The HfP chat thread – Saturday 20th March

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the_real_a says:

20 Mar20 March 15:01

Once you start to rinse them, they dont offer you the good offers any longer. I haven’t had Morrisions since last summer. Also the other high street retailers have degraded rewards compared to what i hear from others.
kpk1981 says:

20 Mar20 March 15:15

Anyone received confirmation of VS points from the Morrisons in store offer? Normally get an email in a few days but not from last weekend.
- Daniel says:
  
  20 Mar20 March 16:07
  
  I asked earlier today (see page 1 of comments) as I’m facing the same issues. The consensus seems to be that it can take more than a week!
- BuildBackBetter says:
  
  20 Mar20 March 18:35
  
  Takes a week.
  - Magic Mike says:
    
    20 Mar20 March 19:50
    
    More like several weeks…
Paul says:

20 Mar20 March 15:56

Is there a referral bonus available for me by referring my wife for The American Express Rewards Credit Card to replace her gold credit card as the free year is nearly up?
- Paul says:
  
  20 Mar20 March 16:01
  
  Having initially referred her for the gold, from my platinum?
  - HeadingForNoPoints says:
    
    20 Mar20 March 16:09
    
    Absolutely? I’ve even referred myself 3 times from platinum to ARCC over the past few years.
    - BJ says:
      
      20 Mar20 March 18:45
      
      Are people still referring themselves and getting the points etc? I thought the collective wisdom was that this was now best avoided.
      - Mike says:
        
        20 Mar20 March 20:32
        
        I do it every 2 months – only way I can generate an Amex points income now that churning is every 2 years 😒
- Anna says:
  
  20 Mar20 March 16:29
  
  Would she be eligible for the BAPP sign up bonus (no avios earning card for 24 months?) If so you would get more out of referring her for this.
  - Paul says:
    
    20 Mar20 March 16:38
    
    It’s more an MR card required to keep the points in Amex rather than commit to moving them to a mileage scheme. I’m actually contemplating giving up on BAPP for a while, 4 vouchers and 300k+ in stock, and 2 returns already booked, don’t think I’m going to have many opportunities to burn these for a while…
- BuildBackBetter says:
  
  20 Mar20 March 18:42
  
  In the past, yes. But recently Amex removed some referral bonuses, especially for cards with no annual fee. Not sure if they have reinstated it
Harry T says:

20 Mar20 March 17:23

Has anyone ever managed to find two seats in ANA J/F to Tokyo from the UK or Europe, when booking with VS miles? I vaguely recall hearing this was a challenge.
- Alex says:
  
  20 Mar20 March 17:40
  
  I seem to see either lots or none available. I tend to check on United, I find it the most user friendly when looking. Also worth noting, not sure if it’s still possible but you can open-jaw the booking so could book London-Tokyo-New York for example for the same price as just London to Tokyo return. Or vice versa starting in New York which could help with availability
- Memesweeper says:
  
  20 Mar20 March 17:47
  
  Yes, from UK and DE.
  - meta says:
    
    20 Mar20 March 18:22
    
    Yes, but availability is better from Tokyo. You also need to be quick. Popular days of the week (weekends mainly) can get snapped up by afternoon on the day they are released.
    - Yorkieflyer says:
      
      20 Mar20 March 22:24
      
      But you can only book ANA returns on Virgin
- Harry T says:
  
  20 Mar20 March 19:52
  
  Thanks everyone! When do they release availability? I assume VS miles are the best currency to use?
  - Rob says:
    
    20 Mar20 March 20:21
    
    There is a pinned thread in the Virgin forum at Flyertalk on this topic which is a good source of info.
    - Harry T says:
      
      20 Mar20 March 21:31
      
      Thanks, Rob, I’ll have a look!
747_Brat says:

20 Mar20 March 19:46

Is anyone facing the ‘Avios Balance Not Available’ error on Barclays Premier app? Underneath the error, it asks me to link my account, which I have done couple of times now, but the error doesn’t go away.
Thanks.
- Patrick Cold says:
  
  20 Mar20 March 20:39
  
  Mine shows my avios balance but there`s a message in red asking me to link the accounts!
- Jim says:
  
