The HfP chat thread – Thursday 9th December

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

• Zara says:

  9 Dec9 December 14:45

  Vivo clinic PCR. This doesn’t seem available in London until 29th December. Expert medical are OOS.
  Separately are there ppl on here with kids risking going on hols and not being able to return due to negative test result? We have a hol for the break but worried Incase any of us test positive and we have to stay back which will delay my daughters school (and need to check if nationwide flex plus covers it.

  • Zara says:

    9 Dec9 December 14:54

    *meant fear of positive test result

    • Pablo says:

      9 Dec9 December 14:55

      You can buy LFT in the UK and take them with you for pre departure testing. Then just use the buffer liquid on its own without swabbing yourself and you have a guaranteed negative result every time.

      • Nathan says:

        9 Dec9 December 15:00

        Wouldn’t the result come up as inconclusive rather than negative?

        • Pablo says:

          9 Dec9 December 15:05

          No. Neg every time

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          9 Dec9 December 15:37

          Nowhere near that sophisticated. The liquids react with dried liquid in the sheets and can only overcome each barrier if certain spikes and proteins are there. Once all of the barriers are overcome you get a positive result.

          Nothing on the swab = negative (although probably counts as fraud)

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          9 Dec9 December 15:39

          Oh and that is why Orange juice and certain fizzy drinks set off LTFs, because the acid just burns through the barriers and certain protiens presents etc.

      • Alex says:

        9 Dec9 December 15:31

        Pablo seems well raised by his parents. Where can we congratulate them?

      • Zara says:

        9 Dec9 December 15:37

        Has this been tried and tested? Do people do this??

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          9 Dec9 December 15:38

          As above, the way they work are very simple

        • Dayle says:

          9 Dec9 December 17:21

          Done every time, never taken a lat flow properly

      • Zara says:

        9 Dec9 December 15:39

        Are you saying you take some sample LFTs and then use the liquid from one of those for the “official” pre departure LFT?

        • Dayle says:

          10 Dec10 December 02:13

          Yeah it’s common, then reuse the PDF each time, edit in word and print to PDF 🙌🙌

      • Zara says:

        9 Dec9 December 16:02

        The gov website site says
        – Where to take your test
        You will need to find a private test provider to take a test.

        You can choose to take a test:

        in the place where you start your journey
        in another country on your way to England, if you are travelling through another country

        – so i assume it cannot be done unsupervised? How do people upload results etc?

  • Alex says:

    9 Dec9 December 15:49

    Zara. Either do the bloody tests or don’t go on holiday.

    • Zara says:

      9 Dec9 December 16:17

      I am just genuinely trying to understand. I didn’t mean to aggravate anyone.

      • Tariq says:

        9 Dec9 December 17:01

        The bedwetters will always get triggered!

        To properly answer your question, the pre-return test doesn’t have to be purchased abroad, you can buy takeaway tests in this country that you can do whilst you are away and you upload a photo of the test cartridge to the supplier’s website for a certificate to be issued by email.

    • Dayle says:

      9 Dec9 December 17:23

      No no, I think we’re on to something here

      No need to do a test if you don’t want to

      • HBommie says:

        9 Dec9 December 18:01

        Dayle wants to play.

• Anna says:

  9 Dec9 December 14:46

  Sajid Javid has said that travel restrictions will end “very soon” – not sure if this is because Omicron is now firmly entrenched or because a legal challenge to compulsory quarantine has been launched and they are expecting a wave of compensation claims …

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    9 Dec9 December 14:55

    He’s just preparing to stab Boris in the back and become PM.

    • PeteM says:

      9 Dec9 December 14:59

      I wonder what terms the quarantine hotels have with the government / how far into the future they’ve kicked regular customers out until…?

    • Aston100 says:

      9 Dec9 December 15:11

      Sajid is too competent to be a PM.

      • dougzz99 says:

        9 Dec9 December 15:17

        If true, and I really have no idea either way, why would you work so closely with a lying self-serving scumbag buffoon? Rightly or wrongly you’ll be judged by association.

    • Mrs_Fussy says:

      9 Dec9 December 20:43

      Why, don’t forget Rishi is waiting in the queue to. His father in law can single handedly fund his entire campaign as it would be lose change for him !

