The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 24th March

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Zana says:

24 Mar24 March 13:43

Done this before. Cashed out £30 from Airtime to 3 and my bill is £16. 3 just put my account into credit the first month and lowered the direct debit out of my account in the second month.
Gothbe says:

24 Mar24 March 13:45

Other half just received the platinum business card. When she logged in for first time there was a banner advertising the £150 off for £1000 spend offer, saying click to add. However, clicking only takes her to the current card offers and it’s no there. Was there a limited number of these or can she get it added?
- Rhys says:
  
  24 Mar24 March 14:03
  
  You mean this? https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2021/02/23/amex-business-platinum-giving-you-150-back-when-you-spend-1000-in-one-go/
  - Gothbe says:
    
    24 Mar24 March 14:09
    
    Yes. There doesn’t seem to be a way to save to card. A banner promoting it was displayed when she first logged in, but clicking on it didn’t save the offer and it doesn’t appear in her offers
    - Pete M says:
      
      24 Mar24 March 14:41
      
      Welcome to the world of dodgy Amex offers… When I suggested to Amex this is false advertising they very much disagreed…
    - Rob says:
      
      24 Mar24 March 16:11
      
      You do need to save it. I have it saved to mine (and still unused) from February when it launched.
Reney says:

24 Mar24 March 13:52

Anyone cashed out into giff gaff to buy good bag? Is it straight forward? Hopefully will cash out for the first time soon.
Josh says:

24 Mar24 March 14:09

@Rob

There’s some incredible premium economy flights ex MAD/ BCN to various parts of the US (and the opposite) for £400 with J being below 1k! Might be worth a post!
- Andrew says:
  
  24 Mar24 March 14:51
  
  Which airline(s)?
  - Optimus Prime says:
    
    24 Mar24 March 15:21
    
    Sold by IB but some flights are operated by BA or AA.
    - Rhys says:
      
      24 Mar24 March 15:31
      
      I’m not seeing them. What US airports?
      - Optimus Prime says:
        
        24 Mar24 March 15:35
        
        JFK, BOS…
        
        The deals came outlast week so I guess the best prices are already gone. I can see MAD-JFK from 5th Oct to 11th Oct operated by IB EUR 1300 per person.
      - Rhys says:
        
        24 Mar24 March 15:39
        
        I can see that too. No sub 1000 fares as far as I can tell.
      - Optimus Prime says:
        
        24 Mar24 March 15:36
        
        Last week prices started at EUR 945 for MAD-JFK.
      - Doug M says:
        
        24 Mar24 March 16:58
        
        There’s some very good pricing on Sky Team from Madrid. JFK on some dates in November for £994 booked via Virgin for a non-stop on Delta’s 767 which I assume if Delta One product?
        Can see as low as £933 for a one change in AMS booked through AF, again for a Delta transatlantic, this time an A330.
        Best OW price I can see for MAD-JFK is £1084.
TJ says:

24 Mar24 March 14:10

If I cancel an Amex BA supplementary card, then upgrade the main card to BAPP, will I receive the bonus points if I apply again for a supp card? Or does there need to be a gap before reapplying for the supp card?
- Jonathan says:
  
  24 Mar24 March 14:21
  
  They always seem to automatically send you a supplementary card even if you cancel it before upgrade. Never had an issue getting the bonus if I just add a 3rd supp though
- Lee says:
  
  24 Mar24 March 14:51
  
  I did get two bonus by doing that
Anon says:

24 Mar24 March 14:26

Question on Barclays Premier – I signed up through the app and opened the account with no real salary checks (the app said it would do credit checks based on the ID and information provided during sign up). So does Barclays try and verify the income status of Premier customers by checking for monthly incomings? My salary is paid into a different account at the moment so want to check if I should move it over to Barclays.
- Mike says:
  
  24 Mar24 March 15:06
  
  Anyone knows how strict are Barclays with the income criteria? I come in just slightly below 75k. But also reading I can transfer the amount monthly from my HSBC which will be an equivalent of 75k and above and that will work too.
  - Youllnever says:
    
