The HfP chat thread – Monday 11th October

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Dani says:

11 Oct11 October 03:44

First of the day …. Can’t sleep.
- KP says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 03:53
  
  Same here. Struggling to sleep tonight
  - Young L says:
    
    11 Oct11 October 04:20
    
    +1
- BJ says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 06:29
  
  Just read the first few comments on HfP every morning these days … that’ll do the trick.
  - John says:
    
    11 Oct11 October 07:01
    
    Struggling to get up on time now that it’s dark in the morning and not cold enough to turn on the heating (especially at triple last year’s prices)
    - Harry T says:
      
      11 Oct11 October 07:43
      
      Surely it’s harder to get out of bed if you’re all toasty?
      - John says:
        
        11 Oct11 October 08:45
        
        That’s the point, I’m typically awake by 0500 but didn’t feel like leaving bed until 0630 today… ideally should be starting my work at 0530 as I lose productivity after 1100
    - Andrew says:
      
      11 Oct11 October 08:49
      
      Heating is never switched off really. If it’s below 18C overnight, and below 20C at 05:45, the heating will come on automatically.
Will says:

11 Oct11 October 05:15

Just to let you know the BA forms pre-check-in are hopeless on iPhone if you don’t load anything first time. No idea why but even when. Correct forms are added they are often rejected or lock in the incorrect line. Get to airport and just show paperwork and checkin as normal if you have this problem instead of stressing for hours as to why BA IT doesn’t work again
- John says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 08:13
  
  Our completed VeriFLY wasn’t visible to the checkin agent at Heathrow (September) and wasn’t sought on return. So we needed alternative copies of everything despite having uploaded documents to VeriFLY and having received their worthless approval!
  - meta says:
    
    11 Oct11 October 09:50
    
    Never had a problem with Verifly and all agents I interacted with could see it. If it is linked to your booking, then it will also be printed on your boarding pass automatically and have a line « verifly ok ». I don’t know what people are doing.
    - Will says:
      
      12 Oct12 October 19:13
      
      Argostoli check in agent had no idea in mid July about VeriFLY. Seems BA have now ditched it anyhow for their own equally troublesome webpages.
Will says:

11 Oct11 October 05:19

Fun at t5 last night. All egates open thankfully but queue was 30mins and well past the first few gates where the deplaning buses drop off. Then Uber and bolt both had no drivers and 200%markups as we discovered Piccadilly line closed. Is this all part of the plan Boris?
- Jonathan says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 05:39
  
  He’s not The Mayor of London anymore !
  - Will says:
    
    11 Oct11 October 05:48
    
    Read Judas 62, Charles Cumming’s new book. Great spy novel following Box 88. Includes (as a bonus) very timely and appropriate comments on the modern world explaining the sh!tshow we are having to put up with.
  - Will says:
    
    11 Oct11 October 05:57
    
    Sadiq Khan’t. Boris. All as bad as each other. Border Force is funded by govt. TfL is run by Mayor but had govt funding cuts. Put the GREAT back into Britain, and stop the political lies.
    - Paul pogba says:
      
      11 Oct11 October 06:17
      
      With what money? Our deficit is estimated at £171.8bn this year and the increased yield on the 10y will wipe out most of the savings from ending furlough.
      - John says:
        
        11 Oct11 October 07:03
        
        The magic money tree obviously.
        
        Any central bankers here? Can someone explain what this Rishi XDR controversy is about?
      - Will says:
        
        11 Oct11 October 07:13
        
        All countries in a similar position. Just write off each other’s debts and print.
      - J says:
        
        11 Oct11 October 09:44
        
        Probably not a bad idea to import some more tax payers then…
      - Paul Pogba says:
        
        11 Oct11 October 10:23
        
        I’ve probably posted this before but finding the sweet spot of net contribution is hard, the most detailed analysis recently is from Amsterdam School of Economics: http://demo-demo.nl/files/Grenzeloze_Verzorgingsstaat.pdf and worth a read if you’re interested in the subject (English abstract on p19).
- John says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 07:08
  
  Markups because of no fuel and drivers quitting.
  
  Piccadilly line closures advertised well in advance – happens every year around early autumn weekends
- jj says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 07:48
  
  Walked straight through yesterday afternoon. Flight bang on time and I had a choice of 10 empty egates. Baggage was a little slow coming through, but, unusually for CE, the priority bags came through first. Short stroll to the car and I was clear in no time.
  
  Sometimes it works.
- SteveJ says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 07:48
  
  No black cabs?
  - Dominic says:
    
    11 Oct11 October 09:11
    
    Controversial, I’m sure – but I wouldn’t get a black cab, anyway.
    
    Virtually every case of road rage I see in London is a black cab driver screaming out their window and swearing at the poor sod that didn’t move from a junction in half a second.
  - Jeff Greene says:
    
    11 Oct11 October 09:37
    
    Did you not check in advance whether the Piccadilly line was running?
    - Will says:
      
      12 Oct12 October 19:14
      
      No because I usually take a cab. As tubes down cabs were scarce.
- Anna says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 07:49
  
  He’ll no doubt experience the same when he gets back from Marbella and has to queue for 3 hours at LHR then try and find an Uber back to Downing Street.
- Magic Mike says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 10:38
  
  around 5pm last night the egates queue was only a few minutes, so I guess it built up later…
- ThePenguin says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 11:04
  
  This is excellent work from Amsterdam School of Economics. Thanks for sharing this. Although you wont get many interested on here. Doesn’t fit their Guardian/James OB agenda.
  
