The HfP chat thread – Friday 12th March

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

• Hotelier says:

  12 Mar12 March 03:49

  Yesterday afternoon got visit from some council staff offering Covid tests. They leave you the home kit and come back couple hours later to collect.
  Exact same kit I had to pay £180 (with certificate) to visit family in Spain back in December, being handed out for free. Makes you think…

  • KBuffett says:

    12 Mar12 March 04:18

    It’s very expensive! Sounds like they are ‘surge’ testing in your area.

    Are you able to suggest perhaps the best way to use and lock in the AmEx offer of £100 off at Corinthia if you spend £300. I have it on multiple cards and they expire this month. Front desk says gift cards aren’t charged by the same entity.

    • Hotelier says:

      12 Mar12 March 04:48

      Gift vouchers are often handled by third parties at independent/small chains. Seems Corinthia uses SKChase. Book a stay for when you plan to visit and try to arrange for prepayment.

• Daniel says:

  12 Mar12 March 04:14

  I signed up for Barclays Premier on 2nd March, Avios Rewards still isn’t showing for me in the app. I know that it was meant to be rolled out gradually, but when should I expect ti to show?

  • Alex H says:

    12 Mar12 March 06:50

    I signed up on the 5th March and still only Blue Rewards showing in the app

  • Matthew says:

    12 Mar12 March 08:26

    That’s weird as mine was their immediately after signing up. But the app is sooo buggy. Lots of errors and it’s taken me 3 attempts and a few phone calls to activate the bank account switch. I think Rob said it was over a few weeks so hopefully will appear soon.

  • Rum says:

    12 Mar12 March 09:00

    Same here. Been waiting over two weeks now. Received the debit card and even transferred some funds in. No sign of the option though. Only Blue rewards.

    • KP says:

      12 Mar12 March 10:24

      Applied on 1st March and no further comms on whether I was successful or not. What a mystery !

• Fab212 says:

  12 Mar12 March 07:02

  If I trigger a 2-4-1 voucher on my BA Amex this month, when would it expire please? (I know the rule used to be 2 years but thought they might be extended)

  • Sarah says:

    12 Mar12 March 08:05

    I triggered mine at the start of the week and it is valid until September 2023

    • Fab212 says:

      12 Mar12 March 08:22

      Useful data point – thanks

      • AJA says:

        12 Mar12 March 09:05

        Sarah is correct BA has added an extra 6 months to all 2-4-1 vouchers so the 24 month BAPP one will be valid for 30 months. I am £250 off triggering mine. Then I have the 1st World problem of 4 vouchers in my household to spend.

  • Ali M says:

    12 Mar12 March 13:12

    Thanks for this – I needed to know this

  • Kevin says:

    12 Mar12 March 15:26

    Based on previous comment all 241 voucher that trigger before 31 dec 21 will have 30 months.

• KBuffett says:

  12 Mar12 March 07:10

  Busy day with the chat thread
  comments yesterday. Really looking forward to the fully fledged forum to take on the bloated mess that is FT. It’s going to be great having something more UK focussed and not reading the same questions on a daily basis. It should also help Rob reach retirement number two!

  • Andrew says:

    12 Mar12 March 07:20

    So much going on yesterday, especially with the Morrisons spread. Started with Amex, then over the day spreading out to Santander, VM and other bank options, onwards with Airtime, PAW and Virgin Red.

    Then there was the OptionTown news, Mark Drakeford vowing to keep the Welsh suppressed until the end of 2021.

    So much going on whilst we can’t get anywhere.

    Today’s big news is probably going to be the 4th of July announcement from Biden.

  • FFoxSake says:

    12 Mar12 March 07:56

    An active (though repetitive) chat thread probably keeps hfp-ers coming back to the site and more paging needed… = more ads served = more revenue for Rob & co.
    A forum has far more static content = less new “chat” content to scroll through = less ads served = less ad revenue generated.
    Hmmm… would you be rushing to change the site format to a more forum based one?

    • ChrisC says:

      12 Mar12 March 08:46

      Well Rob does want to make this more of a forum.

      But my feeling is the opposite of yours.

      The more posts there are about curve etc and what’s working or not actually puts a lot of people off because they just aren’t interested in that stuff and to see page after page day after day of the same comments makes them less likely to come back.

      • BSI1978 says:

        12 Mar12 March 08:49

        +1 ChrisC

      • KBuffett says:

        12 Mar12 March 08:56

        I can see the site becoming more of a niche travel site, hotel and resort recommendations etc. More UK reader centric. Trawling through TripAdvisor or FT is difficult. With ShopperPoints type interaction too!

        • Rob says:

          12 Mar12 March 09:27

          More UK centric than the 80% it has been for the past 8 years? 🙂

          I think you are failing to understand our business model. We don’t need non-UK readers, in fact they are a diversion. It is very easy to sell advertising space to UK companies (or overseas companies spending their UK marketing budget) when 80% of our readers are in the UK. It would be very hard if it was 50/50 – this is why broad-based websites with a global readership struggle to make money. We can’t promote UK credit cards to non-UK readers.

        • KBuffett says:

          12 Mar12 March 10:18

          I am saying HfP Forums would be more UK centric than Tripadvisor or FT

        • Rob says:

          12 Mar12 March 10:34

          Ah OK. Yes, it would, but that is why HfP ‘works’ anyway.

