The HfP chat thread – Sunday 4th July

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• Algor says:

  4 Jul4 July 04:29

  Received notification about expiry of M&M miles in September from award wallet.

  @Rob
  Is the new credit card on the horizon or should we start burning what we have?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    4 Jul4 July 07:44

    Did you have the recent diners club double pack? Expiry was suspended til after 31/12/21

    • Algor says:

      4 Jul4 July 09:59

      I had the double pack, I knew the expiry is far and banked on new product so didn’t bother following it up.

  • Mouse says:

    4 Jul4 July 08:01

    Check yesterday’s chat for Ron’s comments on this

    • Mouse says:

      4 Jul4 July 08:02

      *Rob

    • Joints&Piles says:

      4 Jul4 July 10:08

      To save others the time, this is what Rob said on Friday:

      “Ex-M&M credit card holders are protected until 31/12 so you can ignore AW for now. Looking less likely that we will see a new card, if I’m honest.

      I am not too concerned. Most of my miles were earned in the last two years, so even if expiry kicks in again I will have some time to get bookings in.

      LH seems to have closed the loophole whereby you could book a reward flight, get the miles back and not have them expire until the next quarter end (eg you could book with some miles which expired 31/12, cancel the flight on 1st January and the miles would come back, not re-expiring until 31st March. Rinse and repeat.) It looks like miles from cancelled flights which have expired now disappear instantly.”

  • Rob says:

    4 Jul4 July 09:46

    No sign of new card but no rush to burn either.

    • Algor says:

      4 Jul4 July 10:02

      Good to know thanks.

      It would hurt to burn precious miles on some gift cards as M&M always represented fantastic value.

    • Joints&Piles says:

      4 Jul4 July 10:22

      The rush to burn depends on when you earned your miles.

      Probably plenty of people who have miles from August 2018 when Hilton were giving them away. They will expire after 31st December. 40k of those for me.

      There’s also the 10k sign-up bonus from the Diners Club card which came out towards the end of 2018.

      With 60k of my balance due to expire I’ll be looking to make a booking (as far out as possible to minimise potential covid-related disruptions).

      I did the superb 747 in F including the Frankfurt F terminal, Porsche transfers, rubber duckies and caviar.

      After that, what is the best M&M redemption if what you’re looking for is a brilliant experience for the sake of the experience, wherever that takes you? If you could book any M&M award flight, what’s top of your list?

      • Rob says:

        4 Jul4 July 10:56

        Fair enough. I was thinking from the perspective of someone who ONLY had miles from the credit card.

        • Blair says:

          4 Jul4 July 13:52

          I’m seeing miles expiry in September in the M&M app despite being a former cardholder. So both AW and M&M themselves are not paying regard to the protection currently in place. I look forward to my call to M&M with dread.

• Swiss Jim says:

  4 Jul4 July 06:47

  Even small Che top ups being declined this morning. Guess I’ll cross my fingers again and wait it out. Usually comes back. Anyone else? Via Solihill.

  • Duncan Stevenson-Price says:

    4 Jul4 July 07:49

    This has baffled me for a while… is there somewhere I can learn about the cryptic / coded terms I see used daily in the comments here? Bendy I think I can work out… beardy, Che, solihull etc. have me stumped. I need a glossary!

    • VerdantBacon says:

      4 Jul4 July 08:10

      Bendy is Curve, Beardy is Virgin, Che is Revolut, Solihull is IHG. Writings on the wall for most of these MS opportunities.

    • Ian W says:

      4 Jul4 July 08:11

      I agree. To me this idea of talking in code is a bit childish, like being part of a playground gang. But if it makes some people feel special, hey!
      Anyway, this is my thoughts:-
      Bendy – curve
      Beardy- virgin
      Solihull – creation
      Che – revolution

      • Amy carpenter says:

        4 Jul4 July 08:37

        Thanks for asking, it’s irritated me a bit myself as feels cliquey and exclusive. I also didn’t want to annoy anyone by constantly asking what these code words meant. Least I’m now a little more enlightened. 🙂

      • Claire says:

        4 Jul4 July 09:48

        Isnt the code to 1) prevent the companies coming across our little tricks and 2) to stop people googling it and then too many people doing the little tricks and the little tricks getting shut down? I just thought people were concerned with the word spreading on certain things – especially certain things that used to be outside of the ts & cs however in some circumstances are now allowed albeit for a fee!

