Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The HfP chat thread – Monday 15th March

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

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.

Category

General

Comments (347)

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

  • MiddleEngland says:
    15 Mar15 March 10:48

    Does anyone know if both daily flights scheduled from LHR to Tel Aviv are going to be operated as Long Haul? Avios availability seems to show no availability in First or Premium Economy on the return leg, afternoon flight on various dates in July.

    • Rob says:
      15 Mar15 March 10:50

      Irrespective of what ba.com shows, I think you are taking a punt – BA doesn’t have a clue what aircraft it will be flying where in July.

    • Tyler Durden says:
      15 Mar15 March 10:54

      Hmm I read somewhere (perhaps flyertalk or here) that BA were not going to use long haul flights on this route at some point, cant find where i read this thou..

  • Craig says:
    15 Mar15 March 10:55

    Don’t know why people were complaint about IHG status not being worth much. Got upgraded to one of the two suites at my regular HI, lovely view of the M62. It may not sound glamorous, but having a table and chairs to sit at while eating the room service breakfast feels luxurious.

  • Mike says:
    15 Mar15 March 11:07

    What are people getting for the Virgin Rewards+ Mastercard in terms of credit limit? Read some post saying it’s as low as 1k?

  • Ana says:
    15 Mar15 March 11:21

    Did anyone have any flights recently? What is the current process?
    I want to travel to visit my family but in the governments’ website, it mentions it needs to be “legally permitted”.
    What does that mean? If I’m a UK resident, but a citizen of another country, would I be allowed to go to that country?

    • Rob says:
      15 Mar15 March 11:31

      You cannot legally leave your home if the purpose of leaving your home is to go to an airport, unless it is for one of the permitted reasons (eg to view a property abroad you are thinking of buying).

      Your own citizenship makes no difference.

    • Lady London says:
      15 Mar15 March 12:28

      No and that’s why many of us have not seen our families in over a year either.

      Any airline website or googling will lead you to the small list of accepted reasons for travel – which you must have documents to prove.

      I can tell you from personal experience in the past coupleof weeks your tests and documentation are being carefully checked and you need to be clear with evidence at both borders as to why your travel conforms to the exceptions.

  • Pangolin says:
    15 Mar15 March 11:41

    Marriott: Has anyone seen their lifetime stats get incremented yet?

    The ides of March and still no update to my lifetime years. It’s never taken this long before.

  • Jake says:
    15 Mar15 March 11:43

    Can anyone provide me with a referral for a Fidelity S&S ISA. Get an Amazon £50 voucher for both new and existing customers

  • Aston100 says:
    15 Mar15 March 11:57

    Sainsburys Nectar Offers:
    This week, 14 offers totalling exactly 200 bonus points.
    This is an improvement on last week where it was 140 bonus points across 10 items.
    Still miles away from what people were claiming to be receiving (in excess of 1k bonus points according to the feedback on this site).

    Sainsburys can get lost. Time to take advantage of the Morrisons Amex and other offers.

    • Joe says:
      15 Mar15 March 12:06

      We have the same issue – was 1k plus a few weeks ago, now down to pitiful amounts. We are moving to Morrisons for a while, and will see whether the offers pick up – but we are fortunate that we live 3 mins drive from both Sainsburys and Morrisons!

      • James says:
        15 Mar15 March 13:26

        When you say pitiful, are you being serious? They were never going to continue with the large points amounts per item on a regular basis, it is clearly a marketing strategy to pull you in. At the end of the day, getting 10 or 20 bonus points on milk or eggs or other low cost items, which is what I’m now seeing is effectively getting points equivalent for a £10 or £20 shop ordinarily fo something that might cost only a pound or two, and well exceeds anything, for example Tesco offers with their very occasional single or double use, double points vouchers. Stop throwing your toys out of the pram.

        • Aston100 says:
          15 Mar15 March 14:19

          But James, did you take into account the conversion value from clubcard?

        • r* says:
          15 Mar15 March 15:59

          I have literally the same offers every week.. mushrooms, onions, peppers, milk, spring onions. Nectar offers are absolute trash.

    • kitten says:
      15 Mar15 March 12:30

      Do you think all the avios transfers just blew Nectar’s budget for the Quarter?

      • Rob says:
        15 Mar15 March 13:37

        I think the transfer are net INTO Nectar so they are swimming in cash.

        • BuildBackBetter says:
          15 Mar15 March 13:47

          Wonder how long Amex will retain the large sign up bonus on gold card, given the free advertising from MSE

    • Chrism20 says:
      15 Mar15 March 14:52

      Talking of Morrisons I haven’t been in one this year. Received an email this morning for 5000 points on my next visit. Minimum spend £0.01 so a free fiver from them.

  • Niall says:
    15 Mar15 March 12:03

    Email from Iberia offering 25% off gift cards for use within the next 12 months:

    Buy your Gift Card by 19 March to use any time within the next 12 months and get 25% off:

    €50 card for just €37
    €100 card for just €75
    €300 card for just €225
    €500 card for just €375

    • Niall says:
      15 Mar15 March 12:10

      Full T&Cs:

      25% discount on your card.
      Purchase period: 15/03/2021 – 19/03/2021.
      It can be used whenever you wish for flying any time within the next 12 months.
      Valid for flights operated by Iberia, Iberia Express or Air Nostrum.
      Not valid for combined purchases of flight+hotel or flight+car. Nor can they be used to buy tickets for Air Shuttle flights. Not applicable for purchases of tickets with Avios.
      Bookings with Safe and Flexible Flight include flexibility for Covid disruption. You can change the date of your flights free of charge or get a refund in the form of a voucher to swap for tickets and services on the Iberia website if you are affected by any of the following circumstances less than 15 days before the departure of your flight:
      New entry restrictions are established at your place of destination.
      You are affected by the sudden introduction of compulsory lockdown or quarantine measures at your destination that cannot be avoided by testing negative for Covid just before travelling.
      You are suddenly subject to lockdown or quarantine measures in your place of origin (lockdown imposed for your region, province, town or hospital zone; a household member tests positive for Covid, etc.).
      You yourself test positive for Covid.

    • Lady London says:
      15 Mar15 March 12:24

      if I needed to fly tomorrow on a flight I was certain was running I would consider using this 25% off.

      But in any irregular situation – even one caused by Iberia or one of those group airlines that they list the voucher as usable for – Iberia is a nightmare to deal with. Many of their agents are OK and willing to honour EU261, say, but Iberia supervisor simply won’t let them.

      I wouldn’t touch this offer even at 25% off, with a bargepole except in the above situation.

      To store any value (money or avios) with Iberia the price would have to go down to 40%.

      Look on flyertalk if you don’t believe me.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Learn more on our About page.

VAA

Latest comments

Latest Forum Posts

Get 30,000 points bonus with American Express Platinum

Amex Gold

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.3 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

Get 20,000 bonus points and your first year free with American Express Gold

Amex Gold