  20 Mar20 March 21:07
  
  Same here, says on the top “Avois balance not available” but below it, it shows the correct account, but also says “Link accounts to see an up to date balance”
  
  I can also click “see my activity”, where it looks like the welcome bonus figure but haven’t switched account yet..
  - Alan says:
    
    21 Mar21 March 00:31
    
    Yep same here – it updates the balance when I link (apparently successfully) but then still says I’m not linked!
- Joe says:
  
  20 Mar20 March 22:10
  
  Yes – same problem here – very annoying!
- 747_Brat says:
  
  21 Mar21 March 00:47
  
  Thanks everyone for your replies.
  Looks like BA is not the only one with craptastic IT! 🙂 Barclays seems to have be in the same bracket as BA.
Matthew says:

20 Mar20 March 21:18

Planning 2 nights in Tokyo hopefully, March 2022. Have Hilton Diamond…is the Conrad @ 95,000pts a night worth it? Good status recognition or am I best elsewhere? Thanks.
- Harry T says:
  
  20 Mar20 March 21:29
  
  Do you have Marriott status? There’s a nice new edition.
  
  Conrad Tokyo looks pretty decent – I was hoping to stay.
  - Matthew says:
    
    20 Mar20 March 21:33
    
    Hoping to achieve Marriott platinum soon but don’t the Edition brands exclude breakfast for status holders? I had my eye on the Edition last year at 50k points but I think it went up in the recent round of changes…
    - Harry T says:
      
      20 Mar20 March 23:06
      
      No breakfast at EDITION but Emyr can get you some brekkie and other perks on a STARS rate. They sometimes do a 3 for 2 offer that Emyr can book. Unsure, points wise, I believe they didn’t change category.
- Gavin says:
  
  20 Mar20 March 21:50
  
  I don’t know about Platinum, but I didn’t get anything extra being Gold apart from free breakfast. I paid about £280 per night in a sale. It’s a good hotel but wasn’t amazing value at that price, probably wouldn’t stay again given how many options there are in Tokyo.
- Yorkieflyer says:
  
  20 Mar20 March 22:05
  
  We’ve stayed at the Hilton which I think is in s better location
  - Richster says:
    
    20 Mar20 March 22:45
    
    Not far from the Tokyo Hilton is a wonderful little curry house in a basement – one of the best curries I have ever had was in there 🙂 And you can see Mt Fuji from some of the rooms in the Hilton, which I totally missed the first time I went 25 years ago! Oops!
  - Matthew says:
    
    20 Mar20 March 23:04
    
    OK thanks will check that out too…
- Jon says:
  
  21 Mar21 March 03:39
  
  Stayed at Conrad Tokyo In March a couple of years ago on points, also as Diamond. Very impressed – service was superb, lounge good (and decent food offering – not sure about now of course). Nice view over the park across the road below (worth going for a walk around). Got upgraded to a suite for one of our two stays. 95000 points struck me as reasonable at the time and I recall that, having been keeping an eye on it for a few months, it was (back then) quite rare to find rooms available at that price. Probably easier now, I would imagine – but so long as fully cancellable, might be worth grabbing just in case. I much preferred it to Hilton Tokyo.
  - Matthew says:
    
    21 Mar21 March 09:03
    
    Ok thanks for your help. It does sound rather nice! Might be a treat for last two days of trip.
- Simon says:
  
  21 Mar21 March 20:33
  
  Conrad Tokyo is quite nice — stayed there in Sept ’19… when the whole All Blacks team was based there! I’ve booked again for Feb ’22.
  
  Not as good as R-C Tokyo, but status recognition is better at the Conrad. (Unlike R-C Kyoto, where status recognition is excellent for Platinum and above, you get frankly nothing at R-C Tokyo and I’m Titanium. This is why I plumped for the Conrad again.)
  
  For me, the Conrad location is only so-so (I say that having previously lived in Tokyo), especially compared to the Aman or other top-end hotels, but the Tokyo Metro is excellent/convenient — there’s one built beneath the Conrad — and you’re never really too far away from anything anyway as a result. Notwithstanding my own preference, it is still very central.