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The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 8th December

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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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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.

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.

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General

Comments (296)

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

  • JamesH says:
    8 Dec8 December 05:44

    Just arrived at Waldorf Dubai Palm Jumeirah. The executive lounge/Pearl club reopened yesterday. Website note updated yet but does mean that the half board they offered in absence of the lounge is no longer included. Can take advantage of the 25% off food/drink though.

    • JamesH says:
      8 Dec8 December 05:45

      Not a criticism btw – prefer the lounge personally! More an FYI as I know someone mentioned they were coming next week.

    • Carol says:
      8 Dec8 December 12:33

      I am thinking of booking a trip to Dubai- did you take a PCR test beforehand or on arrival? Thanks

      • Blenz101 says:
        8 Dec8 December 13:02

        Queue was about 20 mins last night for tests on arrival.

        Choice is yours – free test on arrival and quarantine until the result (24 hours) or test in advance with no chance of quarantine.

        If you do test positive then provided your hotel room is suitable you can stay inside at your original hotel, if it isn’t the government will provide one at a cost of $50 a night.

        • Carol says:
          8 Dec8 December 16:53

          Thanks…probably a better idea for me to do it before the flight

          • JamesH says:
            9 Dec9 December 04:00

            I did the test before leaving through the pure health portal. Didn’t want to gamble on the test on arrival as hadn’t read much about it prior to booking my test at home. They barely looked at the docs tbh, could have completely made it up. No queue at immigration either

  • BJ says:
    8 Dec8 December 05:52

    Opportunity to get your furry friends covered is drawing to a close. Like me, some of you might have been giving it a rest since you cancelled your last policies around 6-8 months ago, or you might be one of the hoards of newbies who found HfP this year but have not yet indulged in one of our favourite plays. Anyway, I got y same Polly covered again last night for £4.13 a month (she didn’t die this time, I just fell on hard times and couldn’t afford the premiums).
    https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2020/05/27/tesco-pet-insurance-bonus-clubcard-points/

    • Scott says:
      8 Dec8 December 06:02

      Unfortunately, should you actually get the points for the insurance, it would be far too late to convert them into Avios.
      Whether Virgin miles are a risk worth taking, or if there is anything else left of interest, who knows?
      Could always get a bit of free shipping if the total premiums paid don’t exceed £30.

      • BJ says:
        8 Dec8 December 06:17

        Avios or Virginia miles were never the best use of clubcard points anyway. I will likely use mine for railcards. Hope I will be paying 3 months at the most, and the T&C only require you to keep the policy 35 days, wih be points supposed to arrive within 80 days if my memory serves me right.

  • Kai says:
    8 Dec8 December 07:09

    Hi, I booked a stay at Langley at Marriot.com for a one night stay later this week, I thought I was going to use my platinum card for the £400 offer at check in/check out, but I woke up to a pending transaction from Langley this morning, and not receiving the confirmation letter for redeeming the Marriot offer from Amex, am I going to get my £400 back?

    • G says:
      8 Dec8 December 07:30

      Yes this is just a pre-auth. Make sure you pay at check out with your platinum and you’ll get the credit. Same thing happened to me last week.

    • Stanley says:
      8 Dec8 December 09:31

      Had this at the weekend when we stayed there. Had 2 x £200 pre-auth charged during the stay. At check out, was charged the £405 we spent. the Amex app looked messy -the £200 charges are still pending, but the email arrived 24 hours later and the £400 credit hit my account this morning.

  • Ben says:
    8 Dec8 December 07:32

    Does anyone know if/when HSBC charges show up on the bendy fella?

    • BP says:
      8 Dec8 December 09:38

      I don’t think we are allowed to refer to fellas as bendy these days!

    • Paul says:
      8 Dec8 December 10:11

      On statement – I got stung last month and only realised when statement was issued. However, at just £8 I took my medicine!

  • meta says:
    8 Dec8 December 07:37

    Anyone else having issues with Hilton app. I can’t log in. Tried the usual removing/adding, but didn’t work.

  • Simon says:
    8 Dec8 December 08:05

    Anyone go through Gatwick (North) yesterday/today and can confirm how busy it is?

    • Alex M says:
      8 Dec8 December 11:24

      Flew out from Gatwick N on 2 Dec – there were ca. 6 flights listed on the screens for the whole day – the airport was a ghost town and took 3 minutes to go through security etc. Boots and some other shops were open. There were immigration officers checking passports of many passengers at boarding.

      Came back yesterday – airport was relatively busy but not too bad. Egates closed; took less than 5 minutes to go through passport control. There were LOTS of immigration officers in the corridors, checking passports and asking questions. I made a mistake of making an eye contact with one of them, so I was pulled and asked some silly questions (after I showed him my British passport), like – what do I do in the UK. I think it was more to see my reaction.

      Locator form was checked at passport control AND prior to it by a policeman (albeit only briefly). The most interesting bit was after passport control – every other passenger’s suitcases were opened and manually checked at the exit – never saw so many immigration staff in any of the UK airports before. I think they are toughening up prior to the Brexit.

  • Elaine J. says:
    8 Dec8 December 08:06

    Not fair that you can only enter today’s competition on Instagram! It should be open to everybody. I have never used Instagram or any social media. Wouldn’t know how to. It’s probably an age thing, so this is discrimination!

    • Colin MacKinnon says:
      8 Dec8 December 08:11

      I’ve never been to jail either – but I don’t view that as discrimination!

      To me, Instagram is just another form of social media punishment!

    • Erico1875 says:
      8 Dec8 December 08:20

      It’s not discrimination. Open an account. It’s free.. if you can post a comment on HFP , I’m sure you will manage Instagram

      • RussellH says:
        8 Dec8 December 10:36

        It is not free, just that no money changes hands if you were to open an a/c.
        You pay in personal data instead.
        I guess that if you really wanted to enter the competition, you could open an a/c on Thursday night, click the links, then close the account again first thing Saturday after your entry has been passed to HfP.
        As I have no interest in BA crockery, not being able to enter does not bother me.
        Even if I were interested, my distaste for anti-social media would override my wish to enter the comp.

    • Phil W says:
      8 Dec8 December 08:39

      They’ve clearly said it’s a test. If you have such a level of entitlement that you get upset at not participating in a HfP competition, good luck for your feelings with the roll out of the vaccine!

    • Peter K says:
      8 Dec8 December 08:41

      It’s annoying (I’m not on instagram) but it’s not worth getting anyone’s knickers on a twist about.

    • Vit says:
      8 Dec8 December 09:11

      oh dear…

    • Super Secret Stuff says:
      8 Dec8 December 09:54

      They’re running it as an experiment, probably to see if it drives readership.

      Also, it isn’t discrimination if you have the choice to join and you don’t. That is your choice

    • yorkieflyer says:
      8 Dec8 December 15:38

      I agree, wouldn’t want anything to do with Instagram, it’s not like I’m a teenager….

  • Barneyb says:
    8 Dec8 December 08:14

    Does anyone know if transferring points between two Eurostar accounts is enough to restart the 2 year expiry for both accounts?
    Thanks

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

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