The new HFP chat thread – Tuesday 9th June

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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.

By default, HFP shows the last page of comments under the article. If you want to see the first page of comments and read them all from beginning to end in order, click here: https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2020/06/09/the-new-hfp-chat-thread-tuesday-9th-june/comment-page-1. The page will refresh with this article but the comments will now show the first page and not the last page.

We will continue to monitor how this is working. Let’s see how it goes. Take care!

Category

General

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

MD says:

9 Jun9 June 10:29

Interesting to see that Qatar offer, Connor. Shame it’s only economy flights. Turkish Airlines are now offering healthcare workers a much more interesting 40% discount code on all economy and business flights, booked by 01/08/20, for travel until 31/05/21. Pretty great deal IMO, although I don’t have time to search for deals at the moment to confirm. Need to apply for a code with ID proof of status.
Anna says:

9 Jun9 June 10:33

I’ve been offered an antigen AND antibody test as part of a long term health study I am involved in through my old job by Imperial College London. Very pleased now that I didn’t pay for a private test! It will be very interesting to get the results, although unfortunately the earliest appointment slot is 4 weeks away.
- Darren says:
  
  9 Jun9 June 12:34
  
  Is this aN antibody stick test or blood test?
  - Anna says:
    
    9 Jun9 June 13:24
    
    It’s 2 blood tests, I have to do a pinprick one myself then go for a follow up one where they take blood from a vein. Also throat and nose swabs for the virus.
- Charlieface says:
  
  9 Jun9 June 13:54
  
  Let’s hope their antibody/gen tests are better than their C++ coding abilities…
fivebobbill says:

9 Jun9 June 10:48

Rob ran a Qatar “win a flight” promo for NHS staff about a month ago, the missus tried to fill it out but she had an IT issue and it didn’t go through.
This morning she received an email from Qatar…

“Dear Mrs *****,
Thank you for participating in our appreciation initiative for healthcare professionals. As we know you had tried to register, we are pleased to offer you a unique promo code for 50% off on Economy Class tickets for yourself and up to three companions, so you can still experience a well-deserved vacation.

Use the promo code ********** by 15 June 2020 to book on qatarairways.com for travel between 23 June and 10 December 2020*. You will also receive 20% off at Qatar Duty Free outlets at our state-of-the-art hub, Hamad International Airport.*
- Rhys says:
  
  9 Jun9 June 10:51
  
  You’re the second person to mention this today so it looks like it has gone out to all applicants. I imagine that’s a lot of people….excellent offer if it’s genuinely 50% off the normal price and not an inflated post-covid cost!
  - fivebobbill says:
    
    9 Jun9 June 10:54
    
    Sorry Rhys, didn’t spot Connors post above…
    - Rhys says:
      
      9 Jun9 June 11:03
      
      Not a problem, just shows that it is a widespread offer, rather than a targetted one!
  - MD says:
    
    9 Jun9 June 11:05
    
    I just got the Qatar one too. Turkish one is better if, like me, you wouldn’t dream of flying long haul in economy. 😉
    - Rhys says:
      
      9 Jun9 June 11:12
      
      Also extends into 2021 which is helpful!
  - Rob says:
    
    9 Jun9 June 11:13
    
    50% off base fare, almost certainly, which on an economy flight can be peanuts from the UK.
Rk says:

9 Jun9 June 10:53

Has anyone purchased GC’s with the Selfridges spend £250 receive £50 credit and received the £50 Amex credit?
- Andrew says:
  
  9 Jun9 June 11:00
  
  It won’t work as the gift cards are sold by a third party, the sale of a gift card from the Selfridges website directs you to another site so it won’t trigger.
  - Charlieface says:
    
    9 Jun9 June 13:54
    
    Should work in store when they eventually open
    - The Streets says:
      
      9 Jun9 June 14:44
      
      Offer says online only? Wonder if they are able to tell the difference
Genghis says:

9 Jun9 June 10:53

Hong Kong government takes stake in Cathay Pacific
https://www.ft.com/content/b46beade-50dc-4d70-ac49-cf10670cf97e
Stanley says:

9 Jun9 June 11:20

Anyone had any joy moving Avios RFS flights with no £35 fee…. trying to move August flights, booked in April. All fine, except wants to charge me £140 to move the 4 outbound flights by 1 day??

