The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 11th May

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IanM says:

11 May11 May 15:45

BA cancelled my flight EDI-LCY 9th June for the second time and only remaining flight is too late for Alicia Keys concert at O2 on 9th June. Are they liable for any compensation or is it just reroute to LHR or cancel and refund??
- IanM says:
  
  11 May11 May 15:50
  
  Okay I appreciate the concert very unlikley to go ahead but it’s not been cancelled yet,
- Allan says:
  
  11 May11 May 16:01
  
  Cancelling a batch today it seems. My 2nd June LCY-EDI 7am is also gone.
- Harry T says:
  
  11 May11 May 17:03
  
  No compensation. Entitled to refund or rerouting if the change is significant.
M says:

11 May11 May 16:25

My Virgin Red Tesco autoconvert points posted today, I think someone was asking a couple of days ago.
Ryan Gill says:

11 May11 May 17:02

Regarding the IC O2. I’m booked to be using amb free weekend night in late May. Apparently, it’s being used as quarantine hotel? They haven’t cancelled. Does this mean I can’t go and will breakfast and swimming be available. Supposed to be going with my kids.
- Harry T says:
  
  11 May11 May 17:06
  
  Just contact the hotel directly if you want reliable information.
- DJ says:
  
  11 May11 May 17:13
  
  Just had an email through saying they have cancelled my reservation.
- Anna says:
  
  11 May11 May 17:19
  
  If you booked at a good rate which is no longer available and you can’t stay on your booked weekend, ask them to move it and honour the pricing as it’s obviously not your fault. They might try to say they can’t do this, but they can! Cash and points prices seem to have gone up a fair bit, and they have also pulled out of the Virtuoso programme so I don’t know if there’s some kind of re-branding in the pipeline.
  - Ryan Gill says:
    
    11 May11 May 18:49
    
    Seems worth thinking about. Thanks.
- Andrew says:
  
  11 May11 May 17:39
  
  £1700 for full board for 10 nights at the IC O2 seems quite good value!
  - Harrier25 says:
    
    11 May11 May 18:41
    
    Sounds like a covid quarantine rate!
- Anna says:
  
  11 May11 May 18:00
  
  Also see James’ comment at 13:27 re nothing being open at the O2.
  I bet you don’t get the O2 food if you’re in quarantine!
  - Andrew says:
    
    11 May11 May 18:09
    
    Why would they not prepare the food at the hotel? Where would they bring it from?
    - Anna says:
      
      11 May11 May 18:59
      
      I’m pretty sure there will have been a catering contract to supply all the quarantine hotels, I can’t see them serving you fancy restaurant food for quarantine prices. Not all hotels even have restaurants on site anyway. But it would be nice if they sent the club lounge offering up to your room I suppose!
      - Rob says:
        
        11 May11 May 19:13
        
        Looking at the photos in the Evening Standard tonight, it is shipped in. One guy got half a naan bread as a meal.
      - TGLoyalty says:
        
        11 May11 May 20:29
        
        @Rob exactly why somewhere Ellie the IC shouldn’t be associated with this crap
- IanM says:
  
  11 May11 May 19:39
  
  Has this just happened? I have 3 nights early June, no contact from Hotel.
  - Andrew says:
    
    11 May11 May 20:03
    
    Seems they are in the process of sending out cancellations.
  - Anna says:
    
    11 May11 May 20:24
    
    Glad I went for the Kimpton Fitzroy for my birthday weekend then, as the O2 had just pulled out of the Virtuoso program and I wanted to book via Emyr! Looks like this stay might actually go ahead 🤞
Yorkieflyer says:

11 May11 May 17:16

Looks like Spain could be on from 20 May
- James says:
  
  11 May11 May 18:34
  
  19th over land
Alex says:

11 May11 May 17:28

General Q: if I have a US credit card but nothing else based in the US, what would be the best and/or cheapest way to pay it off each month?
- NutJuice69 says:
  
  11 May11 May 17:44
  
  Revolut exchange GBP to USD, then either send back to the states directly, or to HSBC USD currency acc and do a global transfer
  - Rob says:
    
    11 May11 May 17:47
    
    Remember that you will need a big reference field in the payment instructions to hold the card info. This can be an issue for some.
    