    24 Mar24 March 15:11
    
    On the contrary, recent discussions seem to suggest that your account will quickly be flagged and reviewed for money laundering if you do so.
    - PK says:
      
      24 Mar24 March 15:25
      
      +1
      I had my account blocked recently for transferring money in and out. They let me go with a strict warning after I apologised for gaming the income criteria, but others have not been so fortunate. Many have had their accounts shut on them. I saw some discussion on this topic yesterday on the Barclays Premier article Rob posted.
      - Mike says:
        
        24 Mar24 March 15:29
        
        Interesting. So they let you go and are ok with <75k?
        
        I have a HSBC Premier + WEMC as well so don't really want to close my HSBC account…
      - Ali says:
        
        24 Mar24 March 15:32
        
        Barclays’ IT systems are too sophisticated to detect the gaming aspect, as I found out couple of days ago when they blocked my account. I am still struggling to speak to someone who can help me get my money back.
        
        If I were you Anon, I wouldn’t do the transfers in and out. It is better to credit the salary directly to Barclays.
      - PK says:
        
        24 Mar24 March 15:41
        
        I never said I earn less than 75k. In fact I earn way above that amount. It is just that I was crediting my salary to Nat West, where I hold a Black current account and was moving the money across to Barclays to satisfy their earnings criteria. But they seriously don’t want this sort of behaviour from their Premier customers. So I have decided to forego Black benefits in favour of Barclays Premier now.
      - Youllnever says:
        
        24 Mar24 March 15:56
        
        Probably best to go down the savings/investment route if you can with HSBC, and pay in to Barclays if you want both.
      - 747_Brat says:
        
        24 Mar24 March 16:40
        
        HSBC Premier requires you to earn £75k AND make an investment or take a life insurance or a protection product. It is a different matter how strictly they enforce the £75k criteria.
        
        https://www.hsbc.co.uk/current-accounts/products/premier/day-to-day-banking/bank-account/
      - Youllnever says:
        
        24 Mar24 March 16:46
        
        @747_Brat I was referring to the second eligibility criteria on that page: 50k in savings or investments, which doesn’t require the income requirement.
      - Youllnever says:
        
        24 Mar24 March 16:49
        
        *the 75k income requirement
- Tariq says:
  
  24 Mar24 March 16:33
  
  I have just been transferring £800 per month into Barclays, because that was the requirement for Blue rewards. I don’t intend to change this practice now that I have signed up for Avios rewards.
Harrier25 says:

24 Mar24 March 14:42

On the back of the conversation of last week where people were not getting their free credit card night credited to their IHG Rewards account, my free night credit has been added to my account today. The same day as I was billed the £99 annual fee by Creation.
- Liz says:
  
  24 Mar24 March 22:10
  
  Same here!
  - Matt says:
    
    24 Mar24 March 23:01
    
    The free night I earned for the Creation account year ending March 2021 was added when my £99 fee was charged. However, there is still no sign of the free night I earned for the Creation account year ending March 2020 (which never posted, and which I’ve been chasing for a year now)…
    
    So the issue isn’t an ongoing one – but they haven’t (yet… and maybe they never will…) been able to credit the free nights that never arrived last year…
Toby says:

24 Mar24 March 15:22

So this is a bit odd. BA has cancelled our LHR>HER flights in May but not the flights home (on 22 May).

A week or so ago they withdrew the HER>LHR flights from sale (so I assumed they were about to be cancelled). Today the flights have reappeared for sale.

It’s all a bit academic as we’re not going to manage to go anyway, but I’m intrigued what’s going on. Anyone seen anything like this, or have a theory?
- Matthew says:
  
  24 Mar24 March 15:35
  
  They often do that. Won’t be long and the return will be cancelled too
  - Toby says:
    
    24 Mar24 March 15:52
    
    Oh cool. Thanks Matthew. Maybe I need to spend less time monitoring whether they’re on sale or not!