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The HfP chat thread – Monday 23rd August

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

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Comments (509)

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

  • FatherOfFour says:
    23 Aug23 August 12:01

    Does this stack with the Sainsbury’s nectar card sign-up offer?

    • Beardless Hipster says:
      23 Aug23 August 13:01

      Unlikely. Sainsburys bank will see it as an online purchase.

      • FatherOfFour says:
        23 Aug23 August 15:18

        Thanks, won’t risk it. My supplementary card holder has their own Nectar account, so unsure if this will be an issue for that offer. Might just have to shop at Sainsburys a bit more for a couple of weeks like they intend!

  • Mco says:
    23 Aug23 August 12:05

    Need to buy £1100 iPhone. Got the £50 off across two of my Amex’s but it’s online only. Anyone found a way to use both cards? Can you buy a gift card that triggers the £50?

    • Andrew says:
      23 Aug23 August 12:13

      You can buy a gift card yes. Remember this is all online only. But you could buy 2 £500 gift cards online and then take those to Covent Garden store and spend the remaining £100 as card payment and get a further £10 back.

    • Young L says:
      23 Aug23 August 12:37

      New iPhone is coming in a month if you can wait.

    • Mr. AC says:
      23 Aug23 August 16:36

      I still get shocked when I learn people pay these prices for a phone… 50 off 300 at the Google Store on many Amex cards right now, you can get 4 Pixel 4a’s for the price of one iPhone with some change left! And it’s a better phone too…
      I sometimes forget where the 1T$ Apple valuation comes from – massively overcharging people!

      • JDB says:
        23 Aug23 August 17:58

        You could say the same for other highly branded products like Range Rover, BMW, Louis Vuitton/Moët & Chandon but people keep buying their over priced products as well. It has been thus for a long time. Some of these shares have, as a result, been cracking investments.

        • Youllnever says:
          23 Aug23 August 18:03

          +1. Obviously there’s that “something” that makes people buy it, otherwise they wouldn’t have done so. To each their own regardless.

    • Yorkieflyer says:
      23 Aug23 August 22:39

      Nobody needs to buy a £1100 I phone

      • Yorkieflyer says:
        23 Aug23 August 22:41

        Typing this on a factory return iPhone 8 that cost just north of £200

  • Jamil says:
    23 Aug23 August 12:11

    I need to spend £2300 on my BAPP to get the companion voucher on BAPP by 10th October. I used to to go out a lot pre Covid but obviously life has changed since! Any suggestions on how to achieve the spend without just spending cash unnecessarily on things I don’t need. I was even wondering if I should keep the PP for next year as life is so much quieter now…

    • Tomgold says:
      23 Aug23 August 12:30

      i’ve heard of paypal charge from amex transferred to an account (self) would work.
      Has anyone gotten into trouble for doing this?

      • Jonathan says:
        23 Aug23 August 12:43

        This gets you in serious hot water with Amex (kiss goodbye to all of your cards) & also will get you barred by PayPal. In a word: don’t.

        Find a legitimate avenue like prepaying council tax at pay point or putting energy account in credit.

      • VerdantBacon says:
        23 Aug23 August 18:02

        You should absolutely not do this, especially not with £2k+. The risk of being barred by Amex and PayPal is not worth it at all.

        If you need to spend but have nothing to buy, purchase a fully flexible, refundable flight to somewhere and then cancel the flight after the 241 is in your account.

    • Richie says:
      23 Aug23 August 12:33

      Do you need any new white goods for the kitchen?

      • JDB says:
        23 Aug23 August 18:01

        Some dodgy person seems to have done just that today, spending just over £5k on my BAPP at AO. Hopefully they will be getting someone other than the AO driver calling on them with the delivery.

    • BuildBackBetter says:
      23 Aug23 August 12:34

      The usual pre-payments… Council tax, utilities, gift cards at your usual retailers, Amazon top up etc.

    • Reney says:
      23 Aug23 August 13:23

      Do you have a Morrisons? If you have the virgin shop away offer (7 points per £1) it links amex. Buy a lot of gift cards (maybe not in one go reference to comments yesterday).

      • Peter K says:
        23 Aug23 August 13:53

        I think in reference to the comment about buying gift cards from “Amy” yesterday, who claims “she” is a long time commenter despite none of us having heard of her….
        I think she was more in trouble for breaking and entering the Morrisons at nearly 6pm on a Sunday rather than anything else!

        • Jonathan says:
          23 Aug23 August 14:33

          Amy has been around for a while & normally comments on more run of the mill stuff. Rob has also confirmed it was her usual e-mail on the post & I can vouch that the Broomhill Morrisons is indeed open till 6PM (it’s the size of a Sainsbury’s Local/Tesco Metro so no Sunday trading restrictions).

