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The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 17th March

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We are running this daily chat thread on Head for Points during the coronavirus outbreak.

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Comments (342)

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

  • Phil says:
    17 Mar17 March 15:43

    Off Topic but I hope this is allowed. In Scotland, it would appear that the Scottish Government have lost tens of thousands of Covid Vaccine appointment letters and thousands of appointments were going to waste. Friends of mine (50+) started calling up the helpline and were being told they had appointments scheduled but had received no letter. I speculatively called up the same number to see if I could make use of a potentially wasted appointment, only to find out that I should have had my vaccine as part of cohort 6 in February, due to an underlying condition (Chron’s Disease). They are going to try and schedule an appointment for me in the next two weeks.

    The purpose of message is not to bash the Scottish Government but to encourage anyone in Scotland with an underlying condition or aged 50+ to call 0300 790 6296 and see if you have or should have had an appointment scheduled. I got through in 20 seconds and they were really helpful.

    • JonD says:
      17 Mar17 March 15:54

      Is there no NHS covid vaccination website in Scotland like there is in England?

      I don’t understand this over reliance on letters when so much of the rest of our life is digital.

      • Phil says:
        17 Mar17 March 16:09

        There is an online form to register for a vaccine but invariably people are having to resort to calling up because things are going missing.

    • BJ says:
      17 Mar17 March 17:06

      Letters are not the responsibility of the Scottish Government but that of the NHS and Royal Mail.

      • Andrew says:
        17 Mar17 March 17:32

        More refined than that… It’s NHS Lothian’s letters that haven’t arrived.

        There’s only so many things that can have gone wrong. A crate/sack of mail has gone missing, there’s been a problem at the printers, or they’ve never been submitted to print.

        • The Original Nick. says:
          17 Mar17 March 19:28

          There were a lot of sacks went missing from a train that left Scotland at one time I believe 😀

      • BJ says:
        17 Mar17 March 17:39

        Andrew, when it comes to NHS Lothian there seems to be no end of things that can go wrong these days.

      • PeterOoo says:
        17 Mar17 March 19:04

        Getting the letters to Royal Mail is the responsibility of the Scottish Government.

    • PeterOoo says:
      17 Mar17 March 18:59

      I live in Scotland and it’s quite clear the UK Government are managing the vaccine programme much more efficiently than the Scottish Government.

      • BJ says:
        17 Mar17 March 20:24

        Don’t invent stories where there are none. The proportion vaccinated in Scotland to date is essentially the same as the proportion vaccinated across the UK as a whole. You either accept that the difference is within the error of the count or that the figures are extremely accurate in which case Scotland has vaccinated a very slightly larger proportion. Take your pick but leave the fake news to the tory press.

        • Chrism20 says:
          17 Mar17 March 20:36

          51.3% vaccinated in England and 48.8% in Scotland going by the data produced earlier. In Scotland though the three big cities seem to be lagging behind the rest of the country with Aberdeen, Edinburgh & Glasgow seeing the lowest percentage vaccinated so far. The flu jab drive throughs were chaotic here in Edinburgh which were supposed to be the trial run for the vaccine so it’s no surprise that there has been issues with this.

          • BJ says:
            17 Mar17 March 22:18

            I didn’t compare Scotland to England, I compared it to the UK. Proportion vaccinated being calculated on basis of reported numbers vaccinated and respective estinates of population for 2020. Doing so yields a difference of a fraction of 1% which will certainly be within the error of the calculation. Whatever numbers are used, the difference is small and there is no story here regardless of how much some might want to invent one for political reasons. We should be celebrating the extraordinary success of the vaccination program across the UK, not trying to exploit trivial differences for political gain.

    • Liz says:
      17 Mar17 March 20:08

      Thanks for this. I just phoned the 0800 number and my appt was booked for next Monday but I havent received my letter yet!

    • stevenhp1987 says:
      17 Mar17 March 21:41

      Does Scotland have no CEV group? I have Crohns Disease too, and in England, I am in group 4 (CEV / Shielding) due to immunosuppressants. Had my first dose on Feb 3rd.

  • John says:
    17 Mar17 March 16:19

    Just went to Morrisons Ealing for the first time to use amex offer.

    You have to pay £1.50 for parking using coins! So the £20 note I bought on ebay for £19.90 (using 2188 avios + £2.40 and getting 19 nectar, 4 avios and 4.8 hilton) came in useful… saved me going to the cash machine but still had to queue up to swap it for change.

    Then I couldn’t find the gift cards so I thought I’d better buy £30 of groceries. Got to the checkout and then saw the gift card rack was beyond the checkouts. Looked a bit dodgy walking past the last self checkout to grab some gift cards before turning around…

    Then I realised I forgot to get my parking refunded. So had to queue up again and get coins back, but at least I maximised the amex offer (£1.50 should cost £1.35 on amex).

    • SwissJim says:
      17 Mar17 March 16:25

      You bought a £20 note on eBay for £19.90? What’s in it for the counterfeiter…..?