  The last study I read was the embarrassingly bad one done by UCL. So flawed that even your most Liberal Politian didn’t dare quote from it.
  - Linda says:
    
    11 Oct11 October 13:15
    
    Yes, very interesting article. I have many friends who would never want to acknowledge some of the facts given there.
Will says:

11 Oct11 October 05:23

And the UK PLF still not sending SMS even now we are back in UK. Thank you for pointing out you dont need to log in to submit thePLF (amazing how hard it is to find this info when IT stressing you out even though it is written in plain sight that if you are having difficulties then don’t log in- why would you release this cr@p to the world???)
- Blenz101 says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 06:25
  
  I’ve just completed the one for the Maldives, that was especially painful and they need the same again to leave.
  
  Why the need to gather photos in advance of all arrivals and won’t accept PDFs of vaccination proof is a mystery.
  
  I can sort of see a ‘health declaration’ reassuring a local population and serving as a useful reminder of what the rules are to travellers but surely a passport number, hotel name and arrival date is sufficient. Everything else I’m bringing to the airport to be checked anyway.
  
  Not sure my flight numbers, vaccine brand, next of kin contact number, photo, date of each dose etc. is going to prevent the spread of a single case.
Will says:

11 Oct11 October 05:23

Finished releasing the steam now! Happy Monday everyone!
Blenz101 says:

11 Oct11 October 06:04

I know a few here were having issues a couple of weeks back with their Tesco debit card for online purchases when attempting to purchase via App.

It has since been fixed and they are back to SMS.

However, if you raised a complaint at the time you may want to check your account. Just found £150 goodwill compensation in mine. For an account that is closing at the end of November this seems more than reasonable. It will more than cover the amount of points I would have generated through the account in the few days it was out of action.

If you still have the account and have any reason at all to complain I would raise it, seems like customer service are responding to complaint tickets in a very generous way before they disappear.
Paul says:

11 Oct11 October 07:43

IHG account still locked since Saturday. If it was an IT problem surely they should have fixed it by now or at least have an advisory on their website!
- ChrisC says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 07:48
  
  I posted yesterday that I called yesterday morning and they sorted it it over the phone.
  
  I said if there were security issues they needed to email people about and give advice on what to do. It’s not the poor phone agents fault but they have to deal with the issue.
  
  To reopen my account they wanted my address from over 4 years ago!
  - meta says:
    
    11 Oct11 October 07:52
    
    I think they have some sort of bug in their systems with addresses. Even though I changed my address and it is showing in my profile and reservation confirmations, every time I come to a hotel and fill-in the form at the check-in it has my old address.
- Andrew says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 07:52
  
  I was told it was an IT glitch – they called me back a few hours later on Saturday evening to confirm it was fixed now and apologised for the inconvenience. Give them a call to get it unlocked if still not Paul.
- Duncan Stevenson-Price says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 10:00
  
  I called yesterday and had it sorted by phone. The agent thanked me for calling. The message when trying to log in did instruct me to contact them.
- Rui N. says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 10:44
  
  It has only been 2 says and the work week just started… IT is not magic, and people there mostly don’t work on the weekends just like everyone else.
Andrew says:

11 Oct11 October 08:05

I’m trying to book food/drink at a European Marriott (staying in a different Marriott due to cost) and thought I could book via the front desk to stand a chance of both getting Bonvoy points for spend, and paying with my Bonvoy Amex, to reduce the risk of the credit card terminal being for the restaurant operator and not the hotel.

The latter should work, for the former the hotel has said “I am very sorry to inform you that within the Europe region Marriott currently does not credit points for spending in the hotel outlets without a hotel reservation.”

Is this correct?
- NSL says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 08:09
  
  News to me. I’ve never had an issue before.
  
  Having said that, what Marriott T&Cs say and what they do are often completely different things.
- Blenz101 says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 08:30
  
  Sounds about right, I thought it was pretty much an Accor benefit in at participating hotels to be able to earn on F&B without a reservation. Amex bonus depending on how the card terminal has been configured notwithstanding.
  
  I’m sure I’ve seen reports on here that some hotels have been willing to set up a dummy room to allow the type of cross charge you want but this along suggests it’s not an official benefit. The US does have an Eat Around Town offering which is officially offered.
  
  You could try again at reception explaining you want to ensure it is the hotel who charge your Amex not the restaurant operator. They still may not be willing to award points (at a cost to themselves) but may be open to using the front desk card machine and allowing the restaurant to cross charge internally.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 09:49
  
  Yes only the exSPG hotels reward points on F&B if you aren’t staying.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    11 Oct11 October 09:51
    
    Ie St Regis, W, Luxury Collection, Sheraton etc
    
    https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2021/08/15/earn-marriott-bonvoy-points-restaurants-bars/
- Andrew says:
  
  11 Oct11 October 14:31
  
  Thanks everyone – should be able to get a ‘house account’.
  
  Interestingly they were happy to agree on points for F&B until the deputy manager at the hotel ‘checked with colleagues’…so it’s probably possible but they choose not to. Or saw I’m only Gold and thought it’s not worth their while.
  - Chrisasaurus says:
    
    11 Oct11 October 21:34
    
    To be fair unless you were spending a pretty significant sum, it was never truly worth anyone’s while…