The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 2nd June

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• Aston100 says:

  2 Jun2 June 11:27

  Successfully used the Hilton offer (£50 statement credit on a £200 spend) from 3 cards on one stay. Hotel was fine splitting the bill across three cards and the statement credits have all appeared.
  As a bonus, got complimentary hot breakfast (a bit basic unfortunately) and an upgrade to a suite due to gold status.

  • BuildBackBetter says:

    2 Jun2 June 11:34

    Nice one. What was basic about breakfast? A limited menu and cooked to order?

  • The Urbanite says:

    2 Jun2 June 12:24

    Snap – stayed in the Pres Suite in the Liverpool Hilton and split across three cards. As a Diamond I got drinks vouchers for myself and my friends on the booking but they could only be used between 6pm and 8pm!

• Aaron says:

  2 Jun2 June 11:31

  Not sure if this is any help to anybody but I was in Madeira last week. Stayed at Reid’s on a TUI package holiday. The tests were through Chronomomics. Didn’t need pre-departure tests (double vaccinated) but the pre-return tests were a lateral flow which you photographed through the Chrononomics website. They verify the result and send you an email which you use for the UK border. The day 2 tests came on time but took 5 days to get a result (just as well it was negative!). The package is £20 via TUI which is excellent value for money.

  • kitten says:

    2 Jun2 June 13:23

    Any feedback on Reid’s please Aaron?

• Mighty Hunter says:

  2 Jun2 June 11:54

  Just decided to cancel Malta for 21st June. We’d moved it twice already and were a bit concerned it was going to be too hot anyway, plus the faff of all the testing and potential queues at LHR immigration. In the end, it would all spoil the holiday.
  Good news is that the re-booked flights next May (best weather for us) are only an extra £105 for the two of us in J (FTV came through in 5 minutes), plus the Hilton is still excellent value for an executive room – less than two-thirds of the pre-covid rate.
  I really recommend the executive floor – it’s excellent with a good free breakfast, free drinks and canapes (a couple of times we haven’t bothered with dinner!).
  You can switch to the main breakfast buffet for no charge if you want, which makes a nonsense of the extra cost of a ‘breakfast included’ booking!

  • Jake Taylor says:

    2 Jun2 June 12:24

    The ex CEO of the family-run Group that owns the Hilton Malta is currently on trial for the murder of a local journalist. I’m not sure if they put that on the website though.

  • Tracy says:

    2 Jun2 June 22:18

    Booked the Hilton on points for August. I will be diamond by then and will be in one room for four adults (2 adult children). I am assuming I’ll get lounge access but will we be allowed 4 people in? Any idea of an upgrade as diamond? Thanks

• Super Secret Stuff says:

  2 Jun2 June 12:00

  PSA for the HfP deals club, VOXI is an amazing phone network run by Vodafone. 1£10 a month for unlimited social media and 8GB of other data. More available if you need it too

  • Alex says:

    2 Jun2 June 12:18

    That’s not a good deal though.

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      2 Jun2 June 12:32

      Yes it is, unlimited calls, texts and social media. If I were to use an equivalent plan elsewhere I’d need at least 20GB

      • Super Secret Stuff says:

        2 Jun2 June 12:33

        20GB plans cost way more than £10

      • Andrew says:

        2 Jun2 June 13:01

        I’ll be up for renewal soon, I’m looking at £20 a month for a 200Gb plan with USA & Canada use.

        It’s technically £25, but the networks all do deals with major employers for a 20% discount.

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          2 Jun2 June 13:11

          VOXI still includes Europe at no extra cost, and they have a £3 international bolt on for 100 minutes in 100 other destinations including US and Canada. IMHO you can’t beat them, they are targeted at broke students and I think ask you if you’re under 30 but never actually check

        • Lady London says:

          2 Jun2 June 13:26

          on which network? sold directly by the network, presumably, and not via an MVNO?

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          2 Jun2 June 14:07

          @LL All sold by VOXI which is run by Voadfone so you get exactly the same coverage as Vodafone

      • Iain says:

        2 Jun2 June 13:18

        Doesnt look good to me, I get 12gb a month for a tenner with BT and I don’t even bother shopping around. Do you work for VOXI?

