The HfP chat thread – Monday 1st November

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• ChrisC says:

  1 Nov1 November 08:04

  Some clarity on US policy for under 18s.

  No requirement for them to be vaccinated or to quarantine.

  https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/10/30/cdc-quarantine-unvaccinated-children-travelers/

  • Andrew says:

    1 Nov1 November 09:03

    Just remember to check the Canadian rules for under 18s carefully if you are planning on routing that way or crossing the border.

• Dev says:

  1 Nov1 November 08:06

  My wife has an 18k referral offer on her amex. Is there any reason why she couldn’t refer me to several cards (eg Gold, BA, Nectar, Marriot) and get 4x the bonus? Is this against any T&c’s? Many thanks.

  • James says:

    1 Nov1 November 08:09

    Nope no reason

  • Mattb says:

    1 Nov1 November 08:10

    In theory it’s fine, but not sure Amex would accept all your applications if all done closely together.

  • Lee says:

    1 Nov1 November 08:43

    That will end tomorrow, not sure if it’s a good idea you apply 4 cards same day

    • TGLoyalty says:

      1 Nov1 November 09:44

      ends 9 Nov on Gold. tomorrow for Plat

• Ian M says:

  1 Nov1 November 08:09

  Question for all the EU Covid vaccine passport lovers out there.

  Can a fully vaxxed Australian who was vaccinated in Australia use their Australian certificate (no QR code) to get into restaurants etc? Or can they get access to the EU Covid pass somehow?

  • QFFlyer says:

    1 Nov1 November 08:14

    We can (and I have) use it to get the certificates in the Swiss and French COVID apps.

  • Louie says:

    1 Nov1 November 09:10

    Can’t answer the question as I’ve not tried, but in case you didn’t know, Australia do now have “proper” certificates with QR codes. Which would have saved the 40 mins spent at the BA check in counter a few weeks ago whilst they decided whether on not to deny us boarding due to the absence of the QR code on the certificates available at the time.

• Justin says:

  1 Nov1 November 08:31

  Just a datapoint in case anyone else is ever trying to do the same thing as me… I had an ANA F booking with M&M, cancelled it and it immediately reappeared as available when checking with United’s reward search. I was then able to rebook with Virgin. Was a bit worrying that it wouldn’t reappear, or someone would grab it while I was on hold!

  • meta says:

    1 Nov1 November 09:55

    There’s still no guarantee. I did the same with Krisflyer.

• MP says:

  1 Nov1 November 08:32

  FYI be aware that the £5 drop-off charge at Heathrow starts today!

  • Andrew says:

    1 Nov1 November 09:07

    Can still park for 29 minutes for free at the Long Stay.

    (Although it used to be two hours which gave enough time to see a relative as far security or to stand at arrivals.)

    • Katie says:

      1 Nov1 November 09:34

      There is no longer a reason to wait outside

• Simon says:

  1 Nov1 November 08:40

  Vienna | Austria 🇦🇹 entry datapoints for any about to travel there:

  • Both myself and my mother are double–vaxed with accompanying Covid pass letters

  • Flew Austrian from LHR — was required to fill in the airline’s PLF in advance. Having done so, received an email from Austrian Health Ministry saying we’d failed to meet entry requirements on the basis of not providing a pre-clearance form (which is unnecessary for double-vaxed Brits entering Austria, as you no doubt know). Unhelpful, but a couple of fellow HFPer had kindly reassured me that this email was, to all intents and purposes, likely to be complete bollocks.

  • Check-in at LHR: very straightforward — Covid pass letters minimally scrutinised.

  • At the gate, however, there were several announcements that passengers must be wearing FFP2–type face masks. This was rigorously enforced at boarding and again reiterated by cabin crew prior to take-off, and, indeed, that masks are to be worn during the entire flight. (Of course, BA may operate a different policy on the VIE or other Austrian routes.)

  • Arrival at VIE: all very streamlined. No excessive queues at All Passports passport control and was simply asked for proof of COVID negative status — again, COVID pass letters sufficed. You are then given a blue ticket stating “Already Checked” which you then brandish just before baggage reclaim otherwise you’ll be mired in a long queue of people arriving from another part of the airport who have yet to be checked for their COVID status: don’t lose that blue ticket!

  All in all, very seamless at both ends really, except, with Austrian Airlines, the assiduousness with which staff were inspecting face mask types. It didn’t bother me especially, to be honest, as, to be fair, this requirement is stated on the Austrian embassy website, but it caught many people out and a few choice comments did the rounds when these tannoy announcements about masks repeatedly went out.

