Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

The HfP chat thread – Saturday 13th November

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

We are running this daily chat thread on Head for Points during the coronavirus outbreak.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the de facto repository for random comments and questions.  With the news flow being lighter, we are running fewer ‘Bits’ articles.

The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind.

Please only comment under the main articles on the site if your comment is directly related to the topic of the article.  This has long-term benefits as it keeps the commentary relevant for people who read those articles in the future.

Old chat threads are hidden from the HfP home page.  If you want to look for something in an old thread, click here.  This brings up all the articles in our ‘General’ category which includes the chat threads.

Category

General

Comments (318)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • aviosnewbie says:
    13 Nov13 November 14:25

    How do I add a supplementary cardholder to Virgin? Can’t find anything on their app, or am I missing something obvious? Or actually, which cards ship out a supplementary card the fastest? I need to give a supplementary card to my sister, who is traveling on Wednesday – so need it to arrive before that. I have Amex Plat, BAPP, Virgin, HH, Curve, MBNA, HSBC Premier – which of these will definitely deliver a supplementary credit card in 2 biz days? thanks so much!

  • Mco says:
    13 Nov13 November 15:31

    Does the Amex Platinum car insurance excess cover you for USA travel? Should one still take any cover out?

    • Youllnever says:
      13 Nov13 November 15:33

      Have you checked the insurance doc?

      • Mco says:
        13 Nov13 November 15:56

        Don’t have the card. Contemplating it.

        • Youllnever says:
          13 Nov13 November 16:00

          Check the Plat card webpage – the insurance doc should be there.

          • Mco says:
            13 Nov13 November 16:42

            Seen it but it’s not very clear. What part of their insurance should I refuse. All of it or the extras that cover excess?

          • Blenz101 says:
            13 Nov13 November 17:15

            What isn’t clear about you declining option coverage offered by the car rental company?

            I don’t think you should be taking out insurance or a car rental agreement if you can’t understand clear contract terms written in plain English. You are likely to fair in any claim and risk getting ripped off by the rental company.

            Crowd sourcing an interpretation of your insurance coverage is going to end in tears.

          • Mikeact says:
            13 Nov13 November 17:45

            @Blenz….forget it !

          • Blenz101 says:
            13 Nov13 November 18:39

            Already have! I just wouldn’t want someone to drop £575 on the basis of the insurance coverage but not understanding what they are buying.

            If the terms can’t be easily comprehended when they are in plain English a fast talking sales agent at the rental pick-up is going to cause serious problems.

            In short, the answer to anything insurance related should be “read the policy”.

          • Blenz101 says:
            13 Nov13 November 20:17

            I’m honestly not snapping. I just didn’t understand what could be considered unclear in that part of the policy.

            As I said, it’s dangerous to ask strangers on the internet about your insurance coverage as it could cost you £1000s when a claim fails that you think you are covered because those giving you the advice didn’t know all the details surrounding your circumstances. Ages, who’s going to be driving, length of trip, licence held etc etc.

            Just saying it’s far better to read the policy yourself and speak with the provider if unclear. Car hire sales agents as you know very often commission based and may well catch the OP out if he/she isn’t clear on what coverage he/she has and in what circumstances they are covered.

    • Js says:
      14 Nov14 November 01:18

      Dicline everything!
      as long as its not a super expensive car

  • s879 says:
    13 Nov13 November 15:32

    I know the comment above says bookings to USA are only up 20% but I can’t seem to find reward availability in Christmas holidays thanks to not being able to travel out of term time on BA or Virgin! Availability is there but around Xmas time or later. Cash prices are very high for direct flights. Is there a difference if I pay via Amex Travel or book the same flight via BA’s website? I know it’s a small amount back but not liking paying well over 1k for an economy direct flight to Atlanta. Crazy prices! I can find reward availability on return but then booking one way from UK to USA is a silly amount.

    • Anna says:
      13 Nov13 November 15:47

      I imagine large numbers of people are going to be travelling to and from the USA at Christmas this year as there are families who won’t have seen each other for 18+ months. This is putting extra pressure on availability and prices.
      Have you checked award seat availability to NYC then looked at connecting flights?

    • ianM says:
      13 Nov13 November 16:04

      Atlanta is normally an expensive route, but for December it is chokka. I would check that Amex Travel prices are the same becuase I’ve had examples where they are more expensive than going direct.

      • s879 says:
        13 Nov13 November 16:10

        Thank you. Do you still earn same miles if booking flights via Amex Travel? Yes, Atlanta is always very highly priced but that’s where my family lives. I have looked at other cities like NYC, DC etc. but reward availability for outbound 18-22nd December is not there. I’m a teacher so going past 23rd wouldn’t give me enough time. Anyway, I should have booked earlier. If anyone does find availability please do share.

