The HfP chat thread – Thursday 3rd December

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Ri says:

3 Dec3 December 14:35

Shop small offer is back from 5 dec to 20th dec
- Small Shop says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 14:42
  
  “That’s why from 5 – 20 December 2020 we’ll be giving our Cardmembers £5 back when they spend £10 or more in participating small businesses. Valid once per location, up to 10 times. Get started by logging into your Account below and enrol.”
  
  https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/benefits/shop-small/
  - Jody says:
    
    3 Dec3 December 20:57
    
    I can’t enrol, when I click the link and log in there is no sign of it on my account. Hopefully it will appear tomorrow?
- Rhys says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 15:07
  
  We’re embargoed until tomorrow…
  - Small Shop says:
    
    3 Dec3 December 15:14
    
    I’m not, so I can say that the map has some changes form last year.
    
    Some of my previous fave merchants are gone, but there are several new ones.
    
    Anyone who found little use last time should check the map again.
    - Holam says:
      
      3 Dec3 December 15:42
      
      as long as the usual oyster top up shops are on, all good
      - Genghis says:
        
        3 Dec3 December 16:11
        
        Good luck with the top ups. Too high risk for me now.
  - Charlieface says:
    
    3 Dec3 December 20:54
    
    It’s on the website and on MSW, how can it be embargoed
- Vit says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 15:09
  
  Yessss! we are running out of rice — will stocking up now!
  - sloth says:
    
    3 Dec3 December 15:15
    
    im waiting to stock up on parmesan! ha
- stevenhp1987 says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 15:27
  
  And I was going to be healthy this month…
  
  Best dust off my Shop Small spreadsheet of local restaurants/takeaways that accept Amex!
- Holam says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 15:41
  
  brilliant!
- Kevin says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 23:24
  
  None of my card got small shop despite keep an eye for the last few days
Liz says:

3 Dec3 December 14:59

Is anyone else having issues with the Curve/Amazon offer. I have tried to top up my Amazon account with £100 with my Curve card which is already linked to my account. First attempt was declined, 2nd attempt is still processing after 40 mins.
- FFoxSake says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 15:13
  
  No trouble here – Free (blue) Curve backed with IHG, £100 amazon top-up accepted first time, then payment taken and Amazon giftcard balance increased 5 minutes later after processing at Amazon.
  - Liz says:
    
    3 Dec3 December 15:37
    
    Still showing as processing but not declined this time. It normally takes 5 mins when I top up with my Amex.
    - d4ve says:
      
      3 Dec3 December 15:42
      
      Mine took a while to process. More like 60 mins rather than the normal 2 or 3.
      - Liz says:
        
        3 Dec3 December 15:59
        
        Finally been applied! Took over an hour. Thanks everyone!
- Jane says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 15:37
  
  Managed to top up OK but then realised I wasn’t registered fur curve cash for amazon (or anything else for that matter!) – tried to register but although I can tick companies the ‘next’ button is not working so it doesn’t save. have uninstalled and put it back on again – any bright ideas before I give up ?
  - kevbar says:
    
    3 Dec3 December 16:46
    
    I had to select 6 companies before the Next button would work….
    - Jane says:
      
      3 Dec3 December 17:00
      
      Genius ! Thank you. I didn’t spot the extra boxes and thought I could only have 4. Now I’m going to have to top amazon up again…..
      - Raj says:
        
        3 Dec3 December 17:08
        
        Thanks for the tip, Kevbar, and the question, Jane. I was having the same issue as well. I thought I was only allowed to have 3 retailers added to my Curve Cash. Added six as you suggested, and it’s worked. Now I’ll be heading to Amazon to top up like everyone else here… Cheers for the tip and enjoy getting your Christmas gifts!
      - TGLoyalty says:
        
        3 Dec3 December 22:19
        
        You don’t have to have Amazon as one of your cash back retailers to get the £10 back!
- Mark says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 15:53
  
  I had a call from Amazon, asking me if I had put the transaction through myself, and if so, whether someone online had asked me to buy them a gift card. I confirmed it was legitimate and the transaction went through immediately afterwards.
  My guess is that Amazon are seeing so many gift card purchases/top-ups for exactly £100 that it’s triggering their fraud alert system…
Vit says:

3 Dec3 December 15:16

Some great J fares from the UK (SWISS/Lufthansa). Less than £900 for anyone looking for alternative of BA/EK to Dubai this winter.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 16:06
  
  transit in germany or switzerland on the way back will mean you need to quarantine
  
  defeats the object of the corridor
  - SteveD says:
    
    3 Dec3 December 23:04
    
    Or maybe not. See Grant Shapps Twitter feed this afternoon. Seems some readers may meet the as yet unannounced criteria.
    Although the twittersphere reckons it must be a hoax, its such an obvious own goal.
Airport worker says:

3 Dec3 December 15:32

Heathrow drop off fee £5 being proposed for next year.