  • Char Char says:

    9 Dec9 December 15:33

    By the same guy that said 100k was expected and not planning to implement Plan B then brings more restrictions way before that number

• Britbronco says:

  9 Dec9 December 14:55

  Sorry if this has been mentioned already, but I don’t have time to read all the comments from the last two days, just wanted to share my data point.
  Since getting the creation closure letters in September I haven’t received any points on my IHG white card, but I have received Marriott points for October and November statements.
  The December Marriott statement is today and this time it says points transferred nil, but on the following page it says points will be transferred after next statement.
  Obviously there won’t be any new spending but they will need to generate a January statement to record the payments I will make to clear the balance. After which I will hopefully receive the points.

  Unfortunately the IHG statements don’t mention that points will be will be transferred after next statement, but potentially they might say that on my December statement.
  Both October and November IHG statements clearly say points have been earned, and that points will be added to my IHG rewards account, they just don’t say when!

  I suspect they are delaying transfer of points to stop people pushing through a load of refunds in December.

  The main downside of this is continued uncertainty about getting the points, and it seems clear they will not arrive in December, so therefore preventing Spire qualification and the associated 25k bonus points. Very frustrating!

  • Char Char says:

    9 Dec9 December 15:35

    Thats actually a valid point, they may be delaying the points to ensure that a load of refunds didn’t go through albeit having to then claim it back from them which would be a huge risk in itself unless you of course already had that balance.

    • Anna says:

      9 Dec9 December 15:54

      Could that be why they are delaying issuing free nights as well, in case refunds take people back under the £10k spend? Bit odd though that they are upsetting so many customers by insisting no points or free nights will be forthcoming if that’s the case.

• Boi says:

  9 Dec9 December 14:56

  Is it worth transferring MR to bonvoy for a redemption?
  The room I am looking at is $978/night or 340K bonvoy for 5 nights.

  • mattxcheung says:

    9 Dec9 December 15:08

    That would come to around 1.44 cents per point or just over 1 pence per point in value which is pretty decent for Bonvoy redemptions. I’ve transferred MR to Bonvoy in the past but only for peak value redemptions where I can get the equivalent or higher value than if I were to transfer the MR points to an airline to redeem for a premium flight. If you don’t think you’ll get better use out of the ~230k MR points needed to transfer for 340k Bonvoy points then go for it. And if you do want to redeem for Bonvoy, now’s undeniably the time to do so before the reward chart gets scrapped in the new year and they move to a dynamic pricing model.

  • Rob says:

    9 Dec9 December 15:44

    Assuming the $978 is inc taxes then 5 nights is £3700

    That is 1.1p per Bonvoy points vs our 0.5p target (and, until yesterday, you could have bought the points for 0.5p).

    On an Amex conversion, you’d be getting 1.65p per Amex points based on 2 Amex = 3 Marriott. You won’t beat that.

    And, of course, you can do ‘Points Advance’ to lock in the points room whilst waiting for the Amex conversion.

  • Harry T says:

    9 Dec9 December 16:24

    All depends on what you would be happy paying for cash. I wouldn’t pay £3500 a night for my suite at the W Abu Dhabi but that’s the going price…

    • Boi says:

      9 Dec9 December 19:05

      Thanks all. I think I will go for it…
      Rob, I read somewhere that if you have bonvoy credit card the 45% is extended to Dec 15?

      Would you advise buying if that is the case? (Vs MR transfer).

      I have the 2 Canada bonvoy cards, and 246K points already

      • Rob says:

        9 Dec9 December 20:25

        No such deal, at least for UK cardholders.

• TedL says:

  9 Dec9 December 15:00

  Have the rules on having the BAPP and BA free card changed. Triggered my 241 (along with the 10k avios for £5k spend) in late November. Applied last Saturday using a referral from my son and card arrived today, he got referral bonus two days ago. Activated and both cards sitting on my online account. Will now cancel the BAPP.

• Alan says:

  9 Dec9 December 15:06

  I have just had a BA flight to Bucharest March cancelled, this was part of a 5 day holiday (flight +car). BA have offered to change me to the previous days flight.

  Can anyone tell me what my rights are in this situation. The trip was a double Tier point run so I do want to take it but don’t want to unnecessarily extend it.

