The HfP chat thread – Thursday 24th December

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

• Tom says:

  24 Dec24 December 04:54

  Looking at Flightradar24 there are hundreds of international flights going in and out of Australia and NZ. Who is on these flights if their borders are closed? I understand there may be a few nationals returning home.

  • Jon says:

    24 Dec24 December 05:00

    Cargo (but carried on passenger jets)?

  • DT says:

    24 Dec24 December 06:20

    30 passengers per plan maximum, 36,000 Australian Citizens world wide who are registered in wanting to come home are still waiting for a spot

    • DT says:

      24 Dec24 December 06:20

      Per plane*

  • John says:

    24 Dec24 December 06:24

    Many people are travelling to work. Australia has caps on arrivals so most flights are about 10% full. People whose visas are expiring have had to leave. Many NZ residents are allowed to travel to Australia freely, but have to quarantine on the way back.

  • guesswho2000 says:

    24 Dec24 December 09:25

    Cargo, inbound citizens/PR (25-60ish per flight), outbound non-citizens/PR (or citizens/PR with exemptions), inbound/outbound NZ pax, plus anyone with an automatic exemption (various reasons).

• Andrew says:

  24 Dec24 December 07:24

  When they cancel the flight (quite likely) you’d be entitled to a cash refund.

• G says:

  24 Dec24 December 07:51

  Upgraded to Plat card in October and reached the spend target a week ago. Called yesterday and asked about retention offer as unable to use benefits and was offered 35k points (sounded like I was taking to an agent in the us). I accepted and am just waiting for them to post. Not as good as some who reported 50k points but I’m happy with that

  • G says:

    24 Dec24 December 08:00

    Also, I had 3 MR accounts setup for Plat, Gold and ARCC and asked them to be combined. This morning I noticed a welcome bonus tracker has appeared on the Gold card which is for spend 3k by Feb and get 10k points. This card was taken out in June. Think I’ll do the spend and see what turns up…..anyone had the same on the gold?

    • MattB says:

      24 Dec24 December 11:27

      My wife had that when she asked for a retention offer. 10k points posted last week.

      • G says:

        24 Dec24 December 18:50

        Thanks. I guess the agent must have applied retention offers to both cards

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:

    24 Dec24 December 08:10

    Did you threaten to cancel or just ask for the points?

    • G says:

      24 Dec24 December 08:21

      I asked if there were any retention offers on my account as i cannot use any of the plats benefits and failed to see what it offered over and above the gold card at present

      • Rob says:

        24 Dec24 December 08:54

        Did the same. Took the card out first week of December and called up two days ago. 35k points that have just hit my account

        • Mr(s) Entitled says:

          24 Dec24 December 14:28

          I was just told that this has not, and does not, happen. Maybe because mine is a Business Plat?

  • Harry T says:

    24 Dec24 December 09:33

    Thanks, I am planning to call tonight.

    • DB2020 says:

      24 Dec24 December 13:09

      Hi Harry T,

      Please let us know how you get along. When I return from my current essential trip overseas, I plan to call them and ask for a retention offer as none of the benefits are available to me. The Platinum insurance did not cover my trip, despite it being essential travel, plus no offers since the last £100 Waitrose etc., so I have good reason to call them.

      Thanks and enjoy the festive season.

      • DodgyDCF says:

        24 Dec24 December 13:56

        You’d think so but they will just tell you offers (in general) are not guaranteed and are targeted.

  • DodgyDCF says:

    24 Dec24 December 13:13

    Did you get the 20k points G? Mine have yet to post.

    • G says:

      24 Dec24 December 18:11

      Yes I got the 20k points for upgrading but was worried after reports of other people not getting them and the spend bar not showing

      • DodgyDCF says:

        24 Dec24 December 20:29

        how long did after you hit the spend for the points to hit? I dont have the bar showing

        • G says:

          24 Dec24 December 21:53

          They posted along with the transaction that took me over the threshold

• Harry T says:

  24 Dec24 December 07:52

  Wait for them to cancel and then you are entitled to a date change or refund for free.

  • Harry T says:

    24 Dec24 December 09:33

    If it’s any help, I had ex-AMS January flights to JNB booked with Swiss which were cancelled and I received a full refund. I then booked business class flights with BA to CPT in their “747 sale” from NCL for about a grand each and made it a BA holiday. BA cancelled one of the connecting NCL-LHR flights and let me move the itinerary to the end of ticket validity (October 2021, one year from booking). I too did not want to lose out on such a good cash fare for business. I’m unsure if VS will be as generous and flexible as BA (I expected BA to cancel one of the NCL legs and knew how to work that to my advantage) but you do have EC261 rights so should be able to get a refund at the very least.

• Rusty says:

  24 Dec24 December 08:04

  Accidentally (but very stupidly) overspent to £12k on my free BA card before upgrading to BAPP.. Year end is in April. Should I just attempt to spend the remaining 8 before then and take the L, or if I do upgrade now is the 241 voucher triggered immediately, and if so what is its validity length? TIA

  • Anna says:

    24 Dec24 December 08:14

    It’s my understanding that the 2 4 1 would be triggered straight away. It should be valid for 2 years, however some people have reported an IT issue which means it only show 1 year validity, but you can get this amended by contacting Amex, apparently.