      • Harry T says:

        4 Jul4 July 10:10

        It’s not intended to be childish, it’s intended to prevent the comments being easily searchable by companies who might wish to block MS activity. Also, if people can’t deduce what Che is, I don’t think they will last very long in the MS game. Not trying to be rude, but this isn’t rocket science!

        • Duncan Stevenson-Price says:

          4 Jul4 July 12:03

          I don’t ‘do’ MS (I don’t even know what that stands for, honestly). I just see the comments and was curious what everyone was talking about.

          Apologies for spoiling the fun…

        • Lady London says:

          4 Jul4 July 15:09

          +1

    • Mouse says:

      4 Jul4 July 08:12

      Beardy and Che are used interchangeably – both refer to Corbyn Bank, the fintech startup from the Marxist-turned-capitalist former Labour leader. No idea on Solihull, sorry.

  • Anna says:

    4 Jul4 July 07:58

    I’m thinking there might be something going on with limits again as I don’t seem to be able to do more than £1k on each of our (premium) solihulls. On Wednesday a week will have passed so I’ll try again and see what happens.

    • Pid says:

      4 Jul4 July 08:16

      Did 3000 last night on the premium and went straight through. Need to maximise in case it ends next month!

      • Yuff says:

        4 Jul4 July 10:33

        My Solihull has not worked on my che for weeks however it works on Mrs Yuff’s che and I just transfer it across to my Che as I have unlimited fx transactions, I probably should contact Solihull but i did put quite a lot through last month.

  • Reney says:

    4 Jul4 July 16:56

    my 2FA is still not popping up, so generally anything more than 2FA limit does not get through. Occasionally it lets one through but not today.

• Tazzy says:

  4 Jul4 July 06:58

  Any thoughts on when Austria will allow U.K. arrivals? I thought it was to be reviewed 1/7 but I can’t see any updated info yet!

  • GeorgeJ says:

    4 Jul4 July 10:04

    It was reviewed, currently no UK entry (unless exempt categories or EU EEA citizens) until after 31 August.
    The flight ban expired @ 1/7 and was replaced by an updated personnel ban.

• SteveJ says:

  4 Jul4 July 07:15

  IHG Rewards Booking Cancellation: Have IHG changed their cancellation policy?

  I have points bookings where the email from them states free cancellation if cancelled a week before, but on my booking online it now states free cancellation upto 4pm on the check-in day.

  Obviously I’ll happily take the additional flexibility, but don’t want to be stung if the policy online is wrong, though have taken screenshots (for info right now I don’t need to cancel, this is all theoretical).

  • Andrew says:

    4 Jul4 July 07:30

    I thought points bookings were always cancellable up 4pm on the day of arrival?

    • SteveJ says:

      4 Jul4 July 07:31

      So did initially but my confirmation email said otherwise, maybe that email is the mistake in all of this?

      There is an option to re-email the confirmation on IHG, which I have done, and the new emails now mirror the site (cancelable upto 4pm on the day).

  • BP says:

    4 Jul4 July 07:31

    I cancelled a reward booking at 2pm last weekend. The points didn’t automatically get returned but no problems getting them after I emailed the hotel.

    Cancelled another rewards booking at 15:50 yesterday. A bit cheeky as it was multiple consecutive bookings and I’d used the room up until when I cancelled. Let’s see if they say anything about that when I ask for my points back.

    • Andrew Mc says:

      4 Jul4 July 07:53

      So you had checked in, used the room, and then cancelled at 15:50. Too right that that’s a bit cheeky. Wholly against the spirit, if not the letter, of the cancellation terms. Will be surprised if they give you your points back on that one!

