The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 27th October

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• Stagger Lee says:

  27 Oct27 October 14:15

  Quick question(hopefully)
  I’m not a Marriott points collector but have a few in my account.

  I need to book a night in Glasgow in a few weeks am just short of the points to use them for night at the Central Marriott.
  Just wondering if it is worth forking out $25 to buy the 2000 points I need.

  The numbers are as follows

  Regular room rate – £131

  Points rate – 22500 (plus the $25 I’d need to spend to get to that)
  or
  12500 points + £80

  Any thoughts on the ‘best’ option here?

  Cheers

  • Phil W says:

    27 Oct27 October 14:35

    Assuming a 0.5p per point valuation:

    (a) Cash Price = £131.00
    (b) Points Price = 22,500 points = £112.50 + £18.20 ($25) = £131.70
    (c) Cash & Points = 12,500 points = £62.50 + £80 = £142.50

    If you want to cash out your orphaned points, Option B isn’t awful. Option A will however earn additional points.

    • Phil W says:

      27 Oct27 October 14:36

      My option B assumes a competitive Fx rate and no Fx charges.

    • Stagger Lee says:

      27 Oct27 October 14:37

      Brilliant, Thanks.

  • BJ says:

    27 Oct27 October 16:12

    Are you not seeing better rates than that St beter-located hotels?

    • Stagger Lee says:

      27 Oct27 October 17:02

      There are better rates to be had but location of the Marriott is perfect for what I need for the people I’m with.

• Simon says:

  27 Oct27 October 14:19

  I booked a hand baggage only fare with BA LHR-BER-LHR no problems checking in online for the flight out

  Trying to check in for my flight tomorrow BER-LHR it won’t allow me keeps saying unable to check in … also when selecting how many bags I’m checking in (zero as I have a hand bag only fare ) before I get to the error message it says I can have 2 … confused .com im a blue member also

  • Pete M says:

    27 Oct27 October 14:28

    You need to get your documents checked via Verifly if you want to check-in online today or just do it at the airport tomorrow.

• ChrisC says:

  27 Oct27 October 14:22

  My confirmation email from simply test me for my Day 2 test was in my spam folder.

  Bit concerned that it inclued my name, DoB, passport number and expiry date. Not sure all of that is strictly necessary to be sent back to me as you can do a lot of harm with that info.

  Also clear that they will deliver based on the date of your arrival back into the UK and not before.

  • Richie says:

    27 Oct27 October 14:25

    Have they heard of the Information Commissioner?

    • ChrisC says:

      27 Oct27 October 14:42

      I’m going to drop them a friendly note in the next couple ,of days about it.

      Anna not sure as this is a post arrival test,. I didn’t think of that when I ordered yesterday.

  • Anna says:

    27 Oct27 October 14:32

    Why do they need your passport number at all?! This would put me off using them.

    • Blenz101 says:

      27 Oct27 October 21:24

      To print on the certificate. Some countries require two forms of matching data.

  • TJ says:

    27 Oct27 October 18:09

    Data protection is one of the reasons I opted for Randox rather than save £19 with a fairly unknown/immature company that is not even listed on the Govt website. The other reason was a concern about having a PLF number which didn’t work when it came to filling out the form! Randox now use an app for their Day 2 lateral flow test…I’ll see how that works out in a couple of weeks.

    • Sandgrounder says:

      27 Oct27 October 22:04

      Simplytestme.co.uk are listed on the government ‘covid private testing providers general testing’ spreadsheet available from gov.uk. It is a trading name of Tide Consult Ltd. After reviewing the age of the company and the previous positions held by the directors, and the length of time their previous companies existed for, I decided I not to trust them with my personal data at this time. This is my own decision based on my risk-averse nature, I make no suggestion of mismanagement or ill intent on their part.

  • Tracey says:

    27 Oct27 October 19:55

    Maybe it’s to be helpful so that you can also use it as a fit to fly.

• Mike P says:

  27 Oct27 October 14:27

  I’m sure this has been covered before on HfP, but anyone got any advice for people with a kid on the way now?

  Sat on approx. 200k Avios now – normally I’d say the best bet is a 2 for 1 voucher and long haul J, but I now will need 3 tickets which makes things more difficult. I guess get a 2 for 1 voucher and save up for the 3rd seat / pay cash for it – is it possible to use a 2 for 1 and book a 3rd seat in one transaction? Or would I need to split transactions (so the wife and kid can go on one flight, I could potentially end up on another one. Hmm. Maybe not a bad idea!)?

  • Elguiri says:

    27 Oct27 October 14:31

    Get wife to open Barclays premier account for the single avios ‘upgrade’ voucher it comes with, and use 241 for yourself plus child?
    Also to note, it’s only 10% of ticket cost for lap infant until I think 2 years.

    • ChrisC says:

      27 Oct27 October 14:50

      10% is only off the base fare. Often airport fees are not discounted (but some don’t apply to lap children) so it’s not a simple calculation.

      Do a dummy booking and look at the fare breakdown to see what you’ll get charged,

  • Andy D says:

    27 Oct27 October 14:34

    Congratulations firstly.

    Baby can travel as a lap passenger for two years. Rate is 10% of usual. So you, and Mrs P can use your 241s from the time you are willing to travel (our policy was after 12 week jabs) and baby’s second birthday. No need to wait for baby to be born to book. Update the name on the phone after birth. Only outbound portion of ticket needs to be flown before baby turns 2 to get the 10% rate.

