The HfP chat thread – Sunday 24th October

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• Wollhouse says:

  24 Oct24 October 08:33

  Datapoint. Applied and was accepted for platinum late thur night. Card arrived yesterday!

• Chris1922 says:

  24 Oct24 October 08:36

  Has anyone stayed in Hilton Doubletree Ras al Khaimah Decent ? or any other recommendations.
  i read that taxis can be hard to come by and very expensive, but did fancy a day trip to Dubai one of the days I’m there. RAK is much cheaper that Dubai, and a private beach seals the deal i think for family friendly trip, looking for some sunny pool and beach time

  • Zed says:

    24 Oct24 October 08:49

    From Dubai, taxis can be between 150-200 AED (about £40). Double Tree Marjan Island in RAK has its own private beach, as well as 7 swimming pools and loads of kids play facilities. Kids club is complimentary. They offer all inclusive which is great for drinks. Food is good and plentiful.
    Opposite the road is an awesome burger place called “Salt” would definitely recommend that. Also, taxi to the nearest mall is 7 min drive and costs about 15 AED, there you have a VOX cinema and food court with various options like Burger King, Subway, Krispy Kreme.
    For taxis generally, a bit like Uber, might be worth downloading Careem, the Middle Eastern equivalent.

  • Adam says:

    24 Oct24 October 13:06

    To be honest I found Hilton Garden Inn next door much better than doubletree that felt dated. HGI also gave me a suite upgrade as a gold.

• Zed says:

  24 Oct24 October 08:52

  For lateral flow test, is simplytestme approved? Can we use it?

  • Pete M says:

    24 Oct24 October 08:56

    There is no such thing as “approved”. gov.uk states: “The government does not endorse or recommend any specific test provider – you should do your own research about them and their terms and conditions.”

  • Harry T says:

    24 Oct24 October 08:59

    Just double check that it meets the specifications. If it does, I would crack on. The government is far too important screwing up the booster campaign and taxing the middle class to trouble themselves with proper regulation of this industry.

    • Andrew says:

      24 Oct24 October 09:21

      But duty on Champagne is rumoured to be reducing in the budget – so not all bad.

      • JDB says:

        24 Oct24 October 09:34

        And caviar to remain VAT free

      • Harry T says:

        24 Oct24 October 09:37

        I’d rather they reduced taxes on my income but at least I can have a cheaper drink to take edge off!

        • Andrew says:

          24 Oct24 October 09:39

          Kind of all evens out I think.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          24 Oct24 October 09:40

          Maybe If you drink 5 bottles a day

        • JDB says:

          24 Oct24 October 10:08

          I think that we would all like lower taxes but we will be paying for furlough etc for a long time. It’s worth bearing in mind that for those fortunate enough to own their home (c.65%) this extended period of low interest rates has been an extraordinary windfall from policy makers. When we first bought a property, prices were cheaper (but still seemed incredibly high on any ratio) but mortgage rates were 15%.

        • Erico1875 says:

          24 Oct24 October 10:15

          If they had the foresight of El Salvador and ” bought the dip” when Bitcoin dropped then we could have been debt free 😁😁😁

  • Matt says:

    24 Oct24 October 09:47

    They say they’re compliant with the regulations. They provide a code for the PLF. We know that any random selection of numbers will work on the PLF. What exactly could go wrong? Even if they don’t send the test out, you can get them for free from a pharmacy.

  • AndreasJ says:

    24 Oct24 October 11:42

    Hi Zed, I have just used simplytestme: I bought the test, straight away they email you the booking reference for the PLF. The test arrived quickly, less than 24hrs from ordering. I took the test (negative) uploaded the photo and within a few minutes I had email confirmation from them. No complaints from my side…

• BA-Flyer says:

  24 Oct24 October 09:01

  I have a Lloyds upgrade voucher which I want to use for Hong Kong return. I know the advice for a standard HKG redemption is two singles for lower taxes, but can you still do this with a Lloyds voucher?

  • Yorkieflyer says:

    24 Oct24 October 09:06

    Yes

• Dave says:

  24 Oct24 October 09:06

  My friend telling me she could use British Airways Platinum Personal card to gain entries at BA Heathrow lounge, is this part of the card benefits?

