The HfP chat thread – Sunday 24th January

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• Track says:

  24 Jan24 January 14:01

  Bookings surge among older consumers as vaccine rollout boosts confidence…

  This will be a rant, but the older generation with their Defined Benefit pension plans wins again — economic activity stopped for their benefit, now first in line to get vaccine and travel.

  • Harry T says:

    24 Jan24 January 14:03

    Well, it’s looking like the UK’s vaccine strategy might not provide adequate protection so the joke may be on them. Can’t say I’m surprised that the government’s strategy seems to benefit older well to do retirees though, considering their base…

    • Anna says:

      24 Jan24 January 17:48

      https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/familyhealth/130-experts-sign-open-letter-to-boris-johnson-urging-he-make-vitamin-d-a-coronavirus-strategy/ar-BB1c6X6e

      I keep thinking that if the government adopted this strategy we might be in a position more akin to Finland and Japan. As someone whose respiratory health was literally transformed by vitamin d supplementation I can’t help but feel that they are on to something.

    • Bazza says:

      25 Jan25 January 01:10

      “jokes on them” charming you are!

  • TGLoyalty says:

    24 Jan24 January 14:45

    They should all be made to sit at home 12 months longer than the rest of us!

    I’m not even joking. Thinking they’re super human because they’ve had a vaccine.

  • Christopher says:

    24 Jan24 January 15:02

    When young people bother to vote in elections, things will change.

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      24 Jan24 January 16:04

      Did you see the amount of young people voting last election?

      Hopefully now corbyn is out, the corbyn bashers will come back

  • Anna says:

    24 Jan24 January 16:02

    I did predict some months ago that the only people travelling this summer would be hordes of vaccinated pensioners! They’ll no doubt be getting off their faces in Manumission and posting Instagram pics from Dubai and Ayia Napa.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      24 Jan24 January 17:30

      I honestly don’t see why. It won’t stop transmission.. you can quote me in 6 months.

      • Tom1 says:

        24 Jan24 January 17:51

        I keep seeing people say this – but saw a medical article quoting an “expert” as saying he didn’t know of a single other vaccine that didn’t prevent transmission. I’m not an expert (not even amateur!) but think the logic was that you don’t catch the virus, the viral load you spread around isn’t enough to spread ?

        • memesweeper says:

          24 Jan24 January 22:32

          Correct • but these vaccines are not 100% effective and coronavirus may be contagious from those with a low and non-symptomatic base. How careful do you want to be?

  • Bazza says:

    25 Jan25 January 01:07

    They only paid for world war 2 but don’t worry you got your ubereats. Sad…very sad!

    • Optimus Prime says:

      25 Jan25 January 11:58

      … and they got final salary pensions, triple-lock, cheap housing, free or very cheap access to uni, etc.

  • kitten says:

    25 Jan25 January 11:40

    DB didnt apply to everyone by any means. Plus any employer offering a DB scheme in the past 20 years would be nuts. Most stopped a very long time ago.

    Fundamentally they are unaffordable unless run in particular ways and if benign macroeconomic conditions prevail. That’s why they don’t really exist any more.

    Likewise the UK simply cant afford for public service schemes to be on a DB basis – funded by those who will never receive the same. Generous yes, but DB has to stop. Sorry for all the medics etc. on here but it’s financial sense and fairness.

  • kitten says:

    25 Jan25 January 11:43

    could also be a bit of “vanitas” on the part of pensioners – wanting to live and enjoy what little time they’ve got left and take their chances.

    I know 2 people in their 80’s whose view is this. They want to go out now, and take their chances.

• The uncivil servant says:

  24 Jan24 January 14:10

  Too right Harry, if its proven that 12 weeks is too long between jabs, then another U turn is on the cards. Ensure that your voter base is protected first…..

  • Tom says:

    24 Jan24 January 18:22

    So funny. So should the government vaccinate those least likely to become seriously ill or die from catching COVID first? Once the death rate comes down (by getting the most vulnerable vaccinated) the sooner we can get back to normal. I am 30 years old FYI.

• Iain says:

  24 Jan24 January 14:21

  I have a one way return Atlanta to Edinburgh via Paris on 12 April with Delta One – I was expecting to have to reschedule anyway, but I’ve just been told the flight has been changed with a 2 hour later departure.