        • YC says:

          2 Jun2 June 13:26

          Its pretty good, it is £10 without contract. Others would require 12month contract

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          2 Jun2 June 14:11

          Hahaha, no. Some people think I work at Nectar but you’ll have to keep guessing

          VOXI has so many add on’s for free for the same price. Say if you use a minimum of 4GB of social media data a month, out of you 12GB BT plan. You could go to Voxi and have 8GB of data for other stuff and unlimited social media data. Plus free Europe roaming and some other perks

  • Lumma says:

    2 Jun2 June 13:49

    If Youtube was classed as social media then it might be a deal

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      2 Jun2 June 14:14

      If you go for there £15 a month plan you get 15GB of data and all the usual VOXI perks as well as endless video for Youtube, TikTok, Prime and Netflix. I downgraded from that plan at the start of Covid as I no longer travel for work atm

      • Super Secret Stuff says:

        2 Jun2 June 14:18

        On there website and just noticed there is a £20 amazon voucher for referrals, one for each party. Which I knew that before my OH, sister and friend joined VOXI!!!!

    • Magic Mike says:

      2 Jun2 June 20:00

      Voxi deciding what is “social media” and zero rating it – shenanigans like that will be the death of the internet (and small sites like Rob’s)

• Anna says:

  2 Jun2 June 12:16

  Anyone thinking of booking the Kimpton Fitzroy, we had a great 3 night stay over the weekend – finally got to use Emyr’s service!
  Breakfast was slightly chaotic & not really socially distanced (ditto Fitz’s) but they let us have room service breakfast on the last morning at no extra charge.
  Social hour is in Burr & Co so it’s possible to combine that with an early dinner if you want!
  We got (as Spire) upgraded to a lovely junior suite, £15 raid the bar credit plus a birthday muffin! Chocolate/popcorn/drinks replenished each day.
  They had scratch cards in Fitz’s which all seemed to win a cocktail or bar snack so our drinks bill was pretty minimal!
  Amex £100 offer brought total stay down to just over £500.

  • Dan says:

    2 Jun2 June 13:06

    I had a booking there in August I just canceled. Two night AMB 241 plus a credit card night. Booked a suite for the former and standard for the latter. Got a call from them a day later asking if we’d like to keep the same room – £600 if I do! Checking the difference in cash rates was less than half that. I pointed this out and got the email equivalent of a shrug back. Staying at The Savoy (3 for 2 through Emyr) instead for the same price.

    • Lady London says:

      2 Jun2 June 13:28

      🙂 naughty trick by them. glad you spotted it.

    • Anna says:

      2 Jun2 June 13:52

      That’s crazy, junior suite price was about £420 when we stayed on a bank holiday/half term and they were upgrading pretty much everyone for free from the look of Tripadvisor!

  • YC says:

    2 Jun2 June 13:28

    Did you mention the Kimpton secret password at check in?

    • Anna says:

      2 Jun2 June 13:51

      No but we got that much free stuff it would have felt a bit cheeky 😂

  • Sal says:

    2 Jun2 June 17:57

    I stayed there for my sisters 40th prior to covid and it was all so hectic breakfast and management! We had afternoon tea booked in the hotel, which they cancelled only when we arrived at the hotel and told us to speak to concierge or walk down the street to find something else. On the plus though they were really nice, friendly and eventually helpful. Lovely rooms and hotel.

• bafan says:

  2 Jun2 June 12:29

  After a cancelation from BA, they have rebooked me ARN-LHR-CHQ. If they cancel it again can I ask for a reroute on Finnair through HEL? They have availability that day too. I have been rerouted on them before but only LHR-ARN through HEL.

• Alan says:

  2 Jun2 June 12:30

  For info (as contrary to reports) the passport Egates were operating when we flew into Gatwick on Sunday night with only a five minute queue to use them.

  Getting through them was a bit of a lottery with, I estimate, around 30% being rejected and having to join a longer queue for the manned desks.

  • Pete M says:

    2 Jun2 June 12:54

    I’ve heard that about LGW from a few people now. Wonder what the situation is at LHR/LCY?

    • Rhys says:

      2 Jun2 June 13:03

      When I arrived from Faro on Friday night only 4 eGates were open. My passport didn’t work so I then had to wait for 1 of the 2 Border Force officers to check my passport. Suffice to say I was not blown away by the service. There was at least one other flight arriving just after mine too – I was lucky in that I was quite at the front of my flight and got off quickly.

