The new HfP chat thread – Friday 21st August

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We have decided to run this new daily chat thread on Head for Points during the coronavirus outbreak.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the de facto repository for random comments and questions. With the news flow being lighter, we are running fewer ‘Bits’ articles.

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 at home, 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 it 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/2020/08/21/the-new-hfp-chat-thread-friday-21st-august/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.

Michael C says:

21 Aug21 August 08:40

To get the bonus MRs purchasing from Apple, do I need to go through a BA link, or will the fact that I use a BAPP simply trigger it?

Thanks!
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  21 Aug21 August 09:05
  
  If this is miles back through their portal you must use the link.
- Kazim says:
  
  21 Aug21 August 11:50
  
  The bonus MRs get applied automatically a few days after the card is charged- it is worth double dipping and going through BA gate 365. However, make sure your card us charged in time- I bought an iMac a few weeks ago and it went through fine- I have just purchased another one and it won’t be delivered until mid-September and the card has not been charged yet so I am not expecting any bonus points on that transaction.
HM says:

21 Aug21 August 08:56

*Think this got lost downthread yesterday so will try again*

Hi Rob,

I have about 150k Skywards miles of which ~30k expire on 31/08. Unsurprisingly, I am not going to be making any EK redemptions before then so I am seeking to try and liberate the miles before they expire.

Am I right in thinking that my best option is to transfer them to Heathrow Rewards now and then convert them later to a £300 voucher when I have a chunky purchase in mind?

Also, will I be transferring the expiring miles – i.e. the remainder will live on until their respective expiry dates?

Thanks, HM.
- Genghis says:
  
  21 Aug21 August 10:09
  
  1) 30k EK miles -> 10k HR points = £100 voucher.
  2) I’d imagine FIFO but not sure.
  - HM says:
    
    21 Aug21 August 10:25
    
    Ah I didn’t realise that they were at different rates 🙁 3:1 EK->HR but 1:1 HR->EK
    
    Still, better than them going to waste – cheers Genghis!
    - Genghis says:
      
      21 Aug21 August 12:57
      
      I have some that I’ll need to use up. Will top up from Amex and go to see Arsenal probably.
HM says:

21 Aug21 August 08:57

*Apologies for the duplicate – it said I had already posted so had to rephrase! 🙂
Gillydee says:

21 Aug21 August 09:04

Does anyone know how the Qatar future travel voucher works? We were flying ARN -DOH-SGN and paid in Kronas. Will the FTV be denominated in Krona, or will some kind of currency conversion be applied – at point of issue or redemption?
- Jon Martin says:
  
  21 Aug21 August 19:33
  
  I paid a fare in Krona. My travel vouchher shows the fare amount in Krone but then the refund amount (with 10% added) in Qatari Reals.
Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

21 Aug21 August 09:22

I had an email this morning from Melia offering me 5000 points for completing a survey. They are seeking input on new benefits to add to the program.
- Rob says:
  
  21 Aug21 August 10:29
  
  I got that too. Easy 1500 Avios (if you can convert them, never certain with Melia).
  - sloth says:
    
    21 Aug21 August 11:35
    
    I’m more hoping they will extend my points expiry…
    - Andrew M says:
      
      21 Aug21 August 12:07
      
      Welcome to the HFP team, Sloth 🙂
      - Andrew M says:
        
        21 Aug21 August 12:09
        
        Oh, I see I’m working for Rob now as well! Looks like a glitch.
      - Peter K says:
        
        21 Aug21 August 13:30
        
        Oooh, can join as well?
- AndyGWP says:
  
  21 Aug21 August 22:47
  
  Thanks. I’d not realised and “filed” that email!
Diydegsy says:

21 Aug21 August 09:29

I had a 3 night stay booked at the Intercontinental Bucharest and had to cancel due to covid but I am still waiting on my refund from them. I was told I had to wait until they were opened and now I’ve had an email saying they don’t have the money to refund me as they can’t afford it yet and can I wait a while longer? Anyone else had this?
- AJA says:
  
