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The HfP chat thread – Monday 17th May

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Comments (459)

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  • Tony says:
    17 May17 May 07:58

    Alcohol back in lounges 🍾
    http://92.27.159.84/lhr.png

    • MilesOnPoint says:
      18 May18 May 07:11

      Excellent news, can I ask what champagne us being served in Galleries First at the moment @Tony?

      Hoping they also still have Hattingley Blanc de noirs too…

  • meta says:
    17 May17 May 07:59

    Following on from a few discussion lately about the new IC in Rome. It seems the 40k points rate is only briefly available for a few days after the dates are released. After that it jumps to 80k+ points per night. I managed to get two nights over early May bank holiday next year.

    • Anna says:
      17 May17 May 08:08

      40k sounds a great deal, good result! I’ve also noticed that the Indigo Bath is back at 30k per night for bookings sufficiently far out, which has to be one of the best points options as even standard rooms are often over £300 pn.

      • meta says:
        17 May17 May 08:15

        Yes cash prices are almost always over 550 euros per night at IC Rome, so really a bargain.

        • Harry T says:
          17 May17 May 08:47

          It’s not just IC Rome that’s cheap for points that weekend…

          • meta says:
            17 May17 May 09:14

            Good spot @HarryT! Everyone book while you can…

          • Anna says:
            17 May17 May 09:25

            Just thinking about that – it’s the late May bank holiday which has moved, hasn’t? So June 2nd and 3rd will be bank holidays, an extra one for the Platinum jubilee, apparently. Hopefully the early May holiday still stands!

          • Rob says:
            17 May17 May 10:17

            Yes. We have an article on this to drop out when we get a spare slot.

          • meta says:
            17 May17 May 09:49

            @ Yes, the early May bank holiday still stands. IHG just opened bookings for that weekend.

    • Super Secret Stuff says:
      17 May17 May 09:21

      Found one weekend as low as 30k at Bath indigo

    • Mrs_Fussy says:
      17 May17 May 09:51

      Hi – please can I say that IC Rome is a very depressing property ( at least when I stayed there 5 years ago ). Yes the location can’t be beat. We ended up moving to Indigo Rome after a night at IC and absolutely loved it – great F&B, less stuffy and a little spa area. Was also walkable from everywhere. Just wanted to add my two pence worth

  • Dips says:
    17 May17 May 08:24

    Regarding the BA Companion Voucher – do I recall correctly the outbound leg has to be before the expiry of the voucher? I was hoping to be able to book now for much later as the extended dates keep creeping up on me.
    I currently have one expiring in Nov and not necessarily in a position to use it effectively before them.

    • Ed says:
      17 May17 May 09:02

      Yes, that’s correct.

    • Rob says:
      17 May17 May 09:09

      Correct

    • Matt says:
      17 May17 May 09:18

      You could book a flight with it, then cancel for a voucher – that moves the expiry date to April 2023 (all travel completed by then). It does lock in the name of your companion, and mean that you’d need to book by phone. Just book a single LHR-MAN or similar to minimise the money and avios locked in with the voucher.

  • The Lord says:
    17 May17 May 08:32

    Rhys – I seem to remember you posting a Free Now referral code. Can you please share again?

  • Chris says:
    17 May17 May 09:13

    Re: extension of IHG points, does booking and cancelling a points+cash stay reset them?

  • Sukes says:
    17 May17 May 09:14

    Uber promo DiningIsBack gives 50pc off a trip, up to a max of £6, valid til 30th May.

  • Louise K says:
    17 May17 May 09:23

    Hoping to take our family to Hawaii next year.

    One of the flight options is a change in LAX with a layover of 1.5hrs. Is this doable? They don’t have GE.

    • Anna says:
      17 May17 May 09:28

      Is LAX where you’ll be going through immigration? I would only risk it if it’s all on one booking so they have to put you on a later flight if you miss the connection.
      It’s a grim journey all in one go though (18 hours-ish), a couple of days in LA would break it up and let you do other things.

      • Louise K says:
        17 May17 May 09:32

        Yes, immigration at LAX. I think it’s too tight and if they miss the flight then they will have to overnight.

        We are flying separately so won’t be with them.

        They’re young and fit, getting a free holiday!

        • AJA says:
          17 May17 May 09:40

          I wouldn’t do it even if it was one ticket all the way to Hawaii on one PNR. That is not enough time to clear immigration let alone collect baggage and book it in for the next flight and get to the gate. I would even reckon 3hrs is borderline.

          • Anna says:
            17 May17 May 10:14

            You shouldn’t need to collect and re-check baggage on one PNR though. Agree that it would still be very tight!

          • Beardless Hipster says:
            17 May17 May 10:51

            The U.S. require everyone from international flights to recheck their baggage.

          • ChrisC says:
            17 May17 May 13:20

            If it wasn’t doable then the airline wouldn’t sell the tickets for it because they’d be endlessly rebooking people. So this clearly meets the minimum connection time for LAX.

            You would be checked on for the onward flight at LHR and once you pick up the bags there are bag drop desks just after customs.

