Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The HfP chat thread – Sunday 22nd November

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

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.

HFP-Wordmark-Black

Please only comment under the main articles on the site if your comment is directly related to the topic of the article.  This has long-term benefits as it keeps the commentary relevant for people who read those articles in the future.

By default, HfP shows the last page of comments under the article.  If you want to see the first page of comments and read them all from beginning to end in order, click here: https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2020/11/22/the-hfp-chat-thread-sunday-22nd-november/comment-page-1.  The page will refresh with this article but the comments will now show the first page and not the last page.

Old chat threads are hidden from the HfP home page.  If you want to look for something in an old thread, click here.  This brings up all the articles in our ‘General’ category which includes the chat threads.

Category

General

Comments (213)

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

  • Alan says:
    22 Nov22 November 13:06

    They had a John Lewis £100 off on Plat recently, although not sure if it’s expired or not? I used it to buy a Pixel 5. Got Bose QC35 IIs via the Google offer too.

  • Laura says:
    22 Nov22 November 13:16

    Hi!

    Can anyone recommend a company for private PCR testing in the east Midlands? I’m in easy reach of Leicester, Nottingham, Loughborough, Oakham and Grantham.

    I’m traveling to Cyprus (hopefully) on December 22nd which is a Tuesday and the flight is at 12noon.
    I think I can have the test 72 hours before travel (rather than arrival) so needs to be somewhere available on a Saturday afternoon or Sunday, ideally.

    Thank you!

    • Sandra says:
      22 Nov22 November 13:37

      I think you need to double check that nearer the time and before booking your test as Cyprus did require the test to be within 72 of arrival so that it’s still valid when you land. If your flight is 12 noon and the average circa 5 hours plus time difference of 2 hours you need it to be be valid until at least 1930 – 2000 on arrival day.

      • Laura says:
        22 Nov22 November 17:07

        Thank you, will double check that. I read the gov.uk site and it seemed to be that it was 72 hours of travel but knowing how the government have handled everything else it definitely makes sense to double check with Cypriot sources!

      • Laura says:
        22 Nov22 November 17:20

        Hi, I’ve double checked and it’s definitely 72 hours before departure because you have to submit your results to get a flight pass from Cyprus before departure

  • Sandgrounder says:
    22 Nov22 November 13:30

    Of course it is up to you, but https://cyprusflightpass.gov.cy/en/faqs under ‘Clarifications regarding flights from the UK to Cyprus as from 01/08/2020’ specifically states NHS tests are valid. Just saying…..

    • Laura says:
      22 Nov22 November 17:06

      I had thought about that, but my most recent test (I do the symptom tracker app and they have asked me to do 4 tests so far!) Took ages to get the results. Posted on Monday and didn’t get the results until Thursday, so it makes them a bit risky

      • Sandgrounder says:
        22 Nov22 November 17:35

        It is true. My mother had 3 unclear tests in a row, amd they lost one of mine and I couldn’t chase it up for five days. Thr window is very tight.

  • Tom says:
    22 Nov22 November 14:18

    Apologies in advance to those who don’t like anything that isn’t travel related.

    I have checked my credit file and there is an account that is showing as Suppressed. Does anyone know what causes this and what effect it has on my file? The account was one that I had a disputed default on (utility provider who decided to send an updated bill to old address after telling them I had moved) but they were having none of it – their final response was tough luck really.

    • Sandgrounder says:
      22 Nov22 November 14:51

      As far as I know, it is suppressed from view and can’t be seen by others when you apply for credit.

  • xcalx says:
    22 Nov22 November 14:36

    Is it still possible to transfer under 3000 accor points to Iberia. I just read Robs 2015 article but the linked page didn’t come up.

  • marcw says:
    22 Nov22 November 14:57

    It seems BA is going to launch Dhaka from Mach 21. Tickets not on sale yet.

  • Chris K says:
    22 Nov22 November 15:10

    My Curve expires end of December. Any idea when I should be expecting a replacement to arrive? I’m assuming it should happen automatically.

    • Anna says:
      22 Nov22 November 15:25

      Mine is January and no sign of a replacement yet, I’m hoping it will turn up next month! Ditto my HH visa … 😬

      • LST says:
        22 Nov22 November 15:31

        How do you find using curve? My experience so far has been diabolical. One transaction has gone through (to pay the council) apart from that all transactions declined – amounts range from £1.20 to £175.00. It’s not much use if I can’t use it….

        • the_real_a says:
          22 Nov22 November 15:51

          Ive used curve for 3 years. Most of the issues are not Curve but the underlying card. If you imagine to the underlying card you are making tens/hundreds of transactions to the same merchant it often flags as unusual or fraud. Phoning up the fraud department, confirming the merchant (“whitelisting”) generally means no further issues for the life of the card.

          And dont forget many of the complaints come from people trying to manufacture spend – by people who have zero knowledge or experience of doing this in the past and inevitably start to hit KYC and maximum limits all over the place.

          • LST says:
            22 Nov22 November 16:20

            Thanks. I’m not interested in MS, wanted to use it to eventually pay HMRC and avoid FX fees mostly, but it’s been a frustrating experience so far.

          • Mikeact says:
            22 Nov22 November 16:39

            I’ve had it since day one…only one resolved issue…a double payment taken by a retailer in Vienna. And I’ve been fortunate to use it at many places around the world….certainly wouldn’t travel without it, with back-up cards of course.
            Still miss Supercard though !

  • Stan says:
    22 Nov22 November 15:20

    Has anyone re-received 5000 welcome miles after cancelling and reapplying for miles and more credit card?

    • Rob says:
      22 Nov22 November 16:17

      I don’t know anyone who tried. In any event, it MIGHT work now, because the new card – launching in Summer 2021 – has a different issuer.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        22 Nov22 November 18:16

        Didn’t realise they were dropping cornercard. Hope that doesn’t mean our old cards are coming to an end and that we will be able to hold two!

        • Rob says:
          22 Nov22 November 19:12

          They are not dropping Cornercard, they are dropping Affiniture. Cornercard will be running it directly now. No Diners element.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Learn more on our About page.

VAA

Latest comments

Latest Forum Posts

Get 30,000 points bonus with American Express Platinum

Amex Gold

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.3 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

Get 20,000 bonus points and your first year free with American Express Gold

Amex Gold