The HfP chat thread – Monday 28th June

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Red Flyer says:

28 Jun28 June 18:12

Trying to combine Avios from BA to Iberia but website says I do not meet conditions to do this. Iberia Plus set up 12/20 so over 90 days and I moved 1000 miles in from Bonvoy in early May – what am I missing here???
- Mark says:
  
  28 Jun28 June 18:28
  
  Try avios (I use aer lingus) as a middle man, pull from BA then push to Iberia. Works for me
  - Pete M says:
    
    28 Jun28 June 20:22
    
    Do you have a BA family account? That messes it up. Avios.com or Aer Lingus as a middle man will fix this.
Iain says:

28 Jun28 June 18:18

Anyone else struggling to pay off CC with curve?
- Reney says:
  
  28 Jun28 June 19:07
  
  Do you have metal? What is your backing card, who are you trying to pay?
Paul says:

28 Jun28 June 18:30

At Wimbledon today, no mention of covid test at all. Showed ticket and straight in. Almost no one wearing mask either. Great!
- The Lord says:
  
  28 Jun28 June 19:50
  
  A glimpse into the future!
- David says:
  
  28 Jun28 June 21:00
  
  Why would you expect that? It’s outdoors?
  - Doug M says:
    
    28 Jun28 June 21:21
    
    Until they close the roof.
  - SteveJ says:
    
    28 Jun28 June 21:31
    
    Because they say they will ask for proof and will expect masks when walking around?
  - Rob says:
    
    28 Jun28 June 21:47
    
    Ticket rules say masks must be worn except when on court.
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      29 Jun29 June 00:07
      
      I’m seeing more and more people without them out and about.
Steve says:

28 Jun28 June 18:47

Test to release: any disadvantage to waiting until after a negative day 2 test to book? It looks like this is OK if another passenger locator form is filled in?
- roberto says:
  
  28 Jun28 June 18:55
  
  Can’t see it being an issue and fwiw you can do the day 2 test on day 0 to give you more wiggle room if you think you could be positive.
- Andre says:
  
  28 Jun28 June 19:43
  
  Not sure about other providers but with boots you only get charged when you come in for your appointment, so no harm in booking in advance.
- Steve says:
  
  28 Jun28 June 19:48
  
  Great, thanks both of you!
  - Ben W says:
    
    28 Jun28 June 21:36
    
    I didn’t book my day 5 TTR until I’d had my day 2 results a few weeks back. Filled in a new passenger locator form to reflect this and then the ruddy quarantine people started ringing me twice a day as the system can’t merge the two forms! I’d therefore suggest just pop the likely provider in your initial form even if you don’t end up using them.
- Aaron C says:
  
  28 Jun28 June 22:46
  
  Depending on the provider the day 2 test may not be resulted for a while. When I had one in May it took 8 days to result and the one I sent on Friday still isn’t back.
  I guess you could use a free lateral flow to pre-test.
Robman says:

28 Jun28 June 19:05

For anyone who was interested in the recent Economist subscription offer, but didn’t proceed, I just noticed that there is a currently a 50% discount on the digital subscription for a year. Its currently reduced from £179.00 to £89.50. I feel like that’s a pretty good offer, even without the Avios points.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  29 Jun29 June 00:22
  
  Are you factoring in the £45 off £179 spend amex offer everyone has?
Reney says:

28 Jun28 June 19:06

Timing shopping with their bonus codes also help, I’ve seen spend £10 get £5, spend £8 get £3 etc. Someone here regularly post the bonus codes.
marcw says:

28 Jun28 June 20:11

Hopes fade for US-UK travel corridor before end of summer

https://www.ft.com/content/64a0018e-214e-455f-8cf3-d4e407b5b1d2
- marcw says:
  
  28 Jun28 June 20:12
  
  Regarding AZ (as expected): One UK diplomat said: “AstraZeneca is proving a real problem. If the US doesn’t recognise it, it means millions of Brits won’t be eligible to travel if we agree to a new corridor.”
  - Craig says:
    
    28 Jun28 June 20:19
    
    Does the US have to approve it or is WHO approval enough?
    - marcw says:
      
      28 Jun28 June 20:21
      
      That really depends on the country. Each country decides on their restrictions – WHO has no say.
    - Harry T says:
      
      28 Jun28 June 20:27
      
      WHO are irrelevant.
  - Louise K says:
    
    28 Jun28 June 20:26
    
    Aren’t Canada and Mexico also using AZ? Can’t see them being locked out for too much longer.
    - marcw says:
      
      28 Jun28 June 20:30
      
      For that matter, the US-MEX air border is open.
      - Anna says:
        
        28 Jun28 June 20:38
        
        And has been all along without any vaccination requirement, despite an estimated 600k deaths from Covid in Mexico. Something to do with trade deals, apparently, especially linked to Biden’s family!
    - Cabal of rabid baboons says:
      
