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The HfP chat thread – Saturday 23rd October

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General

Comments (327)

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

  • Backpacker says:
    23 Oct23 October 13:25

    Marriott Travel vouchers expire Jan 3 – Anyone had any luck/news regarding these getting extended?

    I have a 7-day Category 1-4 level hotel, and also a credit card Category 4 night, but customer services have refused to extend these on the phone twice now. They also won’t let me pay extra points/money for a higher Category hotel.
    Not many great Category 1-4 hotels in UK to use it on…

    • Mycity says:
      23 Oct23 October 13:50

      I’m in the same boat, they won’t extend mine and as they have all been extended previously I doubt that will change

      • meta says:
        23 Oct23 October 14:49

        You don’t have to use it in the UK… Plenty of excellent properties outside UK.

        • Mycity says:
          23 Oct23 October 16:10

          Agreed, we had 2 and I’ve booked one for November in the Canary Islands.

  • Vit says:
    23 Oct23 October 13:28

    Hello, quick question on Day 2 PCR test in Scotland please.

    I booked the test on Thursday prior to fly into the UK as per guideline. Test did not arrive till after 1100hr this morning. Did the test and dropped it off at the priority collection point but to find out later that its last collection on Saturday is 1145hr (if I understand correctly). Should I be concerned about this in term of not following government guideline?

    Many thanks,
    Vit

    • Sam G says:
      23 Oct23 October 13:35

      No. likely even if you’d thrown in it the nearest bin you’d never have heard anything further ! Relax and enjoy your weekend!

    • k says:
      23 Oct23 October 14:28

      No, you need not be concerned except at having been fleeced. Many folk have yet to realise that it’s all just a money making exercise.

    • Vit says:
      23 Oct23 October 15:36

      Haha. Thanks and I do agree with you both. As the company is paying for it, I am not too bothered but yes still annoyed by this. A complete faff!

  • Super Secret Stuff says:
    23 Oct23 October 14:11

    Everyone should keep there rail tickets. Just discovered two legal claims going through against London train operators.

    First is about overcharging when people have a travelcard but are stopping in and going beyond the boundary. For South Westerern Railway, South west Trains and South Eastern since 2015. Auto included in the claim unless you opt out, no liability as far as I can tell.

    Second is against GTR, so Southern, Gatwick Express, Thames link and Great Norther. Any tickets which cover 2 or more operators, to do with market manipulation. Entitled to more if you’ve used the gatwick express.

    Be interesting to watch this unfold, I sporadically collect train tickets if I don’t lose them so have a full airport see through bag full of them and live in the south east!

    • Super Secret Stuff says:
      23 Oct23 October 14:12

      All still going through the courts so no guarantees etc.

    • John says:
      23 Oct23 October 15:37

      First is where you were eligible to use a boundary zone ticket but we’re prevented from buying one because you can’t do so online or at some ticket machines and sometimes ticket office staff lie.

      Second is because the ticketing and settlement agreement doesn’t permit Govia Thameslink Railway to sell tickets valid only on their sub-brands – a “not Gatwick Express” ticket is valid on Gatwick Express, a Thameslink only ticket is valid on all GTR services, and if overcharged they will always refund you if you can be bothered to keep escalating.

      What I don’t understand is how people are going to prove they were overcharged for the past 6 years if they hadn’t kept tickets. Lawyers will take most of the money I expect

      • Memesweeper says:
        23 Oct23 October 17:39

        Wow — i used to be a regular purchaser (or attempted purchaser) of boundary tickets and they were always a nightmare to get or price. Glad someone has taken some action…

  • Sammy says:
    23 Oct23 October 14:20

    Anyone know of an express PCR test but that’s open overnight? DD returning from a school trip on Tuesday and considering a flight on Wednesday morning. I know it’s risky but this is the only time we can travel together for almost a year so trying to get away. Does Heathrow offer on the spot PCR tests? If yes, what is the turn around time?

  • s says:
    23 Oct23 October 14:31

    I can’t be the only one in this situation, but I don’t recall ever reading any posts on this somewhat complex matter.

    Everyone in my family is in a household account and we each park out personal avios in Aer Club, moving points into BAEC only when redeeming. As such the only activity in Aer Club accounts is Combine My Avios. In theory, should the miles remaining in Aer Club not expire after 36 months then?

