Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The HfP chat thread – Thursday 30th September

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Comments (587)

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

  • Ed says:

    Am I right in thinking about aer club account that hasn’t had earn/burn activity in 3 years becomes a black hole for transferring points into? I could earn some points through their shopping portal to reset the clock, otherwise could you close the account and then open a new one??

  • Js says:

    Got this offer on my platinum – Spend £1 collect 50 MR Points.
    Whats going on with those strange offers?

    • Andrew says:

      Discussed at length on Tuesday

    • Duncan says:

      Based on the email I receieved from Amex about a similar offer on my BAPP (spend £1 and get 100 Avios) it sounds like they’re trying to encourage people to regularly look at and use the offers by giving people a ‘no brainer’ offer that everyone can benefit from (even if the reward is pretty tiny).

  • Jack says:

    Trying to use future travel voucher (cash+avios), from reading here I was told to call early, 03444930747 is the right number? Any idea what hold times are like? Thanks

  • Mikeact says:

    Interesting, I see that the Marriott Sha Tan Hong Kong has got rapped over the knuckles by HQ. It seems they were blocking out Reward Suites as fully sold out for the day at one minute past minute, to save having to upgrade Marriott Platinum, Elite members etc., at check in ! One member was particularly upset, seeing lots of availability for sale every night for weeks, with screen shots to prove.
    Thin end of the wedge maybe…..does this sort of thing go on without us knowing?
    ie Are there actually Avios seats available even though they’re not shown eg ?

    On a separate note Marriott again……
    American guy made a last minute Reward booking, only to be told at check in they had no record….told to call reservations, ‘of course you have, I can see your reservation’…ultimately, turns out the hotel probably could have easily sold the room. And , when they were reminded that if full, they would have to find another hotel for him/her, they magically found a Reward room !
    Does make you wonder though

    • CH says:

      I had the latter happen to me on my very first hotel award booking ever, back when I was a student and booked a room at a Sheraton using some hard earned points from my Starwood Amex. I had a confirmation, hotel denied. I was too naive to know what to do at the time!

  • Adam says:

    IHG refusing still to rebook after they cancelled my IC Rome hotel stay. I have even served them with notice prior to small claims court letter and they won’t budge at all to offer anything. If I don’t turn up they are happy to charge me one night at best flex but when cancelling customers they will flat out refuse to honour their guarantee or offer a rebooking nor any compensation whatsoever. No customer care and giving a very poor excuse of we are not applying that “protocol to bookings next year.” Their guarantee is very clearly worded so I will take it to small claims.

    • meta says:

      Go hard Adam! Before MCOL, write negative reviews and post on social media. Maybe that will persuade them…

      • Pete M says:

        Who are you looking to take to MCOL, out of interest, Adam?

        • meta says:

          I presume IHG. They are UK based.

          • Michael C says:

            Or is it the hotel, under Italian law? Or the Italian hotel’s holding company?
            Which could turn into a “don’t ask us, ask them” scenario.

          • meta says:

            Since it was probably a points booking, it would be IHG as these are bound by IHG T&Cs.

            In any case, to avoid any such “don’t ask us, ask them” scenarios, you can put both companies on the claim and they can sort it out themselves or the court will decide it for them.

  • Tracey says:

    I have found my “missing” 241 in “my vouchers” thanks for the help. Looks like I “used” it for a flight that BA cancelled and I took a refund. Showing as expiring in 2022, so I somehow need to get BA to acknowledge it hasn’t been used. Sighs!

  • Laura says:

    Returned to T5 last week in Club World, made our way to the arrivals lounge and was turned away saying they had not been allowing entry to any arriving passengers, only departing! Raised a complaint about this as well as poor food quality onboard outbound flight and delayed ‘priority’ baggage. Received a response last night acknowledging we had been turned away in error and apologising for the inconvenience and that training would be reviewed, but that’s all. Bearing in mind this was a fully paid for flight and they have admitted we did not receive the service we were advertised and paid for, as well as having our travel plans disrupted (and no breakfast!) I was expecting some form of compensation, is this unreasonable? Is it worth pushing back?

  • Gavin says:

    Hilton Honors Gold Member: any benefits when staying at a Hampton by Hilton?

    • Ikaz says:

      a few points or a couple of items from the snack bar at reception only (and it doesn’t get any better for diamonds there)

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