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The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 10th February

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Comments (281)

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

  • Bs says:
    10 Feb10 February 05:55

    Tried asking Virgin if they would delay my status match done last month, now new marchers can delay it. A polite but firm no.

    • babyg says:
      10 Feb10 February 12:04

      Interesting, i status matched myself last month (was wondering if they would change the status match start date for me too), am doin wife/daughter this month – so at least they will benefit and our collection/end of year periods will be different i guess?

  • VJ says:
    10 Feb10 February 07:32

    @Sam – Things haven’t worked out for me so far wonder if you are still heading for offlice tomorrow and can do the honour. Please drop me a line at g17 @ gmx . com

  • MinR says:
    10 Feb10 February 07:42

    @TGLoyalty and others – re Amex payments for BMW finance from yesterday’s thread.

    Do you have to request a change of payment from DD to CC or you just cancel your DD and make monthly payments over the automated phone service with your Amex?

    • TGLoyalty says:
      10 Feb10 February 07:59

      I just cancelled mine and started making payments via phone.

      • Green Plastic says:
        10 Feb10 February 10:31

        Is this standard? i.e. if you have a car on finance you can pay the monthly costs by credit card?

        • Anna says:
          10 Feb10 February 10:33

          It depends on which finance company you use, some accept cc payments, some don’t.

          • Green Plastic says:
            10 Feb10 February 10:39

            Thanks Anna – any ideas which companies accept CC?

          • Anna says:
            10 Feb10 February 11:03

            I posted re this yesterday but in a nutshell I have paid VW finance through Billhop where the monthly payment is very low so we can take the 3% hit to help hit an Amex target. Santander finance doesn’t take Amex but you can pay them directly with MC or Visa online. People have said BMW take Amex payments directly.

            Lex finance have just lost a decent chunk of business from us; we’re planning to lease an Audi for 3 years then buy a new vehicle outright when that comes to an end due to our projected circumstances. I’m such a hardcore HFPer now though, there’s no way I am taking on a £13k financial commitment with no points earning opportunity attached!

          • Anna says:
            10 Feb10 February 11:04

            Green Plastic – if your finance company says they don’t accept cc’s, ask to speak to someone who actually processes the payments as they may well know differently!

          • Green Plastic says:
            10 Feb10 February 11:21

            Thanks again, much appreciated!

          • Polly says:
            10 Feb10 February 23:32

            Anna. Did the same as you at a Volvo garage in Croydon who swore blind they wouldn’t take Amex. But l just said couldn’t justify a big spend around 15k without earning miles. Had to make the payment over the phone to the actual office upstairs from the sales desk downstairs. As the card couldn’t be present. Just a ridiculous process. It was when AA mbna cards had that big bonus, Anna l think before you found hfp. Agree about being hard core, it’s in my blood, must get points return for every spend, always!
            And now chasing stamp duty points… and a deposit…so really having to plan. Luckily can use hsbc premier with or without curve

  • Track says:
    10 Feb10 February 07:56

    I remain unsure about what the new anti-travel measures are trying to achieve.

    The virus will mutate into more spreadable variants and they will prevail — the typical evolution path.

    If the mutation occurs earlier at a different geographical location, it does not mean that in other locations the virus will stop mutating towards being more spreadable.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      10 Feb10 February 08:03

      the immediate point is putting the brakes on the spread of strains of concern when you have outbreaks while you vaccinate those most likely to end up in hospital.

      There’s no issue with having some though travel policies in place right now the concern is that there’s no apparent end date. Though March 31st is a rumour.

      There’s also the added Appease the “We are an island!” Morons factor.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        10 Feb10 February 08:03

        Tough policies*

      • Callum says:
        10 Feb10 February 12:24

        What exactly are you calling moronic?

        Last time I checked, we are indeed an island and island nations can indeed control their borders significantly more effectively than their mainland counterparts.

        If it’s simply a difference of opinion on whether it’s actually worth stopping transmission or not, I hardly see how you can call them moronic…

    • roberto says:
      10 Feb10 February 08:03

      Its part politics and part reducing the threat against variants. What the percentage each part represents is anyones guess.

