Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 24th 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 (329)

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

  • Gavin says:
    24 Mar24 March 17:11

    I’ve got tickets & hotels sorted for RWC 2023 and want to get hotels sorted – all the booking engines go up to May 2022 only. is it a case of calling the hotel direct and hoping they parlez le Anglais? It’s an Accor hotel if it makes a difference.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      24 Mar24 March 17:50

      So do you have hotels sorted or not?

    • stevenhp1987 says:
      24 Mar24 March 22:10

      I was going to book in May/June 2022 for our tickets.

      Hoping to use IHG points.

    • Aslan says:
      24 Mar24 March 22:13

      Email the hotels you want. Some are offering to book now but others are saying that you’ll need to wait

  • @mkcol says:
    24 Mar24 March 17:29

    Can confirm the breakfast bags at DoubleTree are quite decent & contain much more than I’d normally choose from the breakkie buffet.

  • Amy Kent says:
    24 Mar24 March 17:36

    Long time lurker, first time poster.

    Feeling gutted for forgetting to link my card with PAW for the Morrisons offer. I only managed to get 18% off, when I could have easily earned 28% off the gift cards. I have let myself down! 🙁

    • Reney says:
      24 Mar24 March 19:36

      Oh no! If it makes you feel better, I forgot to bring my Morrison More card on 2 separate trips….

      • kitten says:
        24 Mar24 March 19:52

        the morrison’s More app is separate from the Morrison’s app and your phone can be scanned at the till if you’ve got the More app open

      • John says:
        25 Mar25 March 06:09

        Morrisons more is dying so it doesn’t matter any more

    • Aston100 says:
      24 Mar24 March 20:31

      I hear you.
      I’m in a predicament where I have a 10% teacher discount on top of other discounts but don’t have a car so can’t get to a Morrisons.

    • Harry T says:
      24 Mar24 March 21:37

      Does PAW definitely stack with VS store?

  • Dan says:
    24 Mar24 March 17:46

    What is easiest way of racking up loads of Marriott Bonvoy Points? I already have a stash of Avios, Virgin FC, HSBC, MR and IHG points but keen to diversify even further.

    With the other options, it is fairly easy to collect the points through not flying with BA/Virgin or not staying at the hotel – as there are shopping portals, and other monetary opportunities (;) But Marriott seems to be very short of partners in the UK?

    Is the Amex Marriot the best way? I have this card along with the Gold but I have been putting spend through the Gold to hit the anniversary bonus.

    Any tips, tricks, advice much appreciated!

    • memesweeper says:
      24 Mar24 March 18:15

      “Is the Amex Marriot the best way?“

      in the UK, it’s the only way AFAIK apart from staying in their hotels (a lot)

      I do both, and still struggle to get as many as I’d like

  • Rob says:
    24 Mar24 March 17:59

    So just applied for the new Barclays Avios deal, I have had a Barclays current account for 15 years although I am below the income requirement for premier banking, I went through the app and applied this morning and got accepted before reading todays HfP comments about them closing down accounts etc.
    Am I right in thinking my account will be closed?

    • Rob says:
      24 Mar24 March 18:47

      The worst that would happen is that you get downgraded back to where you were, which is what they do to Premier customers who are not paying the £75k equivalent anyway.

  • BrotherBear says:
    24 Mar24 March 18:28

    Sure this has been asked numerous times so apologies in advance.

    Had some RFS flights cancelled (think they moved us onto different BA flights to same destination – time/day/airport changes).

    These flights are April/May so we won’t be able to go.

    What are our options? Are we able to get the flights moves to any date in the future? Does there need to be avios availability? Is it better to just get a refund?

    Thanks in advance.

    • PK says:
      24 Mar24 March 19:28

      Your option is a full refund or change the date within 12 months of original booking date even with no RFS seats being available. You cannot change the destination.

  • kitten says:
    24 Mar24 March 19:05

    I don’t mean to be rude but this question gets covered most days and often 2 or 3 times a day.

    Look in the last paragraph of the article these posts hang off , click on the link in blue and you will find one of this thread for each day with multiple occurrences of your answers.

    ‘sorry’ …well, not really?

    • kitten says:
      24 Mar24 March 19:55

      Thanks @ChrisC I’m a bit grumpy today – too many things are so much harder to get done during Covid – so wasn’t being that nice a kitten so apologies.

    • BrotherBear says:
      24 Mar24 March 20:13

      I have spent time looking for the answer and couldn’t find so I asked.

      Imagine sitting on this forum commenting on questions without answering them. I know there’s not much to do in lockdown but come on.

      • Aston100 says:
        24 Mar24 March 20:28

        One day a proper forum might get implemented with sticky threads, FAQs and a decent search facility. Until then, you’ll have to think outside the box when looking for old info. It isn’t as intuitive as people seem to think it is.

    • kitten says:
      24 Mar24 March 20:54

      oatmeal and fybogel both gentle . Both need the addition of water to work. as in…porridge.

      HarryT liked senna which is harsh and loses its effect if used a lot. However HarryT is a medic so probably is much more trustworthy than the rest of us.

    • Mike P says:
      24 Mar24 March 22:00

      Got to be more interesting and relevant than all the rubbish about manufactured spend and childish code words.

  • 747_Brat says:
    24 Mar24 March 19:26

    Moët & Chandon Impérial Brut for £23 using Amazon voucher! 🙂

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00B16HGEU?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

    • JDB says:
      24 Mar24 March 19:37

      Doesn’t make such a good present, but if you like drinking champagne, the Tesco Vintage Grand Cru champagne is currently £22 and they additionally have the 25% off six bottles. It’s excellent, as is their Premier Cru and both are superior to the big branded names standard (ie non premier/grand cru) versions which include c. £4-5 marketing/advertising in the bottle price.

      • Rob says:
        24 Mar24 March 19:41

        Only £4-£5?!

      • Anna says:
        24 Mar24 March 19:42

        Also Asda has Bollinger down to £35 and also 25% off 6. Must be that after Xmas champagne glut people were going on about!

      • Chris K says:
        24 Mar24 March 20:59

        I bought a very nice bottle of English sparkling wine last year to celebrate…uhh, the end of January. And I had it in a genuinely blind taste test and found it far superior to the Moet equivalent of same price.

        English wine is much underrated and worth buying, even at a premium. And there’s no risk of exports of it being illegally blocked 🙂

    • mark says:
      24 Mar24 March 19:40

      Moet is great until you actually drink it.

    • Andrew says:
      24 Mar24 March 21:32

      The Tesco Premier Cru really is excellent and the half bottles (£12) are handy for mid-week breakfasts. Also with 25% off when buying 6 or more.

    • Clive says:
      24 Mar24 March 22:22

      If you check Amazon Tatt and Bolly are also on offer

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