The HfP chat thread – Friday 9th October

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

• YH says:

  9 Oct9 October 08:41

  How long does the transfer time typically take for HSBC Premier World Elite Rewards Points to go to Executive Club? The page says around 14 days but wondering if that’s actually the case.

  • DJ says:

    9 Oct9 October 08:49

    About a week the last time for me.

    • YH says:

      9 Oct9 October 09:23

      Ah that’s a shame. Was hoping they’d transfer before the 13th when the 50% sale ends.

      I initiated a transfer earlier today anyway, fingers crossed. And if they don’t transfer in time, I may have to just bite the bullet and buy the 6k Avios I’m short.

  • Genghis says:

    9 Oct9 October 10:10

    Overnight the last few times for me.

• Eligold says:

  9 Oct9 October 08:52

  I’m looking at booking LHR-TLV but starting at Inverness to bring down club suite taxes and fees from £267 to £113 X 6 people!
  Should I turn around Inverness on the same day or stay overnight? each seems to have its risks

  • TGLoyalty says:

    9 Oct9 October 08:59

    There’s always far less risk when going the day before but eats into any savings.

    Once you are there if they mess with your INV to LHR flight youre protected. If you choose back to back and they switch around the schedule (common right now) you could end up missing your flight and having the whole lot cancelled.

    • Matt says:

      9 Oct9 October 09:30

      Back to Back is safe – if the flight from INV is changed then the separate flight to INV will be changed (assuming Back to Back is doable at the airport in question) . The day before is fairly safe, hopefully with time to get another backup option of your positioning flight is cancelled. Going up same day not back to back is risky.

  • ChrisC says:

    9 Oct9 October 09:48

    INV is a fairly easy airport to do a B2B- I’ve done it twice but the schedules were better than they are now – but you don’t have time to dally.

    The schedule may say you have ~45 minutes but you really have 20 minutes less allowing for doors closed on the flight back to Heathrow.

    So you do need to be quick and it helps to be near the front to get off quickly. It’s then a clearly marked route back to departures and security. There is a fast track lane but it may not be operating at the moment.

    But whilst you’ll save £154 per person how much of that will be eaten up with the costs of the flight to Inverness and the possible cost of a hotel room if you do stay overnight if you choose that routing.

    Also what is the total saving on flights not just the taxes/fees/surcharges elements.

    For me £154 initial saving less the cost of flight getting there makes the savings marginal and not worth it. If I need a hotel then it’s a definite no. You’ll have the benefit of people sharing rooms.

    I am doing an ex INV to the US next year and staying overnight but the savings are in the several hundred pounds range so I’m not averse to doing them.

    There are better airports to do a B2B where you decant into the gate area so don’t have to reclear security before getting back in the same plane such as Amsterdam. In the U.K. I think this is the case at EDI and NCL. There is a very good flyer talk thread on B2Bs on the BA board

    Do the maths carefully.

    • Gavin says:

      9 Oct9 October 10:19

      JER is also a very easy B2B, coming off the plane and into the building right next to the departure gate (at least pre-Corona, i’m not sure if the procedure has changed)

• Mr. AC says:

  9 Oct9 October 09:12

  On the topic of Marriott’s “Week of Wonder”… I’ve been contacted by Langley about my early November reservation – they’re not opening till some time later, so I need to move it. I was told I need to pay the new price 90-100k vs 65k for two nights. When I tried to argue, I was told this is not controllable by the hotel. Obviosly very irritating since I had to transfer from Amex MRs to get enough points to lock in the old price in spring, and now I simply don’t have enough…
  I remember someone discussed this earlier in one of the daily threads. Was a way to move the reservation discovered? How to best to contact Marriott about it?

  • Anna says:

    9 Oct9 October 09:20

    We’re supposed to be there New Year weekend, so I’ll probably hear from them soon! Have they said what would happen if you just don’t have enough points to cover the difference? Though I guess if they’re not opening in November, they may still be closed at New Year.

    • Michael C says:

      9 Oct9 October 10:20

      Anna, I think the “Wonder” will be if you ever get a room there!!!

