The HfP chat thread – Thursday 9th September

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Stephan says:

9 Sep9 September 19:53

Not creation /curve related. For fine hotel if you make multiple room reservations for friends and family do they all benefit from the perks?
- Blair says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 20:22
  
  I think you can have up to 3 rooms on the rate; it’s defo in the smallprint on the FHR site.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 21:11
  
  A supplementary card holder can also book FHR rates in their name.
Yorkshire Rich says:

9 Sep9 September 19:58

Hi everyone, just finally got used to the lingo. Only the other day I got my Solihull through the post with my bendy and I’m now ready to feed the seagulls.

Hope I’m not too late to the show…..
- BuildBackBetter says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 20:04
  
  Not at all. Party’s just getting started…
- James says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 21:41
  
  Still don’t get it!
  - ThePenguin says:
    
    9 Sep9 September 22:48
    
    Use curve with any credit card you have to pay Amex. Some charge, some don’t! But don’t worry about anything because apparently Amex know all about it and are fine with it.
Rob says:

9 Sep9 September 20:08

I have been told by someone who seems to know that, interestingly, NSI is the driver behind this and that further clampdowns are coming. Let’s see.
- Craig says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 20:18
  
  Shows the importance of keeping your own house in order.
- KBuffett says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 20:19
  
  That wouldn’t surprise me. Some comments on here have stated that they’ve been asked for proof of funds, and someone mentioned they had to provide a money trail.
  - BP says:
    
    9 Sep9 September 20:30
    
    I had to provide full source of funds. Which was interesting as I had about 6 separate accounts involved… Solihull, beardy, hk, others
- Red Flyer says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 20:24
  
  I wonder how much of the £13bn withdrawn Apr-Jun this year from NS&I was from HfP readers clearing their MS Solihull debts??? 😂
  - Harrier25 says:
    
    9 Sep9 September 20:26
    
    The first official comment from Curve…
    “We’re aware some of you have received a message from Creation about the compatibility of your credit cards with Curve. We’re talking with Creation about this and working to find a solution as soon as possible. We’ll keep you updated and thank you for your patience!”
    - Flyoff says:
      
      9 Sep9 September 21:00
      
      I was told by Creation that there had been a management meeting yesterday which had decided that commercially they did not want to have a relationship with Curve with immediate effect. Cust services didn’t know the reason for this. Change%. They accepted the text was unclear and that for a fully branded IHG card it was not immediately obvious it was a creation card.
      - Roy says:
        
        9 Sep9 September 21:53
        
        “decided that commercially they did not want to have a relationship with Curve ”
        
        That’s not how a 4-party scheme works, though. Creation never _had_ a relationship with Curve. Creation and Curve both, independently, have relationships with Mastercard. Literally the whole point of 4-party schemes like Mastercard and Visa is to avoid every card issuer having to have their own relationship with the merchants who accept it.
- Harry T says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 20:38
  
  Just had a Bendy payment in person declined by Solihull. The jig is up!
  - BP says:
    
    9 Sep9 September 20:57
    
    Yep, just tried £20 in the ATM.and it was blocked. Games up!
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 20:40
  
  Why wouldn’t they just block Curves BIN if that was the case
- The Savage Squirrel says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 20:46
  
  Why not just block payments from Curve themselves?
  Seems the least efficient and most pointlessly work intensive way to clamp down.
  Oh, hold on; it’s a government agency. That could make sense then…
- BuildBackBetter says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 20:56
  
  How will they know it’s from Creation? Doesn’t curve mask the real card?
Yorkieflyer says:

9 Sep9 September 20:16

Cash withdrawal worked fine with creation today
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 21:13
  
  Must have sent their last text at 4:59pm and switched off the lights
  
  Someone must have sore thumbs today from all the texts they had to send. No doubt with Solihull involved they typed each one out separately….
  - Yorkieflyer says:
    
    9 Sep9 September 21:54
    
    Funny enough was at 445pm
WTL says:

9 Sep9 September 20:17

Just tried depositing to Ernie via bendy – no longer ppsisble
- MS Saviour says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 20:27
  
  No worries just successfully topped up Ernie by £5k using my new ‘debit card’ strategy.
  - Luke says:
    
    9 Sep9 September 22:39
    
    Che?
  - ThePenguin says:
    
    9 Sep9 September 22:52
    
    Or HSBC?
Njb says:

9 Sep9 September 20:24

Just done my nightly check of HfP page – 880 comments oh my goodness- now time to get scrolling with a g and t and see what on earth has happened- surely this is a record breaking night !
- Rui N. says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 20:30
  
  It isn’t a record 🙂
- CarpalTravel says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 20:31
  
  You’ll find out the answer to that, when you hit the mid-teen pages… 😉
  - CarpalTravel says:
    
    9 Sep9 September 20:31
    
    Oh, or maybe now.
    - Rui N. says:
      
