The HfP chat thread – Thursday 19th November

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• Rob says:

  19 Nov19 November 10:50

  Totally off topic but … over the weekend I am repeating the article on the TAP status match. What will not be totally clear in that article, but is true (because I proved it last night) is that – totally contrary to the status match rules – matched Golds CAN gift Gold to a friend.

  It takes 5 seconds. There is a menu option for ‘Gift Gold’, you type in the TAP Miles & Go number of someone else and they are INSTANTLY upgraded to Gold. The expiry date matches your own expiry date.

  I did this for my wife last night as we now have a SWISS flight booked for next month and we can now get all four of us into any Gold lounges which may be open.

  Remember that TAP is matching BA Silver to Star Gold.

  • AJA says:

    19 Nov19 November 11:00

    That’s very interesting Rob. Out of interest why didn’t your wife just do the status match? Does she not have status with BA?

    I find the TAP website rather muddled and trying to work out how far you can go with the rewards section makes me thankful for the way BA works. Also is there a Star Alliance equivalent of the Redemption Finder website.

    • Rob says:

      19 Nov19 November 11:07

      a) it would cost us €99!
      b) it makes more sense for her to do it next year – when mine runs out – and then guest me back, using fresh accounts of course

      • AJA says:

        19 Nov19 November 11:21

        That makes sense. The strategy of doing the status match next year is what my OH is hoping to do. We are only the two of us and 99% of the time travel together so it hopefully will work. That of course assumes the status match continues into 2021. As I am not currently flying anywhere I am kicking myself for doing the status match when I did as I feel I’ve wasted 3 months of status but I did it as I thought the promo would end and I also thought we would be able to use it in December for a trip to Brazil which isn’t happening plus we normally fly to Lisbon / Portugal a few times a year so the renewal seemed easy but not now. I am hoping TAP will extend status (not banking on it though).

  • Andrew says:

    19 Nov19 November 11:15

    Thanks for letting us know about this covertly. Interesting – I didn’t do the TAP status match when it was first around but seeing as we can diversify from OW with our protected BA Gold for a year, might try some *A. BA Gold still = TAP Gold I assume.

• My Cat Voted For Biden says:

  19 Nov19 November 11:03

  Received my IHG card (late to the party). Downloaded the creation app and works ok. Plan to pay off brighton and beardy via bendy – are these txns classified as cash advances? Anyway to check following a txn via the app whether interest is being charged? Would rather not wait a month until statement to then get slapped with interest.

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    19 Nov19 November 11:08

    You’re better off using the IHG card as the primary card and then paying it off with beardy directly without bendy…

    No fees for any of that.

    • FloriGuy says:

      19 Nov19 November 12:10

      Presumably that doesn’t work with the free version of Bendy?

      • Super Secret Stuff says:

        19 Nov19 November 12:14

        You don’t need bendy for Beardy to IHG transactions. Other way around you do. To feed the seagulls, I have seen mixed comments about it not working etc. Suggest you read the chat threads from the last few days.

        • Secret Squirrel says:

          19 Nov19 November 13:49

          Seagulls doesn’t work for me using free bendy card

        • S says:

          19 Nov19 November 20:07

          I’ve tried to feed the Seagulls with Bendy but only is happy with underlying debit, not credit cards

    • A D says:

      19 Nov19 November 12:32

      you’re then missing out on the higher earning rate of that card though, depends which points you want more? I pile into Beardy and pay off using IHG via bendy as a supp in points. £150 a year for bendy is worth it if you can push enough through it

      • stevenhp1987 says:

        19 Nov19 November 13:01

        How so? Spend in IHG then pay the IHG off with Beardy directly. You’re wasting your Bendy limit for no reason your way…

        • Rob says:

          19 Nov19 November 13:03

          Exactly. Just pay your Creation bill with any other Visa or Mastercard you have. No fees. No need to waste your time with Curve.

        • A says:

          19 Nov19 November 13:15

          ah i see, i misunderstood the process. This way makes much more sense, my bad!