        • Lady London says:
          13 Nov13 November 17:01

          Yes as Rob said yesterday for airlines to earn miles you still earn booking via OTA’s. Different from hotels where almost always you will only earn booking direct, via corporate travel agent or via some non-OTA agents such as Emyr. Never, with hotels, if you book via OTA’s.

          However lots of reasons especially currently, why a lot of experienced travellers here would say try to book direct with an airline whenever you can. If you must book air via an agent, of any type, it will behoove you to check the exact booking class within your chosen cabin each leg of your trip is booked into, for earnings levels (see wheretocredit dot com) and alsovto check very, very carefully any restrictions such as on upgradeability, fees for changes (if allowed), refundability, etc.

        • John says:
          13 Nov13 November 17:06

          You’ll earn the appropriate miles for the booking class. Amex travel shows you the booking class. It might not be the same price as going direct for the same booking class

        • Mirp says:
          13 Nov13 November 18:50

          I know Black Friday may not be a “thing” this year. But I would look at Jetblue’s routes from London to NYC in your circumstances. Especially LGW to JFK and then buy flight to Atlanta. Business Class on JetBlue was very nice. But economy sounds nicer than legacy airlines like BA; AA & Delta.

  • Den says:
    13 Nov13 November 15:46

    A while back Rob wrote of a great Hilton in London that felt like staying in a resort. Can anyone remember which one it was? Thanks

  • Clive says:
    13 Nov13 November 16:04

    Can someone point me to where I can see my status and card for Volare following the status match at ITA. Been hunting around the website but cannot see a dickie bird

    • WearyTraveller says:
      13 Nov13 November 16:45

      You won’t see or be able to access anything of value until it’s actually live on 1 January.

    • KP says:
      13 Nov13 November 16:47

      Read Robs article again. The program comes live in Jan so till then you won’t know your membership ID and other details. It’s a waiting game

  • MJS says:
    13 Nov13 November 17:25

    Hoping someone here might have experience/knowledge. Booked a 7 night stay through a UK Travel Agent for a hotel in Seychelles. However when checking some prices with hotel directly, hotel says no booking made in my name for booked dates! Agent says that bookings through 3rd party are made in the 3rd party name but won’t tell me the booking details through/of the 3rd party when I called them! Is this normal for such circumstances?

  • Lady London says:
    13 Nov13 November 17:26

    *ignore above Wordpress duped it from page 3

  • Saiz says:
    13 Nov13 November 18:04

    Need 20,000 Virgin Flying Club miles urgently to make a redemption. Is buying directly or transfer from Amex the only quick options? No bonus at the moment on either so trying to see if I could get them some other way. I don’t have enough Amex points but OH does. However, we have different surnames. Same address though. Transferring from his to my FC account will be an issue, won’t it?

    • Saiz says:
      13 Nov13 November 18:31

      Found a way – Miles Booster. I flew with Virgin in June but can’t see my flight on my account. Seems I will need to call them or is it possible to do it via the Whatsapp people use for transfer from Virgin to Hilton. If there’s some other Whatsapp option, please share as Virgin’s website says call centre waiting time is 1 hour!

      • ChrisC says:
        13 Nov13 November 18:43

        check the cost of doing the miles booster v buying the same number of points.

        If you need the points that soon (presumably there is availability for a flight you want) then calling will be the quickest option. Whatsapp isn;t as instant service and can take some time for them to respond.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      13 Nov13 November 18:49

      I thought the call centre would be able to take the points from your OH for a leg of the journey as long as you’re both travelling?

      • ChrisC says:
        13 Nov13 November 19:42

        The OHs points are with Amex not Virgin so not something VS can touch.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          13 Nov13 November 20:38

          Right but if they were transferred from Amex to their virgin account a call would allow them to be used

          Not a quick solution but better than spending £100’s you don’t necessarily need to.

    • Yorkie Aid says:
      13 Nov13 November 19:37

      I followed the advice of davef on here yesterday and called Virgin at 7am on the dot this morning. Got through to a great rep after only about 15 minutes on hold. Total time of call including transferring points from OH’s account, applying 241 voucher, making payments and confirming the booking was 56 minutes including the initial wait time. Thanks davef for the top tip!

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Learn more on our About page.

VAA

Latest comments

Latest Forum Posts

Get 30,000 points bonus with American Express Platinum

Amex Gold

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.3 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

Get 20,000 bonus points and your first year free with American Express Gold

Amex Gold