The HfP chat thread – Monday 31st May

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• H says:

  31 May31 May 14:43

  I recently managed to find a lower qualifying rate (type of room, cancellation dates etc need to match) at Hilton Malta on Priceline and successfully got it price matched (price went from EUR 700+ to EUR 488 for 4 nights). My understanding of the rules is that you need to book the rate with Hilton and then fill the form or call them to adjust the rate within 24 hours of booking (although with current refundable rates you can always cancel, rebook and price match if there are better rates available following 24 hours). They will only adjust if the rate is still available when they’re reviewing so sometimes it’s better to call. Recently instead of booking the rate online and then calling/filling the form, I called them up, asked to be connected to the price match team and then asked them to look up the Priceline rate and then book me in at the adjusted rate. This isn’t technically what the rules say but they did the calculations and were happy to do it and was more convenient.

  • H says:

    31 May31 May 14:47

    This was in response to Chris

    • YC says:

      31 May31 May 15:05

      This has always been possible. Only issue is CS tend to useless and you have to walk them through everything and fight tooth and nail. Always worth it though!

  • The Original Nick says:

    31 May31 May 19:43

    Bloody hell, Priceline takes me back!

• Gavin says:

  31 May31 May 15:07

  Almost certainly a ‘no’ but: can I recommend someone an Amex Platinum (and both them and I get the referral points) while not holding Platinum? Ie. Share a referral link from my Amex MR card and then receive points when they take out Amex Plat?

  • Rich says:

    31 May31 May 15:17

    You refer from whatever card you hold, and you get the points that is offering – regardless of which card the referred chooses.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    31 May31 May 15:20

    You will receive whatever bonus your Mr card shows nothing else and they will get the standard 35k offer for platinum.

    BUT they don’t get the special 70k sign up bonus offer that’s only available to platinum holders to refer (unlike the 50k bonus that ended 12th May)

    That’s very likely to a higher total number of points between you and if Rob can’t refer ask him to put us in touch and I can.

• Sarah says:

  31 May31 May 15:24

  Any suggestions on good insurance for points bookings to the Maldives?

  • Rob says:

    31 May31 May 18:17

    What are you insuring? Your points booking is cancellable / changeable up to 24 hours before departure so you don’t need insuring for that. You still need flight cover though (flight delay coverage etc) so its not as if you can opt out of that bit. Avios did use to do its own insurance but scrapped it, presumably due to lack of interest.

    • Ali M says:

      31 May31 May 22:40

      hey thanks Rob.I didn’t know that…have a booking for later in the year and won’t mind cancelling if the red list bit continues

  • Tracey says:

    31 May31 May 22:28

    There is a specialised product available. https://allied.mv/

• Josh says:

  31 May31 May 15:57

  Hey all,

  Would be great to get some advice on car rental situation whilst in the US.

  Booked a 5 day rental on Priceline for 180 dollars including all taxes and fees..which is an insanely low price right now which I need to pay when collecting the car.

  I’m worried we will get there and they won’t honour it. If that’s the case, what’s the best approach?

  Should we pay the difference and then file a chargeback or would that be problematic since the new fee would be from the rental company? (Budget) and not via Priceline?

  This wasn’t a glitch btw. Was these prices at this specific collection spot for 2 weeks.

  Just worried we will turn up and be stuck without a car should they not honour it..current prices are 1000$ for the same day reservation. We have everything printed out.

  Thanks

  • Harry T says:

    31 May31 May 16:09

    The main problem at the moment is that many people are finding there are no rental vehicles to collect because the companies sold off all their stock during the height of the pandemic. Demand far exceeds supply. There’s been a few articles on One Mile At A Time about this.

    However, if you’ve booked the car for that price then they have to honour the contract, as far as I can see.

    • Doommonger says:

      31 May31 May 17:34

      Working the assumption you actually get into the US of A.

      Doomey.

    • Blenz101 says:

      31 May31 May 18:25

      I think perhaps Josh is worrying too much but if no money has changed hands is the car not just “reserved”. I read it that Josh is paying the 180 on arrival in the US.

      I would be looking to travel insurance.

      I can’t see how a chargeback would work in this situation. If the car company say they can’t honour the reservation for whatever reason and Josh signs a new contract for whatever vehicle can be offered not sure why the credit card company would be on the hook? Is the first time they become party to the contract (in theory) when the 180 is paid on arrival in the US.

• Kevin says:

  31 May31 May 15:59

  Though I have had saved the link provided by someone here about various COVID test providers and discount link from BA etc but couldn’t find it.

  Can anyone kindly share it again and whether the discount code is only applied by taking BA flight or can be used travel on oneworld airlines.

  • r* says:

    31 May31 May 18:28

    Not sure if this is what you mean
    https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/incident/coronavirus/covid19-tests

    • Kevin says:

      31 May31 May 23:58

      Thanks that’s what I’m looking for.

• Louise says:

  31 May31 May 18:37

  I’ve seen a few comments from somewhat younger readers wanting their Covid jab. If you turn up at Twickenham vaccination centre by 7.30pm and are over 18, you’ll get jabbed today.

  • Louise says:

    31 May31 May 18:49

    I guess the deadline is a little bit more flexible than that. They want to let staff & volunteers go home at 8pm but if there are a couple of hundred people still waiting, I think you’d get your jab.

    • Nick says:

      31 May31 May 19:10

      This will also be the case for the next few days. The government has thrown a huge amount of resource at twickenham so they can show another ‘record success’. Turn up tomorrow or Wed and I’d expect you to be slotted in any time, no questions asked.

      • Lou says:

        31 May31 May 20:26

        thanks for this. What are they using?

        • Louise says:

          31 May31 May 21:03

          It won’t be AZ, given the age profile. So must be Pfizer or Moderna.

        • Anuj says:

          31 May31 May 22:12

          It’s Pfizer

  • Craig says:

    31 May31 May 22:24

    My son arrived at 5.30, at 6.30 they were telling people if they were in the queue at 6.45 they would be OK. He was sent packing at 7 because they’d run out. I understand what they were trying to do but this was poorly managed. They were turning people away from the tube station after they’d sent everyone packing because it was full!

• Colin says:

  31 May31 May 19:10

  Hit £3k ( in 2 month) spend on Amex Bus Gold and was awarded 20,000 MR whereas I signed up for £5k ( 3 month) for 50,000 MR. Took online chat 25 mins to say well call when hit £5k to get points added , rather than we will sort it. …. the kind of reply that might make me cancel the card before the fee is due.

  • N says:

    31 May31 May 19:30

    known issue. it’ll get sorted. once you hit the target, drop them a message in the chat and it will get sorted in 24-48 hours.

  • Rob says:

    31 May31 May 21:31

    To be fair, as you haven’t hit the £5k I’m not sure exactly what Amex could have done – except take the 20k away, but that wouldn’t have guaranteed the 50k posted.

  • Kevin B says:

    1 Jun1 June 08:56

    I’m still chasing my extra 6000 for referral. They posted 6000 but my link that I used was for 12000. Their system is really bad for accurately tracking what links have been used.

• Peter K says:

  31 May31 May 19:24

  Thank you for that. I wondered why payments had been pending for longer.

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