The HfP chat thread – Sunday 31st October

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Mark says:

31 Oct31 October 16:39

what the cheapest day 2 test? There doesn’t seem to have been an update recently
- Pete1968 says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 16:43
  
  https://www.simplytestme.co.uk/
  - Mark says:
    
    31 Oct31 October 17:19
    
    Thanks
- Rob says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 18:15
  
  simplytestme at £12 – we used it this weekend, worked fine. Tests received within a couple of days, posted First Class. No problem uploading the screenshot.
  
  There are some concerns over the level of personal data they want when ordering which may exceed what is legally required. The company also has no previous trading history.
  
  However … since all they are doing is posting you a lateral flow test which a supermarket in Germany will sell you for €2, there is no reason why they can’t offer such a service for £12 (£10 ex-VAT). The only costs they have, apart from building their website (which is crap, so £100 on that) is max £2.50 per order for buying the test and posting it.
  - Ron says:
    
    31 Oct31 October 18:22
    
    We used it for coming back from Madeira today. Everything works fine, got the validation emails within three hours after uploading the test results. But totally understand some people may feel nervous giving all that details to a random company, but then most of the new testing companies are a bit random!
  - Aston100 says:
    
    31 Oct31 October 19:42
    
    What would happen if you supply false information against questions which are not required?
    - Rob says:
      
      31 Oct31 October 19:48
      
      I’ve no idea which questions are required, that’s the thing. I suppose you could compare it with a few other sites.
  - Andrew H says:
    
    31 Oct31 October 20:35
    
    The ones in the German supermarket may be government subsidised… or judging by this sold at cost at most. I had heard they were several £££ though this suggests they are not quite so much.
    
    https://ukwholesales.co.uk/covid-test-kits/lateral-flow-covid-test-kits/
    - Rob says:
      
      31 Oct31 October 21:54
      
      The first one, FlowFlex, is the one that simplytestme provide. Let’s assume these are the ones they are buying but in greater quantity than 12k, so £2.50. With a jiffy bag and postage, plus card fees, you are still under £3.50 for £10 (ex VAT) income.
MQ says:

31 Oct31 October 17:04

Hi all has anyone found out if the spend 400£ receive £100 offer with amex travel works on cumulative spend?
- Roger says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 17:05
  
  Should do.
  I am still waiting for the offer to be credited though as only a week has passed since the spend and the offer has still not moved to “redeemed offer or Savings” tab in my online account.
- Js says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 17:49
  
  It does, worked on many of my cards.
  - MQ says:
    
    31 Oct31 October 20:19
    
    Amazing! Thank you.
Roger says:

31 Oct31 October 17:04

What Status Match opportunity I should be looking at from BA Silver?
I want to match to a Sky Team preferably Air Europa or KLM
- Lady London says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 17:12
  
  Statusmatcher dot com is your friend
  Please update any airline or hotel siccesses you have there too.
  
  Very, very rare indeed for anyone to be interested in matching someone’s Silver. Normally a minimum if Gold or equivalent is required.
  - Polly says:
    
    31 Oct31 October 19:04
    
    Gosh, l miss those days when we got CX gold with our platinum cards, and status matched all over the place, air Berlin QR etc.. never to be seen again! LL, are you in U.K. or France atm? We are heading off to Lot Wednesday, at least we can drive.
    
    PS, just succeeded after 2 days in getting our VTP for SIN today.. so might just get there now in November…they want every letter, no, name matching, even middle names…had to get the NHS pass issued 3 times..anyway, done now. So SIN beckons. Bonvoy for the W on Sentosa…
- soundnomad says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 17:24
  
  Turkish have an easy(ish) one on at the moment. Gives you SA gold for 4 months in order to complete challenge of any flight on Turkish Airlines. Not Skyteam but something.
- Rob says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 18:13
  
  Why not just do the offical ITA match? They joined SkyTeam on Friday.
ian says:

31 Oct31 October 17:29

if i have a 10am flight is it even possible to get a pre-departure in-airport lateral flow test at LHR that morning?
- Keely says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 17:55
  
  You can book in at express medical from
  7am. Results in 40 mins . Tight but doable.
  - Keely says:
    
    31 Oct31 October 18:02
    
    Sorry should have said that’s at t4 long stay . There are others onsite at Heathrow but there is a charge to go to departures from 1 Nov so cheaper to go to T4 long stay. You can book online .
    - ian says:
      
      31 Oct31 October 18:16
      
      sorry what do you mean a charge?
      - Keely says:
        
        31 Oct31 October 18:22
        
        From 1 Nov there will be a drop off charge for departures £5 . Been covered on here before
- ChrisC says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 17:56
  
  Best check on the providers website what time they are open.
  
  Remember for a 10am departure check-in will close at 9 or not long after and you’ll need any result to have come through before then.
Simon says:

31 Oct31 October 17:34

Any idea when the nutmeg avios promotion will come along next? I took advantage of the last promotion and it was a smooth process.
- Rob says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 18:12
  
  Nothing booked in – they usually do something towards the end of the tax year.
Terri says:

31 Oct31 October 17:54

On checking upcoming BA flights in MMB print/email receipt section I have noticed that the ticket validity date is inserted.

The ticket validity date is given as expiring 1 year from the outbound travel flight every time.

Does anyone else have ticket validity date of 1 year from outward travel in their bookings?

BA Chat refused to go beyond 1 year from booking – the mmb receipt for this booking errors so I cannot access it. But with the new info in hand for my other bookings I will try again.
ben says:

31 Oct31 October 18:04

A quick reminder ( especially for those redeeming for Hotels.com ) that today is the last day Tesco clubcard vouchers can be redeemed for a 12 month validity. From Nov 1st it is back to the usual 6 months. So if you have some that expire end of November 2021 or February 2022 , it might be better redeeming now ( so that they expire 31.10.22) rather than at end of Nov ( exp 30.5.22 ) or end of Feb ( 28.8.22 ) to give an extra 2 or 5 months validity. Hope that makes sense!
Nathan says:

31 Oct31 October 18:17

Hi would anyone please know if it’s possible to do a back to back flight at Dubai airport,would land at 08.25 am and the return departs at 09.20 am hand luggage only?
All booked on one ticket with BA
- N says:
  
  31 Oct31 October 18:44
  
  check flyertalk’s b2b thread