The HfP chat thread – Monday 26th April

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

• Pete M says:

  26 Apr26 April 12:02

  Interesting insight from the ground and thank you for what you are doing! I still think it is phenomenal and extremely positive that the “percentage of over-50s vaccinated has hit 95% in England” (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56849874). Compared to many European countries where the vast majority of people are refusing the AZ vaccine, I think we’ve managed the blood-clot fallout rather well!

  • Pete M says:

    26 Apr26 April 12:03

    Sorry, that was for Craig on the previous page.

    • Craig says:

      26 Apr26 April 12:05

      Thanks Pete.

  • The Savage Squirrel says:

    26 Apr26 April 16:54

    It’s really very sad to think that the reduced AZ take up in Europe will probably save around 50-100 people from blood clot deaths………. while killing tens of thousands of people through a COVID infection they otherwise would have survived. All to make the relevant bureaucrats and politicians (who used it as a distraction to deflect from their shambolic delivery) look slightly less bad.

    • Mzungu says:

      26 Apr26 April 18:01

      Good summary – and now the EU have decided to sue AZ, in another attempt to cover up their botched programme. As if suing a vaccine manufacturer at this stage is going to help anyone or anything (apart from their egos, perhaps)

      • Justin says:

        26 Apr26 April 20:54

        I’m seeing a lot of jingoistic anti-European hyper-sensitivity to any criticism of AZ and it’s quite depressing. Are we all Daily Express readers now?

        The EU ordered 400m vaccines from AZ. They didn’t arrive when they were meant to arrive. This has set back their vaccination program by months. It’s not hard to understand why they are unhappy. It’s a contractual dispute. Why are people in this country taking this personally?

        As for the concerns about blood clots, please stop parroting the idea that this is some ruse by the “EU” to cover up for their “bungling”. The EMA have consistently said that they think the AZ vaccine is safe and usage should continue. This isn’t coming from the EU. The medical authorities of some countries, not just in Europe, have restricted its use or stopped using it entirely. The US still hasn’t approved the AZ vaccine, despite spending $1.1bn on it. These medical authorities have to base their decisions on a consideration of the risks within their population, public hesitancy and the knowledge that by the time most of the stuff arrives they will already have enough of the mRNA vaccines.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          26 Apr26 April 22:36

          Seems to have bred this strange us vs them attitude.

          The only way out of this for everyone is fairer distribution between countries based upon their age profile and current epidemiological situation. ie India needs more vaccines than pretty much anywhere else in Asia.

          Nice to see USA will share its 60m AZ doses since it has 0 plans to use them at the moment.

    • Jek says:

      26 Apr26 April 18:01

      You should check the statistics. Due to the DVT caused by AZ, females under 30 had a higher risk of dying from DVT caused by AZ than dying of COVID in certain countries at the time. The decision to suspend AZ was the right one at the time as you never want to make the vaccine deadlier than the illness.

      • Anna says:

        26 Apr26 April 18:07

        But absolute numbers in both cases must have been tiny, surely?

        • TGLoyalty says:

          26 Apr26 April 18:49

          But if the absolute number of one is bigger than the other other you’d take road of least risk…. take another vaccine

      • TGLoyalty says:

        26 Apr26 April 18:51

        It’s not just about the clots but that they’re together with low levels of blood platelets. A much rarer combination.

      • Tracey says:

        26 Apr26 April 20:50

        We don’t know that the DVT was caused by AZ and not just a random event that would have happened anyway.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          26 Apr26 April 22:32

          No but they do know the odds of have clots with low palette count in a population anyway and compare that to the odds in a population that have had AZ vaccine.

          Just because something is rare doesn’t mean you “don’t know” how often it occurs.

      • Chris Heyes says:

        26 Apr26 April 22:38

        Jek The problem with that statement is “No One” actually knows if the vaccine is deadlier than the illness.
        Its not possible to know until 5/10 years down the road, there have been plenty of vaccines that have turned out to be worse, even leading to deformed baby’s
        Scientist’s can be almost sure but never %100

        • Jek says:

          26 Apr26 April 23:19

          Chris Heyes: I wrote that at the time the statistics were suggesting that the vaccine could be more deadly and therefore countries have decided to suspend AZ until further data was available. That approach is sensible.