        • Jane says:

          19 Nov19 November 13:40

          whilst creation allow this do the card suppliers who you use to pay off IHG get upset about it ?

        • Rob says:

          19 Nov19 November 13:50

          Not in all the years I did it, albeit I have now cancelled by IHG card so not done for a year or so.

        • Jane says:

          19 Nov19 November 14:08

          Excellent, only just started and whilst I don’t mind upsetting Creation I don’t want to upset HH. Thank you.

        • My Cat Voted For Biden says:

          19 Nov19 November 14:34

          thanks all, very useful

        • BLG says:

          19 Nov19 November 14:34

          Any point earning way to pay Horizon.

        • S says:

          19 Nov19 November 14:51

          How about the following –

          1) If you spend enough on Seagulls
          2) Pay off Seagulls using Bendy (with Beardy underlying) – will need the paid version
          3) Then pay off Beardy with IHG (directly)

          How long is this likely to last without being flagged?

          Are there any other limits per day/week/month apart from Bendy?

        • Ms says:

          19 Nov19 November 17:34

          Creation kicked me off for using naked beardy to feed conty card. Proceed with caution or use a curved shield

  • Rhys says:

    19 Nov19 November 12:32

    Doesn’t work for me. (Free card)

    • Reney says:

      19 Nov19 November 15:04

      on comment by S step 2 is bendy backed by creation and then step 3 is pay off creation with beardy directly.

      • S says:

        19 Nov19 November 15:49

        Hey, what’s the benefit of doing it that way round?

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          19 Nov19 November 16:16

          Less fees, remember that Curve charges 1.5% (or something similar) for the privilege of Curve Fronted (basically nothing, they just want more when you pay a bank)

        • Reney says:

          19 Nov19 November 19:23

          because you can pay off creation using beardy directly without a curve shield (per Rob’s comment). If you pay off seagull with beardy with a curve shield. In order to pay beardy you will need curve shield for creation too. So you are have to used twice the amount of curve limit.

      • S says:

        19 Nov19 November 16:39

        Ah I see, thanks, to non-Metal customers.

        How does HƧBↄ Premier fit into this all?

        • memesweeper says:

          19 Nov19 November 19:17

          You cannot pay off HSBCP with any card of any kind, so bear that in mind if you’re trying to work it into your plans.

        • S says:

          19 Nov19 November 20:05

          Thanks, memesweeper, do you know if it can be used to pay off other cards?

  • Dace says:

    20 Nov20 November 00:21

    I feel like an absolute numpty. Have I only just stumbled on the realisation that you can:

    A) Pay on IHG and pay off with Beardy.
    B) Feed seagulls and pay off with bendy with Beardy/IHG underneath?

• Rob says:

  19 Nov19 November 11:22

  If anyone has a Bank of Ireland mortgage (this would include Post Office mortgage customers) a reader tells me that overpayments by credit card are treated as purchases, not cash, at least by HSBC Premier Mastercard.

  This is the overpayments page – https://www2.mortgageapplicationservice.co.uk/web/index.html#/index/OP/makePayment/

  If you have a BOI mortgage and a lucrative Visa or MC you may want to try £100 as a test.

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    19 Nov19 November 11:27

    That’s nice!

    Shame my mortgage provider only accepts Bank Transfers for overpayments…

  • Amar says:

    19 Nov19 November 12:08

    Data point: I confirm that this works like a charm!

  • Reney says:

    19 Nov19 November 15:11

    I have my mortgage with a major bank that has had a dark blue logo with white words and I make over payments online using a credit card by a major supermarket and not been charge interest. Have been doing this for a past couple of months.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      19 Nov19 November 16:34

      Halifax?

      • Reney says:

        19 Nov19 November 19:27

        that is a bright blue to me. I miss spoke it was navy after the name change it is now a shade of purple??

  • Bigmaggot says:

    19 Nov19 November 19:35

    Anyone know if you can pay Clydesdale with a card?