  • Andrew H says:

    1 Nov1 November 08:46

    The FFP2 rules are Austrian transportation rules – same applies to ski lifts including, I am told, chair lifts that have closing bubbles – so that’s every lift bar one when I go to Obergurgl next month. They really aren’t that enclosed…

    Am flying BA so only any-old-mask-will-do rules I think (?!). Have a box of FFP2 masks from Amazon but apparently they are widely available for 59 eurocents each in Austria.

    • Duncan says:

      1 Nov1 November 09:43

      I’m flying in two weeks to Vienna with BA and received this text message last week:

      Please be aware that when travelling to Austria you must wear a FFP2 mask without an exhalation valve while on board, unless you are exempt for medical reasons. Children up to 6 years old are exempt from wearing a mask.

      As such, it sounds like BA will also be enforcing this rule. I’m curious to know what happens to folks who arrive without the correct mask. Are they simply denied boarding, or do the crew have a supply of the FFP2 masks to hand out?

  • Andrew H says:

    1 Nov1 November 08:47

    Thanks for the info!

    • Simon says:

      1 Nov1 November 09:43

      You’re more than welcome, Andrew. And again thank you for your advice a few days ago — it was much appreciated.

      It seems a tad excessive this FFP2 requirement on the chairlifts, but I’m sure the very thought of heading onto the slopes will have many of us jumping through these hoops, even if begrudgingly — I would. 🙂 I’m off to the Jungfrau in 🇨🇭 in early January for some tobogganing (yeah, not quite the hairem scarem stuff of skiing, I know, but the runs there are nuts (6km) and more than ample for someone as malcoordinated as me; I would have been sh1t on that Davina McCall programme The Jump, let’s just say), so I fully expect to have to jump through several Covid hoops for that, should that trip happen, and I’ll be happy enough to do so just to be in the mountains again (though, of course, I’ll doubtless moan to myself about having to do so at the time! 😡🤬🙂)

      OT — I’d never been to Vienna before this week (although many times previously to Salzburg, Innsbrueck and Graz), and it’s wonderful. (I did study German at university in the very early’90s, so I knew enough about the city’s history to expect it to be lovely, but it has really surpassed expectations already.) It does help to be staying at the PH Vienna, I’ll admit — I went for Globalist in early January when Hyatt were doing their generous promotion and when I had multiple Hyatt Amex spend offers running simultaneously (hat tip: a month of Hyatt Place Hayes stays in Jan ‘21, albeit I was physically there for all of 20 minutes on two days out of 31 😁) — and I can’t rate this hotel highly enough. Beautiful hotel, superb staff, wonderful amenities and fabulous location. I’ve stayed at the PHs Tokyo and Zuerich before, but Vienna’s one tops even those for me.

      All in all, what a wonderful place Vienna is.

  • Gustavo says:

    1 Nov1 November 13:26

    Hi, thanks for sharing.

    I am flying there beginning of Dec (fingers crossed!). It still says on the London Embassy website and the Foreign Travel Advice website NHS covid pass is most likely to be accepted (but not guaranteed) even after the UK joining the EU pass. Not sure if it’s the website out of date or in case they don’t accept it then you need to take a test?

    • Simon says:

      1 Nov1 November 14:05

      Certainly in Vienna no Covid pass requirement in cafes so far (as in, legally probably required, just not being consistently enforced). FFP2 masks, yes, though not in hotels. In posher restaurants, maybe both masks and passes. In the main, though, it’s been very relaxed, though in supermarkets and other places with higher footfall, masks need to be worn. Out and about,, very few people are wearing masks of any variety.

• Mr(s) Entitled says:

  1 Nov1 November 08:52

  Data Point: Avois -> Nectar

  I can now answer my own question from 12 days ago and confirm that my recent Avios to Nectar took 12 days (20/10 – 1/11 inclusive).

• Gtellez says:

  1 Nov1 November 08:53

  Good morning!
  I recently applied for the Virgin Premium card but it seems that for some reason I can’t link my Virgin Atlantic account. Each time that I enter my number I receive an email saying that there is an issue and I have to check the name and date of birth on my Flying Club account. However I can’t find my date of birth on my virgin account, do any of you know how to update it? Or has anyone gone through the same and how was it solved? Thanks!

  • Jonathan says:

    1 Nov1 November 09:19

    You could ring up VS customer services, but you’ll be waiting a while to get through

  • Degsy says:

    1 Nov1 November 11:39

    My wife had something similar on hers – it was because the details didn’t exactly match (think the middle name was mis-spelt).
    We ended up having to go into a Virgin branch with ID, proof of address etc to get it corrected.
    Got there in the end but a bit of a faff (or phaff?)

    • Gtellez says:

      1 Nov1 November 12:37

      Oh both options sound terrible… I’ll try to contact them by phone before going to a branch…

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