          I don’t actually understand your argument. It seems that you are saying that it is normal that vaccines are turning out to be worse, so we should ignore the risks and continue vaccinations anyway?

          Or are you supporting the suspension of AZ?

• Anna says:

  26 Apr26 April 12:09

  IHG IT weirdness. I am able on some of my reservations to make an e- standby upgrade offer appear by going to the “view details” page, then logging out and back in again while staying on that page. A lot of the offers are a bit poor, however I’ve managed to bag a couple of very decent upgrades – e.g. a weekend night in July at the Kimpton Clocktower for which I paid 22.5 k points allowed me to request a junior suite for £75. The suite is £260 on the night in question.

  • Aston100 says:

    26 Apr26 April 15:26

    Thanks Anna.
    This is the most useful thing I’ve read on here in ages.
    I’ve got loads of nights booked this year, some on points some on cash.
    The upgrade awards seem to be on my Voco, CP, Indigo and HI bookings – literally all of them. But none of my HIX bookings have any.
    As you say, a lot of the offers are poor (for me anyway), but some were decent, e.g. £35pn to upgrade our basic rewards night booking at the Voco St Davids to a Junior Suite. Seeing as some of those nights cost only 22.5k this is IMO a pretty decent result.
    There was also an afternoon tea (£20 for 2) at an Indigo (normally £18pp) which I was going to book at full price anyway, so that is an unexpected result too!

    I do note that the wording suggests that these upgrade offers can only be confirmed when you check in.

    • Aston100 says:

      26 Apr26 April 15:28

      Sorry, meant to say that the offers seem not to care if the bookings were reward nights or cash. Only HIX seem to be excluded. Not booked anything higher than a Voco, but you’ve already stated it worked at a Kimpton.

      And that tea for 2 is at a Marco Pierre White steakhouse in the Indigo.

      • Anna says:

        26 Apr26 April 16:45

        It’s worked on more than one Kimpton, I just didn’t want to start boring people!

    • Anna says:

      26 Apr26 April 16:48

      Technically they are confirmed at check in so if the suites sold out beforehand obviously you wouldn’t get one, but I can’t see any reason why they would withhold an afternoon tea! I bet if you contacted them the day before they would know 99% whether you were going to get the upgrade or not.

  • Wollhouse says:

    26 Apr26 April 15:47

    I’ve never managed to find these elusive e-standby offers:( but glad you’ve found a way to “force” them to appear. I’ll keep trying… and hoping!

    • Anna says:

      26 Apr26 April 16:44

      If you’ve got more than one account in your family, logging back in to another account seems to work sometimes if logging into your own doesn’t. It still shows your booking even though you’re logged into a different account. I thought it was some terrible data breach at first but I think it’s something to do with cookies!

    • Chas says:

      26 Apr26 April 17:22

      I had to try logging out and in again about 4 or 5 times before my offer (at an HI) appeared. Might be worth trying the brute force approach.

      • Anna says:

        26 Apr26 April 18:10

        Let’s see who can score the best upgrade/offer using this method. I’m pretty pleased with my £75 suite but have to admit that Aston100 is way ahead at £35 🤣

• MD says:

  26 Apr26 April 12:19

  Rob, FYI about your Capital on Tap offer. I just took one out using your link (surprisingly, instant approval despite my Ltd being only 20 days old) and the sign up page is still saying 10000 bonus avios, not 29900. Definitely used your link.

  I’m still expecting it to work properly given your previous assurances, I just thought someone on their team might have fixed the page by now.

  • Rob says:

    26 Apr26 April 13:20

    I thought it was fixed on the emails you receive, but they can’t amend what you see when logged in. Don’t worry though, all will be well – and if not, we’ll ensure it is fixed.

    • MD says:

      26 Apr26 April 17:55

      Hmm, well they haven’t actually mentioned bonus avios of any amount in their emails so far, but no worries either way. Thanks.

• egold says:

  26 Apr26 April 12:43

  Is the 90,000 referral points per year capped on each card separately or is it on the card holder across all cards?
  with the increased Platinum bonus 24k x 4 = 96k, I’ll lose out on the last 6k I guess but what about my other cards?