      28 Jun28 June 20:33
      
      Canada have ordered a bit of everything, more vacinnes ordered by the Canadians per capita than any other country.
    - Anna says:
      
      28 Jun28 June 20:36
      
      Plus multiple other countries.
      Just to show how ridiculous this is, the Cayman Islands have now reduced their quarantine requirement to 5 days for vaccinated travellers – but only those from the UK as our NHS app is the only proof of vaccination deemed trustworthy! Americans who want to visit are complaining like mad about this but their lack of a nationally recognised vaccination certificate is proving problematic. Cayman has had zero community transmission for many months now and probably the strictest border closures on the planet yet is happy with AZ!
      - David S says:
        
        28 Jun28 June 21:00
        
        Looked to book to go to GCM next March but no direct BA flights showing. Any thoughts on when they might appear ?
- Anna says:
  
  28 Jun28 June 20:42
  
  And the US has been selling the AZ vaccines it produces to other nations, including African countries, so there’s some breathtaking hypocrisy here, especially as they’re telling their own citizens not to have AZ as their 2nd dose now.
  - Louise K says:
    
    28 Jun28 June 20:48
    
    Nodding furiously agreeing with you here. Seems like it will never end.
    
    Very nervous about my £970 J Hawaii tickets I booked for next Easter!
    - SimonP says:
      
      29 Jun29 June 08:15
      
      Not half as nervous as I am about my Hawaii tickets for September!
- Liam says:
  
  28 Jun28 June 22:42
  
  Looks like I’ll be trying to convince my parents and brother to spend two weeks in Mexico before flying to Chicago for my wedding in mid-September, in that case. Luckily my best man is married to an American so is exempt from the travel ban.
Anna says:

28 Jun28 June 20:55

It will be interesting to see if recorded infections drop significantly in a couple of weeks when the schools break up and the kids aren’t being tested so much …
- Harry T says:
  
  28 Jun28 June 21:00
  
  Cases aren’t a reliable metric in isolation but that doesn’t stop newspapers getting hysterical about them. Hospitalisations and deaths are the only reliable metrics.
  - Tariq says:
    
    28 Jun28 June 21:35
    
    Especially given that PCR testing is such a poor diagnostic indicator. A positive test a case does not make.
  - JDB says:
    
    28 Jun28 June 21:42
    
    How right you are; sense at last! I W as watching this very closely for our trip to Mexico last Dec/Jan and while the case stats there are nonsense, the very detailed hospital occupancy rates and ICU occupancy rates were very reassuring for the area we were visiting.
  - Hilton query guy says:
    
    28 Jun28 June 21:50
    
    You do speak some sense, I see. (Harry).
    
    Delta variant actually less dangerous than previous variants, even if it spreads faster.
    
    All good, right?
    - Lord Doncaster says:
      
      28 Jun28 June 22:43
      
      Tell that to Frau “Keep the Brits out” Merkel
      - George K says:
        
        29 Jun29 June 00:21
        
        I think it’s easy to forget that even as a fully vaccinated person you can still carry the virus, and as a result of open borders you may come in contact with numerous of unvaccinated/ vulnerable people and pass it on. The problem isn’t just passing the virus onto others though (who may or may not get sick). It’s that by doing so you are partly responsible for the possible creation of more variants as it delays the bug being squashed for good and it allows it to live on (and transform in perpetuity).
        
        That, at least, is why everyone is putting the UK (and other high risk countries) in the doghouse.
      - Hilton query guy says:
        
        29 Jun29 June 00:27
        
        It won’t ever get squashed for good.
        
        Do you hope (next year) to squash out influenza, measles, mumps, rubella etc?
        
        I thought not.
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      29 Jun29 June 00:27
      
      The over 50’s and the under 50’s at risk (obese etc) are protected with 2 jabs. The rest were never really at risk of ending up in hospital anyway but many have had 1 jab if not both for extra measure.
      - Hilton query guy says:
        
        29 Jun29 June 00:35
        
        I deliberately lost 5 kgs in the last 10 days (didn’t eat more than a few cherries and yoghurt but I know my beer was fattening).
        
        No hunger pangs. I did it to lose a couple of kilos round the liver, I guess.
      - Hilton query guy says:
        
        29 Jun29 June 00:44
        
        I wrote to Daily Mail telling them to use kgs and Celsius in future, I don’t care if they also use the old empire measurements for their older readers – just pls use modern measurements for the rest of us. And I’m nearly 60, I got taught the modern measurements 45 years ago.
        
        They said OK.
- David says:
  
  29 Jun29 June 00:22
  
  Or mixing in schools.
- David says:
  
  29 Jun29 June 00:24
  
  Sadly, some people here can’t seem to understand such logic and common sense, Harry.
  - David says:
    
    29 Jun29 June 00:24
    
    George, even