The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 2nd February

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• Jonny says:

  2 Feb2 February 10:04

  Anyone having problems linking an UK-issued Amex charge card to their PayPal account (to take advantage of the recent offer)?
  It won’t allow me to do it, even though my partner did it for their card 2 weeks ago, and American Express is one of the options in the pull-down menu.
  PayPal online help says it’s a new policy not to accept Amex links, but I have a feeling they have no idea what they’re talking about because I can’t see that mentioned anywhere-else.

  • jil says:

    2 Feb2 February 10:44

    I linked my platinum card to paypal a few weeks ago after received the offer, no problem

  • Rob says:

    2 Feb2 February 10:54

    I linked my Amex Business card last Friday with no issues.

  • BuildBackBetter says:

    2 Feb2 February 11:15

    Is ur PayPal account registered in UK?

    • Jonny says:

      2 Feb2 February 11:41

      Yeah, it is.

      I’m not terribly convinced PayPal customer services is up to much, and all your answers seem to confirm that.

  • Jonny says:

    2 Feb2 February 11:54

    PUNCHLINE:
    So, after a long back-and-forth with PayPal customer services in which they repeatedly told me that Amex was no longer supported by PayPal, the representative said he’d made a change to my account… and lo-and-behold, the card could be added without any problem.
    Customer Services!?!

  • kitten says:

    2 Feb2 February 11:57

    Paypal has gone increasingly geo-limiting sneakily over recent-ish years without actually anmouncing this to existing customers nor explaining the new restrictions this brings.

    I am sure they will soon find a way based on Brexit to make this even worse.

    That, combined with their customer service that comes close to how bad Revolut is (when you can actually get a response from Revolut, that is), means Paypal has just about outlived its usefulness for me. Plus their forcing of bad exchange rates has got really sneaky now.

    I’d like to dump them entirely but sadly too many web sellers use only Paypal to take payments.

  • Magic Mike says:

    2 Feb2 February 20:44

    Tip: don’t add the card to your account. Send yourself a request for payment, to another email address (or to your other half if you only have one email address). Click on the link opening in an incognito window, and just pay by credit card without logging in.

• IanM says:

  2 Feb2 February 10:09

  What’s the general view on when travel will resume to any meaningful degree to the USA? I was looking to reschedule flights for May/June but think August September might be more realistic. By that time the virus should be better under control and a large % should be vaccinated

  • Darren says:

    2 Feb2 February 10:28

    I have a November flight to the US, more hope than expectation.

    • Rob says:

      2 Feb2 February 10:41

      I’m still sitting on a California driving holiday for Easter, rebooked from last Easter ….

      My kids will have left home at this rate.

      • Darren says:

        2 Feb2 February 10:56

        Which places will you not be visiting? Love Sonoma, but I’m guessing San Diego for the kids?

        • Rob says:

          2 Feb2 February 11:10

          It was going to be the typical first-timers loop (as for my wife and kids it would be) – into SanFran, down to Monterey / Big Sur, and then questions over how far south we go before swinging left, through Death Valley (wife doesn’t want Vegas), up to Yosemite and then back to SFO.

        • marcw says:

          2 Feb2 February 11:40

          If you plan to drive the Tioga Pass to Yosemite, remember it doesn’t open until June (sometimes, late May).

        • Darren says:

          2 Feb2 February 13:34

          Sounds great, Monterey is great for the sea life.

      • IanM says:

        2 Feb2 February 11:44

        Tough not to include a visit to Vegas. No place on Earth like it.

        • Darren says:

          2 Feb2 February 13:35

          and with a Waldorf!

      • Alan says:

        2 Feb2 February 12:38

        That’s pretty optimistic.

        I had the same booked for the end of May but accepted the probable reality of continuing restrictions and moved it to October yesterday.

        • Rob says:

          2 Feb2 February 14:01

          I’m not expecting to be able to go …. I just haven’t cancelled it yet, because I will save £140 in cancellation fees if BA blinks first.

      • Jonathan says:

        2 Feb2 February 19:20

        Highway 1 is great

    • Anna says:

      2 Feb2 February 11:22

      We’ve moved our August Caribbean trip to Florida but it does look like border re-opening is low on their list of priorities. They certainly have more domestic holiday options than we do! I’m slightly surprised there hasn’t been more pressure from the tourist industry but I don’t actually know how important it is to the overall economy.