  • Rob says:

    26 Apr26 April 13:19

    It is per reward family, so 90k MR + 90k Avios + 90k Marriott etc.

    You lose the last 6k, yes, and can’t do any more MR referrals this year. You can refer off any non-MR cards you hold.

    • egold says:

      26 Apr26 April 15:53

      thank you so much Rob for clarifying that

• marcw says:

  26 Apr26 April 13:04

  FYI: UK and European banks plan to slash business trips after pandemic
  ft.com/content/b50d7754-b257-4c5b-88b8-886fb19366b3

  • Steve says:

    26 Apr26 April 14:57

    Can totally see this change, we’ve managed so long via remote meetings, the business case for face to face meetings (and therefore expensive business travel) is difficult to justify.

  • Bobri says:

    26 Apr26 April 15:59

    As long as one bank breaks the ranks and starts sending bankers to every meeting, the rest will follow suit

    • Jayne says:

      26 Apr26 April 17:49

      No. The widespread grift is over.

      • Rob says:

        26 Apr26 April 20:00

        You’ve never worked in an investment bank, clearly.

        These are alpha-males guys (in general) whose only pleasure from their job is to nip off to a glamourous foreign city as the drop of a hat, business class, five star hotel (I had a £300 per night hotel allowance back in 2010) with unlimited sums of money for food and, erm, entertainment.

        This game doesn’t end, because it is played all the way up the tree.

• r* says:

  26 Apr26 April 13:08

  If you book BA flights with amex travel and then try to voluntarily cancel a non-cancellable flight, what happens?

  If it was booked directly with BA you get an FTV but if its booked through amex travel, do you still get the FTV from BA or is it amex travel credit or something else?

• N says:

  26 Apr26 April 13:12

  Any experience and recommendations for companies on the DHSC list of qualifying travel test package providers (2 & 8 day testing)?

  I must unavoidably travel and return to the UK so will need to book. I’ve seen reports of slow service, poor communications from some, and there are some truely eyewatering prices out there.

  • Pete M says:

    26 Apr26 April 14:11

    Collinson if attending in person is possible – testing sites at various airports and London locations. Good experience with them since they started. Just under £200 for Day 2 & 8 tests.

  • roberto says:

    26 Apr26 April 15:25

    Avoid Latus Heath. The 2 day test arrived 7 days late and the 8 day test never arrived

    Latus are impossible to speak to and won’t answer emails. On the plus side Amex processed a clawback following the issue .

    I was only in the UK for 60 hours

    • egold says:

      26 Apr26 April 15:55

      Being that i intend on being in the UK for less than 48 hours next month, I’ll be more than happy to use a rubbish company that’ll allow me to then clawback via AMEX as I will not need to actually do the test, as I’ll be gone by day 2.
      Are there any more sensible ways around the testing debacle for short trips?

      • Pete M says:

        26 Apr26 April 19:29

        Also worth checking out https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/incident/coronavirus/covid19-tests. The Randox discount is particularly good.

• Aviosnewbie says:

  26 Apr26 April 13:12

  Just a tip for those with an infant/toddler at home: consider taking the vaccine on separate days. We had our jab together, and thankfully my wife was spared of the side effects. But I was totally zonked out. It was like having a bad hangover + high fever + getting hit by a car all at once. Lasted 2 full days, and the experience was unlike anything I’ve had. If my wife had similar side effects, we’d have totally struggled with our 3-yr old. So just a friendly tip – best space it out by a few days than take a chance.

  • Froggee says:

    26 Apr26 April 13:39

    +1. Obviously my brother and his wife are going hand in hand on the same day because they have teenagers and like the idea of staying in bed and being sullen to them at the same time!

    • Anna says:

      26 Apr26 April 14:07

      +!. My OH was working the weekend I had my side effects and the teenager had to forage for himself! Thankfully by that age they only bother you if the wifi goes off.

      • The real John says:

        26 Apr26 April 18:52

        When I was a teenager my parents were the ones bothering me when the wifi went off (though I usually fixed it before they noticed)

  • AndyW says:

    26 Apr26 April 20:59

    We have a 1 yr old & a 4 yr old and both myself and my wife had Covid at exactly the same time. That was not fun.

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