The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 1st December

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

• N says:

  1 Dec1 December 05:49

  Any day 2 PCR test providers around the £30 mark by any chance? Don’t mind travelling or doing an at home test

  • Shaw West says:

    1 Dec1 December 06:04

    Try this link
    https://www.find-travel-test-provider.service.gov.uk/providers

  • Pablo says:

    1 Dec1 December 07:11

    Expert medicals are for £20 but you may be waiting a very long time for the result.

    • Eoc says:

      1 Dec1 December 12:45

      Used them 3 times, result in 48 hours from each

  • Sandgrounder says:

    1 Dec1 December 07:37

    In the north west, Biograd are 19.99 self swab in clinic.

• Jimbob says:

  1 Dec1 December 06:17

  BA appear to no longer allow online avios to nectar conversion.
  Anyone know the best number to ring, to do it over the phone?

  • Andrew says:

    1 Dec1 December 06:20

    Temporarily following the “upgrade”. Hopefully will return soon. But seems not to advertise a number to call like before which went to a dedicated number – you certainly don’t want to join the queue of the wave of cancellation calls this week!

    • Craig Vassie says:

      1 Dec1 December 14:53

      I got it to work OK yesterday

• Kevin says:

  1 Dec1 December 06:25

  Thinking about to use the Shangri-La GC points for restaurants in KL/SG rather than at Shard. Wondering if you will get 1 point to 1.25 local currency only or 1.25 US dollar then convert it to local currency?

  • John says:

    1 Dec1 December 06:49

    Should be USD then local currency but at an unfavourable rate

    • Matt says:

      1 Dec1 December 06:53

      Why doesn’t the 1.25 Jade rate apply at London?

      • roberto says:

        1 Dec1 December 08:45

        It’s in Dollars. In KL you can use its at the pool, the whiskey bar and the shang resturant from memory. The rate was pretty good when I last did it , I remember looking.

        Love that hotel. The beef randang omelette for breakfast is off the hook good.

    • Sam G says:

      1 Dec1 December 08:57

      The rate is quite reasonable IIRC

  • Kevin says:

    1 Dec1 December 16:04

    Thanks for everyone reply i will find out in details the next 2 weeks

• Annie says:

  1 Dec1 December 06:32

  Morning. Is reward flight Finder or seatspy paid subrscription better please? Appreciate any feedback. Many thanks

  • John says:

    1 Dec1 December 06:50

    Rff uses seatspy

  • J says:

    1 Dec1 December 08:00

    Aside from whether or not the service is any good, RFF seems to ignore unsubscribe requests – just had a bunch of marketing emails from them despite unsubbing months ago. So that puts them in my bad books for starters 😉

    • Phil says:

      1 Dec1 December 10:45

      You’ll find emailing with the threat of an ICO complaint effective.

    • Greg says:

      1 Dec1 December 14:20

      Exactly

• Froggee says:

  1 Dec1 December 06:51

  Oh totally seatspy. It’s so good that apparently reward flight finder has a subscription too:

  https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2021/08/17/seatspy-avios-reward-flight-finder/

• Simon says:

  1 Dec1 December 06:56

  Booster jab and USA entry QQ, if I may?

  • I am due to have my booster jab this Saturday 4th December
  • I am due to fly to the USA on Friday 17th December
  • I am already double-vaxed

  Would my booster jab actually prevent me from being allowed to travel to the USA because only 13 days — and not 14 days — would have elapsed between my booster and my date of travel to the USA?

  It’s just that a comment by “David” about a week ago suggested that people would be considered unvaccinated if less than 14 days had elapsed between a booster job and one’s date of travel (even if you’re already double-vaxed).

  I just wondered what the HFP consensus would be on this? Should I put off my booster by a couple of weeks?

  Any input would be gratefully received.

  Many thanks.

  • Pablo says:

    1 Dec1 December 07:09

    Download your double vax certificates from NHS app before 4th Dec and use those for travel to the US.

    • Simon says:

      1 Dec1 December 15:19

      Many thanks, Pablo.

  • The Streets says:

    1 Dec1 December 08:28

    I’m in a similar position but waiting until we get back to do ours.. that is if we are allowed to fly to the USA

    • Simon says:

      1 Dec1 December 15:22

      Many thanks, TheStreets. Yes — somewhat hanging myself on this potential 🇺🇸 change in entry policy. I don’t think it’s looking great, sadly, but I hope, perhaps forlornly, to be proven wrong on this.