      • TGLoyalty says:

        4 Jul4 July 08:18

        BP had checked in a night or nights (consecutive single night bookings)

      • Pid says:

        4 Jul4 July 08:19

        Not really if it was a multiple reward night booking so he was there the night before. Just like a late check out. It would be up for he hotel to refund and if they do not probably not worth arguing.

    • High Grade says:

      4 Jul4 July 10:06

      Doing things like this (taking the piss) makes hotels tighten up their policies. This ultimately makes things more restrictive for the rest of us.
      If I were the hotel I wouldn’t refund you. Check out is normally well before 15.50 so by keeping the room you had in theory checked in for that night.
      Why did you wait until 15.50 to cancel? Was it just to get you a late check out?

      • BP says:

        4 Jul4 July 10:39

        Was a change of plan. I intended to use the room until midnight. Plans changed and I only needed it till 4pm. I settled my bill for the previous nights at 2pm then cancelled the next night and left just before 4pm.

        I’m well aware it’s taking the p*** but I thought there’s no harm in trying! I’ll likely get the points back as I doubt the hotel will have processes to tie all of this together.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        4 Jul4 July 10:44

        Is it? I get 4pm on lots of my hotel stays

        • BP says:

          4 Jul4 July 14:40

          A little as I didn’t ask for 4pm checkout. They have kindly deposited the welcome amenity points for the night I cancelled!

  • Craig says:

    4 Jul4 July 07:47

    Different hotels can set their own cancellation policies for points bookings. Some are 4pm the day of arrival, some 2 days before and the odd one, Times Square New Years Eve etc, are non-refundable.

    • SteveJ says:

      4 Jul4 July 07:52

      Agreed, though this is the same booking and I now have on file two emails, the original stating 7 days cancellation and a re-send stating day of check-in cancellation

      • Craig says:

        4 Jul4 July 07:56

        I think they could enforce the original booking policy but would be unlikely to, if in doubt contact the hotel unless risking it suits you of course?

        • SteveJ says:

          4 Jul4 July 08:01

          Honestly, I have no intention of cancelling unless those dates are a washout (which is very possible). And in that case judging the weather a day before is much easier than a week before! I’ll ride my luck and rely on the more flexible policy as now have emails on file quoting said policy, feel confident they’d honour it.

  • John says:

    4 Jul4 July 11:10

    The cancellation policy on points is up to the hotel and you should always check it. Sometimes at very busy events points bookings are not cancellable at all. And worse if you don’t turn up the penalty is to pay the rack rate for that night, not just lose the points. (May not be enforceable in court but depends on the legal system of that country.)

• Vit says:

  4 Jul4 July 07:38

  Just to double check please that Sainsbury GC cannot be used at its petrol station? I normally don’t shop there but would like to make use of the 10% cb on mbna. Thank you.

  • Andrew M says:

    4 Jul4 July 09:14

    I checked the Sainsburys GC T@Cs on their website yesterday. Unfortunately GCs cannot be used in their petrol stations. Has anyone found Amazon GCs in Sainsburys? The branch I visited yesterday had none and no place for them either.

    • Doog1000 says:

      4 Jul4 July 10:23

      they can be used in petrol stations as have done so myself

  • Rui N. says:

    4 Jul4 July 10:45

    If they were bought in a sainsburys supermarket they CAN be used on a petrol station. If the attendant tells you otherwise, tell them to try anyway and it will work. Gift cards from employer’s perks do not work on petrol stations, only on the supermarket itself.