    • Rusty says:

      24 Dec24 December 21:03

      thanks Anna

  • N says:

    24 Dec24 December 09:19

    Very very much enjoying “take the L” turning up on hfp

    • Rusty says:

      24 Dec24 December 21:05

      haha. very much down with the youff.

• Pete says:

  24 Dec24 December 08:18

  Rob – sorry if you’ve already covered this – but you mentioned some time back you were able to gift TAP Gold to your wife after applying for the status match. Is that still active? I did it with my boyfriend and got a polite, yet firm email a few days later saying “no no no” and the second status was rescinded.

  • Rob says:

    24 Dec24 December 16:22

    Yes, she still has it.

    • Pete says:

      24 Dec24 December 20:06

      Hmmm, that’s frustrating. Thanks!

• Bill says:

  24 Dec24 December 08:42

  Not sure if already posted, but easyjet are now selling flights through to March 2022

  • Rhys says:

    24 Dec24 December 09:10

    We wrote about it here: https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2020/12/16/get-20-back-with-mastercard-easyjet-offer/

    • Bill says:

      24 Dec24 December 09:19

      I missed the two lines due to solely focusing on the headline

• Pangolin says:

  24 Dec24 December 10:04

  I have *Hilton Gold* status to GIFT to someone (consider it a Christmas present).

  The frequent travellers that I know already have this status or something better, whereas my family/friends are either the package/charter sort or they tend to use AirBnB and shun the chain hotels. The only friend who would possibly be interested is hunkering down for the duration and says he is unlikely to make much use of it (even in 2021).

  So I thought I would give it out on HFP instead 🙂

  To make it more interesting, I’ll give it to the first person who can answer the following question.

  Q: The highest class of suite at the Bristol Hotel in Warsaw is named after a famous Polish historical/cultural figure. The question you need to answer is: where is he buried?

  Good luck!

  • Pete says:

    24 Dec24 December 10:06

    That’s a lovely gesture!

  • Mouse says:

    24 Dec24 December 10:19

    Which part of him?!

  • WaynedP says:

    24 Dec24 December 10:20

    Is it Arlington National Cemetary ?

  • Jameel says:

    24 Dec24 December 10:25

    Paderewski! Crypt at St. John’s Archcathedral….

  • Lcharl says:

    24 Dec24 December 10:31

    Is it St. John’s Archcathedral?

  • ET says:

    24 Dec24 December 10:35

    At the USS Maine Mast Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.

  • Pangolin says:

    24 Dec24 December 10:44

    Hint: it’s a bit of a trick question (note the tense used in the question itself) and I can accept two possible answers as to the location of remains, but they must be specific (just the city or country is not enough).

    Also, I can only accept one response from each poster, so if you’ve already guessed once I won’t accept a second attempt.

  • Stanley says:

    24 Dec24 December 10:46

    St. John’s Archcathedral.

    • Pangolin says:

      24 Dec24 December 10:55

      And we have a winner! (Stanley)

      Ignacy Paderewski was a composer/pianist (like Chopin) who became one of the first Prime Ministers of the Second Republic of Poland in 1919. He was also a signatory to the Versailles Treaty. He died in the USA during WW2 and his remains were interred at Arlington National Cemetery until 1992. His ashes were then placed in St. John’s Archcathedral in Warsaw, while his heart lies elsewhere (whereas Chopin’s heart is interred in the cathedral itself).

      To quote from the ANC website: “ Paderewski’s heart remains in the United States — literally. The organ is encased in a bronze sculpture at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, a town with a large Polish-American community.”

      Stanley, please type your email in a suitably disguised form and I will send the invitation later today.

      • Stanley says:

        24 Dec24 December 11:14

        fivebobbill at thankstostanley dot com 😜👍

        • fivebobbill says:

          24 Dec24 December 11:15

          i give up 🙄

      • Stanley says:

        24 Dec24 December 11:14

        Thanks very much. I am already Hilton Gold though…. It was a great question though. I propose you write another one for a non-Gold to try and win…….

        • Pangolin says:

          24 Dec24 December 12:13

          Well the whole point was to gift Gold to someone who doesn’t have it. I thought I’d made that clear in the description. But now I’ll have to do it all over again 🙁

        • James says:

          24 Dec24 December 12:33

          Really Stanley, REALLY?!!!

        • WaynedP says:

          24 Dec24 December 16:32

          Ha, ha, that has really tickled me.

          Thanks for your very noble gesture, Pangolin, and the interesting dialogue it generated.

  • Baji Nahid says:

    24 Dec24 December 13:52

    St. John’s Archcathedral

    Pangolin! If its available, may i suggest that a transactional sum be of interest to you?

    Very kind of you to do this!

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