The HfP chat thread – Friday 26th November

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

• Max says:

  26 Nov26 November 18:31

  Hello HfP crowd,

  Just booked tickets to Hawaii over New Years. Avios availability from west coast on Alaska was surprisingly easy to find. Anyone got any recommendations for where to rent a cheap car and what to do/where to eat on Oahu please? (Car rental prices are thru the roof with the main agencies) TIA

  • ChrisC says:

    26 Nov26 November 19:05

    there are no cheap cars in the US at the moment

    Earlier this year there was such a shortage that people were renting U-Hauls just to have a vehicle!

    • mutley says:

      26 Nov26 November 22:03

      Wrong! I used my company corporate code at Detroit with National and got 5 days hire down from $550 to $186.

      • mutley says:

        26 Nov26 November 22:05

        There was loads of choice, and that was on November 9th

      • ChrisC says:

        26 Nov26 November 22:19

        Detroit isn’t Hawaii.

        False comparison.

        • K says:

          27 Nov27 November 00:17

          “there are no cheap cars in the US at the moment” 🙄

  • Louise K says:

    26 Nov26 November 19:34

    Try Budget renting from Intl Marketplace. I’ve booked for spring at half the cost than the airport.

  • Louise K says:

    26 Nov26 November 19:37

    And I recommend House Without a Key for dining.

  • Dilbert says:

    26 Nov26 November 19:41

    We were lucky enough to spend 6 weeks in Hawaii back in 2019. We stayed in Oahu (Waikiki) for about a week. We did all the usual things (Pearl harbour, diamond head etc) but I think my favourite day was when we took our hire car across to Lanikai beach.
    We Spent the morning there before taking a slow drive up the East coast, stopping as we went to take in the views. Having a bite to eat at Fukis shrimp shack, before finishing the day at Sunset beach in the North to watch the surfers tackle the big surf and watch the sun go down. Perfect.
    Our favourite island of the main 4 we visited was Big Island, but they are all nice to spend time. Hope you have a great time.

• Tok says:

  26 Nov26 November 18:41

  Can someone recommend a good vpn and password manager? Been with f secure but their password manager is a bit meh (especially their auto fill on android is a faff), and so am open to shopping around if good Black Friday offers come

  • Mick S says:

    26 Nov26 November 19:11

    performance – PureVPN with a dedicated IP address was great

  • AndyGWP says:

    26 Nov26 November 19:25

    Surfshark and 1Password for me 👍🏻

    • Mikeact says:

      26 Nov26 November 20:07

      Express VPN and 1Password for me..

  • Harry T says:

    26 Nov26 November 19:57

    I’ve used LastPass for a while and like it. Currently trying out NordVPN and it’s decent.

  • Graham Walsh says:

    26 Nov26 November 20:42

    I use Bitwarden for passwords

  • StevieKicks says:

    26 Nov26 November 21:01

    Bitwarden is great, perfect free solution and much easier to use than 1password

  • Duncan Stevenson-Price says:

    26 Nov26 November 22:13

    I’ve used 1Password for over 10 years, though for the last few years I can no longer claim to be unbiased.

  • Elguiri says:

    26 Nov26 November 22:25

    Another vote for Bitwarden, been using it for a while and does everything I need.

  • flyoff says:

    26 Nov26 November 22:59

    Lastpass is good but they have increased their fees in the last year where the free version isn’t much use

  • Mark says:

    26 Nov26 November 23:27

    Another vote for Bitwarden. The free service even allows you to share selected passwords with one other person which is great for us since it allows me to manage my wife’s frequent flyer accounts on her behalf securely.

    Used to use Lastpass until they removed the ability for free accounts to be used via both mobile and desktop devices.

• Dayle says:

  26 Nov26 November 19:03

  10% c/b with Lloyds current account at Mozzer’s, wonder if they still offer the ability to add cash to your chip /pin and if that comes through as one transaction

  • TGLoyalty says:

    26 Nov26 November 19:09

    10% back up to £10 On curve too

    • Harrier25 says:

      26 Nov26 November 19:56

      and on Virgin Atlantic.