• Super Secret Stuff says:

  19 Nov19 November 12:33

  Speculative question, do you think Amex will run anymore bonus points promotions?

  I have (when they eventually post) got an extra 2,500 for the gold one from Curry’s. I might potentially hit the recent extra spend target to get another 1,000 MR points and got a 5,000 MR retention bonus a while ago.

  Pushing hard to get myself and my partner to Aus (or NYC / LA / Rio if I can get cheap PE seats). Would love more bonus’s and cash back offers, Although the Rimowa one is basically useless unless you are very loaded…

• Paul says:

  19 Nov19 November 12:34

  Seeing the end of the FTZ around LHR got me to thinking that there was a time when working at Heathrow was a thrill, not a chore. I know, I did it for more than two decades and it was exciting, thrilling even, and relatively well paid. In truth people worked there not for the money but because it was a unique place to work. I was always impressed at the knowledge and commitment of many many people there and their desire to do things right and make the experience of flying as exciting for them as it was for a lot of staff.

  I got out more than 10 years ago when the writing was on the wall. The advent of T5 promised much, delivered some, but was a disaster for working at Heathrow and working for BA. Overnight people were de-skilled, many roles became automated or required very little training and even less knowledge. When staff began to ask me what EDI, GLA, CDG or EWR meant it was clear that golden age was over. Recruitment standards dived, pay rates fell sharply and so people were employed with limited people skills and poorer standards of education. They were no longer required to think, simply press buttons and process the self-loading freight! It’s gotten worse since, as the self-loading freight now check themselves in and tag their bags and literally board themselves. Though they haven’t yet been required to fly the plane.

  Now this is all a rather sweeping generalisation and of course not everyone who works there falls into my cynical category. But there is no doubt that removing individual accountability and decision making, something I resented greatly towards the end of my time, makes for poorer moral and BAwful service. IMHO

  • Zark says:

    19 Nov19 November 12:59

    Paul,
    The relentless ‘progress’ of bureacracy, replacing indvidual accountability and decision making is evident in so many aspects of the times we live in. Sadly I doubt if we are both just being nostalgic.

    • Lady London says:

      19 Nov19 November 13:58

      +1 it’s an overall trend and been going on for much longer than that.

      I’ve been stuck throughout covid and before trying to get straight answers from a financial provider on a core thing in their business. The people are great but they are kept ignorant and given no autonomy by their employer. They seem like they’re punished for anything exceot pressing the button in front of them.

      Since covid started their employer has done nothing to provide them technology and not developed any new ways of working to mitigate this as other companies have. Time to hear back on a simple question has been as much as three weeks, the answer is not provided with context so is incomplete so you have go through the process again because everyone’s working at home, they have no technology or procedure to transfer your call to the responsible team and no access to data by whoever from somewhere (anywhere) in the firm picks up the phone.

      Before companies became like this I could have resolved the whole thing in one 15-20min phone conversation with someone competent. Now covid has let firms like this head for the hills, strip quality out of service to clients and lower what they give to their staff.

      Heathrow sounds similar and I think what has taken me 8 months since covid to so far will end up taking me 10-12. It”s an overall business trend and not limited to overseas call centres now either – which is where this poor quality started to be seen.

      • Nick_C says:

        19 Nov19 November 16:50

        I’ve been surprised by how ill equipped many companies are when it comes to working from home. In a public sector role 25 years ago, we were looking at working from home as a way to reduce costs (while offering flexibility to people with child (or other) care commitments). We set up ADSL connections for staff, and the staff involved were doing work which was measurable. We introduced Document Imaging and Workflow systems and went completely paperless.

        15 years ago, a different public sector organisation I was working for moved away from PCs to thin clients and VOIP telephony. I was able to work from home with full access to the files and systems I had in the office. People calling me got straight through to me on a dedicated line at home, and didn’t know I wasn’t in the office.

        I too have experienced really poor service over the last 8 months. The private sector seems to have lagged behind. Makes you wonder how much these companies have put into contingency planning and business continuity.

