The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 24th November

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• Anastasia Beaverhausen says:

  24 Nov24 November 15:39

  I see GHA Discovery are introducing a revenue based scheme.

  Earn 7% back in Discovery Dollars. One Discovery Dollar is worth $1 against your bill.

  Whether supermarkets, hotels or airlines, all these revenue based schemes do nothing to make me pick one over another. Go where you want to go, shop where you want to shop, there’s no incentive to be “loyal” to any one of them when there’s no opportunity to achieve “outsized” value.

  One handy detail is that if you have any GHA Local Experience awards they will be converted into Discovery Dollars. Each Platinum Local Experience will be converted to 100 Discovery Dollars which is worth $100 off your bill.

  https://visit.discoveryloyalty.com/discovery-dollars-rewards-you/

  • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:

    24 Nov24 November 15:51

    Do you get a local experience award if you get Platinum via Business Traveller?

    • Ryanfozzie says:

      24 Nov24 November 16:13

      No you do not.

      • @mkcol says:

        25 Nov25 November 22:29

        Yes you do – mine is waiting to be used.

    • Anastasia Beaverhausen says:

      24 Nov24 November 16:14

      I did years ago for the first year but never on renewal. The terms say

      “Members receive one Platinum Local Experience award upon reaching Platinum status, and another each year their status is renewed.”

      and also states the award is earned:

      “upon attaining Platinum Level membership (after staying 10 eligible nights in DISCOVERY hotels within a year) ”

      That line could imply that only acquiring status through stays will count.

  • Anna says:

    24 Nov24 November 16:10

    Great name – is this the start of another theme?!

    • Anastasia Beaverhausen says:

      24 Nov24 November 16:16

      What do you mean? It’s my real name. You have to use your real name on the internet, don’t you?

      • Anna says:

        24 Nov24 November 16:49

        Apologies, Anastasia. I assume you sued the scriptwriters on Will and Grace then? 🤣

        • ChrisC says:

          24 Nov24 November 19:41

          My name is Anastasia Beaverhausen.

          Anastasia like russian royalty and Beaverhausen like…where the beaver live.

• George K says:

  24 Nov24 November 15:44

  Bit of a funny (but possibly not ha-ha funny) show on an evening flight back to LHR… after five consecutive announcements that there was a passenger with a severe nut allergy aboard and subsequent pleas to everyone not to consume any nut-based food, the crew proceeded to start service in the CE cabin, with the dessert being a mousse coated with whole almonds.

  ….

  • AJA says:

    24 Nov24 November 15:59

    That is probably because although people call almonds a nut, they are actually seeds, rather than a true nut. 

    • Anna says:

      24 Nov24 November 16:12

      I don’t think peanuts are actually nuts either but they seem to have the worst reactions. That said, apparently it’s very, very unlikely that an allergy would be triggered by particles circulating in a plane cabin.

      • Char Char says:

        24 Nov24 November 16:16

        Yes I have heard this before, I think the person should wear appropriate masks if they are in places where it might happen rather than request everyone stops eating nuts.

      • ChrisC says:

        24 Nov24 November 16:50

        Indeed peanuts are legumes and not part of the nut family.

      • Craig says:

        24 Nov24 November 17:04

        Cashew aren’t nuts either.

      • Pablo says:

        24 Nov24 November 17:30

        We are told the plane filtration systems are so efficient that the air is virtually free from Covid virions yet much bigger particles of nut dust are a threat.

      • Gavin says:

        24 Nov24 November 17:38

        My girlfriend is severely allergic, and while particles circulating wouldn’t cause anaphylaxis it definitely makes her feel physically uncomfortable, itchy and nauseous and sometimes swollen/tingly in the face/lips if someone is eating nuts near her. She’s more worried that someone could accidentally drop nuts on her if they’re being eating/handled nearby, which could definitely cause a serious reaction. Always carries a couple of epi-pens of course!

  • Yorkie Aid says:

    24 Nov24 November 16:29

    As someone who suffers from a severe nut allergy (Brazil nuts rather than Peanuts) I always carry an Epipen just in case. It’s totally unreasonable to expect everyone else not to eat nuts IMHO and I agree with Anna that any particles would most likely fall to the ground or be filtered out from the circulating air anyway.

    • Anna says:

      24 Nov24 November 16:53

      I hope you don’t have to use it much, @Yorkie. I would always refrain from eating an item if asked, even if only to help reduce the sufferer’s anxiety levels. No-one needs any more stress on a flight!