    After that you will need two 241s – one for baby and one for a family member who will free up a day or two for you when away 😉

  • Mike P says:

    27 Oct27 October 14:43

    Thanks both.

  • ChrisC says:

    27 Oct27 October 14:45

    No as you can’t mix bookings like that. Think it can be done if this is a lap infant though but that’s about it.

    I’d look at booking you and kid of unspecified age if they require a seat of their own on one booking and your dear lady using cash and she’ll earn some TPs and avios.

    • C says:

      27 Oct27 October 16:52

      So just to confirm (as I’m interested in this too): you can’t book for 3 (2 adults and a child) in one booking using a 241 for the adults plus an additional child over 2? Just thinking ahead to a point in the future where we may have both a child over 2 and a lap infant – we wouldn’t be able to use a 241 in such a booking? Thanks!

      • C says:

        27 Oct27 October 16:54

        Just to clarify, I’m talking about an entirely points-based booking, not cash for the child

        • Anna says:

          27 Oct27 October 17:46

          You can book for 2 adults plus any number of children with avios with a 241 in the mix, it’s a feature of the BA booking system which some agents don’t even know about. I’ve been doing it for years.
          You couldn’t use a Lloyds voucher on the same booking, I assume this applies to the new Barclays one as well.

        • Genghis says:

          27 Oct27 October 17:47

          You can for fully points. I’ve done it.

        • Benilyn says:

          27 Oct27 October 17:56

          @Anna – “You can book for 2 adults plus any number of children with avios with a 241 in the mix” – just double checking, is that children 2 and above as well?

        • Anna says:

          27 Oct27 October 18:17

          @Benilyn, yes, when you come to use the 241 the booking page states 2 adults then has another box for you to add any children 2 – 17 years (and possibly infants but I might be remembering wrongly there). I had to explain this once to a CSA when adding on a return leg as she couldn’t understand why there were 3 of us on a 241 booking.
          It’s one of the few sensible features on the system for 241 bookings!

        • C says:

          27 Oct27 October 19:06

          Thank you!

• Graham Walsh says:

  27 Oct27 October 14:30

  Need to book our honeymoon hotel in Crete (Stella Island), it’s only a small chain, was on Avios hotels for the most expensive rooms (don’t need that, want a lower category). I have emailed my contact at Avios to see if they can get the room I want as its 15 points per £1.

  If that doesn’t come up, where else could I maximise earning points? Not on Rocketmiles or Hotels. I guess it would clear my Virgin+ spend target, but anything else?

  TIA

  • Elguiri says:

    27 Oct27 October 14:32

    Amex travel with £100 off £400 spend offer?

    • Graham Walsh says:

      27 Oct27 October 14:51

      Hotel isn’t on Amex either 🙁

  • ChrisC says:

    27 Oct27 October 14:48

    There is an offer for 5000 points on rocket mikes if you are a new user. Article about it the other day.

• Michael says:

  27 Oct27 October 14:30

  Anyone with a Lloyds Avios Upgrade voucher had any luck getting it extended beyond this Sunday, 31st October ?

  • Anna says:

    27 Oct27 October 14:33

    Is there nowhere you can use it to travel to in the next 12 months?!

    • Michael says:

      27 Oct27 October 14:54

      You’re right, I can Anna, I’d just ideally like another few months before committing, especially with travel to Asia being unpredictable next year. Also with the upgrade voucher, if I recall correctly, you cannot change your flight destination without losing the voucher.

    • ChrisC says:

      27 Oct27 October 15:11

      Can you not use the Manchester strategy to extend it or does that not apply to the Lloyds vouchers?

      • meta says:

        27 Oct27 October 15:19

        That doesn’t apply to Lloyds vouchers. You’re locked into a zone. So to Rome is Zone 2. You need to decide on the zone you’re most happy with and then book. You can then switch to any other destination within that zone for £35pp change fee.

        • Michael says:

          27 Oct27 October 15:49

          I didn’t know that, thanks meta 🙂

        • meta says:

          27 Oct27 October 17:24

          @Michael The important thing is not cancel the ticket, just change.

  • Tracy Regan says:

    28 Oct28 October 17:10

    I booked using the Lloyds Upgrade Voucher this morning. It took about 30 minutes to get through. There was no opportunity to extend again.

    • Michael says:

      28 Oct28 October 18:37

      Thanks for confirming Tracy 🙂

• AD says:

  27 Oct27 October 15:13

  Does anyone have experience of requesting for future travel voucher for BA flight booking with Amex travel please. Can I request for a future travel voucher directly from British airways or do I have to request this from Amex travel? Could the voucher be used for future flight booking directly on ba.com please? Many thanks

  • Sam G says:

    27 Oct27 October 15:37

    Amex & you need to redeem via them

    • AD says:

      27 Oct27 October 16:13

      Many thanks Sam G

• MQ says:

  27 Oct27 October 15:26

  Im about to book a economy class, Avios redemption with Qatar. Does anyone know what travel class these flights are (V,L,K,M,S) or (B,H,Y)? I want to upgrade the flight with Qmiles, just need to know if I have enough miles available.
  Thanks all

  • Andrew says:

    27 Oct27 October 15:35

    It would book it into a non-revenue class and so you wouldn’t be able to upgrade that with Q miles.

  • Sam G says:

    27 Oct27 October 15:37

    If you use Avios for the ticket then it’ll be redemption class – X – & not upgradable with Qmiles

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