The HfP chat thread – Friday 6th August

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• PK says:

  6 Aug6 August 11:05

  @Genghis – Someone mentioned you have a back of the fag packet analysis of how BAPP earns 0.5 Miles per £1 after the 241 is earned. This has got me curious to a great extent. Apologies for making you redo it, but please can you share your analysis. Thanks in advance.

  • Genghis says:

    6 Aug6 August 12:17

    Hi PK. No fancy analysis needed. So under the current pricing, you pay your £195 card fee for the year. Once you’ve hit your 241, say after 3 months, you’re then effectively paying £150 (what you would get with a prorata refund) for the remaining benefits of the card, the higher earning rate and 3 avios on BA spend. Now on the higher earn rate, arguably the delta is not only 0.25 avios, since you could get a Nectar avios free in the first year and earn 1.25 avios / £. That results in a breakeven spend of at least £60k in the remaining 9 months (150 / 0.0025, assuming 1p / avios). Hope this helps.

    • Reney says:

      6 Aug6 August 17:21

      Thanks for this, it helped me to decide that Nector should be my between SUB card! I completely forgot it was 2 nector per £.

• SteveKicks says:

  6 Aug6 August 11:06

  Was accepted for the Sainsburys Nectar credit card yesterday, before the bonus goes/changes.

  I haven’t received any emails from them yet, is that normal?

  • Jonathan says:

    6 Aug6 August 11:46

    I applied at around midnight – 1am, and didn’t get an email until about midday next day

  • Soo says:

    6 Aug6 August 12:06

    I applied on Tuesday Aug 3, no emails, called today, card has been approved, will wait for the letter to sign something.
    Had to double check that welcome offer is still applicable: yes it is.

  • SteveKicks says:

    6 Aug6 August 12:25

    Thanks both, will keep waiting 🙂

• James says:

  6 Aug6 August 11:09

  When will Marriott points expire? Has expiration been paused?

  • Sean says:

    6 Aug6 August 12:00

    points expiry paused until Mar 22 and then expire 2 years after last activity (excluding transfer activity from another account – eg transfer out or receive gift).

• Paul says:

  6 Aug6 August 11:17

  Is anyone planning going to dubai now that its Amber? I’m thinking of going with 2 of my kids aged 10 and 12 in last week of August. Going for pools, hotels, shopping, ferrari world etc so heat not a problem. I have had people say dubai not letting people in.. That’s not right is it? I am unvaccinated still and all happy to do whatever tests needed. Also got first class returns to use on lufty and ba and a stack load of etihad points so flights not a problem.

  • Rob says:

    6 Aug6 August 11:24

    AFAIK nothing has changed since we were there at Christmas – all you need is a negative PCR test. The Dubai authorities won’t even bother asking to see it as, like the UK Government, they have effectively delegated the task to the airlines. Different rules if you are heading to Abu Dhabi where the roadblocks may still be in place.

    I’d get the vaccine sorted though, since it is only a matter of time until you get infected ….

  • meta says:

    6 Aug6 August 11:31

    I think you should plan your holiday around staying mostly inside air-conditioned places. Even sitting outside by the pool after 9am till dark will be difficult.

    You need to do PCR test and travel insurance. Bear in mind that FCDO still advises against travel. That may change, but it was updated yesterday, so might not. Abu Dhabi has separate rules, so you need to check those if you want use Etihad and I think they have quarantine for unvaccinated.

  • KP says:

    6 Aug6 August 12:17

    Yes Im planning the same dates. Booked on Qatar as no direcr BA flights (yet)

  • Andrew says:

    6 Aug6 August 12:19

    Ferrari world isn’t in Dubai.

  • mvcvz says:

    6 Aug6 August 13:04

    Ferrari World is in Abu Dhabi. About 90 minutes by road from Dubai.

    • Jonathan says:

      6 Aug6 August 13:19

      AD considerably less open to tourists than Dubai.

  • Blair says:

    6 Aug6 August 13:19

    Ferrari World will be a spot of bother as internal transit from Dubai to Anu Dhabi by road requires a fresh test. I posted earlier this week about my Dubai arrival experience. The TL:DR version is the check in agent will check your test result, and a Dubai Airport helper will glance cursorily at it. But that’s it. No sign of any random testing going on. Hotels open, shops open, restaurants open, noticeably fewer Brits here at present but the rest of Europe is present and accounted for.

