The HfP chat thread – Monday 19th October

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Ikaz says:

19 Oct19 October 08:21

Try to click through to the payment page, it will update
- Ikaz says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 08:22
  
  (that was supposed to be an answer for the BA taxes from Tokyo appearing high)
Naveen says:

19 Oct19 October 09:11

Hi. If you have a connecting flight but on a different booking, what’s the minimum time between flights for insurance purposes? Is there a general guidance?
- Anna says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 09:16
  
  I imagine it would go off individual airlines’ guidelines – BA have said previously that one hour is enough to connect returning home via LHR but this is often not the case if there are long queues at immigration and onward security!
  - Jill (Kinkell) says:
    
    19 Oct19 October 12:50
    
    …and particularly if the plane ends up at a B or C gate! Only by the goodness of security ( yes… they were excellent) did we get through in front of everyone else and just made the domestic connection. Talk about stress!
    - Anna says:
      
      19 Oct19 October 13:47
      
      Security are pretty good at LHR, I agree. I’m always pleasantly surprised after the North Korean-style experience we get at MAN.
  - ChrisC says:
    
    19 Oct19 October 12:53
    
    That’s the minimum connection time for single tickets within T5. If it was T5-T3 the MCT is 90 minutes.
    
    With a single ticket the airline will protect you – rebooking and EU261 rights etc. These don’t apply with separate bookings.
    
    With separate bookings you ARE NOT connecting.
    
    With separate bookings you have to self protect.
    
    Remember that for example BA does not through check bags on separate bookings so need to clear the border, wait for and collect bags then go up to departures and check in again. Allow an hour minimum (longer if you have to change terminal) for that and an hour for the bag drop closure of the next flight and that’s 2 hours but you have basically little or no slack. Of course some people will say that they have done that but It’s hard to do if you’ve half a dozen bags and kids to organise.
    
    Off the top of my head my travel insurance won’t cover separate bookings if there is less than 6 hours between scheduled arrival of the 1st flight and the departure of the 2nd. Others have even longer periods.
  - Lady London says:
    
    19 Oct19 October 13:23
    
    Ha. This is why my Iberia account is -90,000 points.
    
    Iberia cancelled a flight rebooking me to a later one I’d deliberately avoided as it only left me 1 hour connection at LHR T5. Connecting to C gates for the US and IME that flight has always been a bus from gate.
    
    I rejected the rebook saying unrealistic connection time paericularly with my knee injury and I wasnt going to spend Christmas at Heathrow even if they would be paying for it as would surely be the outcome. The next flight was after Christmas, I would miss what I was travelling for and not taking the risk.
    
    I and an Iberia agent found 2 or 3 reroutes even finding avios seats for all flights. One involved leaving the night before and I said i would pay my own hotel.
    
    Iberia supervisor flatly refused to allow the agent to reroute. They insisted on refunding. There was simply no way I was going to fly an itinerary that would have meant a wasted trip.
    
    I moved the refunded 90,000 from IB to BA but what was left by then meant shelling out for First.Class back from the US to get back.
    
    And now my account with IB is -90,000 for the past two years.
- Bob says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 10:00
  
  for flights on a separate booking and you’re doing a self transfer then I’d suggest allow 3-4 hours between the two
- Harry T says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 10:11
  
  If your connection is not protected, and if it’s not on the same PNR it’s not really a connection, then I’m not sure if you would be covered. You would need to check the specific terms and conditions of your policy or contact your insurer. We can only speculate; your policy/insurer is the final word.
- Stu N says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 12:12
  
  You’ll need to read your policy documents – make sure you’re clear on terminology as it’s not a connection, it’s two separate bookings. Amex Plat was 12 hours IIRC – effectively forcing an overnight stay.
Anna says:

19 Oct19 October 09:13

Is there a chance of new hotel offers on Amex which go beyond the end of 2020? Now ruled out of using all mine by the local restrictions!
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 09:14
  
  I’m sure there will be new ones in Q1 as hotel occupancy wouldn’t have improved.
  - Anna says:
    
    19 Oct19 October 09:17
    
    It would be useful to be able to plan Q1 though as I’ve now cancelled most of my plans for the autumn!
  - Harry T says:
    
    19 Oct19 October 11:17
    
    I agree with TG.
    - Anna says:
      
      19 Oct19 October 11:32
      
      I feel a bit guilty that I’ve now got offers saved and very likely can’t use them before they expire. It’s a pity you can’t “untick” them and send them back into the inventory! I don’t usually save anything unless I think there’s a reasonable chance of using it. We were going to the CP in Harrogate at half term but we’re now in Tier 3 and other regions are getting a bit twitchy about people moving round!
      - WaynedP says:
        
        19 Oct19 October 11:59
        
        So glad to have evidence that there are principled folk out there determined to do the right thing despite personal cost.
        
