The HfP chat thread – Monday 25th October

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• PK says:

  25 Oct25 October 11:26

  Is anyone here old enough to remember Skyways International? Was rummaging through some old stuff and found boarding passes of Skyways International. It made my day!

  • Mikeact says:

    25 Oct25 October 11:38

    Jeez…we are both showing our age…must get up in the loft and rummage around….loads of bits re my travels over many years.

• Mikeact says:

  25 Oct25 October 11:35

  Heads up people….last week to use your Avios/Lloyds voucher,.
  No more extensions.
  Please report back with any interesting feedback.

  • meta says:

    25 Oct25 October 12:16

    I booked last week for Rome. Called at 9:30am waited five minutes and another five to ticket.

• Triath5 says:

  25 Oct25 October 11:47

  Thinking about winter travel – has anyone been to/can recommend Tel Aviv? Will probably be a long weekend (Leave Fri back on Tuesday).

  Wondering if it’s worth it or not / too short a time? Any input appreciated.

  • John says:

    25 Oct25 October 11:59

    I don’t think they are allowing tourists

    • Triath5 says:

      25 Oct25 October 12:11

      Doh! Hadn’t even thought of this…I’m looking at Ministry of Health website and it does indeed look quite restrictive. Not sure Israel is letting tourists in at the moment.

      Sigh…back to the drawing board.

      • Gary says:

        25 Oct25 October 12:32

        Talk of government allowing quarantine free travel fr 1 Nov as long as had last jab within 6 months of arrival. So watch this space.

        • Gary says:

          25 Oct25 October 12:33

          https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/vaccinated-want-visit-israel-read-fine-print-first-2021-10-24/

  • Richie says:

    25 Oct25 October 12:00

    4 nights is ok.

  • Lev441 says:

    25 Oct25 October 12:22

    Perfect length of time. Tourists being allowed from November according to various reports last week.

    WeAther wise, you’re looking at early 20s and normally sunny in December, but can be a bit hit and miss.

  • Amy C says:

    25 Oct25 October 12:22

    I loved it but I’d never go in winter.

  • Graham Walsh says:

    25 Oct25 October 13:38

    I went in 2018 with my two boys. Stayed at the David IC with points. So much to do and see, great food places too. Certainly, want to go back and explore more now the boys are older.

    As others said, it’s opening very soon. It was restricted to immediate family only.

  • Tracey says:

    25 Oct25 October 18:59

    Supposedly it’s opening to tourist on 1/11. You will need a OCR beforehand and a PCR on arrival. You have to isolate until you get the results of the PCR, so that will eat into your weekend.

• Anon says:

  25 Oct25 October 11:48

  I accidentally loaded funds to Che with a WE card (not bendy fronted, used the wrong card on Apple Pay). It was about a week ago and no fees / charges have come up yet but from reading some chats I think I should be expecting something on my next statement? Should I just pay off the card balance to avoid this?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    25 Oct25 October 11:56

    Going via Bendy makes little difference because the MCC is passed on and the transaction treated as if it was made directly

    If you’ve used that card with Che via bendy before and go no charges I wouldn’t expect any just because you went direct.

  • LS says:

    25 Oct25 October 11:56

    Pay the Che amount (you don’t need to pay off whole balance). It will get allocated to the interest bearing balance first. If you ask nicely, and it is the first time, they usually waive charges as a gesture of goodwill so it is worth asking.

    • Tom H says:

      25 Oct25 October 11:59

      As above, and you don’t get any WE points

    • Anon says:

      25 Oct25 October 12:03

      Thanks both for the advice. I’m new to Che (just got it because there was a £50 referral bonus that required three transactions being made on my part) so hadn’t ever used it with Bendy before. I’ve paid off the Che amount now, top up was only small so hopefully the weeks charges shouldn’t be too much.

      • Blenz101 says:

        25 Oct25 October 12:09

        Plus a hit to your internal credit score at HSBC for taking cash advance on a credit card.

• John says:

  25 Oct25 October 11:50

  I’m on the first Lumo train to Edinburgh.

  There was a lot of fuss on Twitter yesterday about it being fully booked and people with anytime tickets (and no reservation) possibly not being able to physically board, but there are maybe 100 empty seats.

  Railforums says the first southbound is also quite empty

  • Dave says:

    25 Oct25 October 13:11

    Are the seats any better than LNER Azuma’s ironing boards?

    • John says:

      25 Oct25 October 13:48

      Can’t say… I like hard seats. These ones have a bit of give

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      25 Oct25 October 14:58

      If you think LNER are Ironing bored try going Brighton to Cambridge on a Thames link class 700. Truly changes your perspective

      • Mark Peterborough says:

        25 Oct25 October 21:42

        As a regular commuter from Peterborough to Blackfriars my journeys are always LNER Azumas and Thameslink 700s . I can confirm that the seats are as hard as each other . Handy hint with Thameslink , the first class in the rear coach is always de-classified to become standard class . You get a table and power socket .

• John says:

  25 Oct25 October 11:52

  Join railforums UK and start reading

  • Super Secret Stuff says:

    25 Oct25 October 12:52

    It’s a good site don’t get me wrong but can’t see how it’s useful in this case. You either pay and go, get a railcard, or don’t

    • John says:

      25 Oct25 October 12:58

      Well you can learn about routeing and splitting, and unlike airline tickets all the fares and rules are available

• Roger says:

  25 Oct25 October 11:54

  MRU availability seems to have gone around christams time, is it likely to come back with more flights added?

• Tom says:

  25 Oct25 October 11:55

  Sorry for the rather elementary question, but I was inspired by recent postings about BA holidays.
  If I book a ‘holiday’ and pay the £150 deposit, am I then free of obligation to pay the balance at -3 weeks, should I choose not to travel. Would I only forfeit the £150, if so?
  If I ‘forgot’ to check in at the hotel I arrange for a single night stay, does that pose a problem for the return flight?

  • Pete M says:

    25 Oct25 October 12:01

    First Q – yes, but you could currently convert it into an FTV. Second Q – no, never heard of that being an issue.

  • ChrisC says:

    25 Oct25 October 12:04

    Yes that would notmally be the case but at present you could claim an FTV if the holiday is for before August 2022

    No.

  • Karl says:

    25 Oct25 October 12:05

    Presumably you’ve found a holiday where flight + hotel is cheaper than flight on its own?

    • ChrisC says:

      25 Oct25 October 12:17

      That’s rarely the case

      What is case is that a Holiday booking is cheaper than buying the flight and hotel separatly.

      Advantage of Holiday booking is only paying a deposit so if you do cancel (absent FTVs at the moment) you only lose a small deposit and not the bulk of the cost of flight only ticket.

    • Tom says:

      25 Oct25 October 12:18

      Pete / Chris, thank you, even better news! I’m grateful for your advice.

      Karl, yes. 4 nights in a 5* property will ‘cost’ about £300 (total) when compared with booking flight only. Slight complexity in that I may need to stay in a hotel not listed on BA holidays. Hence, considering booking a single night in a mainstream hotel, which doesn’t move the cost versus booking flight only, but retains the benefits of booking a ‘holiday’.

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