      • Navara says:
        17 Mar17 March 16:35

        £19.90 less the paper and ink

        • SwissJim says:
          17 Mar17 March 16:37

          Indeed…

        • John says:
          17 Mar17 March 19:26

          This guy got £14.78 after fees and signed postage. Not sure why he sold it. Maybe he thought that paper £20s are not valid any more. But he went to the post office and the post office would have taken it

      • John says:
        17 Mar17 March 19:25

        I have been buying cash on ebay for 10 years, only ever had one fake. Mostly euros but occasionally some people are stupid and sell pounds

    • Jamie says:
      17 Mar17 March 17:05

      John holds the mirror of truth to so many here, but seems that many don’t see it. Well, that’s if my irony/sarcasm sensor is working correctly 🙂

      • WaynedP says:
        17 Mar17 March 17:11

        Not so much the size of the trophy, as the thrill of the chase 😆

  • DAJ says:
    17 Mar17 March 16:42

    Just received notification that one leg of a return has been cancelled (auto rebooked onto next flight) as well as time change of outbound (diff of 5 hrs). This was booked using evoucher – am I right in thinking I can now ask for a cash refund rather than another voucher?

  • Navara says:
    17 Mar17 March 17:00

    So the EU wants to stop exports of the vaccine to us…Boris ban all European holidays

    • Harrier25 says:
      17 Mar17 March 17:16

      Moaning about a vaccine that most EU countries have suspended. You couldn’t dream it up!

    • mark2 says:
      17 Mar17 March 18:09

      And many people criticised the government for not joining the EU joint procurement!

      • BrianKL says:
        17 Mar17 March 18:38

        Exactly right mark2. I live in Scotland and voted remain but the radio silence from all the more extreme ‘remain amazing’ and ‘leave end of the world’ types is hilarious re the absolute mess the EU have made of the vaccine programme. Well done the UK government proving critics wrong on this one and following it own vaccine programme.

        • ChrisC says:
          17 Mar17 March 19:55

          Which it was entitled to do as an EU member or not.

        • Anuj says:
          17 Mar17 March 19:58

          I’m sorry but one EU mess isn’t worth the billions we’ve spent on Brexit and the loss of all my rights and the futures deregulation that will negatively effect me. Let’s not forget this government messed up a-levels, GCSEs, university admissions, university term reopening, school reopening, covid track and trace, lockdown timing again and again. I could go on for a while as they’ve had so many cock ups I can’t actually remember them all.

    • Chris K says:
      17 Mar17 March 20:01

      It’s OK though, because come the next EU President elections, I’m sure the peoples of the EU27 will vote out Ursul….oh no, wait.

      • Peggerz says:
        17 Mar17 March 23:08

        If we don’t like his negotiating style we can just vote out Lord Frost ……. oh no, wait.

  • david says:
    17 Mar17 March 17:55

    Bit of a dilemma with my Virgin Upper class flights – I definitely cant go at the end of April so do I –
    1 rebook for as far in the future as possible and take advantage of the £350 fair difference offer from Virgin (I still don’t know when I will be travelling so will need to change again)
    2 See if virgin cancel the flight (its LAX) and take advantage of the free return upgrade voucher I have been offered by a virgin agent if I take it as a FTV

    • Blindman says:
      17 Mar17 March 18:55

      Option 2.

      Though Virgin are cancelling flights about 11 days out and LAX could be a cargo route so won’t be cancelled.

      Is this a cash or reward flight? I’m assuming the former.

  • Colin MacKinnon says:
    17 Mar17 March 18:00

    Covid test for return to the UK…..

    Govt says:

    You must take the test in the 3 days before the service on which you will arrive in England departs.
    For example, if you travel directly to England on Friday, you must take the test on the Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

    So that’s not 72 hrs before arrival, like most other countries?

    I ask because someone is looking to fly back on the Saturday after Good Friday, and all the testing places are closed on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday! So Wednesday the only option, but their 72 hours would run out before the Saturday flight took off, let alone arrived.

  • NKP says:
    17 Mar17 March 18:58

    How long should it take BA to ticket an Avios booking made using FTV? Booked beginning of Feb for travel July. Still not ticketed so can’t select seat 😩

    • meta says:
      17 Mar17 March 19:23

      Sometimes it can be 48 hours before the flight. This is is why I am never taking an FTV ever again. You could try pestering BA every day.

    • ChrisC says:
      17 Mar17 March 19:57

      Asked and answered earlier today,

      It will be in the queue which is actioned based on date of flight not date of booking,

  • Sarah says:
    17 Mar17 March 19:00

    I’ve just been notified that first leg of my journey in June has been cancelled for the second time and they’ve put me on a new flight which arrives after my second leg departs to the US. Anyway, I know that I can request FTV or cash refund but please can someone confirm what my option are with respect to rebooking another date or location? I booked using a 2-4-1 in the avios sale so wondering if rebooking for a later date is a viable option without costing more.

    • DT says:
      17 Mar17 March 19:53

      You can change the flight to any date in the future, try the website or app before you call. You don’t need reward seat availability.

      You can change location up to 300 miles of the airport you booked to, but you must call to do this

      • Sarah says:
        17 Mar17 March 20:53

        Thanks for your advice. I’ll check online but will be surprised if I can change the whole thing online as I had to call to make the original booking.

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

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