        Nice to be reassured that it’s not all cummings and ferriers out there.
      - Andrew says:
        
        19 Oct19 October 13:04
        
        I would imagine 90% of the hotel offers will be unused by people – so I wouldn’t feel too guilty.
      - Rob says:
        
        19 Oct19 October 13:10
        
        It IS a problem for companies though. I was talking to one recently who has used this system and the large % of unredeemed ones is an issue.
      - TGLoyalty says:
        
        19 Oct19 October 13:42
        
        You could prepay by booking and asking the hotel to take payment?
      - Anna says:
        
        19 Oct19 October 13:49
        
        TG Loyalty – nice try but I’ll need that money for if and when we can travel again!
      - Andrew says:
        
        19 Oct19 October 13:56
        
        Amex should make it possible to unselect then. And also remove from the available list ones you’ll never use so you don’t have to scroll through a list of 40 to see if anything new has popped up
      - AJA says:
        
        19 Oct19 October 15:08
        
        Anna Don’t feel guilty, it’s not your fault that you saved the Amex offers and now can’t use them. Good on you for not going anywhere and instead observing the Tier 3 rules.
        
        I only save an offer if I am likely to use it, which I suspect you do as well – you intended to use them. Even so there are sometimes occasions when I don’t actually use them.
Louie says:

19 Oct19 October 09:14

Transferwise. Needed to transfer £20k to AU$ yesterday. Looked at my usual HIFX and OFX and then thought that as I had seen good things on here (at least I think I did) about Transferwise, I’d see what rate they offered. Significantly better. Tried to set up an account only to find I already have one (must be getting old!) though I’m quite sure I have not actually gone through with any transactions and I very much doubt if I have uploaded any documents. I’ve just realised no 2FA either. However it let me go ahead so I assumed all systems go, though I’ve not received any email confirmation from them which seems odd (does show in my account with them). Then Barclays flagged the transfer to them as suspicious so the money has not left my account yet.

At my leisure today I read some of the reviews, many of which say their customer service is atrocious, particularly of late. This transfer is fairly urgent so I don’t want this to get delayed. I’m tempted to get Barclays to cancel the payment – but am I worrying unnecessarily?

What are people’s recent experiences of Transferwise, particularly with first transfers and customer service?
- Rhys says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 09:30
  
  Always been speedy for me.
- Reeferman says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 09:31
  
  I have had an account with Transferwise for a few years. I use it for sending money to Spanish bank accounts and have never had a problem. I set-up a new recipient last week (also in Spain) and the money was received by them the following day.
  Can’t comment on their customer service, as have not had a need to contact them – thankfully!
- Louie says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 09:31
  
  Glad I took screenshots (in the absence of an email from them!). Yesterday they said they need to receive the money by 11.59am Monday to guarantee the rate; now my online account is saying the actual rate is determined by the mid-market rate when the conversion is made. Hmm.
  
  Actually this works in my favour but that’s not the point…
- tds says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 09:54
  
  Been using them for 3 or 4 years now, transferring to a US bank account 4 times a year, no problems to report, and the rate always seems to be good to me. Can’t comment on CS as I’ve never had to use them.
- Bob says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 10:01
  
  Always excellent and speedy but usually pay for the transfer via debit card, haven’t tried payment via a bank transfer to Transferwise.
- Harry T says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 10:12
  
  I’ve transferred money from Australia to the UK multiple times and Transferwise have always offered the best rate and great service. Never had any issues.
- BS says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 10:24
  
  Where you are transferring large amounts of money (as you are), they seem to arbitrarily select people for a ‘severe audit’ to assess source of funds. This seems to keep your money and delay the transaction. You might get lucky and be fine, or you might not. Good luck!
- BuildTheWall says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 10:46
  
  Isn’t this a problem with Barclays. Am sure they’d be flagging transfers of this size to any third party unless you have been transferring similar amounts regularly. Call them ASAP and tell them it’s a genuine transaction.
  I have been using TW for 3 years and haven’t had any problems so far. Best to transfer a small amount first and then if everything goes smoothly go ahead with the rest.
  - Louie says:
    
    19 Oct19 October 11:05
    
    The Barclays thing gives me an “out” if I want it. My concern – from reading online reviews – is that I clear the payment with Barclays then Transferwise start coming up with reasons not to do the transfer quickly (or even at all) and keep my money for a while whilst I struggle to get any sense from the agents or even any reply at all (which is the theme I keep finding in the online reviews).
    - BuildTheWall says:
      
      19 Oct19 October 11:42
      
      If you want an ‘out’ why are you even attempting a transfer? You are not buying an FX option!
      And why would TW honor the rate when it’s clearly past the deadline?
      - Louie says:
        
        19 Oct19 October 12:25
        
        Once again. I am considering an “out” because I am concerned that I will not be getting what I am paying for – the deal in my world is I provide the sterling, they provide the dollars ASAP afterwards and not play silly buggers, why is something they appear to be prone to do judging by the reviews I have seen. Which is why I am canvassing views on here of HfPers experiences.
        
