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The HfP chat thread – Monday 11th 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.

Category

General

Comments (255)

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

  • BLAIR says:
    11 Jan11 January 02:24

    Sorry for what must be a long-eatablished fact but can I pay off M&M Diners Club/MC with Curve Metal/Fronted subsequently charging IHG Premium?

    • TGLoyalty says:
      11 Jan11 January 08:56

      No since there’s no option I know of to pay M&M with a debit card.

      • Alex says:
        11 Jan11 January 15:18

        You can – I remember Rob saying if I remember correctly you can call them to get the direct bank details and pay that way I believe

        • Rob says:
          11 Jan11 January 16:27

          You can pay it by bank transfer but not with a debit card per se. Email me if you need the sort code and account number.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          11 Jan11 January 16:29

          Yes you can pay via bank transfer.

          You can use Rev to pay but you can use Rev to pay any bank transfer until they get p*ssed off.

  • BLAIR says:
    11 Jan11 January 02:31

    Q re SWISS transfers via ZRH. Website advice from airline and Swiss federal requirements website are dense and repetitive and confusing. As an EU passport holder departing an EU country, connecting ZRH to DXB, is this classed solely as an airport transfer and not ‘entering Switzerland’ thus does not trigger quarantine? It should seem obvious but heard on social media of SWISS turning transfer passengers at Dublin away from a ZRH flight. No idea on what grounds; possibly poorly informed outstation agents treating DUB like it’s covered by the Swiss ban on UK arrivals. It seems SWISS have also declined to provide any lounge access at DUB but rest of LH group are. Again might suggest a wayward rogue outstation.

    • Michael C says:
      11 Jan11 January 09:10

      Not sure about Zurich, but Madrid (that only accepts Spanish residents) has certainly been turning away dozens of transiting LHR-MEX / LHR-GRU passengers (on the rerouting via MAD offered by BA…).

    • Rob says:
      11 Jan11 January 10:05

      It DOES count as entering Switzerland.

      This is why we flew to Dubai via Zurich but came back direct on Emirates, because the quarantine period was already expired by the time we returned.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      11 Jan11 January 10:54

      If between origin and destination you or anyone leaves the mode of transport and gets back on or anyone new gets on then that would make everyone on the transport subject to self isolation.

      The “transfer” being exempt stuff is for a very narrow set of circumstance that’s I can’t think ever take place on planes. Only a pure refuel stop where the doors stay closed would count.

    • The real John says:
      11 Jan11 January 11:53

      Who can enter Switzerland is different from who must quarantine in Switzerland.

      Only EU/EEA and Swiss citizens/residents, plus their immediate family members, may enter Switzerland. Non-EU citizens who are not resident in Switzerland would be denied boarding on flights from Dublin to Zurich unless they can prove they are in transit to their EU/EEA country of residence.

      Ireland is not on the Swiss quarantine list, so provided that they are allowed to enter Switzerland, people on a DUB-ZRH flight would not need to quarantine. But they would need to quarantine if they had spent more than 24 hours in the past 10 days in a country such as the UK where the 7-day case notification rate exceeds Switzerland’s by 60/100000.

      For flights from the UK to Switzerland, only Swiss and Liechtenstein citizens and residents, and people approved by the Swiss government, may travel even if Switzerland is not their final destination.

  • NC says:
    11 Jan11 January 05:12

    What time for the Virgin announcement?

    • Tom H says:
      11 Jan11 January 06:46

      +1! Come on Rob!

    • NC says:
      11 Jan11 January 08:15

      Well if we know what the announcement was about we wouldn’t be waiting around for it!!

      • Jonathan says:
        11 Jan11 January 08:38

        My guesses;
        1) another 50% reward seat sale
        2) a short, aggressive cash sale in the £999 Upper to anywhere bracket for travel in Summer season
        3) some sort of status match/challenge that gives Silver/Gold for 1/2 return flights.

    • Mike says:
      11 Jan11 January 08:37

      I was up super early to check HFP but nothing – has it been delayed ?

      • ChrisA says:
        11 Jan11 January 08:40

        I notice that the current sale is due to end Tuesday night, so perhaps there is something coming after that.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        11 Jan11 January 09:30

        I’m sure you’re all pretty disappointed

    • Rhys says:
      11 Jan11 January 08:44

      Just a few more minutes 🙂

    • Andrew Wells says:
      11 Jan11 January 08:46

      It depends on whether it is a HFP exclusive, or a marketing launch. If it is the latter, it will be whenever Virgin want it to go live across partners and their own site. If it is a HFP only update, it will be whenever Rob and / or Virgin want it to be.

      Will be keeping an eye on the site today, but wasn’t expecting to see anything until at least 9am.

      It may not be much news at all, but at least Rob’s comment has got some of us interested!

  • JamesH says:
    11 Jan11 January 06:18

    Probably not relevant to the vast majority, but my wife and I have just received visa approval (Friday) and permission to travel (Today) to Australia. TSS 482 visa. Application went in in June. Perhaps a sign of things opening up down there. Even just a teeny tiny one.

