The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 1st September

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Gareth says:

1 Sep1 September 15:19

Have just booked a trip to South Africa on Emirates, firstly to get insurance for red country. Secondly as UAE is letting vaccinated people from S.A. in then 10 days in Dubai in March is better than UK “prison” quarantine if S.A. is still red. Given Emirates flexibility, have booked cheapest business saver. Not an Emirates loyalitymember , if we join, any way of converting Emirates to BA . Other suggestions , best hotel, I m belong to IHG. Anyone used them on easyjet . Presume I should join.
- Blenz101 says:
  
  1 Sep1 September 19:47
  
  No way of converting Emirates to Avios. Suggest you narrow down where in Dubai you want to stay and your price point and those with a knowledge of the city will be able to help narrow down your shortlist.
  
  May as well join Skywards than earn no points, they do have partners but aren’t part of an alliance. Details on the EK website.
  - Blair says:
    
    1 Sep1 September 20:28
    
    Skywards is pretty darn good IMO but I don’t think it’s shared widely here. I’d rather Skywards than Avios tbh.
MD says:

1 Sep1 September 15:21

Anybody else just get an email from BA offering 60000 avios sign up bonus for 5K spend on the BA Business Amex? Interesting.
- KBuffett says:
  
  1 Sep1 September 15:44
  
  Yes, I did. I hold all personal AmEx cards, but the terms seem to suggest I am eligible for this as I’ve never had a business card.
  @Rob – can you clarify best route to max business AmEx bonuses if one already has personal cards?
  - A says:
    
    1 Sep1 September 15:46
    
    Just received the same email. Curious to hear about this !
  - Rob says:
    
    1 Sep1 September 16:14
    
    We’ll update our article on this in a day or so.
    - Mikeact says:
      
      1 Sep1 September 17:17
      
      I guess the Virgin/KLM article comes first ?!
      - Rob says:
        
        1 Sep1 September 17:44
        
        Both require an equal amount of work so probably VS yes 🙂
  - MD says:
    
    1 Sep1 September 18:32
    
    @KB Agreed, I seem to be eligible despite holding a BAPP (and also have no business Amex of any kind). I don’t understand why they would refuse to give me the SUB on a business Plat becuase I had a personal Plat within 6 months, but WOULD let me get the SUB when taking out a BA business card. But hey, I was a bit narked about missing the plat SUB, so I’ll gladly take this! I will wait for our Glorious Leader to confirm eligibility first before taking the plunge, naturally. 😁
    - Freddy says:
      
      1 Sep1 September 18:42
      
      Amex are making these sign up rules even more convoluted.
      
      Seems that since I have a different business Amex I can’t get the BA biz card with sign up bonus as I mustn’t have had a business card for 12 months.
      
      Just means I won’t bother applying for the BA business card. Probably go for the amex business gold/plat which only needs a 6 month gap of having a MR card
Adder says:

1 Sep1 September 15:25

Shout out for any advice gratefully received – looking (hopefully!) for a Caribbean trip this winter. All else (Covid/Avios availability/cost) aside, any recommendations about which island is best for a good blend of sitting on the beach but also “doing things”?
- Anna says:
  
  1 Sep1 September 16:31
  
  Depends what things you want to do! The places with the most history & cultural sites are currently all red listed!
  - mutley says:
    
    1 Sep1 September 16:49
    
    Errrr… but no one wants to go to those places anyway, the Caribbean is about
    
    1) Relaxing on a sunlounger,
    2) Enjoying the beach/ water activities
    3) Drinking rum and cocktails
    4) Smoking a big doobie
    5) Watching the cricket if its on
    Pick any or all of the above and go to Barbados 🙂
    - Anna says:
      
      1 Sep1 September 16:51
      
      Well nobody apart from thousands of people in normal times who visit the cultural sites of Mexico, Cuba, DR, Puerto Rico etc!
      - mutley says:
        
        1 Sep1 September 16:56
        
        I strongly suspect that options 3 and 4 are not your bag then.
      - Anna says:
        
        1 Sep1 September 17:41
        
        3 after sightseeing or a long day on the beach – especially mojitos and daiquiris! Always enjoy choosing a new rum in duty free on the way home.
    - HBommie says:
      
      1 Sep1 September 17:30
      
      @mutley, suspect your contribution to the beer snake is substantial?
- HBommie says:
  
  1 Sep1 September 17:28
  
  Cruise?
Gavin says:

1 Sep1 September 15:37

Anyone having trouble buying gift cards at morissons? Just got limited to one £100 Amazon voucher in the mitcham supermarket due to “lots of fraud at the moment”
- Lee says:
  
  1 Sep1 September 15:38
  
  Always use self check out
  - Tweety says:
    
    1 Sep1 September 15:42
    
    I bought £600 from Morrison’s in Ealing while in the area with no problem
  - Andy says:
    
    1 Sep1 September 15:51
    
    Do you also have to do regular shopping at the same time to make it a bit less suss?
  - Gavin says:
    
    1 Sep1 September 15:58
    
    Is it possible with the Amazon vouchers where the value is variable?
    - mark2 says:
      
      1 Sep1 September 16:46
      
      yes; POS asks for amount
    - BJ says:
      
      1 Sep1 September 16:48
      
      No problem with variable or with only getting GC but YMMV by store.
- Flyoff says:
  