  • Pete M says:

    24 Oct24 October 09:08

    Does she mean the British Airways Premium Plus card? That definitely doesn’t get you any lounge access.

    • Dave says:

      24 Oct24 October 09:24

      I think it is the black paid version of BA personal card

      • Pete M says:

        24 Oct24 October 09:38

        Yup, definitely no lounge access anywhere.

  • JDB says:

    24 Oct24 October 09:10

    I assume your friend means she has the BA Premium Plus Amex card (not Platinum Personal) and it doesn’t get you into any BA LHR lounge.

  • N says:

    24 Oct24 October 09:17

    They Platinum card gets you access to some non-ba lounges, and I suspect that’s why there’s confusion here.

    • Dave says:

      24 Oct24 October 09:25

      The black paid version of BA personal card?

      • N says:

        24 Oct24 October 09:41

        No, the Amex platinum card, non-ba.

        • Andrew says:

          24 Oct24 October 09:47

          And doesn’t give you access to BA lounges – the only way to do that is to fly in a premium cabin or have BA/OneWorld status.

  • Andrew says:

    24 Oct24 October 09:40

    Yep, no truth in your friend’s assertions on this matter.

  • Can says:

    24 Oct24 October 11:12

    He shouldn’t be your friends anymore 🙂

• Mikeact says:

  24 Oct24 October 09:07

  Some BA routes from the US back to the UK are shown as RFS (all ?).eg New York to London seems to be 25k Avios + £47, whereas Atlanta shows 16250 Avios + £171.
  Both next September, off Peak and ‘down the back ‘
  Is there any rhyme or reason for the difference and without ploughing through all BA stations are there other £47 options available?
  I think I recall that BA were rolling RFS out selectively on certain haul routes but perhaps ‘Covid’ has put paid to this for the time being…maybe @Rob could update us with any latest information and/or revisit this topic.
  I ask for my youngest son and girlfriend. Thanks.

  • AJA says:

    24 Oct24 October 09:23

    When you try the AtL route do you get more options to choose from on the next page which might get you nearer to the JFK RFS offer? I think RFS fares on LH are not available everywhere and are still being trialled but even on those routes you do get more options to pay more cash and fewer Avios or the other way around.

    • Mikeact says:

      24 Oct24 October 09:36

      No, from ATL, £171 is the lowest option and then increases significantly .

  • Anna says:

    24 Oct24 October 09:38

    I was looking at this option yesterday and BOS, CHI and MIA also seem to have RFS options now, at least in Y. I can’t work out whether PE is included or not, the “taxes” from MIA were about £200 which seems high for RFS but low for a one way award seat from the USA.

    • Mikeact says:

      24 Oct24 October 10:01

      Re my ATL example above….PE is shown as £203 as the minimum price, with 32500 Avios to pay. So, around £30 more + nearly double Avios . Obviously not a particularly good use of Avios but if no concern….

      • Mikeact says:

        24 Oct24 October 10:06

        Or £532 Business + 62500 Avios (All off peak)

      • Anna says:

        24 Oct24 October 10:14

        Surely it would be double avios compared with Y anyway? And taxes normally nearer the J mark in PE.

        • Mikeact says:

          24 Oct24 October 10:22

          ATL Off Peak
          Back 16250
          PE 32500
          CW 62500

        • Anna says:

          24 Oct24 October 10:33

          Not sure why only some routes are included – may be BA is just pushing the most popular leisure routes? I’m thinking 35k avios plus £75 is a bargain for MIA-LHR-MAN in my case, even if we then pay for exit row seats to improve sleep quality, still cheaper then PE. Will try my luck at reclaiming 35k for the 241 but got plenty of avios to burn if they say no.

  • PGW says:

    24 Oct24 October 10:46

    Very trusting of you to allow your girlfriend to go travelling with your son.

    • John says:

      24 Oct24 October 16:30

      The girlfriend could be the mother

      • Mikeact says:

        24 Oct24 October 19:32

        Definitely ‘his’ girlfriend…far too young for me !

• Save East Coast Rewards says:

  24 Oct24 October 09:10

  It looks like the news in the UK is preparing people for more restrictions to be imposed.

  • Dave says:

    24 Oct24 October 09:18

    It’s predictable that after delaying and delaying Plan B will eventually be brought in too late. Hopefully doing it now will prevent lockdowns etc but imho we should have been doing this a few weeks ago.

