Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The HfP chat thread – Saturday 18th 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 (303)

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

  • Michael says:
    18 Sep18 September 15:18

    Does anyone here know which airlines would fly a 10 year old on its own from London to Düsseldorf or Cologne or as nearby as possible?

    • Michael says:
      18 Sep18 September 15:21

      Ideally I am looking for an airline offering a daily flight, incase a flight is cancelled for whatever reason, I am looking for October half term.

    • AL says:
      18 Sep18 September 17:48

      A 2019 article on the Opodo blog at https://www.opodo.co.uk/blog/which-airlines-allow-unaccompanied-minors-to-fly-alone/ covered this. LH are your best option, as mentioned, for direct; KL or W6 might do you for an indirect.

      • Michael says:
        18 Sep18 September 18:21

        Thank you, what is KL or W6?

        • Paul Pogba says:
          18 Sep18 September 18:36

          IATA airline codes. W6 = Wizz, KL = KLM.

          • ChrisC says:
            18 Sep18 September 19:06

            Whatever the airline you chose please red their policies before booking the flight as they are all slightly different when it comes to bookign the service in the forst place to checking them in, what documentation is required and who is going to meet them at the other end.

            Some won’t allow UMs on connecting flights. Others don’t allow it on the last flight of the day,

          • AL says:
            18 Sep18 September 20:43

            +1 to ChrisC’s comments but I’m yet to find an airline that does a UM booking without agent assistance (likely to ensure policies adhered to).

    • Rui N. says:
      18 Sep18 September 19:56

      A lot (all?) of airlines suspended their unaccompanied services during the pandemic. Have they restarted them?

  • Blindman says:
    18 Sep18 September 15:26

    Uk to Canada

    Trying to get a decent business class\First flight LON-YVR, then YYZ -LON

    Looking at Virgin but their return from YYZ uses KLM via AMS or WestJet direct

    Anyone flown Business with West Jet transatlantic?

    Do you think I can use the companion voucher on these flights?

    I am Gold

    Ta

    • JDB says:
      18 Sep18 September 15:47

      Upgrade Rewards and Companion Rewards are not valid on codeshare flights. Applicable flights must have a “VS” prefix and be operated by VAA.

      • Blindman says:
        18 Sep18 September 16:01

        Some transatlantic flights can be VS

        The short feeders from\to are Delta.

        Westjet is direct but I have no idea about their business product.

        Ta

        • Andy says:
          18 Sep18 September 19:37

          So that’s VS to the US and connecting on Delta to Canada? You can only use the companion voucher on itineraries fully operated by VS as far as I know, plus at the moment you cannot transit via the US from the UK unless you are exempt

        • Andrew says:
          18 Sep18 September 19:38

          This is why we need Westjet to invite Rhys to review their product.

          The publicity shots of their product look very good though.

  • TM says:
    18 Sep18 September 15:37

    How long did it take you guys to get your 10k nectar bonus from the £400 Sainsbury’s spend? (Sainsbury’s credit card)

  • ash says:
    18 Sep18 September 15:40

    Anyone who has done the sheraton grand london, are the evening canapés and drinks worth bothering with? Nice room for anyone still waiting for their grandsuite experiance. Cheers Ash

    • APB says:
      18 Sep18 September 16:08

      They were fairly basic – and it’s red/white wine (house), bottled beer and two or three spirits and mixers – certainly not worth planning your evening around. But yes the room was fabulous 🙂

    • APB says:
      18 Sep18 September 16:13

      And btw greetings from a similarly large suite in the IC Marseille. Managed to blag this one with an upgrade and an ambassador free weekend voucher. It’s not as bling but has great views of the old port and Notre Dame de la Garde – well recommended 🙂

    • Michael C says:
      18 Sep18 September 16:13

      Am lying on the bed looking through to the living room and beyond to Green Park as I type!
      Afternoon scones and sachertorte were tasty, will do a couple of beers later before we head off to the theatre.

      • Michael C says:
        19 Sep19 September 07:24

        Can confirm evening was indeed fairly basic, with the drinks as APB mentioned, & Chivas. Some sushi + couscous, fine but by no means filling.

  • LessCleverAndrew says:
    18 Sep18 September 16:01

    What a mess !

    Its still not clear to me what the rules are for unvaccinated children.

    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-quarantine-when-you-arrive-in-england#rules-for-children-and-young-people

    “11 to 17 year olds must take a:

    COVID-19 pre-departure test before travelling to England
    day 2 test on or before day 2 in England – arrival day is day 0”

    So 11 to 17 year olds must take a predeparture test and day 2 test ?!?!

    The problem with the announcement about the rule changes is that it is a delta. So you have to take the current rules and then try to apply the changes on top.

    For example, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-testing-for-people-travelling-to-england

    “Travel from Spain and its islands
    If you are travelling to England from Spain, including the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands (Formentera, Ibiza, Mallorca, Menorca), you are advised to take a PCR type test before travel. ”

    ^^^ Now is this necessary or no longer necessary?

  • david says:
    18 Sep18 September 16:11

    currently 5000 Avios on a 170 spend at Kiehls – 25 Avios per £ plus 15% cash back with Amex plat.

  • ian says:
    18 Sep18 September 17:07

    JFK-LHR one-way in Economy on BA metal used to be a decent value at 13,000 Avios + approx $65 in taxes and fees. Now it’s showing as $200. What changed?

  • Aliks says:
    18 Sep18 September 17:54

    Does anyone know what type of business class BA are operating from LHR to Cairo?

    Is it still short haul format – 3 seats with the middle one blocked? From Flightaware it looks like BA400 today was a Boeing 787-8 (twin-jet) which appears to have lie flat seats?

    • AJA says:
      18 Sep18 September 18:06

      Perhaps that is a cargo flight? I thought BA was using A320Neos on the route

    • ChrisC says:
      18 Sep18 September 18:21

      BA has been operating wide bodies on some routes for a little while, But they seem to get spread around routes and days of the week as it is cargo dependent,

      Rob wrote a piece on it – including routes – a couple of weeks ago.

      There is no guarentee that they will continue to do this in the future though.

      • Rob says:
        18 Sep18 September 18:50

        IAG Cargo is selling the space to New Year but the flights are only updated in ba.com in chunks.

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