The HfP chat thread – Monday 14th December

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

• Swad Wolf says:

  14 Dec14 December 15:22

  IHG Spire Elite question – I have just reached Spire status. Are they still offering 25,000 bonus points for reaching Spire and if yes, how do you get them credited to your account? Thanks

  • xcalx says:

    14 Dec14 December 15:30

    Log into your account.. You will see the 25k points offer or gift status offer click on the points and they hit the account instantly.

    • Phil says:

      14 Dec14 December 16:24

      You’ll need to log-in to the Desktop site and navigate to Explore Your Benefits.

      • Swad Wolf says:

        15 Dec15 December 13:23

        Thanks to you both for that, much appreciated.

• Andrew says:

  14 Dec14 December 15:36

  London will move into England’s highest tier of coronavirus restrictions from 00:01 GMT on Wednesday, MPs have been told.
  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55306928

  Get your restaurant meals in today and tomorrow!

  • James says:

    15 Dec15 December 11:55

    Or have some common sense and, for the greater good and coming out of this sh*tshow sooner, stay at home.

• Navara says:

  14 Dec14 December 15:41

  “Get your restaurant meals in today and tomorrow!”
  The exact reason tier changes need to be immediate to have maximum effect

  • Andrew says:

    14 Dec14 December 15:46

    Indeed

  • TGLoyalty says:

    14 Dec14 December 15:50

    Disagree. Plans have to be made for these businesses to shut. There is lots of fresh food which wold otherwise be a huge waste and a cost these businesses can no longer bare etc

    • Anna says:

      14 Dec14 December 15:53

      I’m sure piling into shops, hairdressers, schools and gyms (which can continue) is having a worse impact that sitting in a restaurant.
      Hopefully there will be some capacity to move to take away services , this has made life a bit more pleasant up here. I can’t for the life of me understand how the country is going to be able to afford this.

      • marcw says:

        14 Dec14 December 15:58

        The tories discovered the magic money tree.

      • Navara says:

        14 Dec14 December 16:04

        “Hopefully there will be some capacity to move to take away services , this has made life a bit more pleasant up here.”
        Anna
        You make it sound like we don’t have cookers up north 😉
        Although I have passed plenty of road kill on the way home

        • Anna says:

          14 Dec14 December 16:19

          Navara, we are all so fed up with cooking! Having not been able to eat at anyone else’s house since March, a night off cooking and clearing up feels like 5* luxury just now 🤣

      • Harry T says:

        14 Dec14 December 16:35

        No good evidence to suggest significant transmission in non essential retail or gyms.

        • Anna says:

          14 Dec14 December 16:43

          But are you saying there is for restaurants? It just seems illogical to exclude them if not. Also with hotels, its’ entirely possible to be socially distant from anyone not part of your household – you’ve stayed in plenty recently, Harry, what do you think?!

        • TGLoyalty says:

          14 Dec14 December 17:19

          @Anna no but closing hotels, bars, pubs and restaurants starts to limit movement. Which is all they are really trying to achieve. Keep you home as much as possible.

          What we actually know is that it spreads indoors rather than outdoor (extremely low risk)

          It spreads far more where there is low ventilation (fresh air) than where there is lots of ventilation.

          Same way going to watch the football isn’t the problem in itself but you get there via public transport, share lifts with people from other households, perhaps go to the pub, are funnelled through tight enclosed spaces to get in etc etc

        • Anna says:

          14 Dec14 December 17:44

          But TG, the amount of movement generated by people going to hotels and restaurants must be minuscule compared with the numbers going shopping, and then to hairdressers and gyms on top of that. My hairdresser re-opened after lockdown then had to close after a customer who had her hair done on the first day of opening tested positive! Yet I know of no one who’s been contacted by track and trace after having a meal out when the restaurants were open.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          14 Dec14 December 18:22

          I don’t disagree. It’s all nonsense.

        • Brian says:

          14 Dec14 December 18:22

          Are you basing this on the test and trace data? (Lol)

          (I’m not saying there is any evidence by the way as I don’t know, but the test and trace data is a waste of time)

        • Lady London says:

          14 Dec14 December 18:39

          but lots of evidence on transmission between people crowded into entertainment venues and pubs.

      • Genghis says:

        14 Dec14 December 16:58

        Interest rates v low / negative. Inflate the debt away. Bond holders (ie pension funds) worse off in long term.

