Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The HfP chat thread – Thursday 26th August

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.

Comments (539)

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

  • Laura says:

    Got notification last night that my Gatwick to Majorca flights will now be flying from Heathrow. Same times and flight numbers. Actually a bit of a bonus because I only booked Gatwick as it was cheaper.

    Re the Morrisons offer… annoyingly not on my Gold but probably because I do actually shop at Morrisons!

  • gary says:

    I have a feeling this has been covered of late but can’t find it doing a quick trawl through.

    I have just cancelled BA flights to SFO as uncle Joe still won’t let us in. Not connected to the flight booking I also booked a car rental with Avis via BA. The BA flight people have cancelled the flights but can’t cancel the car rental and put me through to BA Holidays.

    After a period on hold and listening to music and messages I was simply cut off and the same has now occurred on there further attempts over the last couple of hours.

    I feel for BA but this is a pretty crappy service! Does anyone know if I can simply cancel a car rental on line? or if there is a better way to do it than phoning, holding and being cut off?

    many thanks

    • Jan says:

      Try contacting Avis direct, at least you might get to speak to someone!

    • berneslai says:

      In my experience the BA reference number will be recognised by the Avis phone app as a booking, you should be able to cancel through that.

    • WaynedP says:

      As an Avis preferred member, I have been able to cancel bookings like this through the App in the past.

      If you’re not a member (or weren’t when you made the booking, hence didn’t furnish your Avis Preferred member number at time of booking) then I think you may still be able to sign up now to Avis Preferred as a new member, wait 48 hours until your account settles, and then manually add in your booking using the Avis reference number that BA provided on the holiday extras bit of paper work attached to your BA flight booking.

      Then you should be able to cancel from within the App.

    • Toby says:

      Good luck Gary! Back when BA was easier to get through to I got passed endlessly around trying to cancel a car booking. It seems only a few agents could do it. I’d try the tips about the app!

  • bill says:

    I’m looking at buying an additional bag which the kids can pull along and looking for suggestions. It needs to meet the criteria for easyJet hands free 56 x 45 x 25 cm. Budget is approx £55 or less. So far I have narrowed it down to various American Tourister bags (various retailers between £35 – £50) or M&S £55. My current M&S bag is still going strong after about 10 years and I was told it was made by Antler.

    • Crafty says:

      How old are the kids?

      • bill says:

        8 and 6. srong enough and old enough to pull their own 56 x 45 x 25 cm 🙂 they’ve pulled mine in the past. a good 10kg or therabouts. its time for their own bags !

    • Richie says:

      There are Samsonite under seat bags, but double check the size.

    • Andrew says:

      There aren’t many bags that are manufactured to that generous size. Is it just BA and Easyjet who will accommodate that as hand luggage?

      If you are short on storage space, might be easier to get a 56x35x23 cm case and then it can be used for Virgin, Delta and United flights too.

      For luggage I generally just head to TK Maxx. Tripp is still around online, despite Debenhams closure. If you buy Samsonite, they’ll still be using the same cases to head to Ibiza at 18.

      Robert Dyas were discounting American Tourister luggage recently, and they had a Samsonite laptop rucksack for £25.

      • Bill says:

        I forgot about to maxx. I’ll have a look. Tempted by Samsonite

        • Lady London says:

          I think K2 (the best luggage menders – they seem to have contracts with all airlines) sell some in that range, the brand that springs to mind is Travelpro. I’ve seen them for sale multiple years when picking up repairs (for which they are excellent) at their repair premises in Maidenhead.

          Not had good recent experience with Samsonite.

          • Lady London says:

            *Just to be clear Samsonsite honoured their worldwide guarantee no quibbles (via K2) , but the wheels shouldn’t have folded the first time they hit pavement in the first place.

    • Jody says:

      We bought 2 from Amazon a couple of years ago. Those exact dimensions specifically for easyJet and BA. Pull along cases, they were around £20 each. Not branded, but they’ve been absolutely fine and look like new.

  • FatherOfFour says:

    Sainsbury’s Nectar Mastercard – How long after the £400 spend should bonus necta post?
    1 – As soon as spend hit
    2 – After statement following spend hit
    3 – 90 months after the offer closes

    Additionally, I assume supplementary spend counts, but what if the supplementary cardholder did an online shop and used their own Nectar Card number? Can’t find T’s and C’s of the offer.

  • John says:

    Help please:

    Ba cancelled a flight and I rebooked it and new ticket issued.

    BA then cancelled second set of flights.

    Is my 12 month rebooking period from date of flight on first cancellation or the date of flight on the second cancellation?

  • Thomas Shelby says:

    Probably asked 1000 times but does PAW and airtime stack?

    re: Morrisons 10% offer

    • Reney says:

      someone reported it did the day before I think. I did a transaction on Sunday and Airtime and PAW has not posted yet. Previously it did stack for me.

      • Thomas Shelby says:

        Still early days for a sunday transaction, if it tracked previously no reason why it shouldn’t moving forward

    • JSemity says:

      yes, all of the ‘register your card number on an online portal’ offers will stack as they don’t know anything about each other. So:

      airtime, virgin shops away, PAW, etc.. should all stack! That’s what makes the morrisons offers so good.

    • His Holyness says:

      With the 10% Amex at WM’s is there anyway to get anything else on top?

      • Reney says:

        only virgin shop away can register amex but sounds like not everyone has it.

    • Reney says:

      Data point – Airtime just tracked for transactions on Sunday (double stack ok). Just waiting for PAW.

      • Doogie says:

        My airtime has tracked and PAW showing pending too, although at 2x spend interestingly!

        Was planning a visit tonight anyway so will ramp up now verified as multi stacking value

      • Reney says:

        Just checked PAW has also tracked. Triple stack for me. No sign of shop away points but that only previously worked when it was Amex+ shop away only. Not on my VS card.

      • Pablo says:

        Sigh of relief. All 3 of mine have now tracked too. I was getting worried as only one of them appeared on Tuesday and nothing else.

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    Just got an email from Creation.

    “Simply use your credit card as normal while you’re away and benefit from having no foreign transaction fees applied to your spend** between 30 August 2021 and 28 September 2021. This allows you to enjoy the exchange rate offered by Mastercard® without any fees on your spend.”

    Great for weekends when I can’t use Curve!

    • Reney says:

      black or white card?

    • bill says:

      I got the same for my Marriott Mastercard. Pity I won’t be in Spain until October

    • Reney says:

      Is there an additional forex fee for curve on bank holiday mondays? Trying to figure out which card I should use in FR this weekend. Thinking curve on Fri, VS on Sat and sun.

    • Ikaz says:

      Same on my black card, just in time for a booked stay at the IC maldives if it goes ahead.

    • DJ says:

      Can you use Curve and charge to the card in $? So that we can get x4 points.

      Or does the merchant needs to be physically abroad? As I understand Curve is based in London.

      • Yorkie Aid says:

        That’s a cracking idea to try!

        • stevenhp1987 says:

          +1 I shall be setting my card to USD and we’ll see!

          • Yorkie Aid says:

            Don’t forget we would be subject to FX risk from the point that Curve does the conversion until the transaction posts to IHG. Might work in our favour or might not. Might be best to do a small amount every day rather than a big lump to help mitigate the risk.

    • Lady London says:

      Hum. Keep an eye on what rate they’re using – it might change to a loaded one instead.

  • Pablo says:

    Creation just emailed. No forex fees on IHG rewards Club CC from 30/8 until 28/9

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