The new HFP chat thread – Wednesday 22nd July

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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.

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Category

General

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

YC says:

22 Jul22 July 12:59

Anyone tried the Wine Flyer dozen “premium” wine bottles? 12 bottles for £70 and 2,000 avios as a new customer
- Sina says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 13:18
  
  I have, it’s been about a month and no points, yet!?
  - Nick_C says:
    
    22 Jul22 July 14:28
    
    Email them. Laithwaites normally credit within a week.
- JohnNI says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 16:06
  
  I spoke to BA wine flyer today and she told me it is 31 days.
George K says:

22 Jul22 July 13:18

In light of the UK government portal advising insurance for EU travel (in anticipation of the death of EHIC for Brits), would anyone know if the insurance that comes with Amex Plat is good enough for plain vanilla cover? (no pre-existing conditions, under 75, etc..)

All the best
- Rob says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 13:51
  
  Yes, should be fine. I’ll be relying on it.
  - Luckyjim says:
    
    22 Jul22 July 14:51
    
    Have Amex said whether Covid_related incidents are still covered for newly booked trips?
- Anna says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 18:56
  
  When I get my Spanish passport will I be able to get another EHIC card?
  - Sukes says:
    
    22 Jul22 July 22:50
    
    EHIC is not based on citizenship but ‘insurability under EU law’ which roughly speaking means being a resident of (in your scenario) Spain.
Rash says:

22 Jul22 July 13:18

Hi, I had to cancel a Hilton Paris CDG reservation last week and was told on the phone I’d be refunded.
The hotel have now contacted me saying they’re offering a voucher instead as per government regulations. As I’m unlikely to ever use the voucher and I paid by Amex, is there anything I can do to force the refund? I’m Hilton Diamond.
- Anna says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 18:54
  
  Have you already posted about this a couple of times? I think if you’ve cancelled and the hotel is actually open you’re stuck with the voucher, unless the original Ts & Cs of the booking say otherwise. Though depending on when you booked, you might be able to cite the Hilton Covid cancellation policy.
  - Rash says:
    
    22 Jul22 July 19:04
    
    Thanks, and this is my first post on this as I was only told today…
Owain says:

22 Jul22 July 13:37

I’ve just received another flight cancellation notification (along with many others, given how long I’ve been on hold to get a refund).

It really does sum up everything about BA’s IT that they manage to put an out of date contact number in the email.
- Lady London says:
  
  23 Jul23 July 22:32
  
  wait till you start using their website. lots of links you are told to click get ‘page not found’ errors.
Charlie T. says:

22 Jul22 July 13:46

Not sure if this has already been covered (haven’t seen anything to suggest so) but just had a letter through from John Lewis finance – they are halving the earnings rate on theIr MasterCard to 0.25% from Sept. – rate on JL/Waitrose increases to 1.25%. Bit of a blow but it is only ever used for non-Amex and will continue to occupy that space in my wallet
- cinereus says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 14:41
  
  Has been covered. And yeah it’s crap but the Santander card does the same but better in many ways.
- Lady London says:
  
  23 Jul23 July 22:34
  
  you mean, as in the article Rob did on this website covering this 2 or 3 days ago?
Christopher Ingold says:

22 Jul22 July 14:08

Amex offers
Does anyone know if AMEX limits the offers that appear on your cards if you have a negative points balance?
- Chrisasaurus says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 21:31
  
  They limit offers for a number of reasons , that could be one – I haven’t had an offer on any of mine for a year and a half…
Scottydogg says:

22 Jul22 July 15:15

I need 50 avios to an account to make a redemption , i have 137454 and need 137500 so actually 46 avios .
This account is my partners and has no card attached to it at the moment . Anyone have an idea to get some free avios .?
- Rhys says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 15:58
  
  https://headforpoints.com/2019/09/20/get-600-easy-free-avios-when-you-join-rewards-for-thoughts/
  - EwanG says:
    
    22 Jul22 July 16:18
    
    Any other ideas Rhys?
    - Super Secret Stuff says:
      
      22 Jul22 July 17:40
      
      I would go on the online shopping portal that BA run and see if you can get anything through that. Domino’s are on it and pay 1 avios per pound and usually comes through quite quickly!
      - EwanG says:
        
        22 Jul22 July 17:54
        
        Yes, good plan. Some of them will post pretty quickly, but not as quickly as useful suggestions here are deleted by moderation 😉
      - Lady London says:
        
        23 Jul23 July 21:30
        
        For the second time my suggestion of s c r e w f i x diy store via the ba e – s t or e has not appeared or been deleted. Avios from there post almost immediately and they have excellent tracking.
        
        For anyone setting up lists of undesirable words for the purpose of vetting HfP posts S c r e w f i x is a wellknown DIY store that ia owned by the same comlany as B&Q.
Grant H says:

22 Jul22 July 16:01

A friend was just told that he can’t book BA holidays with a BA voucher and was told that BA changed theirs T&Cs in this st 9am today… seems a little unfair to those that accepted a voucher in food faith of using it towards a BA holiday?
- Rhys says:
  
  22 Jul22 July 16:03
  
  Not according to the BA website…. “Can I use my voucher to pay some or all of the balance on an existing holiday booking?
  
  A voucher may only be redeemed towards a new British Airways Holidays booking made once you have received the voucher. Vouchers are not eligible to be used in payment or part-payment towards an existing holiday booking.”
  - Lady London says:
    
    23 Jul23 July 17:46
    
    not really acceptable to make this restriction bt BA. They want to force you to give them new cash. However the reason youve got a voucher is mostly because BA would have legally had to refund your cash in full and promptly without deductions however you took a voucher instead. Whether voluntarily, or involuntary due to the ways BA made sure getting a refund was very, very hard.
    
    So BA’s got a cheek, when technically they still owe you a value, to refuse to offset that value/voucher against any other amount due to be paid to either BA Hols or flights.