The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 4th May

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Graeme says:

4 May4 May 13:00

I UuA’d a BA return inbound flight back in February for October trip. I was told it would cost £95 per person for the additional YQ from the US. It took a couple of weeks for the flight to be ticketed but no money has been taken to date. Will they take the money at some point before October? If they don’t will this stop me travelling? I have 125 ticket numbers showing in the app.

Thanks in advance.
- Paul says:
  
  4 May4 May 13:18
  
  Definitely chase it before leaving, or may not have processed, and that may result in a disappointingly long wait at airport trying to get it sorted….
- Peter K says:
  
  4 May4 May 14:07
  
  Adjustments go to a back office and will be sorted in due time. If you’ve not heard anything by July (so 3 months before departure) I’d give them a call.
- ChrisC says:
  
  4 May4 May 16:17
  
  As long as you have been reticketed, can see the new cabin in the app and select seats then there isn’t much to worry about – or anything you can do – at the moment.
  
  You could leave it until the week before you flight to chase it up if BA haven’t got around to you before then.
  
  Up until then you will be continually pushed down the queue as people due to fly before you jump in before you – it’s done on your flight date not when you changed the booking.
  
  If BA have a good few weeks without mass cancellations and rebookings then they will speed through the tickets like yours.
Anuj says:

4 May4 May 13:10

Got an offer on Amex for Hyattt spend £250 get £100 back. Does anyone know if this is cumulative ?
- Rob says:
  
  4 May4 May 13:30
  
  It reads like it isn’t, but you never know with Amex.
- MKB says:
  
  4 May4 May 17:13
  
  The previous Hyatt one last December was cumulative (as I triggered it with a second spend), so very likely this will be too.
Secret Squirrel says:

4 May4 May 13:11

Amex Platinum offers Q:
I’ve had my new Platinum card three weeks now & no offers are showing. My new Marriott card started getting offers after one week old, is this normal or do I need to call CS to discuss?
- DJ says:
  
  4 May4 May 14:05
  
  That sounds normal to me.
- Aston100 says:
  
  4 May4 May 18:24
  
  Offers started appearing on mine about a week after activation and first purchase.
  Only have a few offers, possibly 15 thus far.
Peggerz says:

4 May4 May 13:13

Advice from IHG experts please.

I was waiting for IC Rome Ambasciatori to open after major upgrade for 6N rugby in 2022. Booking opened earlier than I expected without 6N dates being available so took an (un)educated punt on the weekend of 19th March with rooms showing at 40k points per night. Rugby dates were subsequently released and my punt was out by 1 week (not bad, no coconut). So the match weekend was 12th March. I immediately tried to change on IHG website but the weekend I wanted was either blocked or sold out.
So my question is, in the experience of HfPers is it possible more space will open on the dates I’m looking for or am I out of luck ?
It also appears rooms on other dates are now going for 97k points a night.
Thanks.
- Rob says:
  
  4 May4 May 13:29
  
  I wouldn’t bet on it, put it that way. Hotel is probably planning to recoup its corona losses over the tournament ….
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    4 May4 May 13:51
    
    It MAY open up closer to the date … points rooms opened up for hotels for Madrid CL final a couple weeks out when cash prices astronomical.
    - meta says:
      
      4 May4 May 14:14
      
      Hotel IT has caught up with IHG dynamic pricing. So I’m afraid unless the prices go down, then we won’t see it for 40k points any time soon. It’s now firmly in the 90k+ category even in February. Shame. I was hoping to book it for next May.
- ChrisC says:
  
  4 May4 May 16:21
  
  You cannot change the dates of a points booking online like you can with a cash booking.
  
  It’s a case of cancel and rebook.
  
  And even of you could change the dates online they would also charge you the new rates for the new stay dates like they do with cash stays.
xcalx says:

4 May4 May 13:30

I just received this email which looks better than the latest offer Rob updated on 1st May of just the 2200 on business points with the added 15000 avios.

15000 Avios bonus plus 2200 on business points
This is your exclusive invitation to apply for your complimentary
British Airways American Express® Accelerating Business Card.
Give your business a boost with no annual fee for the first year.
Annual fee of £210 applies thereafter.

