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The HfP chat thread – Thursday 13th May

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Comments (339)

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

  • bafan says:
    13 May13 May 02:25

    So for Day 2 testing, “Eurofins Forensic Services Ltd in partnership with Dante Labs” is the cheapest option right? Or am I missing one? I wish that Gov.UK list would let me filter by price :). Although I do have a US Amex Plat 100k bonus to meet I guess…

    • Pablo says:
      13 May13 May 02:54

      Do you still need to self isolate pending results or is that not required from green countries?

      • bafan says:
        13 May13 May 03:01

        No self isolation needed, just the Day 2 test from Green List countries (unless it comes back positive 😳). Must admit as an entry level admin officer, the cost of testing overall is putting me off going anywhere. I guess “nudge theory” does work.

        • James says:
          13 May13 May 03:43

          Flights are/ were so cheap that paying for a test to release isn’t exactly a big deal. £35 to get here, incl 20kg checked luggage.

          Not that I felt like paying for the tests, as I like reading in the sun plus nobody has put the handcuffs on, out in 20 mins for my morning 2-miler. Hey, alpacas & goats. Only 1 q day to go once we get Thursday out of the way.

          I have 6x £10 flights from May that got cancelled – should come in handy for Xmas etc (EU261).

          • bafan says:
            13 May13 May 03:51

            £60 PCR before departure, £60 antigen test, £60 PCR test on Day 2 adds up! I’m fully vaccinated though and I think there’s a tourism announcement coming today from the Portugese. Hopefully they’ll drop the test requirement if you can provide evidence of vaccination.

          • James says:
            13 May13 May 03:55

            Go to Greece! They’ll take as proof your little bit of card that the vaccinators give you. I knew I should have picked up an ebay handful that was sitting there on the desk when I got my jab 🙂

        • Harrier25 says:
          13 May13 May 07:05

          What happens if you don’t take the Day 2 test upon return? Will they send you back to the country you were visiting, issue a fine or throw you in prison? I think none of the above will apply because they won’t be able to monitor whether you’ve had the test or not!

          • Tracey says:
            13 May13 May 07:56

            I think the logic is that the fact you have already paid for it should be all the encouragement you need to actually take the test.

          • Harrier25 says:
            13 May13 May 07:59

            How will you already have paid for it?

          • kitten says:
            13 May13 May 08:03

            @Harriet25 you have to prove you paid already at Immigration on the way back in.

          • Harrier25 says:
            13 May13 May 08:39

            Maybe one day you’ll stop calling me Harriet and I can’t find anything saying that you need to show that you have booked and paid for the Day 2 test upon arrival.

          • Tracey says:
            13 May13 May 08:56

            You have to put the details of the tests that you have already paid for on your passenger location form, the PLF must be completed before you arrive in the UK.

          • Tracey says:
            13 May13 May 08:57

            Details here:
            https://www.gov.uk/provide-journey-contact-details-before-travel-uk

          • Harrier25 says:
            13 May13 May 09:23

            Okay, that says you may have to show that you have a Day 2 test booked and enter the details onto the Customer Locator Form but it certainly doesn’t say that you have to prepaid for it.

          • ready to fly says:
            13 May13 May 09:37

            Suggest you carefully re-read the guidance regarding day 2 / day 8 testing when returning to UK and then let us know what you think.

          • meta says:
            13 May13 May 09:42

            @Harrier25 You can’t book the test unless you pay for it and you need to put a reference number into Passenger Locator Form. You can’t board the plane without Passenger Locator Form and so on. So good luck with traveling without prebooked test.

          • High Grade says:
            13 May13 May 09:48

            Harrier- Hopefully we won’t have to find out. As responsible members of society we should all just take the test. That’s the price we have to pay for travel to be opened up, for now.

          • Lady London says:
            13 May13 May 09:55

            apologies @harrier25 for misreading your name. But my description of the process stands.

          • James says:
            13 May13 May 09:55

            It’s more responsible to spread the virus around a bit, to get us all to herd immunity a bit sooner. All the oldsters got vaccinated, so they’re not at risk.