      • blenz101 says:
        10 Feb10 February 08:25

        My take would be 98% politics. Putting 4500 people in a hotel room for a couple of weeks is going to make almost zero impact on the spread of variants.

        Those entering the UK and accepting quarantine will have already cross contaminated others on the same plane who are not subject to quarantine. Boarding, onboard toilets, surfaces, being packed on a airside bus at LHR – plenty of opportunity.

        Also, given the figures don’t back up the UAE being on the ‘red list’ we have to assume that is political as well following a winter of influencers. A huge chunk of the UAE ex-pat population will soon be heading to the Maldives for half-term mixing with those from the UK who decide to take the still operating flight to MLE.

        So whilst they may be sending a message that travel is more difficult and avoiding being seen to do a U-turn / accused of doing nothing the actual impact will be minimal. Had they just put the onus on passengers to have a negative PCR test before boarding for the UK 9 months ago it wouldn’t be such a contentious issue.

    • Rich says:
      10 Feb10 February 08:06

      We’ll be largely immune to the original and Kent variants. This summer we’ll have to worry about home-grown variants. If we open up travel, we’ll have to worry about home grown variants AND new overseas variants.

      I’m no immunologist, but I would think vaccine 2.0 needs to have broader, less specific targeting, if such a thing exists. 50% efficacy against lots of variants.

    • Track says:
      10 Feb10 February 08:20

      I think my problem is with unpredictability and haphazard nature of it all.

      If there will be clear announcement, even in August 2020 that “no travel permitted from 1 Dec 2020 to 31 March 2021” — then, its tough but effective and understandable. Furthermore, people will have Aug-Sep-Oct-Nov to make plans, complete necessary travel and reposition.

      In that way, there will be no confusion, no demands on police force, on public and private testing, on NHS.

      What for we are paying in excess of 200,000 salary + pension to our research medical professors and government advisors? Vague answers, shifting policies, Thursday bingo, no PRACTICAL guidance, disregard for human rights and loss of nerves? Dangerous legal precedents have been created by secondary legislation.

    • PM says:
      10 Feb10 February 08:23

      They are aimed primarily at:

      * showing the Government is doing something specific and decisive (this is driven by electorate focus groups and the fear of public enquiry)

      * retaining domestic spending after lockdown measures are eased

      * satisfying needs of the part of society that is either genuinely anxious regarding the virus risk to them or are enthusiastic about foreign virus is worse than UK virus narrative

      Someone cynical could add the army of consultants and mysterious contractors earning a fortune managing this scheme.

      As with previously introduced security measures (metal objects, bottles of liquid on board), once they are on, they tend to stay for a long time.

      The more they say decisions are driven by science, the more difficult it is to believe it.

      When it was time to protect the most vulnerable – they sent thousands of covid positive elders from hospitals back to care homes “to empty the wards”.

      When it was time to protect front line NHS Staff – they could not source PPE.

      When it was time to test incoming passengers from China/Italy – they relied on self isolations.

      When WHO was saying test, trace, isolate – they could not get the system off the ground for months.

      • Andrew says:
        10 Feb10 February 08:38

        I totally agree that the measures will be in place for a long time – months not years, and I would eat my hat if anything changes on 31 March.

        • IanM says:
          10 Feb10 February 09:15

          Or more accurately years not months. Government will want to keep the proles under the cosh and spend their pounds in UK and not euros in EU

          • Anna says:
            10 Feb10 February 10:34

            We can’t even go out and spend £s at the moment apart from in supermarkets!

        • Rob says:
          10 Feb10 February 09:37

          As I’ve said before, once all Conservative voters are done (excluding you Andrew, I know) by the end of March it will be a different story.

          UK deaths should be zero, give or take, by May. Good luck imposing restrictions on that.

          • Brian says:
            10 Feb10 February 10:28

            Didn’t you also predict that total excess deaths for 2020 would be lower than average because of more people getting the flu jab?

