The HfP chat thread – Monday 5th April

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• Hugh says:

  5 Apr5 April 11:05

  If I cancel an Avios booking does the Voucher become available again immediately or does it take a few days? I am planning to book a flight at 1am tomorrow night and would like to use a voucher currently attached to a booking for June of this year that is not going to happen!

  • Nadeshka says:

    5 Apr5 April 11:06

    I’ve cancelled a few recently and avios and voucher were back available in my account before the call ended. Cash came back to the credit card in a couple of days.

    • Hugh says:

      5 Apr5 April 11:10

      Thanks, thats good to know, I was going to do it online, but maybe it might be safer to call?

      • Anna says:

        5 Apr5 April 11:25

        I would definitely call if you need the voucher immediately and keep the CSA on the line until you see your voucher appear in your account (you’ll probably need to keep logging in and out as you go through the process). Mostly they come back straight away but I did an online cancellation a couple of months ago and it took 48 hours.

• AlanC says:

  5 Apr5 April 11:23

  Morning folks. I read many others are sitting on the IHG Ambassador free night up to 40000 that expires at the end of this month. After 2 emails ftom IHG saying the vouchers could be used later but booked by month end they have come back to me with a 3rd email. This time they apologised for the confusion and will turn the voucher into 40000 points credited to my account and cancel the voucher if im agreeable.
  AlanC

  • Anna says:

    5 Apr5 April 11:26

    Many thanks Alan, I will try again with IHG, they have absolutely refused to budge on this so far!

    • AlanC says:

      5 Apr5 April 11:30

      I had to say that due to lockdown restrictions I could not use the voucher. Here is the reply I got. AlanC
      I have read your previous emails with my colleagues. I apologize for the confusion regarding the booking dates and stay dates restriction of your free night. I understand you were unable to travel for health safety reasons and local restrictions. Regrettably, we are unable to extend your Ambassador Reward Night that expires on April 30, 2021. But what I can do is to offer 40,000 points in exchange of the Ambassador Reward Night. Once you agree with these terms, we will cancel your Ambassador Reward Night on your account and deposit 40,000 points as it’s the equivalent amount for this limited free night offer. These points does not expire as long as you have your Elite status.

      • Anna says:

        5 Apr5 April 11:49

        Thanks – was there a name on the email? I have pointed out the restrictions to them several times but still got the limp response that they were sorry I wasn’t able to use the voucher and I should look out for exciting new offers this year!

    • Anna says:

      5 Apr5 April 11:30

      You can’t actually use the certificate after it expire, though, not even on April 30th!

    • Matt says:

      5 Apr5 April 11:31

      My voucher expired on 1st April and is showing as such in my account. Nada for me except an email giving me an extra month to renew AMB 🙄

      • Anna says:

        5 Apr5 April 11:45

        There was a bonus voucher for re-joining last autumn, worth up to 40k points. They all expire on 30/4.

  • Peggerz says:

    5 Apr5 April 21:08

    Hi @AlanC.
    Your comment leaves me with a dilemma. Should I cancel the booking I’ve made for before the end of this month at the Kimpton Blythswood or take the 40k?

• Njb says:

  5 Apr5 April 11:31

  Just noticed a Gousto £5 back on two £10+ spends on amex offers. I saved as using Gousto atm anyway

  • TGLoyalty says:

    5 Apr5 April 11:39

    I saw that and instantly thought can you even get anything for £10

    • Vit says:

      5 Apr5 April 11:49

      +1

    • Njb says:

      5 Apr5 April 12:13

      No! But its £5 off the money I was spending anyway

• AJA says:

  5 Apr5 April 11:32

  Silly story of the weekend, showing you what you can do while in hotel quarantine:

  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/05/horsing-around-australian-man-creates-paper-friend-out-of-lunch-bags-in-hotel-quarantine

  • TGLoyalty says:

    5 Apr5 April 11:39

    “David Marriott Makes pony in hotel quarantine” sounds like some dodgy marketing campaign.

    • AJA says:

      5 Apr5 April 11:47

      It does!. I initially thought he was staying at a Marriott hotel until I realised it was his surname!. I love the picture of the pony having a pony 🙂

• Jenster76 says:

  5 Apr5 April 11:55

  Hi folks,
  Any advice? Reward seats with BA for April 22 will be out soon, I need to decide if I move our family Oct 21 USA holiday to April 22 or not. Always risky as possibly not enough reward seats (we need 4) as over Easter and the stress of calling BA to yet again move flights and go through the calculations of taxes, avios etc.
  What do you think the chances are of a family getting to US in Oct 21 from UK without quarantine/hotel quarantine?

  • Rob says:

    5 Apr5 April 13:09

    Are you vaccinated or not? It seems that Boris will allow US travel with no major quarantine restrictions within weeks, but the issue is whether Biden agrees to let you in. Current US rule is that fully vaccinated people can fly with no restrictions so I would expect the same for tourists from areas like the UK. If you’re not vaccinated you may struggle because it will tight that you will have had a 2nd jab by October (+ 2/3 weeks for it to take effect).

    • Anna says:

      5 Apr5 April 13:33

      Still nothing definitive on what will apply to kids though … I’m hoping they will say they can just have tests, otherwise there’s not much hope for family holidays!

    • Jenster76 says:

      5 Apr5 April 15:07

      Yes will be vaccinated (both doses) but kids won’t be, this is what will be interesting, are kids exempt because they are not offering them the vaccine? They will have to do something otherwise no family holidays with kids for the foreseeable!

