The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 7th July

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Anna says:

7 Jul7 July 07:26

Posted last night but the media is now leaking that July 19th will be the date beyond which the double jabbed won’t have to self-isolate on return from an amber country.
Still minimum 2 tests (pre-departure and day 2) so plenty of profit for the chums. This could easily be replaced with daily lateral flow tests but where’s the money in that?!
- Andrew says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 07:31
  
  Why does the government want companies to make money out of it? It’s about accuracy and validity of tests. The system where you take a NHS LFT at home and then upload whatever result you want to the app is totally pointless.
  - Paul says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 07:32
    
    Because it pays back the cronies and those who support them.
  - Anna says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 07:36
    
    But this is what they are proposing to replace self-isolation following test and trace notifications unless I’ve got that wrong? And in that scenario you know you’ve been in contact with an infected person.
    - Anna says:
      
      7 Jul7 July 07:38
      
      That was to Andrew – also we know that the price of tests is vastly over-inflated in this country so validity and accuracy are not the principal motivators here!
  - BJ says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 07:39
    
    I guess the same reason why a very senior government minister wanted rule changes to allow a major pizza chain to open outlets close to every hight school in England.
  - meta says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 07:40
    
    But same with home PCR tests. Anyone can take it instead of you, swab a little, put it under water or whatever. PCR test accuracy is not that great either. About 70% only.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 08:14
    
    Yet you can take an LFT at any random test centre abroad and then order a day 2 test at home and have it shoved up anyone’s nose …
- Andrew says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 07:43
  
  Probably best to keep the 10 day home quarantine then.
- JRC says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 08:23
  
  I think this clearly means the end of track and trace. I still don’t understand why the govt couldn’t have waited 6 weeks when 85-90% of population would have been double jabbed. Pfizer prevents 96% of hospitalisation after 2 jabs but about 75% for one jab. There’s still 12 million people who have only had 1 jab! Some clever bod on here can prob do the math on hospital cases but I’m sure it will be significant.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 08:25
    
    You understand that there is far less chance the 12m that are left even even up in hospital.
    
    This obsession with vaccinated status is unbelievable.
  - Anna says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 08:58
    
    You’re confusing track & trace with returning from abroad. The former IS waiting 6 weeks, it’s not coming in until August 16th.
- fivebobbill says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 10:45
  
  100% Anna, I came back from an Amber country 3 weeks ago, none of my 3 pals had a day 8 test booked nor paid for, they did their own free NHS ones regularly instead. You are told to pre-pay so they can get the £££££ out of you before you go, once we were home, nobody checked, nobody cared. It’s all about the £££££
  - r* says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 12:15
    
    so what reference did you have on the plf?
    
    if you have a day 2 from one company and a day 8 from another, is there room for both reference numbers?
    - fivebobbill says:
      
      7 Jul7 July 13:33
      
      You only need one reference number on the form, regardless of how many tests booked, and in my experience it doesn’t even have to match! You could stick your DOB down as a ref and it would still be accepted.
      I keep telling people, just do a dummy run on the UK PLF and see for yourself! It’s a con!
    - Aaron says:
      
      7 Jul7 July 16:31
      
      I posted about this yesterday. There is no facility on the PLF to input 2 different numbers. I do not believe there is any way to check if people have booked the tests let alone taken them. I wouldn’t risk breaking the rules but if you were so inclined you could put any number for the reference as there is clearly no dynamic check between the PLF and the testing provider.
Marko says:

7 Jul7 July 07:55

I booked a ticket with BA in F using a collection of vouchers I got last year – if they cancel the flight, will I get a cash refund? Is there any other way to extract the money as cash? Got almost 3k stuck with them.
- Anna says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 08:00
  
  Presumably the vouchers were all cash, so yes, if the flight gets cancelled you would be entitled to refund of whatever you’d paid in cash.
- Reeferman says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 09:16
  
  I had a similar situation -albeit for a much lesser voucher amount.
  On the phone, the agent refused to refund the voucher element as cash – only another voucher.
  On the recommendation of others here, I contact BA via Twitter and, eventually, the voucher element did turn-up as cash – it arrived about 1 week after the cash portion, but it did arrive.
Mark says:

7 Jul7 July 07:56

Hi. Just wondered if anyone has managed to use an Intercontinental AMB free night voucher to book a kimpton in 2022? Asked Rob and he seemed to think it was currently only available as an option until the end of 2021 but thought I would check in case anyone has managed to use it…thanks!
- Anna says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 08:02
  
  Have you tried to make a booking via IHG.com? That’s the only way you would find out if it would work!
  - meta says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 08:05
    
    Doesn’t work. I tried about a month ago.
- Benilyn says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 08:13
  
  Email hotel and see what they say
John Caribbean says:

7 Jul7 July 08:09

Hi. I asked yesterday but possibly got lost at the bottom of a page. I earned a companion voucher mid June. It hasn’t arrived in my BA account, but amex say they issued it. I haven’t received any email about it. Can BA resolve, or is it actually an Amex issue?
- Anna says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 09:00
  
  Have you had one previously so you definitely know it’s not where it should be?
  - John Caribbean says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 09:22
    
    Hi Anna, yeah a few. Can see an unused one in my account, and my previous used ones. Also double checked against my email to see that I’d (for previous ones) got an email telling me I had it from BA that I don’t have this time
    - Anna says:
      
      7 Jul7 July 12:39
      
      That is weird then, I’d send BA a message via Twitter and ask who needs to look into this. Do you have a HHA where the voucher have accidentally been applied to another member?
      I’ve never had an email about a 241 from either Amex or BA, but it does says on your BAPP account when it’s been triggered so that’s normally what I go off.
      - John Caribbean says:
        