  • Rob says:

    2 Feb2 February 10:53

    If you look at the vaccine numbers, they are doing better than you might think. Behind us but well ahead of the EU.

    Politically the dynamic is different though. Only a small % of Americans ever leave the country and you have huge numbers of options for domestic tourism. Closing the borders is not a massive vote loser.

    This is totally different to the UK, where a permanent desire to leave the country is a core part of the national psyche.

    • Blindman says:

      2 Feb2 February 11:19

      Lets hope they’ve fixed the Big Sur by then!

      Section washed away last week.

      • MattB says:

        2 Feb2 February 11:25

        Was just about to say this, we got lucky on our 2018 honeymoon, the previous slide had been cleared just a few weeks before we got there.

        • The Savage Squirrel says:

          2 Feb2 February 17:15

          I’ve driven it 3 times and never managed to do the whole thing without a detour.

          Most interesting detour was through a military base that really did look like the first section of Full Metal Jacket. Took a wrong turning and was worried we would get shot as intruders, but they were actually very nice about it :D.

    • Charlieface says:

      2 Feb2 February 15:08

      You have to remember how big the US is. It’s nearly as far coast-to-coast as it is across The Pond

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    2 Feb2 February 11:52

    Got flights x 2 booked for April (one a rebook from Xmas) , not going to happen.
    July flights. Can’t see happening.
    Sept flight, would be nice if happened.
    But family may have returned to Europe by then!
    So I’ll be getting lots of Nectar points.
    Before Covid, we ended up just going where there were exceptional cash deals to places we fancied seeing. We also were saving up avios for a round the world multi-partner trip taking in the South Pacific. Can’t see that happening for years – too many countries and airlines!

  • MattB says:

    2 Feb2 February 11:53

    1) May to Miami… clearly a no go – Waiting for BA to cancel
    2) Aug to California….unlikely
    3) end of Oct to NY…..50/50 at moment

    • kitten says:

      2 Feb2 February 12:00

      +1
      Whilst calling Trump out on things, the facts seem to be making Biden tread the same path in terms of restrictions

    • IanM says:

      2 Feb2 February 13:09

      I mean where are you getting this? Off the top of your head?

      There is a clear downward trend in infection and hospitalisation (which is mostly over 70s anyway) the vaccination programme will have innoculated most of the population of UK and USA by early Summer, so why do you feel travel in August is unlikley?

      • James Vickers says:

        2 Feb2 February 13:19

        The reality is no one has a clue! There could be a crazy new variant which spreads quickly or everything could all go to plan. I agree with the point made earlier about them being able to survive on domestic tourism so not needing to rush.

      • Brian says:

        2 Feb2 February 14:19

        You’re forgetting about the second dose….

      • MattB says:

        2 Feb2 February 14:25

        Gut feeling.

        For one I may not be fully vaccinated, not sure I would want to risk the minefield of insurance and US healthcare if I was too fall ill.

        There are so many many variables, both political and scientific in play it is difficult to say one way or other hence my apprehension.

  • dezbez says:

    2 Feb2 February 14:23

    We’ve got US & Canada booked in Aug (all cancellable) – jab-wise it looks like US is making relatively good progress, & Canada now starting to ramp it up after a slow start.
    I think we’ll see countries start opening up again in late Q2/early Q3 (not Aus, NZ, Far East, etc. though) so I’m quietly optimistic 🤞🏽

    • MattB says:

      2 Feb2 February 14:27

      Canada literally have no vaccines. They bought millions but none are being made in country. My friends over there are furious with the govt.

      • Liz says:

        2 Feb2 February 21:22

        I chat to my cousin in Ontario every day – they are only doing about 2000 vaccines per day in Ontario – supplies just not getting through.

• Diydegsy says:

  2 Feb2 February 10:13

  Anyone have any suggestions for hotels in Mexico City for 2 nights just started looking but never been before not til end of year hopefully? Also any tips on choice of lounges at the airport? Thanks

  • Jen T says:

    2 Feb2 February 10:22

    La Condesa is the nicest neighbourhood with boutique hotels, cafes, etc. If you are only there for a few days, being in the centre of the city is helpful – the Historico Central Hotel is excellent, reasonably priced and a fantastic location. Public transport not always the safest but Uber, etc is extremely cheap and very safe. CDMX is huge, so don’t plan on travelling across the city much as it takes hours. We visited a few of the available lounges (BA Club ticket, Gold status), but all relatively unremarkable. Accurate reviews online.