All Heathrow colleagues have just had an email
- Rhys says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 15:54
  
  Yep, we just got a press release!
r* says:

3 Dec3 December 16:03

Im trying to decide between booking BA to china in first or korea in club world as the first stop in a Q4 2021 trip. My preference is china in first but Im not sure if it would be safer in terms of less risk of disruption (ie when will the countries be taking tourists and china needing a visa etc) to fly to korea?

Anyone think that china wont be giving out tourists visas by then? Assuming theres general vaccination rollout by say july in the uk anyway 🙂
- Genghis says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 16:37
  
  Personally, I much prefer Korea to China.
  - Josh says:
    
    3 Dec3 December 19:32
    
    Disagree personally. I thought Seoul was an anti climax but I did go in a particularly frigid December so that may have affected my judgement…
- Vit says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 17:16
  
  Our trip to China early this year was put off, obviously. My partner has been to both, speak mandarin, and prefer China in term of travelling experiences but I doubt Q4 2021 that things will return to 100% normal and if I were to choose one, I think S Korea would give you a better chance to getting in. Are you considering Hong Kong for a few day at least? I’ve got Hong Kong in September and June in Japan but start doubting the latter.
- Lee says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 17:42
  
  China won’t open for 2021 to any visa
  - meta says:
    
    3 Dec3 December 18:44
    
    Reading Japanese newspapers, Japan will apparently open up to foreign visitors for Olympics, not clear if before as Go to Travel campaign (domestic travel stimulus) has been extended to June. They won’t require self-isolation/quarantine, but negative covid test, mandatory download of tracking app and Japanese issued medical covid insurance will be required. This will be maintained after Olympics until the situation is under control globally.
Gormlesstraveller says:

3 Dec3 December 16:10

Does anyone know why there is a revolutionary new card out and any pros/cons of ordering it?
- Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 16:59
  
  Depending on how long you’ve been with them, your old card will be a Mastercard and the new one will be a Visa.
Gormlesstraveller says:

3 Dec3 December 16:21

Does anyone know what happened to the pensioner with the Centurion, hope he’s OK?
- KBuffett says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 16:55
  
  There are a couple of readers who have Centurion.
  It’s not early as inaccessible as one would think. It’s not great value hence the uptake is low. If you’re have good liquid, you can get it easily.
  - Rob says:
    
    3 Dec3 December 18:03
    
    It is simply poor value. There is no way, unlike Platinum, that you can make the benefits stand up.
    - Genghis says:
      
      3 Dec3 December 18:11
      
      Tell that to James Max. The “show off factor” is priceless.
      - Rob says:
        
        3 Dec3 December 20:17
        
        He used to live on my old road – looked like a tramp when you saw him walking around with his dog. Our house was better too 🙂
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      3 Dec3 December 18:45
      
      I believe they actually send centurions more gifts/items and generally more proactive in giving them more value. Still seems like a massive cost for not much benefit.
      - KBuffett says:
        
        3 Dec3 December 19:01
        
        It’s not the annual fee that’s dissuading me, I could perhaps find a way of making that just about work, I think. Emirates Gold, Virgin Gold, Shangri-La Diamond, Melia Platinum, Jumeirah Gold, Hilton Diamond, IHG Elite, It’s the initial sign up fee, which from memory is £4000. I can check if anyone’s interested. Incidentally, the US Dollar and Euro Centurion cards allow 20 supplementary included, the Sterling card only allows 5 cards!
- Lady London says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 21:21
  
  I think he might have become Nigel W ?
Mark says:

3 Dec3 December 16:31

Just had the 1% cash back for last month’s card use put into my account by Mbna Horizon 🙂
- Ryan says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 17:29
  
  1% back? Horizon is 0.5%, did you have an offer?
- Travel Strong says:
  
  3 Dec3 December 19:19
  
  Also interested what you mean here?
  
  I had a message from MBNA last month introducing ‘smart rewards’ that would give you ca$$hback the next month for certain retailers if you registered for the offer (much list halifax, natwest, amex offers). Co-op and Hilton advertised as partners.
  
  …. But no way of registering of seeing it.
  
  According to the letter I just log in and look for ‘Smart Rewards’. But that does not exist, on desktop or mobile app.
  
  Someone also said the other day they had a communication stating 0.5% ca$$hback ends in January – I and others certainly have not had that communicated – but they are clearly playing with Horizon ca$$hback ideas.