The new HFP chat thread – Friday 7th August

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• Mycity says:

  7 Aug7 August 12:10

  Trying to get through to Virgin to make a booking just seem on hold all the time, anyone any hints etc?
  Thanks

• EDA says:

  7 Aug7 August 12:14

  Just triggered my BA 241 voucher. Where can I see this in my BA account?

  • Anna says:

    7 Aug7 August 12:23

    It usually appears on your main account page (not in the app though) shortly after being issued by Amex. It takes between 24 hours and a week to show up IME.

  • Rob says:

    7 Aug7 August 13:49

    It shows very clearly, either under My Vouchers or simply on the Avios booking page, where you will see a tick-box to confirm whether you do or do not want to use a voucher for this booking.

• Anna says:

  7 Aug7 August 12:15

  Rob, perhaps you could reach out to the former King Juan Carlos of Spain and ask him to do a “My Favourite Hotel” review? The ex-monarch left Europe in a hurry last week after it emerged he is being investigated for financial irregularities and was rumoured to be in the Dominican Republic, but he is now reported to be staying in a £10k per night suite in the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. It doesn’t clarify if he staying as a “guest” of the Emirates, or whether he gets club lounge access with that!

  • Anna says:

    7 Aug7 August 12:21

    To put this in perspective, this is like the late Queen Mother being rumbled stashing millions of pounds in the Swiss bank account of a European toy boy lover, then fleeing the country when the Swiss authorities announce that they are investigating her and holing up in a luxury hotel in a jurisdiction with no extradition treaty with the UK 😯

    • Lady London says:

      7 Aug7 August 12:26

      Didnt the Dutch Royal Family have a similar issue?

      • Doug M says:

        7 Aug7 August 13:00

        Certainly years ago, mid 70s?, one of them was involved in accepting money from Lockheed to buy a certain military jet.

    • Nick_C says:

      7 Aug7 August 12:53

      At least he hasn’t been (allegedly) sleeping with 15 year olds.

      • Brian says:

        7 Aug7 August 13:58

        😂

    • Nick_C says:

      7 Aug7 August 12:54

      I think the only thing the Queen Mum ever stashed away was Gin and Dubonnet.

    • Paul says:

      7 Aug7 August 15:57

      If only the misdemeanours of our own royal family were just financial corruption or dalliances with mistresses.

      • bazza says:

        7 Aug7 August 16:19

        Sounds interesting…

        Do tell more?

        • Anna says:

          7 Aug7 August 16:23

          Indeed, I’m no royalist but ours are a pretty straight-laced lot on the whole (or extremely discreet!).

        • Bazza says:

          7 Aug7 August 17:56

          I about as anti royal as it gets. It’s what got me interested. Some insider knowledge?

          Or just megan and harry?

  • Paul74 says:

    7 Aug7 August 16:26

    🙂

  • J says:

    7 Aug7 August 21:55

    I remember my primary school Spanish teacher getting a ticking off from the headmaster for telling us stories about “Juan Car”.

• GillyDee says:

  7 Aug7 August 12:29

  Data point: applied online to renew passport on 22nd July, posted old passport on 23rd July, received new passport today. Result!

  • Lady London says:

    7 Aug7 August 12:45

    Anyone got any feedback on how long driving licences are taking to renew online?

    • Fred S says:

      7 Aug7 August 13:14

      Got mine (standard 10 year photocard renewal) turned around in 4 days last week

    • Chas says:

      7 Aug7 August 18:20

      I had mine in my hand within c3 or 4 days a couple of weeks ago. My previous licence had expired end May, but reminders aren’t being sent out at the moment. I only found out when I had my licence rejected as a proof of ID….. Although it turns out that licence expiry dates have been extended by 6 months currently, so it shouldn’t have been.

  • Anna says:

    7 Aug7 August 13:09

    I had to do my son’s renewal by post that same week and had a similar turn around time.

    • Lady London says:

      7 Aug7 August 15:14

      Tx to both.

• Renaud says:

  7 Aug7 August 12:31

  Hi, on the subject of Belgium being put on the quarantine list, assuming (and this is a big assumption right now) that France stays off the list, could travellers on the Lille to London Eurostar be affected?
  I’m booked LON-LIL-LON 14/07 to 24/07.
  DfT says “Eurostar passengers travelling from Amsterdam to London will need to self-isolate, as the journey involves a change of trains in Brussels.” But people boarding in Lille will get on a train half-full of people coming from Belgium, so I’m wondering if they will factor that in..
  Of course that’s subject to Eurostar maintaining the London-Brussels service anyway.