  • memesweeper says:

    2 Feb2 February 11:17

    Depending on budget
    – Best Western Hotel Majestic (low)
    – Gran Hotel Ciudad de México (high)

    • Rob says:

      2 Feb2 February 12:01

      Last time I was there, 15 years ago, there was basically a zone – which was literally blocked in by armed police – where all the smart hotels were. This sharply reduced your chances of being shot.

      We had a ‘Balcony Suite’ at the JW Marriott, which did not have a balcony. When I questioned the hotel about this, they said it was just a random name they had chosen and wasn’t meant to give the impression that it had a balcony. Welcome to Mexico.

• Mouse says:

  2 Feb2 February 10:16

  Interesting – Lufthansa now offering double status miles on flights for all of 2021

• Grant says:

  2 Feb2 February 10:38

  Could someone kindly set out the moderation ‘rules’ for dealing with posts containing referral links for energy companies, share trading platforms and the like. Thanks

  • Rob says:

    2 Feb2 February 10:40

    In general, if someone asks for a referral link, we will let the first one to be posted stand. The rest will be deleted.

    Because we see comments differently to you (we see all comments, across all articles, in one feed and importantly in reverse time order, newest first) we can often get confused however. If we see a link we can’t easily see if someone actually asked for one as it would be further down our feed.

    • EwanG says:

      2 Feb2 February 14:53

      Whilst not trying to make HfP another HUKD, if there was a handful of trusted contributors set up as community moderators, would that make it easier for you/better for us?

      • Rob says:

        2 Feb2 February 16:00

        Not really. We need to read it all anyway to pick up links to interesting story ideas.

  • kitten says:

    2 Feb2 February 12:04

    The rule is that if you ask for a trading platform 747_Brat will be there first with his Trading212 link 🙂

    Even quicker than Rhys who presumably sees the ticker of all comments as they come up 🙂

    • 747_Brat says:

      2 Feb2 February 15:24

      Haha….thank you. I am flattered!
      Guilty as charged.

    • Sam says:

      2 Feb2 February 18:47

      @Kitten, you missed green dot incoming but I agree 747_Brat is the quickest out of the two…lol

• Sprout says:

  2 Feb2 February 10:42

  Could someone update me on the current situation with regard to Travel insurance and Covid? Looking to potentially book a family holiday for the back end of the year (assuming travel has opened up) and was wondering what happens if one of the group were to contract it whilst away. I think I recall discussions last year that travel insurance now has exclusions related to Covid? thx

  • Dave says:

    2 Feb2 February 11:13

    All insurance policies will be different but, for example my, Nationwide insurance will not provide cancellation cover for Covid if booked when fco advice is against travel. It will cover Covid related medical costs if when the trip departed there is no fco advice against travelling to that country.

  • Ralph says:

    2 Feb2 February 11:19

    It totally depends on your provider and the policy you take out and the insurers are changing their cover for new policies all the time, you need to check carefully. We moved to the Nationwide FlexPlus as they had better cover in relation to Covid – essentially no cover for cancellation but if you got ill abroad (even covid) you were covered including in countries on the FCO non essential list but they have now tightened a bit.

  • Blenz101 says:

    2 Feb2 February 11:20

    Yes, there are exclusions as it is now a known event. Some airlines are offering CV19 cover (health) as part of your ticket to encourage bookings.

    Various insurers will cover various things.check with your existing insurer if you have a policy already in place. MSE has a list of providers who will cover CV19 medical expenses.

    • Sprout says:

      2 Feb2 February 11:31

      Thanks for the replies. I will research MSE list as you suggest as it’s the medical side that I want to make sure is watertight. I currently have an annual policy with First Direct so I’ll speak to them as well.

• 747_Brat says:

  2 Feb2 February 10:55

  Items from the now-closed Berlin Tegel International Airport (TXL) have gone to auction:

  https://www.troostwijkauctions.com/uk/dechow/01-35786/

• Darren says:

  2 Feb2 February 11:04

  Just received Priority Pass with expiry of 2024, this was after I cancelled the gold card last month. Is the PP valid?

  • Rob says:

    2 Feb2 February 11:08

    No, it will be rejected when swiped because it needs a valid credit card linked to it so that any guests can be charged.

    • Darren says:

      2 Feb2 February 13:40

      Thanks

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