The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 1st September

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• Andy says:

  1 Sep1 September 17:16

  I often see references to how you can save a significant amount of taxes on reward bookings by starting your journey from continental Europe. Was just exploring that now for business class flights to LATAM and Asia, and the saving looks to be in the order of 200£ or so. Am I missing the trick here? Once you factor in the additional miles for the connecting flight to London, the cost of the positioning flight and the additional time, it doesn’t seem like there’s much of saving to be made

  • AJA says:

    1 Sep1 September 17:27

    It’s not just the taxes that you save though. You can save on the number of miles required for a reward booking. If paying cash there are often particular promotions for starting in mainland Europe too. BA had an offer for below £1k for business class to the USA starting in Paris or Brussels. Qatar used to do great deals for flights to Asia starting in Oslo or Stockholm for around £1,600.

    • Andy says:

      1 Sep1 September 17:47

      Cash bookings are a different story, which is why my question was just about reward bookings where you connect back in London for the long haul leg. For example one of the touted benefits of the post September 1st BA companion voucher is that you can start your journey outside the UK, but that doesn’t seem to provide much upside if you’re UK based

    • Harry T says:

      1 Sep1 September 22:17

      I booked a couple of LUX-LHR-BOS-LHR-BRU business class BA fares for €753 a pop. I also upgraded them to F with Avios for both legs. Good luck beating that from the UK lol

  • Mikeact says:

    1 Sep1 September 17:27

    You must be joking….£’s to be saved..Dublin, Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Helsinki , ..the list goes on..depending on who you’re flying with and destination. We have yet to run into a problem, and usually always get the first connecting flight out in the morning from Heathrow or Gatwick, which limits any risk and allows us to relax in the departing lounge before turning left.

    • Jimbob says:

      1 Sep1 September 17:38

      I’ve never made the sums add up to a significant saving for all the hassle.

      By the time you’ve paid for a positioning flight, the hotel the night before and factor in the time and hassle, it doesn’t seem worth it.

      But my views are probably skewed by the fact I’d need to drag 3 kids and an unhappy wife with me.

      • swifty says:

        1 Sep1 September 18:12

        That’s made me smile! 😊

    • Andy says:

      1 Sep1 September 17:53

      That’s flying on partner airlines though, my question was about bookings where the long haul flight is from London. There doesn’t seem to be much benefit to doing AMS-LHR-HKG for example if you’re London based and need to get to AMS in the first place

      • Sam G says:

        1 Sep1 September 18:36

        I don’t think it’s worth it on reward bookings back via London. The big savings are either on cash tickets or in scenarios like South America via Madrid. You’ve got to go via there anyway but if you fly to Madrid separately you save £100s

      • TGLoyalty says:

        1 Sep1 September 22:23

        There’s 180 APD per adult so family of 4 over 12 that’s £720 … you can be cleaver and book the flight back so you can short check your bags (overnight before the short return) which means you only need a one way to AMS for example.

        But for cash flights fares can be £1k vs £1.6k in business which is a significant saving and well worth an extra short hop when heading east anyway.

        • Sam G says:

          1 Sep1 September 22:26

          True – for a family it could make sense. for a couple probably not worth it for just the APD

    • Gormlesstraveller says:

      1 Sep1 September 17:53

      Hand baggage only though so that all “free” business class luggage allowance goes unused!

  • AnotherUser says:

    1 Sep1 September 23:30

    From lots of the UK, it can be easier/cheaper to get to cities like Amsterdam or Dublin than to London

• Craig says:

  1 Sep1 September 18:07

  Someone recommended an Aeropress a few weeks ago, just having a much more pleasant coffee before heading out for dinner in Cambridge. Thanks for the recommendation.

  • TheOtherN says:

    1 Sep1 September 19:11

    That was me! You’re welcome! Helping the world enjoy a better cup, one HfP reader at a time. 😉 Did you go for the folding portable version?

    • Tom1 says:

      1 Sep1 September 19:53

      I got the aeropress go – and actually regretted it. (Is that the folding version?) the serve size is too small for a mug of coffee – wish I’d got the original one – don’t think it’s much different in terms of portability.

      • Craig says:

        1 Sep1 September 21:08

        Bought the travel one too, initial impressions are good but I did buy the strongest coffee I could find.

      • AnotherUser says:

        1 Sep1 September 23:31

        You can brew extra strong and then add more hot water for a larger mug…

    • BJ says:

      1 Sep1 September 21:53

      Thanks from me too as I also got mine 🙂

• Gormlesstraveller says:

  1 Sep1 September 18:09

  Spanish Chambermaids are setting up a new hotel booking service, “las Kellys”. I hope HFP will consider promoting it.

