The HfP chat thread – Monday 21st December

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Max says:

21 Dec21 December 16:29

Spain is banning non-Spanish citizens/residents from flying in from the UK, but what about if you hold other EU nationality, eg. French or German, would they let you in?
- Anna says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 16:42
  
  You’d still be “non-Spanish” …
  - Max says:
    
    21 Dec21 December 17:19
    
    But under Schengen and EU freedom of movement rules, EU citizens can travel into EU countries?
    - Anna says:
      
      21 Dec21 December 17:24
      
      Not if they’ve closed their individual borders – have you not been following the news for the past 9 months?!
      - Max says:
        
        21 Dec21 December 17:26
        
        A German citizen can still fly from Germany into Spain. So one would assume a German citizen could fly into Spain from the UK.
      - Anna says:
        
        21 Dec21 December 17:28
        
        It’s not about what nationality you are, it’s about where you’re coming from, in this instance.
      - RussellH says:
        
        21 Dec21 December 17:35
        
        If Spain has closed its borders to non-residents and non-Spanish citizens, then I would expect the airline to deny boarding to a German citizen. If they did not, I would still expect there to be Guardia Civil personnel checking passenger’s ID as they come off the plane. When travelling within Schengen one is supposed to always have ID on you, just in case. And Germans are required to have ID on them at all times, wherever they are, as far as I know. Certainly in my younger days I was frequently asked for my Ausweis by German police.
    - RussellH says:
      
      21 Dec21 December 17:25
      
      In normal times, yes Schengen citizens (not EU) have free movement within the Schengen Zone.
      But individual countries within Schegen have always had the right to set up temporary restrictions in exceptional circumstances.
  - Chris Heyes says:
    
    21 Dec21 December 23:35
    
    lol I’m non-Spanish as well (i think) lol
- Pangolin says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 17:10
  
  So they’re banning non-Spanish who have permanent residency in Spain?
  
  That seems extreme.
  - Optimus Prime says:
    
    21 Dec21 December 17:13
    
    No, they’re not banning residents.
  - Josh says:
    
    21 Dec21 December 17:25
    
    Banning anyone who isn’t a Spanish national or resident.
    - Bill says:
      
      21 Dec21 December 19:55
      
      Sadly some people can’t read
      - Jake says:
        
        22 Dec22 December 02:17
        
        Funniest thread in a good while!
      - Pangolin says:
        
        22 Dec22 December 11:58
        
        Some people can’t write. He should have said “banning non-Spanish citizens and non-residents.”
        Saying “banning non-Spanish citizens/residents” is semantically equivalent to saying “banning non-Spanish citizens and non-Spanish residents”. Which is of course an incorrect statement.
Alastair says:

21 Dec21 December 16:58

Hilton Honors points not credited. Can anyone provide an email address I can use to get this sorted out?
I had a workspace room last week, but it shows in the app as cancelled rather than completed.
- Pangolin says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 17:12
  
  Sending a DM to Hilton Honors via Twitter is the quickest and easiest way to sort this kind of thing out, IME.
- Rob says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 17:58
  
  This EXACT same thing happened to Rhys. Drop him an email but I think he did it via the normal retroclaim process.
- JAD says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 21:16
  
  I’ve had to call HH twice to get workspace rooms I’ve used credited. HH CSA ended up having to speak to the hotel while I was on hold to confirm that the ‘cancelled stay’ was actually a paid for stay. Got sorted in the end though. Good luck!
Will says:

21 Dec21 December 17:03

HK banned UK flights today until 10 Jan. we have spent hours arranging flights LHR-HKG-AKL (2 week quarantine) for my wife to visit her father back in NZ (after his UK trip was cancelled in the summer, haven’t sen him for 2 years, he’s 91 and safe in a home) and that has now been cancelled – it’s AA redemption issued onto CX flights. Is AA responsible for offering a reroute on any other airlines, not just partner airlines, and perhaps multiple sectors (we already had a rebooking due to HKG-CHC being cancelled, I asked them to approach CX to change to AKL which I could see had redemption available – the time it won’t be Cathay.) Due to NZ quarantine availability it has to be same date of arrival or it gets even harder.
- memesweeper says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 18:01
  