          • Rob says:
            10 Feb10 February 11:43

            No, I said that a bad flu winter kills 50,000 people and if we had minimal flu deaths in 2020 due to distancing it would offset the covid deaths.

            This was a decent bet until the second wave kicked in.

          • marcw says:
            10 Feb10 February 10:30

            Hold my beer.

          • marcw says:
            10 Feb10 February 10:31

            @Brian, all Rob’s predictions related to COVID-19 have been a massive failure. Not that anyone else got it right though.

            In current times, it’s almos impossible to predict what happens in 3 weeks, let alone in 3 months.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            10 Feb10 February 11:55

            UK deaths from COVID wont be nil and Hospitalisations wont be nil the hope is that they will become manageable.

            Honestly all deaths are really unfortunate but these lockdowns are not happening because over 75’s are dying after a few days in hospital they are happening to stop the health system being overwhelmed by a significant number of 50+ / at risk taking up beds for weeks putting a stop to other health services and causing related deaths now and in the future.

          • ken says:
            10 Feb10 February 13:34

            “UK deaths should be zero, give or take, by May.”

            You said in August that pretty soon we will have zero daily deaths.

            It like WW1 being over by xmas

      • The cyclist says:
        10 Feb10 February 08:51

        Aimed at the populace to show that the govt is doing something, 10 year jail sentences are for the leader writers of the Mail/ Express, the reality will be something entirely different.

        I have an relative who is the vice chair of a local conservative association ( Though I don’t hold it against him most of the time!) the draconian 10k fines and ten year jail sentence have the Home secretary’s pawprints all over them, its been said before she is being positioned as the rights candidate to replace the Etonian bungler. To those criticizing Boris be careful what you wish for.

        • Anna says:
          10 Feb10 February 09:23

          It’s already been demonstrated in the case of lockdown breaches that people can’t be fined £10k without being taken to court for means testing, which they seem to have forgotten!
          I strongly suspect that any DM articles will be expressions of outrage that no one has been convicted of a quarantine breach/inability to prosecute them anyway due to various issues. The Home Sec has zero experience of trying to apply the law in a real life situation!

          • Brian says:
            10 Feb10 February 10:41

            “ Not that anyone else got it right though.

            In current times, it’s almos impossible to predict what happens in 3 weeks, let alone in 3 months.”

            Yes that’s sort of the point and why I don’t bother with such predictions.

            How do people expect others to know what will be possible in six months in terms of holidays? People are just going to have to get a grip and wait.

            The public seems to be more worried about when they can go on holiday rather than when schools will open. Bizarre priorities (I don’t have kids so it doesn’t affect me personally and I’d love to go on holiday soon but the world shouldn’t revolve around me wanting a holiday)

          • Anna says:
            10 Feb10 February 11:09

            I agree that education is more important than holidays, however the people clamouring to go on holiday are largely the ones whose kids are receiving a perfectly adequate education at home. I’m lucky enough to have the IT and my son’s school is by and large delivering the full curriculum. He has mild Asperger’s so is much happier being at home and we don’t have to deal with the anxieties he suffers from being in school (and which adversely impact his learning).

          • Anna says:
            10 Feb10 February 11:12

            I appreciate that this isn’t the case for all parents though, which is why I have returned to the world of work as an online tutor for children who have missed a significant amount of schooling due to the pandemic!

    • Chris Heyes says:
      10 Feb10 February 12:30

      Track The clue is in your first line ?
      I remain unsure about what the new anti-travel measures are trying to achieve.
      “Anti-Travel”

      • whiskerxx says:
        10 Feb10 February 14:25

        (Chris Heyes – not targeted at you but I hope this comment appears at the end of this stream)
        Just why do all the usual suspects and borefests come out every day to peddle their covid views (whichever way they feel) in this forum?
        Yes you can point me to “anything else on your mind ” at the top of the page, yes you can tell me to cancel my subscription, yes you can tell me not to read it.
        But the reality is – you are bores in the truest sense of the word. (dull and tiresome)

        • bafan says:
          10 Feb10 February 15:34

          God help us all is Petty Patel gets into office the next time. I hope it’s Dishi Rishi.