      • Anna says:

        9 Oct9 October 11:02

        I do wonder! 😂

    • Mr. AC says:

      9 Oct9 October 10:32

      The implication was that they will just cancel my booking and refund the points. They said the current plan is to open in late November or early December, so you might be ok.

    • Jonathan says:

      9 Oct9 October 11:38

      They contacted me to ask how I wanted to pay for my redemption night which was moved from July to March. The e-mail said I owed 55k which is wrong as they never refunded the 35k I originally paid. I’ve not responded yet as trying to think how to play it.

      When they initially contacted me in July they were trying to push me to cancel whereas I wanted to reschedule to keep the cheaper rate. I suspect somehow the link between the bookings is now lost, if it’s 55k I’ll probably leave it as country house weekend breaks is not really my thing.

  • Lady London says:

    9 Oct9 October 10:38

    I would defo complain to Marriott about this.
    They’ve basically ‘walked’ you to another date and there should be no cost increase. Perhaps a block on NYE or a little negotiation if you were switching to key peak other nights like Easter or Christmas but not otherwise.

    For a hotel of its level The Langley is not behaving on a classy way. They’re acting more like an airport bed factory and wont retain a good rep if this is how they are starting off.

    Personally I always thought they would reopen 1st or 2nd week of December at best. I mean, who would open in a notoriously nonpeak low-rate period?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    9 Oct9 October 10:41

    Reports that they say this but that doesn’t actually happen. They will move not cancel and rebook.

    Even if it does I’d contact Marriott and get your points difference back.

    • Anna says:

      9 Oct9 October 11:10

      Back in the mists of time when I made our booking, it was on points advance. When I got the required points, the price had gone up, but Marriott honoured the original price (they deducted 75k then refunded me 10k manually as the original price was 65k). So they have changed their policy in the meantime – it’s a bit unfair to be applying this retrospectively. It would be interesting to know who’s actually driving this – does the Langley benefit from Marriott charging guests extra points?

      • Rob says:

        9 Oct9 October 11:31

        No

  • Diydegsy says:

    9 Oct9 October 11:00

    I too had this, I’ve just posted a thread under the bath Marriott. This is the 3rd move for me but they wouldn’t back down. I said you can easily move it as a gesture of good will but she says she can’t as it’s Marriott telling them they can’t.. I asked for the email of the general manager but the way they are handling it ever since it was booked is leaving a sour taste in my mouth. They said they will be asking everyone who has moved their dates for the extra points if needed. Shame!!

    • DB2020 says:

      9 Oct9 October 12:38

      In my experience, the GMs of Marriott hotels choose not to respond to issues that they think is beyond their ability or control.

      You might get lucky though.

• Aston100 says:

  9 Oct9 October 09:16

  Got the Qatar ‘teacher code’.
  We can only travel this Xmas (14 nights) or February half term (7 nights).
  Anyone able to suggest anywhere that is currently letting UK tourists in, or is likely to come the time?

  Thanks.

  • Anna says:

    9 Oct9 October 09:31

    Dubai only requires a negative test, but you may well be stuck with having to quarantine when you get back, as will be the case with many destinations. Further afield I think Maldives and Seychelles have minimal requirements (possibly 5 day quarantine in resort for SEZ), but again, it’s what’s required on return which will cause problems.

• Anna says:

  9 Oct9 October 09:26

  Emyr got us a good deal on the Ritz Carlton Abu Dhabi (which looks rather fabulous, like Vegas-on-Sea 🤣) for Easter next year – works out about £280 per night for a Venetian suite which has a separate living room with a sofa bed and extra cloakroom so ideal if you want privacy from the kids! Rate includes breakfast, $100 credit and upgrade/late checkout (though I agree there’s not a lot of value in those if they’re not guaranteed). I just pointed out to my OH that 6 nights at this place costs the same as one night in a similar suite at the Ritz Carlton in Grand Cayman – which has no breakfast included but does charge a $95 daily resort fee!!

  • Rhys says:

    9 Oct9 October 09:30

    Do you hide the kids in the cloakroom? 😉

    • Anna says:

      9 Oct9 October 09:31

      Only if he’s very naughty.

