The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 7th July

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

• BJ says:

  7 Jul7 July 11:48

  On the subject of mobiles: O2 Prioroty currently has 3 month free KindlenUnlimited. Expires Sunday 18 July. Vodafone Veryme has 6 months free Disvovery+ for those on contracts.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    7 Jul7 July 11:53

    Sky also offers 12 free months of Discovery+

  • BJ says:

    7 Jul7 July 11:56

    Welcome back then 🙂

• TGLoyalty says:

  7 Jul7 July 11:53

  Sturgeon backed down on her ridiculous ‘travel ban’ from the latest remaining part England from tomorrow.

  • BJ says:

    7 Jul7 July 11:58

    Huh, take 2, welcome back then 🙂

  • Anna says:

    7 Jul7 July 12:23

    At last! It’s just bizarre – there have been areas with higher infection rates than Blackburn with Darwen in England AND Scotland for the past few weeks but she has persisted with this ludicrous travel ban. To top it all, our MP is Scottish and has said absolutely nothing about it (not that she says much about anything).

    • BJ says:

      7 Jul7 July 12:52

      All down to the science advice I suspect. Enquiries will come and I think Edinburgh has stuck close to that advice throughout to cover their back. The rest will be blamed on Westminster because it makes good political sense for them as always, and because much of it is true, partly because of the bungling Tory government and partly because of limitations on devolution. That is not to say that Edinburgh are blamelessor tgey would have done better with more power, just that they can pass the buck on much of it. Regardless of the best efforts of the Tory press and opposition parties, the facts remain that most people in Scotland including those supporting other political parties believe that Edinburgh has handled the pandemic better than Westminster.

      • Andrew says:

        7 Jul7 July 13:31

        My parents are reasonably satisfied with the way the Sturgeon has acted in general, but family in general were very unhappy about the blunt tool of local authority areas.

        People living in the Highland region had 26,000sq km to roam in as they saw fit, whilst other areas only had 160sq km to roam in.

        Now there’s the issue that the Care Home deaths was deliberately suppressed by the Scottish Government until after the May elections.

        • Louise K says:

          7 Jul7 July 13:37

          Yes, and unspent WM money they’ve pocketed instead of dishing out to business.

        • BJ says:

          7 Jul7 July 14:25

          Yes, City of Edinburgh felt like prison, who’d ever have thought a day in Dalkeith was sonething to savour.

• Tomgold says:

  7 Jul7 July 12:09

  has anyone managed to use Europcar £1 one way car rental recently? When clicking ‘Pay now’ nothing happens

  • Rob says:

    7 Jul7 July 12:27

    Someone mentioned this in the comments the other day. To quote:

    “Off Topic : the Europcar 1£ oneway offers are back. I just managed to book it although there seem to be some IT issues around it, not sure if its my browser only (though I tried multiple ones plus mobile..) or its more than that.. First of all, I think if you try from non-UK IP-address an error is returned in the very first step when you attempt booking (I used my company laptop initially which is on VPN to Holland..). You can get through this easily however when booking from the UK. Then comes the difficulty with the payment, whatever card I tried, it doesn’t seem to go through for authorisation, as you click Pay Now just nothing happens. Eventually the system recognises the struggle and offers the option to send reminder via e-mail to complete booking. I tried that, clicked on the link and on the PC I had the exact same issue. But then I tried the link in mobile browser and that worked ok.. The oneway offer page doesn’t have a mobile version however so you can’t do the whole thing on that, only the last step if you already have a link with the booking details in it..”

    • Tomgold says:

      7 Jul7 July 22:56

      Many thanks for that Rob, tried it all to no avail.

• Sam G says:

  7 Jul7 July 12:19

  https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/phuket-reports-first-international-traveller-covid19-sandbox-15172620 – carted off to hospital with contacts put into hotel quarantine, does put you off planning any long / expensive trips if this could happen to you!

  • TGLoyalty says:

    7 Jul7 July 12:28

    Does the person even need hospital treatment? Talk about overkill for something which will be nothing but a cold for 99% of under 40’s and probably 99% of fully vaccinated over 40’s

    • Gavin says:

      7 Jul7 July 13:37

      As far as I can make out (please correct me if I’m wrong), everyone who tests positive in Thailand is compelled to be admitted to hospital or a private quarantine facility. It surely can’t be sustainable much longer if their cases keep increasing.