      9 Sep9 September 20:43
      
      Sorry CarpalTravel!
      - Carpal Travel says:
        
        9 Sep9 September 21:29
        
        Teach me to be slow! 😄
  - Njb says:
    
    9 Sep9 September 20:40
    
    Never got into the birmingham bendy bird game but gutted to have missed out on the Marriott F1 experience mentioned on page 15 – – its all sold out.
    - Carpal Travel says:
      
      9 Sep9 September 21:30
      
      I’m still not entirely sure what the game was! 😂
- James says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 21:40
  
  Not sure what the explanation is!
  - Roy says:
    
    9 Sep9 September 21:56
    
    Not sure either. I did receive this text message, though – not sure if anyone else got it, too?
Jonathan says:

9 Sep9 September 20:35

How strict is easyJet carry on luggage rules?
My new suitcase is 2cm taller than the allowed 46cm height
- GaryC says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 20:49
  
  In my experience of flying Easyjet quite a bit in the past year (typically to and from Glasgow/Inverness/Edinburgh), not very strict. You will need to pay for one of the seats at the front though for speedy boarding and the extra luggage allowance.
  - Bill says:
    
    9 Sep9 September 20:56
    
    My recent experience is that they are very, very strict. Particularly since they changed the cabin baggage sizes
    - Jonathan says:
      
      9 Sep9 September 21:02
      
      It’s how they’ll make their money, by catching people out by a few millimetres who’s bags are too big, then forcing them to fork out an oversized baggage surcharge.
      
      Just imagine how bad the likes of Ryanair would be with things like this
      
      (a different Jonathan)
- BP says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 21:09
  
  Didn’t seem to care on my recent flights to/from lisbon. In fact my mates took bags on when they hadn’t paid for seats so no checks at all.
- Aston100 says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 21:13
  
  Don’t risk it.
- SteveJ says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 21:41
  
  Agree with the sentiments above, especially on a busy flight they are painstakingly strict. Agreed the probably don’t give a hoot on an empty plane, but more often than not they are looking for ways to reduce the number of overhead bags
- Lady London says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 21:50
  
  I thought height was 55cm?
  - Richie says:
    
    9 Sep9 September 21:55
    
    easyJet have changed it so the free bag can go under the seat in front of you.
  - Bill says:
    
    9 Sep9 September 22:21
    
    They are launching a standalone cabin bag product next month. In the meantime to get the 55cm trolley on board you need to buy a bundled seat product or have easyJet plus. Alternatively stick it in the hold using the hands free product
    - Lady London says:
      
      10 Sep10 September 11:39
      
      Luckily all my bookings were made before this reduction came in so I expect to keep the terms I booked on
- Harry T says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 22:24
  
  They’ve never checked my bag measurements flying out of or into Edinburgh. However, you’re screwed if it’s not squishy and you’re a couple of cm over the metal checking device thingy.
- Ikaz says:
  
  10 Sep10 September 09:39
  
  They were checking 100% of pax last week, even my tiny laptop bag had to go in the sizer (departure from Glasgow and Stansted)
David says:

9 Sep9 September 20:44

Can I have some advice please- contacted Virgin a while ago (WhatsApp) as I had an email saying I owned them some money for a booking I had previously changed. As it happened I wanted to change the return flight anyway so I contacted them again via whatsapp. The booking was changed and I was told twice that I owed them no money what’s so ever. I have now been contacted and told it was a mistake and I owe them money. Do I accept this and pay up or stand my ground and consider legal action ?
- The Savage Squirrel says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 20:49
  
  My first thought was that a demand for extra money out of the blue for an already-booked flight sounds a bit scammy. Sure it was a genuine Email?
  - David says:
    
    9 Sep9 September 21:06
    
    Yup pretty certain its genuine as the amount owing was right. Having changed these flights a few times the amounts they claim you owe them seems quite random. These were originally booked in the Black Friday Sale then cancelled by virgin and changed to a FTV and an upgrade voucher in exchange for not taking a refund. I think they were rebooked as PE with the upgrade voucher.
    - Carpal Travel says:
      
      9 Sep9 September 21:32
      
      Surely cost changes only ever get made/confirmed once payment has been made?! Seems extraordinary to me.
- ChrisC says:
  
  9 Sep9 September 22:07
  
  how much are you talking about?
  
  If proper government taxes and airport fees have changed for example then yes they can charge you for them.
  - David says:
    
    9 Sep9 September 22:17
    
    Its a total of £160 but I asked them twice if there was nothing to pay –
    This is the conversation
    [23:40, 04/09/2021] David : so i dont owe you anything ?
    [23:52, 04/09/2021] Virgin Atlantic: That’s correct, we can make this change at no extra cost and the payment we attempted to take previously does not apply 😀
    
    That has all been changed for you David and your booking is in the queue for our ticketing team to reissue. Please allow 28 days as they are currently dealing with imminent travel.
    
    I can see that you have assigned your seats, is there anything else I can help with today?