      • Pete M says:

        2 Jun2 June 13:10

        Thanks, so no change to what it was like a few weeks back at T5 then. Sounds almost like LHR is the showcase airport for more thorough border checks!

      • Lumma says:

        2 Jun2 June 13:53

        The UK egates have always been dreadful ever since I got my most recent passport (spring 2017) and if I clock the manned queue as being small I choose that instead. They always worked perfectly with my old, very tatty passport, where I had hair on the photo!

        • Rhys says:

          2 Jun2 June 13:54

          Yes, my current passport keeps giving me issues too…

• Reney says:

  2 Jun2 June 13:07

  2 more questions today.

  1. Anyone received any retention offer for Nectar Amex? If not I will cancel via online chat rather than call.
  2. What is the best way (if any) to use points to get from London to Auckland in business class? Basically I need to get there at some point in the future (when I don’t need to hotel quarantine), and I want to cancel my Amex Gold card to restart the clock. I have a stash of Avios and VS points and want an idea of how many points I may need in which scheme to make the trip. From there I will decide where to send my MR points.

  Thanks all.

  • 747_Brat says:

    2 Jun2 June 13:32

    Not sure about Q1 but for Q2, IMO you have 4 options. You could book directly with these airlines after converting MR points to respective airline miles (except Qatar) or use Avios and Virgin points, depending on how many points you have:

    1. Singapore Airlines: LHR-SIN-AKL (Can be booked with Virgin Points or directly)

    2. Qatar Airways: LHR-DOH-AKL* (Can be booked with Avios or via Marriott route explained below)

    3. Cathay Pacific: LHR-HKG-AKL (Can be booked with Avios or directly)

    4. Emirates: LHR-DUB-AKL (Can only be booked directly)

    * You could also use your MR points to convert it to Marriott points and then convert them to Qatar Miles. But this might not be the best value for your MR points.

    • meta says:

      2 Jun2 June 13:59

      You could also transfer the Amex MR balance with opening of Amex ICC dollar card with exchange uplift (40% at the moment) and Qatar is a partner on Amex ICC card. You should also do this if you want to transfer MR points to Singapore Airlines as the rate on ICC card is better for Krisflyer.

      I also don’t think you can book Singapore Airlines flights with Virgin points any more.

      • Reney says:

        2 Jun2 June 14:16

        Thanks both, looks like none of the options would allow me to use any of the 2-4-1 vouchers I have with BA/ VS directly. Unless I book something like LHR-HKG return then book a separate return to AKL.

        This is v helpful for my planning!

        • meta says:

          2 Jun2 June 15:02

          There are no direct flights to AKL. You’ll need to do it separately anyway. You could do LHR-SYD on 241 and then a hop to AKL on Qantas with Avios. VS miles are pretty much useless as you want to use 241.

      • Reney says:

        2 Jun2 June 16:26

        I had understood that LHR-SYD availability are next to impossible.

        • DT says:

          2 Jun2 June 17:14

          After the change to the number of J redemption seats last week, it’s been easier (though still not easy!) to get LHR-SYD. If you check SeatSpy there’s fairly decent availability for May next year. I managed to book two sets of LHR-SYD flights last week by just using the website, instead of the previous method of calling up at 1am.

        • meta says:

          3 Jun3 June 07:44

          Not anymore (from 28 July) given increased availability.

    • Gavin says:

      2 Jun2 June 14:27

      JAL will be quicker via Great circle I believe

      • Reney says:

        2 Jun2 June 16:26

        what is great circle pls?

        • Lord Doncaster says:

          2 Jun2 June 23:03

          I assume Gavin means it would be quicker to go to Sydney via Tokyo… Which wouldn’t be true I think..

  • Paul says:

    2 Jun2 June 15:54

    Save the miles, bite the bullet and pay cash when there’s a ME carrier sale. Should be able to find ±£1700pp, earn a bucket of miles/status, probably a free stopover, and, personally, a better product…? Depends on your personal valuation of miles I suppose.

    • Reney says:

      2 Jun2 June 16:29

      Not sure cash price for biz is possible. May stretch to PE thou. And we would prefer to stop in HKG so ME airlines routing are less preferable.

  • Babyg says:

    2 Jun2 June 16:52

    2. im flying my Mum (maybe if covid allows)… this was the best deal for a single person (its the other way around) but you get the idea..
    https://pointshaka.wordpress.com/2021/03/28/points-haka-the-grandmother-akl-to-lhr/

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