See The Who in concert with your IHG Rewards Club points

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• Shoestring says:

  21 Feb21 February 16:47

  [The Royal Mail has said it will increase the price of first class and second class stamps by up to six pence.The postal firm said the price of a first class stamp will jump 6p to 76p and the price of a second class stamp will rise 4p to 65p from March 23.]

  horrible increase – go buy a few books of stamps before the increase kicks in

  far better to save 8% here than try to get better than 1.35% on Marcus (which – I note – decreased a bit yesterday!)

  • Anna says:

    21 Feb21 February 17:09

    It’s horrendous, a stamp can cost more than a greeting card sometimes (if you buy in bulk at Card Factory like me lol). If I order them from Morrison’s with my groceries will I get 10% off? I know it doesn’t normally apply to stamps but will Amex know?

    • Shoestring says:

      21 Feb21 February 17:11

      good workaround there, Anna

    • Michael says:

      21 Feb21 February 17:11

      Costco’s the place to buy books of stamps.

      • Shoestring says:

        21 Feb21 February 17:13

        except when there’s no Costco (Cornwall)

    • Lady London says:

      21 Feb21 February 17:58

      Soon it will be cheaper to take a Ryanair flight and post your letters abroad.

• Lady London says:

  21 Feb21 February 17:03

  I’d keep ringing BA if I were you.

  • Lady London says:

    21 Feb21 February 17:04

    *above for Harry T and his Qantaslink thing.

    • Shoestring says:

      21 Feb21 February 17:43

      I have the trademark on @HarryRoyal.com

• Waddle says:

  21 Feb21 February 17:32

  OT HSBC Premier CC:
  Are the Premier CC & World Elite upgradable/downgradable?

  • mr_jetlag says:

    21 Feb21 February 18:36

    If you mean in the same manner as Amex BAPP / Blue, they aren’t – no pro rata refund of annual fee, and I think you have to do separate application and credit check (or at least that was the case for me ca. 2018)

• Shoestring says:

  21 Feb21 February 17:53

  good news: Scientists discover new antibiotic that kills superbugs
  A NEW antibiotic capable of overcoming superbugs has been discovered, raising hopes for the first effective new bacterial treatment for decades.
  Scientists used artificial intelligence (AI) to screen more than 100 million chemical compounds to try to find molecules effective at killing E.coli.
  The molecule selected by the machine learning system was able to kill a number of serious infections that have grown increasingly hard to treat in recent years, including Clostridium difficile, Acinetobacter baumannii, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and E.coli.

  • Shoestring says:

    21 Feb21 February 17:56

    I have long thought that the best use we could make of our UK overseas aid commitment is to develop effective new antibiotics, all the money could be spent at home to develop drugs to help poor people overseas

  • Alex M says:

    21 Feb21 February 19:09

    And how is that related to miles and points collection? Sorry but this is way OT…

    • Shoestring says:

      21 Feb21 February 19:12

      we’ll live longer to collect points?

    • Lady London says:

      21 Feb21 February 20:17

      Might need it for coronavirus mutations so we can all travel again

      • Peter K says:

        21 Feb21 February 21:20

        Sorry to be pedantic but Corona Virus is a virus so antibiotics are no good against it.

        • Cat says:

          22 Feb22 February 00:55

          Indeed

    • Shoestring says:

      21 Feb21 February 20:33

      OK Alex M – I apologise for the deeply O/T but I got excited about something

      reminds me of the time my wife – who reported to me at the time – broke into my office and gushed: ‘a [European] has found the cure for cancer!’ (ie one of her lot)

      that must have been round about 1998

      • Cat says:

        22 Feb22 February 00:59

        I’m excited too Harry, and am currently raising my glass to Skynet or whatever they’re calling AI these days.
        Although it feels wrong.
        I now feel I was misled by alarmist 90s films.
        I did like the nod to Hal though!

