The HfP chat thread – Saturday 10th July

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• John says:

  10 Jul10 July 12:24

  I do not appear to have received the email from Virgin Atlantic credit card re the changes everyone has been talking about regarding what I believe relates to “manufactured spend”.
  Can anyone provide details and more importantly date it comes into force.
  Thanks in advance.

  • Gary says:

    10 Jul10 July 12:35

    Comes into effect 5 Aug

    “We’re updating the definition of a Cash Advance. This still includes cash you withdraw using your credit card and buying foreign currency or traveller’s cheques – but we’ve made it clear that a Cash Advance also includes:

    gambling transactions and spread betting.
    international money transfers.
    paying off other borrowing (like making a payment towards a loan or mortgage or using your card to pay another credit card instead of doing a Balance Transfer).
    adding money to a prepaid card, virtual card or e-money account.
    investment activity – this includes binary trading, share trading and adding money to an investment account.”

    • John says:

      10 Jul10 July 13:00

      Thanks

    • Princess says:

      10 Jul10 July 16:17

      So I’m guessing it will not be possible to use under curve (black) to pay Amex?

      • Zoe says:

        10 Jul10 July 17:05

        I’m confused, I thought that stopped working about 6/9 months ago? I’m sure I didn’t stop doing it for no reason…

        • ash says:

          11 Jul11 July 00:31

          i dont use it but you can use it with IHG credit card

      • The Urbanite says:

        11 Jul11 July 03:16

        It will work with Curve to pay off Amex, you’ll just be charged a cash advance fee and get no points.

• Kevin C says:

  10 Jul10 July 13:06

  An Uber Eats code that may or may not work for you. FINAL50. 50% off groceries at selected stores. Up to a maximum of £16. Valid for two uses. May well be targeted.

• Ian. says:

  10 Jul10 July 13:13

  Hi, I have a booking to SFO that has been changed 3 times, originally from June 2020.
  It is on a 2-4-1 that should have expired originally in Aug 2020 but has been extended to Feb 22.
  I want to change the booking again for May/June 2022.
  Should I:-
  a. Call Executive Club. Will they make the change even though the 241 will have expired by that time?
  b. Cancel and request a FTV, this should then extend the 241 until 2023. Then call EC to make the booking for June 2022.

  If option b, how long does it take for the FTV to be created?

  thanks in advance.

  • Keely says:

    10 Jul10 July 16:14

    I think you’ll have to request the FTV first. In my experience it takes less than 5 mins to come through . You then have to call Exec club back to apply the FTV. Annoyingly they won’t do this in one transaction whilst you are on the phone …

  • Matt says:

    10 Jul10 July 20:37

    If they have changed the booking and you haven’t accepted the alternative then they should move you to whatever date you want – you might run into problems of ticket validity though given how long ago you booked. If you have accepted changes then FTV is the way forward

• Amy says:

  10 Jul10 July 13:31

  Apologies if this has been beaten to death already. But does the BP offer works with gift cards, and what gift cards are available in the BP stations?
  TIA.

  • Peter K says:

    10 Jul10 July 13:32

    Someone on here said yes it worked for them. Gift cards will depend on the individual garage I’d imagine.

    • Jonathan says:

      10 Jul10 July 18:45

      The nearest BP where I live has a very poor selection of gift cards. I’ll have to try a garage further away, but won’t go there for that reason alone

• Zoe says:

  10 Jul10 July 13:35

  We tend to book car hire for Spain using Holiday Autos, it all seems pretty expensive this year. We are going for a week next Wednesday and I decided to check Expedia, £100 less for the same car and provider. I can see free cancellation is only until 48 hours before. Anything else to care about before I use them instead? As usual thanks everyone for your collective wisdom.

  • Sam G says:

    10 Jul10 July 13:48

    Just check it’s like for like – e.g. fuel policy, included miles etc but otherwise go for it. I’ve noticed that the prices are all over the place this year so it’s worth keeping an eye and cancel/rebook if you can get it cheaper

    • Toby says:

      10 Jul10 July 14:07

      Also check BA car hire, sometimes v well priced. I tend to find autoeurope prices up well.

      I’ve found, oddly, big differences if you shift drop off and pick up in hour hour increments. The market is v weird right now…

  • Aliks says:

    10 Jul10 July 19:02

    Compare with rentalcars.com

    I think the ownership of these aggregators changes over time, so its always worth doing a random google search on car hire every now and then to see whats new.

  • Clive says:

    10 Jul10 July 19:46

    QEEP is another good engine to search

    • Clive says:

      10 Jul10 July 19:47

      Sorry that should be QEEQ

  • Will says:

    10 Jul10 July 21:40

    I just did a rental in majorca, carjet were the cheapest by a long way. I also saved a fortune by not booking the car until my negative covid test came back, it was the day before I left and prices were half what I was being quoted 2 days prior.

  • Lottie says:

    10 Jul10 July 22:32

    We just arrived in Minorca and by chance noticed that moving the car from Saturday to Sunday was about £110 cheaper. So maybe worth moving times slightly as Toby said the market is wierd ..