• Anna says:

  1 Dec1 December 06:58

  Well I had an email from IHG last night – urging me to re-join IC Ambassador to enhance my IC BOS stay in March. Don’t think I’ll be giving them another $200 just yet though!

  • John says:

    1 Dec1 December 06:59

    I had an email from curve reminding me that I can pay taxes with a credit card

    • Polly says:

      1 Dec1 December 07:24

      Even w metal they said to turn on fronted. I paid some a while back, and presumed metal was already fronted by the fact we pay a fee…

      • TGLoyalty says:

        1 Dec1 December 08:46

        It is but there’s a 10k cap from today. No idea what that actually means in practice.

        • Toddy says:

          1 Dec1 December 08:57

          I see that when you turn on Fronted, that NS&I is specially named/promoted!

          Given that NS&I believe that paying by card breaches their T&Cs (as per the recent emails), I find this intriguing…

        • Wollhouse says:

          1 Dec1 December 12:29

          Does anyone know how they determine the “month” for the £10k? Is it calendar or 30/31 days from your start date? I’ve been pushing hmrc payments through but having paid for metal when they were offering unlimited, I’m damned if I’m going to pay 1.5% on top. Metal just became less useful 🙁

        • Mr(s) Entitled says:

          1 Dec1 December 16:12

          Curve updated their T&Cs yesterday and they now read in relation to fronted transactions:

          Curve Metal customers aren’t charged a fee for the first £10,000.00 they spend via these types of transactions (but from 1 December 2021 we charge a 1.5% service fee on the total transaction value in excess of the limit).

          No mention of the £10,000 being a monthly limit anymore.

    • Crafty says:

      1 Dec1 December 15:55

      “HRMC” taxes, whatever they are.

• Mark says:

  1 Dec1 December 07:16

  Anyone flown Pegasus Air? Lira plunged and it is only less than 30GBP for 1-way.

  • Mark says:

    1 Dec1 December 07:21

    Also anyone knows if the terminals are connected in Istanbul or separate if I fly Pegasus vs BA? Was wondering if I can use LoungeKey to enter the lounge.

    • Anonymous says:

      1 Dec1 December 08:12

      Pegasus is a low-cost carrier, similar to Ryan Air or easyJet, perfectly adequate if you know what you’re getting, and as long as you keep in mind that you’ll be charged extra for cabin luggage, hold luggage, food, water, seat selection, etc.

      Pegasus and BA fly to different airports in Istanbul, on opposite outskirts of the city. Pegasus flies to/from Sabiha Gokcen (SAW) on the Asian side, and BA flies to/from the new Istanbul Airport (IST) on the European side (far north west of the city). So, their terminals are about 78 kilometers apart. 🙂

    • Shaw West says:

      1 Dec1 December 08:36

      When we last visit Istnabul in 2019, Pegasus was operating from Istanbul-S.Gokcen different from IST where all the legacy carriers operate from.

    • CH says:

      1 Dec1 December 08:53

      Pegasus fly to SAW, which is in the Asian side of Istanbul, whereas IST is north of the city on the European side. All else being equal, check where your final destination is and which is more convenient. Since the new airport opened there is less difference between the, however, as IST is also a but out of the city center the difference may not be so significant. PS are an LCC, but there’s not much in that these days other than flying from STN.

    • Greg says:

      1 Dec1 December 14:24

      Many Many times when living in Istanbul. They generally fly from SAW which is on the Asian side (close to where I lived – fortunately). I guess you know they fly from Stansted with good connections to the rest of Turkey. A good low cost airline. Also check AnadoluJet – subsidiary of THY.

  • apbj says:

    1 Dec1 December 09:45

    Pegasus are perfectly fine, equivalent to Wizzair and easyJet etc and they have a fairly attractive and simple cashback-type reward scheme. Seat pitch is tight like Wizzair … definitely pay for extra legroom or an upfront seat or whatever. SAW airport is not well served by public transport but with taxis being cheap at the moment it shouldn’t be an issue. Pegasus is useful for Izmir since easyJet is the only other decent carrier flying direct at the moment

  • Venturelog says:

    1 Dec1 December 14:44

    Flew Pegasus recently from Stansted to SAW airport which is on the Asian side. It’s a low cost airline, although you are allowed a cabin bag. However you can only have 1 bag to take on the plane (we put a backpack in the cabin bag). The seats are fine (although we on the 4th row). Long congested taxi drive to Istanbul old city or Taksim. From IST airport it’s less busy and quicker.

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