, announcing PPE flights from Turkey that were nver likely to arrive, listening to Prof Ferguson…) but as an example, today’s obsession over the “confusion” in the current guidelines is entirely media manufactured. You cannot have a “stay at home” message when it is now the time to go to work. But you still need to maintain social distancing.

  • WellDoneYou says:

    13 May13 May 12:14

    I stopped navigating the craggy grammar and syntax a couple of malformed thoughts in, Chris, but “herd mentality” was the best ironic malapropism I’ve seen to date and gave me a laugh, so well done you.

• Green Plastic says:

  12 May12 May 07:05

  Morning gang.

  I qualified for my companion voucher on my BAPP and just rung Amex to downgrade to the free blue card. Tried doing it via the chat feature on the Amex app but it told me I needed to ring the number on the back of my card. Did that and the representative told me I had to go online and apply for the Blue card, at which point it will automatically process it as a downgrade.

  He also mentioned that my companion voucher will be downgraded so its validity will only be 12 months, rather than the 2.5 years it is at present (although he only thought it was 24 months).

  Is this right? If not, should I apply online for the downgrade? Or better to ring back later and hope for a different person on the phone…

  Thanks all

  • Genghis says:

    12 May12 May 07:17

    Nonsense.

    Why do you even want to downgrade to the BA Blue card? To use the 241 you just need an Amex, any Amex. Are you eligible for a bonus on the Platinum card? Or a year’s free use of Amex Gold – albeit no bonus – with its convertible points, 1 MR has more value than 1 avios). Do you have a partner to refer?

    If you still want the BA Blue card, just downgrade on the website.

    • Green Plastic says:

      12 May12 May 07:47

      I want to downgrade to the Blue card so I can get the pro-rata refund for the BAPP fee on the couple of months left on my membership year. I don’t need another companion voucher at this time so don’t need to hold onto the BAPP.

      Already used the Gold for the bonus last year, so I have another 12 months to wait before I re-apply to get the sign-up bonus again

      • Green Plastic says:

        12 May12 May 07:49

        Should have added, also not eligible for the Platinum sign-up bonus for the same reason (need to wait another 12 months)

        Already up to speed with referrals for my wife too!

      • Genghis says:

        12 May12 May 07:55

        Fair enough. You’ll get the prorata refund even if you cancel.

        “Already used the Gold for the bonus last year, so I have another 12 months to wait before I re-apply to get the sign-up bonus again”
        Note that to get a sign up on Gold you need to not hold or have held any personal Amex in the past 24 months. I.e. by holding a BAPP and then a BA Blue, you’re not eligible. But you will be eligible for the Platinum card 24 months after not having held an MR earning card (i.e. your previous Gold).

        • Green Plastic says:

          12 May12 May 08:29

          Sh*t, I thought it was 24 months from holding a MR-points-generating card.

          Might need to re-think my card strategy! Thanks for the heads up

        • Rob says:

          12 May12 May 09:02

          No, that’s Platinum.

        • Green Plastic says:

          12 May12 May 09:05

          I’ve lost track of this now, sorry Rob – what’s Platinum?! 🙂

      • The Streets says:

        12 May12 May 07:56

        You don’t need to downgrade to get a pro rata refund – just ask them to send it back to your current account?

    • Spk says:

      12 May12 May 07:54

      Does getting a blue card reset the one year timeline? If yes, OP can keep spending on blue card and then upgrade to BAPP when he’s close to 10k? Or does he have to wait until the anniversary of the original BAPP to start spending?

      • Genghis says:

        12 May12 May 07:57

        Ugrading and downgrading does not affect the 241 collection year.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        12 May12 May 07:58

        Wait until the original anniversary.

        A few referrals from a partner etc could be better than waiting two years for a good or plat sign up bonus too.

        I’d just get referred to a gold if you partner has a Gold or BAPP and bank 9k points.

  • Yuff says:

    12 May12 May 07:20

    If you already have your voucher the expiry date is already set. Once issued Amex can’t do anything with it.

    • Secret Squirrel says:

      12 May12 May 07:26

      There should be a warning on the back of each Amex card, “Dont believe what Amex CS tell you”.😅

      • Spursdebs says:

        12 May12 May 07:42

        On a positive note, I had fraudulent charge on my gold charge card last week ,phoned Amex up got straight through all sorted out charge removed and new card arrived next day. Can’t fault that service .