  • Harry T says:

    9 Oct9 October 13:29

    Sounds great – I assume it’s a STARS rate? Emyr booked us a cracking deal for Penha Longa under that preferred partner program.

    Usually best to go via Emyr for the Ritz-Carlton properties, as even Bonvoy higher elites don’t get breakfast comped but this is always included on the STARS rate.

    • Anna says:

      9 Oct9 October 18:58

      Yes, STARS rate. I could get used to having a luxury travel specialist organising my hotel bookings! Glad to be able to put some business Emyr’s way.

    • Simon says:

      9 Oct9 October 23:00

      Not entirely true, Harry, re breakfasts and elites — depends on individual R-C hotels. For instance, Platinums and above get free breakfasts at R-C Kyoto (I’ve had this on both visits, saving my wife and I circa £1,100) whereas the R-C Tokyo gives you nada. For the most part you’re right, but there are several exceptions.

• YH says:

  9 Oct9 October 09:35

  I managed to get 3 First class returns in the current Avios sale and hoping for onboard service/catering to return to normal.

  Does anyone have any idea when we can expect this? My first flight is in November so a bit worried about that one. Next one isn’t till March so more hopeful there.

  Also, do you have to wear masks in BA F at the moment?

  • Rhys says:

    9 Oct9 October 09:45

    You have to wear masks in all classes.

    • YH says:

      9 Oct9 October 09:57

      Thanks – that’ll be fun for sleeping.

    • meta says:

      9 Oct9 October 10:22

      It’s only required and BA crew are instructed not to enforce or challenge. Judging by reports and photos on Twitter it seems widespread. From my recent flight, the crew even encouraged people not to wear a mask by bringing them more and more drinks. I asked one the crew why they keep on bringing drinks and food to people throughout the entire 3h flight. The flight attendant responded that it is so that the people don’t have to wear a mask. Before anyone jumps and says that people have medical reasons. If you have medical reasons, you wouldn’t be wearing a mask under your chin or carry a mask for that matter. Flight wasn’t full, so my partner and I asked to be moved a few rows back.

  • Andrew says:

    9 Oct9 October 09:49

    If you want to be mask-free then Qatar business class is your best option – you have to wear for boarding, but once seated you’re free to remove if for the rest of the flight. Imagine having to sleep wearing a mask!

    • YH says:

      9 Oct9 October 09:56

      Thanks for the tip. QR J would usually be my choice over BA F but unfortunately the routing doesn’t make sense for my destinations. (Also wanted to make use of the sale).

• Neil says:

  9 Oct9 October 09:38

  Curve (blue, not fronted) + Creation to deposit on ERNIE.
  Did I miss something as this months creation statement has come through and stung with interest charges. Previous month was all fine. Something changed or just for me?

  • Heathrow Flyer says:

    9 Oct9 October 11:36

    When was your statement generated?

    Mine (generated last week of September) was fine.

    • Neil says:

      9 Oct9 October 11:56

      6th October

      • James. says:

        9 Oct9 October 12:23

        No issues with me on Blue (non fronted) Next statement due 23rd I will see if this changes

      • Pid says:

        9 Oct9 October 22:16

        Nothing on my 6 Oct statement.

  • Rui N. says:

    9 Oct9 October 13:57

    Mine from last week of September was fine. I just paid my card just in case something changed this month!
    Where do interest charges show on the statement? I just see the “estimated interest, see overleaf for details” on mine

    • Neil says:

      9 Oct9 October 16:15

      It’s listed as a charge as the last entry on your statement after all your transactions.

  • the_real_a says:

    9 Oct9 October 19:27

    There are also odd things going on with my account this month, although its not just limited to the situation you describe. Some people may be in for nasty surprise with interest come statement date this month. Be careful.

• Aliks says:

  9 Oct9 October 09:40

  We’ve booked flights to Kenya in November, so we need to get certificates for COVID-19 testing negative. The tests need to take place at most 3 days before arrival.

  Can anyone recommend a test clinic in London?

  • Sukes says:

    9 Oct9 October 18:24

    Haven’t used but look at https://www.citydoc.org.uk/ba/ and https://www.nomadtravel.co.uk/covid-19 for tests

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