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The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 17th August

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

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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.

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Comments (394)

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

  • Blair says:

    Spain travel query: A UK fully vaccinated tourist flying Fri night returning to UK Sunday night could take an antigen test at UK departure airport Fri night and hold the negative result cert in reserve to use Sunday night at the Spanish airport check in? I may be overthinking whether ‘fit to fly’ test results are direction-specific.

    • StevieKicks says:

      Yeah that will be fine, they aren’t direction specific

    • Rob says:

      Correct

    • Chrisasaurus says:

      Yes – except if fully vaccinated no need for anything in flight out to Spain (just a plf form which BA did not mention in their email regards covid required but that everyone bar us appeared to know all about and have obtained QR codes for…)

      • Harry T says:

        BA isn’t responsible for researching what forms you need – two mins on the FCDO website is required reading, at least.

    • Chrisasaurus says:

      Also worth adding the advice for whatever reason ‘advises’ PCR test for flights back from Spain

  • Pete M says:

    Shieldpay email just came through for the BA settlement.

    • Pete M says:

      Not entirely certain I am reassured by it being a Microsoft Forms survey…!

      • Andy says:

        Yeah me too! Didn’t even get an email confirming submission or receipt etx

      • BP says:

        Behind that there’s a big SharePoint list full of personal and bank details !

  • PaulC says:

    Currently on phone to BA as ours flight time has changed on one of our legs. Put on hold whilst the agent goes to transfer me to Avios booking people, waited and waited then the “continue to hold” music. Poor service at the minute from BA call centre! Now the line is just silent..

    • BJ says:

      Bangkok? Something might be up. Departure from LHR is now 21.50 so reverting to overnight schedule of yesteryear. However, not yet any schedule changes on the returning BA10 from BKK. There is no way the plane is sitting on the ground for about 18h every day so either the return has to be rescheduled imminently or they are tagging on KL, Phuket or something. Don’t think BA has flown overnight to BKK since about a year after the demise of the kangaroo route. Still showing as a 787.

      • Sam G says:

        The aircraft has changed on the outbound to a mix of 788/789 but not the inbound, so I’m pretty sure the inbound just hasn’t been processed yet. I imagine it’ll be a late night departure out of BKK as per SIN with ~6hrs on the the ground there. The timing would also allow the flight to operate via Phuket which will be the only sensible option commercially if the entry setup is the same as today.

        I had been waiting to see if I could get a free cancellation and managed to get one via the live chat which was pretty painless, just a bit of a wait

        • BJ says:

          Hoping for a free switch from INV to EDI here at no extra charge. Couldn’t get through on the phone so might now just sit and see what happens with BA10 first as we have no less than three trips affected. How do you know some are 787 8s and 9s? Just shows 787 Jet when I look up flight details. Did you check if we can book F on 789? We might want to use fir cancellation too but not the ideal time as my partners 241 is in play 1/9.

          • Sam G says:

            Checked expertflyer. Still only CW on sale

          • Sam G says:

            IIRC BKK was always planned to go seasonal even before COVID. April is actually a bit of an extension presumably because of the late Easter

        • Yorkieflyer says:

          The return timings have now changed

          • BJ says:

            Thanks, nored, 23.30 into LHR at 05.30 as Sam suggested. Fab times, can now sleep most of both flights 🙂

          • Aston100 says:

            Is this just up to end of April?
            Not seeing any flights loaded for summer 2022.

          • BJ says:

            Unfortunately it looks like BKK might now be seasonal.

      • PaulC says:

        No it was DXB. Got sorted after ringing back. Agent was nice and managed to swap us to the 2:15am flight even though there wasn’t any Avios seats available in Club World.

  • James says:

    It’s been a while since I used a 241 voucher.
    If I booked 2 lots of reward flights, one with a 241 voucher, should I cancel the first lot of flights, is it fairly easy to reclaim the 241 and apply it to the second lot of flights?

    Thinking of hedging my bets by booking flights to an amber country, with flights to a green list country as a backup.
    Will be under RFS so would be happy stomach the fees.

    • Rob says:

      No, you cannot swap the voucher applied to an existing booking.

      • James says:

        Sorry I meant I would book both a few weeks apart. If the first was to be cancelled for some reason, could I cancel and then use the 241 for the latter.

        • ChrisC says:

          only if you cancel and rebook the 2nd set of flights

          and if you cancel there is no guarentee the avios seats would be re-released

  • The Lord says:

    BA LAX cancellations seem to have stopped annoyingly

    • Louise K says:

      Yes, I know!

      Was hoping to rebook my £999 fare from last year, to next summer 😩

      • The Lord says:

        This Saturday looks to be the first back to 2 per day. Could do with that changing by early September!

        • Louise K says:

          Someone else mentioned that demand drops at end of August so may revert to cancellations once schools go back. Not good for me when I have to pay my BAH this week.

    • Reeferman says:

      SFO cancellations as well, unfortunately.

  • Alex says:

    If I refer someone to Amex platinum from my BAPP as just cancelled my plat, what sign-up bonus amount would they get? The BAPP offer of 26K or 65K which seems to be current for Plat?

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    Considering going to Portugal over the bank holiday weekend.

    Are restaurants accepting the NHS app instead of the EU Covid Pass for entry? The Visit Portugal website only mentions EU Covid Pass…

    • Gary says:

      NHS app should suffice. Been a week now in Portugal- never checked by hotels/restaurants except on one occasion the restaurant asked over the phone if jabbed when reserving a table but didn’t actually check anything when we arrived.

    • Blair says:

      If you did get stuck with non-acceptance of NHS, you can get a rapid test done and a pharmacy can certify it to generate a QR code. The EU covid pass is often misunderstood as being a vaccine proof. It’s not; it’s vaccine proof OR proof of recovery from covid OR proof of a recent negative test.

      • stevenhp1987 says:

        Thanks, was wondering how to get the pass from covid test in Portugal as their app only scans a QR code.

        Thinking of the Crowne Plaza in Faro. Nothing too exciting! Just a weekend in the sun.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        Well ofcourse as are most of them but other options except vaccine don’t fit the narrative.

    • Blair says:

      Where are you thinking of staying Stephen?

  • Anna says:

    Expert Medicals – 2 out of 3 ain’t bad as Meatloaf would tell you – sent our Day 2 tests off on Saturday afternoon, OH and son’s results have come back by email this afternoon. Just waiting for mine now!

    • Harrier25 says:

      Got the same issue….posted 3 tests last Monday morning. Daughter received her result by email on Friday afternoon. The OH received her email on Sunday morning. I’m still waiting for my email!

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