        • Polly says:

          12 May12 May 10:28

          Same here, a few from Brazil on ours….but sorted immediately.

  • Rusty says:

    12 May12 May 11:48

    In the same boat, does downgrading to blue online/via phone result in a hard search on credit file?

• Dezbez says:

  12 May12 May 08:02

  Has anyone had any interesting/decent Amex offers of late? (apart from the various retention offers.)
  All I’ve currently got are three wine merchants (M, Dave & Avery – how do they know!?), a mattress company and a jeweller. Just before the crisis I had 40+

  • The Streets says:

    12 May12 May 08:42

    It’s a great time to get a new mattress as the mattress company Amex offer are also throwing in a free iPad as well as further cash back from from the cash back websites

    • AJA says:

      12 May12 May 13:12

      Are you sure it’s an actual iPad and not just an eye-pad?

    • Anna says:

      12 May12 May 13:39

      I need to have a look at that, we need 2 new mattresses!

  • Spk says:

    12 May12 May 08:54

    Usual retailers waiting for things to turn normal. Marketing spend is the first to be cut. Online retailers don’t have to spend on marketing now.

• Anna says:

  12 May12 May 08:43

  Michael O’Leary on the BBC saying Ryanair will have all aircraft seats on sale because families need to sit together! That’ll still need paying extra for, though, I’m assuming? 🙄

  • Dezbez says:

    12 May12 May 08:50

    For sure. He’ll be seeing there is some kind of opportunity in this. He might finally even be able to start charging for use of the toilet.

    • Anna says:

      12 May12 May 09:45

      He could sell the toilet as an “isolation cubicle”.

      • Anna says:

        12 May12 May 09:46

        Or “social distancing pod”. I really think I might be onto something here, can I patent this? 😂

    • RussellH says:

      12 May12 May 11:22

      Not so far. But you will have to put your hand up and ask “Please miss, may I be excused?”
      [No smiley as this is more or less what IS going to happen, apparently.]

    • Lady London says:

      12 May12 May 11:57

      could have a ‘priority charge’ for the toilet?

      • AJA says:

        12 May12 May 13:11

        Will it be a “euro”nate or “100p to pee” fee?

        • ankomonkey says:

          12 May12 May 17:01

          🙂

  • Rum says:

    12 May12 May 09:18

    This from the man that once considered charging passengers to use the toilet (and was only really stopped by the authorities). Quite frankly, I worry what this nut case will come up with next.

    • Simon says:

      12 May12 May 09:57

      Apparently queuing for the toilet is to be banned, and you have to ask permission?

      Have no idea how that will be enforced…. unless seatbelt sign is on all flight, no food is sold and the FA escorts people to and from the loo.

      • Josh says:

        12 May12 May 10:13

        And there’s always someone who seems to spend 15 minutes in there. Why they don’t just take in a copy of The Times and be done with it.

        • Anna says:

          12 May12 May 10:25

          You wouldn’t be able to spread your arms out wide enough to read the Times, maybe a tabloid at a push.

        • Genghis says:

          12 May12 May 10:42

          Lol. The Times has been printed in compact (same as Tabloid) for about 15 years.

        • Doommonger says:

          12 May12 May 11:00

          Alternatively, one could soil oneself, that would ensure a high degree of social distancing I would imagine.

        • Anna says:

          12 May12 May 13:44

          I’ve never seen the tabloid sized Times, they don’t seem to sell it round here.

      • Rum says:

        12 May12 May 10:33

        Gosh I just saw this. O’Leary is shocking in his approach to how he treats paying customers. I wouldn’t be seen dead flying Ryanair.

      • Lady London says:

        12 May12 May 11:49

        So will i have to take a number and wait till my number is displayed before i can leave my seat to be reach the loo on Ryanair?

        • Anna says:

          12 May12 May 13:42

          There will probably be an option when you book, for an extra £7.99 you get a pass to the front of the loo queue.

    • J says:

      12 May12 May 10:58

      As far as I’m aware, charging for the toilet was never a plan – after all, part of their business model is based on selling a can of lager for £5. But everytime they mention the idea they get coverage in every newspaper and bookings go up.

    • Chrisasaurus says:

      12 May12 May 17:48

      Minor point of order but that actually didn’t happen.