      • Anna says:

        5 Apr5 April 15:25

        Some countries have said kids will just need testing but the US has yet to announce anything at re in incoming travel. At the other extreme, the Cayman Islands government has said that anyone arriving with unvaccinated children will need to spend 14 days in quarantine, regardless of the vaccination status of the adults. I’m hoping America will adopt the former approach, but as Rob has pointed out previously, the country simply doesn’t rely on tourism like many European countries do, so it’s difficult to guess what they’ll decide.

• Russ says:

  5 Apr5 April 11:57

  Just for info apparently BA’s aircraft which do the Caribbean runs have arrived back at Gatwick.

  • Anna says:

    5 Apr5 April 12:16

    Do you mean these routes are now LGW departures once more?

    • Russ says:

      5 Apr5 April 12:40

      Nope, what I’m saying is the type of aircraft which typically do these runs are now back at Gatwick sitting on the tarmac. They don’t just happen to be there or you’d expect to see some small types arriving as well. If I was a betting man I’d hazard they’ve been bought down in readiness for the green light from Johnson.

      • ChrisC says:

        5 Apr5 April 14:19

        BA aren’t going to spend money on a ‘just on case Boris says …’ basis. Parking at LGW is expensive for planes as well as cars!

        Especially as the earliest date restrictions will be lifted according to the roadmap isn’t until another 6 weeks away. And then BA flying will depend on what the destination country permits.

        • Tim says:

          5 Apr5 April 15:14

          Actually that is exactly what BA are doing. They are planning to operate 220 hulls from June and so are bringing aircraft back (and have been for weeks) in quite serious numbers to prepare for return to service. Internal comms this week said if summer doesn’t go as they’re expecting then there will be further, more serious cuts. They are absolutely working on a ‘just in case’ basis because they have to. The scale of the operation is too large to make such changes within a few weeks.

        • Anna says:

          5 Apr5 April 15:29

          There are virtually no avios seats left to Caribbean destinations for the summer so there’s clearly a demand for travel. I was trying to put together a Plan Z for if the US and Spain don’t come off (really, really not interested in spending even more time in the UK this year), but the Caribbean Islands and Mexico have practically zero availability on our dates. I could pay for 2 cash tickets but realistically the other 2 would need to be avios.

• Bee says:

  5 Apr5 April 12:08

  I have asked this before but not sure I got clarity.
  I have a significant amount to pay into USD bank account- is there a way to pay it that I can get points or rewards. I have a few weeks to pay so if it requires applying for an account or something, I am happy to.

  Thanks

  • Steve says:

    5 Apr5 April 13:02

    Someone asked if Wise accepted Bendy the other day, don’t think there was an answer, that would be ideal if they did. May be worth opening a free Wise and doing a test transaction.

  • blenz101 says:

    5 Apr5 April 13:03

    What points/miles earning cards do you have currently? How significant is the amount and what credit limits do you have? If you are going to try and do something which appears MS on a brand new card with no regular spend patterns you increase the risk of being shutdown and your funds held rather quickly depending on the amount.

    That said, you could potentially top up a Revoult account with a credit card and use their excellent exchange rates to get the money into USD and on into the US account.

    You may well be charged cash advance and or interest fees depending on the card you use. You may be able to use curve to avoid this. You may also be able to put your credit card into credit to mitigate the interest charges or pay it off sufficiently quickly to minimise charges.

    You are best doing some test transactions and seeing how the cards you hold / want to earn points treat your test transactions. If you end up with a 3% cash advance fee 30GBP for each 1k your are looking to move to wipe out any points earning. I would also focus on exchange rates rather than pure points potential.

    • Bee says:

      5 Apr5 April 13:56

      Thank you for your responses.

      I currently have BA amex and Sainburys I also have the curve card and Halifax clarity. But I haven’t used curve in a while and do not know which underlying card will not result to a cash advance fee

      I have a revolut account (used in the past) and I have a wise account I have never used.

      • Steve says:

        5 Apr5 April 14:07

        Test out Bendy to Wise and let us know!

      • Blenz101 says:

        5 Apr5 April 16:17

        Amex is out and little purpose of the Halifax for points.

        IHG creation card is typically cited here and being suitable for MS so may well work, test transaction first as suggested.

        If you want airmiles then look at Sainsbury’s bank (Nectar) or Tesco bank (Virgin) cards.

        Take a looks now at the fee structures and rate for Wise and Revolut so you can decide your preferred exchange route.

• Crafty says:

  5 Apr5 April 12:13

  Anyone had their Curve Metal retained by a cash machine before? I withdraw cash so rarely that I’m wondering if I did something stupid. You can put metal in a cash machine right?!

  • roberto says:

    5 Apr5 April 12:47

    Yeah , no problems. Most newer cash machines now appear to have contactless anyways.

    • Anuj says:

      5 Apr5 April 14:00

      Where abouts have you seen many contactless ones? Sadly they’re rare in the U.K. and only work with the issuing bank’s cards. In Belgium by contrast they worked with my monzo through google pay and were so much faster to use than inserting

      • BP says:

        5 Apr5 April 14:27

        Many Santander machines.

  • MinR says:

    5 Apr5 April 15:08

    Not happened to me in the UK, but my card did get stuck in a cash machine in Istanbul, Turkey.

  • david says:

    5 Apr5 April 17:16

    I once had my curve metal card retained by a machine in Bali. I left the card in the machine and took the cash and ten seconds later it had eaten it !

    • will says:

      5 Apr5 April 23:03

      I’ve had multiple cards eaten by ATM’s in Bali, I assumed significant quantities of ATM’s out there are set up for fraud.

  • lumma says:

    5 Apr5 April 20:59

    Barclays ATM in harringay nearly swallowed my Curve metal. It was keep trying to spit it out but it was getting caught. Managed to get it out by partially putting a card in the opening as it was catching on the bottom lip. Haven’t tried it since

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