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The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 30th 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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General

Comments (290)

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

  • Claire says:
    30 Dec30 December 09:31

    Ba have cancelled our new York, Washington dc flights for Easter. It was booked during avios sale and using a 2 for 1 voucher and Lloyd’s upgrade voucher (3tickets). They have rebooked us on flights on same days but not as convenient times. Given that Easter is still quite iffy would I be able to move to October and would this increase the avios I need to use as sale is over?

    • ChrisC says:
      30 Dec30 December 09:41

      As they cancelled the flights they can change the date for no extra cost to you.

      But they can only rebook for a date up to 355 days after the date you made the original booking.

      • Jonathan says:
        30 Dec30 December 09:49

        It’s 365 days from ticketing. The 355 days refers to how far in advance they release tickets.

    • Jonathan says:
      30 Dec30 December 09:47

      You can rebook for another date but may have to call a couple of times till you get an amenable agent & refer them to their updated Standard Customer Guidelines.

      You will run into more problems/resistance if new dates are more than 365 days from original ticketing date which may be relevant depending on when in October you’d like to fly.

    • Anna says:
      30 Dec30 December 12:05

      Which NYC flight was it, Claire? I am hoping they will cancel our Good Friday JFK flights so I don’t have to pay 3 x £35! Our ultimate destination (GCM) isn’t likely to re-open to visitors by then and we have an alternative booked to DXB in the half prive avios sale, so will want avios, 241 and hopefully £2k in cash back from the original trip.

      • Claire says:
        30 Dec30 December 15:56

        We were on the 11.20 Anna. Now moved to 9am ish. The Washington return leg leaves at 10.30pm instead of early evening. Tempted to move to October as more chance of going. Conrad points redemption so I can move that without any issues. Thanks for the replies

        • Anna says:
          30 Dec30 December 16:51

          We’re on the 14:35 – knowing my luck they’ll keep that one and move pax from other cancelled flights onto it! In normal times I like to depart early afternoon as you get a lie in, plenty of lounge time and still arrive early evening US time!

  • gareth says:
    30 Dec30 December 09:37

    NS&I question – i have 41k in premium bonds however system only allowing me to purchase another 4k but not another 9k as expected. anyone else had this or knows work around.

    • Andrew says:
      30 Dec30 December 10:03

      Try buying by Faster Payment instread?

      Payee name: NS&I
      Account number: 11994808
      Sort code: 08-31-15

      Then use holders number as the reference.

      (Obviously, always check account details on the orgainsations own page!)

      If you buy today, they should be in for the February draw.

    • The real John says:
      30 Dec30 December 13:28

      Did you recently make a withdrawal

  • Michael C says:
    30 Dec30 December 09:39

    So sadly but obviously had to cancel my Jan exec. rooms at Hilton Bankside: bit surprised there was no option to do so online! Had to go through the random “if…press one…” several times before an operator came on. All easy enough then, and she said there must be a glitch…Though if you stay on the line and listen to the cruddy vacation offer, you get 500 HH points!

    • Anna says:
      30 Dec30 December 12:10

      Did you check in the app? If you select the stay, then open “My Stay”, the cancellation option still seems to be there. I have also noticed that this seems to have disappeared from some online bookings and hoping it’s not a Hilton tactic to make it more difficult to cancel a stay …

      • Michael C says:
        30 Dec30 December 13:55

        Thanks, Anna – will remember that for next time. I must admit, with all this year’s shenanigans, I was a bit suspicious.
        Just as well I didn’t do my usual trick of cancelling 5 mins before the deadline!

  • Craig says:
    30 Dec30 December 09:41

    Looking for a UK break late April, any recommendations for Mr & Mrs Smith through IHG? Time to burn some points!

    • Anna says:
      30 Dec30 December 12:13

      I don’t know where you’re considering but Middleton Lodge near Richmond looks divine! I had to cancel a points stay recently but they did confirm you get breakfast with award bookings.

      • Genghis says:
        30 Dec30 December 12:43

        That’s Richmond, Yorks – near Darlington. I’ve earmarked it as a place to stay when we head up North.

        Further south, we’ve some time booked at Artist Residence, just west of Oxford in a Barn Suite (80k / night).

        I have seen the Pavillion Lodge at Beckford Arms between Bristol and Bournemouth on points (but no kids). Have a play around with dates.

      • The Savage Squirrel says:
        30 Dec30 December 13:08

        Completely unrelated to IHG, or to the first two answers other than geography, but North Yorks reminded me that I’ve been wondering whether Grantley Hall is worth a try for ages. Anyone been?

