The HfP chat thread – Friday 27th August

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• Marie says:

  27 Aug27 August 18:23

  If I don’t have an international driving license will I be able to hire a car in Portugal ? Slight oversight

  • meta says:

    27 Aug27 August 20:31

    Yes. No problem. Just done it myself last week.

  • Toby says:

    27 Aug27 August 20:40

    Not sure if it’s too late, but loads and loads of post offices not provide international driving licenses. It used to be a right pain, but since brexit it’s become much more widespread.

• Patrycja says:

  27 Aug27 August 18:47

  Scottish government just confirmed that travellers will be able to use private test providers alongside CTM from early September for day 2 & 8 tests 🥳
  https://www.gov.scot/news/international-travellers-to-scotland-will-be-able-to-use-private-sector-covid-tests/

  • Graham says:

    27 Aug27 August 19:21

    Brilliant! Thanks for flagging this.

    • Patrycja says:

      27 Aug27 August 19:43

      This is great news, isn’t it!

• Travel Strong says:

  27 Aug27 August 19:06

  Is there a conventional wisdom for lounge choices at LHR T5 currently?

  Is Galleries preferred, then Plaza if closed?
  Are North/South/B Satellites any better or worse than each other?

  (Club Europe, No Status, Amex Platinum. Not been through T5 in years, used Plaza last time). Thanks

  • Graham says:

    27 Aug27 August 19:14

    Galleries North and South are now open. B satellites and Plaza are closed at last report.

  • Grant H says:

    27 Aug27 August 21:35

    BA South lounge- turn right as you gain entry to the lounge for the spaces that are generally quieter atm.

• S879 says:

  27 Aug27 August 20:01

  Called to upgrade BA Amex to the premium card this morning. She said fee was £250 to which I said should be & £195 as its many days till 1st September. She said processing time is 7-10 days but that shouldn’t be the case for instant approvals, should it? Got an instant one on the phone so let’s see. I am not eligible for any sign up bonuses so didn’t want to wait any further. Was abroad so couldn’t call earlier as had planned.

  • BJ says:

    27 Aug27 August 21:14

    Use this link for instant upgrade and £195 fee. Recommend you take screenshots. Does not require an application, it just upgrades. No idea if using it outside office hours is an issue or not.
    https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/benefits/upgrade/ba-premium-plus-credit-card/

    • Harry T says:

      27 Aug27 August 21:24

      Always take screenshots! And always take advice from BJ.

      • BJ says:

        27 Aug27 August 21:41

        You’re very kind Harry…. but I’ve made my fair share of schoolboy errors. The most annoying being the ones I made despite knowing better.

        • Harry T says:

          27 Aug27 August 22:01

          Haven’t we all? But I’ve learned a lot from your advice, which I’m sure is based largely on your previous mistakes 😊

    • mr_jetlag says:

      27 Aug27 August 22:01

      This link is perfect, have just upgraded the missus in 5 minutes and will trigger “new” vouchers for both of us post Sept 1. Cheers BJ

  • Yorkieflyer says:

    27 Aug27 August 22:25

    Mrs Yorkieflyer was told this £250 on upgrading earlier in the month, next statement date 5 September, however agreement in the post say £195 and obs no further letter or email

• Martin says:

  27 Aug27 August 20:41

  Is it worth collecting Avios for those of us in the north west ? Reason for asking is I have been looking at using a 2for1 club to Toronto from Manchester via LHR. The cost with taxes is c. £700 each and 100,000 avoid. For c.£1,100 each we can fly business via either Amsterdam with KLM or BA which would give us TP and avios. That seems poor value and use of a 2for1 and avios. Is it better to accumulate more avois for a bigger splurge? In the past I have used a 2 for 1 to go first to Santiago return which was definitely worth it! Any views?

  • L's says:

    27 Aug27 August 20:49

    Yes. Convert to nectar at 0.8p per point. Very valuable.