  They say cleaning 30 rooms in 6 hours for €39 per day is unrealistic. Considering what the “Inside Edition” documentary said about this, a happy chambermaid is one that will be more likely to change sheets between guests!

• Aston100 says:

  1 Sep1 September 18:21

  What’s happened to Chris Heyes?
  I’m missing his lolling and his disregard for personal identifiable information.

  • David says:

    1 Sep1 September 19:05

    Wasn’t he due to travel and I think he said he turns his phone off/has no tech when away?
    Lol

  • MD says:

    1 Sep1 September 19:23

    Must admit, I was convinced for ages that Chris was another one of Harry’s “characters.”

    • The Original Nick. says:

      1 Sep1 September 19:45

      Harry knew his stuff! I miss him. I heard he just got a little bit too much for some people.

      • David says:

        1 Sep1 September 20:54

        And the rest.

      • Mike says:

        1 Sep1 September 22:09

        I miss Harry

        • Rob says:

          2 Sep2 September 08:41

          I’m guessing you’re not gay or BAME.

• Ross Parker says:

  1 Sep1 September 18:31

  Anyone have recent experience of arriving in Belgium from the UK?

  Advice of Belgian government says for vaxxed UK pax to test on arrival and await the result. There is arrival testing at the airport – which is fine. They do lat flow / antigen tests with results in 50 mins. Is this sufficient, or do they ask for a PCR (quickest results 4-6 hours)?

• David says:

  1 Sep1 September 19:09

  Have you noticed the BA avios search now defaults to using your 241 voucher ?

• Adam says:

  1 Sep1 September 19:10

  What is the regulation on travel insurance when I am double insured using my Amex Plat and my Wife’s HSBC Premier.
  She is also double insured as above.
  So do we need to declare this in the future?
  Any experience on this?

  • Andrew says:

    1 Sep1 September 19:28

    If you claim against one they’ll ask if you are insured elsewhere as well. Not sure if they check if you say “no”. In theory they’d split the cost. Sounds a nightmare…

    • Adam says:

      1 Sep1 September 19:39

      Thanks Andrew, but can they check/find out?
      It is simpler to select ‘no’.
      Not sure if @Rob has experience with this? As I am sure he would have, enough products to be double or triple insured.

      • David says:

        1 Sep1 September 19:48

        Having multiple policies is not illegal but claiming from more than one policy is. Indeed some policies cover areas which others do not.

      • Oli says:

        1 Sep1 September 19:58

        I have claimed several times on my Amex Plat and just told them that I also have HSBC Premier. Then I guess they deal with each other.
        In most cases HSBC have a £50 excess and Amex Plat not, so I usually claim on Amex Plat.

        • Andrew says:

          1 Sep1 September 20:10

          That’s good to hear – at least it’s not down to you to sort two insurances.

        • Adam says:

          1 Sep1 September 20:39

          That’s good to know, thanks.
          Don’t want a nightmare of paperwork.

    • JDB says:

      1 Sep1 September 21:56

      There is a fairly high risk they do find out – it’s not difficult, and you will have agreed that they may check, and as insurance agreements are ones of uberrima fides, any failures of disclosure are problematic. There is nothing to be lost by disclosing that you have other covers and all that admin re any claim is done behind the scenes.

• Swiss Jim says:

  1 Sep1 September 19:53

  Just looking in a little more detail at Billhop. Hadn’t realised there were so many limitations (looking at the Platinum Card’s enhanced bonus and need to spend £6,000 in 6 months, noting I’m also shy on my £10,000 BAPP spend). Can someone confirm you can definitely use it for (a) council tax, (b) HMRC. Given the stated need for example for ‘an invoice’ (exists for Council Tax, arguably not for HMRC). I assume the likes of HL, Nutmeg, and organisations such as Revolut & NSandI are out?

  • Mike says:

    1 Sep1 September 22:13

    Yes can definitely use for council tax – no invoice required as you will be paying directly into the council’s business bank account. From my experience (or datapoint !!! if you are from London) Invoices only seem to be asked for by Billhop when paying into a personal bank account , ie paying the gardener / cleaner

  • TGLoyalty says:

    1 Sep1 September 22:14

    “An invoice”

    Get creative on excel if it’s worth the 3% fee ..

    • Swiss Jim says:

      1 Sep1 September 22:33

      I did wonder…..

  • Peter K says:

    1 Sep1 September 22:36

    You cannot use amex to pay financial institutions using billhop. Government ones are fine though.

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