Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The HfP chat thread – Friday 10th September

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

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.

Category

General

Comments (617)

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

  • rams1981 says:
    10 Sep10 September 10:30

    Has anyone recently had their Lloyds upgrade voucher extended?

    • Anna says:
      10 Sep10 September 13:20

      A few people have said they’ve had them extended to Oct 31st. I managed to move a booking for this month to next Easter, which is way beyond the original expiry date.

  • tony says:
    10 Sep10 September 10:44

    I’ve just had an e-mail in from Swiss. 99% off kids fares. base fare, Y only, blackout dates over Christmas otherwise available until the end of next summer. All Europe and “select other routes” apparently.

    No use to me as my youngest is about to turn 12, but might be of some value…

    • Rich says:
      10 Sep10 September 10:57

      A really useful thing about SWISS is they offer free carriage of ski/ snowboard equipment.

      No worries if your boots are in a separate bag, or your helmet doesn’t fit in the hand luggage. As long as you aren’t on a Light fare, you’re good.

      Contrast with BA, where skis/ boots/ luggage counts as 3 items.

    • BuildBackBetter says:
      10 Sep10 September 11:55

      Wish the testing requirements were removed completely for vaccinated and children. No point booking connecting flights when requirements change frequently.

  • GaryE says:
    10 Sep10 September 10:55

    Further to my attempts yesterday, and thanks for everyone’s suggestion – it appears that the BA holidays ‘secure with deposit’ only works if the BASIC holiday price that comes up either via Holiday finder or direct Fight& Hotel search is over £300.
    If the holiday is under £300 and you amend the room or add any additional extras which takes the revised cost over £300 the BA system still wants full payment upfront.
    Have tried every work around but with no success!

    • AJA says:
      10 Sep10 September 15:53

      I agree the price of the holiday must be greater than £300 to get the deposit option to work. Online it tells you up front if you can pay a deposit.

      Looking at the T&Cs it says the following:
      Flight + hotel and flight + car holidays between £300-£999: Just pay £120 deposit per booking
      Flight + hotel and flight + car holidays between £1,000-£2,999: Just pay from £150 deposit per booking
      Flight + hotel and flight + car holidays between £3,000-£3,499: Just pay from £200 deposit per booking
      Flight + hotel and flight + car holidays over £3,500: Your deposit amount will be displayed during the booking process

      Are you sure you can’t get it to work? I just did a dummy booking to LHR to EDI flying Friday 8 Oct returning Sunday 10 Oct and the cheapest offering was £278 and did not offer me the option of paying a £120 deposit. But I then changed the flights and that increased the price to £398 and the message “Secure with a £120 deposit” came up.

      Where are you trying to go?

      • GaryE says:
        10 Sep10 September 17:34

        Prague 22nd – 24th – Hotel and flights are £238 but on the next page I upgraded the rooms to exec rooms and total price is now £360 but still wants full payment. I agree with what you have done and it works when you change the flight to a dearer option but not if you go into the next page and try to change the hotel room selection.

  • John Alves says:
    10 Sep10 September 10:56

    I cancelled a BA cash flight a week ago using the online form recommended on HFP to request an e-voucher. Not received any communication from BA about voucher but flghts have disappeared from MMB. How long does it normally take to get a voucher? I am obviously reluctant to join BA phone queues!

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:
    10 Sep10 September 11:03

    Breaking news: Tesco have stopped offering Club Card points on mini-cabbages.

    Hope I’m not late to the party with the above news flash.

  • CarpalTravel says:
    10 Sep10 September 11:17

    7 working days in and still no Virgin R+ card received. I know they say to allow up 10, but these days that seems reeeal slow!

  • Newbie champion says:
    10 Sep10 September 11:18

    Just looking back on yesterday’s posts, and to an extent those from this morning,, and would say that the people who complain about the repetitive mention of the Creation SMS probably took up more space than those posting “Have you had an SMS from Creation about Curve?” ! Why do regular posters, perhaps with more free time, have to ridicule those who only have time to dip in to HfP and don’t want to trail through 18 pages or more? Admittedly it was easy to see the main topic of discussion yesterday but some of the regulars (whom I must say by and large do an incredible job with their advice and otherwise good nature) should recognise that the readership is varied and ranges from novices to the wizened! Don’t put off or put down the newbies please! What’s so difficult about moving on when you see a repeat request rather than blocking up the blog further with negativity and sarcasm? Anyway, trying to stop repeat requests is flogging a dead horse!

    • Yorkieflyer says:
      10 Sep10 September 11:45

      Well I was taught at school to read and write, some folk evidently only the latter 😀

    • Aston100 says:
      10 Sep10 September 13:08

      It takes just a few moments to flick through a few pages. If the comments section seems unusually large, then clearly something must be up.

    • Harry T says:
      10 Sep10 September 13:42

      The recurrent theme in this comments section is that people can’t be bothered to take five mins to read something, or do their own research in general. Literally takes you less than five mins to read a previous page of comments.

    • ThePenguin says:
      11 Sep11 September 01:16

      Because this isn’t a dedicated manufacturing spend site the way you newbies treat it!

  • Thomas S says:
    10 Sep10 September 11:20

    Does anyone know what’s happening with Miles & More credit card? There has been radio silence since last April, when it shut down.

    • NC says:
      10 Sep10 September 11:57

      I’d suggest we could do with a post about this sooner rather than later really, as a lot of readers may inadvertently end up with points expiring this December.

    • Youllnever says:
      10 Sep10 September 12:38

      According to Rob, it’s apparently looking less and less likely to return.

      • Blair says:
        10 Sep10 September 12:50

        A Swiss M&M card is your best option, must be paid from a Swiss current account though (which isn’t difficult to set up).

      • Thomas S says:
        10 Sep10 September 13:06

        @Rob any inside information? I don’t want to to believe that Lufthansa does not care about their UK customers. MBNA M&M cards were around for more than 15 years I think.

        • Blair says:
          10 Sep10 September 13:12

          We can’t love on inside hints though Thomas. Most people will see a significant points expiry on 31/12 so now’s the time to cash out or find a way to protect the miles.

        • Rob says:
          10 Sep10 September 14:21

          If I was Cornercard, I wouldn’t launch a card. The market is changing.

          • Blair says:
            10 Sep10 September 14:36

            My account also shows 30/09 expiry indicating Cornercard’s amnesty has not applied correctly. In any event I have alternatives planned this month so not concerned

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Learn more on our About page.

VAA

Latest comments

Latest Forum Posts

Get 30,000 points bonus with American Express Platinum

Amex Gold

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.3 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

Get 20,000 bonus points and your first year free with American Express Gold

Amex Gold