The HfP chat thread – Friday 1st October

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General

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aviosnewbie says:

1 Oct1 October 04:05

Who’s been to LA over Christmas? How warm is it? Thinking of spending a week, and would love to hear thoughts & ideas. Things to do, weather, best parts to stay/eat…thank you! We’re 3 adults and a 4yr old
- BJ says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 06:29
  
  Very pleasant, low 20s but if you get lucky a little higher. I remember one year being about 28 but cannot recall if that was November or December. Not sure of your plans but recommend getting rid of car in the city, stay somewhere near Hollywood and Vine or Highland to walk around the area and use Metro to get to Universal, Downtown and Santa Monica.
  - Andrew H says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 06:39
    
    I’d say low 20s great, UNlucky if you get 28!
    - BJ says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 06:54
      
      Ah but with southern California climate 28 is just perfect 🙂
  - Scott says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 07:17
    
    Remember the Metro takes around an hour to get from say the Hollywood Walk of Fame area to Santa Monica.
    Does stop outside the Natural History / Space museums / Colesseum if they interest anyone.
    
    Some nice buses from Santa Monica that go to say La Brea tarpits, Rodeo Drive etc. $1.75 last time I used one.
- Claire says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 07:15
  
  Its gorgeous 🙂 Drive along PCH from Malibu in to Santa Monica. The Malibu County Mart is good and has a play area for children. The beaches. The Stinking Rose is a good restaurant and Pace in Laurel Canyon. I am so jealous, it is my favourite place in the World 🙂 Weather is warm and pleasant, 18 -22 I would say as I have been during that time of year. The sun is always shining!
- Richie says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 08:14
  
  If the BA flights are suitable, also consider San Diego.
  - Paul says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 09:45
    
    I love LA and Southern California in December, clear skies, pleasant temp. It’s a bit like a delayed Autumn, and a nice festive vibe.
- Damian says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 09:44
  
  Warner Bros studio tour is very good. Universal one is good too and also has thrill rides. Drive along Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, passing through Beverley Hills and down to Santa Monica is a great trip.
- Doug M says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 11:21
  
  They’ll be lots of comments on various things, but my one piece of advice for LA, and by this I mean the greater LA area, is minimise the amount of driving you do. The traffic is horrendous. Someone mentioned the drive along Sunset, it’s a great drive and try to start in Downtown, but the last time I attempted it, maybe 4 years ago, I just gave up after around 2 hours and maybe a 2 miles.
  - BJ says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 13:04
    
    Why I recommended staying someplace in Hollywood close to red line. Best avoid the jams and parking fees and leave the car until heading north, or to Anaheim and San Diego. Might also be worth mentioning it can be chilly after the sun goes down. Also, my relatives in Northern California claim winters have got appreciably colder in last few years but I don’t know if that is also true of the South.
  - Kipto says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 16:35
    
    +1. Traffic is a nightmare.
- Sukes says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 13:50
  
  My favourite time to go. Whilst early to mid 20C in afternoon the temperature can be a lot cooler in morning and night – essentially it is a desert climate so the daytime temperature isn’t retained. This tends to surprise tourists! You’ll need jeans, sweater, coat in the evening. The temperature quickly drops when the sun goes down and this will be before 5pm in Dec.
Dan says:

1 Oct1 October 05:56

Has anyone else with a free capital on tap account been told that 1% cash back now applies per the paid account, and that they are considering allowing avios on free accounts too? It had me excited until Curve announced the £10000 limit on ‘free’ Curve fronted for metal members yesterday
- Andrew H says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 06:43
  
  £10,000 PER MONTH. 15,000 Virgin Points for £15 a month and you are complaining. Someone is paying for those points and it isn’t you. I really don’t get people moaning about this. Curve and fronted are still in business – for now.
  - Dan says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 07:03
    
    🤦‍♂️ Should pay more attention – I assumed it was annual! You are right, bargain
    - Brighton Belle says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 07:17
      
      Why wouldn’t Virgin Money take the same action as Creation to block Curve cards if it costs them too much?
      - CarpalTravel says:
        
        1 Oct1 October 09:13
        
        They better hope not, otherwise that would pretty much make Curve DOA for most users on here.
  - Simonbr says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 07:34
    
    The metal Curve fronted rule does limit the total annual transaction to £120000 and will require payments to HMRC to be spread strategically over several months. Not a major problem for most people I think.
    - JDB says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 08:37
      
      It seems optimistic to annualise the £10k as one of the parties will surely pull the plug within 12 months, and they don’t the FCA will do it for them.
      - Rui N. says:
        