• TJ says:

  10 Jul10 July 13:44

  Just about to jump ship from EE to Three – primarily for the roaming service – but discovered that Three’s Go Roam service is not your typical roaming service. Yes it is free for data and calls back to the UK, but if you are making a local call in one of the Go Roam countries (e.g. calling restaurants, hotels, etc) you will be charged. You can use Skype, etc but that’s a bit of a faff in my opinion. I don’t believe the other major providers operate this way, i.e. if you are in Spain you can call/text any Spanish number or EU number for free. Back to the drawing board for me I think!

  • Tim says:

    10 Jul10 July 13:57

    I had no clue EE allowed calling and texting within the country you’re in. That’s clearly very good. Not sure even Vodafone have that do they?

    The draw of Three and Vodafone roaming for me is the countries that are included that aren’t in Europe. EE charges silly amounts compared to these two from my understanding?

    • ChasP says:

      10 Jul10 July 14:03

      Three includes USA roaming – and they didn’t use to charge for in USA local calls – if/when we can travel again I’ll see if its changed

      • TJ says:

        10 Jul10 July 14:13

        Can’t speak for legacy Three contracts, but their website states £1.40 per minute now if you call a US number from within the USA.

      • Jody says:

        10 Jul10 July 15:16

        Pretty sure we had the same with Three – no charge for calls abroad.

        • Jody says:

          10 Jul10 July 15:19

          Also, a quick google brought up on the three website – With Go Roam in Europe you can use your allowances to call and text back to the UK and use your data, (up to our fair use limit) as well as make calls and send texts between our Go Roam in Europe destinations, and it won’t cost you a penny more – fair use policy applies. If you don’t have any allowance left, you’ll also benefit from competitive roaming rates.

          If you’re travelling to one of our Go Roam Around the World destinations, you can also use your allowances to call and text the UK, and use your data, at no extra cost (up to our fair use limit).

          Seems fairly clear?

    • TJ says:

      10 Jul10 July 14:18

      Currently EE, O2 and Voda do not charge for calls/texts made in the EU whilst in an EU country as far as I can see. Only Three seems to have this exclusion. EE’s policy on roaming charges is fundamentally changing from January as has been well documented in the media recently. Most likely, the others will follow.

  • Rui N. says:

    10 Jul10 July 14:15

    That’s not how roaming usually operates at all. Your phone works in Spain like it works at home, ie, if you call a Spanish number that’s an international call. If EE worked that way, they are the “not usual” ones.

  • the_real_a says:

    10 Jul10 July 14:58

    Three roaming is not what you think either. It is very location dependent however your priority on the roaming network is at the bottom of the pile. New York was unusable. Hong Kong was unusable. Most of the canaries were unusable. If the network demand is low then of course speed will be ok – but go with an expectation of buying a local sim.

    • Tim says:

      10 Jul10 July 15:11

      If I connected a dodgy fifteenth carrier in the US or Asia I manually changed the carrier in Settings to get a more useful signal. Was never charged for doing so. Maybe got lucky!

    • John says:

      10 Jul10 July 18:26

      Why did you experience hk to be unusable? Three is a big network in HK and worked well for me, cheaper than my local hk sim for data

      • the_real_a says:

        11 Jul11 July 13:43

        In Mong kok where i like to stay it was down to 0.1mbps during the day, however at 2am it was an acceptable 5mbps. Same in the business district near the apple store at 4pm ish. Down to 0.5mbps. Had to buy the tourist sim in the end. Got 15mbps more or less everywhere all the time. This was pre covid and i appreciate networks are improving all the time. But i wouldn’t personally take the risk.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    10 Jul10 July 16:44

    My understanding of Vodafone was it’s your tariff at home but you can use abroad in these countries. Ie If you have a certain number of free international mins then that would be included otherwise it’s chargeable

  • Oh! Matron says:

    11 Jul11 July 10:15

    Let’s not be too hasty; have you considered a local operator’s sim? Most new iPhones have esim capability, meaning that you can have both your physical three sim for regular roaming, then a local esim whilst in country. I tested this out a couple of years ago in the US with three and T-Mobile. Worked a treat

• Olver says:

  10 Jul10 July 14:11

  Can you transfer MR/Avios points from 1 account to the other?

  • Rob says:

    10 Jul10 July 14:18

    No. Obviously with Avios you can form a household account with the other person though to share your joint pot.

    • Andrew says:

      10 Jul10 July 15:14

      BA Gold members can transfer Avios to others free of charge.

• Prune says:

  10 Jul10 July 14:34

  Sorry to ask this again but just need a little reassurance. I have booked 2 rooms at the Westin in Malta for 8 days for 2 adults /2 children and 1 adult/1 child. My initial email reflects this booking but the app reservation just shows 2 per room (missing 2 children). I haven’t queried this with them as the prices have shot up. When I get there there is obviously going to be an interesting discussion about this. How has this panned out for others in the same position. Have you had to pay more or have they honoured the original booking / email?

  • Aristeides says:

    10 Jul10 July 18:30

    I think I responded to you original comment. I am in precisely the same position as you. However, I am unconcerned as, like you, I have the original booking email confirmation which shows the exact size of the party (ie 2 adults, 2 children). It isn’t going to be a long conversation so I am not worried. I am checking in on 14 Aug so can’t verify until then, but the hotel cannot possible renege on the booking I have made and that they have confirmed back to me in writing.

    • prune says:

      10 Jul10 July 19:30

      i will let you know how i get on next week

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