The HfP chat thread – Thursday 8th October

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• Optimus Prime says:

  8 Oct8 October 09:29

  https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-easyjet-warns-it-may-need-more-state-funding-12098639

• J says:

  8 Oct8 October 09:48

  In case anyone missed, good news for travel to Finland which is one of the hardest EU countries to enter right now. From 23rd Nov leisure travel possible from all EU (including UK) with a negative result within 72 hours: for stays longer than 72 hours, a second test/quarantine is required – for short stays under 72 hours no such requirement.

• Anna says:

  8 Oct8 October 10:04

  After getting half price avios flights for Easter I booked an Emirates Suite at the IC Abu Dhabi using Ambassador bogof and a further 4 nights in a smaller suite at the (very low) cash rate. Got an email from the hotel today saying they’s put us in the Emirates suite for the whole stay which is obviously good to hear. I’ve read a few reviews saying the hotel is rather tired but the rate is excellent, the suite is ideal for 3 of us and lounge access is obviously a huge benefit which we will take good advantage of! Emyr is currently looking for somewhere for us to spend the other 5 nights.
  I was a bit dismayed to then find out Abu Dhai requires a 14 day quarantine for all arrivals, unlike Dubai (so I’m not sure whether it’s practicable to travel between the two at the moment), let’s hope they move to a testing system by next spring!

  • Anna says:

    8 Oct8 October 10:21

    Might explain why there was plenty of availability to AUH and none to DXB …

  • Harry T says:

    8 Oct8 October 10:32

    Think you need an ankle bracelet in the Emirates too

    • meta says:

      8 Oct8 October 11:01

      @Harry T Only in Abu Dhabi they put the ankle bracelet.

      @Anna you can only stay on the hotel premises and the authorities can put you elsewhere if they deem your accommodation is unsuitable.

      I have booked a backup flight back from Dubai for January as a result. Hoping the quarantine requirements changes as then I can fly back with Etihad. Good news is that Dubai will no longer require departure test if flying back to the UK.

      • meta says:

        8 Oct8 October 11:02

        I should add that you can’t even go from Dubai to Abu Dhabi to take the flight and you can’t leave before 14 days are up either!

• Super Secret Stuff says:

  8 Oct8 October 10:09

  Just got my 5,000 bonus amex reward points for a cheeky threat to cancel my gold card.

  They offered the 5,000 points if I spent £1,000 in the next 3 months. I did it within a month but took a while to post

  • Harry T says:

    8 Oct8 October 10:36

    Thanks, I need to ask for a retention offer too.

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      8 Oct8 October 11:42

      Don’t ask, play dumb and just say you’ve looked at all that the card offers, you’re not traveling at the moment. Not sure if you’ll make the bonus points etc.

      Straight up asking for it, the agent might see straight thru it and call your bluff

      • Sina says:

        8 Oct8 October 12:07

        I was offered 6K MR points yesterday without any spend?!

        • Anna says:

          8 Oct8 October 13:25

          Both of you – was this on web chat or on the phone?

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          9 Oct9 October 14:24

          Probably due to the amount you put thru your card or the timing of your request.

          @Anna it was over the phone. Unfortunately I got the Philippines answer it. Could probably get more if you ring when brighton are on

  • Sina says:

    8 Oct8 October 13:55

    Mine was on the phone.

• Andy says:

  8 Oct8 October 10:15

  I’m new to the UK, is the curve card worth getting?

  • The Urbanite says:

    8 Oct8 October 11:20

    It is a good product. I’d recommend it.

• Nadeshka says:

  8 Oct8 October 10:20

  I know there are a few of us in the comments looking at Japan trips next year, hopefully the recent talk from the Japan govt of opening next April to all tourists comes to something!

  https://www.asiaone.com/lifestyle/japan-looking-reopen-its-borders-foreign-tourists-2021-heres-what-expect-if-you-go

  Allowing myself to get a little excited now that we have moved our flights from March to end April in the sale. Couldn’t push them any further without paying a whole fare for the 2-year old unfortunately.

  • Anna says:

    8 Oct8 October 10:26

    Fingers crossed for you! I’m hoping one of my April holiday bookings will go ahead … actually hoping it’s the AUH one and not US/Caribbean as AUH was half price avios and I would be able to get the cash, avios & 241 back from the latter!

  • Harry T says:

    8 Oct8 October 10:33

    I booked June to give it as long as possible to open up. Maybe not the ideal time to visit, but for 75,000 Avios and £940 for two people… 🙃

    • Jody says:

      8 Oct8 October 10:49

      That’s an amazing price!! My son and girlfriend spent 9 months in Tokyo and I went out to visit them in January. Unfortunately I had mobility issues so didn’t get to do anywhere near as much as I would have liked, but still had a really good time. I really need to get to grips with traveling from different UK airports where you’re not charged as much in fees.

      However, much as I would like to go again, I would probably only visit as part of a cruise holiday. I’m a vegetarian, and really struggled to find food I could eat (if my mobility hadn’t been so bad I guess I could have travelled further afield and it may not have been quite such an issue). I now have to be gluten free as well, so I think the combination would just be too problematic. If there for a few days before or after a cruise I could probably pack just about enough snacks to cope!!

      • Harry T says:

        8 Oct8 October 10:56

        @Jody
        Sorry to hear about the challenges you faced on your previous holidays. I hope you can find an opportunity to enjoy Japan in the future.

