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The HfP chat thread – Saturday 27th February

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Comments (240)

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

  • Tom says:
    27 Feb27 February 05:13

    A few airlines have started to extend elite status for up to 12 months again. Any insight on if BA is planning to do the same anytime soon? Even with vaccination, it isn’t yet clear we can travel realistically for some short-haul trips let alone long-haul tier points run.

    • Harry T says:
      27 Feb27 February 05:26

      Nobody knows! Someone asks every day. BA have a history of biding their time before implementing status extensions. Expect to see many airlines do it before BA. They are the Marriott of the skies.

    • Mouse says:
      27 Feb27 February 06:27

      The last extension was announced on 11 June last year, effective for memberships renewing July onwards. I would think there’s a possibility that any further extension would also apply starting July. In terms of how it would look, a whole extra year would seem overly generous, but that may be all BA’s IT can easily manage so there’s a chance that could happen. That’s my ill-informed guess at least, a one year extension from July.

      • ChrisC says:
        27 Feb27 February 06:57

        I could see a lot of people being annoyed with anything less than a year as that would require a change in collection and status year end dates and that could throw people’s future flights and tier point earnings plans out of whack.

        And BA have always insisted that it simply isn’t possible to change year end dates.

    • Andrew says:
      27 Feb27 February 08:06

      With Virgin extending theirs yesterday, BA won’t be far behind.

      • Doug M says:
        27 Feb27 February 09:55

        There’s really no comparison. BA lounges have a lot of traffic from status holders on cheap short haul tickets. I’m not suggesting BA won’t do something, just that Virgin are not similar. In terms of all the I’ll never fly BA again remarks, in London and south it’s the only game.

  • KBuffett says:
    27 Feb27 February 05:57

    What are the top Marriott hotels/resorts? Looking to book some redemptions

  • Gothbe says:
    27 Feb27 February 07:20

    I received the £250 statement credit in December for renewing by business Platinum. Is this taken in to account if i cancel the card for a pro rata refund on the £575 annual fee? Will they treat it as if the annual fee was effectively £325 for refunds or does it get ignored.

  • Rhys says:
    27 Feb27 February 07:20

    Help please! I’m trying to pull Avios from Iberia to Avios.com. I’ve tried it with BA and that transfers fine. Can’t get the Iberia one to work however. Any suggestions?

    • BJ says:
      27 Feb27 February 08:01

      Try pulling them in from avios.com instead of pushing them in from IB+.

    • Rhys says:
      27 Feb27 February 08:08

      Thanks, I’ve tried that but I can’t get the avios site to accept my Iberia details.

      • BJ says:
        27 Feb27 February 08:22

        Not sure but I think there have been a few complaints recently. You could call BA, ask them to combine your avios there and then move to avios.com as you said that worked OK.

      • RussellH says:
        27 Feb27 February 10:01

        Do you have an alphanumeric password for Iberia?
        I had to chnage mine back to a PIN before combine my avios would work.
        I had phoned avios and they said that they could see no problems at all at their end, but they could not actually move anything.

        • Rhys says:
          27 Feb27 February 12:07

          Ah, so you changed it back to a pure number and then it worked? I’ll try that

  • Martin Short says:
    27 Feb27 February 08:02

    I can only spend £10k in the next 3 months. My spend after that will be mimimal. Should I get my wife & I Amex Business Golds each rather than just one Amex Business Platinum for myself as the MRs would be the same but with no fees.
    Any reason to get the Platinum?

  • BJ says:
    27 Feb27 February 08:05

    I have an amazon order put for delivery at the moment. It only states ‘delivery by 9pm’ while I used to get a 2-3 hour delivery time window. I am no longer prime, was the delivery window a prime benefit?

    • Claire says:
      27 Feb27 February 08:08

      I am Prime and I find delivery estimates vary from specific to all day. Does it depend who is delivering it – Amazon, Hermes, Royal Mail, DPD etc? Sometimes it says by 9pm and updates later to be more specific. Keep checking.

    • Andrew says:
      27 Feb27 February 08:11

      Amazon delivery is so bad compared to other companies. DPD provide a really good service in comparison. I try and avoid ordering from Amazon because of this.

      • Steve says:
        27 Feb27 February 08:17

        I find Amazon delivery great. Perhaps depends which part of the country you are in.

        • ChrisC says:
          27 Feb27 February 08:26

          I ordered some things the other saturday with free delivery (not prime) to a local shop the following Tuesday.

          First item was delivered the next day and the second the day after.

          I find the ‘deliver to local shop’ option to be very useful as I don’t have to worry about being in when they try and deliver.

          • BJ says:
            27 Feb27 February 08:39

            When they started I liked the lockers but so it seemed did everybody else, it wasn’t long before it was virtually impossible to find an available one anyplace in my area.

          • ChrisC says:
            27 Feb27 February 08:48

            There aren’t any lockers near me.

            I used to have stuff delivered to a Doddle near me but they closed so now I use a local newsagents at the bottom of the road. When I went in they had a huge pile of amazon packages so it’s a popular option.

