The HfP chat thread – Sunday 17th October

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• Sammy says:

  17 Oct17 October 16:54

  An unusual question but if you are staying at a hotel, can you use a Groupon voucher for say, a meal there? I am going to the UAE and the hotel I’m staying at is charging a lot more for a meal for the 4 of us when it’s available at a much discounted rate via Groupon. Is it not the done thing though?

  • Rob says:

    17 Oct17 October 16:58

    Totally fine. Look also at renting a copy of The Entertainer discount app on eBay.

  • BP says:

    17 Oct17 October 17:10

    No problem at all. I done it multiple times. Entertainer also worth a look. They sell a tourist subscription now too

    • Sammy says:

      17 Oct17 October 17:44

      Thanks both.

  • Sam G says:

    17 Oct17 October 18:27

    Also good for Spa treatments

• tom1 says:

  17 Oct17 October 17:10

  just posted but seems to have disappeared – Melia promo 4 for 3 – anyone know how it works? terms not clear to me.

  • Niall says:

    17 Oct17 October 18:43

    Is this for Meliá Orlando or INNSIDE New York? If you click on conditions for the offer in the app it shows clearly how it works and gives instructions. A booking for 4 nights made with points or points + money will increase your points balance available by an extra 20,000 points to allow you to get one night (20,000 points worth) free. Limited to a classic room.

    • tom1 says:

      17 Oct17 October 20:48

      Thanks Niall – yes it is. That’s how I think it’s supposed to work, but could be clearer. The bit that confused me was the very first line.
      “Stay for 4, Pay for 3.” which isn’t true!
      You pay for 4, and get 20,000 points back. And I can’t see any nights available at 20k at the INNSIDE.

      • tom1 says:

        17 Oct17 October 21:00

        ok – so I take it back!
        Confusing – but it works.
        I had 71,000 in my account, and needed about 68,000 for 3 nights, or 90,000 for 4 nights.
        Even though I didn’t have enough points, it still let me book the 4 nights – so it is adding the 20k in the background.
        Despite having to pay the $35 per night taxes, makes good value from those cheap Melia points in the end.

        • Niall says:

          17 Oct17 October 21:26

          Glad you worked it. Yeh, it was a bit of a confusing one and not that well worded, but they’ve done similar type offers before and they work. It is an amazing price for 4 nights!

• Chrisasaurus says:

  17 Oct17 October 17:12

  So a rather unexpected Brucey bonus – booked a handful of flights to Malaga in the 20/Avios bonanza in late Aug. They’ve now all been cancelled by BA (hadn’t gotten around to cancelling for evouchers) so fair to say that’s now flight lane sorted for half terms and summer for all of next year, assuming I can actually get through on the phone and they play ball?

  By chance they also cancelled my flight on the 5th to jfk so thinking might even try for a cheeky NY trip?

  • Harry T says:

    17 Oct17 October 17:31

    You might not have it so easy – a lot of agents are now only allowing rebooking up to a year from booking date. The more generous BA policy of rebooking up to a year from original departure date appears to have been reversed.

    • Chrisasaurus says:

      18 Oct18 October 06:32

      Well, we’ll have to hope I come to rebook at a time I happen to have not a lot else to do and don’t mind being persistent..

• Mark Peterborough says:

  17 Oct17 October 17:16

  Virgin Atlantic Credit Card:
  I asked their customer services today if it was possible to freeze the supp card in the app . The response was that only the main card could be done this way , if the supp card needs freezing it has to be done by phoning them . Far from ideal in a moment of panic .

  • SteveJ says:

    17 Oct17 October 19:26

    TBF many non Amex cards have the same shortcoming in my experience

    • Mark Peterborough says:

      17 Oct17 October 20:14

      Thanks I didn’t realise that. My only experience of having a supp card in the recent years of card freezing has been creation , which is one that does have it .

• Peggerz says:

  17 Oct17 October 17:35

  Sitting in BA lounge at LHR T5B, G&T in hand. What a joy compared to Galleries South today. I thought I saw something yesterday (thanks!) and checked BA website and over I came. Staff on the door acknowledged my flight to EDI later, but said I knew the system and it was much nicer in T5B. Of course, I only know the system because of HfP, Rob/Rhys & contributors. Cheers. 🍸
  Also, a new rule came into place in Greece this week re sitting inside bars/resto’s etc and the need for the EU Covid passport. We were checked last night and of course our qr codes failed! Luckily they moved us to a sheltered outside table, but be aware. And……. As Storm Balos has just gone through Eastern Med, you may have to eat indoors at some point.

  • Harry T says:

    17 Oct17 October 17:50

    I once spent about 12 hours in the 5b lounge and found it a very tranquil place. I’m glad it’s open again.

    Not great news about vaccine passports/app passports in Greece – glad I visited before they instituted that.

  • JDB says:

    17 Oct17 October 18:07

    The Covid Free GR app seems to scan the NHS QR code OK for me from the PDF or the app. Is your NHS one still valid, as they only last a month at a time and presumably you are scanning the 2nd dose (which isn’t what comes up in the app until you press the arrow).

    • Sam G says:

      17 Oct17 October 18:26

      I saw in a Greek FB group I’m in that a common problem does seem to be you are having the first QR code scanned. Plenty of people reporting there that the Greeks can read the correct code.

      It’d make more sense that the second one appeared first perhaps!

  • Paul says:

    17 Oct17 October 22:20

    yep, we were scanned and didn’t work yesterday in Greece, had to move outside. What a shambles – also my QR codes wouldn’t work any which way for my PLF to return.

    • CH says:

      18 Oct18 October 00:35

      I also had the UK PLF reject UK vaccination codes a few weeks back. No questions, used egates on arrival.

• Rma says:

  17 Oct17 October 17:36

  Harry T . Thanks for your reply. E Vouchers, not FTV

  • Harry T says:

    17 Oct17 October 17:46

    You should be okay. I’ve used evouchers to book flights for people with different surnames. You will need to enter the relevant surname when adding the vouchers whilst making a booking though. No issues combining several different evouchers with different surnames on the same booking either.

• The Rooster says:

  17 Oct17 October 17:51

  What does everyone think the likelihood of India allowing tourists in (from the UK) before the end of the year is?

  • Andrew says:

    17 Oct17 October 18:08

    I would say pretty good seeing as they announced at the end of last week that we would be able to from mid November! https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-58880429

• David says:

  17 Oct17 October 17:51

  Does anyone know if there will still be restrictions flying from US mainland to Hawaii after 8/11?

  • Louise K says:

    17 Oct17 October 18:38

    I’m following Hawaii travel restrictions too. Governor Ige seems to set his own agenda.

    From what I’ve read the testing requirements would go if the state got to 75% fully vaccinated but it’s unlikely any of the islands will reach this number.

    Hopefully it will be clearer this week.

  • bafan says:

    17 Oct17 October 23:58

    I’m going to Hawaii tomorrow from Los Angeles so I’ll let you know how I get on.

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