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The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 10th March

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We are running 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.

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General

Comments (432)

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

  • Benilyn says:
    10 Mar10 March 09:53

    Anyone used the bassinet in the new BA Club Suites? How have people found the experience? The bassinet seems to be in the the window side and none in the middle.
    I have a Boeing 777-300ER flight in November, looks like Club Suite design in the seat plan.

  • Suck My Points says:
    10 Mar10 March 10:23

    What’s the point of Monese? I’ve seen it mentioned here a few times but I don’t see what’s interesting about it. Is there any way to earn points and miles from it? Seems you can only top it up with a debit card or a bank transfer, and you can use it like an ordinary current account debit card except with limits on ATM withdrawals unless you pay a high fee. Why would anyone want Monese?

    • Alex M says:
      10 Mar10 March 10:34

      No fees to use abroad (up to a certain limit, probably).

    • Rob says:
      10 Mar10 March 10:38

      Avios owns a chunk of Monese and for a while it was pushing integration, but it seems to have died a death. I know the Monese top team and the impression I got was that the Avios integration had effectively been forced on them as a condition of getting IAG’s money, which they desperately needed, and they were not sorry to see it fail to take off.

      It’s a shame because, if properly integrated, it could have been hugely successful. There is a big prize for someone who can convert the 40+ age group to online-only banking and an Avios integration would have been an excellent route.

      • Suck My Points says:
        10 Mar10 March 10:48

        Time to branch out then. Bank of HfP. Bank for Points. Sign me up.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        10 Mar10 March 12:24

        They offered avios for referrals for a while then just stopped

        Therefore, I stopped referring people

    • BJ says:
      10 Mar10 March 10:53

      Ask @Mark2.

      • mark2 says:
        10 Mar10 March 11:14

        You can top up at PayPoint (Coop Amex) up to £2500 per rolling month and top up in app (Curve if it works) see T&C. The cost is £14.99 per month so c£6 per thousand.
        You can use as debit card anywhere (except Barclaycard). Payments by FastPay are free and instant.
        Not sure about foreign transactions.

    • The real John says:
      10 Mar10 March 16:28

      It’s a prepaid card for people who can’t get a bank account, or have trouble managing a bank account.

  • Rob says:
    10 Mar10 March 10:45

    Quick admin notice: we made some changes yesterday to how HfP displays on smaller non-mobile screens (mainly 10-11 inch laptops and iPads).

    It only impacts a small % of readers but if this is you, and if you have any feedback, please let us know.

    (Before anyone asks, we have jettisoned the left-hand sidebar on articles to make paragraphs wider, and changed the text sizing on the home page. Because the right-hand sidebar is a fixed size, due to the ads having to be a certain width, the rest of the page was getting squeezed on smaller screens. We may make further tweaks to 12-inch screens in due course. HfP is optimised for mobile and for 15+-inch screens, assuming they are hi-res.)

    • johnny_c-l says:
      10 Mar10 March 12:18

      MUCH better on my Samsung tablet since the change. Easier to read comments with the extra space, and the page has stopped juddering after loading.

    • the_real_a says:
      10 Mar10 March 13:15

      This is better on my 12.5″ laptop. Since the revamp i was forced to put it into firefox reading mode all the time. I can just about read it native now. Its a shame you cannot make the top menu bar disappear when scrolling down (like flyertalk)

      • Rob says:
        10 Mar10 March 14:58

        Great, glad it helped. Sorry it took so long to get around to this – the honest truth is that, whilst there are five versions of HfP, we (ie the team) only ever see the biggest and the smallest because of the devices we use. Out of sight, out of mind etc.

        Most 12″ laptop users won’t see a change, because most have hi-res screens which default to the main version.

  • Anon says:
    10 Mar10 March 10:45

    Is there a way to pay off a mortgage monthly and earn points?

  • Rhys says:
    10 Mar10 March 11:01

    Just wait and see if it shows up!

  • Chris Heyes says:
    10 Mar10 March 11:10

    Rob, I use a laptop, i think its 14/15 though,
    I don’t know if you have changed your style of articles “Headlines”
    But i like it a lot
    It wasn’t good when all sorts of mixed articles was in one headliner
    It meant i had to read everyone to get to where i wanted.
    Today was brilliant example
    Barclays Avios, Virgin Atlantic Not interested so no need to read any of it
    Alicante to Southampton, AA Advantage Not interested so again no need to read
    Makes your site a lot easier to pick and choose, i hope you continue this format

  • Aston100 says:
    10 Mar10 March 11:12

    I get the impression that the government may be thinking about implementing travel corridors once May 17th comes, rather than a blanket lifting of travel bans.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56346071

    ***Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if it was too early to book a summer holiday, Mr Shapps said: “Yes.”