The BA site says – “For bookings made from 3 March until 31 July 2020 on journeys that are due to have been completed by 31 December 2020, go to Manage My Booking to change your dates.
We’ve waived our change booking fee so you will not be charged, although you will need to pay any difference in fare.”
- Rhys says:
  
  9 Jun9 June 11:24
  
  Try calling – reports are that the lines are now fairly responsive again, so you shouldn’t have to wait too long.
  - Stanley says:
    
    9 Jun9 June 11:38
    
    Yep was about to. Just wanted to check i hadn’t misread their clear Ts and Cs !!
- Nick Burch says:
  
  9 Jun9 June 13:27
  
  Try calling, if needed, call multiple times!
  
  We had a 2-4-1 long-haul flight in August cancelled. Rang up to rebook for around Christmas, was told they’d have to ask for an exception from revenue management as no avios seats available, and ring back in a few days. Rang back, explained, agent said “I don’t know why they said that, we were the ones who cancelled!”. Ticket promptly re-issued for Christmas, and 35k avios refunded as we’d booked peak days both ways originally, and the new return date we wanted was off peak 🙂
Tom C says:

9 Jun9 June 11:30

Fair play to BA. They cancelled my flights for July on Friday, rang Sunday, got through no issues, avios refunded immediately, then the cash came back today.
EvilDoctorK says:

9 Jun9 June 11:43

Revolut email this morning showing some fees increasing … looks like mostly ( marginal ) bad news .. probably not that big a deal for most people but in case you hadn’t seen it main points are

– £1k/month max free forex transactions ( on weekdays) unless you pay for Premium/Metal
– Weekend margin markup goes from 0.5% to 1% on major currencies
– Fees for some cross border/currency transfers being imposed
- Don says:
  
  9 Jun9 June 13:19
  
  Nikolay is obviously feeling the squeeze. Churn your cards and dump.
  - Rob says:
    
    9 Jun9 June 14:04
    
    Seems a bit shortsighted.
    
    There was a really interesting table I saw on LinkedIn last week which counted the number of clicks required to open a bank account online. Out of 20 or so, Revolut won with, I think, 23 clicks. First Direct was last with roughly 140 clicks, which just shows how HSBC has messed this brand up in recent years.
    - Harry T says:
      
      9 Jun9 June 14:31
      
      That is interesting. First Direct customer service is still great but I find their IT cumbersome.
    - Optimus Prime says:
      
      9 Jun9 June 14:37
      
      HSBC is a pain in the a$$. I switched an old account last winter to get their bonus and it was the only bank that asked me to phone them up to set up my internet banking.
      - John says:
        
        9 Jun9 June 15:33
        
        Try Coventry Buliding Society.
        
        You get a password in the post which you need to register for internet banking. This password expires in 7 days, so not usable since RM has been slow due to postmen isolating or off sick recently. If the password is expired, you can write a new password and post it back to them, and they supposedly send the form through a scanner so the person opening the envelope doesn’t know who it’s for.
        
        This didn’t work and eventually I found the link to request a new password in the post.
        
        As I said, this password is solely to register for internet banking, then never used again. Once you have done this they send you a username in the post. The username can’t be changed. In another envelope, but arriving on the same day from the same place, is a password. In a third envelope is an analogue “security key” – a list of 50 numbers of which they ask you to enter 3 when you log in. This can’t be changed. You can change the password after logging in.
      - Rob says:
        
        9 Jun9 June 15:44
        
        I had one of those! Luckily the recent chop in their interest rates meant I could happily say goodbye to Coventry.
      - Optimus Prime says:
        
        9 Jun9 June 16:54
        
        @John – seriously? Can’t believe the regulators allow them to get away with that bull$hit. Passwords via post, what can possibly go wrong?
    - John says:
      
      9 Jun9 June 15:38
      
      You can’t open Revolut with any number of clicks unless you have an Android emulator.
      
      I prefer to be able to see 20 transactions at a time on my 60cm x 30cm screen rather than 3 at a time on my 7cm by 15cm screen.
      
      Revolut wanted me to take a photo of my passport and my face. Admittedly First Direct made me go to a local solicitor and pay them £5 to say they saw my passport, but no other bank (I have accounts with about 10 banks) has requested my ID when opening an account.