      • Jonathan says:
        17 May17 May 12:00

        Bags will be tagged all the way through to final destination but you have to clear customs at first port of entry which means waiting at baggage carrousel at LAX, collecting bags, walking through customs then dropping at a desk the other side. It’s relatively painless but does mean you need to factor in time for the bags to be unloaded.

        I’d say 90 mins is doable but not much slack if there’s any delays. AA (& all legacy US carriers) are much better at dealing with missed connections than European airlines as it’s so common over there. Someone will be waiting on jetbridge with new boarding passes &/or a priority wallet to jump queues.

        If there’s no flight till the next day I’d definitely consider building in an overnight connection which should be possible on one ticket. If they’re young then I’d say get a hotel in Venice Beach/Santa Monica (less than 30 mins in an Uber from LAX) for the night then they can have a couple of beers on the beach at sunset & a walk on the boardwalk/brunch the next day before flying on. It’d give them a nice flavour of California & break up a grim journey (especially if they’re down the back).

      • Ghosty says:
        17 May17 May 13:06

        We went in Oct 2019 and had a 2 night stay at LAX in the then CP on rewards. Used the big blue bus to get to Santa Monica and back. Meant we could enjoy the week in Hawaii without jet lag. Only have Alaska to visit to complete my 50 states, my flight to Seattle on the 30th was cancelled by Virgin on Friday, so now looking at September.

    • Andrew says:
      17 May17 May 09:47

      Planning it for 2022/2023, but our intention is to book flights to the US as normal, but have breaks in the US on outbound and return. That was we can use points and low taxes to fly US mainland to Hawaii.

      • Jonathan says:
        17 May17 May 10:04

        I remember considering going there when I was in California at the time, this would’ve been October 2017 (ish) time, and the tickets were at least £500, that’s about the same fare to fly LA to London, domestic plane tickets in the US aren’t exactly cheap, not like Russia for instance

        • Andrew says:
          17 May17 May 10:38

          Which is why 26,000 Avios plus £8 tax for an economy LAX-HNL return is an utter bargain.

      • Louise K says:
        17 May17 May 10:58

        Yes, that is sort of what we are doing. Using a 241 to LA overnighting and using Avios to get to OGG.

        Our sons and girlfriends are limited on holiday entitlement and have never transited the US before so want to make it as easy as possible for them.

        Its a long way off though so lots to consider – via Seattle also seem to be an option. Any ideas on recommended time to transit here?

        • Ron says:
          17 May17 May 12:46

          We’ve booked Hawaii for this summer, but unlikely to go now. We are stopping at SFO outbound and SEA inbound. Few days both ways to break to trip up a bit. I find Avios seats availability generally quite good from Hawaii to SEA with AS.

        • ChrisC says:
          17 May17 May 15:23

          I’d book the flights with the best routing, schedules and price. If your flight is on one trip the airlines simply won’t sell you a ticket that breaches MCT.

          The transit time at LAX or SEA or wherever is a lot less than the time you’ll be sat on the plane.

          Also with the advent of GE and the kiosks which have mostly replaced the old paper form has speeded up the immigration process so when you hand the slip from the kiosk and your passport to the officer there is verly little if any questioning and you can be through in a minute rather than waiting behind a family of 12 where none of the forms have been filled in properly as they will be crowded around a kiosk!

    • SimonP says:
      17 May17 May 14:34

      I have been to Hawaii many times using various routes and timings to work out what is best. 90 mins at LAX is in my view way too short a time to get through. I now either overnight and then head to OGG the next morning, or spend a few days in California getting over the 8 hours difference before adding another 3 hours. This year (fingers crossed) I will arrive LAX mid afternoon, stay at an airport hotel for a sleep, shower and meal, then get an early flight to OGG for 3 weeks of R&R, then a week in Oahu.

    • Lyn says:
      17 May17 May 19:28

      Louise, 1.5 hours for transfers in LAX after an international arrival really is borderline, and likely to be quite stressful if the incoming flight is even 10 or 15 minutes late. You would need a good back-up plan.

      I’m actually surprised that this is a “legal” connection, because I thought the minimum connecting time from international to domestic at LAX was 2 hours.

      A lot depends on your flight’s scheduled arrival time. Immigration and customs queues, and even waiting for luggage to arrive, can be very slow indeed at those times of day when several international flights arrive within minutes of each other, such as peak arrival times from Europe or Asia.

      I’ve missed connections even with 2 or 3 hours between flights, but have always been in a position of being able to just wait in the lounge and stand-by for the next flight.

      Which airline would you be flying to Hawaii? It could be worth taking a look at the layout of LAX. It can be a fairly long walk to the check-in / security area for some of the domestic airlines, with more potential queues there, and then to the gate itself. American Airlines is one of the closest to the International terminal, while some of the others are further away.

  • Ryan says:
    17 May17 May 09:47

    I switched an unused current account to HSBC for the £125 offer, they messed things up a little and missed the official offer so I was offered £125 as goodwill

    Checked back a month later and the offer has triggered so I’ve now got 2 x £125… result!!

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