The HfP chat thread – Thursday 15th July

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Andrew Mc says:

15 Jul15 July 13:46

Curve question. Anyone any experience of making telephone payment by Curve to an overseas company (in EUR in this case)? Just seeking to understand whether it is likely to go through fine! Thanks.
- Donna says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 14:29
  
  I pay regularly online with curve for bills in euros and it is all fine, but you may need to authorise the payment in app so have that to hand.
Thomas Shelby says:

15 Jul15 July 14:17

Can someone let me know how the Addison Lee credit works on the platinum? you spend a cumulative £10+ in July (does it have to be one transaction) and the amex credit appears in August?
- iSub says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 16:20
  
  I’ve never managed to spend less than £10 on an Addy Lee, but the £10 credit hits your account a few days after the. I used it on July 3rd, and the £10 hit on July 7th, I used it on May 23rd and the £10 hit on May 26th – it appears just like a payment
Maciek says:

15 Jul15 July 14:30

Guaranteed Ambassador upgrade at Kimpton Fitzroy – if I book a single bed, am I likely to get a normal room? 😀
- Pete M says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 14:38
  
  They have single rooms?!
  - Rob says:
    
    15 Jul15 July 16:01
    
    Some of the rooms aren’t actually big enough for a double bed – they kept rather too many of the original Victoria features ….
- Anna says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 14:50
  
  There’s no guaranteed Ambassador upgrade at Kimptons. More likely if you’re Spire, I think. Or book via Emyr – we got a double upgrade to a junior suite in May, presumably due to Emyr booking plus Spire status.
  - Maciek says:
    
    15 Jul15 July 14:53
    
    good shout re: Emyr.
oafcmetty says:

15 Jul15 July 14:43

Any thoughts on best IHG property in Berlin? InterContinental looks nice? Planning a December visit.
- Anna says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 14:52
  
  We’re also (hopefully) going in December – I originally booked the IC but it’s not really near the places we want to visit (Xmas markets and Neues Museum mainly) so moved to the Regent as you can use Ambassador free nights there until the end of the year. Regent looks nicer as well if you like a more traditional style of luxury.
  - oafcmetty says:
    
    15 Jul15 July 14:58
    
    Annoyingly we can’t use the credit card free night voucher there 🙁
    - Anna says:
      
      15 Jul15 July 15:10
      
      I noticed that as well! I have no idea why they let you use points/bogof night but not the cc free night? Is that all Regents? (like Mr & Mrs).
      - Anna says:
        
        15 Jul15 July 15:10
        
        I looked at the central -ish Indigo, it looked okay but the reviews weren’t good at all.
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      15 Jul15 July 23:02
      
      It’s worth phoning IHG because it might just be the way they loaded the inventory
- Lula says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 16:14
  
  I stayed in the IC last year. It was nice – nothing amazing, but it was pretty cheap, and the breakfast was good.
Boi says:

15 Jul15 July 14:49

Any success adding money to revolutionaries this week with either Solihull or bendy?

What amounts go through?

Been failing for me
- Guernsey Globetrotter says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 15:05
  
  Soli to Che seems to allow max £1.5k one-off and then 250 daily(?) but still testing that part. In other words there seems to be some sort of weekly cap in place that wasn’t there a couple of weeks ago (at least it wasn’t for me…). Looks like Mrs Trotter’s card may also be coming out to play 🙂
  - Anuj says:
    
    15 Jul15 July 15:33
    
    How do you avoid interest? do you go into credit or just pay off straight away
  - Boi says:
    
    15 Jul15 July 15:50
    
    Tried even 200… not going through
  - Aston100 says:
    
    15 Jul15 July 15:59
    
    Hi GG, In the past fortnight I’ve sent a number of payments ranging from £100 through to around £1300.
    Have not had a need to do a larger amount so cannot comment about a hard limit of £1500.
    However, there doesn’t appear to be a daily or weekly cap for me (or if there is, it must be quite different to yours, which suggests perhaps there are different algorithms for different people?).
- Harrier25 says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 17:03
  
  Got what I wanted through this morning… just over £2,500. It kept failing at any amount until I decided to delete the Solihull card and reregister it as a new card.
  - idontflymuch says:
    
    15 Jul15 July 17:12
    
    Has anyone had Che completely freeze their account and not release funds as a result of these transfers?
    - Peter K says:
      
      15 Jul15 July 17:43
      
      Reports on here say yes.
      - Harrier25 says:
        
        15 Jul15 July 17:56
        
        …..but only if you get too greedy, Peter. Keep it sensible and use the account for some day to day banking needs and you’ll be just fine.
    - Lady London says:
      
      15 Jul15 July 18:40
      
      Recurring issue with them.
      
      They can be extremely difficult to contact to sort out when this happens. have never known their service to be anything other than Dalek-like.
      
      I use them only when I must and each time for very small amounts that I could afford to lose till this lot get their $hit together.
      
      Wise (ex-Transferwise) is much more recommended on here and has other useful features.
      
