Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The HfP chat thread – Thursday 22nd 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

Comments (338)

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

  • Michael C says:
    22 Jul22 July 18:11

    Massive thanks to Harry T (always!) and…Jonathan? (sorry, can’t find Weds chat!) for confirming BA Chat/by changing the site to Ireland.
    Was not only unable to get through to BA Hols by phone anyway, but am in Cornwall with zero phone coverage.
    Chat took its time (question: 10 mins, answer: 10 mins, etc. etc:), but a massive success: my cancelled LHR-BOS Aug trip all completely moved to Easter ’22 for free. Not only that, but was able to move the outbound (Club) flight to AA: never flown with them, and of course T3 (massive finger-cross!).
    Hotel part (Copley Marriott) much more expensive (obvs. not expecting anyone in Aug. so was cheap!), but can change for free, so can always turn it into a 1-night cheapie on arrival then search elsewhere.
    None of this would have happened without the HFP community, of course.
    Happy planning (at least!), everyone!

  • Michael C says:
    22 Jul22 July 18:30

    PS Harry, have a nice beach stroll to Bar Jai-Ca, c/Ginebra!

  • N says:
    22 Jul22 July 18:42

    Is Plaza Premium LHR T5 still closed?

  • Keely says:
    22 Jul22 July 18:57

    Question Re T5 lounge please. Just checked online , it states will be in-app ordering but states non alcoholic drinks only ? Are they not serving alcohol ..?

    • Nick says:
      22 Jul22 July 19:26

      Booze has been back for a while, but yes the app ordering is staying (it’s proved too popular to remove). Are you checking ba.com or someone else’s website that hasn’t been updated? BA’s lounge page said full service is available the last time I checked.

      • Keely says:
        22 Jul22 July 19:29

        Not bothered about in app ordering – tho I’d prefer it wasn’t that. I was looking on BA which states non alcoholic drinks are available via the in app ordering . So long as I know it’s available, thanks

    • Gary says:
      22 Jul22 July 19:45

      All alcoholics available in app & arrives quickly

    • Harry T says:
      22 Jul22 July 23:07

      They were serving alcohol via in app ordering when I was there a couple of weeks back.

  • Amy C says:
    22 Jul22 July 19:00

    Can anyone advise what it’s like cancelling a reward booking with Virgin? I can’t find any info relating to this on their site. Do they charge a fee but give you all the points and taxes back like BA? Thanks very much.

    • Magic Mike says:
      22 Jul22 July 19:05

      £35/$50 fee as long as not within 7 (?) days of departure. Everything else you get back.

      Although at the moment they seem to sometimes be forgetting to charge the fee.

      They will be able to do it on WhatsApp if you don’t fancy queueing on the phone.

      • Amy carpenter says:
        22 Jul22 July 19:58

        Many thanks. Can I mine you for more info you might know? For some reason can’t get my head around the Virgin stuff like I can BA. Need to use an upgrade voucher and want to after using points to book a PE. If I book an outbound and no inbound appears (not there currently) I’m unsure what happens. I assume I’ll have to cancel the outbound 🤷🏼‍♀️

        • Magic Mike says:
          23 Jul23 July 10:41

          The Virgin credit card vouchers (assuming that is what you have) need to have availability in the higher cabin only, but you pay the points (and taxes/fees) for the lower cabin. You can either use them to upgrade one ticket return, or two tickets one way.

          So with one voucher, you could book UC out, PE back, for two, and only pay the miles + fees for PE out, PE back. You need availability in UC out, PE back.

          If you’re a solo traveller I don’t know if you can only use “half” a return upgrade and hold the other half pending for availability opening up – you’ll have to call Virgin to ask…

          Hope that makes sense.

  • Mutley says:
    22 Jul22 July 19:53

    Any recommendations on day2 tests to do at home on arrival from Croatia?

    Thank you

    • Anna says:
      22 Jul22 July 20:51

      Expert Medicals day 2 test is £35.99. Apparently it’s not the best (website has spelling mistakes 😫) but mine recent order turned up very promptly as described and the only thing which seems guaranteed to be checked is that you have the invoice reference for your PLF.

  • Mikeact says:
    22 Jul22 July 20:51

    There’s some equally excellent private, non branded, top class hotels in the Douro without the resort price of Six Senses.

    • VerdantBacon says:
      22 Jul22 July 20:55

      Everyone’s just at SS DV due to the intern loading a £1400 per night suite for 90k points, I’m looking forward to our stay here, managed to get their top spec suite!

      • meta says:
        22 Jul22 July 22:54

        For my dates the price was 2500 euros.

        @Mikeact yes, there are some excellent other places to stay. I love Quinta de Pacheca which is a few minutes drive from SS DV. It’s about 200 euros a night for new wing rooms which are probably on par with standard rooms at SS DV.

  • Nomid says:
    22 Jul22 July 21:45

    Anyone had experience using NHS COVID Pass as prove of vaccination in Geneva airport?

    • HH says:
      22 Jul22 July 22:10

      I did, this weekend – they just took a momentary look at my app, stamped my UK passport when I said I’m not a Swiss resident and waved me through. I noticed most people on my BA flight had either the NHS letter or the PDF printout, but the border agent was nonplussed about me handing over my iPhone.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Learn more on our About page.

VAA

Latest comments

Latest Forum Posts

Get 30,000 points bonus with American Express Platinum

Amex Gold

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.3 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

Get 20,000 bonus points and your first year free with American Express Gold

Amex Gold