          • Lady London says:
            11 Feb11 February 00:42

            I hope not. That would leave a vacancy. we’ve had so many chancellors who didnt seem to have even basic economics knowledge – of both parties – that Rishi has really cheered me up.

        • Chris Heyes says:
          10 Feb10 February 19:50

          whiskerxx Thanks for not targeting me lol
          Just to let you know i don’t have any covid views one way or another
          In fact i find all the posts on here about covid, lockdown or not lockdown most amusing.
          whiskerxx thanks for amusing me, reading most (not all) posts on here keeps me amused
          Some posts are actually useful (but not the 1 or 2 word meaningless comments)
          or the what (or when) do you think this or that will happen they are the most laughable comments but keeps me laughing lol

  • Chris says:
    10 Feb10 February 08:14

    I ordered some BA crockery and glassware from Whatabuy last year and half the order was missing or damaged. They haven’t responded to any of my emails so I have had to lodge a court claim against them. Anyone else have a similar experience?

    • Andrew says:
      10 Feb10 February 08:19

      If you paid by credit card, probably easier to do a charge back rather than take them to court.

    • Paul says:
      10 Feb10 February 09:11

      I sent 4 emails in total asking for them to either ship or refund the items missing from my order, they never responded but last week the refund appeared on my card so it’s possible that they’ve finally got round to sorting out the mess.

    • Travel Strong says:
      10 Feb10 February 17:18

      I paid by paypal and requested a part refund for the missing item. I also emailed all of the possible whatabuy emails to tell them I was doing so (probably pointless, but covered all bases). Received the refund via the Paypal case a week or so later. I also had a similar experience with curry’s where Paypal came through for me. I like them much more now I’m more of a buyer than a seller!

  • Wally1976 says:
    10 Feb10 February 08:49

    For anyone interested in the Tesco Inkjet cartridge recycling scheme, I checked this morning and it’s back: https://www.therecyclingfactory.com/tesco/ and still 125 points for certain cartridges.

    Annoyingly, though, you are now required to source envelopes from a Tesco store and also deposit the filled envelope in a Tesco store.

    • Rob says:
      10 Feb10 February 09:35

      Thanks

    • Alex D says:
      10 Feb10 February 10:19

      Not sure if it was in the T&C’s before but it’s limited to 100 cartridges

    • Jonathan says:
      10 Feb10 February 10:56

      I thought Tesco Green Clubcard points was an earning perk that died when the government (finally) buckled down on people (most of the time) needlessly wanting carrier bags that can’t be recycled

      Shame it died, as you could often buy say three items and put through 3 bags re-used, getting 1 point per bag. Obviously making sure you were doing exactly that !

  • Mco says:
    10 Feb10 February 09:07

    Does anyone know if I can do a date change on the return portion of a £999 BA 747 fares. I had a cancellation and rebooked to new dates but it turns out I will only fly the outbound as I need to go somewhere else from there.

    Anyone remember what the return portion was? £400 right? Don’t want to fly the outbound and ask for a voucher as £400 is great value for a flight.

    • Rob says:
      10 Feb10 February 09:35

      Free date changes isn’t it? What I would do is find a date with an incredibly cheap inbound flight and move the return leg to that. It might trigger a partial refund and at worst you won’t need to pay any extra.

    • Mco says:
      10 Feb10 February 10:17

      Free date changes to these too? Doesn’t a fare difference apply though? Cheapest biz on that route is around £1000.

      • Jonathan says:
        10 Feb10 February 15:22

        If you make a change before the outbound flight then it will reprice based on current fares so whatever the I class fare for the flight you want is for a new booking today.

        If you wait till after you have flown the outbound then it will be calculated based on historic fares ie. assuming the new date is in the eligible dates for the £999 747 tickets you won’t have to pay any difference. You will need I class availability for the new dates however which might be a problem if new date is close to outbound flight.

  • Travel Strong says:
    10 Feb10 February 09:10

    Grant Schnapps on R4 this morning – “No vaccine passport. When we say no vaccine passport we mean for accessing services in the UK. Will need a vaccine passport for international travel.”