    I really hope it doesn’t affect my Xmas holiday!

  • AJA says:

    24 Oct24 October 09:35

    It wouldn’t surprise me if restrictions are reimposed, infection rates seem to be rising. But I think that it’s mostly in unvaccinated school children who then go on to infect their families.Not entirely unexpected as a similar thing happened in Scotland.

    The good news is that the deaths are not rising by the same extent and the vaccines seem to be helping reduce the severity of the infection in those who subsequently get Covid.

    On the other hand some parts of the media report this in a sensationalist way as they are opposed to the govt and want to show that the govt can’t be trusted whatever they do.

    Personally I am still wearing a mask indoors and try to avoid crowds and keep space around me when in shops and supermarkets. If everyone does the same then we will be OK, if not then expect the state to intervene and it won’t be a surprise if / when restrictions happens.

  • Harry T says:

    24 Oct24 October 09:39

    Government vacillated about boosters, started the programme too late, then ballsed the logistics. But it’s okay, I’m sure the shortage of booster jabs will lead to more productive antibodies in the people who are jabbed…

  • Anna says:

    24 Oct24 October 09:40

    Is Boris saying there definitely won’t be any restrictions? If so might as well abandon any Christmas plans!
    To be honest I’m highly tempted to take myself off abroad if we have another winter in lockdown 😬

    • Rob says:

      24 Oct24 October 11:29

      Yes, I see another 17 night constantly extended Middle East Christmas coming up, even though we have nothing booked.

  • John says:

    24 Oct24 October 10:19

    If they want to reduce cases then schools should have had 3 weeks off for half term, or 4 weeks off for Christmas.

    As someone whose schooling was to the British (England) curriculum but outside the UK, I was surprised when I discovered how long most English school terms are; I had much longer holidays and we covered the same things that would have been covered in school here.

    I think pretty much everyone who wants to is already wearing a mask (and very few people wear them properly), and anyone who hasn’t been vaccinated and isn’t planning to be vaccinated, won’t do it because of a vaccine passport. So I don’t think these would achieve very much.

    • Andrew says:

      24 Oct24 October 10:46

      If it’s 3-4 weeks at October and Christmas, the kids will all be at holiday clubs instead.

      It’s hard enough for parents to cover the regular school holidays.

    • Roy says:

      25 Oct25 October 00:24

      “and anyone who hasn’t been vaccinated and isn’t planning to be vaccinated, won’t do it because of a vaccine passport”

      The evidence in some European countries seems to suggest otherwise. Probably depends to an extent on what you mean by “isn’t planning to”. The “kind of intend to get it but doesn’t seem that urgent and just haven’t got round to it yet” contingent is probably larger than you think.

• Whisper says:

  24 Oct24 October 09:16

  I was looking at booking a 5 night Double Tier point holiday to Tenerife, but the return flight from TFS arrives too late to get the last flight to BHD, so the website gives the BHD flight the next morning and says we need to get overnight accommodation.
  Will this work for the double tier points, as we need to get the hotel ourselves for the night in LHR?
  If this is OK does anyone know if BAH would allow a later flight the next day as 0640 is rather early – or could that invalidate the tier point offer?

  • Pete M says:

    24 Oct24 October 09:18

    Would you have 5nts in Tenerife? In which case you’d be fine. If you are thinking 4 + 1nt at Heathrow that won’t work. You should be able to choose a later flight the following day during the booking process.

    • Whisper says:

      24 Oct24 October 09:40

      Yes – there are 5 nights in Tenerife. I was concerned because some comments seemed to say that I needed the hotel booking for the entire trip to be with BAH.
      Thanks for the help.

      • Anna says:

        24 Oct24 October 09:42

        To make absolutely certain, include your final night in your BA holiday booking?

      • Pete M says:

        24 Oct24 October 09:44

        Not at all, you’re all good 🙂 Make sure you click on “Choose alternative flights” during the booking process to see the later flights, bearing in mind this may push the cost of the holiday up a bit if the later ones are more expensive.

        • Nick says:

          24 Oct24 October 12:06

          This is fine because it’s based on your return date from the holiday, which is when you leave Tenerife. Having said that, BAH has some cracking rates at Heathrow hotels, so you may find it’s cost-effective to use them for your night there anyway.

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