The new HFP chat thread – Wednesday 15th 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/2020/07/15/the-new-hfp-chat-thread-wednesday-15th-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.

Craig says:

15 Jul15 July 15:14

Interesting Hilton development: Had a room booked at the end of the month at DoubleTree Harrogate for £75.05 per night. Booked on 5th July. Without doing anything, just received new e-mail confirmation with new rate of £65.67, i.e. the VAT reduction from 20% to 5% has been automatically applied! The original confirmation e-mail does not mention VAT separately so hats off to Hilton for passing this on. They continue to be my favourite hotel brand during COVID-19 by far. Now looking forward to getting similar e-mails about my other upcoming stays!
- Jerrry Butler says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 15:28
  
  yes very interesting, what you do for fun?
  - Lady London says:
    
    15 Jul15 July 19:45
    
    in Harrogate, he does Betty’s Tea Rooms
    - Chris K says:
      
      15 Jul15 July 20:35
      
      Great Wetherspoons in Harrogate too, if you don’t want to queue.
- the_real_a says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 15:38
  
  £16 per night parking charge!
  - Chrisasaurus says:
    
    15 Jul15 July 17:45
    
    It is a nice hotel, though – don’t know what breakfast is like during these times but was always good in days of yore…
- Andrew says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 15:49
  
  Excellent. And I just made a lunch reservation at Harrods and they confirmed the reduced prices too – doubles up with the spend £150, get £30 back on BAPP which appeared today. I would imagine that most companies will be passing on the reduced VAT.
- Roberto says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 21:23
  
  Cheers for this.
  Just checked, then cancelled and rebooked my 3 nights at the Conrad St James and saved me 18000 Hilton Points. Same suite , different price. Thats a cheap free night somewhere else another day. Many thanks….
  - Lafy London says:
    
    16 Jul16 July 12:02
    
    Now *that* was clever of you Roberto.
    I suppose that’s the only advantage in a strictly points-relate-to-money-on-a-conversion-rate-that-is-fixed program like Accor.
    
    Where the link between value of your points and cadh price of the room is less strict, as more likeky with Hilton and IHG, your points rate on an existing booking might not reprice lower in points during this 15% VAT price cut periiod.
    
    But if anyone has any short term bookings with Accor in the UK paid with points, cancelling and rebooking should cost you less points now.
Scottdogg says:

15 Jul15 July 15:32

I know the rule for Booking BA reward flights and using a 2 for 1 voucher , they want you to use the BA american express .
Does the card have to be in that persons name ?
I want to book my partner and 1 of the kids a reward flight using point and a 2 for 1 voucher ( her points her account her 2 for 1 voucher) . I got a new BA card the other day , but forgot to order her supplimentary one . Would they accept mine to book , or will i need to get her Supp card ordered and wait for that to arrive ?
- Michael says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 15:54
  
  Can be in anyone’s name. Doesn’t need to be yours.
  - Grant says:
    
    15 Jul15 July 16:04
    
    And does not necessarily need to be a BA Amex in my experience, any Amex will do, despite what the Amex CS agent will say when you try and cancel the card.
    - Secret Squirrel says:
      
      15 Jul15 July 16:39
      
      Is there a glitch on welcome bonus promos on Amex at the moment.
      Wife’s new BAPP just been awarded 30k points but she held Gold only a month ago?
      - Genghis says:
        
        15 Jul15 July 16:42
        
        Rule for BAPP is not held avios earning card in last 24 months… ie Gold doesn’t matter.
      - Secret Squirrel says:
        
        15 Jul15 July 19:31
        
        Cheers G, I still get confused by those rules.
Anna says:

15 Jul15 July 17:27

Just had a notification for shed loads of F availability to DXB over Xmas/New Year. Not checked with BA because we can’t go. 😫
- Anne says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 17:32
  
  They also released a ton of Club availability in Nov yesterday as well, we upgraded our return leg already booked in WTP as a result. Went from almost no DXB-LHR availability to multiple seats on every flight. Hopefully we’ll get to go!
- J says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 20:01
  
  Dubai? No thanks.
Jeff 99 says:

15 Jul15 July 18:31

Spanish authorities have shut down all shops, bars and restaurants along Magaluf’s notorious Punta Ballena strip in Mallorca, days after images emerged of drunk tourists paying little heed to regulations on wearing masks and social distancing.

The closures, which also extend to two streets known for partying near S’Arenal beach, will take effect immediately and will last at least two months, the regional government said on Wednesday.

“We cannot tolerate the sort of images we have been seeing over the last few days, and we are not going to tolerate it,” said Iago Negueruela, the regional official in charge of economy and tourism for the islands. “We don’t want uncivil tourists on our islands.”
- Amber Lynn says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 18:37
  
  That rules out about 75% of brit tourists to Majorca then!
- Anna says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 22:31
  
  What did they expect?!! I was rather hoping the Brits felt the full force of the law for breaching the social distancing rules to make them realise what an easy time they have of it back home.
  - Anna says:
    
    15 Jul15 July 22:32
    
    A bit mean to punish the shops and bars though.
AndyK says:

15 Jul15 July 20:06

Just got a refund which ended as Curve Cash.
Any advise on how to move this to my bank account?
- MarkH says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 20:54
  
  Same happened to me.
  
  Not sure that you can and couldn’t be bothered wasting too much time finding out so I just used it to pay Brighton (don’t have curve metal btw)
  - Annabel says:
    
    15 Jul15 July 21:52
    
    Me too on curve cash. Is there a charge for payments to Brighton or limited to £500? Thanks
    - Liz says:
      
      15 Jul15 July 22:26
      
      I part paid my AMex bill with £118 of refunds the other day – went through fine.
- Waddle says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 23:22
  
  You can top up Revolut if you have it.
- John says:
  
  16 Jul16 July 05:24
  
  If you read the emails from curve it says you have to wait as they’re still working on it
@mkcol says:

15 Jul15 July 21:51

TLDR
Daniel says:

15 Jul15 July 22:57

Hi – a quick question on BA baggage allowances. Have booked a basic economy fare home from US to London. Now need to add a bag which is fine. What I wondering would I be able to get the baggage benefits of being a gold card holder if I do i.e 32 instead of 23 kg and possibly second bag free. Thanks for any help on this.
- Lady London says:
  
  16 Jul16 July 12:09
  
  No bag free on HBO for anyone. They closed that loophole not long after status pax began exploiting it. Yes for Gold each bag can be 32.
  
  I cant help thinking with the ripoff price if bsggage ftom the USA, you would have done better to book regular, nonHBO fare. That would give you 2 32 with your status.
  
  If you booked within the past 24hrs I would strongly suggest you cancel using your right to do so in that time as you’ve probably just doubled your costs doing it this way.