        As for honouring the rate, I posted at 9.31am, the deadline was a minute before midday. Not past the deadline.
    - AJA says:
      
      19 Oct19 October 15:22
      
      Another advocate for Transferwise here, they are very good. TW will do the transfer as soon as they receive the funds from Barclays. They will give you the best rate when they receive the funds. If you need to make the transfer quickly just get Barclays to unblock it ASAP. Don’t worry about TW not doing what they said they would.
- Jon says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 10:50
  
  I’ve been using TransferWise regularly to send money to Malaysia. Have been generally very happy, impressed even (the transfer time has just dropped from a few days to a few minutes 🙂 I’ve yet to find a better rate, and the fees are acceptable). I do a bank transfer to TW immediately after setting up the transfer in their app, and it all happens very quickly now.
  
  The only time I ever had a problem, which was my own fault really – I happened to be making a transfer on a day when the exchange rate was improving rapidly by the minute – so I initiated and cancelled a few transfers as the rate kept getting better. Bad move. Turns out you lose the guaranteed rate if you do this (though there was no indication of that in the app) and as a result, by the time my transfer was actually processed, the rate had dropped again. I should have just stuck with the first rate and not tried to play silly-buggers gaming the system! 😉 To be fair to TW, they were very good about it and actually refunded me a few quid, the difference between my first rate and the one I eventually got – as a result of which I’ve stuck with them ever since.
- David says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 11:28
  
  Have used TW ever since moving to the UK 3 years ago. Regularly send money and they are very quick. In terms of your question regarding first transfer, having my doubts I first transferred AU$3k which arrived quickly, within two days the money was in my UK bank and after that transferred AU$50k which took around four days to come through, though still with the guaranteed rate. Don’t know why it took longer, I assumed due to a higher value transfer. But they’ve since become quicker and I’m usually looking at 24hrs max transfer time. Never had to deal with customer service though so can’t comment on that
- the_real_a says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 16:06
  
  This isn’t just limited to Transferwise, more so any financial institution these days. If you turn up and bung £20k to them – its likely you will trigger some sort of KYC or “Anti Money Laundering” process which forces you to prove your identity, and the source of the money.
  
  I go through this process quite often, and make sure to maintain paperwork – however the problem is that the financial organisations do not warn you that you NEED the documentation. So for many people getting paperwork for three months line of sight on the cash can be extremely time consuming – especially if you need to order statements etc and have Investment, savings, nominated and current accounts to cover on lump sums movements.
  
  But the point really is that any UK financial organisation will likely demand the same sort of proofs/paperwork so its not necessarily better elsewhere.
- dragonfly says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 17:40
  
  Will need to do this from AU$ to £ early next year. We are running out of £ savings – the longer the Australian borders remain closed, we are grounded in the UK! I have an account with OFX, they used to give me very good rates until about 2 years ago. Been thinking of setting up both HIFX and Transferwise accounts ready for when we need. So, thanks for posting this.
- Lyn says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 19:30
  
  My family’s experiences with Transferwise have all been good. Both with their customer service, including Australia, as well as other countries, and the actual transfers.
- Louie says:
  
  20 Oct20 October 10:08
  
  Transferwise. As an update on my post yesterday, I have to say my fears were unfounded (this time anyway!).
  
  The funds have already been received, less than 20 hours after TW were paid. They didn’t require anything other than the money from me, so all plain sailing, even though this was a first transfer and a reasonably large sum. It may have helped that it was between two accounts in my name, I guess.
  
  Thanks to all who responded to my post.
BS says:

19 Oct19 October 09:37

Got bored with trying to get the Marriott status match to work – they keep sending non-descript autoreply messages saying I don’t qualify, when for the life of me I seem to fulfil the T&Cs.

I’ve therefore simply cancelled my Marriott stays, and moved them to hotels for similar price where I do get breakfast included.

Shame – I would have chased the formal platinum status as I need to spend a few weeks in London
- Harry T says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 11:19
  
  Have you tried ringing?
  
