The new HFP chat thread – Sunday 5th July

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• Felix says:

  5 Jul5 July 11:40

  Hi there,

  I ned to transfer some Avios from my Iberia Plus to BA Exec Club account – and have gone from very patiently following the steps, diversions and dead-ends to absolutely tearing my hair out! I’m posting here in the hope someone may help. So far I have:

  • Logged into the Iberia Plus Account and navigated my way to the Buy/Transfer points page but am greeted with a messages that says: “We are sorry to inform you that this service is not available.
  If you have any questions, please consult your service centre.”
  • I’ve then called the service centre…. eventually been told I need to call a different number in Spain.. called that number only to receive a ‘number unavailable’ message (and retried a few times)…. called back and just told to send an email (which i had already done but dont hold out much hope of a reply)
  • I’ve tried the same page in Safari, Chrome and Firefox after seeing some comments on this page – same error message
  • I’ve gone to BAEC Combine My Avios but they are showing a message that says it is unavailable.
  • I’ve then seen some mentions of transferring via Aer Club and registered there… they recognised the name and asked me to log into my Avios account…
  • from the Avios account I get a message that says my password is incorrect (which it wasn’t) and when I click the forgot password I get an email with a link to a page that asks a pre-set security questions – my mother’s maiden name which it correctly recognises and takes me through to the next page to reset my password… but at that point it fails, whatever new password i put it just throws up the message ‘Invalid data. Please verify the data and resubmit. (400)’

  I’m now appealing to the genius hive-mind that is HFP! Has anyone had similar experiences? Has anyone found any workarounds?

  Thanks in advance!

  • marcw says:

    5 Jul5 July 12:43

    Sometimes the service is down. Try again tomorrow.

  • Rob says:

    5 Jul5 July 14:20

    Go to avios.com and try to log with your Aer Lingus details. If that fails, go to vueling.com and open a Vueling Club account and then log in with those details at avios.com.

    Inside avios.com, PULL Avios from Iberia to avios.com and then do a 2nd transaction to PUSH the Avios to BA.

• Munch says:

  5 Jul5 July 11:46

  Anyone tried upgrading a Gold Business Amex card to Business Platinum? Managed to arrange a few referrals so was looking at the upgrade route to keep my points stash and maximise the referrals.

  • memesweeper says:

    5 Jul5 July 12:23

    There’s no published link I’ve ever seen. I’d start with the web chat and see if they have any enticements to offer — and if they do, please report back. I have biz gold.

• Alex M says:

  5 Jul5 July 11:54

  Can anyone please advise if business centre will be functioning in the reopened ba lounges in Lhr as I will need to print out something while in there? Thx!

• onlysuites says:

  5 Jul5 July 12:25

  Anyone know if I can opt for monthly billing on my Amex Business Platinum and still qualify for the £250 refund of the annual fees? My annual fee due to hit at the end of this month.

  Also if you google upgrade to amex platinum you get a link that suggests the following “If you hold The American Express Card or The American Express Gold Card, you can explore a world of benefits when you upgrade to The Platinum Card……Plus, enjoy a welcome bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points when you upgrade to The Platinum Card®, and spend £4,000 in your first six months.”

  That seems to suggest if you hold a Gold card and upgrade you will get 20,000 points No mention of any 6 months or 24 months. Anyone tried this with a Gold Credit card and got the points?

  • Adam says:

    5 Jul5 July 13:11

    It’s either the green or gold charge card -> platinum charge card not the PRG credit card for the offer

  • TGLoyalty says:

    5 Jul5 July 13:26

    Has to be a charge card you upgrade.

• Flying Misfit says:

  5 Jul5 July 13:11

  Continuing in the vein of recent Qantas coverage, there is an easy free 500 frequent flyer points for joining the Aussie BP rewards at the following link:

  https://www.qantas.com/au/en/frequent-flyer/partners/bp.html

• RTS says:

  5 Jul5 July 13:15

  Quick query on curve cash.. i am on Curve Blue – I have chosen the 3 retailers but it has been well over 3 months since I have had the card. Do I still receive Curve Cash if I spend at these retailers?

  • Travel Strong says:

    5 Jul5 July 14:12

    You should be able to see when that expired within the app if you go to the curve cash ‘card’, click the cog, and go to where you select the curve cash retailers

    • Rts says:

      5 Jul5 July 14:57

      Ah thanks.

      Gutted… Expired. Thought curve cash was indefinite for those 3 retailers.

• Travel Strong says:

  5 Jul5 July 14:08

  Any recommendations / experiences with gold as savings? The Royal Mint seems to offer a selection transparent services, but interested in any recommendations.

  • Genghis says:

    5 Jul5 July 14:35

    What is it you’re trying to achieve?

    When I was doing lots of research on sorting out my investments a few years ago, I discounted gold: – counterparty risk of many gold ETN / funds
    – cost of storage of physical gold, and relatively high bid-ask, though no CGT on coins.

    Stick to global equities dampened by global bonds hedged to GBP for long term growth and cash for short term liquidity.

    • Travel Strong says:

      5 Jul5 July 15:22

      Aim is diversification of a portion of savings which would ordinarily be the cash/liquid element.

      Thanks for the considerations. I’m contemplating options, and sounds like you’ve already weighed up these before.

      • Genghis says:

        5 Jul5 July 15:35

        No worries – remember “cash” is all about certainty and having a reliable value – i.e. you know it’s going to be worth £x.

        Gold fluctuates quite heavily so shouldn’t be an alternative to cash.

        Now some argue that gold acts as a diversifier to equities in times of crisis (e.g. Andrew Craig, How to Own the World), whereas lots of other books I’ve read discount Gold: it doesn’t actually earn you anything (i.e. no interest / dividends) and indeed costs you to hold and its value is an artificial construct.

        Who’s actually right, I don’t know.

        My advice, use bonds instead as the “dampener”.

        • Martha says:

          5 Jul5 July 20:17

          Genghis
          Would you consider yourself a property investor? your views on property?

        • Genghis says:

          5 Jul5 July 20:53

          I’m know nothing about property investing. You can make a lot of money on property in the right areas due to the ability to leverage.

          But it’s increased concentration risk – I live in London, my job is in London, my own house is in London. What I don’t need is to increase my concentration in more assets in London. And it needs to be relatively close to properly manage. And the yields in London aren’t great.
          And it’s hardly passive income – work getting tenants in, repairs etc and risk of bad tenants. Some of the work / risk can be outsourced but at increased cost / decreased yield.

        • Lady London says:

          5 Jul5 July 22:33

          Plus for those that invest in property via funds a and other investment vehicles, a number of property funds have been suspended from being traded for several months now. This was done before Covid. As far as I understand it investors are stuck, cant get theie money out. Can happen with real property too.

• Nick_C says:

  5 Jul5 July 14:46

  One for fellow aviation geeks. A Spitfire will be flying over Cambs/Herts/Beds this afternoon to pay tribute to the NHS

  4.20pm – Duxford Airfield
  4.28pm – Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, Welwyn Garden City
  4.33pm – Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, Luton
  4.36pm – Lister Hospital, Stevenage
  4.41pm – Bedford Hospital, Bedford
  4.47pm – Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Huntingdon
  4.53pm – Witchford, near Ely
  4.58pm – Fulbourn Hospital, Cambridge
  5pm – Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge
  5.02pm – Royal Papworth Hospital, Cambridge
  5.10pm – Duxford Airfield

  https://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/news/hertfordshire-news/nhs-birthday-spitfire-flypast-you-4295354.amp

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