• Shoestring says:

  21 Feb21 February 18:11

  a few Virgin miles needed but cheaper than Necker Island
  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-8028529/Sir-Richard-Branson-launches-cruise-ship-Scarlet-Lady-Dover.html

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    21 Feb21 February 19:20

    Passengers screaming on Ryanair flight during recent storm is more entertaining! 😂

• VentureLog says:

  21 Feb21 February 18:34

  O/T as bits: A long-time HFP reader, but the first time I’ve been caught up in a flight cancellation (due to Storm Ciara) – any advice on the following would be sorely appreciated as I must admit to being a little in the dark in terms of where I stand, even though I have done my best to educate myself via FT.
  The situation is this: My Flight was cancelled whilst in Malta. I tried getting in touch with BA to arrange for the next flight without joy, via Phone, Internet, the BA app and eventually ended up at the Malta Airport to find no BA representative there. With the help of other passengers i was able to book a flight for the next day on EasyJet. This meant spending for overnight accommodation\transport meals by myself. After returning home, BA have refused the compensation (understandable due to extraordinary circumstances) but also refused to repay for my full expenditure due to cancelled flight (only given £50). Everything i have read suggests that regardless of reason for cancellation, right to care comes in to play (EU 261 article 9) I have been waiting for a few days, but BA have not responded. Any help on the next step? Thank you

  • Shoestring says:

    21 Feb21 February 18:42

    did you get a refund on your BA flight?

    otherwise, it’s always a tough one when you take matters into your own hands to find alternative way back – you are doing the natural & understandable thing but if you don’t give BA the chance to sort out your situation, they will (often quite rightly) say no compo

    not being able to communicate with them wouldn’t cut the mustard

    naturally I sympathise with any HFP reader but on the other hand BA are not always in the wrong

    yes – you would always be entitled to duty of care from BA even in bad weather but only if your flight were still ‘alive’ ie not cancelled

    • Shoestring says:

      21 Feb21 February 18:46

      * by yourself for a refund

    • Venturelog says:

      21 Feb21 February 20:26

      Thanks for your reply.
      I’m not sure what the £50 was for. It wasn’t explained. I didn’t agree to any refund for my flight. The flight was cancelled and I was offered a choice to rebook or refund. As I couldn’t do either via any of the communication methods I was left with no choice but to sort myself out.
      It’s not about sympathy, but I’m not sure what would be expected from anyone? Do they sit at the airport until a BA representative turns up? or try and call them on a line that kept disconnecting them? Or try and use the internet and app to rebook which also keep coming up with errors?
      So is this a lost cause to pursue it?

      • Shoestring says:

        21 Feb21 February 20:39

        you can definitely pursue it but don’t under any circumstances ask for a refund in the meantime

        don’t worry about the £50 – it was probably a gesture and will be over & above any compo

        you’ll have to argue that communication was impossible & you had no other reasonable recourse than to re-book yourself on another airline, you’d probably need to take it to MCOL, you’d probably win ie BA would settle

        ie claim all duty of care + difference in cost between the tickets, no bad weather compo

        • Venturelog says:

          21 Feb21 February 23:00

          Thank you

        • Lady London says:

          21 Feb21 February 23:13

          +1 you are owed duty of care and they were impossible to contact.

          What were they expecting you to do? Ask them where you were supposed to sleep that night according to their wishes by email? Did they send a hotel voucher or link to book one with their email cancelling the flight? easyJet provide a link to their website where this can be done. No, I’m guessing British Airways hoped if they just said rebook or refund, with no easy way to contact them and no link you’d take the refund letting them off the hook for duty of care.

          The airline is legally obliged to inform you of your rights in this situation sounds like they didn’t. Get them on that. You are going to have to work a bit because logically you could have stayed in hotel 3 meals a day till you could contact them to effect your choice of being put onto another flight. You saved them money and time booking yourself on easyJet. Your reward will be they will refuse to reimburse you.

