The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 30th November

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Oliver says:

30 Nov30 November 18:15

Spend £1250 or more, get £300 back with easyJet Holidays just appeared on my Platinum card.
- Tom says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 18:26
  
  It’s on my gold too. Has been for a few days. I assume it will stack until 23:59 today with their Black Friday £200 off when using their discount code offer.
  I considered an £800 discount by using that offer and splitting the balance payment between mine and my partners card for two £300 deductions, but I’ve just purchased one of the easyJet advent(ure) calendars and there is only so much orange I can take!
pavpav says:

30 Nov30 November 18:21

Does anyone know if it is possible to buy duty free items in the airport , do not take flight and get out of the airport with items? Are they checking each passenger? I know it sounds silly but there are some limited whisky editions in duty free shops and cannot fly due to work commitments. Thank you
- Tarmohamed says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 23:43
  
  Take the shortest flight on 2 separate itineraries? So you return on the same flight…
Alex says:

30 Nov30 November 18:28

After the whole Creation/IHG saga. Are we expecting any other providers to follow suit? Virgin, HSBC etc?
- Youllnever says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 19:04
  
  That’s a 🔮 question.
  - Alex says:
    
    30 Nov30 November 19:17
    
    i agree but @Rob and @Rhys often have very good instincts and sight into these things…
    - Harrier25 says:
      
      30 Nov30 November 19:33
      
      I think that any new cards you get, such as my recent acquired Virgin Atlantic card should NOT be introduced to Curve, especially even more so now after seeing the sucking up they’ve been doing with NS&I amd Creation.
      - Yorkieflyer says:
        
        30 Nov30 November 19:56
        
        A cheating girlfriend 😬
- Babyg says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 19:29
  
  just keep talking about it.. that’s the only way to guarantee it…
- High Grade says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 20:03
  
  According to Which?, HSBC are fine with customers using Curve. I suspect Virgin are reviewing accounts at the moment, trying to decide what action to take.
- JDB says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 21:15
  
  It would be quite extraordinary if some of those other providers – notably Virgin and Barclaycard Hilton Honours didn’t follow suit. Nobody really wants to be associated with MS now it is much more in the public domain. Ironically, the rather unthinking publication of the FOI docs yesterday is likely to accelerate matters c
  - Harrier25 says:
    
    30 Nov30 November 21:24
    
    Oh my God, it must be JDB drivel time again!
    - JDB says:
      
      30 Nov30 November 21:34
      
      Well perhaps @Harrier25 you either believe in coincidences, are a very wishful thinker or can’t see the bigger picture. Creation, Curve, NS&I action, LBG cards and Virgin cards changing their T&Cs (that takes a lot of time and money; it’s not for fun), the Chase exclusions. Seeing a pattern there? This is being addressed at board level in each of these organisations. You think MS/cash recycling is fine maybe, but it isn’t the sort of thing that most responsible/respectable firms want to be associated with. It also has an actual cash cost to the likes of Creation, Barclaycard as well as IHG and Hilton shareholders as they pay owners when hotels are full more than they get for selling points. They also don’t want to be associated with dodgy dealings. If you really think this isn’t high on the agenda at Virgin Money and Barclays (super compliance sensitive generally at present) you are living in lala land. I don’t know how exactly they will deal with it, but they will.
      - Paul Pogba says:
        
        30 Nov30 November 21:48
        
        I think Mr X has exposed himself 🙂
      - Now more informed says:
        
        30 Nov30 November 22:08
        
        To be honest, I think your are wrong and that IHG and Hilton are laughing all the way to the bank. They will be getting far more from selling points than the nominal fee that pay upon customers using them 99% of the time.
        
        Getting one of your guesses wrong puts doubt on the whole lot.
        
        I’m sure that MS is something these places are looking into, but I feel care is needed in extrapolation rather than exuberance.
      - Harrier25 says:
        
        30 Nov30 November 22:11
        
        @JDB, What right have you to tell me what I think is fine or not fine. I have absolutely no idea what is high on the agenda at Virgin Money and Barclays, and neither do you!
    - JDB says:
      
      30 Nov30 November 22:22
      
      @Harrier25 – a) I think you missed the word “maybe” in my post and b) I’m not guessing.
      - Harrier25 says:
        
        30 Nov30 November 23:04
        
        Okay, maybe you’re guessing or maybe you’re just hedging your bets. Take your pick.
  - stevenhp1987 says:
    
    1 Dec1 December 00:15
    
    They don’t want to be associated because MSers lose them cash. Same as card churners etc.
    
    As simple at that. Money talks. People who hold a balance are the most profitable. Those who repay in full can be barely profitable depending on the circumstances. Those who MS or taking advantage of offers are just losing them cash.
    
