The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 12th May

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• bafan says:

  12 May12 May 02:55

  For anyone who has been to Crete…the flights I’m looking at back to London are much cheaper from CHQ (£50+ cheaper than HER) but I’d be coming back from Heraklion (Fly to CHQ then spend time in Chania first then Heraklion is the plan). Is it worth saving the money or would I regret not just flying from HER? Or should I turn the trip around and go straight from CHQ to Heraklion for the first part of my trip and finish in Chania so I’m not stressed about getting back in time…? I guess my question is really about realistic distances on the island.

  • @mkcol says:

    12 May12 May 03:00

    I found Google gave accurate journey times when driving to/from Milatos from/to CHQ, and that was in a hideously underpowered Fiat 500 automatic.

  • Peggerz says:

    12 May12 May 03:53

    Hi @Bafan.
    CHQ is a modern, air conditioned delight of an airport compared to what I have been used to in my many travels to Greece. I normally use the -very good – public transport system to get around Crete, but I’d say the drive from CHQ to HER by car will take you 2.5-3 hours on a modern highway.. The bus will take a bit longer, check out the KTEL bus timetable on line which is always pretty accurate.
    I am doing the very trip you have organised in October this year, Covid-19 permitting. It’s a good trip to do.
    In your time in Crete make sure you get to the South of the Island, a more laid back and quieter vibe than much of the North.

  • Dubious says:

    12 May12 May 03:53

    It looks like there are a couple of driving routes between the two – if you turn it into a day-trip and use one route (coastal) in one direction and the other route (inland) in the other direction, stopping at places along the way it would seem a reasonable idea.

    I assume you also save on avoiding one-way car rental charges too.

    • Patrick C says:

      12 May12 May 07:45

      Generally Heraklion is not very interesting. Chania is much better placed if you want to see stuff. Getting around by car is very straightforward

      • bafan says:

        12 May12 May 07:48

        I think the gay beaches are near Heraklion…

        Thank you for everybody’s input BTW – I booked my trip just now. Very excited to go. Had great times in Mykonos and Santorini!

        • Christina says:

          12 May12 May 08:32

          Heraklion airport is horrible

• gareth says:

  12 May12 May 05:13

  Hello does anyone have an octopus refer a friend link?

  • pauldb says:

    12 May12 May 05:37

    share.octopus.energy/showy-otter-718 cheers.

• Ammar says:

  12 May12 May 05:38

  First time to Tenerife in September with my partner and our 3 yo (hopefully) just looking for some recommendations/advice:
  1) hotels wise….thinking of the RC abama or gran melia. Have points for both. I am gold in Marriott and platinum in Melia. Would like a beachfront property so picked these two, but open to suggestions. Looking to spend most of time in resort, beach and the pool.
  2) is driving easy in Tenerife? Worth hiring a car or taxis reasonable?
  3) re the RC abama, found a rate via ota 90/night GBP cheaper than marriot so thinking of booking for cash via Marriott and try and get the best rate gaurantee – any tips on being successful, never done it.
  Cheers

  • pauldb says:

    12 May12 May 05:51

    Stayed at Abama 5 or so years ago. It was very decent: would go again but would also consider other hotels. That said I think it has the best beach on the island; does the GM have one at all. It’s totally isolated but driving is easy yes are cars tend to be very cheap. The GM at least has a small town walkable.
    Have you tried getting a rate from Emyr (or AmexFHR): benefits may be better than BRC.

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    12 May12 May 06:20

    1) The main problem with the Meliá is that the nicest bit is the adults-only red level. The rest of the resort isn’t bad, but I’d say it’s lacking the polish of a proper luxury experience. I also thought that the F&B pricing was a bit unreasonable (perhaps because they have a lot of guests on meal plans) but this isn’t a big problem as there’re good dining options in the adjacent village. The pool is great but the only beach option is a small (but quiet) public beach next to the hotel. It’s the natural black sand though so it can get rather hot. Apparently the kids club is good, I suppose a 3yo will be just on the cusp for that.

    I haven’t been to the RC, but one thing that did come up is that the property is quite spread out on a slope. This might not work well depending on how toddler your child is.

    2) Driving is super easy. You’re missing out big time if you don’t take a day trip or two to explore the island. There’s some spectacular scenery in the centre of the island. On a cloudy day that’s no good by the pool, you can just drive up Teide and get above the cloud level.

    If you go with Avis, make sure you sign up for Preferred – the queue jump even for base level members is worth it. When we booked, it was something silly like £1 to add a car to our BA flights.