    Vaccine ‘passport’ is acknowledged as discriminatory (e.g. those with no vaccine access due allergy/autoimmune concerns), but it’s fine to discriminate against those people with regards to international travel.

    Also Grant Schnapps – “No one should book any holidays, at all, not even into the future”.

    No room for logic or reason in todays interview for sure.

    • IanM says:
      10 Feb10 February 09:16

      I think it’s Grant Schapps, but either way he is a total waste of space, like most of them.

    • Brian says:
      10 Feb10 February 10:16

      To be fair to the useless clown, I’m not sure how he can be expected to predict whether people will be go on holiday abroad in six months, when we’re in the middle of an evolving pandemic. How does he know what restrictions other countries will have in a few months?

      Don’t book a holiday yet seems like sound advice to me. If he told everyone to book one and they then inevitably get cancelled then people would complain and say “SHAPPS SAID I SHOULD BOOK A HOLIDAY”

      • Anna says:
        10 Feb10 February 10:30

        I actually have a lot of sympathy for them trying to manage a lethal pandemic and people asking when they can go on holiday! Obviously I really, really want to be able to get away somewhere but I can see it from both sides and I have been scrupulous about sticking to the rules. The correct answer of course is that they CAN’T say when travel restrictions will be lifted, despite the frustration this is causing across so many sectors. That’s why we have flexible and refundable booking options!

      • WaynedP says:
        10 Feb10 February 10:31

        Whilst I agree your sentiment to give some “benefit of the doubt” here, I think there is a good case to be made for:

        1) If you’re so out of touch with booking your own trips because you have a public service funded assistant to do it for you, then be honest enough to acknowledge that you can’t empathise or identify with the quandary faced by most listeners and refrain from making ignorant, uninformed statements,

        and

        2) Even a modest amount of intelligence and common sense should steer you into avoiding making statements that will instantly draw the derision of an entire industry by rather saying something like “if listeners wish to book future holidays now, they should educate themselves about all the risks which such a booking carries”.

        Government leaders of all political hues contribute dangerously to the public’s growing lack of trust in political structures and decision-making when they value sycophantism above competence in their cabinets.

        • Anna says:
          10 Feb10 February 10:49

          They need to work with the travel industry to help it manage the economic fall out but I’m not remotely bothered about whether a minister empathises with me or not over something that I totally admit is a luxury and a privilege, I’d rather hear about when I’m going to be vaccinated or another issue which will actually help to bring the current restrictions to a close.

        • AJA says:
          10 Feb10 February 11:32

          With due respect saying “if listeners wish to book future holidays now, they should educate themselves about all the risks which such a booking carries” is sound advice.

          It is not up to the government to spoonfeed the population on whether they can have a 2 week summer holiday. It is the government’s responsibility to handle the economic and health impacts of the pandemic for the benefit of all. If that means no holidays so be it but that doesn’t mean we have to be told so. It is fairly obvious that is the reality. The trouble is that most people want to be told in minute detail absolving them of the need to think for themselves so that they can find some excuse why it doesn’t apply and/or moan about it.

    • Callum says:
      10 Feb10 February 11:22

      Acknowledged by who exactly? It’s no different to any other form of health record – it’s just a different name.

      It can be used by other states in a discriminatory manner, but so could a vaccination certificate or a vaccination confirmation. Do you think all vaccine related medical records need to be destroyed to prevent this?

      Not to mention, this already happens – yellow fever being the obvious one. Presumably if this becomes the norm, exemptions will be made for those who medically cannot receive a vaccine, just like they are for everything else.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        10 Feb10 February 11:34

        or if its a yearly thing, which it will be clearly will the whole population will not be vaccinated or offered one every year.

        and even this year it is looking more and more like healthy under 50s at low risk will be left out so the at risk can be given a booster for new variants for the next winter season

        • Callum says:
          10 Feb10 February 12:45

          Yes, if it’s a yearly thing that will be redundant. It’s not currently a yearly thing though… If it becomes one then obviously these restrictions will need to change.

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