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The HfP chat thread – Friday 26th March

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

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General

Comments (247)

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

  • PM C says:
    26 Mar26 March 14:16

    Question for anyone travelling to the UK / London at the moment:

    What does the hotel situation look like: Here is one option:

    Travel from the continent by Eurostar to St Pancras (test taken before),
    Option to stay in a hotel in London
    on Day 2 take a train to a funeral (exempted from quarantine) and back in the evening
    Day 3 London
    Day 4 Return to the continent with test taken as well in the UK

    Can you get food delivered to the London hotel and how messy would it be to leave the hotel for the funeral?

    • Rob says:
      26 Mar26 March 14:38

      All the ‘stay local’ rules disappear on Monday. You can go where you want, do what you want (within England anyway) totally legally.

      The only issue is the hotel stay but that is allowed due to the funeral. Food deliveries are down to your hotel but I assume most are OK with it given their restaurants are shut, but remember that most places are open for takeaway anyway – probably preferable to get a takeway and sit in a park.

      • The real John says:
        26 Mar26 March 14:39

        They have to quarantine for 10 days after arrival

        • Pete M says:
          26 Mar26 March 14:47

          PM C is coming for a funeral. They don’t need to quarantine.

          • The real John says:
            26 Mar26 March 14:51

            As PM C said, they must self-isolate except when they are travelling to their place of self-isolation, travelling to and from the funeral, attending the funeral, getting a covid test, and when travelling directly to leave England.

            Rob said that they can go where they like, which is not the case.

          • Rob says:
            26 Mar26 March 15:22

            You don’t need to stay local, was my point. Quarantine doesn’t really apply in this case since it cannot be checked so I wouldn’t worry about that. No-one is popping over to your hotel.

          • Zoe says:
            26 Mar26 March 14:53

            You need to quarantine but can go out to the actual funeral. So apart from that event you can’t leave the hotel. I hope it all works out as well as possible in the circumstances .

    • The real John says:
      26 Mar26 March 14:48

      In order to be exempt from quarantine it must be the funeral of a *close* family member (unless the deceased has no family attending in person at all) – so I’m sorry for your loss.

      I think your best bet is to arrange it with the hotel in advance.

      In any case hotel staff have no right to stop you leaving the hotel at any time, they most they can do is contact the police.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      26 Mar26 March 15:27

      Just explain you are there for a funeral

      The hotel will bring you the food if you tell them you are self isolating apart from the funeral exemption

  • mutley says:
    26 Mar26 March 14:18

    Any ideas on how to keep Lufty Miles and More from expiring ( will a booking in September suffice?)

    • Rob says:
      26 Mar26 March 14:35

      1. Get M&M status
      2. Get the new UK credit card, assuming it launches this Summer
      3. Er, that’s it

      • meta says:
        26 Mar26 March 15:26

        Fourth option is to book a placeholder flight if you have enough miles. According to Loyalty Lobby article today, M&M miles expire at the end of the quarter when you cancel. You need to time it right though both placeholder flight and rebooking.

    • Lady London says:
      26 Mar26 March 16:13

      buy amazon vouchers or convert to Heathrow rewards are options on the UK site if you get really stuck.

      • mutley says:
        26 Mar26 March 17:42

        Thanks guys, I have approx 40K miles, they expire April

        • Lady London says:
          26 Mar26 March 17:51

          a sweet spot might still be J class transcon US for those miles

        • 747_Brat says:
          26 Mar26 March 17:58

          @Mutley
          Be careful with placeholder flights. If you can’t take those placeholder flights for some reasons and cancel the flights, you won’t get the refund of M&M miles if the miles are past expiry. You can’t extend the expiry of M&M miles this way. So be very sure to book placeholder flights if you are 100% certain to take them.

          • meta says:
            26 Mar26 March 18:19

            According to Loyalty Lobby article today, you can rebook placeholder flight for 50 euro fee. Also no fee if rebooked until 31 May.

