The new HFP chat thread – Sunday 17th May

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

• davvero says:

  17 May17 May 03:11

  Gut feeling… should I do a tier point run in January (after my year end on the 8th) and aim to get gold before my card expires on the 28 Feb so I earn 2 years of gold?

  I can afford it and I enjoy flying in general so it’s meant to be a bit of fun. I’m going to drop status this year if I’m not extended.

  So by January do you expect catering to be normal (whether the new normal or the pre-covid normal) or the cut back mess we have now, what about lounges?

  Let’s see what happens

  • memesweeper says:

    17 May17 May 10:26

    I was considering one for November just to retain silver — but there’s no news on what the conditions for flying are going to be in the future. Maybe seat selection as we know it will change. Maybe no lounges. Maybe flying will suck so badly I’ll be avoiding planes altogether. On that basis I’m going to wait and see for some semblance of an idea of what the future looks like before booking discretionary journeys.

  • AJA says:

    17 May17 May 12:59

    My tier earning year ends on 8 Feb so in a similar quandry, though for renewing Silver. I’m just waiting to see if BA extends status, though not holding my breath that they will. As for flying just to retain status I think I won’t be doing that. I will fly again and expect it to be expensive in order to maximise revenue from fewer passengers. I am ok with that but I will expect superior service and extra-clean aircraft in return. I disagree with Rob that BA will cull it’s number of shiny card holders to reduce passenger numbers in their lounges. What I see happening is restricting lounge access to business class passengers only but enhancing benefits for shiny card holders in some other way (eg more bonus Avios) to incentivise people to attain / retain status.

• Ademanuele says:

  17 May17 May 05:42

  How has British Airways behaviour during the pandemic impacted it’s brand and will it affect the airline going forward?

  • memesweeper says:

    17 May17 May 10:27

    Treatment of status holders and staff has been poor, otherwise, in general, compared to other airlines, they’ve been OK IMO.

  • BrightonReader says:

    17 May17 May 12:21

    It’s making me thnk about who I fly with.

    It’s not that other airlines aren’t also making staff redundant it’s the way BA have gone about it that grates with me.

    If I’m going to fly to say AMS to start an ex-EU then I’m now looking at what other airlines are offering price and service wise.

• Oli says:

  17 May17 May 07:02

  Does the Amex Plat insurance work for a one day car rental when not on holidays?

  • davvero says:

    17 May17 May 07:15

    I hope so! I can’t see where it’s excluded and have hired many cars on that basis before.

  • pauldb says:

    17 May17 May 07:40

    Yes – there’s no minimum “trip” definitive for car insurance in home country.

  • Peter K says:

    17 May17 May 08:20

    I’m pretty sure it only covers you when on a “holiday” so a hotel booked at the end or simile would be needed. It does cover the UK but check the t&c in a case like this, or ring, is my advice.

    • Genghis says:

      17 May17 May 08:45

      @pauldb is correct. No requirement for a “trip” for the car insurance clause.

  • the_real_a says:

    17 May17 May 14:31

    “Trip” means a journey outside Your Country of Residence which
    must commence and end in Your Country of Residence, or a
    journey within Your Country of Residence which must include a
    flight, or at least one night of pre-booked accommodation away
    from home. Trip is extended to include any journey within Your
    Country of Residence for Car Rental Benefits (Section 1.5) only”

    There was a case not so long ago where AXA were being pretty difficult about paying up for a home country rental without accommodation. It went to the ombudsman and the claimant won based on the AMEX literature that said you can decline all rental insurance. The T&C`s look clear to me but i dont recall if they were updated after the ombudsman’s case.

• Caroline says:

  17 May17 May 07:20

  Morning all. I took out an IHG credit card and I’m now looking to transfer my points into Avios. Does anyone know how I do this please? Thanks in advance.

  • Genghis says:

    17 May17 May 07:34

    Within your IHG account there should be an option in the ‘Redeem’ section with details but you then need to call. But don’t unless you want a 50% reduction in value. 10k IHG (£40) = 2k avios (£20). There are easier ways to earn avios if that’s what you want!