        1 Oct1 October 09:08
        
        Did you see that Curve updated their definition of cash recycling? Apparently, there was someone out there that wasn’t totally convinced the previous T&C covered NS&I 🙂 And I thought there was no case to be made to the FCA. Now there is? Maybe for threatning customers for breach of T&Cs and then changing said T&Cs after the fact? Would that fly with the FCA? Asking for a Holy friend.
Mattb says:

1 Oct1 October 06:11

Looks like travel to Australia may be back on the menu sooner than expected, although still looks difficult with limited flights, home quarantine and only to states with 80%+ vaccinated .
- Blindman says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 06:43
  
  Source?
  - Rob says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 09:15
    
    It’s happening. Qantas has brought forward the London flights to November.
    - LostAntipod says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 10:03
      
      Those QF flights are currently dependant on final government policy, and may not fly.
    - Alan says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 11:19
      
      That’ll be for Aussies returning though not for travellers. I’d guess at least another 6 months before visitors allowed.
- Andrew says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 06:50
  
  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-58757888
  - Paul Pogba says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 06:56
    
    “initially for vaccinated citizens and their relatives” and “Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra are currently in lockdown”.
    
    Scott Kirby from United was on Bloomberg this week saying he didn’t think the Pacific would open up for another 12-18 months. It sounds more realistic for a country still in partial lockdown.
    - BJ says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 07:14
      
      They remain much too jittery about lockdowns within their big lockdown. Difficult to reconcile this with reopening; and even if it does the prospect of going only to be faced with high risk of local lockdown is unappealing I think.
  - Paul Pogba says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 07:10
    
    Also, we have the vaccination rate they’re targeting (+80%) and have daily case numbers of 36,480, if they had the same they’d be experiencing 13,978 (adjusted for smaller population). I can’t see that being acceptable in a country thats panicking about 2,064 cases a day. Either you won’t be able to go because of high cases or you can go and everything will be shut because of high cases.
    
    Citizens that don’t care about bars and restaurants and just want to see family will be happy but I cant see it being good for general tourism.
    - Yuff says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 07:17
      
      Are they really going to sit back and watch the rest of the world open up and go back to normal while they shut themselves off, I don’t think so.
      There is plenty of anger in oz about ongoing restrictions, they need to open up and it won’t be long until they do so fully.
      - John says:
        
        1 Oct1 October 07:41
        
        Australia has been acting like 8 different countries during this pandemic.
      - Andrew says:
        
        1 Oct1 October 07:52
        
        It’ll be another year before we’ll be able to travel there.
- Jeff Greene says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 08:09
  
  Not for tourists
  - Jeff Greene says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 09:44
    
    That was a response to the first post. Australia will only initially open for Australians and their families. Not tourists.
Toppcat says:

1 Oct1 October 06:58

As Curve continues to evolve, our product and terms of service need to evolve too. That’s why we’re reaching out to let you know about some changes to our terms of service.

What’s changing?

[Snip]
- Toppcat says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 07:00
  
  Hmmmm… £10k per month cap will slow things down a bit. I wonder what impact this will have on Curve’s transaction volumes.
  - Paul Pogba says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 07:11
    
    Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity.
    - Toppcat says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 07:22
      
      But cash is king
      - John says:
        
        1 Oct1 October 07:42
        
        See yesterday’s discussion
  - Crafty says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 07:48
    
    I think they’ve misjudged human psychology. If they’ve sent this out to everyone with a Curve card, they’ll have drawn lots more people’s attention to the points opportunity (“What’s NS&I good for with Cu… Oh!!”), which will result in a larger proportion of the user base exploiting this route (hence becoming “polluted” users who will have to be purged if ever they want to IPO). Moreover, the £10,000 cap now reads as an approved figure, or even a target – I bet many who had been doing less than that amount, will now stretch their usage to the maximum.
    - Yuff says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 07:54
      
      But they will also get plenty of users upgrading to metal.
      There was no point in using metal when ns& I was unlimited and hard took Revolut.
    - Rui N. says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 08:44
      
      When they introduced Fronted they also mentioned NS&I (although it was a lie that you needed it). On the full description of Fronted on their site they also mention NS&I. So, people already had plenty of opportunity to see it promoted by Curve.
- Andrew says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 07:54
  
  No need to paste the whole email that everyone’s been sent! And if you haven’t been sent it you’re not a curve customer so irrelevant.
  - Harrier25 says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 08:14
    