  Thanks

  • Anna says:

    9 Dec9 December 15:58

    If it’s a BA package holiday, sadly all they have to do is refund you or offer an alternative. You could try contacting them and asking if they will move your hotel stay & car hire forward by a day but I seem to recall someone on here saying that they were told they’d have to pay the (considerable) difference as the hotel prices had increased by then.

  • Lady London says:

    9 Dec9 December 17:13

    Are they offering to pay the extra hotel night required? I don’t see why you should have to pay but there is the risk Anna’s mentioned.

    • Alan says:

      9 Dec9 December 17:46

      Anna and LL

      Thanks for the replies. I have finally managed to get through to BA and Ben told I have to accept the move or a refund.

      I didn’t realise that you have less rights with a holiday booking than a flight only. Seems the wrong way round to me.

      • Lady London says:

        10 Dec10 December 11:49

        Accept the move….yes, if you can. But should not cause any cost to you. It’s lack of class not to make some gesture here.

        Perhaps this is an opportunity to get your money back and book something else instead?

• elguiri says:

  9 Dec9 December 15:09

  And another question about travel forms (sorry)…
  On BA MMB have to add details for trip to spain, including uploading their health form, and stating whether fully vaccinated or not. Children of 4 years and under are exempt from the requirements to be vaccinated, however there isn’t an option for exempt. I suppose I should choose ‘not fully vaccinated’ despite them being exempt, but just don’t want hassle at the airport. Opinions?

• Optimus Prime says:

  9 Dec9 December 15:17

  Update from Nationwide FlexPlus travel insurance:

  We’ve removed the Covid-19 exclusions from your travel policy.

  You might remember that in January this year an update was made to our FlexPlus travel insurance that meant certain claims relating to Covid-19 would not be covered. We’re pleased to say as of 5 October 2021 that change no longer applies which means:

  1. From 5 October 2021, you’re covered for cancelling any trips you’ve booked but not yet taken and any new trips you book due to the Covid-19 or another pandemic disease in certain situations
  2. This change also covers any trips that have been cancelled due to Covid-19 since 5 October 2021

  • Zara says:

    9 Dec9 December 15:55

    Would this include if you decide not to travel for fear of positive testing etc ?
    I have flex plus but we are planning to call them tomorrow to check what it covers and excludes should we decide to go on our Xmas break.

    • JDB says:

      9 Dec9 December 17:16

      You should read the policy before calling them to clarify any points. It is a well drafted document, in plain English and I think your question is amply answered in the policy, but it is vital that you ascertain the answer for yourself rather than relying on strangers.

    • Sam G says:

      9 Dec9 December 18:02

      as JDB says below – you need to read the whole policy and check for yourself. but no, as a rule travel insurance will not cover disinclination to travel – you’d be relying on your airline/hotel cancellation / courtesy policies here

    • ianM says:

      9 Dec9 December 20:18

      No – you must have known you would be subject to testing when you booked it.

  • Blindman67 says:

    9 Dec9 December 15:55

    Where is that?

    I have just renewed my upgrade to the Flex Account and the January exclusions are still valid.
    There is no cover for cancelling a trip due to quarantine, FCDO advice.
    You can cancel if you get Covid

    • Optimus Prime says:

      9 Dec9 December 16:06

      https://www.nationwide.co.uk/-/assets/nationwidecouk/documents/current-accounts/resources/p4002-flexplus-travel-summary-of-changes.pdf

    • Harrier25 says:

      9 Dec9 December 16:20

      I received an email about the lifting of covid exclusions yesterday from Nationwide and it look like a generic email to everyone.

    • JDB says:

      9 Dec9 December 17:13

      The changes recently sent are quite specific and, as always, need to be read as part of the whole policy. Quoting small sections of the FlexPlus policy (as someone did earlier this week) or quoting just this change is really quite unhelpful as you need to see how it affects you in the context of the whole policy, with its specific and general inclusions/exclusions. Also, it’s worth noting that with a rolling policy like this (as opposed to a fixed term annual policy) there are different terms in force for different people depending on when you took out the policy, when you booked, when they made any changes to terms, so what applies to one HfPer may not apply to another.

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