  • YC says:

    12 May12 May 06:24

    BRG requires booking terms to be exactly the same. So double check before submitting. If it’s non refundable, u still normally get 24hrs from booking free cancellation so u need to abandon ship if u don’t hear back from brg by then. It has got much harder (pre covid) than a few years ago

  • Chris says:

    12 May12 May 07:09

    I had a family stay with young kids at the RC a few years ago. We were upgraded to one of the villas on the hill. Advantages of that were that each row of villas had a semi-private pool and to help get up and down the hill you get a key to one of the many golf buggies which you can pick up and leave pretty much anywhere. If you stay in the main hotel you don’t get access to those but there is a road train that goes from the hotel down to the beach so you don’t have to walk if you don’t want to. Beach is nice and sheltered with its imported yellow sand. I really enjoyed my stay there, but the Villa did make a big difference.

  • Anna says:

    12 May12 May 08:16

    The roads are generally excellent in Tenerife, a lot of money has been invested in infrastructure. Car hire is normally very reasonable but of course these are still pandemic times so who knows this year?! Tenerife isn’t very “beachy” – there’s an excellent yellow sand, artificial beach near Santa Cruz, but of course that’s quite a hike from the southern resorts. I think in recent years more artificial beaches have been created but most are black sand and rocky. Be careful of the currents off some of them, especially Los Gigantes.
    I love Tenerife – there is absolutely loads to do; it’s one of those places where there’s something for everyone. If you’re driving, a trip to Mount Teide national park is a must.

  • Harry T says:

    12 May12 May 08:40

    Abama is superb, stayed there last November. Even better if you have proper Marriott status. It’s easy to drive in Tenerife unless you visit a well inhabited area. Just read the T&Cs of the BRG and make sure the rates are equivalent.

• James says:

  12 May12 May 06:07

  Any reason why the BA discount code doesn’t work on the Green List package at Randox? – https://www.randoxhealth.com/

  Is the other way around to order 2 x Pre-Departures tests? I’m travelling to Portugal for reference.

  • meta says:

    12 May12 May 06:29

    Are you using the correct code?BritishAirwaysGreen works.

    • James says:

      12 May12 May 08:36

      Thanks meta! The code on the BA website is BritishAirways50.

      • meta says:

        12 May12 May 10:14

        That’s for a different product. You need to scroll down for other products on BA website.

• The Lord says:

  12 May12 May 06:27

  Are you likely to get questioned at the airport on your reason for travel to an amber country? I know the language says you shouldn’t be travelling for leisure purposes but the actual law doesn’t reflect this

  • meta says:

    12 May12 May 06:31

    Nope, from Monday no questions asked that’s the law. On the other hand your employer might have an issue and you might not be covered by existing insurance.

    • M says:

      12 May12 May 08:07

      Why would employer have an issue?

      • Harrier25 says:

        12 May12 May 08:13

        If you have to self isolate and can’t go to work.

        • meta says:

          12 May12 May 10:24

          Yes, my partner’s employer has a new policy where you have to declare where you’re going when submitting holiday request.

          The upside is that the travel insurance they have in place covers all things covid related, including travel against FDCO advice and it covers me as well.

        • Pete M says:

          12 May12 May 11:05

          I think that’s actually pretty intrusive, meta, and I would not be providing that. Does your partner work in law enforcement or something like that, as I gather they do have special allowances made for those sorts of things?

        • meta says:

          12 May12 May 12:18

          It is intrusive, but they are not saying you can’t go. The problem is that the bosses are such old farts who like to see your face in the office as you apparently don’t do any work from home, like he doesn’t work from 9am till midnight every day. From next week they are now requiring everyone to come at least twice a week and working from home during self-isolation period will be treated as annual leave even for the days you are not required to be at home.

          We really wanted to go this summer to an amber list country as we have a side-business there. Plus my partner can’t go and visit his family for the second summer now. I guess we should be lucky he still has a job in such a volatile job market (not law enforcement!).

• BJ says:

  12 May12 May 07:09

  Just received an email this morning from shrill who therefore have my email and they address me by my first name too even though this is not part of my email address. Email looks legitimate and is only about update to terns and conditions. Problem is I had never even heard of skrill before let alone signed up with them. Does this sound like spam, scam or what? Possible that I might have unwittingly signed up, or been signed up by a third party without my approval?

  • TomH says:

    12 May12 May 07:28

    Could be someone else with the same name, forgetful TomH’s around the world accidentally use my email address even when opening bank accounts. It’s always frustrating as when you eventually get through to customer service they usually can’t actually remove the address because you’re not the account holder.

  • Crafty says:

    12 May12 May 07:34

    Skrill is a payment processor isn’t it? They were the named merchant when someone managed to make a payment on my card and Amex had to sort it all out.

  • Gavin says:

    12 May12 May 07:37

    Skrill was previously called Moneybookers if you signed up in the past. It’s often used as a payment method for online gambling.

