The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 10th November

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• PerkyPat says:

  10 Nov10 November 10:52

  Hi all. Going to Gran Canaria last week in Jan. What is the best area to stay in for weather at that time? We are older couple so dont need nightclubs etc. Would be nice if we felt we were somewhere a little bit Spanish. Will be staying in an apartment, so dont need hotel recommendations. Cheers.

  • Anna says:

    10 Nov10 November 11:04

    Puerto Rico area is supposed to have the best weather but may not be very Spanish! But there have been a lot of Spanish families in the Canaries this year and if you pick a more residential area of the resort there is more likelihood of meeting locals.
    You should have some amazing views of Tenerife as well, especially if there is snow on Mt Teide – the reduction in pollution has made the air very clear – we could see Gran Canaria every day from south west Tenerife in the summer and I was dying to know what the view would be like the other way!

  • pauldb says:

    10 Nov10 November 11:34

    The Puerto de Mogan development seemed to have made the most authentic effort though it’s still a bit false, but pleasant. I though Meloneras was most upmarket, not Spanish, with a nice walk along the front if you can find an apartment near the H10. Las Palmas is a pleasant small city, but probably cooler and probably not for a full week.

  • Sandgrounder says:

    10 Nov10 November 12:22

    Arguineguín is more of a ‘real’ town, but you don’t feel out of place as a tourist, still has some hotels etc. I think it’s a nice balance.

    • PerkyPat says:

      10 Nov10 November 12:28

      Thanks all, useful as ever. I think sunshine is our biggest priority coming from a North Eastern winter.

• John T says:

  10 Nov10 November 10:56

  Where is Rhys’s report on the first Virgin flight to the US?

  • Rob says:

    10 Nov10 November 13:06

    Not sure there will be one. Unlike BA, there no Virgin management on the plane. He seems to have spent the trip getting drunk with the PR team and other media people ….

    • John T says:

      10 Nov10 November 13:28

      What was the point of him going? Don’t Virgin expect publicity in exchange for a free trip??

    • Hulk says:

      10 Nov10 November 17:23

      I’m genuinely interested; I presume HfP were invited by both BA & Virgin. If so, what swayed the decision?

      • Rob says:

        10 Nov10 November 17:26

        The original plan was one way Virgin, one way BA, so everyone flew both.

        However, there was a lot of push-back from people who didn’t want to fly back immediately. It was therefore changed so that 2-nighters went on BA and 1-nighters went on Virgin. Rhys was only doing 1-night as he had other commitments next week and didn’t want to be out of London for too long so stuck with Virgin.

        As it happened, his commitment for next week got moved so he has actually stayed out there longer.

    • Magic Mike says:

      10 Nov10 November 18:56

      We still need a report on that!

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      10 Nov10 November 21:56

      You’ve taught him well…

• Dominic says:

  10 Nov10 November 11:05

  Just had the email about BA EC downtime – you’d have thought they’d have created a less concerning subject than “Temporary restrictions on your Executive Club account”

  Thought I’d done something wrong!

• Jody says:

  10 Nov10 November 11:05

  Would someone be kind enough to remind me of the distance rules when booking an open jaw (think that’s the right term?) ticket using avios and 2 for 1 companion voucher please?

  Probably won’t ever come off, but thinking as an example, of flying to Singapore to pick up a cruise which goes to Australia, so flying home from there. Is this allowed?

  • Genghis says:

    10 Nov10 November 11:21

    In this case, the distance between Singapore and your city in Australia cannot be longer than both LHR-SIN and LHR to your city in Australia. Likely permitted.

    • ChrisC, says:

      10 Nov10 November 12:22

      It’s the distance the shortest leg not both added together.

      • Genghis says:

        10 Nov10 November 15:27

        Didn’t say that, did I?

  • RobL says:

    10 Nov10 November 11:28

    I have flown LHR-HKG and SYD-LHR on a BA companion voucher (2-4-1). So you should be fine.

• His Holyness says:

  10 Nov10 November 11:06

  What’s the absolute cheapest LFT/Day2? Friend is travelling for 1 night so will only pay, not take, and doesn’t care about getting to a centre in Bradford city centre.

  • Shaw West says:

    10 Nov10 November 11:11

    Should be 99p. Last time when I did it I had ordered day2 and day8 for 99p. This was when only RT-PCR was accepted. You could check at https://www.find-travel-test-provider.service.gov.uk/providers#list-of-test-providers

    • His Holyness says:

      10 Nov10 November 11:13

      99p LOL, what provider is that? The cheapest on the Gov directory is that £4.99

      • Ryan says:

        10 Nov10 November 11:42

        95p for day 2 and 8 PCR tests

        “Click and collect” I wonder how many are actually collected

        Definitely going here next time I travel

        • Tracey says:

          10 Nov10 November 12:20

          Do you need to collect to get the code?

        • His Holyness says:

          10 Nov10 November 12:32

          You don’t get the code until you collect, so that’s no good, he needs one where you get the code as usual.

        • Rob says:

          10 Nov10 November 13:03

          You’ll find it’s click and collect from a room above a newsagent in forgotten corner of Burnley, valid only on the first Wednesday of the month. It’s just a con to get top of the Government list.