            Now we need everybody else to get immunity – easily done with a vacc or just by catching Covid-19 and getting over it a couple of days later.

          • Lady London says:
            13 May13 May 10:21

            I had my doubts before but now I know you’re a troll @James 🙂

          • James says:
            13 May13 May 11:24

            #1 Jan 6th, #2 March 10th. I think you’ll find more people tell the truth than you imagine.

            Gotta look after the family & No. 1, so worth squeaking it when necessary.

            Anybody without a vaccine just yet needs to get it sorted if they feel anxiety or in danger.

          • James says:
            13 May13 May 12:25

            Don’t tell me you never went to a pox party, not that we used that exact term.

          • Anna says:
            13 May13 May 16:49

            Not sure why my comment was deleted and not LL’s?

          • James says:
            13 May13 May 17:26

            Why? Because you were casting baseless aspersions about other people maybe.
            Why don’t you write an email to complain.

  • Anna says:
    13 May13 May 06:30

    My gold MR card is showing 15k points for referring someone this morning – is this a new offer following the end of the previous bonuses yesterday?

    • KS says:
      13 May13 May 06:34

      My Plat shows 24k for me and 70k for the referee!

    • Andrew says:
      13 May13 May 06:42

      Ah yes, 24k on my Platinum (a huge 70k for the applicant!!) and 14k on my BAPP (12k under the previous offer). So it seems the over is back and better than before!

    • DT says:
      13 May13 May 07:24

      Player 2’s plat has 24k refer and 70k referee like others have mentioned. But already done 4x24k refers this year and capped out the 90,000 MR limit. On the other hand my BAPP has returned to normal referral numbers and still needs a couple of refers to hit 90,000 Avios. Just my luck that’s it’s played out this way!

      • BuildBackBetter says:
        13 May13 May 07:27

        Curious, how do you manage to refer so many people in a short span of time?

        • DT says:
          13 May13 May 08:34

          Two of player 2’s referrals was to me, one for a BAPP and then a Nectar card purely for the refer bonus. The other two were to friends who got BA free card and gold card.

          My BAPP refers have been to a community of people that I’m a part of, though not as many refers there as recent years

    • BuildBackBetter says:
      13 May13 May 07:26

      Brilliant, same 15k on gold here!
      I couldn’t take advantage of it before due to remortgage, hope it stays at 15k for some time.

    • Mouse says:
      13 May13 May 07:51

      My gold shows 6k and there is no refer-a-friend option at all any more on my platinum and BAPP 🙁

      • Anna says:
        13 May13 May 09:00

        Look in your account section, there’s a link towards the bottom.

    • Harry T says:
      13 May13 May 07:55

      Yes, I have the 15k referral bonus too.

    • Alex says:
      13 May13 May 08:52

      Free BA: 8000 for referring someone. They get 12000 for the free BA.

      • Rob says:
        13 May13 May 09:14

        Looks they have gone back to the random trials of different amounts.

    • Kevin B says:
      13 May13 May 08:55

      Make sure you take screenshots of your offers. I’ve had to send a pic of the 12,000 referral offer from April because AmEx only gave me 6000 and are strongly denying that the offer began before May!

    • Tracy says:
      13 May13 May 09:15

      6k gold for both me and OH, is this targeted?

      • Lee says:
        13 May13 May 09:51

        That’s standard one

        • Rob says:
          13 May13 May 10:02

          Friend of mine has 15k on Gold.

          • Babyg says:
            13 May13 May 14:55

            i have refer15k on my gold, i just referred wife who has refer 6k on her gold…
            note i also got a 20k gold sign up bonus which i shouldnt have got..

    • Aston100 says:
      13 May13 May 10:28

      15k on PRG, but only 12k on Plat.
      Strange.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        13 May13 May 13:19

        Targetted again.