    • Andrew M says:

      4 Jul4 July 10:55

      Glad to hear it works in practice. The T&Cs say it shouldn’t work though.

      https://help.sainsburys.co.uk/help/products/about-sainsburys-giftcard

      Exclusions:
      Sainsbury’s Gift Cards and eGift Card can be used to purchase most products at Sainsbury’s. As part of our Terms and Conditions, the following products and categories cannot be purchased with a Sainsbury’s Gift Card or eGift Card:

      Branded Gift Cards
      All lottery related products
      PayPoint products and services
      Stage 1 Infant Formula milk
      Tobacco and related products
      Postage stamps
      All in store concessions
      Petrol and Diesel
      Mobile phone top ups
      Online delivery charges
      Travel Money

      • Rui N. says:

        4 Jul4 July 11:00

        They also work on Stage 1 Infant Formula milk 🙂

      • TGLoyalty says:

        4 Jul4 July 11:35

        I guarantee you that everything apart from paypoint and travel money works.

        • Andrew M says:

          4 Jul4 July 11:43

          Good to hear. I’ll probably pick up £300 in Sainsburys cards to max the MBNA offer, unless I can find Amazon cards in a branch.

        • Rui N. says:

          4 Jul4 July 12:42

          @Andrew M, yes that’s what I do when I have such offers on my Lloyds account: buy a gift card and use it for fuel (for regular Sainsbury shopping I get 4-6% on Perkbox, and can even use Amex to reload the gift card).
          Don’t quote me on this, but I think that Sainsburys don’t sell Amazon gift cards.

  • Vit says:

    4 Jul4 July 21:33

    Thanks everyone for the confirmation. Will max. out the £300 for fuel as running out on Morrisons ones.

• Travel Strong says:

  4 Jul4 July 07:59

  Gibraltar HIX mini-review:

  Although open for a couple of years now – it could easily be brand new. My room cannot of seen that many people through it, but YMMV. Excellent bed, excellent air con, totally silent – never heard a peep from any other room and its near full occupancy.

  Given double drinks vouchers on check in (“as spire and first time staying with us”). Vouchers were also good for large free pour doubles.

  Breakfast is complimentary for all, buffet format with big selection – at least 80% of what you’d get at a full service hilton breakfast pre-covid (and the other 20% such as smoked salmon, still available cooked to order – but not part of the buffet).

  Personally, I love the location as it is less than 10 mins to ocean village, casemates square, or the beaches on the east side – with grocery shops literally next door (which is a plus point compared to other options). We used to stay in an airbnb close by for the same reasons. However – it is on a main road so certainly less kerb appeal than the other options.

  HIX is a smaller room, so quite close quarters and not much room to spread out. Sunborn rooms probably have twice as much space overall, for example… but the sunborn is also at least twice the price!

  Overall, whether staying on points or paying cash (typical rate of ~£110) – it’s a good deal.

  When staying for longer, I would mix it up and spend some time elsewhere too (e.g. Rock and HIX), this is what i’ll be doing next time. However I also have several more 3-night trips in the next 12 months – and i’ll be keeping my points bookings at the HIX for all of them!

  • Anna says:

    4 Jul4 July 08:05

    Thanks, this is really good to know! Gib is still our back up option if TFS doesn’t come off (Spain might decide to ban unvaccinated teenagers or Tenerife could even go on the red list if things get much worse, it’s not looking great there from news reports of the last few days).

  • Wally1976 says:

    4 Jul4 July 10:45

    Thanks; looking forward to our 3 night stay in February 2022 which was postponed from February 2021 all being well (don’t assume anything anymore!).

  • John says:

    4 Jul4 July 11:12

    Interesting. Paid £66 in November 2019, yes it’s new but was quite dirty, noisy, no vouchers, breakfast mostly like a UK HIX nothing like a Hilton.

  • Tracey says:

    4 Jul4 July 13:28

    Still think the location is awful. May be 10 minutes walk from casement square, but it’s a lot farther from the smarter wharfside and from the cable car and botanical gardens.

    Staying more centrally eg The Elliott, gives you a central location, where you can walk to just about anywhere and a rooftop pool and sun deck.