    I pay off my Amex $ card via my HSBC current account. Rubbish FX rate but my balances are always low and there is no problem putting the payment reference into the instructions.
    - Alex says:
      
      11 May11 May 17:54
      
      I’m looking at getting a US Hilton Amex which doesn’t have any foreign FX fees so I’ll use it a lot in the UK.
      
      I was thinking Revolut, would curve work?
    - Guernsey Globetrotter says:
      
      11 May11 May 19:48
      
      You get a reference field on Revolut easily big enough for a 15 digit Amex number
  - Nick says:
    
    11 May11 May 19:16
    
    Transferwise works fine for paying US accounts, with decent rates from GBP.
    - Alex says:
      
      11 May11 May 20:38
      
      My worry is am I going to be losing money. If I buy something in the UK with a $ card. Then need to send GBP-USD to then pay it off. With the rates at both ends, is it worth it?
      - John says:
        
        11 May11 May 21:10
        
        I have not tried it with Amex specifically, but (Transfer)Wise does give you full bank account details that are compatible with ACH transfers. The added bonus is that you don’t pay a transfer fee on ACH transfers from Wise, if the receiving account initiates the transfer. It’s treated as a direct debit, which Wise doesn’t seem to mind. This gets you closer to Revolut’s rate, maybe not actually matching but not bad (if you were that worried you wouldn’t use the US Amex in the first place – there’s no fx fee, but as others have pointed out their rate is a little off mid).
        So… open the Amex and then pay it from your Wise account via the Amex’s bill payment screen (it uses bank account details rather than debit card numbers in the US) and you would probably be fine.
        Of course, to get the US Amex you need a valid SSN or TIN… and if you have one of these it should be easy enough to open a CapitalOne account or something similar, and use that as the holding pot for your USD funds, and then you can use any transfer service that you like.
        If you’re really well off – you can
    - bafan says:
      
      11 May11 May 23:12
      
      This is the best option. You just add the Wise details to your Amex account and it pulls directly from there as a Direct Debit. Even cheaper than using Wise to send it to a bank account.
- Sina says:
  
  11 May11 May 17:44
  
  Azimo or Currencyfair.
  - Alex says:
    
    11 May11 May 21:45
    
    With the route I’m taking I don’t need SSN or ITN. But it does mean I won’t have a US account I can hold funds in. I didn’t release you could get a Wise account as such, that sounds like a good option so I’ll look into that! Thank you.
Mouse says:

11 May11 May 17:29

Would the following work? Assuming no sign-up bonus available. Take out Amex Gold, spend £15k in 12 months, pay £140 year 2 fee, collect 10k renewal bonus points one month into year 2, cancel and get pro-rata refund of ~£128, reapply after a month or two and start again. So you effectively get 25k points every 14-15 months for £15k spend plus £12 fee.
- Alex says:
  
  11 May11 May 17:39
  
  Yes, no problem.
- Rob says:
  
  11 May11 May 17:45
  
  Yes, should work.
  - Harrier25 says:
    
    11 May11 May 18:46
    
    Of course you do run the risk of being declined when you reapply.
Kai says:

11 May11 May 18:15

Hi, my flight to Japan this month got cancelled by BA, I just want to know what my options are.
I prefer them to rebook my flights, do I have to do it before the date of my original flight?
and when is the latest date that I can book my flight by?
747_Brat says:

11 May11 May 19:08

Is it possible to rearrange your cards on the Amex app, so that the one I use most often appears first as default? I played around with the app but couldn’t figure out if this is possible.
- Harrier25 says:
  
  11 May11 May 19:14
  
  +1
- Peter K says:
  
  11 May11 May 19:49
  
  You can set a default card. However, for me it didn’t change which card appears first when I log in.
  - 747_Brat says:
    
    11 May11 May 21:52
    
    @Peter How do you set a default card? I can’t find that option either!
    - Harrier25 says:
      
      11 May11 May 23:11
      
      You can only select a default card on the website as far as I’m aware, not in the app.
      - 747_Brat says:
        
        11 May11 May 23:43
        
        Thanks @Harrier25
- Babyg says:
  
  11 May11 May 20:15
  
  you can create a new account, unregister cards from old account and re-add them new account, the first card you add ends up at the bottom…. its a pain, note i only did this because my “offers” werent working…