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The HfP chat thread – Friday 10th September

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We are running this daily chat thread on Head for Points during the coronavirus outbreak.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the de facto repository for random comments and questions.  With the news flow being lighter, we are running fewer ‘Bits’ articles.

The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind.  At this tricky time, and given that many of you are at home, we want the HfP community to have a place to chat.

Please only comment under the main articles on the site if your comment is directly related to the topic of the article.  This has long-term benefits as it keeps the commentary relevant for people who read those articles in the future.

Old chat threads are hidden from the HfP home page.  If you want to look for something in an old thread, click here.  This brings up all the articles in our ‘General’ category which includes the chat threads.

Comments (617)

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

  • KBuffett says:

    I’ve noticed that Revolut have some decent ca$hback offers, like 30% back at The Ivy.
    Most offers seem to be very limited and apply to only specific London branches. Worth a look.

    • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

      Some great restaurant offers in there. Good spot.

    • Stephan says:

      Don’t see the Ivy offer may be because I’m on the basix membership.

      • mr_jetlag says:

        I’m on premium (not metal), don’t have the Ivy one but 40% off Pizza Hut. I feel personally attacked.

      • Youllnever says:

        Don’t think it’s anything to do with your plan. I’m on the free plan and I’m seeing it.

        • bill says:

          Can someone direct me to how i can see these ? I am on the free plan I I cannot find them in the app

          • bill says:

            forget that….my app says “Country: Isle of Man” and rewards aren’t available in this country yet…

    • Reney says:

      I don’t have Ivy, but some really good ones too. Thanks for pointing it out I rarely look there.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      Thanks. Some very good offers for most of the places on the Amex dining list.

      • Harry T says:

        Mine appear to be mostly pizza delivery related!

        • TGLoyalty says:

          Doesn’t seem to be one single list but rather different sections. Keep scrolling down and selecting the various “see all”

        • Aston100 says:

          All I’ve got is loads of Papa Johns Pizza branches and Lathwaites!

      • KBuffett says:

        Can anyone confirm that these offers apply to single branches in some parts of London of Pret, The Ivy etc? The wording is ambiguous and I’m wondering if the map etc is just inaccurate?

  • gt94sss2 says:

    Creation who run the UK IHG and Marriott credit cards (among others) have decided to block any Curve transactions on any of their cards.

    • Pablo says:

      Where were you yesterday?

    • mr_jetlag says:

      WHAAT?!

    • ThePenguin says:

      Thank god for that! I can stop calling them now when they charge me interest for my manaffactured spending! ;o)

      • geoff says:

        Thought there would have been a main story about this today

        • Rob says:

          You seriously think an article on MS via Curve which would be read by literally every senior employee in the UK loyalty and card industry is a good idea? Happy to do one for tomorrow if others support the idea.

          • Roy says:

            I wouldn’t even mention MS, but this change impacts a lot of people who have no interest in MS.

            Like, people who want to earn points paying their tax bill – a subject that HfP has written about on several occasions. Also, people who just like to use Google Pay or Apple Pay with their IHG card.

            Seem to be a fair few comments from the latter group – I suspect I’ll be using my IHG card rather less for in store purchases from now on.

          • Roy says:

            Also, the text message was sent to a lot of people who have never engaged in MS, and probably don’t even know what MS is – probably to everyone who’s ever used Curve – so the comments are just going to keep coming, I think.

          • Jimmy says:

            Why on earth would Rob write an article on MS. This is a great travel blog. Not only is it crazy to reveal MS but I doubt the CCs would look favoruably on Rob for doing so as well.

          • Memesweeper says:

            I’ll leave to your editorial judgement about if you should run a piece.

            A lot of people use IHG + Curve for regular, and lucrative, transactions which aren’t possible without curve, including FX spend, HMRC etc. Curve is now being blocked for payments by some (Amex, Creation) and for deposits by others (Barclaycard)… a piece on “the state of Curve” might be of interest.

          • Harry T says:

            @Rob I would personally appreciate it if you ignored the numpties and didn’t write that article. Everyone affected by the changes has already been informed, and I agree we shouldn’t shine any more light on this aspect of the points game.

          • Judge says:

            Don’t even know what MS means. But I have Curve metal for a combination of foreign currency spend, paying tax and convenience. Would love an update, and information about remaining options for the underlying card, e.g. Virgin, HSBC, Capital on Tap.

        • VerdantBacon says:

          HfP have never had an article encouraging you to MS, don’t think they’d write one telling you it’s now over. Comments section and editorial content is very different

  • Craig says:

    Morning all, flying BA in a few weeks, BA Blue but Oneworld Ruby through Qatar. Am I right in thinking I can reserve seats 7 days before? If so what’s the best way to do this, booking currently has my BAEC number allocated?

    • meta says:

      You need to change the number in MMB. If it doesn’t work in MMB, then try MMB Finnair or Malaysia Airlines and change number there. You’ll be able then select seats there or go back to BA site. If you need to change the number again for Avios credit, then do it after check-in in the lounge or at the gate.

    • Craig says:

      Thanks, managed to change to the Qatar number through Finnair, hopefully will be able to select seats 7 days prior.

    • marcw says:

      It’s exactly 7 days, 168 h before scheduled departure.

  • aviosnewbie says:

    I am unable to login to Creation – get a msg that I have entered wrong details for the password. So I reset the password just in case, but the same thing all over when I use the new password. Did this 3 times. Anyone else facing the same issue?

    • John says:

      Do you use the app? Mine is fine.

      Did you abuse the card? Maybe your account has been closed, or hacked.

    • Craig says:

      Had similar issues in the past, deleted the app, reinstalled and didn’t activate FaceID etc until it was working.

    • Anna says:

      I’ve had loads of problems recently. Keep having to reset the PIN for logging on AND the online services one, it’s a right pain!

  • Craig says:

    Following on from yesterday news, Creation have blocked Curve if anyone missed it, does Curve play nicely with the Nectar Credit Card? Need a plan B to pay a hotel bill in Spain in a couple of weeks.

    • chris says:

      check if your ihg creation card has the 0% fee offer on foreign transactions in September.

    • Rui N. says:

      I tried it once to see if it works and it went fine. But it was a small amount.
      I remember some people reporting here to having used it with Ernie to get the 0% interest on purchases.

    • PMG says:

      I used Curve backed by Nectar Credit Card on my holiday to Croatia recently and worked fine 🙂

    • TGLoyalty says:

      Just in case it helps anyone else

      Virgin, Lloyds and MBNA are all fine with actual purchases via curve.

    • Youllnever says:

      Why the Nectar card and not other cards like VA? The earning rate seems to be very poor outside of Sainsbury’s etc.

      • Craig says:

        Just what’s available at the moment and don’t want to apply for another card just yet.

  • CarpalTravel says:

    Morning all, Happy Friday! Just wanted to say big thanks for the fun yesterday, was a difficult day for me and the great humour in the chat thread really helped me a lot. 😀

  • Ming the Merciless says:

    Just tried another NS&I run after success yesterday afternoon.

    Card not accepted.

  • Bob says:

    Good morning, my BAPP has displayed for a few weeks now that l have earned a companion ticket, but it has not appeared in my BAEC account.
    Who do I contact about my missing companion ticket, AMEX or BAEC?
    Thank you in advance.

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