The new HFP chat thread – Friday 26th June

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• The Lord says:

  26 Jun26 June 11:17

  Does anyone have an indication of how long KLM refunds are taking to process?

  • BJ says:

    26 Jun26 June 11:59

    Hopefully not very long now, they just got €3.4B from the government.

    • ChrisC says:

      26 Jun26 June 18:36

      Not quite.

      They got €1bn loan from the Dutch Taxpayer plus €2.4b in loan guarentees for commercial loans KLM had already taken out.

      there are other requirements such as salary cuts, reduced night flights and CO2 rwductions

      https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/06/dutch-agree-e3-4bn-loan-and-guarantee-bailout-with-klm/

• meta says:

  26 Jun26 June 11:24

  Really? I have two expired voucher and got them extended. When I called about 10 days ago, there seemed to be two official policies –

  1. voucher is extended three months from date of calling (for non cancelled flights)
  2. voucher is extended till 30 Sep for cancelled flights

  These are all book by dates!

• Simon says:

  26 Jun26 June 11:59

  Morning All, would anyone kindly know an alternative to HL deposits via Curve? I made several HL deposits three weeks ago, then withdrew my first amount 3 days ago… only to find that HL have paid the money back to the underlying card (Virgin) and NOT to my nominated Savings account. Are there other firms like HL which permit Curve deposits AND withdrawals to bank accounts (rather than back to the underlying card) other than NSI? I’m really trying to find a simple bank account without fees which would permit this. I think HL is not going work out for me. 🙁

  • BJ says:

    26 Jun26 June 12:25

    Last I read was that IHG via Curve to NSI was still working ok if kept to a few hundred each time but may have changed. I’ve already given up on Curve, more trouble than it’s worth.

    • Simon says:

      26 Jun26 June 12:34

      Thanks, BJ. I know what you mean: I’ve had issues with Curve from time to time, so I know the frustration, but, strangely perhaps, not so much with NSI, just now with HL, annoyingly. Just trying to find an HL replacement that permits withdrawals to bank a/cs after Curve deps.

      • BJ says:

        26 Jun26 June 15:08

        Those comments had a very short shelf life 🙂

        • Simon says:

          26 Jun26 June 15:49

          Ha! 😉 I’m sanguine about the possibility of a shelf life extension in due course. Or I’m in denial. One or the other.

  • The Urbanite says:

    27 Jun27 June 14:09

    HL have been wise to being used for MS. Even in 3V days they were known to reverse deposits back to the funding card rather than to bank account. Tread carefully!

    • Simon says:

      27 Jun27 June 20:46

      Many thanks, The Urbanite. 😉 I will do as such from now on!

• BJ says:

  26 Jun26 June 12:10

  Anybody here done a sailing holiday with no previous sailing experience? If so, how did it go? I figure it might be a good time to try a sailing holiday for first time given the Covid risks and challenges to travel at the moment.

  • Rhys says:

    26 Jun26 June 12:26

    My aunt and uncle did for many years, with those groups of boats where they teach/organise for you. Offers a safety net.

  • Peggers says:

    26 Jun26 June 12:41

    Hi BJ.
    I have experience of newbie crewing and of friends who have taken a sailing holiday with little/no experience. All out of Western Greece, either Corfu or Preveza areas.
    Good fun etc, but you are in contact with other people every day as you are in a port/harbour overnight and there are flotilla dinners and breakfast briefings every day. If you have little or no knowledge of sailing you obviously have to get basic knowledge quickly, so you may have flotilla staff with you for a while.
    So it is a good way to see a country & you will have time on your own, but at this stage you won’t be on your own for long.
    I’d still recommend it tho. I’m hopefully going over in Sept for my 10th year of (much more experienced) crewing.

  • BJ says:

    26 Jun26 June 15:15

    Thanks folks, quite encouraging but probably a bit more social than I expected. I was thinking Greece in the Autumn if possible then the Andaman Sea at new year if I enjoyed it.

  • Mike says:

    26 Jun26 June 21:30

    A flotilla is better than bareboat charter if you don’t have much experience, you get the backup of a lead crew.

    Check what experience they want. Sailing Holidays used to be more liberal than others in requirements (and are great for service). You will still be around people in the evenings (at restaurants etc) but during the day you are not.

• marcw says:

  26 Jun26 June 12:27

  For all the people that jumped on the Avios seats to Australia. I’m sure BA is happy to keep your cash, or the 35 GBP if you decide to cancel.

  “Prime Minister Scott Morrison signalled that Australia’s borders may remain closed to most international visitors until the middle of next year [2021] as the coronavirus crisis escalates across the world.”

  https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/morrison-signals-australian-borders-may-be-closed-until-mid-2021

  • marcw says:

    26 Jun26 June 12:29

    At this point I’m starting to believe that the Olympics are not going to happen next year.

    • AJA says:

      26 Jun26 June 12:36

      Sadly I agree.

    • ankomonkey says:

      26 Jun26 June 14:27

      This one is probably my final chance of a medal – in the time-wasting, shouting and goofing around triathlon event.

• Waddle says:

  26 Jun26 June 12:33

  My contact at Curve says all Curve cards have been suspended due to Wirecard fallout.

  • Optimus Prime says:

    26 Jun26 June 12:35

    An email has just been sent out.

    • Peter K says:

      26 Jun26 June 21:25

      Wow, a 2 minute warning. What a bonus 😁

  • Waddle says:

    26 Jun26 June 12:38

    …and the email has just been sent out 👍🏼

  • @mkcol says:

    26 Jun26 June 12:50

    I’ve asked when I can expect a refund for my subscription.

    I shan’t hold my breath.

• Andrew says:

  26 Jun26 June 12:45

  RIP Curve Card. Always seemed a rather odd business model.

  • the_real_a says:

    26 Jun26 June 12:49

    They already have their own card processing module working in beta. Give them a week.

    • Rhys says:

      26 Jun26 June 12:52

      In April, they said it should take effect 28th June…..good timing if true

      • Gulz says:

        26 Jun26 June 12:57

        Question is whether they will issue new cards or will the existing card will be up and running again. I am guessing the former.

        • memesweeper says:

          26 Jun26 June 19:11

          They were all planning to keep existing cards active. As their new agreement is direct with MasterCard that ought to be theoretically possible.

  • Roy says:

    26 Jun26 June 13:06

    I successfully used my Curve card (loaded on to Google Pay) to pay in a physical shop just a couple of hours ago.

• Doug M says:

  26 Jun26 June 12:45

  So Curve didn’t have a backup plan.

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