  Yes , AA is responsible. Research available options before calling .
  - Will says:
    
    22 Dec22 December 10:00
    
    when you say available, is it any seat available regardless of ticket bucket? thanks
Mike says:

21 Dec21 December 17:15

Anyone have any experience with MrPorter? How long do they take to charge the card?
- Andrew says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 17:19
  
  I was wondering the same at the weekend but in the end decided not to risk the charge not going through in time to trigger the offer by tomorrow as they are warning about delays on their site.
- dezbez says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 17:30
  
  Generally pretty good/ quick in my experience – 2 or 3 days I think. That said, I’ve never done it over Xmas so might be longer. You can pay extra for next day delivery I think so that might speed up processing.
- Harry T says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 18:23
  
  Can take up to a week or so during busy periods. They are also very slow with refunds at the moment.
  - Nigel W says:
    
    21 Dec21 December 22:45
    
    Can back up Harry T with slow refunds. Took nearly 2 months to get one such refund earlier this year!
mr_jetlag says:

21 Dec21 December 17:32

phew. The comments this weekend and today…

Anyway, how did everyone make out on Shop Small this season? I came within a hair of £50 on two of my cards but only because I forgot them Saturday on a frantic dash for booze before Lockdown part 3. Have Baileys, various ports, and a whisky to insulate me from all the drama this week.
- RussellH says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 17:42
  
  Was going fine until the weekend.
  Saturday my partner found that she had the IHG card in her pocket instead of her Amex, while the shop I went to had pretty much sold out of everything.
  Sunday we had lunch booked in a well recommended, but so far not tried, pub, only to find that they had closed down the day before as one staff member had tested +ve.
- Aston100 says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 18:55
  
  In the summer, I did £45 per card.
  This time round, I managed £5 per card.
  Mostly because there were less places open (I did mostly restaurants during the eat out to help out thing, for that sweet sweet double dip).
  Also, limited amount of time.
- AJA says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 19:05
  
  I managed a miserable single £5! One place that took it in the summer didn’t participate even though they still accept Amex. Another place didn’t credit and I can’t be bothered to chase. And another that used to take Amex has stopped doing so. Even so that would only have been 4 places.
  - Nick says:
    
    21 Dec21 December 19:30
    
    I made a respectable 6 on one card and 2 on another, I don’t normally get anywhere near that high (summer was 2 or 3 I think), so I’d call it a success. Plus an extra one I need to chase Amex for because the merchant was playing funny business with stickers and squared (see comments passim).
    - AJA says:
      
      21 Dec21 December 19:38
      
      Well done you! I hope that for Amex it was worthwhile. Much as I managed not to take much advantage this time I do hope the scheme returns in 2021 in better times hopefully.
      - Andrew says:
        
        21 Dec21 December 19:47
        
        I did 1x£5 too! Every year it gets more and more difficult to find anywhere and of course this winter one was the worst yet through no fault of Amex of course.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    21 Dec21 December 19:56
    
    £5 here too. Miserable.
    
    I’m hoping for another post lockdown v4 version where everywhere is actually open.
- rams1981 says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 21:18
  
  I managed to use 10x our 4 cards. Luckily a lot of places within a reasonable walking distance
  - Liz says:
    
    21 Dec21 December 22:36
    
    I did 70 transactions across 7 cards in the summer and managed 50 transactions on our current lot of 5 cards. Lots of vouchers bought for hubby’s whisky, cheese vouchers, cafe vouchers to use in the new year, all my greetings cards for next year, lots of stir fries and fish in the freezer and bird seed from the pet shop! Love small shop! Only one £5 left to credit.
    - Polly says:
      
      21 Dec21 December 23:46
      
      Did about across several cards..again, restaurant vouchers for jan Feb March, stamps, Cook x 12, wine, good stash this time too.
      - Polly says:
        