    No crime though. Not even a breach of card terms (Amex are the only ones I know with anti MS T&C – you’re playing with fire MSing there!).
Marie says:

30 Nov30 November 18:50

Does Verifly work ? Specifically does it work today , now ? Does it work for UAE? Frustrated doesn’t cut it!
- Babyg says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 19:29
  
  err just go to a check in desk worst case? No dramas?
  - Marie says:
    
    30 Nov30 November 20:07
    
    I was hoping to breeze through straight to waiting champagne ! You are correct of course, first world problems!
    - Andrew says:
      
      30 Nov30 November 21:50
      
      I always breeze through the First Wing without Verifly – I’ve got better things to do than faff about with yet another app when it’s someone’s job to check all this stuff for me at the desk.
- Ali M says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 21:24
  
  deffo works x
- JDB says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 21:37
  
  It works for departure from Mexico without difficulty.
John says:

30 Nov30 November 18:56

Have people received their 50x nectar from ebay? I haven’t but the seller said he is in isolation and will only be able to post the item on Thursday
- Youllnever says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 19:05
  
  Not yet.
  - Olly says:
    
    30 Nov30 November 20:21
    
    Also yet to receive
    - meta says:
      
      30 Nov30 November 20:24
      
      50x points will be awarded 28 days from when base points post.
- Andrew says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 21:51
  
  Usually eBay points including the bonuses post a few days after – so I would expect any day now. Although with this super generous offer, maybe they are doing some manual audits before handing over thousands of points so perhaps a longer lag time.
- Gavin says:
  
  1 Dec1 December 00:46
  
  Not yet.
Jitesh says:

30 Nov30 November 19:09

Question for the HfP team. For those with loyalty status eg BA gold and lounge access, who also have AmEx platinum, is it better to use the priority pass to access outstation lounges who are on there, or access via BA? Does BA get charged per customer? Rather “save” airlines money where possible, right?!
- John says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 19:17
  
  You might not get in with PP
  
  If everyone switched to PP BA might think nobody was using the lounge and stop providing access
- Liam says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 21:42
  
  Why would saving an airline’s money come into your thinking (unless, perhaps, if you are a shareholder)?
  - Jitesh says:
    
    1 Dec1 December 00:37
    
    Not a shareholder.. just know airlines are going through a tough time!!
    
    I shall try with PP where appropriate and use my BAEC access if rejected at the outstations..for now
    
    Any idea how much BA/PP pay lounges?
- Rob says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 22:10
  
  BA gets charged, so you might as well let Priority Pass take the hit 🙂
NP says:

30 Nov30 November 19:31

Tested positive for Covid (am double jabbed) thought it was a cold but travelling next week so wanted to check with a PCR. Screws up my Abu Dhabi F1 plans. Time to start cancelling everything. Trying to gauge how long I’ll be without a holiday now, does anyone know how long it takes to test negative again on pcr after getting covid?
- meta says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 20:27
  
  Depends on your viral load. It can be anything from a week to 90 days. Also I wouldn’t be planning any trips with testing on arrival for at least six months as protocols differ from country to country as we found out recently.
  - Andy says:
    
    30 Nov30 November 21:41
    
    In what way Meta?
    - meta says:
      
      30 Nov30 November 23:36
      
      If you haven’t been around in the last week or so, check @Polly’s story on daily chats and her experience in Singapore. One country’s negative PCR is another country’s positive due to the thresholds of tolerance to viral shedding.
  - Phil says:
    
    30 Nov30 November 22:11
    
    Worth checking the rules as some countries exempt PCR testing if you can have proof of infection with 90 days.
Secret Squirrel says:

30 Nov30 November 20:04

The new BA Premium plus Amex card – what’s the experience of users on here with availability of redemptions using AVIOS – do you actually find better availability or not by having the card?
- Anna says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 20:20
  
  Do you mean the new 241s issued from September? Having the actual card doesn’t affect availability. I’ve done a few searches with the new voucher and found the only extra availability was to NYC (which always has plenty of avios seats anyway), but there was an article on here recently where Rob or Rhys had managed to find extra seats to LAX on certain days.
  - meta says:
    
    30 Nov30 November 20:30
    
    I found extra availability on every route I looked at. I didn’t look at North America apart from NY, but Asia, Caribbean, South America, Middle East had plenty seats available.
    - Anna says:
      
      30 Nov30 November 21:32
      
      It was quite early on (triggered the voucher at the start of September) so I should probably have another look!
  - Secret Squirrel says:
    
    30 Nov30 November 20:39
    
    Yes, the new vouchers issued after sept 21. Thanks both for your replies, most helpful. 👍
- High Grade says:
  
  30 Nov30 November 23:31
  
  I found a lot more availability using the new voucher. I booked LAX next august, which was sold old using old voucher but had loads of extra availability with new voucher.