    +1
    - Mikeact says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 08:27
      
      +1 Very annoying.
      - CarpalTravel says:
        
        1 Oct1 October 09:15
        
        +1
        
        As soon as an email in your inbox is more than 10mins old you can be sure it as already been discussed here.
  - Briand says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 08:31
    
    Curve reminder please. Should I change my underlying card currency £, to € while in Europe, or does it not make the slightest difference to the final payment ? Also ATM usage..the same advice ? Not too clear on there Q&A. Thank you.
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 08:42
      
      It really doesn’t make a difference. The MasterCard/visa rates have a margin vs the spot rate of about 0.5%
      
      Curve gives you Fridays spot rate + 0.5%
      
      It the same difference.
    - John says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 09:13
      
      If you change the card’s currency in curve to euros whilst in the eurozone, your underlying card will be charged in euros instead of letting curve do the conversion from euros to your card’s currency
      
      If your underlying card is a euro card, that makes sense (it’s like directly spending on that card). If you put it in pounds, curve would convert the euro amount to GBP and charge the card in GBP, then the card would convert that back to euros – likely more euros than the price of the item you bought.
      
      If your underlying card is in GBP, you’ll pay any forex fee plus visa or mastercard’s margin (varies day to day usually between 0.25% and 1%).
  - Toppcat says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 08:32
    
    Ouch! I often find it useful when people copy out the text, as I can understand the changes without having to go to my emails. But will avoid doing so in future if it is ‘very annoying’!
    - Paul says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 08:41
      
      Some people here get annoyed way to easily
      - ChrisC says:
        
        1 Oct1 October 08:50
        
        It’s annoying because it got posted several times yesterday!
        
        I imagine even Curve users get annoyed by people posting the same thing repeatedly as though it was some major news scoop and not emailed to every customer.
      - Briand says:
        
        1 Oct1 October 08:55
        
        At least Topcat had the balls to put his/her hand up..
    - Rui N. says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 08:58
      
      The first time is great. The 100th time might be a bit over the top.
    - Wollhouse says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 12:30
      
      Well, I AM a Curve customer and I havent had an email! So maybe the rules don’t apply to me 😉
Kai says:

1 Oct1 October 07:55

Will the Barclays Premier upgrade voucher when issued for the first time in early 2022, have access to extra seats like the new companion voucher?
- ChrisC says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 08:15
  
  Rob wrote about this only YESTERDAY and it’s still on the front page.
  - Rob says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 09:12
    
    …. although it doesn”t answer that question. I am guessing No.
AL says:

1 Oct1 October 08:26

Not sure which Amex person I’ve annoyed but after my spend 7k get 1800 points, today’s clanger is spend £1 get 1 point…!
- Peter K says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 21:07
  
  🤦🏻‍♂️
Munch says:

1 Oct1 October 08:28

Any views if Amex will run a transfer bonus from MR points to Hilton or Marriott. Looking to close my account for the start of the 2 year cycle and have 200k+ points to move.
- AL says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 08:39
  
  Can you not downgrade to an Amex basic and keep the balance?
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 08:43
    
    Wouldn’t restart the 2 year cycle then.
    - AL says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 09:10
      
      Ah, I thought it was two years without a points-earning Amex not two years without any Amex!
      - TGLoyalty says:
        
        1 Oct1 October 09:36
        
        Two years without any personal Amex for Gold/Nectar/BA Free etc
        
        Two years without any MR earning card for platinum
        
        Two years without an Avios earning card for BAPP
        
        Keeping a basic MR card (only way you’d keep the MR balance) would exclude you from all personal card sign up bonus apart from on the BAPP
      - Munch says:
        
        1 Oct1 October 12:06
        
        May hold out until end of October before closing. I’m sure there were bonus transfer promotions last year in the autumn?
Toby says:

1 Oct1 October 08:31

Data point: I called BA at 08:27 on +44 (0) 344 493 0787 and held, without pressing any buttons at all. Got through to an agent in 3 minutes!
- Toby says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 08:43
  
  Top tip I learnt on the phone with BA just now: BA Holidays call centre is only able to have 10 people in the queue, if you’re number 11 you will be cut off. Seemingly, that’s why none of us can get through!
  - ChrisC says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 11:02
    
    I can sort of see the logic in that as BA Hols calls must be significantly longer than flight only calls due to the need to repeat a lot more info on dates, flights and hotels etc that isn’t required for flight bookings.
    - Toby says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 16:50
      
      Hmmm it makes me think they just need to hire more people for that team