The HfP chat thread – Thursday 5th November

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• Denis says:

  5 Nov5 November 13:44

  Winter holidays Dec 22 – Jan 4: sudden drop in prices to DXB. Was around £700 a few days ago in (Fare M), now £320 rtn. Also, update reg traveling to Dubai: Travellers coming from the UK to Dubai have the option to either present a negative COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test before departure, which is valid for 96 hours from the date of the test, or to take a PCR test on arrival at Dubai airport.

  • Anna says:

    5 Nov5 November 13:52

    I’m assuming you’d have to quarantine on return and that’s putting a lot of people off!

    • Rob says:

      5 Nov5 November 14:15

      If quarantine drops to a week we’ll be down there I think. Happy to trade 2 weeks away over Christmas for 1 week of effectively WFH before the kids go back to school.

      • Denis says:

        5 Nov5 November 14:26

        We’ve booked Dec 25-Jan 6 for a family of four using an Apology Voucher (due to expire on Dec 31, so had to use it) and another e-voucher. Will also be using my 35,000 Wyndham points for a stay in JBR. Great deal, but fingers crossed UAE will be on quarantine-free list in the next 1,5months…

        • Anna says:

          5 Nov5 November 14:50

          Me too, and also the other way around as I have 11 night in AUH booked at Easter!

• Tim says:

  5 Nov5 November 13:46

  If useful reference for others, I had a non-refundable Mercure reservation for this coming weekend (booked on the Accor ALL app). Cancelled today online and noted the comment on their site that credit notes could take up to 90 days to be received. Within 60 seconds the reservation was gone from the app and the credit note received. Accor not known for their IT… but this time….

• Nick says:

  5 Nov5 November 13:55

  So in the end BA is NOT shutting down for November. They are, however, reducing the schedule to a skeleton on select routes only, with many routes suspended or running Cargo only. Schedule will be at 15% of usual. Holiday routes are running until mid-Nov for ‘repatriation’ (although it seems bookings are actually higher on the outbounds as everyone tries to flee grim Britain). Fun times. Hope everyone here gets what they need in terms of refund, rebooking, etc.

• Mco says:

  5 Nov5 November 14:02

  Someone mentioned they cancelled their Plat Business on here recently. Just wondering if they got the full pro rata fees back or did Amex keep the £250 business credit that was offered on renewal?

  • BP says:

    5 Nov5 November 20:52

    Yes, got my full pro rata fees back as well as keeping the £250 credit.

• Reney says:

  5 Nov5 November 14:07

  Question, I have a spend £30 + get 10% back on my amex for Morrisons, one time use. The condition does not indicate there are any limits. I’m not planning to spend thousands but maybe get one large gift card plus some groceries and hope it helps me towards spend £1100 get 600 points? Will this work?

  • Connor says:

    5 Nov5 November 14:29

    Worked last time no problem. Credited within days.

    • Polly says:

      5 Nov5 November 14:36

      And they often credit it back in clumps of charges totalled together, so you might not recognise the individual amounts refunded, but they are timely.
      Not got it on any of our cards, maybe they know we shop in Morrison and Waitrose. Nada.

    • Aston100 says:

      5 Nov5 November 15:10

      What is a realistic amount to put on a gift card(s) at Morrisons without staff getting suspicious?
      Actually, is there any need for them to get suspicious as you aren’t doing anything wrong right?

      • mark2 says:

        5 Nov5 November 15:16

        The maximum is £100 on most of them, and some stores limit purchase to one gift card. This did not matter last time when you got money back on multiple purchases, but not this time.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          5 Nov5 November 15:31

          Last time this was on I put multiple £250 Morrison’s ones through the self checkout. At least £1200 in one transaction with JL £100 and M&S £100 on top.

          The £50 JL ones seem to be restricted.

      • Vit says:

        5 Nov5 November 16:59

        Did £850 last time with no problem — cashier was just curious why so many — I said birthday gifts! 🙂

  • Nick_C says:

    5 Nov5 November 17:23

    To confirm what TGLoyalty said, you can only buy 1 JL £50 in Morrisons.

    I just tried to buy 2 * £50 + 4 * £25 JL in Morrison’s. The second £50 JLGC was not authorised, and a supervisor told me should could not authorise it either. Got an extra 2 * £25 instead with no problems.

    So 8 * £25 is fine, (2 * £50) + (4 * £25) will not work.

    Perhaps others can say what the limit is on £25 cards.

    Anyway, tied in nicely with 25% off wine in Waitrose, and a “spend £90 get £14 off” voucher, giving me a 43% discount on wine. 🙂

    • TGLoyalty says:

      5 Nov5 November 21:04

      Your best bet is to buy a few £250 Morrison’s then use those to buy gift cards for other stores. No issues when I’ve done that.

• Anna says:

  5 Nov5 November 14:15

  Hmm, hotel prices seem to have suddenly increased over Xmas and New Year, presumably hoping that everyone will be out of lockdown and desperate for a break! The IC 02 suite I have tentatively reserved on an Ambassador free night is now £200 pn more than when I booked it!

  • Harry T says:

    5 Nov5 November 14:34

    Can’t blame them, it’s a dismal time for hotels. Got to rake in some revenue somehow. FYI Anna, Turnberry is still available for a five night points booking over Christmas – come and join us!

    • Anna says:

      5 Nov5 November 14:53

      We’ll hopefully get there one day but I am wondering if a ban on entering Scotland by Christmas is on the cards if we don’t get our infection rates down …

  • Aston100 says:

    5 Nov5 November 15:11

    Checked Easter 2021 prices in London and they seem at least 50% more than the prices I saw in October half term just gone. Some were practically double.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      5 Nov5 November 16:00

      imagine theres a ‘sale’ coming

  • Pid says:

    5 Nov5 November 21:44

    You were lucky to get your upgrade confirmed, not budging on it for my booked by stating they do not upgrade the city suite.

• Michael C says:

  5 Nov5 November 14:37

  I think someone mentioned it recently, but as an fyi, Swissair has AMS-BKK in August at GBP 890 in Business.
  The downside is that, by then, there are no longer any vouchers – only rebooking with the subsequent additional payment for the more expensive ticket!

  • Rob says:

    5 Nov5 November 14:38

    Exactly …. which is why we haven’t written about it.

    • Michael C says:

      5 Nov5 November 14:57

      Fair enough! Won’t be risking it myself.
      For exactly the same price on Hotline, I have a direct return but in WT+…hey-ho…at least it’s direct and voucherable (by sneaking in the return on 31 Aug.)!

• David says:

  5 Nov5 November 15:10

  Whoever is next in line for Metro Bank Refer a Friend could you please drop your code?

  • SteveSauceman says:

    5 Nov5 November 15:36

    8SNDBXG9

    • 747_Brat says:

      5 Nov5 November 18:16

      GSPBN4ZK
      Thanks.

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