The HfP chat thread – Monday 12th July

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

We are running this daily chat thread on Head for Points during the coronavirus outbreak.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the de facto repository for random comments and questions. With the news flow being lighter, we are running fewer ‘Bits’ articles.

The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind. At this tricky time, and given that many of you are at home, we want the HfP community to have a place to chat.

Please only comment under the main articles on the site if your comment is directly related to the topic of the article. This has long-term benefits as it keeps the commentary relevant for people who read those articles in the future.

Old chat threads are hidden from the HfP home page. If you want to look for something in an old thread, click here. This brings up all the articles in our ‘General’ category which includes the chat threads.

Category

General

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

Marie says:

12 Jul12 July 18:21

Silly question .Do we fill out a passenger locator form for an England to Scotland flight and vice versa ?
Presently isolating after someone on our Balearic flight tested positive on landing. Dont fancy this again !
- Keely says:
  
  12 Jul12 July 18:30
  
  In a hotel room ? Hadn’t factored that in ….I hope you have a balcony ?
  - Marie says:
    
    12 Jul12 July 18:35
    
    Day after we got home thankfully
- Memesweeper says:
  
  12 Jul12 July 18:35
  
  Not required domestically
- Anna says:
  
  12 Jul12 July 18:37
  
  Nightmare! So they had a negative test on leaving the UK, then another one on leaving Mallorca, but then a positive day 2 test?
  - Anna says:
    
    12 Jul12 July 18:39
    
    Or they were vaccinated and didn’t need the first test!
    - Marie says:
      
      12 Jul12 July 19:43
      
      I’m not sure which .They checked every single person’s documents before boarding. The plane was half empty too. It seems based on locality to infectious source as not all of our party have to isolate .
- Ikaz says:
  
  12 Jul12 July 20:02
  
  2 points: you don’t need a PLF for UK domestic flights
  You can still get told to isolate after the flight, we were on a LON-GLA flight last month and got called by track and trace and told to self-isolate due people being tested positive on that flight
- Colin MacKinnon says:
  
  12 Jul12 July 20:42
  
  No need for a PLF etc in the Common Travel Area – Channel islands, Isle of Man, Republic of Ireland and the UK of GB and NI.
  
  However, if you are worried about being pinged because of where you are sitting on an aircraft, why not take the train?
  
  The train is a lot more spacious – the flights to Edinburgh and Glasgow are apparently rammed!
  - Marie says:
    
    12 Jul12 July 20:54
    
    West coast main line planned works is the problem .
    - John says:
      
      12 Jul12 July 21:12
      
      Go East Coast then
    - Andrew says:
      
      12 Jul12 July 21:43
      
      As John says. Go East Coast. There’s at least a dozen trains an hour between Edinburgh and Glasgow (various routes).
      
      If it’s due to Euston closures, you can always Chiltern it to Birmingham Moor Street and swap to New Street.
      
      Or drive. It’s just 5h30m to drive to Glasgow from the M25 junction with the M40
Graeme says:

12 Jul12 July 19:06

Got a US trip booked in October with BA. As a backup, thinking of booking a domestic BA holiday booking (flight and car, small deposit) as a backup. Will this cause any issues with BA if bookings are on same day?
Obviously, impossible to fly both but would FTV worst case.
- Tariq says:
  
  12 Jul12 July 19:07
  
  No issues, did this in the summer myself but both ended up cancelled!
  - Graeme says:
    
    12 Jul12 July 19:30
    
    Great, thanks Tariq. I was concerned some IT system would auto cancel one or something like that!
    - John says:
      
      12 Jul12 July 21:13
      
      BA doesn’t do that, only heard of it happening with the big 3 American airlines
KS says:

12 Jul12 July 19:36

Is it possible to book an easyJet holiday with for flight+car and no hotel? I am looking to use the Amex offer but I don’t see any way to book a holiday without hotel.
Lawro says:

12 Jul12 July 19:49

Seen plenty of reports re retention bonuses on personal Amex cards but has anyone received a (recent) retention offer to keep the Business Plat card?
Rob says:

12 Jul12 July 19:57

You opted in? My wife gets hers about 2 days after the charge clears.
Jimbob says:

12 Jul12 July 20:07

Does Beardy play nicely with Ernie via Bendy?
- Jonathan says:
  
  12 Jul12 July 20:27
  
  Mostly but potentially not after August 5th.
Mark says:

12 Jul12 July 20:16

Seems like loads are really low to various French cities… Marseille for £10 return next week!
- Rachel Robinson says:
  
  12 Jul12 July 20:51
  
  Ryanair?
  - Mark says:
    
    12 Jul12 July 21:47
    
    Yes, wouldn’t pay 10x or more for BA when there is no real difference in Y/J for the seats and service.
    - Rob says:
      
      12 Jul12 July 22:34
      
      We have £19 Ryanair tix to Porto. Total cost with seats (to keep family together) and 2 suitcases is £125 each.
      
      Throw in another £25 each for necessary overnight hotel at STN.
      
      BA Eco, if operating, would not be far off and seats and bags would be free as a Gold.
    - Lady London says:
      
      13 Jul13 July 13:11
      
      Ah…but some of us would happily pay 10x to avoid Stansted
- Harry T says:
  
  12 Jul12 July 22:20
  
  Ryanair are generally offering very low prices at present – we booked Barcelona for £16 return each, for the base fare.
- Jonathan says:
  
  12 Jul12 July 22:44
  
  Ryanair will fly you to city far away from the city you’re meant to be travelling to, there are some more instances where you’ll be flown to different country purely to benefit from low airport fees, resulting in lower fares. So once you reach your destination airport, there’s usually a lengthy coach ride to city that you want to visit itself !
  - Janeyferr says:
    
    12 Jul12 July 22:51
    
    One tends to know where the airport is before you buy tickets.
  - A says:
    
    12 Jul12 July 23:12
    
    This is hardly a new phenomenon you’re describing and safe to say most readers of this site know enough about air travel to be aware of this some time (more than a decade, even) ago
  - Yorkieflyer says:
    
    12 Jul12 July 23:42
    
    Sorry this is so out of date, this was the case years ago, now usually the same airports as legacy carriers
Andrew says:

12 Jul12 July 20:56

T5 looked chaotic today with most security staff isolating at home. I hope they kept the First Wing open for eligible customers.
- Yorkieflyer says:
  
  12 Jul12 July 23:44
  
  Fortunately the elite suffered too, so might use their disproportionate influence compared to the average joe to complain
  - Dave says:
    
    13 Jul13 July 00:30
    
    Yep – got stuck in the horror show. Was flying F & took us 2 hours from bag drop to security. No time for the lounge & F wing was closed. Nothing by way of gesture other than the following email:
    
    We would like to apologise any inconvenience you experienced when flying from Heathrow Terminal 5 this morning. This was due to security staffing issues at Heathrow. Our teams worked hard to get your flight away as quickly as possible and we’re sorry for any delay.
    
    In fairness, we did get away on time. Water under the bridge but was horrendous.