        • kitten says:
          27 Feb27 February 19:35

          Prime prices for me have been same or lower, than item price shown to nonPrime customers, as soon as Amazon clocks it’s me currently signed up to Prime trial. About 4% less when less on the items I’ve checked. But only for my town address.

          For my rural address – if that’s selected as my default delivery address, as soon as Amazon finds an old cookie lying around or if I log in, prices have often been shown to me *higher* during my Prime trial, than they were showing me for the same item a few minutes before Amazon recognized me. Alongside the socalled Free Prime Delivery.

          So far this price fudging by Amazon is feeling dishonest. I was truly prepared to consider Prime despite its now higher ratcheting cost but I am not sure if it only works when I am being a metropolitan elite.

    • BJ says:
      27 Feb27 February 08:18

      Thanks both. I share your frustration. States delivery is by amazon. Tough for them, if I’m not home, they’ll just have to try again. Also had the map sometimes but not often. They really should sort this out.

      • Harry T says:
        27 Feb27 February 09:36

        @BJ definitely a shame I missed out on the glory days… feel like I entered the game ten years too late at least!

    • Harry T says:
      27 Feb27 February 08:19

      Nah, we have Prime and often get the delivery by an uncomfortable time of night situation. I remember the good old days when all prime delivery was DPD.

      • BJ says:
        27 Feb27 February 08:25

        You’re too young to remember the good old days Harry.

        • Harry T says:
          27 Feb27 February 08:39

          I think I’m older than Prime though 😂

          • BJ says:
            27 Feb27 February 09:04

            Oh, you’re in your prime already then!

            A pity you missed out on Diamond Club and the early days of clubcard, you’d have loved it. On the downside, cradle seats were the norm in J back then and with a few exception F wasn’t pretty either. Oddly, Y was better, e.g. more room throughout coach on AA. Before all thst, it was tbe joys of STA and dirt-cheap flexible oneway tickets.

          • Andrew says:
            27 Feb27 February 09:11

            Diamond Club really was the best – and that was at a time when taxes and charges really were just taxes and charges, not all this fuel surcharge nonsense that makes redemptions not much cheaper than a cash ticket.

          • BJ says:
            27 Feb27 February 09:35

            My favourite was redemptions to the Indian sub continental via the stopovers in far east. Used it to visit Nepal five times, was quite difficult and expensive before the LCC entered the market. Another gem was ANZ Business First to LAX, I preferred indirect flights with them than direct flights with UA when I was working in California.

          • Andrew says:
            27 Feb27 February 09:42

            Yes the ANZ to LAX in those Upper class style seats was a great one, did that a few times. Wasn’t it something ridiculous where you could pay half as many miles and add a cash element for something like £140? Even in the days before Bendy it was the programme that kept giving and giving with very minimal spend. And I think I achieved silver in DC (getting lounge access) from just a return flight to Sydney with SQ. The programme was totally set up for earning and spending on their European network so when you did that across *A the benefits were huge.

          • Colin MacKinnon says:
            27 Feb27 February 10:50

            Those Nepal flights! I was a little late to the BMI party nd only made it there once – never made Vladivostock on a European redemption, which was rumoured to be possible!

          • kitten says:
            27 Feb27 February 19:41

            Oh go on you lot, rub it in. I came in on on the bmi tail end and could only watch helplessly while early comers bragged about their trips. Grrrrrrr. Still bragworthy today, those trips.

            Unfortunately I never camein contact with BMI’s legendary Dennis, either like some of you did 🙁

        • BJ says:
          27 Feb27 February 12:31

          I think it worked but I never tried it myself.

    • @mkcol says:
      27 Feb27 February 08:39

      I’m Prime.
      I get an initial “Delivered on X day” then “Delivered by XXPM” then once it’s actually out for delivery a “Delivered between XX:XX and XX:XX hours” – however the latter will often then adjust a bit, clearly to account for how well the courier is getting around their route.

      I find them incredibly reliable.

  • Jason says:
    27 Feb27 February 08:39

    Anyone had any luck with getting a Marriott hotel to do a very cheap long stay to take advantage of the current offer? I have tried a few without success

  • Rob says:
    27 Feb27 February 08:56

    Curious to know what we think are the best way to use Membership Reward points belonging to somebody else.

    Tempted to take out a business card on behalf of my father, but not sure how to move the points to myself effectively. Not too interested in moving to Nectar/Avios. Was thinking Marriot and family transfer.

    With the business cards, can these be paid off by a personal debit card rather than linked business account debit?

    Thanks

    • BJ says:
      27 Feb27 February 09:11

      Marriott as you mention and Hilton would be the obvious choices. Any of the airline partners provided you were happy for your dad to book flights for you using his miles (which is what I do as it is less hassle and does not require risks from breaking or bending rules).

    • Rob says:
      27 Feb27 February 10:07

      Pay it however you want.

      Obvious options – Marriott or Hilton with free transfer to you, Avios into a household account

      Historically Radisson did no name checks but test it.

      Of course, any airline scheme works if you move the exact amount to your Dad’s account and he books you a ticket.

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