  • Anna says:

    7 Aug7 August 13:12

    They were saying on the BBC this morning that people will have to quarantine even if they’ve only driven through Belgium en route to catch a ferry so presumably it will apply to Eurostar pax as well. I can’t see France staying off the “list” much longer though. (Unless they drop any claim to fishing rights maybe 🤪)

  • AJA says:

    7 Aug7 August 13:21

    Interesting conundrum. I think that you will have to self isolate unless they put you in separate carriages. I’d be worried about any cleaning of the carriage before you get on. Do you know if anyone else could sit in your seat between Brussels and Lille and then get off?. I think the self isolation issue will apply anyway given the spike in infections in France..

    • Renaud says:

      7 Aug7 August 14:18

      Good question about separate carriages. I did a return trip 2 weeks ago and didn’t pay attention if my carriage was empty, but that was before they put Belgium back on quarantine. All I know is that they limit the seats they offer to maintain space between passengers.
      I’m now mostly concerned about Eurostar keeping their trains running at all. Demand for Brussels is likely to drop, and they won’t maintain just the Lille destination (they had only reopened it 3 weeks ago…).

  • ChrisC says:

    7 Aug7 August 19:57

    Oh that really is ridiculous. I’m supposed to be returning from AMS on 1st September

    I’ll be in Midi for less than an hour after changing off the Thalys and will be fully masked!

• Keely says:

  7 Aug7 August 12:37

  Morning anybody have any recommendations for travel insurance for existing conditions ? We have insurance with our bank account but even though we’ve been with them for 20 years they won’t cover cancer (did point out it wasn’t existing when we took out this account but they weren’t having it..) .Thanks

  • Lady London says:

    7 Aug7 August 12:47

    Staysure are rumoured as being OK provided you give them full disclosure.

    • Keely says:

      7 Aug7 August 12:50

      Thanks LL I’ll check them out

    • Sunguy says:

      7 Aug7 August 14:20

      Staysure can be rather expensive – Ive found that it really pays to look at specific cancer related policies….

      What Ive found with staysure is that they will happily cover you for something that is not related to specific conditions – but once you add that coverage in, it can be *seriously* expensive…..

  • Anna says:

    7 Aug7 August 13:16

    I hope whoever’s affected makes a full recovery, Keely. Unless the exemption appears on your policy I would lodge a complaint about bank as well.

  • Sukes says:

    7 Aug7 August 14:12

    My mother has complex medical needs albeit not cancer so I’ve become a bit of a pro unfortunately at sifting annually through insurance quotes. Vast majority of medical screening will be done through a computerised system with same qs which you answer online or by phone. It seems 95pc of insurers use Verisk computer system, the remainder tend to use Protectif (v detailed questions including medication prescriptions) or Tamis. You may find that ‘computer says no’ simply because you have a risk profile that the insurer is not targeting selling to. You may instead need a tailored individual phone assessment. I’d start with Insure Cancer then Clear2Go and Treat U Fair. Then I’d look at Avanti and Insure&Go, both of whom I’ve used for my mother in recent yrs. Her cover with them has been under their ‘normal’ products with her conditions declared and has been at times less than half the price quoted by the ‘specialist’ firms such as AllClear, StaySure, Good to Go for almost identical cover. Few tips: i) if insurer won’t cover you for annual they may still give you a quote for single trips; ii) if you get a quote check who the underwriter is (it will be in the policy doc and usually at bottom of website) and google to see if you can find a similar but cheaper policy underwritten by them from another insurer; iii) if you’re really stuck contact your local broker to see if they can find you an individual specialist policy; Iv) if you’re eligible make sure you travel with EHIC card. I doubt you can complain to your bank – generally there is always a requirement to tell your insurer of any health change, as you have done, and the insurer usually has the option to no longer provide cover and repay premia if appropriate. Gd luck & happy travels

• Benilyn says:

  7 Aug7 August 12:39

  Ernie & Curve Blue (free), are there fronting charges via IHG/VA?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    7 Aug7 August 16:13

    Not yet but unless you have fronted on it won’t go through

    • Travel Strong says:

      7 Aug7 August 23:16

      Since when? I have fronted off and always works.

  • BJ says:

    7 Aug7 August 16:15

    None with HH about 6 last night.

    • Simon says:

      7 Aug7 August 17:30

      What about with M&M Diners, gents?

      I had been dining out (couldn’t resist :)) with the 8999 situation, and so far so good, i.e. no Diners cash advance fee or interest. But, with rumours on here yesterday of the 8999 now being toast, then I’m wondering whether any further Curve/M&M to Ernie transactions might start attracting fees? Any thoughts?

      • Ash says:

        7 Aug7 August 17:42

        This is fine.

        • Simon says:

          7 Aug7 August 20:29

          Many thanks, Ash. 😉

• AndyGWP says:

  7 Aug7 August 12:47

  Re: Virgin flights

  Just had confirmation that our flights to Cuba in October are cancelled (no surprise)

  These were never officially operating (according to the last press release – they were covered by “additional flights they were hoping to bring back on board”), so they hadn’t been cancelled, but hadn’t been not-cancelled

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