Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The HfP chat thread – Thursday 17th September

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

We have decided to run this 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.

HFP-Wordmark-Black

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/2020/09/17/the-hfp-chat-thread-thursday-17th-september/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

Comments (202)

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

  • Sam says:
    17 Sep17 September 06:45

    Did anyone else randomly receive 5 issues of the Sunday Times Travel Magazine in one parcel yesterday? I haven’t had any for months, then got direct debited £30 a few weeks ago. HfP then ran the article that the magazine had been cancelled so I got a refund and now received May – Sept 2020 issues yesterday. Wonder what’s going on…

    • Ja says:
      17 Sep17 September 09:35

      Yes I did about 2 weeks ago. I just assumed that they didn’t want to send them out during lockdown

  • BS says:
    17 Sep17 September 07:54

    Any news on when the Barclays Premier Avios offer will start?
    I’m looking to switch from HSBC because of their Hong Kong stance, but ideally want to pocket a few miles whilst doing it!

    • Mark says:
      17 Sep17 September 07:59

      I think Rob said he was chasing Barclays

    • Paul says:
      17 Sep17 September 13:48

      No issues with the Barclays former SA links though?!

      • Doug M says:
        17 Sep17 September 14:08

        It’s difficult to judge companies on their behaviour, you’re left very little choice if you do.

        • Paul says:
          17 Sep17 September 18:19

          It’s called principles – personally I boycott firms like Amazon who pay little or no tax and other firms like Wetherspoons who acted badly during lockdown. Yes inconvenient sometimes and I might have to pay more but I do sleep easier at night.

  • Ikaz says:
    17 Sep17 September 08:09

    Marriott Amex offer: I checked out of the hotel that took me over £200 spend on Monday (3 stays total), payment was pending for a while, but have now received the email and the £50. So it worked for me as cumulative spend

  • mr_jetlag says:
    17 Sep17 September 08:17

    Does anyone know if curve works with HL top ups? Have JISAs to fund this weekend.

  • Amit says:
    17 Sep17 September 08:38

    Amex business Gold: Can this be used to purchase gift cards at Currys/PC World? Sorry, couldn’t find answer on previous threads

    • Rob says:
      17 Sep17 September 09:25

      No. Must be an online purchase and you can’t purchase gift cards online. Well, you can, but they don’t work because they can only be activated in a store!

  • Pierre says:
    17 Sep17 September 08:44

    Accor is launching bonus points too! From the mail I received this morning:
    “Earn 500 bonus Reward points on your first stay, 2500 Reward points on your second stay and 3000 Reward points on your third stay!

    Your Reward points are the key to the world of ALL! Treat yourself to an upgraded stay or use your points to save on your next trip.

    Ready to earn up to 6000 more Reward points? It’s easy:

    – Sign up for the offer now by clicking ‘Register Now’
    – Book your stays of two nights or more before 9 October 2020
    – Stay in participating hotels between 1 September and 15 December 2020”

  • AJA says:
    17 Sep17 September 09:08

    Follow up to my TAP BA status match I paid €99 to join TAP Club basic level on Saturday and today received an email confirming I am now TAP / Star Alliance Gold :-). Not yet showing on the app (which is awful compared to BA’s) but there is a note in the email saying “For technical reasons,the Promotion may take up to 15 days to complete, but we will do everything to get it done as soon as possible.
    You can check at any time if your status is already Promoted through the TAP Air Portugal app”.

    The status will be valid for at least 12 months from date of promotion to Gold.

    I currently have 2200 miles, not sure how many miles you receive per flight nor how many miles you need to redeem for a flight. Not that I am currently going anywhere so it’s a moot point. I do intend to take advantage of the status though.

    • Doc says:
      17 Sep17 September 09:17

      AJA, is the 12 months from when you joined or when you received the email to say you were upgraded to Gold (ie today?).
      I want to do this but probably to start from October so holding off on joining and upgrading till then.

      • AJA says:
        17 Sep17 September 10:07

        I am assuming it’s from today as the email says from date of promotion. If I recall from Rob’s article in Aug his card showed an expiry of Sep 21 which is actually 13 months from date of promotion so I am hoping I will have it until Oct 21. Will report back when I can see the gold card in my profile. So it took exactly 1 month from start to finish given that I applied on 17 Aug.

    • Rob says:
      17 Sep17 September 09:24

      It took about a week for me, after getting that email, to flip to Gold.

  • pinperl says:
    17 Sep17 September 09:35

    Hi everyone,
    Can anyone tell me what millemiglia miles (Alitalia) can be used for besides for flights?
    Any shopping like with miles and more and KLM?

    • Lady London says:
      17 Sep17 September 23:04

      be very careful apparently there is some Italian law that means every x(short number of) years all your Alitalia points get cancelled and you have to start again from zero. Really I am not kidding.

      In Skyteam I think people are collecting Delta.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Learn more on our About page.

VAA

Latest comments

Latest Forum Posts

Get 30,000 points bonus with American Express Platinum

Amex Gold

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.3 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

Get 20,000 bonus points and your first year free with American Express Gold

Amex Gold