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The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 10th November

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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.

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General

Comments (246)

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

  • Kumar says:
    10 Nov10 November 09:35

    Would be able to pay Amex bill in cash at Lloyds Bank(I guess they hold the account with them) even if I don’t bank with Lloyds?

    • Harry T says:
      10 Nov10 November 10:47

      I think we are going to need some more context here

      • AJA says:
        10 Nov10 November 11:15

        I’m guessing they’ve missed the payment deadline and are trying to avoid late payment fees and interest.

        • Harry T says:
          10 Nov10 November 11:28

          @AJA
          I was wondering why they wanted to use cash at a bank in person, when online payments would be faster, easier and more convenient!

          • Anna says:
            10 Nov10 November 16:11

            Harry, sometimes one needs to do something with all the moolah one withdraws on the bendy card!

    • AJA says:
      10 Nov10 November 11:13

      Yes you can. You could also do the same at your own bank. Not sure why you want to as it would be simpler to do a FPO (Faster Payment Out) via internet banking, this is supposed to reach the recipient bank within 2 hours, provided you do it before 6pm, which would be quicker.

      • Kevin says:
        10 Nov10 November 20:53

        Even with internet banking, Creation still insisted that you need to allow 3 days for money to reach your account, which I got caught once when the money didn’t reach them on the same day of transfer but 2 days later.

    • Mco says:
      10 Nov10 November 11:39

      They asked me for my bank details the last time. I am quite sure all banks now want you to bank with them to accept Giro payments.

  • anonymus says:
    10 Nov10 November 09:40

    Can you pay amex with curve and hsbc at the back?

  • Rebecca Cooper says:
    10 Nov10 November 10:16

    BA still appear to be running flights to Bangkok all through December, despite Thailand not letting people in. Any thoughts on whether/when they’ll cancel them?

    I have an avios booking in early December flying club to Bangkok on the way out, and back from Kuala Lumpur in mid-January. The return flight was downgraded from first to club, but when I called they said that didn’t mean I could cancel without paying the £35 as it was just a downgrade. So am now just hoping they cancel the whole thing. Any thoughts/advice?

    Thanks in advance

    • Super Secret Stuff says:
      10 Nov10 November 10:34

      I would say they are probably waiting for official conformation before they act and they have a habit of waiting for as long as reasonably possible in order to try and flog people vouchers. Easier to do that if the flight is still officially running.

      Chances are, if it is a total ban except for Thai nationals, it’ll be cancelled because that will also affect pilots and cabin crew. So I would give it a week, maybe a bit longer before you act.

    • Lady London says:
      10 Nov10 November 11:56

      if you end up flying in J when you booked F then after you fly you are owed 75% of cost of your F seat back as well as having flown. Important to accept no refund not even partial for this (and acceot no avios back) ensure in any communications you keep it clear your downgrade is not voluntary.

      • Lady London says:
        10 Nov10 November 11:58

        PS I’m pretty sure you can cancel the whole ticket if any flight on it is downgraded if you prefer. Does anyone here know? might be a case for HUACA.

        • Rebecca Cooper says:
          10 Nov10 November 12:35

          Thanks, that’s what I thought re the downgrade. We definitely won’t end up flying because of the restrictions that are in place in the destination. But I wasn’t quite sure that what I’d been told about the downgrade not entitling me to cancellation was correct. Grateful for any advice on that point especially.

  • Neil says:
    10 Nov10 November 10:20

    BA have cancelled my outbound flight in January, and booked me on to a flight the next day. They are asking me to confirm if I am OK with the new flight. I want to hang on as long as possible before I make a decision and confirm either way (as I may choose to cancel) – does anyone know how long I have got to let them know?
    Thanks

  • Reney says:
    10 Nov10 November 10:25

    Not sure if this is my device or also happening to others too. Since around the time that Rob mentioned they implemented a code to make the reply button less sensitive my screen jumps around. By which I mean I would be reading through the comments then randomly the screen would jump to a different section, and I have to scroll up and down to find my place again. It is not happening on other websites, and there is no pattern to how often it happens. Thanks.

    • Rhys says:
      10 Nov10 November 10:29

      Could you try emptying your cache and then seeing if it still happens?

    • Andrew says:
      10 Nov10 November 12:40

      +1. Same here.

      • Reney says:
        10 Nov10 November 13:24

        I figured out screen recording but scrolled three pages and it didin’t happen will try again for you tonight. Also when I hit reply, it jumps to the top of the page rather than to the reply box.

        • Rhys says:
          10 Nov10 November 13:35

          Please clear your cache before you record anything!

        • Heathrow Flyer says:
          10 Nov10 November 14:42

          I have this problem also – I think it happens because the ads take a long while to load (20s+). Once they have loaded the page is a different size (?) and so it moves where you are.

          • Rob says:
            10 Nov10 November 15:46

            It could be something to do with the ads loading, because we are running Google ads this week. It is an easy test because next week we have some paid ads booked on mobile. If that is the problem then the solution is already in hand because we are looking a way of removing CLS.

            (If you don’t know what CLS is, be grateful and don’t waste your life looking it up!)

          • BLT says:
            10 Nov10 November 19:32

            Same issue here. Seems to be the page taking a long time to load. If I click on the comments hyperlink it takes me to the top of the page, I scroll down to read the comments, then when the page loads, it takes me back to the top of the comments. Mac Firefox and Chrome.

