The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 27th April

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ankomonkey says:

27 Apr27 April 11:54

Is the Jable VIP Lounge at FUE airport any good (outside of Covid restrictions)?
- Sukes says:
  
  27 Apr27 April 12:38
  
  Got stuck at Jable VIP for a few hours on the day Spain went into lockdown in Mar 2020. It is very small so under normal circumstances you may struggle to get in or end up queuing as we did. Is at far end of terminal so may be inconvenient depending on your gate. Has small outside area which is good if you want to get last rays in. Food/beverage is basic (glass of vino or coffee, tiny sandwiches, some nuts). Photos on priority pass website are accurate of decor & food offering. If you have time to kill I would go. But I wouldn’t make a point of getting to the airport early to make use of it.
  - ankomonkey says:
    
    27 Apr27 April 13:35
    
    Thank you!
- Anuj says:
  
  27 Apr27 April 16:33
  
  The walk to get to it took forever, it really is at the very far end of the airport. It has a pleasant outside bit, however FUE is very windy so we went inside. Food was alright nothing memorable but can’t complain for free. Ok if you’re going to be waiting a while for your flight.
  - ankomonkey says:
    
    27 Apr27 April 19:38
    
    Thanks!
Len says:

27 Apr27 April 12:00

This might be of use for some people if the business plat 100k offer comes up again..

I already had the business gold card whilst the 100k business platinum offer was on. I heard they were offering an upgrade bonus so I called to upgrade to plat and the agent said there was a 20k upgrade bonus for 4k spend. I accepted and assumed that would be the only bonus I would get.

However I received 30k? bonus for the upgrade offer, and also the 100k welcome offer for £10k spend. Both arrived in my MR points balance on the same day within about 2 weeks of receiving the card.
- Fk says:
  
  27 Apr27 April 23:41
  
  I called yesterday to request upgrade to plat and got the same offer, was hoping higher because I applied for the gold for 50k, met the spend and now realised I could have hit the spend for plat but that’s the best they could do, will wait a bit and see what else comes up.
  
  Also to add, they said you have 6 months to hit the spend
Optimus Prime says:

27 Apr27 April 12:00

Looks like Greece will accept the NHS paper cards showing dates of jabs as proof of vaccination. That suits me but… what can possibly go wrong?
- Craig says:
  
  27 Apr27 April 12:03
  
  Psst, anyone want to buy a vaccination card? I’ve got hundreds!
  - Pete M says:
    
    27 Apr27 April 12:35
    
    That is called pragmatism in the face of financial ruin…
  - Anuj says:
    
    27 Apr27 April 16:35
    
    I’ve actually seen blank ones being boasted about online by conspiracy covidiots. L F*X had tweeted one.
- C says:
  
  27 Apr27 April 12:42
  
  AFAIK, it has yet to be established definitively that the vaccines stop transmission – just serious illness. So, if someone wants a fraudulent vaccination card so they can increase their own risk of getting ill, go right ahead.
  - Craig says:
    
    27 Apr27 April 12:49
    
    Indeed, unfortunately it won’t stop some people. It’s one of the reasons we urgently need some more robust form of proof.
    - Andrew says:
      
      27 Apr27 April 14:35
      
      Not really.
      
      We just need to link the Vaccination database with the Passport database (for national security reasons), so other countries can be confident that UK passport holders are vaccinated.
      - Lord Doncaster says:
        
        27 Apr27 April 14:37
        
        I don’t think that is straightforward. I’d guess there will need to be a separate standardised certificate – just like for other vaccinations
      - meta says:
        
        27 Apr27 April 14:49
        
        There are no exit checks in the UK…
    - Rob says:
      
      27 Apr27 April 15:14
      
      If you can think of a way of proving that vaccines reduce transmission then the world’s scientists are keen to hear from you.
      
      The only way of doing it is by finding vaccinated people who have still caught it and then seeing how many people in their circle have caught it and trying to deduct something from that, whilst remembering that even those who did catch it may have caught it from someone else. Not very easy.
      - TGLoyalty says:
        
        27 Apr27 April 15:45
        
        Said it so many times the expectation that you will be given crate Blanche on the globe because you have a vaccines is ludicrous.
        
        Vaccines protect the vaccinated person and while they reduce the risk of others catching it you are still a risk to a population that has a low percentage of their own population vaccinated.
        
        I can see travel opening up with a vaccine certificate if there’s a high % of local population vaccinated but for the rest it’ll be testing regimes and quarantines for a while longer yet.
      - Phil says:
        
        27 Apr27 April 15:55
        
        Absolutely – been saying the same for ages. The only real benefit the host country gets is the knowledge that if you do get it, you probably aren’t going to personally burden their health service.
Craig says:

27 Apr27 April 12:06

Just rebooked 2 of 3 reward nights in Singapore for next year, cash price went down on those 2 nights three days ago whilst one went up. Redemption bookings rates followed suit today.
- Benilyn says:
  
  27 Apr27 April 12:13
  
  IHG?
  - Craig says:
    
    27 Apr27 April 12:26
    
    Sorry, yes IHG.
- ChrisC says:
  
  27 Apr27 April 14:15
  
  You should be checking on a regular basis for changes in rates when you have reward or cancelable rates.
  