      • Dayle says:

        27 Nov27 November 00:56

        How can you withdraw cash at a till with a credit card?!

  • Sandgrounder says:

    26 Nov26 November 20:58

    I’ve had a 10% show up an an amex that was not included in the last round, valid to 15 December.

    • Ryan says:

      27 Nov27 November 00:57

      Same here, 10% and 7% on another

• JanM says:

  26 Nov26 November 19:25

  Has anyone used the Europcar website recently to book one of their one-way rentals to the airport? There is availability for my route but whenever I try to book I get an error message telling me to try again or contact them, but they only list an e-mail address. I’ve tried different routes, browsers and computers.

  • Shaw west says:

    26 Nov26 November 19:39

    Unfortunately the one-way is suspended currently.

    • Jan M says:

      26 Nov26 November 21:07

      Well, there are 2,400 routes available on their website, so definitely not suspended. Just not working.

  • Aston100 says:

    26 Nov26 November 21:28

    Same here. If I can get it to work, it would solve my current problem of getting to/from Heathrow/Midlands.

• Save East Coast Rewards says:

  26 Nov26 November 19:49

  Does anyone know if the Hilton friends and family rates count as qualifying nights?

  • Kai says:

    27 Nov27 November 09:29

    Yes

• BJ says:

  26 Nov26 November 20:18

  For Bangkok visitors, Conrad reward nights have now been released into November. They’re continuing to start around 16,000/night although I opted for Terrace Suite at 45,000/night which I think leaves me 3 further categories for potential upgrades. Far from the best of Bangkok options but still a good deal

  • Vit says:

    26 Nov26 November 21:26

    Still waiting for my points transferred from VA. 🙁

    • BJ says:

      26 Nov26 November 21:49

      No idea how long they are taking at the moment, in the past when I did the transfers routinely a week to ten days was common but sometimes it took a month. I wouldn’t worry too much as Conrad has been consistently cheap for a while.

  • Aston100 says:

    26 Nov26 November 21:37

    BJ, what was the cash price for that suite?
    On my dates it is 50k HH or £191.

    I went with a grand premium room on the basis that everything above this is a suite. If I don’t get upgraded for some strange reason, I still get lounge access and this is a room type that has been recently refurbished.

    I note the Millennium Hilton prices have tumbled on dates I’m booked at the Conrad.
    Starting at £49 / 18k HH

    • BJ says:

      26 Nov26 November 22:01

      Good strategy and good luck. I just booked the cheap room for spring because I expect a decent upgrade. However, IIRC @meta went one below presidential in hope of getting it, so I decided to splash out out a little this time but not that much 🙂 The cash rates were a mere 5600THB up. Also some good deals to be had at IHG and Accor but Marriott are off their rocker for both cash and points.

    • The cyclist says:

      26 Nov26 November 22:07

      Youl may also get a personal Butler in some cases.

      • meta says:

        26 Nov26 November 22:14

        Yes, I paid £100 for Conrad Suite in January in hopes that I’ll get automatic upgrade to Presidential Suite. Although maybe that’s excluded, but I’ll nudge them before arrival. It’s also a b-day treat, but at the moment I think it’s still a no-go for Thailand even with antigen. Still need to see how things evolve with border closures in general…

• Kumar says:

  26 Nov26 November 20:41

  I am en route to Abu Dhabi from LHR and In plane wifi works free for economy passenger like me with VA+ wifi credentials.except news.sky.com everything works for me.at check in I did inform that I am not keen on taking the shuttle to XNB.

  • Tom says:

    26 Nov26 November 21:42

    Thanks, Kumar. What was the response at check-in when you told them you’re not taking the shuttle? Presumably not a problem?

    • Kumar says:

      26 Nov26 November 21:47

      It’s complimentary. It doesn’t affect my return leg.

  • FCP says:

    27 Nov27 November 05:44

    Thanks. Will try the Wi-Fi on Tuesday

• TJ says:

  26 Nov26 November 23:15

  Kimpton have announced their new social password – ‘Just Chilling’.

  • Craig says:

    26 Nov26 November 23:29

    Thanks TJ, checking into the Fitzroy tomorrow if the trains don’t get cancelled!

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