      Rob do you think Wise could be interested in running a promotion with HfP?
    - ashish says:
      
      15 Jul15 July 19:21
      
      Yes! Kept for a couple of weeks then could get it back. Then credit card top up banned forever.
  - Guernsey Globetrotter says:
    
    15 Jul15 July 17:28
    
    Top tip – thanks Aston – will try that!
    Harrier25 I have had an occasional (twice over the last year I think) automated message warning against ‘manufactured spending’ and have then dialled it back for a bit. Other than that no issues. I do try to keep within the ‘profile’ that I provided Che with at the outset (e.g. income / monthly spend indicator levels) and I also mix in other payments so it’s not all appearing to go back out to another bank account in my name! You can’t take the p*55 and not expect to be pulled up in these days of strict account activity monitoring due to anti-money laundering regs etc.
    - Guernsey Globetrotter says:
      
      15 Jul15 July 17:30
      
      Got my usernames totally @ss about face there- Apologies Aston, thanks to Harrier25 and comment on Che warnings to idontflymuch !
    - Harrier25 says:
      
      15 Jul15 July 17:36
      
      Guernsey Globetrotter, is your message pointing at me? Why? I do £2 to £3k a month in one go which is not taking the pi55. Never anymore. I was just trying to offer assistance.
      - Harrier25 says:
        
        15 Jul15 July 17:38
        
        No you wern’t wagging your finger at me. Sorry Guernsey Globetrotter it was hard to tell the way you worded the original message. 😉
      - Guernsey Globetrotter says:
        
        16 Jul16 July 11:29
        
        No worries – sorry if I was unclear – it was just a generic point I was making that if any of us push the envelope too far then we shouldn’t be surprised to be pulled up on it!
      - Guernsey Globetrotter says:
        
        16 Jul16 July 11:30
        
        PS and as of Friday morning I have “Verify your source of funds” KYC request from Che to deal with 🙁
        That’s my weekend project sorted now… will post the outcome here !
Ollie says:

15 Jul15 July 14:50

Predictions on whether the Eurostar Ski train will run this winter? It was cancelled last time and it’s usually announced this time of year…
- John says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 18:20
  
  Thought they already cancelled it for 2021 last year
  - Ollie says:
    
    15 Jul15 July 18:37
    
    That was for 2020-21, this upcoming season would be 2021-2022.
lee says:

15 Jul15 July 14:58

Seems ba have changed policy a week ago which some agents are not aware of as I managed to rebook cancelled flights beyond the ticket validity of 1 year (thread on flyertalk) .

Moved my flights 2 of which were avios and the other a cash booking to April of next year when my original ticket expired in September this year for First class to Miami flights
- John says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 15:54
  
  Did you do this by phone or did the system just let you do it as it sometimes does?
  Thanks
  - Lee says:
    
    15 Jul15 July 20:59
    
    I phoned customer services for my cash booking and the ba executive team for the avios .
    
    Was around my 3rd call as 2 other advisers didn’t know about the change .
    
    Once you have the right adviser it’s easy took 5 mins and calls are answered within around 5 mins max .
    For avios all they needed was ticket availability not avios availability
- John says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 16:09
  
  Also struggling to find thread on flyer talk. Can you give any clarification on which thread.
  Thanks
  - Yorkieflyer says:
    
    15 Jul15 July 17:27
    
    BA Ticket Validity thread, it seems to be correct as confirmation by BA poster. Ticket validity is now one year from departure and return dates respectively. This definitely in regard to BA cancellation, not sure in other circumstances
    - Jody says:
      
      15 Jul15 July 19:46
      
      I only venture on flyertalk every now and again, but have found that thread. Is that poster who has confirmed it definitely a BA person?
      
      Today is 14 days since BA received my letter before action (sent signed for, it took them over a week to collect it from the delivery office). I stated in the letter they had 14 days to respond to me before I took things further.
      
      If that thread on flyertalk is indeed correct, I assume I can call up tomorrow and actually get my flights changed? They were cancelled by BA for June departure this year, I want to move them to April departure next year, so that would be within the 12 months they’re now talking about.
      
      If so, then that is fab news.
- Lady London says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 18:49
  
  BA can change its policy and preferences all it likes except:
  
  1) they can’t change any term unilaterally that was in their t’s and c’s when you booked (even if they would have applied new t’s and c’s to bookings made after yours).
  
  2) Even if BA does have a term/condition, a preference, a practice, a rule, an incapacity, whatever, things like EU261 are statutes and therefore override anything BA says.
  
  In particular, with regard to rerouting to a new date following a cancellation made by BA, EU261 imposes no limitation of time.
  
  Given the above my advice would be don’t take the p**** if you do need to rebook later than 12 months from issue of ticket, be reasonable and be prepared to explain your reasons. BA already lost once on this at CEDR as reported here too.
Bob says:

15 Jul15 July 15:10

Anyone used testing for all?
- Yorkieflyer says:
  
  15 Jul15 July 17:29
  
  Yes they were fine but limited capacity means dates need checking before ordering