• Michael C says:

  12 May12 May 08:51

  So with the whole temperature-testing thingy (which I do understand), what happens if you’re found to be “hot” at the airport? You (and your family) simply lose all the flights with no refund option, I guess?

  (As an aside, during the swine flu year, I would cross into Morocco 4-5 times a week, and basically they had what was like a metal detector but for temperatures that lit up green or red…but only for non-Moroccans!).

• Spk says:

  12 May12 May 08:51

  Once again the comments section gets hijacked by political opinions! 🤦‍♂️

  • Trevor says:

    12 May12 May 09:06

    Well the description for this thread is…..

    “The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind.”

    Seems to be OK then. You don’t have to participate, just scroll on. Cheers!

  • Josh says:

    12 May12 May 09:45

    I know… It’s getting worse than Twitter on here 😂

• berneslai says:

  12 May12 May 08:59

  How long before the 20k “platinum retention” points from Amex are credited. My points balance hasn’t changed in 48 hours.

  • jojou7 says:

    12 May12 May 09:20

    And just on this, is there a “clawback period” for these points? I’m thinking of ringing them up to see if they can offer me this bonus but will still look to cancel in a month or two if possible. Would I be somehow charged for them?

    The only thing stopping me from doing so is a (misguided?) notion that because the insurance that comes with Plat predates Covid-19, I’m better off than taking out a new policy somewhere afterwards which has a million caveats? Or am I completely wrong?

    • Rob says:

      12 May12 May 09:43

      No clawback.

      Plat insurance doesn’t actually cover coronavirus at all but Amex is paying out as a goodwill gesture. Whether this is good or bad news if you cancel and reapply is a different question.

      • GeorgeJ says:

        12 May12 May 10:31

        Rob,
        I think the ex gratia inclusion is for cancellation and disruption and this was an ABI collective decision (which they may be regretting). Platinum cancellation and disruption cover is basically for things which happen to you and your co insured (illness, redundancy, jury service etc) not the action of government in preventing travel or the failure of suppliers to honour bookings..
        Medical was always covered and continues to be (you could only change a new policy to exclude Covid 19 or give notice and as yet they havent done so). In reality they wont have many claims on this aspect as few are travelling. I am only keeping my policy in place because I have bookings later in the year and I want the cover just in case i dont get redress from the suppliers when they are eventually cancelled.

  • Andrew says:

    12 May12 May 10:25

    My points were in my account by the time the call had ended with the agent.

    • berneslai says:

      12 May12 May 10:48

      Still nothing in my account but have been given a timescale of “3 working days”

      • Lady London says:

        12 May12 May 12:09

        i think these differing times for points to be credited and other things may be because people working at home now had different levels of access to systems and data that have not been able to be changed by their emlloyers to faciitate access to data or to perform some tasks remotely.

        So if the person that happens to pick up your call from home always had some kind of higher levrl access or was previously enabled to be avle to work remotely then points credit ir whatever can happen immediately. But if your call was picked up by someone who was not previously enabled for access to all systems then it seems most employers havent been enabling people since lockdown and so all the person you speak to can do is put your request into a queue to be processsed offline by someoe else. with all the risks that that entails.

        So working out when to HUACA to hopefully get someone tgat is enanledto do the thing you need working from their home, is even more useful now.

• Sandgrounder says:

  12 May12 May 09:29

  I am concerned my metal Platinum card has developed a slight bend (maximum deflection probably less than 1mm) and doesn’t quite sit flush on a level surface. I think this could the most ‘first world’ of any problem I have ever had.

  • Andrew says:

    12 May12 May 09:34

    Put it in your wallet the other way round and let your generous bottom flatten it out again.

    • Sandgrounder says:

      12 May12 May 09:56

      My bottom is even firmer than usual due to my lockdown exercise regime, but I shall consider your proposal.

      On a more useful point, I just called our friends on the South coast and was given 15k points to retain my Plat.

  • Andrew says:

    12 May12 May 10:24

    You can request a new card using the ‘damaged card’ request function on line.

    • Sandgrounder says:

      12 May12 May 10:40

      It’s ok, I think I will live with it. I’ve bent it back a little bit and it’s almost there, I will keep working on it. Another serious point though, you shouldn’t keep your wallet in your back pocket, it’s not safe.

    • Will says:

      12 May12 May 10:46

      Perhaps the first Platinum ‘Curve’d card? a lot more use now too…

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