The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 20th April

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• John_H says:

  20 Apr20 April 08:53

  Have an Avios 241 booking to PHL in July in First.
  We’ve been downgraded to CW “due to operational reasons” on the outbound leg.
  Other than a refund of 20K Avios (half the difference between First and CW) I assume we are out of luck??

  • Rhys says:

    20 Apr20 April 09:24

    Have you read our article about downgrades? It’s a good place to start: https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2020/08/13/british-airways-first-class-downgrade/

    • John_H says:

      20 Apr20 April 10:26

      Thanks, just submitted a claim. Let’s see what happens.

      • meta says:

        20 Apr20 April 11:15

        You have to fly before you can claim 75% compensation.

• Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

  20 Apr20 April 09:25

  HSBC have sweetened their Advance/Premier current account switching offer. Until 9th May get a £20 Uber Eats voucher on top of the £125 bonus.

• Joseph AJ says:

  20 Apr20 April 09:26

  Just wanted to share that I was able to move my cancelled avios flight to non-availability days yesterday, this was within a year of booking. It seems it is just a bit of a roulette with who you get at the call centre: first call SA then UK both said no, second call SA said yes. MMB didnt work for me. Thank you for those that advised yesterday.

  • Pete M says:

    20 Apr20 April 11:06

    Good to hear – it really is random!

• gareth says:

  20 Apr20 April 09:34

  Random one – but there is an app called “my vegas” effectively a free slots game, can pay too if you wish…
  Normally offers are with vegas hotels however theyve now signed up with some IC hotels across the US, eg washington, atlanta, los angeles downtown, crowne plaza manhattan etc etc. some of the deals include 3rd night free when paying cash – worth a look

  • Tracey says:

    20 Apr20 April 09:38

    The Vegas thread on MSE talks about this. Addicts talk of free meals, free nights etc

  • Travel Strong says:

    20 Apr20 April 10:37

    MyVegas and Wynnslots have real value – but only if you are prepared to put in some serious time and effort! (e.g. months of autospinning).

    Once you have put in the time and earned the in game credits, wynnslots requires you to pay £200+ for a 3-6 month redemption window, which eats in to the savings – but can still save you thousands if timed right. I did not time right with covid and effectively lost my £200!

    MyVegas has traditionally been only MGM properties in Las Vegas, which I have no interest in – so expansion to IC properties elsewhere is a welcome development (not that I see myself playing the game any time soon!).

  • BP says:

    20 Apr20 April 10:38

    I started playing it many years ago when it first launched. I actually wrote an automated script to play it for me. I had over 1000$ in freebies by the time I went to Vegas. I think the offers are now significantly diluted compared with at launch.

    • Triath5 says:

      20 Apr20 April 15:50

      Care to elaborate a bit more on this? Did you write something in Python? Ran it off a server?

      This kind of stuff fascinates me but I just can’t cross that (mental) hurdle of learning to code…I’d love to write a script to get dinner reservations (I know these bots exist but cost $$$)

      • Travel Strong says:

        20 Apr20 April 17:11

        Most simple routines are blocked now by the gameplay itself including intermittent features which require some human interaction. This is the smart/modern way to block autoclickers.
        I.e. don’t try and detect people exploiting loopholes, instead make a system that doesn’t have the loopholes. Prevention over detection.

        If you do have a need for basic autoclicking (without using bluestacks or coding) – there are apps with basic autoclick functionality such as habitap.

        • lumma says:

          20 Apr20 April 17:28

          Just get one of those drinking bird toys

  • The Savage Squ irrel says:

    20 Apr20 April 12:43

    As above. The offers are now pretty diluted and require substantial time; I stopped bothering some years ago. You can only use three in a 30 day period, and better offeres will “sell out” rapidly.
    Possibly more relevant in the near future; they certainly used to have a partnership with the Hippodrome Casino in London meaning a discount or free meal in the steakhouse – no idea whether that’s amazing or terrible as have never been :D.

• KS says:

  20 Apr20 April 09:35

  Small note on Amex Avis offer. I have it on Plat and had a single day booking for much less than £150. The deposit of £200 triggered the offer. I’ll now have to go and ask Amex to put it back so I can actually use it when I need to.

  • Andrew says:

    20 Apr20 April 09:36

    Wait to see if they reverse the credit first!

    • KS says:

      20 Apr20 April 11:01

      That would be even better! Thanks, I’ll wait.

      • Matty says:

        20 Apr20 April 18:02

        It won’t trigger but the offer will work on cumulative spend.

• Jan de W says:

  20 Apr20 April 09:38

  Am planning a US visit in December with 3 nights in New York before going on to visit family up north. Was hoping to get a good deal out of BA Holidays. Does anyone have any good hotel recommendations for NY, not necessarily points earners? Thks

  • Andrew says:

    20 Apr20 April 10:10

    We all have different likes and expectations. I really enjoyed my stay at the Holiday Inn Long Island City – Manhatten View.

    But we were upgraded to a corner suite with panoramic windows across to Manhattan and a balcony that would probably seat about 12 people. So that may have made a considerable difference to the stay.

    • Jan de W says:

      20 Apr20 April 11:00

      Thks Andrew. It is probably 12 years since I visited NY regularly so we wanted just sth boutiquey, pretty central etc…am thinking sth along lines of the Refinery or the Iroquois…

      • Stu N says:

        20 Apr20 April 11:32

        We stayed at The Roger in Midtown – corner of Madison and 31st. We got a good rate on BA Holidays and hotel was great location, decent bar and a few breakfast options on same block. It’s a Mr & Mrs Smith which is usually a good sign for non-chain boutiquey place.

        • Stu N says:

          20 Apr20 April 11:34

          Have a look at the Arlo as well, couple of blocks away.

        • Jan de W says:

          20 Apr20 April 13:25

          Thank you Stu. Will check those out

    • bafan says:

      20 Apr20 April 14:58

      I worked in LIC at one point – most people don’t appreciate just how close it is to Manhattan (N/W/7/F trains make it super accessible).

• Leo says:

  20 Apr20 April 09:45

  Am working towards my £5k goal on Amex Business Gold, to trigger 50k MR on sign-up.
  Should I be concerned for not seeing a progress bar (“you need to spend another £XX by XX to get 50k MR”) on my amex account? or there simply isn’t one?

  • Benilyn says:

    20 Apr20 April 10:06

    There isn’t one

• Manya says:

  20 Apr20 April 09:53

  Many have already commented but just as a data point; had outbound to Mexico city in late May cancelled and was booked onto the flight on the following day. That doesn’t work well for me as the trip was already a relatively short one week holiday and I do not want to reduce the length further.

  I will call up later this week to try and move dates to Easter next year. Hopeful of getting a rep that does this the first time of asking.

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