The HfP chat thread – Saturday 12th September

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• John says:

  12 Sep12 September 02:34

  Anyone paid Brighton with curve linked to capital on tap?
  If so, were any fees charged?
  Thanks in advance for any responses.

  • Chas says:

    12 Sep12 September 08:18

    CoT don’t let the transaction go through.

• ee says:

  12 Sep12 September 08:05

  Just a heads up the site went down just before 8am with a 502/server not available error. Seems back to normal now though!

  • Rob says:

    12 Sep12 September 09:27

    Thanks. Was having a rare sleep in then!

• Henry says:

  12 Sep12 September 08:22

  Hi all, a friend applied for a new Bapp card but forgot to use the referral link I gave him from my account. He didn’t actually fully submit the application as he realized his mistake so stopped the application just before submission, when he tried to track back and find the referral link submission box to enter my link the site won’t let him open a new application and the only option is to finish the one he started which has no referral link applied.
  Does anyone have experience of dealing with this?
  Thank you

  • memesweeper says:

    12 Sep12 September 08:40

    Try Incognito mode in chrome

    • Andrew says:

      12 Sep12 September 11:24

      Tell him to delete cookies and then try

  • Anna says:

    12 Sep12 September 08:41

    Send him a new link and start from scratch?

• memesweeper says:

  12 Sep12 September 08:42

  Morning from the ‘escape’ lounge at STN. Surprised to find it open to be honest, food offering is both greatly improved and still terrible. Don’t waste a penny here, eat upstairs would be my advice. If you have free entry and you’re not hungry then it’s a quiet spot, but the main departure area is hardly heaving at the moment anyway.

  • Lady London says:

    12 Sep12 September 10:10

    miserly drinks policy too along the lines of that miserable Aspire Lounge in LHR T5

    Bad enough having to use STN airport anyway. Enjoy being able to see the floor between people in Stansted for once.

    • Lady London says:

      12 Sep12 September 10:11

      where are you off to @memesweeper? did you decide to take the risk of a family holiday?

      • memesweeper says:

        12 Sep12 September 10:33

        Just a domestic day trip — managed two foreign getaways last month though 🙂

• Wollhouse says:

  12 Sep12 September 08:51

  Re curvé (again)… the saga is never ending…so, a new card was reissued. They’ve sent me a commercial one rather than personal (no idea why, didn’t request this). As I managed to get it to load my IHG card, I’m just going with it…so, I’ve been able to use my physical curve card. But…how on earth do you pay a cc using the app? I’m wondering if I’ve got an issue (surprise!) because I would guess that I should be able to tap on the underlying card in the app and make a payment?? Nothing happens. If that’s not how you make a cc payment within the app, can someone advise HOW you do this? The reason I think there’s something amiss is that when I try to turn fronted on, I get an error message…ditto accessing the app’s help area, sending a message…I’ve deleted and reloaded the app, restarted my phone and retried over the last few days so not related if the IT issue above was curve rather than CoT. I am asking myself if it’s worth all the bother:( am I being VERY dense or is my app playing up?? Thanks

  • Genghis says:

    12 Sep12 September 09:02

    User error! Nothing to do with the curve app. Use your curve card on card co’s app / website.

    • Genghis says:

      12 Sep12 September 09:03

      And if your card co doesn’t take debit card payments, eg HSBC, it’s no use.

      • Wollhouse says:

        12 Sep12 September 09:14

        Thanks Genghis. I do want the ability to turn fronted on or off though! Wasn’t sure if Payment was possible within the app and as every button I hit is giving me a “something went wrong” message inc turning fronted on/off, I was just checking. At least I can stop looking for that functionality;)

        • Genghis says:

          12 Sep12 September 09:18

          To turn fronted on / off, click on Account at bottom left, Profile at top right and it’s an option there. No idea if non-iPhone app is different.

        • Genghis says:

          12 Sep12 September 09:20

          Ignore me. You’ve already tried. Assuming phone software and app software up to date, I’d contact curve.

• O/T cos Nobitz [AOC] says:

  12 Sep12 September 08:58

  O/T Hi all, any recommendations for children’s pocket money cards? For a ten year old. Any that can earn Avios (he’s in the BA household account, obvs) or other miles/hotel points?

  • Rob says:

    12 Sep12 September 09:25

    GoHenry is very good – we use it. No miles though! I think there is a £10 referral bonus.

  • James says:

    12 Sep12 September 09:38

    I use Nimbl. Can top up using Curve no advanced fees from what I see. Think this is cheaper than GoHenry.

  • Harry T says:

    12 Sep12 September 14:04

    Could always use a Revolut card in your name? You could load it from a points earning card, though hard to attain Avios this way.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      12 Sep12 September 19:15

      Rev allow child accounts now but not sure if it’s completely free

      • Brian W says:

        12 Sep12 September 20:15

        It is free, I got my 12 year old one. Can’t fault it, when she spends it sends me a notification and all the controls for her card or within my Revolut App. Very impressed.

        • Paul says:

          12 Sep12 September 23:14

          +1

• Fola says:

  12 Sep12 September 09:30

  I am planning to book a trip (with my wife and nearly 2 years old son by then ) to New York for May 2021 with a BA 2 4 1 voucher.I also have a Virgin Atlantic 2 4 1 voucher( I my correct in thinking that with the new rule,I can book an Upper class with Virgin air miles get the second seat free but pay taxes for both seats regardless of my membership tier?- I am in Red Tier).

  With the BA 2 4 1 voucher,I don’t currently own any Amex card, which other way can I use to pay for the taxes? I have heard someone said you can use Amex gift voucher/card but not sure.

