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The HfP chat thread – Friday 10th December

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Comments (375)

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

  • Don says:
    10 Dec10 December 05:00

    Hi,
    I’m new to all this, I’m normally an Avios person lol
    I have 360 Virgin tier points from a UC flight last month, so I only need 40 tier points to get to Silver, and I now have enough points to get an economy award flight.
    How long do I have to earn those 40 points? It mentions something about an “upgrade cycle”, but I don’t know what that is.
    If I travel on an economy award flight using my points, do I get tier points for that? If so, how many tier points would I get for a round trip to say LAS or LAX on Virgin? Would it be enough to get me to Silver?

  • Mark says:
    10 Dec10 December 05:17

    If I were to get a positive Covid test through one of the walk-in NHS testing centers, do they send an official SMS / email etc, saying I have to quarantine for [14] days?

    Been out of the UK for a while and travelling back to the UK, so wanting to figure out if my insurance provider will cover for my accom while in quarantine as they would need the quarantine order to be issued by a government authority.

    • H says:
      10 Dec10 December 06:30

      Yes, you will get the official message but quarantine is 10 days here. However, you will have to do a private test on arrival back in the UK and that will then be sent onto the NHS so you can get an official instruction as well.

    • Chrisasaurus says:
      10 Dec10 December 06:32

      I believe so, yes – when I got pinged (proximity to someone who tested positive) it gave clear instructions. When I subsequently tested negative it too gave clear instructions so wouldn’t expect a positive result to be any less thorough.

      Email and SMS both received

    • Rich_A says:
      10 Dec10 December 10:14

      It will tell you ‘self-isolate immediately for 10 days to avoid infecting others’.

      I had one from NHSresult and one from NHStracing. As H said, you will presumably have a private test, with the result handed over to NHS Tracing if it’s positive.

  • Steve says:
    10 Dec10 December 06:05

    We have relatives visiting from France at Christmas (something like 22nd-28th December), driving over via the Eurotunnel to SE London (near Bromley), and they’re stressed about the testing requirements and I’m trying to figure it out.

    Inbound day 2 PCR: no Randox dropboxes near there, I’m wondering if Expresstest in Croyden is the best option, or whether there is any sensible at home option that would safely arrive by day 0 (I’m a little concerned that Christmas post delays make this a bit dangerous, especially with the bank holidays on 27th/28th).

    LFD test for France entry: I’m confused about what the requirements are. gov.uk advice is:

    “Self-administered tests are not accepted”

    but on the French government websites all I can find is

    “Tests whose results are not certified by a laboratory (such as the self-administered tests provided free of charge by the NHS) are not considered valid for travel.”

    If it’s just the latter, I presume Chromatics etc would be fine, but if it’s the former then I guess Expresstest again, unless there are other South London testing centres I haven’t found?

    (If it was me I wouldn’t worry too much about the LFD rules, but the relatives are stressed about all this so I need to be able to point to something to reassure them…)

    • Chrisasaurus says:
      10 Dec10 December 06:33

      Expresstest best option – both practically and for confidence it’ll happen in time and be valid.

    • Marina says:
      10 Dec10 December 07:04

      Express testing at Bluewater was good for my testing.

    • LakerDC10 says:
      10 Dec10 December 09:42

      What about the Collinson drive thru at Gatwick? They offer same day results and they can have a drive to and from Gatwick in the countryside.

    • Gavin says:
      10 Dec10 December 10:21

      Apparently Chronomics etc are fine for France (verified by photo). They are just saying you can’t use the NHS tests.

  • Joseph says:
    10 Dec10 December 06:48

    BA baggage query – I am flying home tomorrow (LAX to Heathrow) in World Traveller plus. I had understood that the baggage allowance for WT+ is 2 checked bags and that as a Silver member I was also entitled to an additional checked bag on top ie 3 bags total. However my check in screen says only 2 checked bags. I tried to reach BA customer services but they are closed. The BA site mentions 2 bags for Silver in Economy but no mention of Economy Plus. Thanks in advance.

    • SamG says:
      10 Dec10 December 06:58

      It’s 2. I got caught out with this once – the extra bag is only in economy

    • Andrew says:
      10 Dec10 December 07:22

      I think Gold get an extra bag in all cabins.