        • Rob says:
          30 Dec30 December 13:11

          I am intrigued. I used to work with Lord (Richard) Grantley at HSBC and then, by accident, ended up moving into a house three doors down from him. Haven’t seen him for 6-7 years though. His brother had the big house, I believe. Fascinating guy, eccentric but warm hearted.

    • Craig says:
      30 Dec30 December 13:59

      Booked Wotton House and The Beckford Arms so far.

      • Mr. AC says:
        30 Dec30 December 15:22

        Wotton House isn’t Mr & Mrs Smith actually – was available to book and stay before. We weren’t too impressed, it’s clear that the main focus of the hotel is weddings. Nice grounds however, and the building itself is quite beautiful.

        • Craig says:
          30 Dec30 December 16:55

          Thanks for that, it was the location that attracted, well that and 23k points per night for a fully flexible booking.

  • Dan says:
    30 Dec30 December 09:44

    My ‘ The Economist’ subscription ends in 7 days time and I am looking to renew – does anyone know when the avios offer for the magazine is coming back? This time last year I subscribed when there was the 15,000 avois offer for the one year version and was looking to take advantage of some points earning opportunities. I genuinely like reading the magazine but getting some points out of it would also be a nice bonus 🙂

    • Rob says:
      30 Dec30 December 09:51

      It will be back I’m sure, give it a month or so.

      • Blindman says:
        30 Dec30 December 10:08

        Is the site incredibly slow to load for others?

        Driving me nuts!

        • Rhys says:
          30 Dec30 December 10:09

          It is. We’re not sure what the problem is but are working on it.

          • Guy Griffiths says:
            30 Dec30 December 12:00

            Hi Rhys,

            Im having msgs not posted and i cant figure out why. Can’t imagine its the content and ive tried normal browsers, incognito etc.

            Would you know why? I was able to reply to messages earlier in the week without problem but not post my own

            Thanks

          • Chris Heyes says:
            30 Dec30 December 12:38

            Rhys I Had a this site is no longer safe warning earlier this morning
            but it’s ok now

        • Craig says:
          30 Dec30 December 10:09

          It had been better the last few days, laggy again today.

          • marcw says:
            30 Dec30 December 10:12

            Yes – same experience.

          • Rob says:
            30 Dec30 December 12:02

            What is ISN’T is number of visitors – Sunday was hugely busy as Rhys’s A380 article went a little viral, but all was fine. Today is very quiet, and only two articles, but buggy again.

          • RussellH says:
            30 Dec30 December 12:23

            I have been getting a) several 502 Bad Gateway errors b) problems with your certificate.

            I gave up on HfP about an hour ago and just came back and OK at present.

          • Doug M says:
            30 Dec30 December 14:44

            Not fabulous on Firefox on Windows, but much better than Firefox on iPad which always seems laggy and unresponsive.

  • Craig says:
    30 Dec30 December 10:10

    Roger was asking about Hilton Gold the other day, it’s yours if you still need it?

    • Baji Nahid says:
      30 Dec30 December 18:12

      Hi Craig! if it is still available, could i possibly make an offer for it at all?

      • Craig says:
        30 Dec30 December 23:28

        It is, if you see this this late Craig at strickers co uk. Not looking for anything in return except maybe a charitable donation.

  • Sprout says:
    30 Dec30 December 10:42

    bendy metal + Tesco debit card
    Does anybody know if the above combo works OK inside tesco store please? I wanted to check if I can get the 1% discount for metal (Tesco selected as one of my 6) + the underlying clubcard points. I remember reading on here some time ago that tesco and curve don’t play nicely together. thx

    • stevenhp1987 says:
      30 Dec30 December 11:17

      No, it will give the non Tesco-spend clubcard rate.

    • Genghis says:
      30 Dec30 December 12:58

      Tesco debit you’re fine. No risk of cash advance charges.

      But as @stevenhp1987 noted, using Tesco Debit with Curve at Tesco results in only 1 cc / £8 on the debit card and 1% curve cash (not a discount).

      I tried it as I wasn’t sure exactly how Tesco pick up Tesco Bank detect Tesco spend and apply the 1cc/£ rate.

      • The real John says:
        30 Dec30 December 13:30

        If you’re spending in a Tesco store it wouldn’t be a cash advance regardless?

        • Genghis says:
          30 Dec30 December 14:15

          Tesco Bank for their credit cards in the past have classified all Curve spend for all MCCs as cash advances. No idea about the present.

  • Nick says:
    30 Dec30 December 11:11

    @Rhys, are you dicking around with the site again today? Getting multiple cloudflare errors, ‘security certificate expired’ warnings, and comments disappearing into a white screen of death (URL has a generic WP routing). Just in case you’re not and you need to know for other reasons…

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

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