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The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 19th May

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Comments (525)

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

  • bafan says:
    19 May19 May 02:59

    Watching Eurovision SF last night, I realized that Rotterdam looks a lot nicer than I gave it credit for. Added it to my travel list on BACF if / when the route returns.

    • ChrisC says:
      19 May19 May 03:25

      Eurostar also stops there to drop off and pick up. Or it’s only 40 mins or so on the fast train from Amsterdam.

      I thought the sound was off last night. Too much crowd noise being picked up and the acts relatively quiet.

    • Lord Doncaster says:
      19 May19 May 03:58

      Eurovision? Purleaseeeeeeee….Give me Stars in their Eyes with Matthew Kelly any day of the week.

      • bafan says:
        19 May19 May 04:45

        I was born in 93 and that finished in 04…a little after my time 😉.

        • Blenz101 says:
          19 May19 May 05:37

          Well ITV are bringing it back Stars In Their Eyes n the form of ‘Starstruck’ so you will get a second chance!

        • Lou says:
          19 May19 May 05:41

          You make me feel old…

    • Sussex bantam says:
      19 May19 May 08:36

      I used to live in Rotterdam. It’s not Amsterdam (by a long way) but certainly worth a day or two.

    • Phil W says:
      19 May19 May 10:15

      The wife and I spent a couple of days in Rotterdam a few years ago. Some tremendous architecture. Definitely worth a weekend visit.

  • Berneslai says:
    19 May19 May 06:21

    I’m flying LHR->SFO on Aug 13th followed by SFO->HNL on the 20th then HNL->LAX on the 25th and finally LAX->LHR on the 30th. Is this going to be 4 Covid tests required per person on the trip? Looking at the walk-in test cost prices, this could be crippling on the wallet.

    • Louise K says:
      19 May19 May 06:31

      I’m going to Hawaii next year and hoping the need for testing will be gone for the vaccinated! Maybe by the summer for you.

    • Andrew says:
      19 May19 May 06:45

      No guarantees at all that things will have opened up by August, so I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Government sounding like they are backtracking already on travel.

    • Blenz101 says:
      19 May19 May 07:11

      You will have to follow whatever rules are in place at the time. Hawaii is being understandably more cautious than other states.

      Assuming you are a UK citizen as things currently stand as you won’t be able to fly LHR->SFO. If you were entering the USA from a country not on the banned list (I’m due to head over from DXB later next month) you currently need a clear PCR test taken three days before departure (luckily they are around £20 here, they can even come to your home and take them and results are back in around 6 hours so not to wallet crippling). July was a previously rumoured date for the US to relax its borders but I think this could well be in doubt.

      Your next issue currently will arise in that to enter HNL you need to quarantine for 10 days. This can be skipped only if your test is taken from one of their trusted partners. The UK is unlikely ever to appear on this list. So in your case you would need to take a test in SFO from a trusted provider and get a clear result before travelling onwards to HNL. (No DXB provider is on the list either but I don’t think anybody here is going to travel by air for 22+ hours for a beach holiday!)

      Coming back from the US would be whatever the UK has in place at the time. Currently they are amber so pre-departure test day 2 and 8 whilst in quarantine.

      So basically if you could travel now you are looking at 5 tests for a return trip per person.

      • Berneslai says:
        19 May19 May 07:21

        Thanks. I feel depressed now!

        • Louise K says:
          19 May19 May 07:45

          I’ve cancelled too many trips to US / HI this year too.

          If you go get to go and we’re thinking of hiring a car, hope you have one booked!

          • Berneslai says:
            19 May19 May 08:24

            Hire cars are all reserved (not pre-paid) but at about 20% of the current cost. I’m half expecting them to be cancelled on a technicality. 5 days car hire in HNL was reserved at £215 – now it’s £1,200 for the same car.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        19 May19 May 08:05

        You can take a lateral flow to the USA can’t you? Seen it mentioned on other forums

        • Blenz101 says:
          19 May19 May 08:16

          They seem to accept ‘viral tests’ including rapid. I’m planning to get a PCR rather than worry about taking anything the check-in agent or the US border may have cause to question given the low cost in DXB.

          As a bonus the local Al Hosn app which acts like the NHS app for vaccination proof also records PCR tests taken and shows the results.

  • mzb says:
    19 May19 May 06:26

    Just noticed that all my Amex cards this morning, have the Shop Small Offer listed. It wasn’t the case on Monday.

    • Andrew says:
      19 May19 May 06:43

      +1 – issue seems to have been fixed.

