The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 19th January

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

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

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

IF1 says:

19 Jan19 January 02:17

Anyone with a platinum charge card not seeing the £175 offer? Have had no new offers for months

Could this £175 offer also be why no retention offers were given out recently for people calling to cancel?
- Sina says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 08:59
  
  I think you can ask them to manually add this for you! Last Waitrose offer was added for mecby brighton.
- Iris says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 09:02
  
  Shame. Cancelled on Sunday and they could have said an excellent offer is coming up. Anyway, good luck to the ones who got it.
Sina says:

19 Jan19 January 03:08

I have a Lloyds account, how many transactions should I do on my card to get offers? So far nothing after 2-3 months?!
- Alan says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 09:47
  
  I had to do 15+ over 4 months or so to finally get some (don’t need to be large amounts).
  - Sina says:
    
    19 Jan19 January 09:56
    
    Thanks Alan.
Andrew says:

19 Jan19 January 03:49

A nice chunky £175 100% credit for Platinum to spend at Waitrose, Harvey Nics, Selfridges or Deliveroo. Until July, so the shops might even be open by then.
- Anon says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 04:52
  
  All of which are overpriced shops
  - The Original David says:
    
    19 Jan19 January 05:04
    
    If it’s 100% back, “overpriced” doesn’t really matter. Also not convinced Deliveroo is an overpriced shop, or even a “shop” at all…
    - Crafty says:
      
      19 Jan19 January 08:14
      
      Our average takeaway for two has gone up from c.£25 to c.£40 since my wife started defaulting to Deliveroo…
      - Amit says:
        
        19 Jan19 January 08:59
        
        There does appear to be a mark up for some places compared to going directly with deliveroo, just eat etc
      - Alex says:
        
        19 Jan19 January 10:49
        
        Deliveroo take such a high commission, 30% ish that majority of restaurants increase their menu item costs in-order to cover this. Technically against their T&C but they don’t have time to check. Better off calling direct to see if they do delivery themselves. Most places do and they appreciate it direct as it’s better for them and you
  - Dance-Ace-Base says:
    
    19 Jan19 January 09:10
    
    Deliveroo has Asda and Aldi and Shell, so many more options than a £16 bowl of pasta.
- Andrew says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 06:02
  
  Thanks. Weekly shop being dekivered for free by Waitrose this evening, then. Bonus!
- Oli says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 06:22
  
  The end date of the offer in July suggest this is THE (last) retention offer on Platinium for the next 6 months.
  - Andrew says:
    
    19 Jan19 January 07:04
    
    Yes that’s what I thought too. Which is a little silly of Amex if so, considering you could pocket this today and still cancel tomorrow. I still think some longer term changes are needed like a regular Netflix credit or something.
  - BJ says:
    
    19 Jan19 January 07:40
    
    Nope, calling gets you much better retention offers than this.
    - Andrew says:
      
      19 Jan19 January 07:57
      
      Nope, not for everyone. This is for everyone.
      - BJ says:
        
        19 Jan19 January 10:29
        
        Maybe, but if you have a history of referring genuine new customers to amex as opposed to just referring existing card holders for another I have found them to be very rewarding.
  - Craig says:
    
    19 Jan19 January 09:02
    
    I sort of think the same thing but being patient seems to have paid off, last calendar year I had around £510 of retention offers and 20k point from Platinum. The £510 is my calculation of the value not the amount, for example I only logged £80 for the Waitrose £100 offer and generally bought the 3 for £10 offers, there are some credits that I didn’t include at all because I wouldn’t have spent the money without the offer. Being pessimistic with this offer, £175 I value at £150 which covers three months of membership; on balance I’m prepared to be patient for a bit longer.
    - BJ says:
      
      19 Jan19 January 10:38
      
      Thanks to pandemic I am now an avios and honors millionaire (mostly HH tied up in future hotel reservations, but still). Thus, I wasn’t so much bothered by points and miles so I took a caashbaack card for a year which is working out very nicely 🙂
      - ankomonkey says:
        
        19 Jan19 January 12:47
        
        I’ll never make it to being a £ millionaire, so my miles/points balances are all I have to pose with!
      - BJ says:
        
        19 Jan19 January 15:06
        
        Most of what I have is the result of opportunities and circumstances, facilitated by a London home, my ex and current partner as opposed to my own expertise and career. Therefore I don’t seek much credit or derive much satisfaction from that. On the other hand, points and miles is a game, a hobby. I do like to do the best I can with it within the time I can devote to it. I was able to maintain a long term avios balance of 250-550k household but never more than that. Simply due to cancellations this past year my balance has exceed 1M for the first time. My Hilton balance rarely crept above a few hundred thousand due to earn and burn; this past year it too exceed 1M but mostly due to that card everybody is always on about.
- James says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 06:32
  
  Also got this! Excellent from Amex.
- Harry T says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 06:39
  
  Glad I waited a couple of weeks before ringing to cancel again then!
- AY says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 07:16
  
  Received this also. With all the offers to date I think the card is looking pretty good value.
- DJ says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 07:24
  
  Just checked my card, it is not showing up on my account. Though I only had the account since the 12th … and was told this is targeted offer when I phoned 🙁
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    19 Jan19 January 08:38
    
    Give it a few days then ask again.
- OP says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 08:03
  
  Not showing up on my Platinum unfortunately (!) Won’t be thrilled if I miss out on this, didn’t get the Harrods offer either…
- Crafty says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 08:13
  
  Amazing offer. Glad I was convinced out of cancelling when I called only yesterday (and I’m 35,000 points the better too).
  - Harry T says:
    
    19 Jan19 January 08:44
    
    Is that your first or second retention offer, Crafty?
    - Crafty says:
      
      19 Jan19 January 09:07
      
      Second in the household, but first on this instance of the card. (We had 20,000 on a previous Platinum, which was in my wife’s name.)
      