A separate Card for business does more than just separate spend – it works alongside your personal Card, earning Avios for you, and On Business Points for your business.
Andrew says:

4 May4 May 13:33

My Nectar Offers this week:-

10pts – TTD Jam
10pts – Chillies
20pts – Satsumas
20pts – Ginger Beer
20pts – Cake
10pts – Muesli
100pts – Jazz Apples
90pts – Red Leicester
10pts – RV Mash
20pts – Melon
20pts – Danish Twists
20pts – Titty Buns
120pts – Raspberry Trifle
10pts – Chocolate Digestives
10pts – Honey
10pts – Caledonian Still
10pts – Dip
20pts – Olive Spread
50pts – Asparagus

Potentially 580 pts, nothing that’s hard to buy on there. I do sometimes wonder if the people who protest about meagre offers are the miserable kind that never offer people cake or biscuits when they pop round for tea or coffee.
- Anuj says:
  
  4 May4 May 13:47
  
  But I’d bet most of those things are cheaper in Aldi or Lidl so the points would hardly sway me. Lidl has the rewards app now too which rewards you in hard cash.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  4 May4 May 13:52
  
  My nectar offers the past 3 weeks are
  
  Nil
  - David Lawton says:
    
    4 May4 May 14:10
    
    Same, once again no offers for me. Starting to annoy me now.
  - Youllnever says:
    
    4 May4 May 14:27
    
    I’ve stopped receiving point offers for individual items – instead I’ve been getting a ‘200 points for £10 spend’ offer per week for the past 3 weeks.
- Jody says:
  
  4 May4 May 14:03
  
  Am I the only one wondering what Titty buns are?
  - Peter K says:
    
    4 May4 May 14:09
    
    They are iced buns with a cherry in the middle.
    - RussellH says:
      
      4 May4 May 16:10
      
      They call them Belgium Buns in the supermarkets here. No idea why – never seen anything like them in Belgium!
  - Andrew says:
    
    4 May4 May 14:21
    
    Have you never seen “Calendar Girls”?
    
    Google search:- Celia Imrie Buns for an example.
    - Jody says:
      
      4 May4 May 16:23
      
      Clearly I wasn’t thinking outside the box!
- Patrick Cold says:
  
  4 May4 May 19:07
  
  But you`re already paying way over the odds.
- Alan says:
  
  4 May4 May 20:37
  
  Are you seriously going to buy biscuits/cake that you normally wouldn’t for the sake of 20/10 nectar points.
Memesweeper says:

4 May4 May 13:59

Anyone know if Amex Travel provide a vat receipt for prepaid hotels in the UK?
OP says:

4 May4 May 14:15

So Marriott now seem to be offloading/selling Bonvoy points to companies… is this new? All of our US employees just received 180k Bonvoy points as a gift.
- Genghis says:
  
  4 May4 May 14:23
  
  In the UK anyway, I’d much rather just have the cash given this would be a taxable benefit.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    4 May4 May 15:11
    
    Are points outside the tax system? “Value” is 0.0001
    
    Cash bonus would be taxable.
    - Genghis says:
      
      4 May4 May 15:17
      
      Not where awarded to employees by nature of their employment
      https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim21618
      Taxable amount based on purchase price of award.
  - Lady London says:
    
    4 May4 May 20:22
    
    Employer can agree to pick up the tax though – and normally would. Plus HMRC allows employers a flat rate spend per employee free of tax for entertaining them – eg the Christmas party (which no one had last year). So can be tax free to employee.
    - Genghis says:
      
      4 May4 May 21:01
      
      An employer paying the income tax makes little difference to the overall cost (only Ee NI).
      
      Eg the points costing £100 to buy, assuming 40% tax payer would cost + 40% tax = £166.67) + 13.8% NI on everything = £189.67 overall cost.
      
      A cash award of £189.67 net of 13.8% Er’s NI is £167.67 which at 40% IT and 2% NI = £96.67.
      
      Yes – there are allowances for certain things: Xmas party, canteen, mobile phones etc but providing points isn’t one such exemption.
    - Memesweeper says:
      
      4 May4 May 21:31
      
      Could also be classed as a ‘trivial gift’ provided it was in low value installments.
- bafan says:
  
  4 May4 May 15:28
  
  For now…Skatteverket (the tax authorities in Sweden) have taken SAS to court to get the names and amounts of people in the Eurobonus program to see if they should pay tax on their points. I think SAS have fought the case and lost. I hope that it doesn’t become a ‘thing’.