  1 Sep1 September 15:57
  
  Some of the giftcards, at certain stores, where they have high fraudulent activity, are limited to the purchase of one card. Amazon are on that list. To minimise the restriction £250 Amazon cards are available and you can put through multiple transactions.
  - Gavin says:
    
    1 Sep1 September 16:06
    
    Thanks. Wasted a few hours cycling round south London – only the mitcham store had Amazon vouchers in stock, and they would only let me but one for £100. Took 20 minutes and lots of managerial discussion too!
    - Gormlesstraveller says:
      
      1 Sep1 September 17:58
      
      At WHSmith for a similar promo, I was told I would come back during office hours so they could call the bank for extra authorisation, due to stolen credit cards being used to buy gift cards. I mentioned there’d be no problem as I was member of the HFP ABC1 club but to no avail.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  1 Sep1 September 16:08
  
  Buy the up to £250 cards they are unlimited.
  
  There is a limit on JL £50 cards but not the up to £150 cards too.
  - Freddy says:
    
    1 Sep1 September 18:44
    
    Last time I bought Amazon gift cards, Morrisons had a technical issue where they were not activated. Right palava getting my money back
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      1 Sep1 September 19:24
      
      Ive probably done about £15k over the past two years and I had one JL £150 card fail in all that.
      
      Funny enough the only other issue was paying for my actual groceries using an M’s GC
- Rahaney says:
  
  1 Sep1 September 19:41
  
  Needed a managers authorisation to get just over 1k worth today…
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    1 Sep1 September 22:15
    
    Self checkout or a proper till? People tend to make up their own rules as there’s no auth request on the till.
- Peter K says:
  
  1 Sep1 September 22:40
  
  Got over £2k in gift cards today, self service till, in 2 transactions with some ordinary shopping chucked in.
NSL says:

1 Sep1 September 15:41

IHG – I signed up as Ambassador again for another year but only travel with a family these days. Reward night availability with 2 kids is appalling for Kimpton/Intercontinental and I can’t even spend my 2021 or 2022 weekend vouchers anywhere due to lack of availability. Can anyone recommend an IC or Kimpton worldwide that I can actually use?
- meta says:
  
  1 Sep1 September 15:50
  
  You can use your Amb weekend vouchers at any IC anytime. For Kimpton and Regent it’s only valid till 31 Dec 2021.
  
  You need to book cash rate using special Amb link via app or log in via Ambassador page on desktop then the voucher is applied at check in. It’s pay one night, get second free so not linked to points bookings.
  - NSL says:
    
    1 Sep1 September 16:12
    
    Thanks, I’m aware they are different entities. My grumble was there is bugger all availability for families at any time.
    - Anna says:
      
      1 Sep1 September 16:35
      
      Have you looked at suites? You can use the Ambassador free night for most types of room. The IC O2 has suites which sleep 4. If you wanted to book extra award nights you could ask about upgrades – they would tell you how much you’d need to pay or let you stay in the suite if you were lucky!
Tom says:

1 Sep1 September 15:51

Has anyone been able to use their evouchers to book a BA Holiday over the phone?
- roberto says:
  
  1 Sep1 September 15:56
  
  I used mine a further payment rather than the “deposit”. Emailed baholidays @ ba (dot) com asking to offset such and such against this holiday booking. Took a week but painless and hands free.
  - John says:
    
    1 Sep1 September 16:05
    
    I wonder what form the refund would take if you subsequently cancelled that BA Holidays booking…
    - Harry T says:
      
      1 Sep1 September 16:27
      
      I reckon it would be a refund to your card of the total amount but you would have to ring.
TGLoyalty says:

1 Sep1 September 16:27

Big change announced by #Portugal @visitportugal from today – British visitors now only need a negative PCR (72hrs before) or antigen (48hrs) test to enter mainland #Portugal. You don’t need to be fully-jabbed. Under 12s don’t need a test. Effective from today. @ThePCAgency
Aliks says:

1 Sep1 September 16:28

Question on entry requirements for Spain and Portugal when arriving from Colombia ie not direct from UK.

I think I just need to be fully vaccinated, evidenced by the NHS certificate, plus a recent negative COVID test. Can anyone confirm?

I am reading the Spain and Portugal official websites, and using the TIMATIC database (https://www.united.com/en/us/timatic) but it would be good to get some confirmation from wiser heads.
- Sam G says:
  
  1 Sep1 September 16:57
  
  I don’t think you need a test to enter Spain, just your vaccine cert
  - Aliks says:
    
    1 Sep1 September 18:11
    
    Spain seems to be OK for travellers arriving from Colombia, but ideally I would like to spend 3 days in Madrid, then fly to Madeira. It looks like Madeira would not allow anyone to fly directly from Colombia, but visitportugal.com doesn’t say anything about tourists who fly in via Spain.
    
    Can anyone comment on Portugal/Madeira restrictions?
    - Tracey says:
      
      1 Sep1 September 23:19
      
      For Madeira entry from the UK, you only need your vaccination certificate, no testing required.
- Niall says:
  
  1 Sep1 September 18:11
  
  I got confused by the Spanish rules too. They mention for the U.K. accepting NHS cert in the same part they mention a negative test and wording like ‘when arriving from the U.K.’
  
  It is confusing. I am guessing that just nhs cert will be accepted and it doesn’t matter if arriving from the U.K. or Colombia (as long as not from one of The countries on Spain’s bad country list.)