The HfP chat thread – Saturday 27th February

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• James says:

  27 Feb27 February 10:51

  If buying a holiday via BA, can I pay the deposit and outstanding amount on 2 different cards?

  • Allan says:

    27 Feb27 February 10:55

    Yes

  • Anna says:

    27 Feb27 February 11:09

    Yes – you can also pay the balance off in chunks so could use a different card every time if you wanted.

• Benilyn says:

  27 Feb27 February 11:12

  I’ve been on holiday to Dubai & AUH countless times so I thought I knew both relatively well. But Festival City has popped out of nowhere for me… what do people think of the location / amenities etc? Comparisons vs downtown and Marina. Planning to go there in Q4 and just decided to invite the parents as well, so need to be a bit more tight with my IHG points use 😂 and IHG has quite a few places there at good rates

  • Rob says:

    27 Feb27 February 11:18

    I did 5 nights at the IC over New Year. Good mall with almost everything open, unlike many secondary malls in Dubai. Lots of restaurants. Nice outdoor areas. IC and CP are high quality and share a pool. Water views from most rooms.

    Not near the beach of course.

• Chrisasaurus says:

  27 Feb27 February 11:35

  Hertz points expiry – is it after last usage and anyone aware any tricks?

  • EwanG says:

    27 Feb27 February 18:59

    Yes, based on last points transaction.
    Book a redemption and cancel. Has worked for me, not for others though. AwardWallet advises the expiry date.

• H says:

  27 Feb27 February 12:11

  Data point: we had booked two Avios tickets for the US over Easter during the 50% sale last year. The flights have not been cancelled or moved (yet).

  However, on manage my booking, I could move my flights online to any date until late October as long as there was Avios availability. The only amount payable was £16ish (in aggregate) which I understand is the new Heathrow covid recovery charge. The system did not charge me extra Avios or a change fee which was a pleasant surprise.

  Is this a new BA policy or was this bank error in my favour?

  • Anna says:

    27 Feb27 February 12:23

    No, plenty of people have been able to do this – and some have been able to move them beyond a year from the original booking! It doesn’t seem to work if you have connecting flights on the same booking though, and there have been a lot of issues with CSAs refusing to honour EU261 rights on cancelled bookings. If I was you I would seriously consider moving them to a date when you’re more likely to be able to travel!

    • Anna says:

      27 Feb27 February 12:25

      Though if BA does cancel you are technically entitled to re-routing whether there’s avios availability or not – but this is where people are coming up against resistance from the call centre when they ring up to request date changes.

• John says:

  27 Feb27 February 12:13

  In the last couple of weeks someone posted on a link to book your Astra Zeneca second jab.
  Did anyone use it, bookmark it or remember approx when this was posted?

  Thanks in advance

  • TGLoyalty says:

    27 Feb27 February 12:41

    https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/

    Or phone 119

• Rob says:

  27 Feb27 February 12:51

  No, it was there!

  • James says:

    27 Feb27 February 20:54

    For online store purchases only I thought?

    • Rob says:

      27 Feb27 February 21:32

      Nero – no, it was a ‘card linked offer’ for purchase made instore.

• Keely says:

  27 Feb27 February 12:53

  Afternoon I have flights booked for Santorini on 21 June (good timing eh?) , looking for recommendations for places to stay please. Considering staying in two locations even though I know it’s only a small island anyway . Thank you

  • Andrew says:

    27 Feb27 February 13:14

    I’m not sure of the relevance of 21 June being good timing or otherwise.

    • Anna says:

      27 Feb27 February 13:29

      Well obviously Santorini will be a fantastically evocative place to celebrate the Summer Solstice!

    • Keely says:

      27 Feb27 February 15:02

      To celebrate freedom !

  • Rhys says:

    27 Feb27 February 13:55

    Santorini Sky is fantastic. Amazing location with stunning sunset views across the island. Much better than staying in Oia or the other towns, where everyone is literally on top of each other.

    • Keely says:

      27 Feb27 February 15:01

      Thanks Rhys

  • ankomonkey says:

    27 Feb27 February 17:26

    I suggested Golden East when I saw you asking last weekend. A slightly remote location, but incredibly tranquil and not too far from Fira or Oia. Staff were great.

    • Keely says:

      27 Feb27 February 18:52

      Thank you , I’ll take a look. I know santorini is normally incredibly busy, I’m wondering if it’ll be much quieter this year……

      • ankomonkey says:

        27 Feb27 February 19:45

        We were due to be in Thailand last summer, but couldn’t travel since they shut down to non-residents. We booked to Santorini at quite short notice. It was fairly busy in hotels, restaurants, beaches. We were told it was quiet due to Covid! Good luck 🙂

        • Keely says:

          27 Feb27 February 19:47

          Yeah, to be honest, I’m still expecting it to be busy…just hoping it might be slightly less busy . Doesn’t seem to have reduced hotel prices at all!

  • Chris Heyes says:

    27 Feb27 February 19:58

    Keely we stopped at Volcano Views Hotel a couple of times i found it excellent we had a (expensive detached Villa the last time) but before that a detached Apartment just as good not as expensive found service to be top notch food excellent every time (not cheap)
    We combined it with a stay in the Windmill in Oly The Windmill that’s on all the photos
    (you normally have to book it 12 months in advance, but you might hit lucky this year)
    Every Sunset the area around the Windmill is crowded with tourists trying to get the windmill and Sunset in there photos. but the Windmill is in it’s own grounds so they are not that near
    While we was there we let two just marrieds in with photographer for wedding photos (our good deed lol we was just going out)
    We also let a couple have a romantics meal on our balcony for the Sunset again we was going out, they was over the moon
    Don’t get me wrong it doesn’t come close to Volcano Views for class, but what an experience to have stayed in the “famous Windmill” (we rate it 2/3 star at most)
    but the experience 10 plus

• Simon says:

  27 Feb27 February 12:59

  A question for any Global Transfer experts if I could?

  My wife — currently in the USA, but returning to the UK sometime in early-ish H2 — applied for Amex GT in Dec ’20, but was declined. As we’d like to take advantage of an increased UK referral bonus or two, would there be a problem now if I referred her for a UK Amex card, i.e. is there likely now a record on her *UK* Amex file of her Global Transfer application and that she’s currently in the USA?

  She does have 2 UK Amex cards active at the moment, but I didn’t want to refer her for another *UK* card if, in doing so, this might lead to issues given her GT application.

  Any advice would be much appreciated. TIA.

  • BuildBackBetter says:

    27 Feb27 February 13:32

    Why would you apply for a GT for her if she already had 2 Amex UK cards? No wonder it was rejected. GT is to be used for the first Amex card in destination country.

    • Simon says:

      27 Feb27 February 15:38

      ?? Over many years on HFP there have been numerous comments of people successfully applying for GT when they’ve already got UK Amex cards and, indeed, that have been allowed to retain their UK cards after being approved for American versions. Indeed, that is how many on here have been able to establish a de facto IDC $ card arrangement (say, having UK Gold then, via GT, a new US Gold card, and moving MR points between the two).

      In any case, having a UK card wasn’t the reason for the rejection.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        27 Feb27 February 16:03

        Not Sure how your example is the same.

        In your example They’ve used GT to open a card in a country they don’t have a card relationship

        Your wife was using it to apply for a GT from the USA to the UK when she already had UK cards

        • Simon says:

          27 Feb27 February 16:19

          @TG Are wires crossed?

          She was applying for GT from the UK to the USA, not vice versa.

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