Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The HfP chat thread – Sunday 31st 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 (312)

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

  • Super Secret Stuff says:

    Contents insurance question:

    Anyone know a supplier that is good to deal with? Happy to pay the price for a good policy

    Second question, how to earn avios put of it? I’m aware of that broker that does the avios tie up

    • RichS says:

      Sainsburys Home Insurance often have offers for new policies (including contents only) giving bonus Nectar points (which can be converted to Avios).

      • Rob says:

        Nothing at the moment, had a look last week (unless you are targetted via the app for something). We will give it a push when they do a new open to all offer.

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          Thanks rob

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          Just checked the app and am targetted with 6,000 nectar points for a home and contents policy. T & Cs say starts at £111!

          • Super Secret Stuff says:

            Promo code Home30

            No mention of targeting tho, within the financial services section of Nectar. Re red the T & Cs and it should work just for contents insurance

          • Rob says:

            Thanks. Will have a chat with the Sainsbury’s Bank people.

          • BJ says:

            6000 NP for a B&C policy is pretty rubbish unless you are lucky enough to be in the postcodes they are targeting with £111 which will be few and far between.

      • BJ says:

        Sainsbury’s usually needs to be both buildings and contents to qualify for the bonus.

    • Aston100 says:

      I find Aviva to be the best for all kinds of insurance. I have had reason to make use of their car, home and health insurance policies in recent years and they have been excellent and not looking for loopholes to avoid paying out.

      • Super Secret Stuff says:

        Thats Aston, really appreciate your first hand reviews!

        Do you use there premium products or the cheaper ones?

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          I’ve gone with Aviva as they had the best price for what I needed. Thanks Aston!

          1,000 avios in the bank too, not bad!

          • BJ says:

            The trick with Aviva is to first sign up for an accidental death policy costing under £2/m to qualify for a 20% existing customer discount on more expensive policies like car or home insurance. Afterwards you can just cancel the accidental death policy.

      • mutley says:

        You claimed on all three?

    • Guernsey Globetrotter says:

      Aviva are competitive and have a smooth application process in my experience.

      You can also earn avios on a policy via the BA store.

    • BJ says:

      M&S if contents only, via Voldeportal for pounds or avios if you prefer.

      • Super Secret Stuff says:

        Aviva was cheaper for me. £65 for contents with £100 excess. Good terms and conditions and coverage. For me and my partner.

        £30 for global out and about insurance upto £2,000.

        Pretty good overall

        • BJ says:

          I change every year, it has always been worth doing so as different insurers seem to target different areas all the time. M&S was the one that worked for me this year, paid almost same as you IIRC and got Voldeportal. There are fewer options for return in contents only. What I always look for is a policy that allows more that the typical 30 days unoccupied at a reasonable price as I am donetimes away longer than that.

    • BP says:

      What’s the best insurer where you have semi-expensive jewelry? Currently with AXA who’ll insure a single item of jewellery up to £15k. The wife’s engagement ring is worth about £19k and I have a watch collection with Rolex and Panerai watches each worth ~£7k

      Most policies wanted us to keep jewellery over a certain value in a safe. We’d rather not do this.

      • Prune says:

        Covea are excellent

      • Stanley says:

        Spookily, My wife has a similarly priced engagement ring, and I have 2 Rolex and 2 Panerais. Aviva are very good. All covered, but needed a monitored alarm and a home safe for any watches not being worn. About £300 for those items, and same again for the actual house contents.

  • Iris says:

    eSure was the most value option for us. Sainsburys and Aviva were much more expensive.

  • BJ says:

    The nectar home insurance offer is not showing on my app. However, I noticed that the Cafe Nero redemption offer expires in 3 days but it has been around for ages so I guess they probably just keep renewing it.

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      You’re looking in the partner offers section, scroll down and choose financial services in the partner section

      • BJ says:

        Ah ok, don’t need it anyway, just trying to figure if it was open to all a comment above suggests it may be. It will be interesting to see if some HfP readers win big in the frequent nectar competitions.

  • JT says:

    Amex Membership rewards question:

    Hoping someone can help me out. Can I transfer / convert Amex Membership Reward points to the Marriott account of someone else? Do they have to be an authorised user on my account?

    • Rob says:

      No. However, you can transfer 100k Marriott points from your account to any other member (no need to share name or address). Only snag is that you need to call to do it.

      • JT says:

        Thanks Rob – but if a pain to call. Can I use my Marriott points to book accommodation for that person instead?

        • BJ says:

          Calling to transfer points is painless, it takes about 3-5 minutes.

          • JT says:

            Thanks BJ. The booking is 200,000 points, so hopefully I can book in their name instead?

          • BJ says:

            Possible for Hilton and IHG for sure but you’ll need feedback from a Marriott enthusiast as I rarely use them so I don’t know.

        • Rob says:

          Yes, it is usually OK if you put notes in the booking saying that other person will check-in and not you. 90% of times it is fine, the other 10% the person checking in may have some trouble.

          I assume your friend doesn’t have status, because they would lose their benefits if you booked for them and you had none.

    • Louie says:

      How about reading page 1 of this article?

  • Sandra says:

    I had an offer in the app a few weeks ago for car insurance with Sainsburys, think it was 6000 points but can’t recall exactly. However, the quote came in at about £50 more than Aviva who I moved to as they were cheapest overall on like for like. Sainsbury were competitive with a lot of the other quotes I got though.

  • Graeme says:

    Spotted quite a good J routing to pacific west coast if anyone is optimistic of regular travel returning by June. 50k Virgin miles and under £500. Will earn some DL/AF/KL points too.

    DUB>YYC>YVR WestJet. DUB to YYC in new 787. £475 through Skyscanner
    SEA>LHR Delta. 767-400 in Delta One (not suites but new config). 50k VS points and $6

    Will be extra for positioning flight to DUB. YVR and SEA are 2.5 hours drive away/

    Availability of Westjet fares looks wide open but DL redemptions are certain dates in May/June (I thought the 50k deals were just to mainland Europe so was surprised to see). I can’t use but thought pretty cheap way to try out two new J products.

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