    • Peter Taysum says:
      10 Dec10 December 08:44

      As above 2 x 32 kg. Gold gives “an additional bag in any cabin”. So I hope you can put it all in two cases! I thought that was Silver and Gold had to look it up; good to know as I’m likely to drop back to Silver later this year as I’m not flying…

  • iamlost says:
    10 Dec10 December 06:53

    An Amex offer for Bond St. has appeared on my Gold that would stack nicely with the Rimowa offer.

    • Reney says:
      10 Dec10 December 07:50

      Fenwick is on the (short) list of participants too so maybe a stacking opportunity there.

  • Tracy Regan says:
    10 Dec10 December 07:12

    I’m flying home from Mauritius today but can’t seem to check in online. It was two one way bookings and I can’t seem to use VeriFLY to upload my documents for a flight to LGW. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks.

    • Rob says:
      10 Dec10 December 08:40

      Don’t worry. As long as you have the papers it will be signed off at check in.

      Verifly is pointless unless you are hand baggage only as you still need to go to a desk to drop your bags.

      • Greg says:
        10 Dec10 December 09:13

        I flew back from Istanbul last month and just flashed the Verifly app to the guy checking documents in the queue and again to the check-in staff. I might as well have shown them a HfP email.

      • Tracey says:
        10 Dec10 December 09:18

        Got to check in at LHR yesterday and they could see on their system that I was already VeriFLY-ed. Saved getting out all the paperwork. It also allows you to check in in advance.

        Posting from sunny St Lucia, after a last minute decision to swerve away from Mauritius in case it turns red in the next 10 days.

        • Polly says:
          11 Dec11 December 06:19

          Glad you made it to a sunny destination. It’s a place on our trip list to visit, one day…

    • Andrew says:
      10 Dec10 December 09:15

      Totally agree – and wouldn’t want to make checkin staff redundant, so don’t feel inclined to do their job for them.

  • Andrew says:
    10 Dec10 December 07:12

    Anyone have experience of the latest Bicester offer paying out on cumulative? This time the visitor centre is not listed, nor is the line about gift cards being included so inclined to think that the usual route of buying £600 gift card won’t trigger and wondering if I need to try and spend £600 in one shop.

    • elguiri says:
      10 Dec10 December 08:39

      surely that’s pretty easy to spend in one go at bicester village…

      • Andrew says:
        10 Dec10 December 09:10

        Yeah I do normally end up dropping at least a grand in Dior – but didn’t want to feel pressured to!

    • Njb says:
      10 Dec10 December 08:49

      My experience from a month ago is that it is cumulative.

      • Andrew says:
        10 Dec10 December 09:11

        Good to know, thanks. Was that under the current £600 offer? Previous ones I’ve always found cumulative too.

        • Njb says:
          10 Dec10 December 09:19

          Yes it must have been – spend 600 get 60 back.
          The spending you see there always amazes me – especially wads of cash being used for payments at Gucci.
          I found getting there early meant I could easily het in all the shops / the virtual queues drive me mad !

    • Andrew says:
      10 Dec10 December 09:33

      Bicester offer is also on various LBG Cards and Barclaycard if you’re going to be spending more than £600

  • Richie says:
    10 Dec10 December 07:44

    BTW If you are looking for 500 nectar points and a 150g bag of Pipers Crisps, the Nectar app on my account has an offer, click through from Countdown to Christmas, ends Sunday 12 December 21.

    • Sandgrounder says:
      10 Dec10 December 09:10

      I had this too, £2.50 with 500 points back, free crisps!

      • Andrew says:
        10 Dec10 December 09:12

        +1 got my free bag of crisps last week. The rosemary and thyme ones are good.

        • AJA says:
          10 Dec10 December 09:55

          I got the same offer, I like the cheese and onion ones. I did rather well out of this Count up to Christmas promotion. Only missed out on the railway bonus as I didn’t see the point of booking a ticket I wasn’t going to use.

          • Andrew says:
            10 Dec10 December 10:29

            Likewise – and the transfers from Avios to nectar counted towards the overall earning points targets so I did well. And as I was buying a train ticket anyway, also managed to get that 500 bonus.

          • Paul Pogba says:
            10 Dec10 December 14:56

            You could get a childs ticket from Watford North to Garston (Herts) for £1.45, to get 500 nectar points (2.50). Basically buying Avios for 0.46p.

    • @mkcol says:
      10 Dec10 December 22:39

      My Countdown to Christmas has never appeared, despite being emailed about signing up for it.

    • jek says:
      10 Dec10 December 23:45

      My Sainsbury’s credit card SUB came through during the promotion and triggered als Sainsbury’s goals! Lucky me…

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