    • Caroline says:

      17 May17 May 09:53

      Thanks

• Oli says:

  17 May17 May 07:59

  My thinking on the potential 14 days quarantine when entering the UK – this will never happen but it was only announced to avoid people travelling abroad for May half term. Clearly the initiative does not make sense, at least for travel within Europe, as the infestation rate is higher in the UK than most other European countries.

  • Brian says:

    17 May17 May 08:02

    I don’t think governments anywhere have ever considered sense as a factor in their decision making…😀

  • pauldb says:

    17 May17 May 09:09

    As long as a country doesn’t quarantine us, they’ll be quarantine waivers for them by the summer. UK government just doesn’t want to see us be unilaterally labelled the sick man of Europe.

    • J says:

      17 May17 May 10:10

      Bit late for that now. Whatever your opinion of their politics, Boris/Trump are considered a joke and reputation of the UK and USA is at rock bottom.

      • pauldb says:

        17 May17 May 10:39

        Maybe abroad but at home wartime mentality seems to sustain support. Have Labour/Dems gained any ground? And this measure is very much for the home crowd.

        • Rob says:

          17 May17 May 10:45

          I recommend you look at the Guardian / Observer poll today ….

          And do you seriously believe the British public will support a quarantine rule once the EU opens up in a month (and is welcoming British visitors who want to come)?

          It will get FAR worse for the Government once it becomes clear that Europe is up and running.

        • Andrew says:

          17 May17 May 10:52

          And we all know how objective a Guardian poll is going to be to anything a Tory PM says! Lol.

        • Rob says:

          17 May17 May 11:06

          It doesn’t work like that!

        • pauldb says:

          17 May17 May 11:24

          “And do you seriously believe…?”

          No that’s my point: if they let us in without Q we’ll let in and waive Q on Brits’ return. But if they do it saves face.

  • Anna says:

    17 May17 May 09:16

    Why would May half term be an issue when most of the kids are out of school anyway? Previously booked holidays will be off because of FCO advice, like Easter ones were.

    • Anna says:

      17 May17 May 10:53

      It would still be classed as falling outside the current rules relating to travel.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        17 May17 May 11:24

        But they can’t and won’t stop you leaving.

  • Callum says:

    17 May17 May 10:22

    That’s not how transmission works.

    While, on paper, a UK citizen may be more likely to have it than an EU citizen, that doesn’t remotely stop infected people entering and spreading it. It’s not some kind of osmosis where the virus won’t flow against a concentration gradient!

• Louise K says:

  17 May17 May 08:16

  Can you transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to Avios?

  • Peter K says:

    17 May17 May 08:24

    Yes. At a ratio of 3 bonvoy for 1 avios. If you transfer 75k bonvoy you get a bonus 5k avios.

    There is a semi regular bonus for transferring bonvoy to BA however (usually an extra 35% on offer every 9-12 months) so if you don’t need the avios immediately, hold on.

    • Peter K says:

      17 May17 May 08:28

      My apologies, 60k bonvoy get you the 5k bonus avios. A 25% bonus. I’m not sure where 75k came from 😳

• James says:

  17 May17 May 08:25

  So Virgin have cancelled my MAN-LAS reservation in September overnight (no email as yet). Given I’ve used Miles Booster for this flight that no longer exists do I automatically get refunded for the booster or do they just add the miles anyway?

  • Mart says:

    17 May17 May 09:01

    I messaged them and they changed our booking to lhr-las ?
    Could be a option at least it gives more thinking time

  • Fraser says:

    17 May17 May 10:39

    I had a flight booked 2 weeks ago which was cancelled, and complicated by being (a) a PE voucher upgrade, and (b) I paid for miles booster.

    End result, the miles booster charge hit my credit card and the miles were credit to my Flying Club account even though the flight was cancelled. As for the flight, they confirmed via WhatsApp chat that I can rebook up to 31st December 2020 for travel until 31st May 2022. The booking remains valid for Premium as long as there is reward seat availability, but if I opted for a refund I would lose the voucher.

• Wally1976 says:

  17 May17 May 08:37

  Data point – Tesco Pet insurance points finally received yesterday for application on 31st March. I did not chase them.

  • Baji Nahid says:

    17 May17 May 19:18

    Lucky! my son is still waiting for his.

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