  • Matthew says:

    6 Aug6 August 16:08

    FCO have today removed the advice of all but essential travel to UAE which is good news for most travel insurance policies.

    • Laura says:

      6 Aug6 August 17:26

      This is great news, we have a BA Holiday to Dubai booked 16th September so that should make finding travel insurance considerable more straight forward. Does anyone have recommendations for travel insurance? (first policy we’ll have taken out since covid so am aware of wildly different cover available but that’s all). We need to pay the balance by the 26th August, so possibly just before the next travel review, no special insurance requirements. Also, I understand you need health insurance as a condition of entry to UAE currently but not heard anyone mention this ever being checked?

      • Blair says:

        6 Aug6 August 18:24

        Health insurance was being checked last year at check in. Emirates now provide their own (automatically applied to eligible tickets) so do check you are eligible. Can’t comment on the thoroughness of other airlines’ insurance checks

• VickyTM says:

  6 Aug6 August 11:21

  Looking for some advice on where to go for a family holiday that after the necessary duration, one person can travel to the USA and the others can return (quarantine free) to the UK now that Mexico is off. Both adults fully vaxed, and looking to travel in about 10 days time. I’m thinking somewhere in the Caribbean, but I don’t know much about the area. Would like to keep the costs “under control” as much as possible
  Thanks

  • aviosnewbie says:

    6 Aug6 August 11:52

    We’re heading to the Bahamas with a similar plan on 22 Aug

• ash says:

  6 Aug6 August 11:30

  Anyone having issues doing top ups on Monese at coop? £250 and above payments are failing to go through??

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    6 Aug6 August 11:49

    Max £249 per top-up.

    • ash says:

      6 Aug6 August 18:40

      Thought it was £500!! Thanks very much.

  • Mark2 says:

    6 Aug6 August 13:32

    and very low monthly limit

• Mark says:

  6 Aug6 August 11:50

  Is there a way to see all the routes that BA still fly with an F cabin?
  Found a few articles listing them but they all seem out of date now.
  Have a GUF2 that I want to maximise…

  • MW says:

    6 Aug6 August 11:54

    There are routes with F but award seats is not being released either at all or until a few days prior to flights in most cases. It is probably because they don’t want to be on hook for compensation in case of last min aircraft change. Also remember that many have much smaller (8 seat) F cabins now, so also less physical availability.

    • Jonathan says:

      6 Aug6 August 13:26

      GUF doesn’t need reward availability. I think the Caribbean routes like Barbados are probably your best bet assuming you don’t qualify for entry to US.

      You can go on Google Flights and search for OneWorld First No Stops and put departure month/airport in & it’ll show you options.

      • MW says:

        6 Aug6 August 13:53

        Doh! I forgot this changed a few years ago. Checked and apparently as long as ‘A’ bucket is on sale, they can be booked (I for CW).

      • Mark says:

        6 Aug6 August 14:33

        Ah, Google Flights is a great tip, thanks!

• Mco says:

  6 Aug6 August 12:19

  Sorry I haven’t been keeping up with this. Two questions –

  Coming back from Greece and land back in UK 2am Friday morning. So I can take a lateral flow test on Tuesday or Wednesday? Should be Tuesday right as it’s 72hrs before?

  How exactly do the lateral flow tests that you take from here work? Do you take it yourself and upload a picture of the negative to get the certificate? Or do they watch you do it over video call and you need to prebook it?

  • Tracey says:

    6 Aug6 August 12:27

    Depends who you use. I think it is Qured that requires a pre-booked video call to witness you performing the test. Someone else only requires a picture of your test strip alongside your passport.
    I don’t know about Greece, but most places have cheaper tests that you can buy locally without worrying about video links etc

  • HBommie says:

    6 Aug6 August 13:01

    As far as I understand

    Chronomics – pic of test and passport = test certificate.
    Qured – video call = test cert.

    Other test pirates are available.

    • Mco says:

      6 Aug6 August 13:55

      Does anyone know of a place to pick one up? Do they sell them in airports? Last minute plan.

  • John says:

    6 Aug6 August 14:20

    It’s 3 days from when the flight departs, not 72 hours from when it arrives. But you should plan to follow the most restrictive interpretation as others may misinterpret the rules

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