        • Ryan says:

          10 Nov10 November 14:03

          Is actually from IBIS in Heathrow, which could be fairly convenient for heathrow departures

• HBommie says:

  10 Nov10 November 11:13

  How long are the wait times for BA calls this morning? Just wondering if I should wash the car while I’m waiting or maybe run a 10k?

  • Spurs drive me mad says:

    10 Nov10 November 11:19

    You could probably do both and have lunch as well.

    • HBommie says:

      10 Nov10 November 11:23

      Connected after 9 minutes! Now transferred to another dept, I do love the flower duet instrumental, very soothing to calm the nerves.

      • John T says:

        10 Nov10 November 11:37

        After 45 minutes it becomes a bit grating

        • HBommie says:

          10 Nov10 November 11:56

          47 minutes in and it’s like being on a spa day, ‘visit BA.com check-in’ etc. Loving it.

      • Anna says:

        10 Nov10 November 12:29

        Delibes must be turning in his grave at the thought of the royalties he’s not getting for that tune.

  • Amo says:

    10 Nov10 November 13:17

    I got through after 30 mins this morning at around 9:10 on the silver line

  • John T says:

    10 Nov10 November 13:29

    I got through in 50 minutes today

  • Nadeshka says:

    10 Nov10 November 13:37

    I got through in under 10mins on the normal line to amend tickets at 9am yesterday though they had to transfer me to avios team and that rang out after an hour.

    However I called the avios team directly at around 2/3pm twice yesterday and got through in around 10mins also. First call did get disconnected halfway through, and they mentioned that some systems (for calculating tax on tickets) had been playing up.

    Much better than I was expecting from comments here! Bog standard blue line too.

    • HBommie says:

      10 Nov10 November 14:15

      Same experience at first, 9 mins then transferred for an hour, cut off.

      Rang back at 1pm and connected after 30 mins.

      I thought I had a simple IT glitch, return flight not showing in MMB. In fact they had cancelled my return without telling me! No email or text (yes my contacts are up to date). The CS agent was great, new flight booked in revenue as Avios seats unavailable, and changed from ying yang to Club suite if the seat plan can be believed.

      • Lyn says:

        10 Nov10 November 20:44

        It sounds like a really good results, perhaps with some tier points and avios thrown in.

• G says:

  10 Nov10 November 11:22

  Hi,

  How long does it take roughly for IHG MasterCard (creation uk) to transfer points into my IHG Rewards account? Been over 4+ weeks since I’ve cleared my balance and I’m awaiting 13,000 points!

  • Reney says:

    10 Nov10 November 11:26

    did you get a letter saying they are closing your account?

    • Youllnever says:

      10 Nov10 November 11:29

      If so, it is expected that the points won’t be transferred according to Creation.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        10 Nov10 November 11:37

        It’s not “expected” since that wasn’t in the letter.

        They are currently withholding points from some customers that have had the letter though.

        • Youllnever says:

          10 Nov10 November 12:00

          I’m not arguing whether you should have received it or not, I’m simply stating Creation’s stance regarding this.

        • Lady London says:

          10 Nov10 November 20:05

          Let us know what happens G. At 13 000 points missing, would it be extreme to say you may be the innocent bystander walking into a murder?

    • G says:

      10 Nov10 November 11:34

      No. Account is still fine as of this morning!.

      • Reney says:

        10 Nov10 November 11:43

        Before the letter, I get the points the working day after the statement. Is your account new? Are you sure you have given them the right IHG number?

        • G says:

          10 Nov10 November 11:55

          Yes, 100% certain I have the correct IHG Number on my creation account. If this is a case of missing points; do i call IHG or creation?

        • Reney says:

          10 Nov10 November 12:10

          sounds like you have a new card account and have never received any points? Creation I think. Unless royal mail has lost your closure letter, your chances of having your account immediately closed by calling is probably low.

        • G says:

          10 Nov10 November 12:28

          Yep. Signed up in August. Bought £200 of IHG points during the promo to get initial spend. No points been deposited since opening.

      • John says:

        10 Nov10 November 12:15

        Have you done anything that might be considered dodgy? Could the letter have been lost in post?

        • G says:

          10 Nov10 November 12:27

          Not to my knowledge. I’ve received no communication from creation, besides my welcome letter including my card. Everything else is working as expected.

        • SteveJ says:

          10 Nov10 November 12:50

          Word of warning G. Creation are a shambles of a company. If it weren’t for the fact that they have been very generous in allowing certain spend that other cards have not, I wouldn’t touch them with yours, as it were.

          Given those avenues are now closed, I see no plausible reason why anyone would hold that card or deal with that institution. Try calling the number on the back of the card or sending them a message on their app and see the response time.

• bill says:

  10 Nov10 November 11:49

  Melia Rewrds question: The points claim form isn’t working on the website. Does anyone have an email address for them or do I need to make a phone call ?

  • Sean says:

    10 Nov10 November 12:15

    Unusually – you can’t use the missing points form (doesn’t work as you note) – i phoned and was told to use the form under “see all my operations” – this seemed to work as points then arrived.

  • Alex B says:

    10 Nov10 November 12:16

    On the same page go type it out in Other Requests and it will work.

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