  Any idea which one I should go for: VA Upper Class,BA Club World or BA First Class.

  I am leaning towards the BA First Class experience but not sure if it’s worth the Avios required or if there will a much significant difference.

  Also, any tip on the best aircraft with the nicest seat layout for VA and BA.

  • Anna says:

    12 Sep12 September 09:39

    I can confirm F to JFK is a very pleasant experience with BA, we did this last May and were through immigration and waiting for our taxi 15 minutes after landing which was extremely novel! I wouldn’t bother with F coming back, it’s a very short flight and you may as well save some avios. We are booked to fly out in F again next Easter (fingers x’d) but this is in no small part because I found out this year what a huge advantage it is to have access to You First if anything goes wrong. I don’t know what Virgin’s CS is like at the moment but I would thoroughly recommend BA F for that reason.

    • Anna says:

      12 Sep12 September 09:41

      I’ve never heard from of anyone paying the taxes/fees with an Amex gift card so can’t comment, but you will need some kind of Amex payment method for a 241 booking.

    • Aston100 says:

      12 Sep12 September 09:50

      Anna, is the first experience different from club world, after the plane has landed at a foreign country?

      • Andrew says:

        12 Sep12 September 11:29

        No, except you get off the plane first, usually, if the crew hold back lower cabin passengers (Virgin are much better at doing this than BA). I would say that the JFK Concorde room is really excellent – much more exclusive than the LHR one and the food is very high quality, so I do like to fly back from JFK in First. (And you can use the Concorde Room for breakfast in arrivals, or indeed in departures if you’re connecting onwards.

      • Nick_C says:

        12 Sep12 September 13:16

        “is the first experience different from club world, after the plane has landed at a foreign country?”

        Depends on the foreign country. At Tokyo Narita, First passengers got invitations to use the VIP Immigration channel, which was very fast (they opened up specially for us) and felt a bit special.

  • Nick_C says:

    12 Sep12 September 13:22

    I wouldn’t bother with F on an overnight from JFK to LHR. As Anna says, the flight is too short. You just need a flat bed to grab whatever sleep you can. But I would recommend taking the daytime flight East. Leaves JFK about 8am and gets to LHR about 7pm. You need an extra night in NYC or at JFK, but the day flight really minimises the jet lag. You get home tired and go straight to bed, and with any luck your body clock will be back on UK time the next day.

    The other advantage of F is you don’t pay for seat reservations (not that you really need them on Club Suite anyway).

    • Anna says:

      12 Sep12 September 14:33

      I’d live to do this but if flying BA it would mean we’d miss the last connection to MAN!

      • Anna says:

        12 Sep12 September 14:34

        *love – it’s not that important lol.

  • Dominic Barrington says:

    12 Sep12 September 15:22

    As a US resident, I’d just say that even planning to visit in May maybe optimistic – note the great Dr Fauci’s remarks only yesterday. If you can wait to book, I would certainly wait to see who wins in November…

  • James says:

    12 Sep12 September 19:33

    For BA First, I’d try to get one of the B787s with that cabin as it has the most up to date seating, lighting and IFE. If that’s not possible I’d look for an A380, though they may not be in use currently?

    For Virgin UC look for the new A350s. They’re the only ones with the new UC suites.

    • Fola says:

      12 Sep12 September 22:10

      I have checked on Google flights, I don’t think the 787s series go to JFK. I have only seen the 777s on the different dates I have chosen. I think some of the 777s got refurbished, just don’t know which ones

  • Fola says:

    12 Sep12 September 22:07

    Thanks all for the suggestions, very useful I thought that May may be optimistic but we have to go during school hols and before the little boy turns 2.

• The Original Nick says:

  12 Sep12 September 09:31

  Advice needed please. I’m due to fly to France in 3 weeks. As the government are advising on not travelling to France at the moment I thought I’d try and get a FTV from Ryanair. They’ve told me on live chat that all Ryanair bookings are non- refundable and for cash and as the flight isn’t disrupted I can’t have a FTV either. What’s my next step?

  • SteveSlow says:

    12 Sep12 September 09:37

    Could potentially try your travel insurance given the government advice, but otherwise if the flight is still running you’ll not be entitled to any refund

  • SteveSlow says:

    12 Sep12 September 09:38

    Although depending on when you booked, Ryanair are waiving change fees, so you may be able to move it and just pay the fare difference

    • Anna says:

      12 Sep12 September 09:43

      Do you know which dates this applies to? I’m in a similar position, booked flights in Jan for travel next month & Ryanair want £140 just to change the flights.

      • SteveSlow says:

        12 Sep12 September 13:14

        Just bookings after 10th June unfortunately:
        https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-info/no-change-fee

    • The Original Nick says:

      12 Sep12 September 09:45

      Thanks.

      • Harry T says:

        12 Sep12 September 10:32

        I’ve had similar situations. Sadly, Ryanair doesn’t offer vouchers for when you don’t want to travel, unlike BA. It is worth checking if you can change without a change fee though – this can be done a certain amount of time advance (screwed myself over due to that recently). Your only other recourse is to claim on travel insurance. Basically, I agree with the above!

        • Anna says:

          12 Sep12 September 14:40

          I would probably go if it was just me but my son needs to go back to school & I don’t want him missing 2 weeks due to quarantine! I’ve done a dummy change on the flights – it just says I have paid £146 when I actually paid £200, and that there will be the £140 change fee. I may need to try the web chat to get to the bottom of it. It also looks suspiciously like the “new” fare they quote might be higher than if you’re making a completely new booking!

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