  Does this affect me in a positive way at all? I only paid 59k Virgin miles plus £20 tax so I was hoping not to have to pay much more if I rescheduled to later in the year but the stories about Delta redemption increased got me worried – does this mean I can change for free?

  • Jonathan says:

    24 Jan24 January 14:48

    Your flight is operated by a non EU airline & departs from outside the EU so EU261 is out the window I’m afraid.

    Not sure if a 2 hour change is sufficient to claim a refund or reschedule but probably not. You need to look at the T&C’s for Virgin to see what your rights are.

    • Iain says:

      24 Jan24 January 15:52

      Thanks, I can always reschedule with Delta under the Covid conditions but just wonderd if I could keep the same price with their schedule change rather than my choice

    • avstar says:

      25 Jan25 January 08:48

      I dont think this is correct – EU261 is relevant as he is flying to an EU destination (UK counts ), airline is irrelevant . The 2 hr window is what will be the determining factor here

      • kitten says:

        25 Jan25 January 11:47

        incorrect (or possibly your mistype). EU261 only kicks in if European/UK airline OR if *departing* from (*not* landing at) a European/UK airport.

• Rjn21 says:

  24 Jan24 January 14:33

  Nectar to BA linking is supposedly live on the nectar app. Says instant transfers. And gives the ts and cs of the bonus.

  However on trying to link accounts all I get taken to is Ben’s Cookies. Oops.

  • Rjn21 says:

    24 Jan24 January 14:39

    Now working.

  • Meadowlark says:

    24 Jan24 January 14:41

    Yes I just discovered that too. Human error or a hack? Not a confidence-building start either way.

  • Matthew says:

    24 Jan24 January 14:46

    Says bonus payable when transfer from 25 Jan, so hold fire until tomorrow!

  • Paul says:

    24 Jan24 January 14:48

    T’s & C’s do state from tomorrow, patience…
    Plus to celebrate the launch, we’re giving you 500 bonus Avios and 2x points on your Sainsbury’s shops until 19 April when you convert 1,600 Nectar points by 14 February**” but also note, you have to wait until Monday to get the ‘double’ ball rolling…
    “Get 500 bonus Avios when you convert at least 1,600 Nectar points into Avios (worth 1,000 Avios) from 25 January 2021 to 14 February 2021 inclusive (the “Launch Period”); & Get Double Nectar points when shopping at Sainsbury’s from your date of conversion up to and including 19 April 2021 when you convert your Nectar points into Avios during the Launch Period. Full terms and conditions will be on the offer page when the offer goes live on 25 January.”

  • Matt says:

    24 Jan24 January 14:58

    If you don’t have enough nectar points in your account to get the conversion bonus then you should transfer some avios in today – you’re ineligible to get the bonus avios if any avios have been transferred into nectar during the bonus period, which starts tomorrow.

    • meta says:

      24 Jan24 January 15:18

      Beware everyone, it’s a permanent link between Nectar and EC accounts unless you actually unlink after each transfer.

      • Youllnever says:

        24 Jan24 January 16:22

        Can you elaborate a bit on this? Why would you need to unlink them?

        • mark2 says:

          24 Jan24 January 16:39

          It lays your Avios account open to possible fraud.

        • Youllnever says:

          24 Jan24 January 16:44

          Ah, understood 👌

        • TGLoyalty says:

          24 Jan24 January 17:31

          There is two factor protection with every nectar transfer but perhaps not ba to nectar and then spend at a store you have used before.

        • kitten says:

          24 Jan24 January 22:41

          Erm….Are we relying on BA’s IT security to protect our Nectar accounts then? I’m sure I read something somewhere about BA’s IT security?

      • The real John says:

        24 Jan24 January 18:53

        Odd definition of “permanent”…

        • meta says:

          24 Jan24 January 19:36

          There is no two factor authentication like for other Nectar transfers. It’s really instant. It also doesn’t work like Iberia/BA transfers where you often have to log out and log in to see the change. Once you link accounts, they stay linked unless you physically click on unlink accounts.

          Also, you agree that while the accounts are linked, all personal data is shared between Nectar and Avios.

        • kitten says:

          24 Jan24 January 22:45

          Meta doesnt it say though that you can only link to 4 accounts across the same year? hopefully they haven’t coded that as ‘link no more than 4 times”

        • Rob says:

          24 Jan24 January 23:02

          It’s the latter. I tried it as an experiment on a dummy account. Once you’ve hit the 4 accounts, you cannot relink the account to one of those four – the Nectar account is locked out from all Avios linking until 2022.

