Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 19th May

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We are running this daily chat thread on Head for Points during the coronavirus outbreak.

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Comments (525)

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

  • Cup says:

    QQ : BA has cancelled my flight and put me on an alternative time slot. How much time is given to accept the flight? Ideally would like to put off accepting the changes until the last minute.

    • Sam G says:

      you can just leave it . you can even rebook after the new flights are taken as long as the outbound is within 1 year of booking

      If you’re worried then Twitter DM them and ask them to delete the proposed flights as you’re unsure when you’ll want to use them

      • H says:

        You can’t just leave it, as it would be treated as a no show. You either need to have the auto-rebooked flights removed and rebook at a later date within the ticket validity or rebook before the flight departure.

        • Sam G says:

          If you haven’t accepted the rebooking then you aren’t confirmed on the flight and you won’t no show if you leave it. Personally I’d Twitter DM them and have them removed, there is a risk that somehow you get confirmed somehow and then you would no-show and lose the ticket / have some hassles.

  • Cramondben says:

    IHG spend £350+ get £100 back showing up in two of my Amex cards.

  • Mart says:

    Just checked my aa miles account 15k have magically appeared
    No idea where from just says award miles.
    I find there redemptions great value
    85k miles return to Maldives with Qatar and approx £250 in taxes.

    • N says:

      this is amazing! any idea what the equivalent miles/cost is for BA?

      • meta says:

        Have you played the 40th anniversary game? It might be that.

        • Mart says:

          I did play it but got about 10k from that so 25k for nothing 😊

          • meta says:

            Did the miles from the game already post for you? I still haven’t received them and they said it will take 6-8 weeks from closing.

      • mart says:

        as a comparison 135k-150k avios off peak/peak and £700ish taxes(BA flights)
        201k avios and £560ish(qatar flights) so any way you look at it aa miles more valuable
        and no aadvantage miles not posted yet

    • lumma says:

      Did you enter the 40th anniversary competition?

    • MKB says:

      I booked DUB-DOH-MLE-DOH-LHR for £56.00 taxes and same points.

  • Sal says:

    Payment question. I’m redoing my windows at my house. Bill is gonna be around 15k. I’d like to pay on Amex but the little independent company I’m using obviously doesn’t accept Amex. Is there any way I could pay them using Amex like PayPal or something else where they won’t get charged a high rate? If not I can use MasterCard I’d imagine

    • Sam G says:

      billhop but it’s not cheap, only worth it if you want to hit a minimum spend that you can’t hit another way IMO. Otherwise PayPal if they’ll accept it but they will get charged a fee. Wouldn’t recommend using the “friends and family” workaround for such a high amount, if PayPal blocks it your money could be tied up for a long time!

      • The Urbanite says:

        I wouldn’t take that treatment from PayPal. They tried it with me after I did something else (not Amex related) and I had my money pulled from their accounts.

        • John says:

          But they would ban you from using them in the future. You’ll get your money back but you broke their T&Cs if you paid using F&F when you were actually buying a service.

    • David D says:

      Billhop is probably your only Amex option but this will cost you a fee of 2.95% (unless you can pay using PayPal somehow).

    • Peter K says:

      A lot of small companies are bank transfer only.
      My local a few years ago was Visa/MasterCard/bank transfer only so I just paid on a non-amex and gained at least something that way.
      It wasn’t worth the billhop fees, plus don’t forget that s75 is negated by an intermediary like Billhop/PayPal.

  • Aso40 says:

    For those who have been asking about the Scottish equivalent to the NHS app in England for proof of vaccination status, the system seems to have gone live on the same site as used to book or rearrange appointments. There is now a third tab where it lists the details and lets you download it as a pdf.

  • Seb says:

    I’m sure I’m just late to the party. I didn’t realise a BA Holiday voucher issued under their Book with Confidence policy cannot be redeemed for reward flights. Is this right or am I being sold a pack of lies?!

    • Doc says:

      This is unfortunately correct. Cash bookings including flight only or BA holidays cannot be used for reward flights and vice versa.

  • The Lord says:

    Have I got this correct for the best deal travelling to an amber country?
    Leaving UK – Eurofins via BA £40
    Pre-return to UK – Qured via BA £39 minus BA discount
    Day 2 & 8 tests – CityDoc via BA £120

    • meta says:

      You don’t need a test for leaving UK unless the country where you’re going requires one.

      Eurofins day2&8 package is £99.98, but I wouldn’t touch them as they are horrible according to reviews.

    • Sina says:

      Day 2 & 8 test from Test for All org is £99, very nice people, I had to cancel a test and they agreed to a full refund!

    • Rob says:

      Depends what the Amber country wants. No need to test before leaving UK for the sake of it.

      • James Pleasant says:

        why doesn’t HFP write a comprehensive guide to what UK testing sites are out there and how much they cost?

        and update it as costs change

        • Rob says:

          Because it would be a full time job. We turned down a substantial amount of money yesterday from someone who wanted to advertise their covid testing price comparison service to HfP readers, because it wasn’t comprehensive.

      • egold says:

        don’t some airlines demand a negative test just to allow you on board? I understand that Air France require a negative covid test even for domestic flights

  • Alex says:

    I have seen people mention that there’s still a targeted AMEX referral bonus boost going around (24k for Plat mentioned yesterday). Does that mean that only the person sending the referral gets a higher referral bonus, or does the referee also get a sign up bonus uptick (higher than the usual 35k referred)?

    • Steve says:

      Rumour has it it’s 24k for the referer and a whopping 70k for the referred!

    • Ste Cox says:

      mine shows that the referred get 70k

    • Travel Strong says:

      I certainly have the room – I never manage to do any referrals! 70k for referred person, as above.

      • Travel Strong says:

        Sorry, I thought this was a targetted one not possible through robs. If it isn’t then please delete.

        • meta says:

          Also this can get your Amex account shut down!

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          One of the HfP team might have a link too, if not they can probably get one very easily

      • meta says:

        And also this can get y

    • Alex says:

      Does anyone know if there’s an end date for the higher 70k sign-up / 24k referral offer?

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