    • mark2 says:
      19 May19 May 07:04

      Some have appeared, but the latest cards have not.

    • Ste Cox says:
      19 May19 May 08:26

      I am still waiting for any offers to appear on my OH’s new Gold card that has been in use for over a week now.

    • egold says:
      19 May19 May 20:32

      me too.
      I was offered it on most of my cards even though in the past they said my account wasn’t eligible

  • mark says:
    19 May19 May 06:35

    2 days ago I called the Avios-Nectar points conversion line and transferred some Avios to Nectar but the points still have not left my Executive account?
    Is this normal? I expected the points to leave my account straight away and my balance is still the same as before I called.
    Thank you

    • Andrew says:
      19 May19 May 06:42

      Yes this is normal. They leave your Avios account and arrive at nectar at the same time, around 5 days after you call. It’s a very manual process – your details are added to a list and then someone sits down and does a bunch of transfers and at that point it’s instant.

      • mark says:
        19 May19 May 06:48

        Perfect ..Thank you for the info 🙂

        • Ben says:
          19 May19 May 06:51

          Why not just do it on the app?

          • Andrew says:
            19 May19 May 07:06

            Hasn’t worked for months. They are installing a security feature as it was open to fraud. So the only option is to call up.

          • Peter K says:
            19 May19 May 07:13

            Because you haven’t been able to move avios to nectar for months in the app.

    • Anttelli says:
      19 May19 May 09:00

      I called last Wednesday and still waiting for the points to be transferred.

    • Char Char says:
      20 May20 May 08:25

      They will have mentioned 10 days not sure why you would then bother to ask why after 2 days…

  • Hannah says:
    19 May19 May 07:04

    Hoping someone may be able to help. I know that the T&Cs for the new IHG Amex offer state that it applies to payments at checkout only but does anyone have any insight into whether it may work on the Book Now, Pay Later rate?

    • Andrew says:
      19 May19 May 07:11

      The ‘book now pay later‘ rate is checkout payment I believe.

    • Rob says:
      19 May19 May 07:24

      Book Now Pay Later IS pay at check-out, isn’t it?

    • DT says:
      19 May19 May 07:46

      When do you pay in a pay later rate?

      • Hannah says:
        19 May19 May 09:16

        Apologies all, my mistake! I assumed that because you could only cancel until 3 days before rather than the best flexible rate which is until 4pm on the day that payment would be taken at some point prior to arrival

  • Ant says:
    19 May19 May 07:05

    Good morning – we are staying at the ME Ibiza next month. Any feedback on the hotel and it’s restaurants?
    Hoping to use the Leading Hotels Amex offer to pay for extras as room paid with points.
    Does anyone know if we can charge the Nikki beach costs to the hotel?

  • Travel Strong says:
    19 May19 May 07:06

    10% c@sh back at Sainsbury’s just appeared on MBNA rewards (also Matalan and Costa).

    • Kai says:
      19 May19 May 08:57

      Thanks, checked and I’ve the same.

    • Andrew says:
      19 May19 May 09:48

      Boo, not on my MBNA Horizon or any other LBG accounts.

      Will keep an eye on it though, my LBG offers usually update mid afternoon. It’ll be a useful one.

      • Will says:
        19 May19 May 10:33

        Anyone getting more than around 5 offers on these LB Avios/debit card or MBNA Horizon accounts? Our family Amex cards getting up to 90 offers at present (I think that just beats Rob’s record last week), so how much usage do we think is needed to improve MBNA/LB offers?

    • Paul Pogba says:
      19 May19 May 13:31

      Do MBNA/LBG card offers work if used with a Curve layer or do they need to go through clean? Also, do Sainsbury sell John Lewis gift vouchers?

  • AJ says:
    19 May19 May 07:16

    On the NHS app when I go into the share your covid status section, I see that it has an expiry date of 20 June. Anyone know why this is?. Will it automatically renew?. I’m away at the time so want to make sure I can share if I need to

    • Andrew says:
      19 May19 May 07:30

      We all seem to have this – I think maybe connected to the mythical June 21st date?

    • meta says:
      19 May19 May 07:32

      They plan to scrap travel by then and put all countries in the world on the red list 😂

      Joking aside, nobody knows why is that, but apparently QR code has one month or so validity and you’ll need to generate a new one after that. Use VPN if they doesn’t allow you from abroad.

      • meta says:
        19 May19 May 07:32

        * it doesn’t

      • Optimus Prime says:
        19 May19 May 09:01

        I wouldn’t be surprised if they put all countries on the red list until Parliament recess…

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

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