• Matthew says:

  24 Jan24 January 14:50

  Participants will not be eligible for the 500 Bonus Avios in the following scenarios: the BAEC account has previously received a bonus in the Bonus Avios Qualifying Period; the Nectar account has previously received a transfer from any BAEC account in the Bonus Avios Qualifying Period.

  So if you have no nectar points. Perhaps transfer BAEC to Nectar today as we are not in the qualifying period (which starts tomorrow) then transfer back tomorrow to be eligible? You’ll need to do 1000 Avios to Nectar. No harm trying if you have a zero nectar balance.

  • Peter K says:

    24 Jan24 January 15:31

    Just done this and it’s an instant transfer. Don’t forget to screenshot the t&c’s when the conversion went over etc.

    Note that the nectar conversion back to Avios tomorrow needs to stay in the avios account until the end of the “qualifying period”, ie 14th Feb, or the bonus avios will be reversed.

• Aston100 says:

  24 Jan24 January 15:04

  If a BAPP gets given an extra avios per pound bonus, does it also apply to anything purchased via a supplementary? given that the bonus should presumably be for the account rather than a specific card number?

  • Harry T says:

    24 Jan24 January 15:16

    These retention bonuses usually apply to all cards on the account, although I can only speak to my Gold retention bonus of two extra points per pound. Amex informed me that would be the case on the phone and this turned out to be true.

  • Genghis says:

    24 Jan24 January 15:33

    Yes

    • Aston100 says:

      24 Jan24 January 16:00

      Thanks Harry & Genghis.

• BJ says:

  24 Jan24 January 15:47

  My guess is that nectar/avios transfer caps are coming very soon unless they already exist and I’ve missed that detail. Given that, and the current and short to medium term state of the travel industry and restrictions, what are peoples thoughts on the relative wisdom of holding £10K in avios versus nectar points? Time to c@sh out on about 150x Lego Baby Yoda from argos?

  • Rob says:

    24 Jan24 January 15:55

    There is a cap.

    • BJ says:

      24 Jan24 January 16:27

      Thanks, missed that, save me worrying about it then 🙂

  • Andrew says:

    24 Jan24 January 16:00

    It’s 50k Avios to nectar per calendar cap. Of course we are in the last few days of January. So you can have 100k across pretty quickly.

    • Aston100 says:

      24 Jan24 January 16:15

      Is that the right thing to do though?
      I suppose it depends on how much Avios you have, and whether a retail redemption feels better/worse than a flight redemption.

      Redeeming for a load of grocery doesn’t feel the same as redeeming for a holiday. In my opinion of course.

      • BJ says:

        24 Jan24 January 16:35

        I’m avios rich though, got all my usual cushion plus all the cancelled redemptions last year. Also, I can continue collecting both avios and nectar points easily anyway so burning a bunch seems sensible. I can split up the HHA too now that I think about it…

        • Andrew says:

          24 Jan24 January 16:42

          Likewise – Avios rich and nowhere to go for the next 6/9 months.

      • Rob says:

        24 Jan24 January 18:05

        That’s not necessarily the point. The point is that, if you are very Avios rich and are worried about the cap being reduced to 5,000 Avios per month in future, you would do best to move as many as you can now. You can move them back later.

    • BJ says:

      24 Jan24 January 16:28

      Cheers, saved me looking.

      • Peter K says:

        24 Jan24 January 16:35

        50k avios per calendar month to nectar. 80k nectar back to avios.

        To be fair, you’d be doing well to go over those limits every month of the year.

        • BJ says:

          24 Jan24 January 17:43

          Figured it was a year, then saw the new article and read it.

• Sprout says:

  24 Jan24 January 17:55

  I think all 3 of my 241 vouchers have been extended by a further 5 or 6 months. I don’t think I’m imagining it – maybe someone else could check theirs…

  • Sprout says:

    24 Jan24 January 17:58

    on rechecking not so sure now …

  • Tracy says:

    24 Jan24 January 18:47

    Nope, mine still same expiry. Got excited there as I have expiry in June and Nov 2021…..

  • Ali M says:

    24 Jan24 January 19:47

    no, not yet, hehe

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