    • Harry T says:
      23 Aug23 August 15:13

      Pay for stuff you need – prepay council tax, gift cards for amazon and groceries, prepay utility bills.

  • Tomgold says:
    23 Aug23 August 12:12

    Where can I find information for the cash advance fees for the virgin atlantic credit card.
    the new T&C’s of 5 August doesn’t show the charges.
    Has anyone see the changes coming into effect using curve to pay other credit cards?

    • JDB says:
      23 Aug23 August 12:37

      There is a schedule of interest and charges that is referenced in the T&Cs that have broadened the definition of cash advances. This is the table for the free card:-

      https://uk.virginmoney.com/virgin/assets/pdf/VM31743.pdf

    • Jonathan says:
      23 Aug23 August 12:44

      5% fee (higher than other card companies) + interest from date of transaction till settled in full.

    • Reney says:
      23 Aug23 August 13:24

      Did you not get an email from them?

      ok paying bezos yesterday via bendy. But don’t know today. I now run a small transaction first, wait to see no fee then do a larger one.

      • Tomgold says:
        23 Aug23 August 17:58

        I did, but it just says that cash advance includes more things now… without specifying the fee.
        Also, I did make a payment to another credit card via curve and it’s showing on the virgin app as a ‘purchase’.
        Have they perhaps not updated there software yet? or does paying via curve not track as paying off debt?
        very curious to hear if anyone has been charged the 5% fee

        • JDB says:
          23 Aug23 August 18:04

          I posted a link to the actual fees for you at 12.37… and they were also in the summary of changes to the T&Cs in the email and maybe in the post.

    • Yorkieflyer says:
      23 Aug23 August 22:47

      I got stung last year for a cash like transaction on Virgin and yes the 5% hurt

  • FlyingChris says:
    23 Aug23 August 12:16

    Has anyone called up at 1am recently to add on a return leg to a 241 voucher when the seats get loaded? I remember a few days back there was discussion that suggested the usual routes of US/Tokyo numbers were no longer viable, or that call centre staff had been saying they could no longer do this? Has anyone successfully called up at 1am recently and to what number?

  • Ammar says:
    23 Aug23 August 12:22

    Quick Q – looking to book heathrow parking at Terminal 5 in the short stay and using some heathrow reward points, but wondering if i need to cancel the booking will the heathrow reward points be refunded, presume the cash portion of the booking will come back to my credit card – Is my understanding correct? TIA, could not find anything on their website.

  • FFoxSake says:
    23 Aug23 August 12:35

    Is the BA / IAG cargo booking site a reliable way to say for sure that a BA flight is going to be operating (i.e. won’t be cancelled by BA and thus be eligible for a free re-booking at a later date)?
    https://www.iagcargo.com/en/page/schedule-search

    Asked the other day but didn’t see a reply. Apologies if someone already answered!

    • Richie says:
      23 Aug23 August 12:41

      The flight may operate with cargo and no passengers, passengers being re-routed on other passenger flights. Operating cargo only flights can save on crewing a cabin with passengers. So it isn’t reliable.

      • FFoxSake says:
        23 Aug23 August 13:03

        Excellent point. Thanks Richie.

        • Lyn says:
          23 Aug23 August 14:50

          On the other hand, if they are NOT selling cargo space on the flight perhaps that could be an indication that it might get cancelled …

          Do most BA passenger flights also carry cargo?

          I’m interested in this as well, but hoping that a flight will actually go ahead

  • FrenchInLondon says:
    23 Aug23 August 12:46

    Hi All,
    Flying to Portugal on Saturday and was looking at using Qured’s Lateral Flow Test supervised by them as a pre-departure test before flying there, has anyone done this before, who could also confirm these are accepted by Portugal authorities?
    I have a second question, also test-related: I found out this provider, C19, providing Lateral flow tests as well, but which do not seem to be supervised. This seems easier to use than Qured given you dont require a call with a medical adviser. … Anybody with experience with C19? Are they accepted by UK to fly back and by other countries as pre-arrival rapid antigen test?
    Thanks All

    • Blair says:
      23 Aug23 August 15:20

      I used Collinson supervised test to return from Lisbon with TAP. No problems.

    • Tracey says:
      23 Aug23 August 17:53

      My son used C19 from Rhodes to the UK this week without any problem. I think he needed to take a photo of the test strip thing alongside his passport.

    • ankomonkey says:
      23 Aug23 August 20:39

      I have used Prenetics unsupervised lateral flow tests both to enter Portugal and to return to the UK from Portugal. No experience of C19, but I don’t think the tests have to be supervised.

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

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