        I booked the trip to Japan for half price Avios because of the current promotion. We are departing from Inverness and returning to Newcastle, which saved £350 of taxes and charges. Not too far to Inverness from Newcastle anyway.

    • Lady London says:

      8 Oct8 October 10:54

      going at cherry blossom time does make a worthwhile difference I thought when I accidentally was there then

      • Nadeshka says:

        8 Oct8 October 11:00

        Yes we’re hoping to catch the tail end, maybe by heading North asap if it’s still there. It was the balance of making the trip more likely vs cherry blossom more likely. Our March dates would have been perfect for Tokyo.
        It’s our 4th trip there but first time in spring, and first time with a little one in tow.
        Also got our Conrad Tokyo points booking moved with no trouble so excited to revisit that too!

  • Nick says:

    8 Oct8 October 11:08

    I hope so I am meant to be working at the Olympics!!

  • cinereus says:

    8 Oct8 October 17:00

    Like many I have ANA F flights booking with VS points in March. It’s looking like April is the earliest Japan is going to open up again. Is there any way to avoid paying the £30 cancellation fee so I can rebook later in the year given they probably won’t cancel until nearer the time and I don’t have enough points spare to have two live bookings at once.

• cinereus says:

  8 Oct8 October 10:32

  Just as reactive web design was essential ten years ago, dark mode as an option is essential in 2020. If you don’t add this option to new designs now, you’ll definitely have to add it later. I’m sure your agency mentioned this and probably have the CSS files ready to deploy. Please can you activate it on HfP?

  https://www.noupe.com/design/why-dark-mode-web-designs-are-gaining-popularity.html
  https://www.wired.co.uk/article/google-chrome-dark-mode-design

  • Rhys says:

    8 Oct8 October 10:42

    Looking into it but not making any promises!

    • Rob says:

      8 Oct8 October 10:51

      We have found a bit of software that claims to be able to do this. We are going to trial it very soon and, if it works, we’ll activate it sooner rather than later. Given that this is essentially a B&W site, it shouldn’t be too tricky.

      We are getting close to the end of our list of redesign tweaks, and Dark Mode is top of the ‘nice to have’ follow-up list 🙂 Re-ordering comments by date is also up there …

      • Lady London says:

        8 Oct8 October 10:58

        Can comments pages become longer and not split a reply thread from the original post?

        Also does dark mode put more wear and tear on screens?

        • Rob says:

          8 Oct8 October 12:38

          Dark mode would be something you’d have to turn on.

          We can’t run comments as one continuous line – the Avios sale article has 550 comments for example. Imagine scrolling down that.

        • ChrisC says:

          8 Oct8 October 13:32

          I don’t think that’s what LL is asking for but not to split a mini thread across pages so you can see all the posts

          So in this mini thread / post / question started by cinereus all the posts appear on the same page and not half on one page and half on the next.

        • IG says:

          8 Oct8 October 13:33

          I can’t reply to robs comment below – bug?

          Slightly off topic but the “right indentation” for nested replies – left indentation makes sense but the date and “reply” button not being aligned with the top comment looks slightly odd but might just be me..

        • Rhys says:

          8 Oct8 October 13:48

          No, there’s a limit to the number of ‘layers’ comments can be added. Something like 3 or 4.

        • cinereus says:

          8 Oct8 October 15:33

          It depends on the screen type but “wear and tear” isn’t really relevant for most modern screen technologies. It should save power usage on some screens.

      • cinereus says:

        8 Oct8 October 15:31

        Lovely, good to hear!

  • Also says:

    8 Oct8 October 15:41

    For anyone looking for dark option on desktop, I can recommend the Dark Reader chrome extension

• Jason says:

  8 Oct8 October 10:40

  Wheely offer on amex…does anyone know how it works in practice? is it as simple as spending 3 time and you get £50 back regardless of the cost of the combined journeys?

  • BP says:

    8 Oct8 October 10:46

    Yes. I used it three times in London and the £50 credit was applied to my Amex account. It is expensive: 2 short trips in an S-Class and 1 short trip in an E-Class was about £65. £5 a ride after the credit was applied.

    • Andrew says:

      8 Oct8 October 10:55

      Yes, even if you spend under £50 you get £50 back, but that’s hard to do on 3 journeys with them as they are very expensive. But it’s a great deal, I did 3×15 minute journeys in a lovely car with bottle water provided, door opening for me both ends, driver wearing a tie etc, came to £54.50 in total, so after the credit back it was £1.50 per journey, half the price of the tube. I’m surprised Rob hasn’t done an article on it, given the huge fanfare that was made out of making £6 by renting Boris bikes and getting 1000 avios – this seems much more of a deal and one that on the surface seems too good to be true, but actually isn’t.

  • Rob says:

    8 Oct8 October 10:53

    Yes. A reader was planning to test out cancelling three rides after booking (receiving a £6 penalty!) and seeing if that worked, but I never heard back ….

    • Jason says:

      8 Oct8 October 10:54

      i was just thinking if that would work for my third journey!

    • Sina says:

      8 Oct8 October 13:54

      I’ve had cancelled trips but they did not charge me a fee for the past 3 cancelled bookings.

    • AR says:

      8 Oct8 October 22:59

      I had two rides and one £6 cancellation and it triggered the offer.

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