      • Yorkie Aid says:

        24 Nov24 November 17:31

        Thankfully not @Anna 🙂 That’s very thoughtful of you too. I suppose having suffered with allergies for as long as I can remember I’m just used to “living with it” as the current phrasing goes. I guess if someone has developed allergies in later life or has children with allergies then they might find it more stressful.

  • bsuije says:

    24 Nov24 November 18:09

    Had something similar on a BA flight, too. Pointed it out to crew who said that the couple of rows around the person with the allergy will get crisps whilst everyone else can have nuts…

  • BP says:

    24 Nov24 November 21:29

    Was on easyJet when this was announced. I was eating a Snickers bar and it was the passenger in front of me who was allergic. I’d already started so I finished and nobody died.

• Paul says:

  24 Nov24 November 15:50

  does anyone know if you can refer a friend for the virgin credit card?

  • Rob says:

    24 Nov24 November 16:06

    No

• Mark says:

  24 Nov24 November 16:01

  Woohoo scored SQ J from SIN-IST for 49k miles! Quite a good deal me thinks…

  • meta says:

    24 Nov24 November 16:04

    Don’t they have old planes on that route?

    • Rob says:

      24 Nov24 November 16:06

      They do (or used to) but for 49k ….?

    • Sam G says:

      24 Nov24 November 16:31

      Nope, A350s now – taken that flight many times, bargain!

  • TGLoyalty says:

    24 Nov24 November 17:52

    Bargain. What are the taxes like?

    • Mark says:

      24 Nov24 November 18:26

      50 Singapore Dollars. What a joke when I have to pay £300 just for taxes for redemption from Heathrow!

• Grant says:

  24 Nov24 November 16:04

  GLA hotels – looks to be between the HI or the Courtyard. Any opinions on which is best (or others I should look at) for a late Sunday evening arrival before an early Monday morning flight?

  • FFoxSake says:

    24 Nov24 November 16:10

    The right answer is probably HIX if you just need it for a bed.

    • Grant says:

      24 Nov24 November 16:17

      I do, and ease of walk to terminal in the morning is key. Courtyard probably not so good in that respect. HI is £108 / 21k points versus HIX £81 / 17k points for my date.

      • David D says:

        24 Nov24 November 18:52

        Do the HIX or the HI. Avoid the Courtyard like the plague. Levels have dropped significantly since Covid. Dirty sheets on the beds, awful service and incorrect invoices which have been refused to be amended. Other than that the Courtyard is average.

  • Tariq says:

    24 Nov24 November 17:04

    I like the Courtyard personally, but it has been a good 18 months since I last stayed there.

• chris jones says:

  24 Nov24 November 16:18

  any update on Combine my Avios working? or will I just see my iberia points in BA?

• Alan says:

  24 Nov24 November 16:24

  Can anyone answer a quick OT question.
  I am about to put this years ISA allowance into a US firm.
  What’s the best low cost provider to use for this taking into account FX fees.

  Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

• N says:

  24 Nov24 November 16:28

  Might be of interest to others…

  I booked an “Economy Flexi” ticket with Kuwaiti Airways a while back. Flew the outbound, and cancelled the return. The return was about £300. I requested a refund from KU and they refunded £65, and stopped replying to any emails requesting a breakdown of where they got this figure from. Threatened to take it to Amex. Still no response.

  Took it up with Amex over the chat, and they agreed to raise a dispute over the £300. They saw I had already had £65 refunded, so took that off the £300 (fair enough) and so amount is dispute was now £235. They sent me a link to upload docs/receipts, and by the time I got round to it the next day, the case had already been marked as closed by Amex, and the “Credit for Disputed Charge” was showing on my account.

  Result!

  • John says:

    24 Nov24 November 16:40

    Well, you now owe Kuwait Airways the price of your outbound ticket, but they may not bother to chase you for it. Based on my similar experience Amex just took the money back without investigating.

    If it was a UK departure £65 may be about right. £120 or so on APD and Heathrow fees, half of the remainder is £90, possibly £25 refund fee, or not unreasonable for an outbound and return fare to be slightly different.

  • BuildBackBetter says:

    24 Nov24 November 20:51

    It’s still a disputed charge. Amex is crediting you out of goodwill. If the issue is decided in favour of the airline, Amex will charge you again.

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