  • JM says:
    10 Nov10 November 11:06

    Currently have CW flights booked to DXB on 2nd December, booked in the 50% reward offer + 241.

    Due to lockdown (and work), looking at changing dates to fly Boxing Day and come back early Jan instead. Naturally, no CW reward availability for these dates, so likely to get FTV and book Economy cash flights instead.

    If I spend partial ‘cash’ aspect of FTV on the economy cash flights, presumably the 50k points and any remaining cash + original 2for1 voucher will be leftover in a seperate voucher?

    • AJA says:
      10 Nov10 November 11:19

      I don’t think you can do that. The FTV for an Avios booking only allows you to spend it on another reward booking.

  • Leigh says:
    10 Nov10 November 11:13

    Just failed to post a Virgin points offer here. Are there any forbidden words that I should avoid using in the comment?

    • Leigh says:
      10 Nov10 November 11:22

      Give it another try:
      Virgin is running an 8 points per pound spent at Morrisons offer until 2nd of Dec. Would combine with the Amex offer nicely.

      • Dr C says:
        10 Nov10 November 11:40

        Can you register Amex with virgin?

        • Leigh says:
          10 Nov10 November 11:45

          Yes, I registered my Amex card a long time ago for the Waitrose in-store offer and was pleasantly surprised when I received the Morrisons Pending points email this morning.

          • memesweeper says:
            10 Nov10 November 11:59

            All my cards had disappeared last week when I logged in to check, so re-registered my newest Amex. Logged in again today — all gone again. So I’m not optimistic this will work!

      • Harry T says:
        10 Nov10 November 12:10

        I have no active offer for Virgin points when I log in. Targeted?

        • Leigh says:
          10 Nov10 November 12:20

          It’s difficult to find in-store offers. If you open page below, it lists all offers.
          https://shop.virgin-atlantic.com/en/in-store
          @memesweeper: I just logged in to check and can see all registered cards are still there. May be just a glitch?

          • memesweeper says:
            10 Nov10 November 13:30

            Tried again, today’s registered cards are there. My historic ones, and the one added last week, are gone. Who knows what’s to blame! Let’s hope today’s entries stick around long enough for my spend at Morrissons to land.

          • xcalx says:
            10 Nov10 November 13:58

            Cheers got the Morissons 8/£ on one account

          • xcalx says:
            10 Nov10 November 14:06

            Morrisons

          • Secret Squirrel says:
            10 Nov10 November 19:58

            All I see is 0.5 miles per £1 spent. This was reported earlier this week in a FB group but when I log in it then stated not active offer?
            Did someone mention 8x points earlier?

        • mart says:
          10 Nov10 November 12:53

          no morrissons offer for both of us

        • Tom1 says:
          10 Nov10 November 12:59

          I’m the same as you Harry.
          Before I log in it shows 0.5/£1.
          When I log in it says no active offer.

        • davefl says:
          10 Nov10 November 13:27

          Same, says No Active Offer for Morrissons in store

        • PJJ says:
          10 Nov10 November 20:49

          @HarryT. Didn’t think either BA or Virgin store offers were targetted

      • TGLoyalty says:
        10 Nov10 November 13:57

        Thanks 8/£ here! will do nicely with the 10% and 7% offers I have

      • Super Secret Stuff says:
        10 Nov10 November 15:37

        Thanks for bringing to my attention. I have this offer too…

        Worth noting in the T&Cs it says only cards with Amex, Visa or MasterCard/Maestro symbols. Which might be why some people don’t have it showing up.

    • Connor says:
      10 Nov10 November 12:00

      10% RBS offer + 10% Airtime Rewards and 8 points per £ stacks very nicely.

    • Harry T says:
      10 Nov10 November 15:23

      If my girlfriend opens a Virgin SA account, presumably I can add both our cards to the account, assuming she gets the 8 points/£ offer?

      • Super Secret Stuff says:
        10 Nov10 November 15:39

        Have you got a points earning card that is Amex, Visa or MasterCard/Maestro? Its in the T&Cs so might be why it appears for some but not others

      • Leigh says:
        10 Nov10 November 15:55

        Yes. I added my daughter’s card to my Virgin SA account and have received points when she did the shopping using her card.

  • Crafty says:
    10 Nov10 November 11:20

    Surely I am not the first to point out that using the word “Revolutionaries” as apparent code for Revolut (practised by various people in recent days) is entirely redundant, as it still contains the word “Revolut”.

    • Travel Strong says:
      10 Nov10 November 11:46

      revolting

    • Lady London says:
      10 Nov10 November 12:01

      not entirely. a lot of scans are set up to only catch complete standalone words.

    • Michael C says:
      10 Nov10 November 12:21

      Only if some sites stopped you talking about “sextuplets” and “Essex”!

    • Super Secret Stuff says:
      10 Nov10 November 13:47

      I don’t quite believe that, think about it…

      If BA (which they know people commonly refer to them as such) set up a scan for BA in any word, you’d get: Bar, Bath, Bang, Bangers (and mash 😉 ) Band, Bandage, Bamboo, Ban, Banned, Back, Base… you get the point

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

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