  Better to earn Platinum the hard way anyway, as you will earn SNAs etc
- MinR says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 11:23
  
  Same here. I have escalated it and sent the evidence via email asking them to confirm exactly what I’m missing. Not holding my hopes up though
- Pangolin says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 18:25
  
  IME the best responses for chasing things up are from sending a DM to MarriottBonvoyAssist or a PM to Marriott Bonvoy Lurker II on FlyerTalk.
Super Secret Stuff says:

19 Oct19 October 09:54

Got an offer for a company called ring Central on my personal gold card.

Literally never heard of them, apparently they do cloud based corporate communication stuff. Why are they even trying, lol
- Freddy says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 10:38
  
  I’ve never heard of 95% of the offers on my card. Most are high end tat shops wanting to target those well off amex cardholders with money to burn
  - Harry T says:
    
    19 Oct19 October 11:19
    
    Visiting London this weekend. First time I’ve seen shops and restaurants that 90% of my offers are for!
  - Andrew says:
    
    19 Oct19 October 12:04
    
    I wish you could delete ones you’re not interested in, or new ones show at the top of the list – not having to scroll through 40 offers to see if there’s anything new of use.
    - Super Secret Stuff says:
      
      19 Oct19 October 13:14
      
      I agree. I was so glad to see Hello Fresh disappear! The current system is a pain.
      
      LuluLemon was the most funny. Full of stuff you can buy from Primemark or Top Man butt 10 times the price.
      - TGLoyalty says:
        
        19 Oct19 October 13:44
        
        But significantly higher quality.
        
        Primark is fast fashion designed to last a few wears.
      - Super Secret Stuff says:
        
        19 Oct19 October 14:17
        
        @TG I agree it is probably better quality. However, Hollister or River Island is just as good quality, and only 20% of the price.
        
        LuluLemon is, well, very vanilla. I can’t see how anyone justifies those prices for ordinary stuff. I feel it is designed to target the wealthy and give them an ego boast.
      - Jack says:
        
        19 Oct19 October 16:56
        
        I mean that just isn’t true. Lululemon stuff is excellent quality, Hollister (also embarrassing to be over 18 and wearing the brand anyway) and River Island are just tat also. Look at the Lululemon share price! Comfiest pants I’ve ever bought. Great for flying.
      - Super Secret Stuff says:
        
        19 Oct19 October 17:30
        
        @Jack Hollister, Top Man and River Island all do great clothes. I think you are confused with Jack Wills (no insult intended)
      - Jack says:
        
        19 Oct19 October 18:10
        
        Not at all – Hollister was designed to for 12-18 year olds that couldn’t afford Abercrombie and Fitch! Interesting to see how many European Men wear the clothes (and given the slim fits…)
        
        https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-01-22/the-aging-of-abercrombie-fitch-i58ltcqx
        
        No offense either, I did a case study on them in college.
- Harry T says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 18:10
  
  Lululemon is superb quality and really does last. It’s some of the only clothing that I find comfortable and well fitting as someone with an athletic build (my girlfriend feels the same).
Andrew says:

19 Oct19 October 10:14

I get so sick of seeing these niche e-commerce startups on the Amex offers
- Jack says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 16:57
  
  Nothing to remind me that I am working class like a “£100 off a £500 spend” from a clothing/accessories brand I’ve never heard of with one location in Central London ;).
GEORGE says:

19 Oct19 October 10:17

Looking at ways to maximise Avois points through purchasing iPhone 12. I note that through the BA Shopping site (click through to get points), many of the obvious choices (John Lewis, Apple etc.) don’t award points for new Apple product purchases – in the small print. I note that Carphone Warehouse seems to be the exception where 2,000 Avios is offered for iPhone 12 SIM Free purchases in full. Has anyone else found other ways to maximise Avios collection on purchasing a new iPhone 12?
- meta says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 10:39
  
  If you are not in a hurry, wait a month and it will be eligible.
- BS says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 10:57
  
  I have previously bought Apple products from JL, and always had it track, despite the T&Cs
- Lee says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 11:18
  
  I ordered 12 pro through Currys and got 999 Avois by clicking through BA Shopping site. Also with 2 extra MR points for every £ spend offer at Currys on my gold card, that’s total of 4000 Avois.
- memesweeper says:
  
  19 Oct19 October 12:41
  
  In the past I’ve bought in person from Dixons travel.
  
  This year it won’t work of course — I have no travel until very late Dec, that will probably be cancelled, and from 2021 Dixons won’t be any cheaper.
  
  KRCS might work, and they’re a tenner off list for the pros.