The HfP chat thread – Friday 12th February

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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.

Category

General

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

Sina says:

12 Feb12 February 14:08

Anyone knows of a source to learn more about MS opportunities and tips, tricks, etc in the U.S? I just got a HSBC US Elite card and not sure how to maximise the benefits?
- Aston100 says:
  
  12 Feb12 February 15:03
  
  There’s a whole section on Flyertalk.
  https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manufactured-spending-719/
  - 747_Brat says:
    
    12 Feb12 February 15:38
    
    Are there any UK specific threads too?
    - Aston100 says:
      
      12 Feb12 February 15:44
      
      Yes, within that section there is a UK specific thread but it is pretty much out of date and you’ll get better info on HfP.
      - 747_Brat says:
        
        12 Feb12 February 17:12
        
        Thanks @Aston100. No point wasting time on FT then, I am well updated, courtesy HfP. 🙂
Charlieface says:

12 Feb12 February 14:52

What is with this crazy government? “Follow the science” they say, but R is down to 0.7 to 0.9- and cases are back to October levels.

Meanwhile, no end to lockdown, kids out of school and no holidays. It’s just berserk.
- BLT says:
  
  12 Feb12 February 15:03
  
  Yes. You are right. The whole of the government and scientific advisors are doing this for fun and are laughing at us.
  - Charlieface says:
    
    12 Feb12 February 16:02
    
    Let’s just say they are too hesitant to make decisions, locking down too late and lifting it too late.
- Greg says:
  
  12 Feb12 February 15:07
  
  “…no holidays”
  
  As we can see, you got your priorities straight.
  - Charlieface says:
    
    12 Feb12 February 16:04
    
    That’s why it’s last in the list.
    
    Some people need holidays for their sanity, I’m glad you don’t have 3 kids under the age of six.
    
    I could have also mentioned all the people with livelihoods being wrecked.
    - ashish says:
      
      12 Feb12 February 16:38
      
      #whiteprivaledge
      - Mr(s) Entitled says:
        
        12 Feb12 February 19:21
        
        Since when did expressing a desire to go on holiday become a privilege of only white people?
      - Dayle says:
        
        12 Feb12 February 20:40
        
        privilege* not privaledge
      - TGLoyalty says:
        
        12 Feb12 February 21:41
        
        No idea what colour has to do with anything to do with that comment you replied to.
        
        (I’m not white)
      - kitten says:
        
        13 Feb13 February 00:50
        
        … you could at least spell it right in that tag 🙂
    - Greg says:
      
      12 Feb12 February 16:47
      
      Since when holidays come before health and public health in general?
    - Geoff says:
      
      12 Feb12 February 18:08
      
      I only went abroad once before the age of 16. People can survive and remain sane without holidays.
- Colin MacKinnon says:
  
  12 Feb12 February 15:20
  
  No, they just haven’t finished telling you that the vaccines don’t work too well on the South African and Brazilian variants.
  
  Unless the great the current rate right back down to July levels, they’ll never spot the new mutations – and the more than will follow – and then the new mutations will become the dominant ones.
  
  And then we will have to wait until October for the modified vaccines!
  - Pete M says:
    
    12 Feb12 February 15:40
    
    And then there will be the Indonesian variant, followed by the Russian variant, then the Italian one… And we might as well give up?
    - Aston100 says:
      
      12 Feb12 February 15:45
      
      Do you think there’ll be a Belarussian one for IanM to worry about?
- BLT says:
  
  12 Feb12 February 15:26
  
  As a more useful response than my previous one:
  Hospitals still have over 25k people in with Covid, still above capacity, there were still over 1.8k admissions on the 8th Feb.
  If we relaxed now we would see a rise in cases again and hospitals would be over capacity very quickly. hence, why the government is taking the sensible decision to wait.
  This will hopefully be the last lockdown and I personallywould rather this be slightly longer so we can can get back to some sort of normality as soon as possible.
  - Anuj says:
    
    12 Feb12 February 15:42
    
    I’m staggered this still needs to be repeated all across the web on comment sections. I refuse to believe people are this naive/dumb. At this stage it’s deliberate. Why can’t people just let the vaccination program finish before we yet again start opening up too soon. This is the one thing the government are getting right (for now, touch wood that doesn’t change).
  - Aston100 says:
    
    12 Feb12 February 15:47
    
    Yes, you could argue this should have been done back in March last year or thereabouts, but finally they (The clowns in Government) have realised that people are barely listening anymore so this needs to be the one final lockdown to end it all. Use this opportunity to get as many people vaccinated as safely possible.
    - Charlieface says:
      
      12 Feb12 February 16:09
      
      Perhaps they need to realize that the things they are locking down (shops, gyms and schools) don’t make sense and everyone is fed up of such nonsensical restrictions.
      
