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The HfP chat thread – Friday 17th September

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

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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.

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Comments (588)

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

  • G says:

    Thinking of cashing out my eVouchers from the 2p avios promo. Couple of qs:
    – Which routes are likely to be cancelled? (was thinking of doing Bangkok in December after the discussion yesterday?)
    – When I request a refund, where will the money be paid? Originally I used Amex, but for the top up to get the latest flight I can use a debit card if it goes back to that card?

    • Britbronco says:

      I wouldn’t do this, some people have reported doing this and have received a cash refund based on an Avios rate of 0.5p

    • BJ says:

      What was the discussion about BKK yesterday?

    • Sam G says:

      Bangkok is apparently opening mid-Oct so I wouldn’t absolutely bank on that being cancelled as I think by Xmas it could be quite busy.

      I’d go something like Orlando on the 10th Oct. However I’ve had FTV flights subsequently cancelled and refunded and I got the part-payment Avios back, I don’t think you’d get 2p in cash back instead.

  • Yorkshire Rich says:

    Do we think this is going to be super Friday where ever man and his dog purchases multiple holidays for this year and next year?
    Be interesting how the prices change.

    • Reney says:

      My main problem is that the countries where I want to go still have a 14 days + hotel quarantine or not letting people from the UK in. Changes in the returning to UK side of the equcation makes marginal differences. I doubt I will be doing any bookings today.

      My last trip to Paris, costof tests added <£50 to my trip, yes some stress to sorting it. But I saved a ton on hotels by following HFP.

      • BJ says:

        Exactly, still cannot accept the hassle and continuing uncertainty myself. But I really hoped things would be a lot easier by December. Now I am not optimistic that they will be much improved by December 2022. So, fast getting to the point I make a decision on travel versus hassle.

    • Laura says:

      Already have two holidays booked for next year. Dubai in January and Azores in July. Holding off for a bit now!

  • Oliver says:

    Any easy way to check for I class business availability? Thanks

    • Rob says:

      ExpertFlyer is a paid tool which can do it in bulk.

      Flight by flight, you can do a dummy cash booking and it will show the selling class in the dropdown where the flight number is shown. You need to try to buy 9 cash tickets, not 1, because it seems you need around 9 I-class to be available before they are released for a 241.

  • Michael C says:

    Just as an fyi, total lockdown and curfew extended in Sri Lanka to 1 Oct.

  • Simon says:

    I have a 241 BA Amex voucher expiring on 18th October, BA aren’t extending them anymore are they? Bar using it for a short weekend trip to say Toronto if the diary works, I suppose I can say goodbye to it?

  • Roger says:

    What’s Marriott’s mobile key?
    Does it offer mobile check in without seeing front desk at a hotel even in places like Spain where they normally like to check guests passport?

    • E says:

      I have had to go to the desk for a proper key where they needed to check my passport.

    • Harry T says:

      You will need to go to the front desk anyway

    • AL says:

      I have yet to stay in a Marriott in the UK that actually provides a working mobile key. It works a treat 75% of the time at Hilton, but I’ve stayed at 18 different Marriott properties that allegedly support it in the last year, and *none* of them provided it when I checked in via the app.

  • Rich says:

    To whoever was asking about passport turnaround times:

    Posted old passport by Special Delivery on 6 Sep, and it’s taken until today – 11 days – for them to mark it as ‘Old Passport Received’.

    (Annoyingly, I’ve lost the tracking number, so I can’t see how long Royal Mail took, but my guess is Passport Office being slow, not RM!)

    • ChrisC says:

      Last December it took Royal Mail over a week to deliver my old passport to Liverpool.

      Posted on Friday and RM tracker said they delivered it the following Saturday,

      HMPO recorded it as ‘received’ the following Monday, printed and posted it that day and I had it on the Tuesday.

    • Paul says:

      Applied online to replace my father’s lost passport on 23rd August, and also needed to add new photo and get that verified by friend, and new passport arrived yesterday.

    • Ron says:

      It was me that was asking yesterday. We did it online last night, photo verified today and posting it today as special delivery, so should get there tomorrow. We fly 5 weeks today, so fingers crossed we will get it back in time!

      • Simon Miller says:

        I applied for a renewal recently and was amazed to have my new passport back in under 10 days.

  • Steven says:

    Does anyone know if the extended warranty cover that you get with the HSBC free Premier CC covers iPhones? It says there are some exclusions but doesn’t specify what they are. It covers accidental damage so would save having to pay for cover elsewhere. TIA

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