      I only took out the card in, i think, November.
      - Dance-Ace-Base says:
        
        19 Jan19 January 09:16
        
        Being offered nothing, after years of membership, is harder to take in good spirits when I keep hearing about people getting 50k points or 35k points and £400 here and £100 there. Trying to treat the decision to cancel purely economically but my inner child wants to shout it’s not fair and sulk in the corner.
      - Gruntfuttock says:
        
        19 Jan19 January 10:29
        
        Acquire and expire
Wollhouse says:

19 Jan19 January 07:22

My BAPP was up for renewal so I rang to cancel. They offered me 2.5 Avios for every £1 and returned the 3000 Avios they were about to claw back for my BA refunds from cancelled flights. Better than a kick in the teeth. Oh, and As I have been moaning about the appalling customer service from BA, thought it would be nice to have something really positive to add for a change! Someone on here highlighted that RBS were paying to move business accounts; I moved seamlessly to Starling, (got paid, THANK YOU!) and have needed to speak with customer service a few times for overseas transfers. Their customer service has been responsive, friendly and very helpful EVERY time. So, if you’re thinking of switching, they’ve been brilliant to date. Now… if only whoever’s in charge of Customer Service would go do a stint at BA….
- Louise K says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 09:05
  
  I think I mentioned the RBS Business Switch.
  
  Prior to this I shifted most of my balance to Starling and agree about their excellent service, so when the switch came about, I was unable to then switch to Starling.
  
  Moved to TSB for the switch but still waiting on my incentive.
- Alekun says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 10:26
  
  How long is the 2.5 per £ spend until?
  - Sprout says:
    
    19 Jan19 January 11:08
    
    3 months for me
Brian says:

19 Jan19 January 08:02

Where’s the Snoop post gone? Was going to give it a try to see if it was worth having.
- Rob says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 08:15
  
  Here you go: https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2021/01/05/snoop-app-review/
  
  It was pinned to the top so when we unpinned it, it slid down a couple of pages.
  - Brian says:
    
    19 Jan19 January 10:28
    
    Thanks
krys_k says:

19 Jan19 January 08:16

Some help / advise please (apologies if this has been covered always in the daily chat thread, I tend to read just the articles). I need to travel to Poland for work next week. It’s to close a deal with a quasi government agency and I need to be there in person. I looked at the UK governments approved list of roles that can travel and my line of work isn’t on it. But if my reading is correct that list is about jobs that don’t need to adhere to isolation and other rules rather than who can actually travel. And that the overarching rules is that one can travel for work. Is that correct? Thanks.
- EvilDoctorK says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 08:31
  
  You need a legally permitted reason to leave your house ( work that needs to be done in person like you say would I believe be that ) .. That’s the restriction basically as I understand it in law .. once you have a legally valid reason to leave your house then there is no law saying you can’t go to Poland provided you adhere to all the restrictions regarding testing/isolation thereafter .. carrying some evidence of the business probably advisable if challenged but not sure you’d be likely to be asked.
  
  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home#international-travel
- memesweeper says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 08:32
  
  Any legitimate business travel is allowed.
  
  You likely will be stuck with quarantine restrictions on return though. My friends, just returned from a foreign buying trip, have had the police to their door to check on them. That wasn’t happening to anyone mid 2020 AFAIK.
  - krys_k says:
    
    19 Jan19 January 08:36
    
    Thanks for replies. My trip is legitimate and I don’t mind isolating when I get back. Did it twice already last year!
    - Paul says:
      
      19 Jan19 January 08:41
      
      Good on you. Too many people not prepared to accept the requirements asked of them afterwards when returning home if they decide to travel overseas. Yours sounds legitimate and you’ll do what is asked if you decide to go – what is so hard about that for others not to grasp???
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    19 Jan19 January 08:40
    
    It was happening but its random.
    
    Also depends on destination more stories of those coming back from South Africa getting knocks on the door.
  - kitten says:
    
    19 Jan19 January 11:05
    
    quarantine and now covid test required before you would get on the plane back.
- Maciek says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 08:54
  
  you will be required to quarantine on arrival in Poland (10 days). They take your details and ask for the address you’re going to be staying at when crossing the border – you give the details directly to the border police (it’s been quite a zoo at WAW on Sunday). You then get a text advising you that you are quarantined and can’t leave your home/hotel room and you can expect police to call you/pay you a visit to verify your whereabouts.
  - krys_k says:
    
    19 Jan19 January 09:09
    
    Got it. Thanks.
  - Phil says:
    
    19 Jan19 January 13:43
    
    Yep my Parents-in-Law live in Torun and have seen the police doing lots of spot checks and people who are supposed to be in-quarantine.
- stevenhp1987 says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 09:23
  
  Your main problem is that hotels are closed completely (even for business) until at least January 31st in Poland.
  
  Some hotels are open in breach of the regulations (much like some gyms did here).
Dave says:

19 Jan19 January 08:43

Was it today BA were announcing the replacement for Clubcard link up?
- Rob says:
  
  19 Jan19 January 08:44
  
  ‘From today’. Won’t be today, I think. Someone has promised me a call this week.
  - Oli says:
    
    19 Jan19 January 09:17
    
    Someone from Waitrose? 😃
    - Alan says:
      
      19 Jan19 January 09:51
      
      They’re waiting for all the £175 Amex Plat spend to go through before they start giving points away!
    - Chris Heyes says:
      
      19 Jan19 January 15:48
      
      Oli That’s a “very” good guess lol
Andrew says:

19 Jan19 January 08:54

On a case by case basis, with seemingly no logic but there must be some. Some people get something, many don’t. Ring and ask.