  I guess you had booked them as individual nights as well?
  - Craig says:
    
    27 Apr27 April 14:28
    
    I had yes, I check most days. The point I was trying to highlight is that reward nights seem to lag behind the cash rate by about 2-3 days.
    - @merseyslide says:
      
      27 Apr27 April 15:35
      
      Which IHG Craig?
      - Craig says:
        
        27 Apr27 April 15:43
        
        IC Singapore, the old one.
    - Andrew M says:
      
      27 Apr27 April 20:52
      
      I was thinking about the same hotel in January next year. What was the lowest points price that you were able to find Craig?
      - Craig says:
        
        27 Apr27 April 21:53
        
        The lowest I’ve managed is 30k points, the other 3 nights are between that and 35k.
      - Andrew M says:
        
        27 Apr27 April 22:08
        
        Thanks. My dates are 37,000, 33,000 and 31,000 points. I’ll book them separately and keep an eye on the prices. The 37,000 one is a Sunday night so should potentially be cheaper than the rest. How much were your rooms before rebooking?
      - Craig says:
        
        27 Apr27 April 22:27
        
        I started I think at around 35k each night and have chased them down. The lowest I’ve seen is the 30k.
      - Andrew M says:
        
        27 Apr27 April 22:52
        
        Thanks. I’ve booked the three nights now but I’ll keep an eye on them for downward changes. I’m not sure if I can commit to checking every day between now and January 2022 though!
David D says:

27 Apr27 April 12:22

How long until Offers appear? Still not seeing any on a new PRG gold.
- Reney says:
  
  27 Apr27 April 17:29
  
  I registered my card last Tuesday, saw a couple of offers today, nothing I would use thou.
- David D says:
  
  27 Apr27 April 22:40
  
  All depends, if you use the card then you should start seeing offers within a couple of weeks. By the way, not talking to myself, will end up having to go by the moniker Scouse Dave as most of my friend’s groups tend to go with with other David D’s now about.
  - David D says:
    
    28 Apr28 April 09:33
    
    Thanks David D 🙂
Aston100 says:

27 Apr27 April 13:11

I have recently cancelled, or am about to cancel all my Amex cards bar the Nectar card.

Am I right in assuming that holding onto the Nectar Amex will not impact me when we try to signup again for BAPPs and Plats in 2 years time?

Are there any other points-earning Amex cards we can keep hold off?

Also, which hotel scheme would be best to move our MR to, in terms of value or ability to obtain outsized award bookings? Otherwise it’ll end up going to BAEC.

Thanks.
- Harry T says:
  
  27 Apr27 April 13:19
  
  1) Correct.
  2) Bonvoy amex
  3) I usually go for Bonvoy as they are hardest to earn.
  - Aston100 says:
    
    27 Apr27 April 14:34
    
    Thanks Harry.
    So to be clear, if I get myself a Bonvoy card, it will not have an impact on the BAPP and Plat signups in 2 years?
    Clearly I won’t qualify for the Bonvoy signup bonus, but I am wondering if this should be my everyday Amex card rather than the Nectar. Especially if I shift all my MR into Bonvoy.
    I just don’t know enough about the Bonvoy card to determine if it is better/worse/same as the Nectar for use for the next 2 years. Or maybe I should do a year on each (switch when the free year expires on Nectar)?
    
    Thanks.
    - Sadly True says:
      
      27 Apr27 April 15:00
      
      You need to do your own maths and research on this one to see which option works best for you.
      £75 yearly fee on Bonvoy card may be important or unimportant depending on your monthly spending.
      The Bonvoy scheme has great value for some, not others, all depending on how many points you generate and where you want to go.
      At least the value of a nectar point is easy to work out.
      - Rob says:
        
        27 Apr27 April 15:04
        
        The HfP value of a Bonvoy point is 0.5p. Can you beat this by 50%+ on a good day? Yes.
        
        Obviously a Nectar point is worth 0.5p with far fewer options to exceed that – but you’ve got pseudo-cash.
        
        What swings it for many is the 15 Bonvoy elite night credits but this doesn’t seem to be an issue for you. More importantly, I suggest, is whether you’d ever earn enough Bonvoy points for a decent redemption if it is purely from card spend.
      - Aston100 says:
        
        27 Apr27 April 18:11
        
        Thanks both.
        Was looking at redemption pricing on some Marriott properties and there’s no way I’ll be able to book a week with just card spend and my current MR balance.
        I’ll stick to the Nectar Amex for the next two years.
        Thanks.
Paul says:

27 Apr27 April 13:24

Spending the morning doing some account admin, and have just cashed in our Etihad miles for amazon gift cards, and realising just what a good value ticket that was. Business ARN-MAN-AUH-SYD-AUH-LHR in January 2020. £3982 for 2 of us, could have been £3625 but wanted specific flight times due to visiting friends en route. £80 from a cash back site, free stop over and hotel in AUH on outbound, checkin agent very happy to check luggage to LHR only on return (despite only 5hr connection to ARN), Etihad Gold status now extended (OK due to COVID not necessarily Etihad’s greatness) until end of 2022, and now £250 amazon vouchers for miles. And great seats and service. Yes, I collect Avios primarily, but in reality, we fly whoever is best value to somewhere we’d like to go, and personally I think this compares pretty well to a 241 AX voucher and a shed load of Avios and ‘fees’ on BA. You pay your money and make your choice I suppose…
- Pete M says:
  
  27 Apr27 April 13:36
  
  And you got to fly as well – I’ve been crying over the great deals I had booked in 2020 and so far this year that got me exactly… nowhere! 🙂
  - Paul says:
    
    27 Apr27 April 13:43
    
    It’s worse than that I’m afraid, we also got 3 weeks in South Africa in feb/march, returning a few days before lockdown 1. Sorry.
PK says:

27 Apr27 April 13:44

I need to fly to Dubai tonight(27/04) and my flight is cancelled and the return leg as well. I haven’t changed the dates or requested refund .I believe i can call them later for refund or change of dates.Having read the posts it would be Yes but i need further peace of mind.