      • Sam G says:

        7 Jul7 July 15:42

        Yes this is correct, even asymptomatic

        • TGLoyalty says:

          7 Jul7 July 16:44

          Absolutely mental

• Anna says:

  7 Jul7 July 12:29

  Our NHS Covid vaccine letters have just landed on the mat (I am taking NO chances on being refused entry to anywhere this summer lol). It does specify the batch number of each AZ vaccine and has a unique bar code. They’ve taken 2/3 working days to arrive, so not bad.

  • Keely says:

    7 Jul7 July 12:37

    Mine too Anna. Shame about the batch numbers as we have the dreaded ‘unauthorised’ numbers! We are planning on taking a chance anyway – let’s see what happens at the airport….

  • BJ says:

    7 Jul7 July 12:55

    Except if you were in Scotland you could have had one of those six weeks ago.

    • JonD says:

      7 Jul7 July 13:05

      NHS England have had vaccine status and batch numbers on their app for several months now with QR code generation as well.

      Not clear how necessary the paper version is but possibly useful for travel to lower tech countries.

      • Keely says:

        7 Jul7 July 13:48

        Yeah , I was getting one to cover all bases . People had reported Malta wasn’t accepting the app . I think Anna was doing it for the same reasons as me ….tbh it feels a bit like a (rubbish) treasure hunt where you run around trying to find as many random things as possible in order to pass Go and avoid being sent to jail…..

        • Anna says:

          7 Jul7 July 14:15

          That’s exactly it! I nearly missed a flight once as we were queuing to board in a tunnel with no internet signal and I couldn’t access my boarding pass!

  • Sandgrounder says:

    7 Jul7 July 13:06

    You can also apply for the letter as soon as your jabs show online, I think the website tells you to wait two weeks but my experience it was issued after a request 2 days from 2nd.

  • Jody says:

    7 Jul7 July 13:18

    Is there an expiry date on the letter Anna? I know the pdf one you can generate from the app has an expiry of 30 days I believe?

    • MW says:

      7 Jul7 July 13:39

      No expiry, but does have the date of issue on it – I doubt they will be valid for more than 12 months from 2nd dose date without boosters but who knows…

  • MW says:

    7 Jul7 July 13:38

    Don’t count on them arriving in 2-3 days, mine took more than a week.

    People should order theirs 5 days after their 2nd vaccination, rather than wait till their trip!

• Grant says:

  7 Jul7 July 12:32

  Is there a trick to being able to manage your Raddison group reservations online? I have tried both searching for the reservation with the reference number, and clicking the button in My Bookings, both to no avail with a variety of error messages in response.

  • Andrew says:

    7 Jul7 July 13:01

    Hit and miss in my experience although I find the app *sometimes* gives better success.

    Customer service via email/web form are helpful – takes a couple of days for them to respond and keep a record of what you said as they don’t email you a copy.

  • Nigel W says:

    7 Jul7 July 15:53

    Likewise what Andrew said. I tried the website and it was playing up, used the app and it worked perfectly fine first time round!

  • Crafty says:

    12 Jul12 July 00:02

    There’s a known issue at the moment that relates to the splitting of the loyalty programme into two. No timeline for fixing.

• Chris says:

  7 Jul7 July 12:43

  Trying to cancel a future AVIOS booking, BA forces me to the apply for a voucher page, either an eVoucher or an FTV . Literally nowhere does it mention any other options.

  I thought the airlines all got their knuckles rapped for this last year? Is the only way to push for a cancellation refund to go via the call centre?

  • Babyg says:

    7 Jul7 July 13:09

    think avios has always been a ring up job, the ability to get a voucher online for avios is a bonus feature thanks to covidy times..

    • Gavin says:

      7 Jul7 July 13:40

      Pre-COVID you could cancel Avios bookings online and get it refunded instantly. For the moment, you have to phone.

      • Babyg says:

        7 Jul7 July 16:15

        ah didnt know… always did my avios changes online…. but good to know..

• Optimus Prime says:

  7 Jul7 July 13:11

  First Covid-infected tourist found in Phuket Sandbox.

  https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2144879/first-covid-infected-tourist-found-in-phuket-sandbox

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