The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 28th September

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• Simon says:

  28 Sep28 September 10:19

  Any opinions of the Hyatt Regency Birmingham? Trying to use an Amex hotel offer for a night away over half-term for 4 of us, not too far from London…… Struggling to find a decent hotel in a sensible location, that isnt the Four Seasons Hampshire prices…..

  • Super Secret Stuff says:

    28 Sep28 September 10:33

    Interested in this too

  • TGLoyalty says:

    28 Sep28 September 12:21

    Birmingham is about 110 miles from London

    The Grand is by far the best hotel in Birmingham. The Hyatt is ok rooms little run down.

• FlightDoctor says:

  28 Sep28 September 10:19

  Re. Booking a flight with the 2-4-1 and then cancelling to get a FTV and force an extension to 2023. Does the initial booking need to be a return flight or would a one way be ok and still allow a subsequent return booking when reactivated?

  • Lula says:

    28 Sep28 September 11:33

    I called BA to check this point a few days ago. They told me you can book one way then add the return.

  • Tracey says:

    28 Sep28 September 11:56

    Doesn’t matter what it is, given you are cancelling, just make sure you book it in the names of the people you want to be on the FTV

• Ant says:

  28 Sep28 September 10:32

  we decided for a week holiday split between Rioja region and San Sebastian. Any suggestions for restaurants and things to do appreciated

  • Will says:

    28 Sep28 September 10:50

    I’m sure others can recommend Michelin type places in SS but we went for pintxos bars instead and ate incredibly well for a few days. No need for recommendations really, pop into one for a couple of small bites and a caña, move on to the next. Only recommendation would be Bar Nestor which gets very busy. They basically only sell delicious steak and red wine. Well worth it

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    28 Sep28 September 10:59

    Casa Julián de Tolosa is on my to-do list if I ever make it to that part of the world.

  • Michael C says:

    28 Sep28 September 11:01

    Haro is the heart of Rioja country: anything you eat or drink will be fabulous. Just go for vino de la casa, which will be ridiculously good.
    For nearby visits to San Seb, both Hondarribia and St Jean-de-Luz (the latter in France) are gorgeous and close,

  • Patrycja says:

    28 Sep28 September 14:09

    We just came back from San Sebastián. Our favourite places were Ganbara (order famous mushroom and egg dish), Atari (beef cheeks were amazing) and Bar Nestor (famous for Spanish omelette but you have to pre-book a slice at 11.45am). We also went to Arzak which I would highly recommend.

  • Tony1 says:

    28 Sep28 September 21:26

    The view from the Mercure is good, the hotel is not.

  • Eoc says:

    28 Sep28 September 21:50

    Try Marques de Risqual hotel designed by Frank Gerry. Deep in Rioja country. Exquisite.

• Babyg says:

  28 Sep28 September 10:39

  FYI thanks to all the HFPers from Lisbon hotel tips, went with the MOXY (which HFP did a review of), pretty much on par with what Rhys wrote, including getting a Moxyfied Balcony Sleeper (largest room) as a lowly gold… The only downer is the desk and seat situation (there is none) in the room, but there were plenty of working areas downstairs, and they even had a quiet enclosed board room that i had sole use (only one brave enough to open the closed door) for most of the day.

  • ankomonkey says:

    28 Sep28 September 10:48

    Did your room have a clown horn? Or did only Rhys get that as a guest of Marriott?

• Paul says:

  28 Sep28 September 10:44

  Does anyone know a trick to get Heathrow express savings? Travelling out in 13 days and back in 15 days. Saying £44 per person. Thanks in advance.

  • Michael C says:

    28 Sep28 September 11:02

    Family railcards work, if that’s any use!

  • AL says:

    28 Sep28 September 11:10

    Depending how you view and value points, then book via Virgin Trains Ticketing in the Virgin Red app. You’ll get 3x points – 66 for a £22 fare.

    Avios also available via a conversion from Heathrow Rewards.

    If you’re worried about price, the regular TfL Rail service isn’t too bad.

    • Pete M says:

      28 Sep28 September 11:35

      The Network Railcard is a good option as well – or if you have a Gold Card through a season ticket.

    • Paul says:

      28 Sep28 September 12:09

      Great thanks

  • John says:

    28 Sep28 September 12:14

    Use TfL rail if you really want to start in Paddington

    At £44 per person even a black cab should be cheaper from almost anywhere in London?

  • Babyg says:

    28 Sep28 September 17:17

    Booking upto 90days in advance gets the best pricing, but when i havent done that I take the Heathrow connect, it can be used with Oyster (so part of your daily cap), HEX was only running every 30mins.. not sure if its back to every 15mins now thou…

• Rob says:

  28 Sep28 September 10:47

  Yes

  • Fm says:

    28 Sep28 September 10:59

    Thanks

• Definitas says:

  28 Sep28 September 10:49

  Just had an email from BA asking me to download Verifly and upload travel information for an upcoming flight to Canada. I previously had an issue with difficulty scanning a QR code off my phone and was thinking I would prefer to rely on paper copies of everything. We are flying in J (F was withdrawn ☹️). Is it worth the trouble of installing Verifly?

  • Andrew says:

    28 Sep28 September 10:52

    It made our journey through Lisbon airport on the way back to the U.K. last month much easier (but we were a family of four with the accompanying pile of paperwork)

  • J says:

    28 Sep28 September 10:52

    I think if you don’t, you can’t check in online. Or at least it seemed like that for us last night.

    • meta says:

      28 Sep28 September 11:10

      There is an option on Verifly to upload documents manually if QR code doesn’t work.

  • Tracey says:

    28 Sep28 September 11:59

    Easier to scan the QR code off a paper copy or displaying it on a tablet. You can always choose the manual verify option – I had to do that for an antigen test that didn’t have a code.

  • sushisushi says:

    28 Sep28 September 14:01

    Depends on where you are starting your journey. We started in EDI and at check-in they said we don’t use Verifly here, it’s mostly for London! We flew to Canada 10 days ago and printed everything. It was easier that way.

• Mco says:

  28 Sep28 September 10:54

  Got Amex MR that I want to convert to miles but been waiting for a miles promo. Don’t want to send to EY but nothing else has popped up. Anyone know of past offers and when they usually come. There haven’t been any in the last couple of years right?

  • Rob says:

    28 Sep28 September 11:24

    Hilton and Marriott had promos, but neither was outstanding and not good enough to make them a better deal than miles. The only airline ones have been ‘unofficial’, ie where Amex refuses to promote it but the airline puts something out in an effort to raise some cash from Amex.

    • Mco says:

      28 Sep28 September 19:10

      Thanks Rob

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