            “Another option would be to issue a placeholder award ticket and cancel it later for a 50 euro fee and book something else. When you cancel award tickets with expired miles, they then expire on the quarter when the ticket was canceled”

            Are you saying that the advice there is wrong?

        • Rob says:
          26 Mar26 March 22:41

          You can get a one-way Business Class flight to quite a long way for 40k …. I’d be tempted to book a flight somewhere.

  • Ang says:
    26 Mar26 March 15:37

    Hi there, does anyone know if FCDO is going announce that Kenya is going the Red List on Mar 29th?

    Also if they do announce it how much notice do you think they will give? I’m looking to get a BA flight that gets to London at 6am on Mar 29th.

    Many thanks in advance.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      26 Mar26 March 17:22

      Qatar was added on Monday and was from all flights landing after 4am Friday

      “The Department for Transport (DfT) announced that Qatar, as well as Ethiopia, Oman and Somalia, would be added to the red list at 4am on Friday 19 March – giving arrivals 82 hours’ warning and allowing many of them to come home early.”

  • Anuj says:
    26 Mar26 March 15:54

    Has anyone used premium food delivery services that deliver nationally such as dishpatch or any other independent restaurants they could recommend?
    Would appreciate any recommendations.

    • Grant says:
      26 Mar26 March 16:10

      Northcote, Padella, Aktar at Home are all good.

    • Ken says:
      26 Mar26 March 17:59

      Elite at home very good (Gary Usher).
      Don’t underestimate the amount of cooking / finishing you need to do yourself though. It’s not a M&S meal for 2
      Some portion sizes massive. Potted mackerel £13 would serve 2 maybe 3 as a starter. Our chicken (£38 for 2) served 4 large portions. Advised cooking time was therefore miles off
      Veg side portions (£5) disappointingly small.
      Veg.
      Main courses £12 again giant.

      Simon Rogan at home. Excellent but can be booked up weeks ahead.

    • Kevin C says:
      26 Mar26 March 19:18

      Hame by Adam Handling, Ambassador General Store, Sabor En Casa, D&D.

  • Garry says:
    26 Mar26 March 16:24

    Amex are not offering any retention offers on Gold Cards when I called up Brighton

  • Grimz says:
    26 Mar26 March 16:41

    What’s the cheapest way to buy Starbucks coffee? I keep just adding money to my account but I’m sure there is a more efficient way rather than paying full price 😕

    • TGLoyalty says:
      26 Mar26 March 17:23

      I get 10% off through my works perks scheme. Do you have something similar?

    • Genghis says:
      26 Mar26 March 17:52

      Not buy it? If at work / home, buy a cafetière and some decent coffee and make your own.

      • Harry T says:
        26 Mar26 March 17:59

        I agree with Genghis. Aeropress also a decent alternative to a cafetière. Im not much of a coffee drinker these days but my colleagues with a serious coffee interest use their own beans and an aeropress, which they bring to work. They can definitely afford Starbucks or Costa too. You will save money and experience better coffee – win-win.

    • Grimz says:
      26 Mar26 March 17:58

      I Work for NHS so will have a look. I guess I could buy some gift cards with Morrison’s offer.
      Thanks

    • bafan says:
      26 Mar26 March 19:57

      I moved to the Pret subscription but if you’re not near one then ofc that is useless. I know French press blah blah blah but going out for coffee gives me a place to go out and walk to (aimlessly walking is not my thing).

  • Will says:
    26 Mar26 March 18:05

    Anyone got the 10k nectar bonus credited for the credit card £400 spend in 2 months? It’s now approx 2 months since the Avios linkup so I imagine many are qualifying. Wondering if they will wait full 60 days before posting

  • James says:
    26 Mar26 March 19:18

    Why spend time wondering and worrying? If the terms say up to 60 days then of course it might well be. See that time out and then wonder after.

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

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