        • Lady London says:

          19 Nov19 November 17:24

          Exactly @Nick_C. Large companies I worked for – although always multinationals – had this mostly sorted 10-15 years ago.

• A says:

  19 Nov19 November 12:45

  Having triggered an BAPP 241 – What is the usual wait time before you see it in your Exec club? A few days or that statement period end?

  • Rob says:

    19 Nov19 November 12:48

    A few days. You will get an email but the voucher will be there a few days earlier than that.

    • A says:

      19 Nov19 November 13:35

      okay great thanks, am i also right in assuming it should be 30 months life instead of 24?

      • Anna says:

        19 Nov19 November 13:45

        I think that officially finished in September but a couple of people here have had an extra 6 months. You might get lucky but probably won’t get BA to budge if you don’t!

      • Rob says:

        19 Nov19 November 13:50

        Yes

• Raz says:

  19 Nov19 November 12:54

  hi

  ive been a reader for years my 1st post i am lost with code language being used brighton and beardy via bendy can someone help me crack this

  • Peter K says:

    19 Nov19 November 14:12

    It was written out exactly what they mean in the comments a day or two ago.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    19 Nov19 November 16:40

    Major American company based in Brighton

    Bends can otherwise be known curves.

    What major UK airline is owned by a famously bearded man

  • The Urbanite says:

    19 Nov19 November 17:47

    It will only make sense if;

    a) You know about what rewards credit cards exist

    b) You are into MS

    c) You get the cultural references

    I thought it started as a joke a few months back when someone started using Brighton. Now it seems to have morphed into a fully fledged code with a defined purpose of escaping the attention of the businesses concerned, as if they don’t have employees who can very easily understand it.

    I find it a humorous fixture in this site’s comments, what I don’t get is why it is spreading to other discussion boards!

    • TGLoyalty says:

      19 Nov19 November 19:03

      Of course they have employees who could read every comment and report back but it’s very likely they don’t and they’ll use automated scrapers to look for where their brand is mentioned.

      • Callum says:

        19 Nov19 November 19:27

        Is it? Any competent person in charge of monitoring the internet for potential abuse of their product wouldn’t solely limit themselves to reading automated screen-scraper results.

        Curve, for example, is heavily promoted on this site and discussed extensively every single day. They’re fully aware of what this site is, and what people discuss in the comments. If they actually wanted to stop something, I really don’t think changing the word to “bendy” will fool them!

        The fact they haven’t done anything is presumably because it’s not something they currently care about. In fact, I’m not sure what use screen scraping the internet for the word “curve” would be anyway – that would generate an inordinate amount of content. I’d argue it makes much more sense to just look at the small handful of places this is actually discussed. Perhaps I’m giving them too much credit though!

        • The Urbanite says:

          19 Nov19 November 20:47

          Curve make money on transactional activity so I don’t think they are supremely fussed about being discussed on here!

        • Rob says:

          19 Nov19 November 22:13

          The difference between HfP and, say, HotUKDeals / MSE, is that all senior Amex / BA / Curve / Virgin etc staff read HfP to keep up to date with the industry. I called Amex last week and the guy you answered knew who I was and said all the call centre people in Brighton talk about it.

• James says:

  19 Nov19 November 12:59

  Have people seen details of this new ‘escape pass’ virgin are doing?

  • Rob says:

    19 Nov19 November 13:04

    Yes, seems pointless because it does NOT give you guarantees based on quarantine on arrival. They WILL move you from Barbados to Jamaica if Barbados goes on the UK quarantine list. However, you have no right to a change (read the small print) if Barbados starts to insist on 5 days quarantine locked in your hotel room with a guard outside the door ….

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      19 Nov19 November 14:03

      Good marketing tho…

    • James says:

      19 Nov19 November 14:53

      That’s my thoughts it doesn’t guarantee you anything about the destination it’s probably better to be in control of your destination at the moment

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