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The HfP chat thread – Monday 4th October

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

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General

Comments (453)

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

  • Oz says:
    4 Oct4 October 08:58

    Hi. I currently have a gold Amex card and remember that, in the past, it was possible to upgrade to platinum via a special link to receive an enhanced MR bonus. Does anyone have that link please? Thanks

  • mr_jetlag says:
    4 Oct4 October 09:01

    Deliveroo Plus handing out a year free to Amazon Prime members. V useful if you don’t have Amex Gold (but still useful if you do)

  • rjn21 says:
    4 Oct4 October 09:14

    Re BPme. I may be missing something, but I cant find my referral code on the website.

    The T’s and C’s say –
    “The Qualifying BPme Rewards Referrer can access their personal Friend Referral Code (“Code”) on the Friend Referral page in the navigation menu once logged in at http://www.bpmerewards.co.uk”

    I can’t find that on the site – has it been removed? New subscriptions can still add a referral code in the web form.

  • Imran says:
    4 Oct4 October 09:16

    Do you earn Heathrow Reward points on a transaction which includes an “instant redemption” of Heathrow Reward points?

    • Stephen says:
      4 Oct4 October 20:20

      Still unable to reset my password or get any help from Heathrow Rewards customer service. Does anybody actually have a functioning account?

  • Andrew H says:
    4 Oct4 October 09:41

    Quick question – does Curve fronted on VACC+ really work in paying off Amex without cash advance fee?

    Maybe a bit risky to do right now if it does…

    • Ed says:
      4 Oct4 October 09:50

      I’d be wary of doing anything which could be seen as slightly dodgy with curve for time being. And personally I wouldn’t do anything bendy with my amex. I can live without creation, but being blocked from amex would be a massive PITA.

      • Andrew H says:
        4 Oct4 October 09:53

        Thanks for the advice. I did pay £400 in to Ernie last week and am OK.

        I do actually want to increase Ernie, but I guess I could just pay direct!!

        • Harrier25 says:
          4 Oct4 October 10:19

          For your own health you really need to play safe. I would just pay direct with a current account debit card. NS&I clearly have their daggers out for any sign of MS.

    • Harry T says:
      4 Oct4 October 10:18

      Try it with a small amount and see… Amex will only see that you’ve paid with a debit card.

      • Youllnever says:
        4 Oct4 October 11:16

        Actually, Amex will be able to see that you’ve paid using a Curve debit card via the BIN.

      • JDB says:
        4 Oct4 October 11:18

        Harry, it probably isn’t relevant here, but we take cards and in the Merchant Management System we can’t see the full long card number, but we can see lots of other info – type of card, issuing bank/country, personal/business etc. We take Amex which operates on a different system, but shows similar stuff. Our customer base obviously isn’t very HfP as about 70% pay by debit card.

  • Ste C says:
    4 Oct4 October 09:46

    For my Honeymoon at the end of the month we are going upto Scotland and staying in Dunblane. To make use of the £200 Plat credit, would people recommend the Edinburgh or Glasgow Ivy? We are planning to visit both cities so we aren’t making a special trip.
    Thanks

    • Andrew H says:
      4 Oct4 October 09:48

      Are both on there? There were comments a while back about only one restaurant in Scotland being in on the deal…

    • BP says:
      4 Oct4 October 09:58

      Glasgow Ivy doesn’t have a good reputation. Not heard much about Edinburgh. I’m visiting Glasgow Ivy on Saturday and have 2 cards worth of credit to spend so will be buying expensive champagne I think!

      • JDB says:
        4 Oct4 October 10:49

        You will be paying a lot for any champagne, even if it is not expensive stuff; the Ivy wine list is outrageous! I found the least bad value the white Rioja, I think just under £50, still silly, but it’s quite good.

        • Rob says:
          4 Oct4 October 10:57

          Off topic (since its not on the £200 list) but I went to the new Ivy Asia on Kings Road yesterday and it was astonishing. They must have spent £5m on the interior. The food and service was excellent too, and not crazily expensive.

          Not sure if any branches of Ivy Asia are on the list, but if they are it is worth a look.

          • Soo says:
            4 Oct4 October 11:33

            2 of us walked into Ivy Covent Garden last Monday at 5.30pm on a chance without booking, the girls at reception said only “we’re short of staff” twice. What happened to “sorry we can’t…”?
            I understand stress and short-staffing but I’ve rarely encountered such lack of courtesy. First and last time I bother to try there.

          • Munch says:
            4 Oct4 October 13:14

            I think the Manchester Ivy Asia is included. Tried last minute but couldn’t get a table, went to 20 Stories next door, very average but great view.