• Anna says:

  4 Jul4 July 08:02

  Morning all. Do we think there won’t be any more travel announcements until the 15th now? Just considering whether to book the OH a back up flight home from TFS a couple of days early in case they don’t change the quarantine rules for amber he has to do day 5 test to release before he absolutely has to be back in the office.

  • Andrew says:

    4 Jul4 July 08:14

    I think we can expect to hear more next week on plans for the easing of Amber quarantine for double vaccinated, whether there is a specific date attached to that I’m not sure, but I think it will be mentioned in the plans for the 19th next week.

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    4 Jul4 July 08:27

    Ryanair are 19.99 euros TFS to Man almost all July – so cheap insurance. Buy your baggage later if needed.

    Not much use for cancellations, think it needs to be a week in advance, or something like that.

    BA have Avios flights on 16 and 18, with their 24 hours before cancellation or last minute FTV. Or cash BA with FTV.

    EasyJet are usually more expensive and no last minute cancellation.

    (All above on the cheap tickets)

    Treat it like insurance – gives you peace of mind!

    • Anna says:

      4 Jul4 July 08:35

      Thanks Colin, yes I’ve just seen TFS – MAN on Ryanair for £27 in August and the rest of us could bring back the luggage so it’s definitely a cheap insurance option.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    4 Jul4 July 08:31

    I have my doubts it’ll change at all. It was a carefully planted leak to get more people to turn up for jabs.

    The next review on travel rules is July 31st.

    Anyway more likely to just see Spain go green.

    • Anna says:

      4 Jul4 July 08:38

      Fingers crossed but they are having a lot of problems with rising infection rates which they are attributing to having eased their restrictions too soon and young Spaniards going to illegal raves and the like! The infection rate is currently 134 per 100k and rising.

      Multiple sources say the next travel review is July 15th though?

      • TGLoyalty says:

        4 Jul4 July 08:48

        That’s the next list review (every 3 weeks)

        Completely different to the travel restrictions review which is around what restrictions should be in place under what criteria etc.

• Saiz says:

  4 Jul4 July 08:16

  Thanks Lady London and Nick for you replies yesterday re BA cancelling all four of our CW tickets to Atlanta. I replied with the message below but it was sent for moderation and then the chat thread moved on. If someone could answer please.

  Do you recommend I wait and then rebook in late July as that way the situation with the Delta variant would be clearer and the 19th July decision too or is it better to call and just re route on the best available option as soon as possible?

  Are they flexible about letting you change the date too as I want to move it a week earlier now if allowed. Since they allow you to choose a different date online, hopefully it shouldn’t be an issue.

  • Nick says:

    4 Jul4 July 10:03

    You can rebook whenever you want – none of us can answer that for you, it depends how certain you are with your new itinerary. You only have one shot at invol rebooking (per disruption event), so if you rush to rebook now and then want to change again later it will become a voluntary change in line with your original fare rules, so as always ‘don’t panic and rush into something you might regret’ is the best advice I can give.

    In theory, their policy only allows a small change of up to 3 days if you’re changing the route as well, so a week won’t work. However, in practice they often waive this for the US unless it’s obviously an attempt to get around peak fares on busy days. As always with CS, being nice and friendly with them will get you a long way.

    • Lady London says:

      4 Jul4 July 15:02

      +1 wait.
      The US has enough volume of flights and different ways of getting there. So you should have availability even dealing with this late. The US is better also due to the JV which effectively means BA doesn’t lose any money by putting you on other JV members flights. You want AA as they will fly from London transatlantic whereas IB, AY, EI will also cost BA nothing but risky for you due to covid possibly changing rules for transiting through those other airlines’ home hub airports in Europe. So for US I’d listen to Nick and wait till I was sure

  • Ikaz says:

    4 Jul4 July 10:16

    If you rebook now, you might be able to get a better route if it sells out (not sure if flights are selling out currently)
    If you wait, you can cancel for free and have more time to find the best route
    I have been waiting for my flights (and have at least 8 flights that are in suspense now following cancellations, some of them I will ask a refund, others I will reroute when I klam certain that I can fly)

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