        I have 24k for 70k on plat. 15k for 32k in gold. Don’t have BAPP

        Then a family member has 15k for 32k on gold but nothing on BAPP

  • Mycity says:
    13 May13 May 06:38

    Morning, am I missing something. I can’t find any direct flights Man to Faro or return on BA despite BA launching them. Seat spy shows return flights all year but nothing on BA any one booked or even found any?

    • Jonathan says:
      13 May13 May 07:30

      They definitely exist but only on Saturdays & only till (?20th) June.

      • mycity says:
        13 May13 May 09:16

        Thanks Johnathan, must admit was looking at July and August, SeatSpy failing badly here they show availability every day till next year direct from Manchester. Now SeatSpy I know wont show any flights unless city to city and I know these flights are only on a Saturday anyway.

  • tony says:
    13 May13 May 07:00

    Interesting datapoint here I think. Went to book a car in Inverness using the AMEX plat CDP code at Hertz to get the 4hr grace period. 2 days 4 hrs for £150. It comes with no insurance at all.

    Book a regular rate, so three days, comes in at £180.

    Was amazed to see the Amex plat CDP strip out all the insurances. Oh well, guess we just rent from another firm.

    • pauldb says:
      13 May13 May 07:09

      Your Amex play comes with the insurance you need. Doe always seem to generate a no-insurance rate but when it does that’s kind of the point.

    • Sandgrounder says:
      13 May13 May 07:24

      I didn’t think you could strip out all the insurances in Europe? Which CDP are you using, I just tried 63306 for INV and CDW was included. A random 2 days plus 4 hours priced up at 134 vs 185 without the code (economy, prepay)

      • Sandgrounder says:
        13 May13 May 07:24

        Sorry, 633306!

        • tony says:
          13 May13 May 07:48

          Yeah, I think that’s the right CDP. It came up as “AMEX PLATINUM EMEA” and also shows Rate Code : EEXCGB

          Likewise I was under the impression that you couldn’t strip out all CDW in Europe but I e-mailed them last night and they confirmed that the rate booked was without. I’m wondering if it’s something to do with how my profile is set?

          The issue I have is last time I made a claim on car hire insurance, it was a damaged windscreen so they couldn’t tell me the exact cost at return. They just took the whole excess on my card (£1k) then after 10 weeks and much chasing, finally sent me a bill and refunded the difference so I could make a claim with the insurers (which was settled in a matter of hours)

          I can begrudgingly ride out a £1000 sub to the company here, but don’t want to be caught in the same position if that number is 10-20 times higher.

          • tony says:
            13 May13 May 07:55

            Just to add, if I book as a guest rather than as a member, the price falls a bit more and the basic CDW (£1000 deductible) is included.

            [slow round of applause for Hertz]

          • Lady London says:
            13 May13 May 08:07

            always worth being aware of your previous path on some websites. can work for or against you. if against, you know what to do. Jus’ sayin’.

          • David S says:
            13 May13 May 10:13

            Just buy an excess policy – £60 for the whole year. Brilliant value for money versus any potential claim

          • Louie says:
            13 May13 May 11:16

            @tony – usually because your profile when logged in specifies what you want in the way of insurances etc. Change that to whatever the non-logged in rate includes and you will almost certainly get the same rate.

    • Rob says:
      13 May13 May 09:22

      This is meant to happen, since Amex Platinum provides full car hire insurance. That’s the whole point of the Plat CDP.

      By the way, it CANNOT strip out ALL insurance. Hertz UK is legally obliged to supply a car with the legally-required minimum level of insurance, irrespective of your Plat coveage.

      • tony says:
        13 May13 May 11:08

        Well, if you look at the Hertz site it claims the deductible for a number of the vehicles is >£50k, so that would be beyond the AMEX limit.

        Anyway I think the problem stems from my Hertz profile having deselected CDW. As I say if I book using the CDP but outside my profile, I get a cheaper price and some CDW is included.

        Presumably the insurance they can’t strip out is third party stuff??

  • John says:
    13 May13 May 07:18

    Leo V (deputy PM) speaks on CTA (ominous comment on Europe-USA despite Biden heading to Cornwall).