        21 Dec21 December 23:47
        
        Even my dentist! Got credits x 10 for next visit..
- Lashious says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 23:04
  
  5 on each card. In the end the weather was miserable and dark so we went to a wine bar and spent everything I will be credited. First world efforts. Yummy lamb rack though
  - mr_jetlag says:
    
    21 Dec21 December 23:12
    
    Good efforts. Final tally for me was 45/45/20/10 so averaged 30/card which isn’t bad.
- Crafty says:
  
  26 Dec26 December 08:53
  
  We found it frustrating. My wife proudly told me she’d done about 4 Shop Small transactions on her Platinum Supp, however that’s the only one of our cards that’s being inexplicably left out of all marketing, so of course we didn’t get the credits.
dezbez says:

21 Dec21 December 17:37

Does anyone have any tips/recommendations for a good value London hotel? Looking at a Saturday night early September- Hiltons, IHGs & Marriotts typically coming out about c£400 which I’m not prepared to pay. And point amounts equally high.
I want to be reasonably central but happy to compromise on this to get a better deal.
TIA
- Harry T says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 17:49
  
  Depends on your budget! Value is not necessarily related to price.
- Rob says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 17:57
  
  Unless there is some mega event on, I would leave it until MUCH nearer the time when you should be able to pick something up cheaply.
  
  Not sure what you mean about points levels being equally high, however. The price is the price (except with Accor) except when it is less than the price and the points level drops at IHG and Hilton.
- The Savage Squirrel says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 20:07
  
  Rather a vague question!
  Without literally nothing to go on – location, budget, required luxury level, other than “good value” then, well, Premier Inn will do you a weekend hotel room in quite a few central london locations in Sept for £80ish at the moment which seems very decent, and you’ll know exactly what to expect of the product 😀
memesweeper says:

21 Dec21 December 18:03

UK travellers banned from 40 countries, and counting: https://english.alarabiya.net/en/amp/coronavirus/2020/12/21/Coronavirus-new-mutation-More-than-40-countries-ban-travelers-from-UK
- Mike says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 18:06
  
  It is about time the UK started banning incoming travelers too – this is a pull up the drawbridge time
  - Nick_C says:
    
    21 Dec21 December 18:19
    
    No one with any sense would be making a non essential journey to the UK right now.
    
    Many of the bans are on flights rather than people, so should protect some of those who need protecting.
Simon says:

21 Dec21 December 18:08

I just arrived at LHR and between dropping my bag and arriving at the lounge, my flight to Stockholm was canceled. These are insane times.
- Nick_C says:
  
  21 Dec21 December 18:17
  
  We’ve been in insane times for more than nine months Simon, although if you booked your flight before March then you have my sympathy. Enjoy the lounge.
  - Simon says:
    
    21 Dec21 December 19:24
    
    I wanted to spend Christmas with my husband you fool but don’t let that get in the way of your superiority complex.
    - Josh says:
      
      21 Dec21 December 19:31
      
      I suppose the food section of Ikea is still open to buy some Swedish meatballs as comfort food.
    - Jake says:
      
      21 Dec21 December 19:48
      
      Half the country wants to spend Christmas with their close family but can’t. Welcome to Xmas 2020.
      - Harry T says:
        
        21 Dec21 December 20:24
        
        Lol indeed. Everyone has been shafted this year. No one is special.
      - Sloth says:
        
        21 Dec21 December 20:40
        
        Unfortunately there’s plenty on here who think they are…
    - Olly says:
      
      21 Dec21 December 20:37
      
      @Simon…no need for that to Nick_C even if stressed at not being able to meet your spouse. Well out of order. All bets have been off for travel this year and cancellations should be expected, no matter how frustrating.
      - Nick says:
        
        21 Dec21 December 22:47
        
        Also very fair. I could stretch the rules and go and see my family this week… could even fly up and throw in a lounge visit for lolz… but am not going to, I’m going to spend Christmas entirely alone. It’s just the right thing to do. More people need to wake up to that… and fast.