    • John says:
      11 Jan11 January 07:05

      Many people have had visas approved all along, the difficulty is finding flights that stick.

    • Anna says:
      11 Jan11 January 08:08

      What’s your plan for quarantine, JamesH? There was an article on HFP recently about a reader’s experience of his quarantine accommodation (though I think he had better facilities than most people get!).

      • JamesH says:
        11 Jan11 January 08:39

        True, hopefully ours do stick! The plan is out of our hands I think. Wife is been transferred through work (Amazon) who will deal with it all. Will be an interesting couple of weeks for sure…. hopefully a window that opens? Or am I asking too much haha

        • JRC says:
          11 Jan11 January 09:17

          James, are they sticking you in economy all the way as per Amazon business travel policy or did you manage to negotiate Prem Econ or better?

          • TGLoyalty says:
            11 Jan11 January 09:32

            Amazon travel policy is eco as far as Aus!

            I thought our travel policy was strict and we’d be on business for a trip that long.

          • Jonathan says:
            11 Jan11 January 10:44

            Not sure you’ll get a seat in economy without a convoluted routing. Considering the limits on passengers/flight means most airlines won’t waste their quota on low yield economy tickets.

          • JamesH says:
            11 Jan11 January 12:09

            Yep I think so! People saying lack of economy seating are very much right though. Only Etihad have anything close to a reasonable routing option in economy. Others only business/first. The economy flights are approx £3500 pp one way. Crazy.

          • kitten says:
            11 Jan11 January 19:48

            if you must go Y then SQ and EK best experience in Y apoarently. In Y, QR and Etihad much tougher

  • Tom H says:
    11 Jan11 January 07:05

    Does anyone know how long HSBC to KF takes? Trying to take advantage of the extended transfer bonus until 16 Jan

    • Davenport says:
      11 Jan11 January 09:58

      I transferred from Amex on Friday to Krisflyer said it would take 14 days. Points and bonus in my account this morning.

      Just transferred from HSBC today, also says up to 14 days, hoping to get before 16th.

    • Louie says:
      11 Jan11 January 11:36

      Took less than 24 hours when I did it in June but 3 days or so last month. Should be fine to get there by 16th. Well I hope so as I transferred some an hour or so ago!

  • Andrew says:
    11 Jan11 January 08:34

    Interesting Marriott announcement, according to “The Washington Post”:-

    “Marriott, the world’s largest hotel chain, said last week’s chaos at the Capitol caused the company to halt campaign donations to lawmakers who voted against certifying the electoral college results of President-elect Joe Biden’s win.”

    The story then goes on to remind readers that:-

    “The hotel chain also has a direct business relationship with Trump. It books travel to Trump Turnberry through the Marriott Luxury Collection program.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/01/10/marriott-campaign-donations-congress/

    • Dance-Ace-Base says:
      11 Jan11 January 08:49

      “campaign donations to lawmakers”

      That didn’t come up when we learned about democracy at primary school

  • Matthew says:
    11 Jan11 January 09:14

    Marriott card….held for 6yrs. Renewal fee due this week, called and no retention bonus. Pretty annoyed tbh considering how long I’ve had it and the amount of spend put through. Anyone else been offered a retention bonus on Marriott and if so was it an extra point per £? Thanks

    • TGLoyalty says:
      11 Jan11 January 09:34

      I was offered 1 extra point per £ in summer but declined, as I was going to spend nil, and signed back up 6 months later. Saving myself c£35 and earning a family member 6k MR in the process.

  • Stu N says:
    11 Jan11 January 09:23

    Dubai has been added to Scottish quarantine list with retrospective application to arrivals since 3 Jan.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-55615170

    Presumably rest of UK isn’t going to be far behind?

    • TGLoyalty says:
      11 Jan11 January 09:35

      Political.

      UAE don’t publish figures by Emirate so Dubai is singled out because perhaps Celtic went there on a training trip and 1 player tested positive after.

      • Jonathan says:
        11 Jan11 January 10:45

        Or it’s singled out on the basis it’s been a free for all vs Abu Dhabi etc.

      • BP says:
        11 Jan11 January 14:35

        Apparently it’s related to an increasing number of people arriving back in Glasgow from Dubai and subsequent testing positive for COVID. Dubai does seem a bit of a free for all judging by the celeb pics.

        13 Celtic players, the manager and 2 coaching staff have been told to isolate. They flew on a private charter rather than Emirates. A newspaper pic showed they used an all-business La Compagnie plane.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          11 Jan11 January 14:58

          Free for all what? Entry is free for all with a negative PCR.

          they have Covid regulations like everyone else including wearing face masks in ALL settings outside your home/hotel room with strong fines.

          Other restrictions reflect the fact they have vaccinated atleast 10% of their population already and even this “boom” in cases puts them about 15-20% the rate of the UK (not including the millions of tourists there might be making that lower per 100k)

    • John says:
      11 Jan11 January 17:44

      It’s not retroactive. They are merely asking people to voluntarily self-isolate if they arrived from Dubai before the effective time.

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

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