The HfP chat thread – Saturday 4th September

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Paul says:

4 Sep4 September 09:32

Has anyone visited Gibraltar recently and able to comment on the arrival testing experience? I wondered if there was the option to provide a test result taken in the UK prior to travel (to avoid unwelcome surprise) but my reading of the rules is they want you to use their own facility within 24hrs of arrival (on the plus side waiving the cost).
- roberto says:
  
  4 Sep4 September 09:43
  
  Drove out of Gib last week, glanced over at the airport as I passed & noticed that the queue for testing was HUGE – must have been well over an hour.
  
  You don’t need to do it straight away as you disembark so maybe pop back early the next day as they open if the queue is busy.
- Travel Strong says:
  
  4 Sep4 September 09:44
  
  Landed last weekend. If you are fully vaccinated, then the only test needed is the free test at the Gib facility upon arrival. When you fill out the Gib government passenger locator, it will spin you off to the website to book this automatically.
  
  Just take lateral flows at home for free (available at all pharmacies) before you leave if you want to minimise unwelcome surprises.
  
  The covid-19 section of the visit Gibraltar website has all you need to know.
A says:

4 Sep4 September 09:35

I know there’s a bit of interest in the Domes hotels. I’m at the new Domes of Corfu for a week and if anyone has any questions I’d be happy to try and answer them.
- Char Char says:
  
  4 Sep4 September 12:33
  
  Are there many Wasps this time of year?
  - A says:
    
    4 Sep4 September 13:14
    
    There are. But only really bother us when eating on the beach or breakfast outside. No issue outside in the evening.
Chris says:

4 Sep4 September 09:35

Pleased to report and excellent free lunch at the Glasgow Ivy yesterday (using the Amex Platinum £200 dining credit). We have avoided it since its opening due to poor reviews, but can honestly say it was a very nice £99 lunch (for 2 people, inc mocktail, bottled water and two beers). The service was excellent and the surroundings were fresh and colourful and had a vibe not seen for 18 months. We may branch out and spend the remaining £101 in the Edinburgh Ivy at some point.
- Chris H says:
  
  4 Sep4 September 11:20
  
  The BA website says the customer service department is working from home, and the telephone line to customer services has been suspended, so use the Executive club number. But they do not give you the live executive club numbers.
  I tried the chat service, and was 87 in the queue. However, it did not cut me off after 1 hour, so after an hour and a half, I got to chat online. Because they wanted a payment form me however, they could not help me. They said call 0800 727 800.
  I am going to try that number a bit later and see if that works.
  It does seem that BA is doing EVERYTHING it can to make it difficult to contact them.
  Even the email I got from them saying contact them urgently said “do not reply to this email”???
David S says:

4 Sep4 September 09:44

Has anyone managed to contact the BA call centre recently? I need to change the destination of an Avios flight and the main number doesn’t even put me in the queue, the exec club number puts me in the queue and cuts off after an hour. It’s been the same everyday!
- Wally1976 says:
  
  4 Sep4 September 10:10
  
  Haven’t had to call myself but I think general advice has been to call dead on 8am.
- Paul says:
  
  4 Sep4 September 10:57
  
  Yes, bang on 8am today and straight through, 0344 493 0787. Took 45 minutes to get everything done, with a seemingly endless set of repetitions, but sorted.
- Jan H says:
  
  4 Sep4 September 17:15
  
  Try 08005977580……….and if they answer within the hour give them your number!
HBommie says:

4 Sep4 September 09:45

HSBC WE card fee reimbursement, how long does it take for the return of the fee to show in the account?
- Rob says:
  
  4 Sep4 September 10:17
  
  Jade? Mine hit same day the fee was taken.
Magarathea says:

4 Sep4 September 10:01

Data point on Morrisons offer. Two Morrisons (food + gift cards) transactions showing as pending on Virgin CC with 10% credit PLUS two further 5% credits for the “Supermarket” spend offer, relating to the same transactions! When buying more GCs today the max the till operator could put on the Morrison GCs was £100 instead of the stated £250 limit on the GCs. This limit was coded into the till but I was able to buy extra cards to get round this. These transactions have still to show on Virgin Shops Away and Airtime. This could get addictive!
- Sam G says:
  
  4 Sep4 September 10:43
  
  Random other DP for gift cards there – I bought a £100 One4all restaurant card last night as we were going to a Zizzi but it didn’t work – turns out they need 24hrs to activate. no big deal as they’re valid for a year and it’s valid in lots of places but one to note (if it isn’t common knowledge already!) but no problem buying it (I did buy some shopping as well)
  - KBuffett says:
    
    4 Sep4 September 10:47
    
    Has anyone been successful cashing out large amounts of One4All cards into their bank account?
    
    Is it possible to use an ATM?
    - Toaster says:
      
      4 Sep4 September 11:46
      
      Definitely cannot use one4all in ATM and doubtful that anyone is cashing out multiple cards to their bank. I think the max value of standard (not chip and pin) one4all is £120 and there’s an admin fee of £7.50 to cash out to bank. I would think that if you tried this a few times that it would flag up as suspicious.
      - @mkcol says:
        
        4 Sep4 September 15:08
        
        It’s worth reading their T&C about when you can cash out without fee.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  4 Sep4 September 10:51
  
  They needed to press other amount and then type 250 …
  - Harry T says:
    
    4 Sep4 September 11:03
    
    Yeah, was going to say that you might have to teach the less imaginative checkout people how to use their console…
    - Toaster says:
      
      4 Sep4 September 17:41
      
      @ @mkcol, how many times do you think you can buy a card and then phone up to cancel it? I’m interested if there is some way to do this regularly as I can get two £100 one4all cards every month for £160.
The Savage Squirrel says:

4 Sep4 September 10:04

Has anyone managed to get a Qatar travel voucher refunded back to cash? Trip was to Perth so initially took voucher in order to rebook later, but looking unlikely any time this decade with their current policy and mentality in WA.

Emailed QR twice with zero response. Is there another channel to contact or a more responsive Email? We still have a few months until validity expires so not time-critical at this stage.
- 747_Brat says:
  
  4 Sep4 September 10:57
  
  I managed to get the cash back from a voucher but after a lot of palaver. It was earlier in the year and took multiple calls for them to refund the cash.
Wally1976 says:

4 Sep4 September 10:09

I think I know the answer to this but has anyone had any recent success at phoning BA at 1am, t-355 days to add a return flight to a 2 for 1 Avios booking? If so, please share the time you called and the number you called! TIA
- Travel Strong says:
  
  4 Sep4 September 11:57
  
  I think someone recently posted a success story using the Japan number shortly after 1am.
  - OP says:
    
    4 Sep4 September 18:05
    
    Japan number worked for me a few days ago, calling at exactly 1am! US number before 1am was a mess, managed to get through but only to someone who was not trained to use 241 vouchers (?) or something along those lines.