    • James says:

      15 Dec15 December 11:57

      They can sell their excess food via takeaway, better donate it to a homeless shelter.

  • marcw says:

    14 Dec14 December 15:51

    That’s what’s happening here in The Netherlands. New lockdown from midnight.

• John says:

  14 Dec14 December 15:52

  Spoke to advisor re the Test to Release scheme as still no providers shown and unable to opt in on the locator form. All you need should be on from 4am tomorrow he said! So where on website it says the providers will be provided shortly before scheme starts, they are really being literal!!!

  My flight in leaves at 8am so I hope will work!!!

  • TGLoyalty says:

    14 Dec14 December 18:52

    Your flight leaves at 8am? It arrives in England?

    You can resubmit the form and take part in the T&R process later so doesn’t have to be when you land.

    • John says:

      15 Dec15 December 01:37

      Managed to do it just after midnight! About 10 providers listed with half saying “come back soon when we are ready!”
      One provider stating they want taking off the list already as being inundated with calls and emails!
      The first day I should be able to get tested is next Sunday which none near me (Manchester) offer a service for, so in effect it will be 6 days until tested which, once the result is back, will be 8-9 days! If wait 10 days no test needed!!!

• Lol says:

  14 Dec14 December 16:23

  Sorry to ask something mentioned in the past but I failed to find it when searching. I’ve just closed my BA Amex card and was told that without a BA Amex card I can’t pay the taxes on a previously earned Companion Voucher. I’m sure I’ve seen on HfP that any Amex is OK even in someone else’s name. I do have the Amex Reward card and my wife has the Amex Gold card. It would be good to hear that confirmed here though.

  • Harry T says:

    14 Dec14 December 16:36

    You just any Amex card to pay the taxes. My last companion voucher booking was paid with my Amex gold card. I no longer held the BAPP.

    • Harry T says:

      14 Dec14 December 16:36

      And this was in October!

      • Lol says:

        14 Dec14 December 20:13

        Thanks. You’ve put my mind at rest!

  • Anna says:

    14 Dec14 December 16:48

    I always pay the taxes on award bookings with whichever Amex I get the best return on at that time. It’s usually one of our BAPPs because of the triple avios, but I’ve occasionally used a gold or even the now-defunct Lloyds one when I was trying to hit the spend for the upgrade voucher.

  • Jane says:

    14 Dec14 December 16:53

    I’ve been worrying about this too as flights booked in August (2-4-1 with return added on later) still haven’t been charged for the return leg and the BA amex is cancelled – whilst I know I’ve paid before on a different card to the one with the 2-4-1 when BA called to get more information to try to take the charge they said it had to be that one ! that was October and I’m still waiting to see what happens.

    • Harry T says:

      14 Dec14 December 17:14

      BA don’t care which card you use.

      • Anna says:

        14 Dec14 December 17:46

        No – the fun starts when you or BA cancel and you have to guess which closed card the money is coming back to!

  • Genghis says:

    14 Dec14 December 17:01

    Nothing to worry about. I paid 241 taxes with a friend’s Amex when wife and I got banned by Amex and couldn’t get cards.

    • sloth says:

      14 Dec14 December 17:25

      impressive getting your wife banned as well as yourself…;)

      • Genghis says:

        14 Dec14 December 19:20

        She understands the risk of what I do and enjoys the benefits. I was just a naughty boy. I am now a customer and I’m a reformed convict in Amex’s eyes; well kind of.

    • Matt says:

      14 Dec14 December 17:46

      What did you do to get banned? Is that still the case?

      • Anna says:

        14 Dec14 December 18:35

        I think Ghengis is good at getting himself re-admitted to these things!

    • Lady London says:

      14 Dec14 December 18:43

      must have been quite sticky

    • Charlieface says:

      14 Dec14 December 21:46

      I thought he got banned because of MS, or was it Shop Small abuse? (or both at the same time!!)

• aDifferentSimon says:

  14 Dec14 December 16:49

  Here, have a laugh – I got the anniversary date wrong on my virgin credit card (fee free), 2 months earlier than I thought. I put through £19,999.80. No voucher awarded!

  • Rhys says:

    14 Dec14 December 16:51

    What did you buy?!