    • Duncan Stevenson-Price says:
      4 Oct4 October 10:12

      Edinburgh is excellent and you won’t be disappointed. We went to Glasgow not too long after it opened and was very disappointed. Haven’t been back since, but it could easily have been a one-off or teething issues.

    • Phil says:
      4 Oct4 October 11:42

      Personally, I’d save the offer for another use and head to The Kichin or Martin Wishart in Leith (in Edinburgh) if you’re looking for a special meal. Martin Wishart is the full white tablecloth experience; whereas The Kichin is more relaxed.

      I agree with the other posters that The Ivy offers incredibly poor value on their wine list. The food and cocktails aren’t that badly priced.

      BTW – whatever you do in Glasgow and Edinburgh then do book in advance. Tables can be hard to come by. The other thing to say is that restaurants and hotels in Edinburgh seem to be really suffering with service levels.

    • Peggerz says:
      4 Oct4 October 12:34

      Not been to Glasgow Ivy, but know it’s had mixed reviews. Edinburgh Ivy had a dodgy start but is now a nice place to go, right on St. Andrew Sq.
      @Phil is not wrong about Edinburgh’s port, Leith and the Wishart & Kitchen resto’s . However, my latest choice would be the Little Chart Room in Bonnington Rd, Leith which has recently moved from an earlier iteration. Roberta Hall’s (Masterchef alumni) place is superb.

    • Louise K says:
      4 Oct4 October 12:38

      if you opt for the Edinburgh Ivy, I highly recommend Ox & Finch in Glasgow. Lovely tapas style food.

    • Ste C says:
      4 Oct4 October 12:46

      Thanks for all the suggestions.

    • Wollhouse says:
      4 Oct4 October 13:30

      I was in Glasgow ivy on sat night. We walked in, no reservation; we just wanted cocktails and they were more than happy to seat us at the bar. Very warm welcome and the young woman behind the bar was brilliant. The decor is lovely throughout, and, this will sound very weird, but the ladies loos were beautiful. I know, weird comment… but they have definitely spent some money on the place! There’s a massive upstairs bar too. Can recommend the blood orange margarita:) can’t comment on the food as we ate at two fat ladies at the buttery (excellent, odd location, but fab food and a lovely very well priced Romanian Pinot Noir after the comments re expensive wine list at the Ivy).as an aside, afternoon tea at the Willow was ok, not brilliant and service was very slow. Enjoy whatever you decide to do

  • Peter Taysum says:
    4 Oct4 October 09:59

    I’m wanting to spend £10k on Amex to activate my 2:4:1 and get the 10000 bonus Avios on £5k

    I’m looking for a US style Fridge Freezer. Is John Lewis online (via BA Store) the best way to max Avios?

    Thanks

    • Peter Taysum says:
      4 Oct4 October 10:02

      BAPP card, I don’t have cash back offers…

    • JDB says:
      4 Oct4 October 10:33

      When I have tried this with JL, you can’t buy online if you want them to take away the old one and install the new one. If you want a Fisher & Paykel (and you should!) if you call them they take Amex which they don’t online. They are helpful, don’t charge for removal/installation and use their own staff rather than some grumpy contractor.

      • barnaby100 says:
        4 Oct4 October 17:48

        I paid online earlier in the year. It said something like delivery will be confirmed. They then called me up and arranged the delivery. Might have changed.

    • Spurs drive me mad says:
      4 Oct4 October 11:53

      John Lewis through avois store post within 5 days normally. If you can get what you want online do it. I ordered some new towels the points were in my account before the towels had been delivered, and credit were it’s due online they didn’t have a size I wanted, you fill in a form they get back to you within 2 hours and had sorted what I needed out and had them delivered as well. So 👏 to John Lewis customer service.

    • Lady London says:
      4 Oct4 October 15:35

      Nectar has ao.com offer they are normally Ok

  • Amy C says:
    4 Oct4 October 10:05

    Flying BA to Spain in 2 days. It’s asked me to upload the Spanish health form and my vaccine cert and I have done both and ticked the box to give consent etc but the ‘submit’ button remains greyed out and I remain stuck and unable to proceed. Anyone else had this?

    • EvilDoctorK says:
      4 Oct4 October 10:07

      No, but in recent experience I’ve managed to upload them and they’ve never been approved anyway so I wouldn’t worry too much ( you could try a different browser ) .. they can just verify them at the airport if it doesn’t work so not that big a deal.

    • Damian says:
      4 Oct4 October 23:47

      Did you, put N/A in the box for Covid test which you don’t need as you’re vaccinated?

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

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