          I’d gather my evidence of not advised of my rights at the time by them, all the evidence of the numbers of ways I tried to contact them, submit the claim and do a moneyclaim attaching all this if not reimbursed in 8 weeks max.

          If it happened as you say we have to hope a reasonable judge would take account of the position BA put you in and order a full reimbursement. Small claims court decisions are not binding on other cases but it would be a start

      • Jonathan says:

        22 Feb22 February 14:36

        Were you not automatically rebooked on a flight? Understandably this is often not a convenient time/date in which case you need to try & swap online (often doesn’t work) or call up. Clearly in situations with mass cancellations the phone lines will be very busy so in the absence of having access to the Gold or Silver lines the best thing is to try & contact an overseas office. Google BA Japan/USA depending on time of day in those countries & call on Skype.

        BA will pay for hotels & food/transport until your rearranged flight & they’re probably the most reliable airline at paying these as well as allowing you to sort yourself out at up to £250/night vs. EasyJet who will force you to stay in the cheapest hotel they can find.

        I’d say you got a duff CS agent or it wasn’t clear what you were asking for so submit request again asking for reimbursement of £x for accommodation & £y for food. Don’t mention compensation or ask for cost of alternative flights as you won’t get it & it clouds the issue.

        Lesson for the future: don’t unilaterally book a flight with an alternative carrier unless you’re prepared to cover cost yourself. May be worth checking travel insurance to see if it will cover you in this situation.

        • Venturelog says:

          23 Feb23 February 08:38

          Thank you both for your advice.
          I will submit it again as only expenses.

• Liz says:

  21 Feb21 February 19:17

  OT can you buy Kris Flyer miles direct from Singapore Airlines or only earn them through flying or third party channels. .

  • meta says:

    21 Feb21 February 19:37

    Not outright. If you need to redeem for a flight, you can purchase up to 50% of miles missing. It has to be done over the phone I think, but it’s been a year or so since I looked into it. You might be able to do it online now. I ended up doing the MR points transfer to Amex IDC
    and got about 30% more which was exactly enough for an award.

    • Liz says:

      21 Feb21 February 21:47

      Thanks @Meta

      • Harry T says:

        21 Feb21 February 22:22

        Can be done online. https://mainlymiles.com/2018/06/03/can-you-buy-krisflyer-miles-from-singapore-airlines/

  • Harry T says:

    21 Feb21 February 22:09

    You could also purchase Membership Rewards points but only in a smallish quantity. I haven’t run the numbers but you could buy Bonvoy points in the current sale. I appreciate you said no third parties but just trying to help, if I can.

    • Liz says:

      22 Feb22 February 07:51

      I was considering buying some Bonvoy pts but wanted to check if u could buy KF miles directly.

• S says:

  21 Feb21 February 19:23

  OT: Capital on Tap Rewards card

  So I just got mine in the mail, but it’s the yellow (the non rewards variant), instead of the navy blue one.

  They haven’t yet charged me the £99 fee either. I definitely did apply for the Rewards version. Is this all correct?

  • Rob says:

    21 Feb21 February 20:30

    Apparently it is and the colours don’t actually mean anything, so you need to see what turns up on your statement. No-one has ever told me they got it wrong though!

    • Secret Squirrel says:

      21 Feb21 February 20:42

      If you have paid to select seats on BA & then find availability as an upgrade, does. BA refund the seat selection fees or transfer them over to your upgraded seats?

      • BJ says:

        21 Feb21 February 21:24

        You’ll be able to select any available seat in the upgraded cabin but you will need to pay the difference in cost between that new sest and the one you have already paid.

        • Secret Squirrel says:

          22 Feb22 February 08:14

          Great, thanks BJ.

  • Peter K says:

    21 Feb21 February 21:17

    It took 10 days after getting my card to have the £99 for the card to be taken by DD.
    If your activate the card you can see on the app whether you are signed up for rewards (there is a section that tells you and let’s you charge your choice).

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