    In practice this is not happening because all our miles are still there. One chat agent said points moved back from BAEC with a fresh expiry resets all the points within Aer Club too whereas another chat agent said BAEC activity is irrelevant. Although he couldn’t explain why our Aer Club points were still actually active.

    Anyone got any wisdom on this?

    • Ian_h says:
      23 Oct23 October 14:53

      I don’t think combine my avios resets the timer it needs to be a genuine “earn” transaction.

      I wouldn’t risk losing them just buy a birthday card every 3 years from moonpig on the aer club shopping portal and the Miles Post within 72hrs

    • John says:
      23 Oct23 October 15:39

      Do a shopping transaction on avios.com. Do you want to take the risk even if it hasn’t happened in practice yet

      • s says:
        23 Oct23 October 16:35

        sorry I should have been more clear. I meant if you move 10000 points to BAEC, do a redemption for 9000, therefore the expiry of all miles in your BA account is not Oct 2024, then move the remaining 1000 points to Aer Club, would all avios in your Aer club not now have an expiry of Oct 2024?

        Agreed that its not worth risking but I’m just curious how it works. Will getting on moonpig now!

        • AJA says:
          23 Oct23 October 17:02

          I doubt it. I think the expiry date of Avios held in BAEC is not necessarily the same as the expiry date of Avios in Aer Club. As you say redeeming 9000 Avios via BAEC counts as spending so resets the counter in BAEC. All you have done with Aer Club is move them to BAEC and then move them back again. I think you need genuine spend or earning separately in your Aer Club account.

  • Swiss Jim says:
    23 Oct23 October 14:37

    Slightly off topic, but I’m sure the eminent HFP community will know the answer. 5 hour delay with Eurotunnel (not Eurostar…). Power outage. Any compensation due? Can’t find any reference anywhere…. Thanks.

    • Yvo says:
      23 Oct23 October 16:20

      We swerved the problems this morning and paid for a DFDs ferry instead when I saw Twitter just before the affected junction.

      So we paid out an unexpected £149 (which included lunch vouchers) and are now almost in the Netherlands and probably wouldn’t have left Folkestone had we persevered.

      They recently tweeted this for people to use:

      https://www.eurotunnel.com/uk/complaints-procedure/

      • SwissJim says:
        23 Oct23 October 16:25

        Thanks. Fortunately this wasn’t me but my sister. And she’s taking it reasonaby well.!

        • Yvo says:
          23 Oct23 October 17:37

          Thought you sounded chirpy!
          Looks like the restaurants and vending machines are out of stock and 9am bookings aren’t moving yet.
          Feel we dodged a bullet switching to the ferry before getting stuck in there.

  • Nick says:
    23 Oct23 October 15:07

    Best place to exchange one foreign currency to another? In London? Got plenty USD and Eastern Caribbean Dollars due to cancelled plans. Travelling Sri Lanka in Jan so need some LKR. Would any old currency exchange do that? Or am I on the hook for double conversion via GBP?

    • Rob says:
      23 Oct23 October 15:19

      Probably cheaper to take it to Sri Lanka and convert there direct.

    • John says:
      23 Oct23 October 15:42

      Not allowed to bring more than 5000 LKR into Sri Lanka. Exchange USD in Sri Lanka when your trip actually happens – the rupee is only moving in one direction…

      Sell XCD on ebay to collectors for double face value or more, especially if it’s the new polymer notes

    • Sukes says:
      23 Oct23 October 17:00

      Always found Thomas Exchange Global had best high st FX rates in London & never had any issues buying (preorder online for best rate). Their Victoria branch was usually queued onto the street pre Covid. Worth emailing the branch to get a quote for your situation.

  • Princess says:
    23 Oct23 October 15:07

    Update for people that helped with suggestion in summer. I was caught in the middle of the glitch between Amex and Radisson and 2 batches of points I transferred from Amex to Radisson were not multiplied by 3. This happen in July. I called Radisson 5-6 times, then Amex 4-5 times. Over the phone Amex recognised there was an issue. Mid August I wrote I complain to Amex and they replied to me with something completely different.
    I almost gave up when at the end of September some points arrived in my account to reach t he right amount for the first batch, at the same time points from the second transfer disappeared. Few days ago finally the right amount of points arrived in the account…just more than 3 months later!!!!

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

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