  • Harry T says:

    27 Aug27 August 21:21

    Annoyingly, the answer is “it depends”. It depends where you travel, what cabin you travel in, who you travel with, your flexibility with dates etc. Booking cash fares can often be a good deal relative to paying the taxes and charges on a 241. Don’t forget there are some seasonal direct Avios flights with Cityflyer from MAN and EDI too.

    • Anna says:

      27 Aug27 August 22:00

      I thought the MAN flights had gone for good?

      • Harry T says:

        27 Aug27 August 22:17

        Who knows?!

  • BJ says:

    27 Aug27 August 21:36

    I think the cash flight is better because on the redemption you would be dropping 100k avios for just £800 and losing out on the TP and avios as you have mentioned, in addition to losing out on any damage you could do with a £2100 spend on a credit card. In normal times the avios redemption might make more sense if flexibility was important to you, however, due to Travel With Confidence at this time you have flexibility on cash fares too. Be aware though that were you able to find availability in First then the redemption is attractive because in the event of a downgrade you would be looking at CW or CS whereas a downgrade from CW or CS would see you in WTP or even WT. Buying the extra avios in the current sale if it is still running might be worth considering if First is available.

    • Martin says:

      27 Aug27 August 21:50

      Thanks for the thoughts. Alas there seems to be no or very limited First availability at the moment which is a shame as we are flexible on both location and times.

      • Lady London says:

        28 Aug28 August 00:52

        I agree with BJ. You’d be dropping, say 120,000 avios once earnings were taken into account Plus soon enough in right cabin could help your status if you wouldn’t be earning the tier points another way any sooner. All for £800 saving

        Of course as HarryT says if you earn avios easily then defo spend them and take this relatively small cash saving.

        If the 241 is previous to you and hard to replace could exrend it to Apr 2023 (fly by then not just book) by booking a quick lon-man single 241 cancelling and tsking an FTV.

        If the 241 os not important and you have lots of other avios you could look at usong them on a redemptionvon First on other Oneworld partners in First usingbthe mulit partner award chart if you want multistop (Rob did articles including onebwitjin past 4-5 months, or so.

        BJ has not quite coveed all the advantages of First – I admired your delicacy there BJ. First probably still exists on some BA NY flights (AA transcontinental haa some more lauded 772? business cabins than First I think as newer) possibly to YYZ or near? and possibly still BA First to SFO (then Alaskan First??? to YYZ?.

        • Lady London says:

          28 Aug28 August 00:57

          PS guess you could xash tkt ib J from AMS theb UUA to F using avios if yiu can find the seats.

• Travel Strong says:

  27 Aug27 August 21:19

  Other half has just informed me that I accidentally took one of the hangers from my accommodation in hampshire last weekend. Would never have happened at the Premier Inn! This is why we can’t have nice things.

  • BJ says:

    27 Aug27 August 21:49

    FS hangers on ebay next week?

  • Peter K says:

    27 Aug27 August 23:27

    I posted a hanger back to The Langley that I accidently half inched.

• Jody says:

  27 Aug27 August 21:26

  Stayed at the Holiday Inn, Scotch Corner last night. I’ve stayed in Travelodges with better rooms, to say it’s in need of a refurb is an understatement!

  Anyway, as it was mentioned the other day, it was interesting to find a proper ironing board (set up) and iron in our room. I’m happy to confirm that no eggs were cooked on the iron!

  Tonight is a bothy courtesy of Airbnb next to Loch Lomond.

• MilesOnPoint says:

  27 Aug27 August 23:30

  OWE travelling on BA from Heathrow T3 in mid-September, lounge options?

  I believe only Club Galleries open in T3 at the moment, would be nice to have GF but not sure what BA’s plans are. Do we think AA might open their flagship lounge by then given their switch back to T3 (bar JFK flights)?

  I long for the days of CX/QF T3 lounge crawls…

  • ChrisC says:

    28 Aug28 August 02:30

    AA never had a Flagship Lounge at LHR

    • Rob says:

      28 Aug28 August 07:27

      It was scheduled for conversion – never happened.

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