      There is little evidence for these lockdowns actually doing anything, for example cases began decreasing around the New Year, a day or two after it started and well before its effect would have been noticed.
      - BLT says:
        
        12 Feb12 February 16:45
        
        I’m not sure anyone can help you with an explanation if you say locking down schools, gyms and shops makes no sense.
      - Geoff says:
        
        12 Feb12 February 18:10
        
        “ everyone is fed up of such nonsensical restrictions.”
        
        They’re going to have to man up as restrictions will stay for the next few months
        
        (I’m not talking about the people who’ve lost their jobs etc, just the meaning snowflakes who complain about anything)
- Ash says:
  
  12 Feb12 February 16:37
  
  Because if we come out of lockdown and it goes up again you will be first to start crying
- Tracey says:
  
  12 Feb12 February 16:56
  
  The kids will go back to school 6th March, at which point the R number will go up. That’s why BJ wants the R rate hammered now.
  - bafan says:
    
    13 Feb13 February 00:36
    
    The rate only started to really decline after the kids were kept at home – clearly that is where it is spreading. Sorry to Tabitha and Georgie who have to have the kids at home while they WFH but…this obsession with in person teaching is bizarre.
    - kitten says:
      
      13 Feb13 February 01:41
      
      I agree. France took a deliberate decision to keep schools open and close all non-essential shops, bars, clubs etc. Opening schools is what’s kept infections bubbling along and 2/3rds occupancy of ICU with Covid. It could boil over at any moment. As well as children’s education I think they realised this would keep the economic benefit of parents still working.
      
      Looks like trying to vaccinate before the variants outstrip the vaccines is the best available approach.
- Den says:
  
  12 Feb12 February 19:36
  
  Depends where you live! In our area currently it is at the same level as the first week in Dec! Still very high. This time there will be no rush to release lockdown – the government have learnt that!
mutley says:

12 Feb12 February 14:57

I ordered some items from Hackett after Robs article of a couple weeks ago of 10XAvios my items have still not arrived, Anyone else had similar delivery issues?
- Harry T says:
  
  12 Feb12 February 20:07
  
  I believe they take a few weeks to post.
mr_jetlag says:

12 Feb12 February 16:19

Hey all – does the Virgin Status Match flight requirement work with holiday bookings? Whats the minimum deposit required (website says £25 but I can’t imagine that works for a Caribbean trip for 4…)
Colin says:

12 Feb12 February 16:41

Anyone else had 1000 virgin points credited, not the expected 2000 for the Tesco auto convert offer than ended last month .( I only had 150 to convert after clearing out for Avios, )
- Andrew says:
  
  12 Feb12 February 17:24
  
  Everyone has had this
- ChrisA says:
  
  12 Feb12 February 18:03
  
  I had a second 1000 credited today, so now at 2000 as advertised.
Alan says:

12 Feb12 February 17:06

My curve metal (business) card has a £2,000 daily limit, it also has a £1.6m pa limit which is a bit pointless given the daily limit.

Is the any way of getting the daily limit lifted to something more useful.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  12 Feb12 February 21:42
  
  Are you sure that’s not the atm limit?
  
  Msg them.
ANDREW Taylor says:

12 Feb12 February 17:19

Hi I cannot find the Hfp chat thread for Thursday 11th- earlier ones are there. Any help please
- Rob says:
  
  12 Feb12 February 19:27
  
  Fixed, sorry Andrew. IT issue.
747_Brat says:

12 Feb12 February 17:21

Does Experian Boost genuinely help in improving the credit score? I have used Boost for last 3 months, with no major change in credit score. Authorisation for the connected bank account has expired, and I am wondering if their is any benefit in renewing the connection and give them access to my banking transactions for nothing.
- Sina says:
  
  12 Feb12 February 18:33
  
  It increases your score on Experian, don’t necessarily mean it would improve your chances in getting credit or better offers.
  - 747_Brat says:
    
    13 Feb13 February 01:09
    
    So not that useful, eh?
    - Dubious says:
      
      13 Feb13 February 01:45
      
      I believe a true ‘credit score’ is actually illegal in the UK. All Experian can do is make their own judgement on you and present it to you: No other companies can use that ‘score’ they show on their website.
      - Sina says:
        
        13 Feb13 February 02:34
        
        That’s correct, each lender has it’s own criteria and scoring system and will use external data from credit reference agencies to build that score. Experian only shows a score so you have an idea on how things are with your credit profile.