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57089482

    • IanM says:
      13 May13 May 10:20

      It does seem unlikely that UK-USA will not be allowed until 2022

      • Anna says:
        13 May13 May 12:17

        The UK is the best placed of all European countries to be accepted for international travel, so I can’t see that we would be excluded from any US decision to allow entry to people travelling from Europe, especially once the CTA is fully open and people allowed to travel from ROI. There is no way in normal times to verify whether someone has been in the UK from ROI and vice versa.

  • Matty says:
    13 May13 May 07:41

    Is a child (under 2years), sitting on parent’s lap, allowed anywhere in Row 1 in CE?

    • roberto says:
      13 May13 May 07:59

      Don’t think so, it’s all to do with the extra oxygen masks which are not in every seat pair. I have travelled in 1A&B hundreds of times and never seen a child on a lap.

      • tony says:
        13 May13 May 08:03

        But there will be an extra mask there (assuming it’s not cityflyer) as the B seat is vacant. However I know we got booted out of row 1 with kids (not infants) flying back from Germany once so I think the system must flag them as being exit rows.

        (It wasn’t a CIP thing – there were 6 people in club, 5 of us and one other chap, who wasn’t in row 1 either)

        • roberto says:
          13 May13 May 08:50

          No. On short haul planes the extra (3rd) mask in club is not on every seat. It’s on every other row alternating ABC and then DEF.

          Parents with two lap children often are split up and/or moved as there are not enough masks to facilitate everybody in the event of decompression. This is not just city flyer.

          However my better half says she has seen a lap child in row one.. I have no recollection but she says she does. YMMV

          • tony says:
            13 May13 May 09:09

            No, on the short haul airbus fleet there has to be three masks in each row, as they can run any of the planes in an all-Y configuration. So 2 adults and 1 infant should be able to take any pair in CE, unless it’s categorised as an exit row.

            I agree that the *4th* mask isn’t in every block of seats – as I recall it’s either all down one side, or alternate sides going down the plane. But that’s not the problem here.

          • Jill (Kinkell) says:
            13 May13 May 09:20

            My granddaughter has travelled in row 1 at age 4 months…..I have a picture!

    • MadeUpName says:
      13 May13 May 13:46

      Yes, been there lots when ours was little. Seat reservations are free if travelling with an infant and we found row 1 often opened up 72 hours before (I think because status passengers have had their chance of getting row 1 before then).

  • Maximus says:
    13 May13 May 08:47

    Thinking about taking out the IHG credit card. Does the sign-up bonus sometimes get boosted beyond 10,000 points?

    • Harry T says:
      13 May13 May 08:48

      Yeah, it’s been 20k before. It was when I signed up.

    • Doug M says:
      13 May13 May 09:12

      A look at the creation website shows a company with little or no interest in new customers I’d say. No loans and one card, I’d get in quick if I were you and not worry about bonus if it’s a card you really want.

      • Lady London says:
        13 May13 May 10:23

        +1 Not good signs.

      • Andrew says:
        13 May13 May 11:24

        They haven’t bothered to change the stock model pics to remove the discontinued card.

        Even the offers on the site are out of date with the T&Cs:- “Limited time offer: Successfully apply for the IHG Rewards Club Credit Card between 30 January 2020 and 31 March 2020, and if you spend £500 or more in the first three months of account opening, you will get an extra 10,000 points.”

        Maybe best to take up the basic offer before the Paribas UK retail portfolio is disposed of to another operator?

    • Rob says:
      13 May13 May 09:16

      They’ve done it once, in the five years that the card has been available.

      • Genghis says:
        13 May13 May 12:03

        Twice actually. As I’ve taken the White card out twice and got the 20k both times (had Black card since the start)

    • QFFlyer says:
      13 May13 May 11:28

      Only once since the cards were launched, as far as I can remember.

  • Kevin C says:
    13 May13 May 08:49

    Does anyone know if The Grove offers Virtuoso benefits. It isn’t FHR but is in Hotel Collection.

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