    • Holam says:

      14 Dec14 December 17:05

      a few bonds by any chance 😂

      • aDifferentSimon says:

        14 Dec14 December 17:13

        That was the annual total, not in a month. I stopped using the card with a plan to tock over the 20k near the year end but messed up and missed it! (no nsi or tax! )

  • TGLoyalty says:

    14 Dec14 December 17:22

    Oh no! One of those life lessons I guess.

    I get you were going to tick it over close to anniversary date but Here’s a tip NEVER only spend just what it takes to hit your bonus. Last min refunds etc can really mess it up

  • Doug M says:

    14 Dec14 December 17:46

    That really sucks, worth a phone call to ask?

  • Jonathan says:

    14 Dec14 December 18:14

    I don’t think there’s any easy way of tracking how much you’ve spent that qualifies as spend towards the voucher with Virgin, and when annual timer resets itself, can anyone confirm this at all?
    When I say qualifying spend, transactions like interest, late payment fees etc. are usually almost always excluded, and general charges to the account that are also excluded from having the right to earn the cards rewards like with just about all credit cards

  • Lady London says:

    14 Dec14 December 18:43

    Noooooooo !!

  • Mike says:

    14 Dec14 December 18:50

    Does Virgin work for Bendy and to pay HL?

    • aDifferentSimon says:

      14 Dec14 December 21:03

      I’ve never tried but hazard a guess of “not since about October when things seemed to tighten up at virgin”

• KP says:

  14 Dec14 December 16:58

  Will the Plaza lounge in LHR T5 be open after Wednesday for Beer and food after the new restrictions.

  • Rob says:

    14 Dec14 December 17:04

    Not clear. Lounges CAN open but the operators don’t seem to take advantage of it.

• Singleton says:

  14 Dec14 December 17:22

  Is there a mechanism to report people who are not self isolating even though they’ve been advised to by the NHS app?

  • Andrew says:

    14 Dec14 December 17:43

    There is no legal requirement to self isolate if the app alone has told you to self-isolate, so not really any reporting mechanism. If they have been informed to self-isolate by Track and Trace then, yes, the Police by calling 101.

  • Jack says:

    14 Dec14 December 17:46

    Get a life?

    • meta says:

      14 Dec14 December 17:52

      No, unfortunately not. I tried reporting a beauty salon which was open near my house during this lockdown. They were operating discreetly with curtains down and people queuing at the back entrance. Police said they are not going to enforce it and the council didn’t care either. It seems a few cases in the media are only for the optics. No wonder cases are growing!

      • Anna says:

        14 Dec14 December 18:38

        That’s a disgrace on both counts, I would have gone to the media! It’s a serious breach of health and safety and you can only wonder what other corners they cut (or varnish).

        • Anna says:

          14 Dec14 December 18:39

          The therapist probably wouldn’t have been insured either so if they injured someone the client would have no comeback.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          14 Dec14 December 19:24

          It’s clear both are breaking the law so there shouldn’t be any expectation of insurance / come backs.

        • Anna says:

          14 Dec14 December 19:45

          TG – they won’t even have consider it until their lip fillers go horribly wrong and they’re left looking like a Spitting Image puppet of Mick Jagger (though actually this look seems quite fashionable these days).

        • Anna says:

          14 Dec14 December 19:50

          Though I think only the therapist would be breaking the law – it’s not illegal to have a beauty treatment, only to operate such services.

        • meta says:

          14 Dec14 December 20:39

          I tried going to media, but local journos were too lazy to check it out. And the salon was trying to be clever by operating a few hours a day. This is what happens when there is no enforcement and messages from authorities are not clear or too complex.

          I honestly give up with this minority of people who think they’re above. I stopped going to my local Coop as well as the staff never wore masks.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          14 Dec14 December 20:39

          I believe the Nov SI was written as such that both were breaking it.

          De facto you were with someone else outside your household indoors without a reasonable excuse and that was an offence you could be fined for.

        • Lady London says:

          14 Dec14 December 23:32

          @Anna miaow

    • Nick_C says:

      14 Dec14 December 20:26

      I think Singleton has a life, and hopes to retain it for as long as possible. People disobeying the law and spreading Covid puts lives at risk. We should all be reporting criminal behaviour to the Police.

      • meta says:

        14 Dec14 December 20:40

        The problem is you report it and the officer says I’m not authorised to enforce it.

        • Anna says:

          14 Dec14 December 21:40

          As in the officer was not authorised? Rubbish.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    14 Dec14 December 17:52

    How can you report someone for not following advice?

    As said only legal if T&T formally contact them.

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