          FT strips by airline and hotel chain, which isn’t how people operate. In reality, it makes more sense to have a UK-centric forum that touches in less depth on all of the areas that a UK resident would be interested in.

      • Chris Heyes says:

        12 Mar12 March 09:18

        ChrisC curve not working hmmm could be because i haven’t got it, same with bendy ?

        • ChrisC says:

          12 Mar12 March 10:16

          Whether I have them or not is not the issue

          It’s the endless repition of the same questions day in day out. And more often than not repeated within the same daily thread that is becoming draining – even for people who have Curve And Revolute.

          And don’t get me started on the silly games in trying to disguise them so Curve and Revolute and Virgin Money don’t know what people are talking about them . Laughable that grown men and women think they are being clever.

    • Rob says:

      12 Mar12 March 09:35

      You miss one point. Forums are Google SEO gold. If you start a thread on ‘Can I earn Avios on SriLankan codeshares?’. it will become the top ranked Google answer for that question given our general page rank. This brings in lots of new readers for free. We don’t get that benefit at the moment.

  • Doug M says:

    12 Mar12 March 10:16

    I’d say calling FT a ‘bloated mess’ is wrong. The BA thread which would be amongst the most popular thread there for the UK is superb, well moderated, fantastic info, and a friendly place to ask questions and get help.
    That one thread has saved me thousands and allowed me to travel more comfortably than prior to discovering it.
    I would enjoy a HfP forum, it would complement FT rather than compete with it.

• EwanG says:

  12 Mar12 March 07:23

  “not reading the same questions on a daily basis”…. such as “what is bendy” “what is beardy” “who is Che” “can I buy gift cards” I have that offer on my card too” 🤣🤣

  • Andrew says:

    12 Mar12 March 07:32

    At least now that Curve is dead we can talk about something else – should slim down the comments by half.

    • Red Flyer says:

      12 Mar12 March 07:41

      Reports of the death of curve were greatly exaggerated and thankfully premature! 😂

      • BuildBackBetter says:

        12 Mar12 March 08:06

        Let them live in their bubble

      • BLG says:

        12 Mar12 March 09:10

        The curve is dead long live the curve

        • LST says:

          12 Mar12 March 15:38

          *The bendy is dead long live the bendy

  • BJ says:

    12 Mar12 March 07:40

    Hey Ewan, don’t know if your’re old enough to remember but … why don’t you just get off your backside then and go do something much more interesting instead … M Ferry Road is ready and waiting for your annual subscription 🙂

    • EwanG says:

      12 Mar12 March 08:53

      Yes @BJ I’m old enough to remember that – I’m just a little younger than you, the wrong side for the over 50’s plan though! Granton is my preferred store and although I don’t have the offer on an AmEx it is on my VS card (so thanks to whoever pointed this out yesterday!)

      • BJ says:

        12 Mar12 March 10:20

        Thanks for reminder that there is a store in Granton too. Never been in it and had forgotten it even existed. Try to keep an amex that you never use in Morrisons. That’s what we do but my partner and I only have one card each at moment. Down to last £82 from last year, think I had £2800 in total. Curious to see if Ferry Road still has some paper vouchers. @Kai mentioned Virgin yesterday and I’m grateful too as otherwise I wouldn’t have noticed. Guess you’ll get vaccine early April given latest news.

    • Anna says:

      12 Mar12 March 10:17

      I have got that tune stuck in my head now, BJ, though it must be 40 years since I last heard it!

      • BJ says:

        12 Mar12 March 11:40

        I doubt there is any of us of that age who don’t remember it.

  • Ali M says:

    12 Mar12 March 13:18

    who is Che?
    genuine Q here😂

    • Aston100 says:

      12 Mar12 March 14:38

      “Ernesto “Che” Guevara was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary”.

• Ian says:

  12 Mar12 March 07:34

  Is the Nectar website down or just something gone wrong for me? I want to convert some points to eBay vouchers!

  • Andrew says:

    12 Mar12 March 07:39

    Seems to work for me

    • Ian says:

      12 Mar12 March 08:25

      All good, thanks, it’s working for me now as well. I’ve converted and made my purchase!

      Noticed the terms and conditions exclude the purchase of cars and gift cards on eBay with the vouchers, disappointing, buying a car with Avios would have been fun!

      • The real John says:

        12 Mar12 March 08:34

        Only a foolish seller would accept paypal or ebay payments for a car.

      • Andrew says:

        12 Mar12 March 08:38

        Also doesn’t work on anything in a foreign currency, even if sold on .co.uk

• roberto says:

  12 Mar12 March 07:59

  Curve worked yesterday paying Amex. Used the sms option in the 3DS rather than the app. Virgin underlying.

• Diydegsy says:

  12 Mar12 March 08:13

  Looking for business class flights to Bangkok in December with BA 241 is there any chance more might get released or am I better looking for cash flights, if so any deals out there or too early yet? Haven’t booked flights for that time of year before so don’t know when the flight sales usually happen. Thanks any suggestions.

  • Anna says:

    12 Mar12 March 08:17

    There has probably been a lot of speculative booking of avios flights to BKK and other destinations in December, so there may well be cancellations which go back into the reward inventory, it depends how long you’re happy to wait.

  • memesweeper says:

    12 Mar12 March 12:43

    December is a very popular month for that route so set your expectations low.

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