The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 6th July

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• Clara says:

  6 Jul6 July 12:01

  A double points offer on Gold Card spend has just landed in my inbox, open to the first 55k subscribers.
  Up to 1000 extra points up to 6th Sept.

  • Harrier25 says:

    6 Jul6 July 12:18

    Discussed on page 2 of today’s chat.

• bafan says:

  6 Jul6 July 12:02

  Somebody (Simon maybe) was asking for an update for when I finally flew to Sweden. Express Test were fantastic in T2, very speedy and got the results through very quickly. For the same price as Qured it’s a no brained when departing. I have a Qured pack in my bag for the return.

  SAS check in was a total nightmare compared to anything I’ve experienced on BA, the flights to Stockholm and Oslo lumped together in one queue and everybody had a ton of bags (multiple people with 4+ bags). People who’d been waiting for longer than me were still waiting at 35 mins to departure to check in for Oslo so they began to prioritize them.

  Overall it took well over an hour to check in / drop my bag / get my test result verified. No online check in was available for flights to / from the UK.

  Saw quite a few people (at least 3 or 4) being denied for either having a UK passport and no reason for being an exception to the entry ban or for using NHS PCR tests.

  This has been more stressful than I anticipated. I was counting on lounge time and I barely made it in time. Flight is pleasant but they served my meal in SAS Plus and it wasn’t defrosted. Gave me a replacement which was a delicious shrimp salad and they’ve been doing coffee rounds throughout.

  I’ll stick to BA where possible in future, they’d just canceled my ARN flights so many times that I decided to try SK. Sorry if this post was too long 😂.

  • Cal says:

    6 Jul6 July 12:29

    Hey, thanks for posting.

    Was the express test same day anti gen or did you have a pcr the day before? Sweden immigration ok? I assume it was at LHR you saw people being denied?

    • bafan says:

      6 Jul6 July 13:06

      Yes I did same day Antigen Test, the testing booths are in Departures so you can take the test and then take a seat and wait for the result to come through. Yes I traveled from LHR. I think this is the first time traveling for a lot of people not being seen as an EU citizen. Swedish immigration was fine although they were asking about the purpose of travel and such for the first time ever. They really checked my test too 😂.

      • Venturelog says:

        6 Jul6 July 13:23

        Thank you for this Bafan, very useful information.
        Am I right in thinking they don’t accept the UK vaccine certificate?
        Is travelling via Iceland a loophole?

        • bafan says:

          6 Jul6 July 13:30

          They do not, they were only interested in my test result. Iceland I have no idea, thankfully I have the EU citizen passport option. Even people with UK passports who had exemptions to the entry ban seemed to take longer to check in. Hopefully this all gets harmonized once the NHS vaccine certificate is recognized by the EU and vice versa and it’ll get much easier.

  • The cyclist says:

    6 Jul6 July 13:07

    Not too long, very informative, always loving your posts.

    • bafan says:

      6 Jul6 July 13:31

      Thanks – I appreciate that. I try and write in the same way I look for answers – too much info rather than too little

• David D says:

  6 Jul6 July 12:11

  Data point: AA miles have now posted from the sweepstakes competition a while back, albeit I didn’t win too many. Any idea if these can be transferred to Avios?

  • AJA says:

    6 Jul6 July 12:20

    Well done! I didn’t enter because of the restriction on US residents only. I didn’t want to risk losing the AA miles I already have. As for transferring to Avios – don’t think that is possible directly although it might be possible via a hotel scheme (not good value though). Best route is to spend them on a BA operated flight (if you have enough).

    • meta says:

      6 Jul6 July 12:41

      This was discussed about a week or so ago when they posted… You can book BA flights and any oneworld world flights with AA miles. The best use is not on BA operated flights, but on AA and OW and airline partners such as Etihad as surcharges are minimal.

      • David D says:

        6 Jul6 July 12:45

        Cheers

• Venturelog says:

  6 Jul6 July 12:30

  With the Gold card additional 1 point offer, am I right in thinking this will be 3 points per £ for airlines & foreign fees?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    6 Jul6 July 12:31

    Yes

    • Youllnever says:

      6 Jul6 July 12:34

      and 4 points per £ through Amex Travel.

• Eligold says:

  6 Jul6 July 12:38

  Has anyone had any issues using a UK license for car rental in France since Brexit?

  • Rich says:

    6 Jul6 July 13:06

    Not France, but used mine in Portugal in May, no problem.

  • Babyg says:

    6 Jul6 July 13:19

    you can check here if you need an international driving permit
    https://www.gov.uk/driving-abroad/international-driving-permit

  • ACK says:

    6 Jul6 July 14:15

    UK license: no issues in Spain in April 2021 with car rental. Had no IDP of any kind.

  • Lady London says:

    6 Jul6 July 21:47

    There is officially no problem.

• mark2 says:

  6 Jul6 July 12:43

  Has anyone yet received the £10 statement credit when spending £30 at BP not on fuel please? I have discovered a BP station with an excellent M&S Foods (and wines).

  • Degsy says:

    6 Jul6 July 12:48

    I’ve not had the credit yet and I did spend it on fuel!

  • Tetly1967 says:

    6 Jul6 July 13:11

    I’ve not seen mine come through yet (spent on fuel)

  • TGLoyalty says:

    6 Jul6 July 13:18

    There’s nothing in the T&Cs to say it must be on fuel?

    Do you have the relevant line?

    • mark2 says:

      6 Jul6 July 14:04

      Exactly, it just says spend in store.
      I was just asking if this was what happened in practice, and apparently, no one can answer that question yet.

  • Sam says:

    6 Jul6 July 13:21

    Got mine on fuel from a BP in Crawley FWIW

  • SteveJ says:

    6 Jul6 July 13:21

    Got mine, spent on fuel. Spent £30 on 30th June, £10 tracked 3rd July

  • Gavin says:

    6 Jul6 July 14:35

    Only did the spend today, but it didn’t trigger an email unlike most offers. I did spend on fuel, but it wouldn’t make any difference. My BP is also an M&S foods and it all goes through the same system.

  • AD says:

    6 Jul6 July 19:58

    Hi mark2, I received the credit within 4 days, for spent on M&S foods at BP station

  • Tomgold says:

    7 Jul7 July 13:40

    I used it on fuel at a Moto station on the M62. doesn’t look like it triggered the offer and I truly don’t have patience to look through the very long list of Participating locations

• Grant says:

  6 Jul6 July 12:47

  Looking for pointers as to best rail stations near to the M25 on the line in to Waterloo. Need to be able to park and leave car for a couple of nights. Thanks

  • Mikeact says:

    6 Jul6 July 13:15

    Yourparkingspace.co.uk

  • Memesweeper says:

    6 Jul6 July 14:17

    Surbiton + JustPark

  • Gavin says:

    6 Jul6 July 14:39

    If you’re happy to park on the street, Ashtead station is very close to the M25 and there’s unrestricted street parking very close to the station. Train is about 45 minutes into Waterloo.

• mutley says:

  6 Jul6 July 13:08

  Feltham, Staines.

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