        7 Jul7 July 14:27
        
        Thanks Anna. Message in to Twitter yesterday, but they’re not responding so email only. I’ll give it a few days
Eric the Half a Bee says:

7 Jul7 July 08:11

Qatar 787-9 new Qsuite – NonstopDan (if you can tolerate his style) has posted a review on YT. While not as impressive as the original Qsuite, looks like a thoroughly decent product.
(Unable to post a link on here apparently)
- Andrew says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 08:14
  
  I think it looks a nice product from the review – better than Club Suite obviously but not quite as unique as QSuite, although I’m not a huge fan of QSuite and prefer the older seat on the 787/380, so this might work well for me.
- Benilyn says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 08:15
  
  Curious to see what Trek Trendy will say about NonstopDan today 🍿🍿🍿
- Eric the Half a Bee says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 08:24
  
  I love Qsuite, but find the actual seat/bed quite hard. 787/350 seat is more comfy for lounging and sleeping IMO.
  - Andrew says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 09:32
    
    Agree completely – I like the QSuite “room” but not the actual seat.
- The cyclist says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 11:22
  
  I really like Non Stop Dan, and Paul Lucas, not so keen on the bald ginger one with the tatooed wife.I forget his name.
Mark says:

7 Jul7 July 08:12

Going to Wimbledon for the first time this Saturday. Any tips? Should I get there pretty early? Check out the Amex lounge?
- Laura says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 08:28
  
  The queues look long for admission but pretty fast moving. Make sure you have your phone ready with the ticket and covid passport and photo ID to speed things up.
  
  Get one of the free radios from Amex. It’s a bit rubbish (mine kept picking up music from a different radio station) but it was useful when I was sat on the hill and they were showing two games and the audio wasn’t for the one I was interested in!
  
  Amex lounge was a bit underwhelming. I think I queued for about 30 mins, not worth queuing for longer than that. You get a free power bank on entry (some people got suncream too, but I didn’t. Perhaps determined by which Amex you have). Also a nice photograph overlooking the courts. You need your own camera for this but somebody is positioned to take the photo. Drinks and snacks available inside for the same price as elsewhere.
  I had absolutely no view over the grounds and no screens to watch anything on too. Honestly could have been sat anywhere, but worth it if you want a drink and a break from the sun.
  
  Make sure you take your own food and drinks! Prices aren’t too bad inside but not the best either. Wimbledon lets you take in your own alcohol. (I think it’s a bottle of wine or two beers or two cocktail cans). There’s an M&S food hall right be Southfields station which is very convenient.
  
  Good luck!
  - Rob says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 08:38
    
    There is NO queue if you know what you are doing. Everyone joins the queue for Gate 1 which runs for a few hundred metres because it is the first one you get to. There are loads of other gates further down if you walk past the line. There are even signs up telling you to do this.
    
    Be wary of the very tight rules on bag size if bringing in items.
    - Laura says:
      
      7 Jul7 July 08:57
      
      I did that too but still a bit of queue just to get down Wimbledon Park Road!
      
      I think I went in gate 3 which was fine after I got past the gate 1 bottleneck.
    - MW says:
      
      7 Jul7 July 09:47
      
      Depends when you arrive. Visited on two days this year and both times there were long queues at gates other than 1. Granted, I only walked as far as 7 and 5 on the respective days.
      - Ben W says:
        
        7 Jul7 July 20:12
        
        Gate 12 had no queue last Friday and is close to a ‘private hire’ drop-off point.
  - Mark says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 10:57
    
    Thank you!
Richie says:

7 Jul7 July 08:13

BBC News is reporting fast tracked arrivals trials for double vaccinated passengers at Heathrow. BA is apparently taking part, will they announce which flights this will apply to?
- Andrew says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 08:16
  
  The BBC News report you refer to has all the details:
  “The trial, due to start this weekend, will allow passengers who are fully vaccinated and are travelling on selected flights to Heathrow from Athens, Los Angeles, Montego Bay and New York to show proof of their vaccination status.“
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 08:18
    
    And then what happens ? Since there’s no special treatment at the border for the “fully vaccinated” it’s just a longer queue?
    
    This is getting ridiculous
  - Richie says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 08:40
    
    Are you assuming that’s all BA flights from Athens?
- marcw says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 09:09
  
  It’s a proof of concept trial – just to gather vaccination data and provide it to the Gov.
  
  “Participants will continue to adhere to current restrictions for travellers entering from ‘amber list’ countries during the trial period”
  
  You can read the whole BA press release here: https://mediacentre.britishairways.com/news/07072021/british-airways-virgin-atlantic-and-heathrow-launch-proving-trials-to-simplify-travel-rules-for-fully-vaccinated-customers?ref=News
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 10:06
    
    They did a trial of 100% testing to USA last year … here we are still banned
GaryE says:

7 Jul7 July 08:19

Can someone please remind me my options on the following – BA have cancelled my late morning flight (17 August to BHD) and have offered me the late afternoon flight which means I will miss my meeting. There is an early morning flight but they have not offered this option which would work for me.
Have done a Rewards Flight and paid on Avios and money (have loads of Avios and worked out at 0.8p rate) – can I insist they put me on the early morning flight which has availability.
- Stu N says:
  
  7 Jul7 July 08:25
  
  Yes, if BA have cancelled the flight then you can ask to be put on any other flight that is still running.
  
  If you’ve not done so already it’s worth a look at your options in Manage My Booking on both the Desktop and App version of the BA website as they can show different options. Failing that you’ll need to phone them but should be no hassle to sort.
  - GaryE says:
    
    7 Jul7 July 09:26
    
    If the alternative flight is on Aer Lingus do they still have an obligation to move me to this one. Aer Lingus flights not showing in MMB