Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 6th January

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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.

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.

Comments (337)

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

  • BJ says:

    The new BA avios supermarket partner is now known 🙂

    • Rhys says:

      Where?!

    • stevenhp1987 says:

      Do tell (with a source preferably) 🙂

    • Russel says:

      BJ, any tips on where you generally get information from?

    • Alex says:

      All of us waiting with bated breath…fingers crossed for Sainsbury’s personally as it’s 2 mins away from me

      • BJ says:

        Waitrose, Sainsbury, M&S and Morrisons all within a 10 minute walk of me.

    • Doc says:

      Are you going to tell us BJ? This is very naughty that you know and not sharing with your friends:)

      • BJ says:

        This afternoon I got an email from Nectar at Sainsbury’s…

        Hi BJ,

        As a thank you for being a Sainsbury’s Bank customer, they’re entering you into a competition to win 50,000 Nectar points.

        And if you’re looking for a banking or insurance product, now’s a great time to see what Sainsbury’s Bank has to offer. You’ll get another entry for each qualifying product* you take out by 28 February 2021.

        Best of luck

    • BJ says:

      The bad news is that in future we will not be earning anything near as generous as the 2.4 avios /£ we have all enjoyed at clubcard. New earning rates will be 0.5, 1.0 or 1.5 avios/£ depending which option we choose 🙁

      But the good news is that we will have a much wider range of spending options than we currently have with Tesco so that should offset the loss of earning rate 🙂

    • Stagger Lee says:

      It’s Netto isn’t it?

    • Travel Strong says:

      It’s Woolworths.

      • BJ says:

        They closed years ago … have not had a pick n mix since, and still got all my teeth to prove it.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        Costcutter!

        • BJ says:

          From 19th January you will no longer be able to collect avios from clubcard…

          • BJ says:

            …but I am pleased to inform you that you will continue to be able to collect avios on your shopping from…

          • Russel says:

            7/11?

          • BJ says:

            The news is just starting on C4

          • AndyGWP says:

            Sommerfield
            Kwik Save
            Safeway

          • BJ says:

            … TESCO …

          • Peter K says:

            Is it WHSmith’s? They think they’re premium but really they’re overpriced. Seems a good fit 😜

          • BJ says:

            You will be able to earn 0.5 avios/£ with the Lloyds Avios Mastercard if you are a Club Lloyds current account holder and already hold this card, 1.0 avios/£ with the amex BA blue card or 1.5 avios /£ with the amex BA Premium Plus card. If you do not already have one of these amex cards then I am sure Rob will be happy to refer you.

            And the great news is that all three cards are accepted by EVERY major supermarket in the UK so you have no excuse for failing to maintain a healthy avios balance.

            g

            Gotta run…

          • Grant says:

            😂 what a tease

          • AndyGWP says:

            Ah – you caught me out by saying it was a new Avios Supermarket partner, rather than an existing one 😉

          • James says:

            News on C4…

            Baron Price?

          • Navara says:

            I’m still opting for Lidl with a joint sports sponsorship with BA

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    Now on EasyJet from Lanzarote to Edinburgh.

    33 people booked, 20 turned up. Flight out operated empty.

    Definitely Lockdown March style for travel.

    Ps. For those who read my earlier musing on home or away, I am home, wife and daughter now taking a months lease and ready to stay in Canaries until Easter.

    Sadly, I just can’t do that long without feet back in Scotland. Still, two weeks mask free beckon!!!

  • George K says:

    Hey folks – I’ve got a couple of bookings done with Lloyds vouchers for March/April. One of them (Seoul) has been cancelled due to the route being pulled.

    I can get a full refund, and the voucher returned with a new expiry of March 2021, but I wanted to ask whether you have had any experience in rebooking to an alternative destination, and if so, whether it needed to be in the same distance band. I don’t want to cancel and rebook later due to the ticket bought in the exceptional 50% avios sale, but obviously I will if it does come down to it..

    • Jonathan says:

      If you change destination you lose all your rights to avoiding repricing unfortunately.

      • Jonathan says:

        (You can get away with up to 300 miles eg. JFK to BOS, or AMS to BRU but that won’t help with Seoul)

      • Charlieface says:

        If that is the only re-route that is reasonable then no, that’s not true

        • Jonathan says:

          If you’re cancelled flight is to Seoul then you can’t rebook to eg. KL or BKK at a later date. You could route to Seoul via. somewhere else in SE Asia but not swap destination, a refund is the only option here.

  • martyn ford says:

    I bought £1,000 of premium bonds this morning using bendy, underlying IHG. I received a declined email and no bonds were added to my NS&I account but the transaction went through on my bendy card and has been deducted from my Creation balance. Will this correct itself or do I need to raise the matter? Thanks.

    • ron says:

      has been happening to me since sept. refunded after a few working days usually.

  • Ross says:

    Is there any update on the Legislation for COVID? I’ve had a look on the Legislation Webpage, but cannot spot it.

    Thanks

  • DodgyDCF says:

    Thanks to whoever used my Trading212 link the other day I got Astrazeneca and GE x2 stock (£70/$10) for referring, Trading212 offers ISA and general trading accounts with commission free trading so particularly handy for US stocks vs HL where they charge £11.95 dealing fee and 1% FX fee.

    Feel free to use my link here we both get a free stock worth up to £100/$100
    http://www.trading212.com/invite/FMlcDpsx

    • DodgyDCF says:

      I’ve funded bendy + lloyds credit card and no fees but now there is a 0.7% fee once you go past £2k deposited

      • 747_Brat says:

        That was me. I just posted a comment below to thank you. Lol 🙂
        I got a free share of Virgin Galactic.

    • DZOO says:

      I plan to sign-up tomorrow – will use this… thanks!

  • Ravi says:

    Have a flight in March to DXB with companion voucher, likely to to be cancelled?

  • MarkS says:

    Hi, I need 3000 Marriot points in order to hit 60k and qualify for the 5k avios bonus. What would be the easiest way? I no longer have the Bonvoy Amex and have no interest in keeping them as Marriot points. Thanks

    • dezbez says:

      Not sure on the maths and can’t recall whether they’ve got any offers still running but might be worth looking into buying them to make up the shortfall?

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