The new HFP chat thread – Tuesday 14th July

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

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/2020/07/14/the-new-hfp-chat-thread-tuesday-14th-july/comment-page-1. The page will refresh with this article but the comments will now show the first page and not the last page.

Old chat threads are hidden from the HFP home page. If you want to look for something in an old thread, click here. This brings up all the articles in our ‘General’ category which includes the chat threads.

Category

General

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

A-A-Ron says:

14 Jul14 July 12:15

Just had a letter come through the post from my John Lewis Partnership Card….seems they are massively devaluing the point earning rate! Is dropping from 0.50% to 0.25% for spend outside of JL/WR. This is only slightly offset by improvement to 1.25% from 1.0% for spend within JL/WR. I must have missed this news announcement – unless this is the first people have heard about it??Extremely gutted as 0.5% was I think the best you could get among the non-travel reward cards. Will need to find an alternative card to play with…
Aaron says:

14 Jul14 July 12:33

Just had a letter come through the post from my John Lewis Partnership Card….seems they are massively devaluing the point earning rate! Is dropping from 0.50% to 0.25% for spend outside of JL/WR. This is only slightly offset by improvement to 1.25% from 1.0% for spend within JL/WR. I must have missed this news announcement – unless this is the first people have heard about it??Extremely gutted as 0.5% was I think the best you could get among the non-travel reward cards. Will need to find an alternative card to play with…
- Waddle says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 12:56
  
  Santander All-In-One earns 0.5% on all purchases although has a £3/month fee
  - guesswho2000 says:
    
    14 Jul14 July 14:52
    
    Pretty poor, have to spend £1,200/m to break even, less than that and the 0.25% wins.
    - guesswho2000 says:
      
      14 Jul14 July 14:55
      
      Break even vs the 0.25% that is of course, £600/m is the break even vs nothing at all.
- Rob says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 12:57
  
  First I’ve heard about it.
  
  Ironically JL sent an email to its rewards card holders last week offering a £25 voucher if you signed up!
  
  Not surprising, of course, given the interchange rules.
- Aaron says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 13:01
  
  Effective from September apparently
- lumma says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 21:39
  
  Even the derided Aqua reward card has disappeared to new customers. IHG free card looking like the highest earning free card that can actually be applied for these days
Harry T says:

14 Jul14 July 13:12

Another data point for extra Marriott Elite Nights – I received my 13 elite night credits for being Bonvoy Gold last year yesterday, as did my gf (earned through Platinum Amex). Should be fairly easy to make Bonvoy Plat with my 15 extra nights from the Amex too.
- meta says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 15:11
  
  When do we get the next lot of elite nights from Bonvoy Amex card? On card anniversary date? Because I got 15 in March, so it would mean that if I get another 15 by year end that would get me to 43 nights.
  - Harry T says:
    
    14 Jul14 July 16:17
    
    I think it’s meant to be at the start of each calendar year, moving forward.
Ron says:

14 Jul14 July 13:28

Hello, we have a trip in early Aug from T5, we are planning to get to Heathrow the night before, as the flight is at 9am. T4 Premier Inn is cheaper than T5 Premier Inn, I’ve stayed at the one at T4 before and it’s good enough for what we need. Is the one at T5 worth the extra costs (almost double)? Thanks.
- Venturelog says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 15:23
  
  I think Heathrow has a free zone for buses which stop outside some of the hotels. If you pick the right hotel you should be able to get a free transfer. We may book the Hilton Garden Inn (Hatton) and use the bus to get to Terminal 5
- Lady London says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 18:51
  
  Didnt @RussellH utter the immortal words
  
  “Any hotel at Heathrow with T5 in the name is probably in Slough”.
  
  I think something like this is the case for this one.
  Im pretty sure from a quality point of view you would take the T4 one based on reports IIRC.
James says:

14 Jul14 July 14:04

Has anyone had issues with Curve increasing their limit. Got a Blue card and only given £10,000. If I were to rinse this into ERNIE would this pose an issue?
- the_real_a says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 14:44
  
  You need varied spend patterns. They know MS when they see it and will just refuse to up your limits.
Vit says:

14 Jul14 July 14:47

Rob et al, can I still pay someone through paypal (using amex)? I am just looking for the cheapest to pay someone using credit card (~£2k) and at the same time get some MR points.

https://headforpoints.com/2016/07/04/boosting-your-amex-spend-by-using-paypal-for-online-shopping-3/#:~:text=And%20PayPal%20DOES%20let%20you,your%20card%20details%20when%20paying.

Many thanks for any advices.
- guesswho2000 says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 14:57
  
  In theory yes, but you’ll pay a chunky fee and PayPal are trigger happy on AML checks, so there’s always a risk you’ll have your account frozen (unlikely for a one-off, but still something to be aware of)
- Rob says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 15:42
  
  Yes. No fees now on card payments. You’ll be shut down if you do it more than once or twice though.
  - Vit says:
    
    14 Jul14 July 16:29
    
    Thanks Rob. Not gonna be more than once. This is just a one off payment for a small personal purchase.
rahaney says:

14 Jul14 July 15:02

Does the Amex Platinum Car Hire Excess Insurance only apply when booked on the Plat? Or any Amex MR cards?
Cheers
- Dave says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 15:34
  
  I don’t think it matters how it was booked (amex or not)
  - Rob says:
    
    14 Jul14 July 15:41
    
    Doesn’t matter.
- Travel Strong says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 16:49
  
  Not insurance related, but Hertz amex plat benefit related:
  
  I regularly book rentals using the platinum CPD and make most of the amex plat hr grace period (e.g. prebook 5 days and 4 hours, for the price of 5 days)
  
  This always worked. fine when handing over amex plat at the counter.
  
  But the one time I used another card (to try and avoid the 3% forex fee) the system added on a charge for the 4 hours excess upon vehicle return. The desk agent grudgingly waived it but would not entertain that it was allowed under the amex platinum CPD. Lesson learnt! Swallow the 3% fee and use platinum for an easy life!
  nce did not get my 4hr grace period on la
  - Travel Strong says:
    
    14 Jul14 July 16:50
    
    Ignore last line of above comment. Its leftovers from the cutting room floor.
Darren says:

14 Jul14 July 16:07

@Harry T

NCL to BCN flights in August have gone, nothing until Sept.
- Harry T says:
  
  14 Jul14 July 16:11
  
  @Darren
  Thanks, saw that in the calendar. Have you heard anything official about cancellation yet? I want them to cancel my flights so I can change them to another set of flights for free.
  - Darren says:
    
    14 Jul14 July 17:25
    
    Nothing as yet, I’ll let you know when I get anything
    - Harry T says:
      
      14 Jul14 July 19:50
      
      Might be worth checking the app – my flights were booked for 6th to 9th August and the booking has just shown this evening that the flights are cancelled. They are apparently informing customers three weeks out. Good news is you can change to any flights in their European network for free, to the end of their calendar.