    He added: “We have said it will remain illegal to travel internationally until at least 17 May – that’s an at-the-earliest date.”

    Mr Shapps said people should look towards 12 April, when he will publish a global travel taskforce report, and said the government was weighing up not only the “extraordinary” UK vaccination rollout but also other countries’ vaccine programmes.***

    • Rob says:
      10 Mar10 March 11:18

      Given that Shapps is not telling the truth when he says that it is ‘illegal to travel internationally’ I wouldn’t take anything else he says seriously.

      Be clear – from 29th March, when it is legal to leave your home for any reason, you are legally allowed to take a flight. New legislation is required before 29th if this is not to happen.

      • Sam G says:
        10 Mar10 March 11:27

        Presumably that is what they are planning? I’m sure the legal experts will have a view on how possible that is – I’m guessing not so simple otherwise they would have done it already rather than using the “away from home without reasonable excuse” angle at the airports?

    • Sam G says:
      10 Mar10 March 11:25

      Yes, I think we’ll only see a limited opening up in May on a similar basis to last year, except I think they’ll be wanting to avoid the opening/closing situation so it’ll be based more around vaccination and border policies rather than just having a low case count.

      I personally think Greek Islands look likely – Greece is looking to vaccinate tourism workers and can annex the islands off from the mainland and carefully select which countries to allow in. Cyprus, Canary islands etc the same. Maybe Israel for fully vaccinated.

      I think places like Greece will learn the lessons of last year of allowing hoards of young to mix in Lagana Zante etc and will control that better and aim for a slightly calmer controlled opening aimed at the family crowds.

      I also think the US may soften its stance for those vaccinated at some point, they are being quick to give people vaccinated there a lot of freedoms so seemingly place a lot of trust in the vaccine.

      One thing to note though is some policies are erring on the side of caution as to how long they expect the vaccine to be effective so you may only have a 3 month window to travel after your second dose, this will be challenging in lots of situations where couples or families with older children have ended up being vaccinated separately for whatever reason. Hopefully this goes away once there is more data.

      I certainly don’t expect to see a blanket opening, especially looking at the situation in Paris, Germany, Poland etc – things are moving in the wrong direction there and their vaccine roll out is slow.

      Pretty sure there will be another bunch of countries like Singapore, Aus etc that get added to an exemption list for entry here but I’d say they won’t be letting us in until much later this year/early next so not useful for our holiday plans.

      • Aston100 says:
        10 Mar10 March 12:05

        There was something silly the other day from Thailand.
        Needed to have been vaccinated within 3 months (of arrival?) and have had negative PCR tests within 3 days and also to do a quarantine for 7 days (10 days if from Africa).
        Or something like that anyway.

    • George1976 says:
      10 Mar10 March 11:27

      For some reason people are going to be shocked if (unshockingly) there continue to be some international travel restrictions after May/June and their trip is disrupted. The obvious solution is to book something refundable and have a back up plan or accept that you’ve taken a risk if you book something non refundable.

      • kitten says:
        10 Mar10 March 13:06

        Is the government really going to willingly and promptly give up this ripoff pricing of £210 tax for 1 or 2 PCR tests per person that dares to go abroad?

        Unfortunately if Pritti Patel wasn’t there Grant Schapps would earn my award for most unconvincing politician.

    • Anna says:
      10 Mar10 March 12:00

      Let’s hope that those of us who have travelled to self-catering accommodation on that day aren’t then told to pack up and go home lol.

  • David B says:
    10 Mar10 March 11:27

    Wonder if anyone can answer this – am flying out to Bermuda in December in First and returning in January in Business (changed my June booking for Beijing as it looks unlikely). I was able to choose the seats for the leg out in First and noticed that there are only 8 seats in the cabin. It’s a 777-200. Does this mean it will be the new First Suites with doors? Also, I am not able to choose the rtn leg seats until check in, so can’t tell from the layout if Business Class is the new suites with doors or old ying-yang configuration. Does the fact that there are 8 seats in First (on the way out anyway) mean that the Business class seats will likely be the new club suites on the way out? What do you think?

    • Anna says:
      10 Mar10 March 11:44

      I think there’s no guarantee this far out of which aircraft you’ll be on, or even if they will keep the F cabin on that route. Presume you’re not planning a beach break though, in December?!

      • David B says:
        10 Mar10 March 11:57

        Thanks Anna, yeah, just planning to spend time walking on the beach rather than swimming in the sea! Have read the temperature should be around 17-20c, which sounds fine to me for December!

        • Anna says:
          10 Mar10 March 12:05

          Family there variously tell us on the Xmas day phone call that it’s either pleasant picnic weather or blustery and wet. The last time we went was at the end of October when it alternated between hot and humid and thunder storms! Hoping to visit again next year or the year after, especially if BA maintains the MAN-LGW shuttle.

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