  21 Aug21 August 10:07
  
  That sounds like grounds for a s75 claim on your credit card as long as the cost was more than £100 which I think it would be. Forward the email from the hotel saying they can’t afford to pay you. They dont appear to be disputing you are due a refund. The credit card company is jointly liable.
- Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
  
  21 Aug21 August 10:21
  
  If you don’t need the cash urgently, I’d be tempted to try and leverage it into VIP treatment on your next stay (e.g. suite upgrade, free club access etc.)
  - Chrisasaurus says:
    
    21 Aug21 August 10:24
    
    The email suggests the hotel is insolvent, I wouldn’t pin hopes on vip treatment, or any treatment, in the future…
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      21 Aug21 August 11:31
      
      I think it’s fair to say the whole travel industry is hurting. Cash flow will be poor even if they aren’t technically insolvent.
      
      Looks like they are using delay tactics to keep some cash a little be longer, not like the biggest companies havent been doing it
- Lady London says:
  
  21 Aug21 August 12:18
  
  Thank you for letting us know. I will bet that hotel is still taking bookings currently. It’s one I would have considered. Will hold off now.
adw says:

21 Aug21 August 09:29

Anybody else been getting emails from Delta confirming refunds for complete strangers? I had a couple in June so included a comment in my complaint to air france/klm (who handle delta’s ‘customer service’ in Europe), they replied saying how seriously they take data protection etc etc and would pass it on to the relevant dept! Just had another one! All for domestic USA travellers! I’ve had my refunds now but just wondered if anyone else was getting these random emails? Unfortunately (!) I haven’t been getting any refunds for them as well, just the last 4 of their credit card and the customer booking ref – which I would have thought was serious enough!
- AJA says:
  
  21 Aug21 August 18:27
  
  That sounds like a GDPR breach. You have enough information to access the booking using the booking reference and customer name. It might be worth seeing if you can actually access the booking, I think I would report them to the ICO on the basis that you are worried that your name and booking reference is likely to have been shared with other complete strangers in the same way.
  - ADW says:
    
    21 Aug21 August 20:22
    
    Good point – hadn’t thought of it that way!
Doug M says:

21 Aug21 August 09:30

I know you covered it in last couple of days, but I miss the recent comments links. I think without that any comments on older things or further upthread are just lost.
I guess over time you’ll see statistics on whether the commenting declines.
- Crafty says:
  
  21 Aug21 August 09:40
  
  It certainly tips the usability balance in favour of people who use this site for news versus those who use this site for discussion. I am the latter, and seem to be finding myself spending less time on it already.
  - Genghis says:
    
    21 Aug21 August 10:12
    
    +1 With the recent comments links, I was able to see where the latest discussion was. Now I’d have to wade through all comments again, which is tedious, and means I’m spending less time on the site.
    - Rob says:
      
      21 Aug21 August 10:28
      
      Noted.
      
      We can add this back into article pages. It is phyically impossible to add it back to the home page as you can see from the new layout. For boring technical reasons we can’t do it in 30 seconds – it will require some coding so may take a couple of weeks.
  - AJA says:
    
    21 Aug21 August 10:19
    
    +1 from me as well. Agree with all 3 of the comments above.
- Harry T says:
  
  21 Aug21 August 12:52
  
  Agree with Doug M!
  - Neil says:
    
    21 Aug21 August 15:49
    
    I find the new site very difficult to read on the eyes! Scrolling from page to page on the comments automatically reverts you back to the top of the page which is also annoying. Will ping over an email if it helps
    - Rhys says:
      
      21 Aug21 August 15:52
      
      This should be fixed now!
      - Lady London says:
        
        21 Aug21 August 16:17
        
        not fixed yet on my Android
      - AJA says:
        
        21 Aug21 August 18:37
        
        Hi Rhys – still not fixed on Chrome browser on desktop. Scrolling through the comments from one page to another takes me back to the top of the article. I just noticed there is a link telling you how many comments are on the article at the top and that automatically scrolls down to the comments but it is frustrating.