  • Steve says:

    12 May12 May 07:43

    I too received an email from Skrill. I didn’t even open it and deleted it as never heard of them

  • John says:

    12 May12 May 07:56

    You might have used them to pay an online shop for something, it’s similar to paypal but it would often accept merchants that got banned by paypal, or were selling something that paypal didn’t like

  • BJ says:

    12 May12 May 08:08

    Thanks everybody, all comments helpful! The mobeybookers Gavin mentioned is ringing a bell in the far recesses. Also, my sister sometimes gets me to place orders for her at some obscure merchants so wouldn’t surprise me if that was it as John suggested. Will keep a close eye on my accounts to make sure I have no issues.

    • AndyGWP says:

      12 May12 May 10:38

      Didn’t Moneybookers get hacked at some point too?

      IIRC I had to use Moneybookers (the first and only time I did) when Mansion did a no brainer bonus offer for new accounts that could be easily arb’d – I seem to remember shortly after that the data they held on me got compromised

  • Rhys says:

    12 May12 May 08:27

    Note that someone else has said it is a phishing scam, so be very careful.

    • BJ says:

      12 May12 May 08:34

      Thanks Rob, already deleted it.

      • BJ says:

        12 May12 May 11:45

        Err…Rhys!

  • TGLoyalty says:

    12 May12 May 09:27

    Problem with take overs you never know who has recently changed hands and now owns the data on you

    • BJ says:

      12 May12 May 11:47

      Yeah, had this with Play/Rakuten amongst others.

      • Lady London says:

        12 May12 May 15:15

        Yup. sick and tired of a company I’d told not to email me, that had been fine and not emailed me, suddenly either that company or their new owner’s brand sends me marketing cr*p out of the blue without permission after they got taken over.

        I shut them down immediately and quite often tell them to remove any data they have on me immediately due GDPR rights.

        In fact if you didn’t know a company’s been taken over this will often be what tells you it has.

  • The Savage Squirrel says:

    12 May12 May 22:09

    Skrill/Moneybookers been around for donkeys years; you could have signed up 15 years ago. Also worth noting that by the nature of their business, Skrill attracts a lot of phishing Emails attempting to emulate the genuine ones. Occasionally extremely well done.

• Optimus Prime says:

  12 May12 May 07:37

  I have received an email about my Amex bonvoy application that was rejected 10 weeks ago: it’s been approved. Well I hope my OH gets her 24k MR points 🤞

  • Optimus Prime says:

    12 May12 May 07:38

    10 days ago, not weeks.

  • BJ says:

    12 May12 May 08:18

    She should do, today is 12th. Regards amex approvals, they have a maximum credit they will offer depending on circumstances. If you have two card with £10k each but don’t need that much then reduce one or both to £5k before applying for another card and then you know at least that you have less credit than they have previously been prepared to give you. I think many applications that go to review likely do so where applicants are close to the credit limits their circumstances normally warrant with amex.

    • Optimus Prime says:

      12 May12 May 10:12

      If they had told me that was the actual reason for the delay, I would have asked them to cancel my ARCC and replace it with this one – which was my original plan since I want to reset the clock for the 24-months period, etc.

  • Benilyn says:

    12 May12 May 09:39

    Did you appeal?

    • Optimus Prime says:

      12 May12 May 10:11

      No, I just called to ask why it was rejected. They said it wasn’t due to my credit score but internal reasons and they would give me an update last week.

      They didn’t get in touch so I called them last Friday and was told application was under review.

      Got an email this morning 6:30 am, application approved. Now hoping it doesn’t get stolen by the postman again…

      • Optimus Prime says:

        12 May12 May 14:25

        It has just arrived. They must’ve posted it on Friday obviously.

• GT says:

  12 May12 May 07:51

  BA seem to have upped their game on refunds.
  I submitted a refund request on line in mmb 2 days ago. Avios we’re credited to my account within an hour and cash is in my Amex account this morning.

  • BJ says:

    12 May12 May 08:22

    To be fair to BA my refund experience has been excellent. No drama whatsoever and all but one refund received within 48h. The one that took longer took about a week.

    • Matty says:

      12 May12 May 10:16

      My flights were cancelled by BA. I called for a refund weekend before last. Agent said she’d have to refer it to some back office because I’d upgraded using points and she wasn’t sure how much to refund. How long before I chase?

      • Anna says:

        12 May12 May 12:07

        The last time I requested a refund, BA were saying leave it 30 days before chasing. I left it 30 days and they tried saying the refund had been processed (it hadn’t) so I opened a dispute with Amex and had the money back within 48 hours. Experiences seem to vary considerably – it was the second time I had to use Amex to get a BA refund, but I’ve also had better service on other cancellations!

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