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Forums Daily chat thread Click here for today’s chat thread Chat thread – Wednesday 15th January

  • Rob
    HfP Staff
    2,705 posts

    This is today’s chat thread.

    If you have specific questions about Avios, hotels or credit cards, please ask them in the appropriate forum and not here. This thread is a good place to post interesting deals you have spotted or your general thoughts on travel and all things miles and points. Thank you for contributing.

    AndrewT 555 posts

    Good morning from Palm Beach, where my hotel room has 20 available plug sockets plus 10 USB ports. I haven’t felt the need to check how many actually work, but is this a record?

    Aston100 1,731 posts

    Good call Andrew.
    I’ll be adding power sockets to my checklist.

    Edit: Hang on a sec, isn’t it still evening back there?

    AndrewT 555 posts

    Well I was going to say good evening / morning, but thought that was too convoluted, so I was ‘translating’ into English.

    BSI1978 25 posts

    Is the BA news/update still embargoed @Rob?

    Spaghetti Town 9 posts

    If i switch on auto convert tesco to virgin for the current bonus – will it automatically transfer all my vouchers approx £16.50 to virgin?

    I would prefer to use them for pizza express – so would it make sense to convert the £16.50 in vouchers to pizza express first, then switch on auto convert?

    jumpersforgoalposts 89 posts

    Morning all. Thought I’d ask here before doing some digging.

    Visiting a friend in Ireland who is going to lead us her car for a few days.

    What is the best approach to get insurance on it? Ideally want fully comp

    Froggee 1,210 posts

    Morning all. Thought I’d ask here before doing some digging.

    Visiting a friend in Ireland who is going to lead us her car for a few days.

    What is the best approach to get insurance on it? Ideally want fully comp

    I’m totally not Irish but I have done this with my UK car for a couple of foreigners and calling my insurer resulted in them being added to my policy for a short period of time for a surprisingly nominal sum.

    So suggest your friend calls their insurer first.

    anuj 118 posts

    Can I enter the Qatar premium lounge in Bangkok on a finnair business award ticket ?

    phantomchickenz 561 posts

    If i switch on auto convert tesco to virgin for the current bonus – will it automatically transfer all my vouchers approx £16.50 to virgin?

    I would prefer to use them for pizza express – so would it make sense to convert the £16.50 in vouchers to pizza express first, then switch on auto convert?

    If you’d prefer to, why not just do it?

    TooPoorToBeHere 302 posts

    I’m totally not Irish but I have done this with my UK car for a couple of foreigners and calling my insurer resulted in them being added to my policy for a short period of time for a surprisingly nominal sum.

    So suggest your friend calls their insurer first.

    Same. It was £80 to add a foreigner with a foreign license, no driving or claims history in the UK whatsoever as a second driver for the whole year.

    Had to call as some of the fields in the web forms (“UK license held since…” etc) made no sense.

    Astonished.

    Adding a 17 year old Brit would add £2500.

    davestat 49 posts

    Just moved from Penang to Langkawi (and still grey and wet). We had gone backwards and forwards between the Westin and the St Regis and eventually opted for the Westin as it was less points. Upgraded but….the ASEAN conference is on at the hotel so mega busy.
    Flew the 60 miles on Air Asia. Bit like Ryanair but on this short a flight they gave out a cooked meal and water to anyone that had booked it. Don’t remember paying anything for it although we did pay a measly couple of quid to sit near the front. It shows what an airline can do when motivated.

    Swiss Jim 310 posts

    Just moved from Penang to Langkawi (and still grey and wet). We had gone backwards and forwards between the Westin and the St Regis and eventually opted for the Westin as it was less points. Upgraded but….the ASEAN conference is on at the hotel so mega busy.
    Flew the 60 miles on Air Asia. Bit like Ryanair but on this short a flight they gave out a cooked meal and water to anyone that had booked it. Don’t remember paying anything for it although we did pay a measly couple of quid to sit near the front. It shows what an airline can do when motivated.

    Fewer not less. Just before any pedants comment 🤷

    Richie 1,268 posts

    Is the BA news/update still embargoed @Rob?

    12 noon GMT release maybe?

    BA Flyer IHG Stayer 3,074 posts

    Is the BA news/update still embargoed @Rob?

    12 noon GMT release maybe?

    This is what Rob wrote

    “Rob says:
    13 January 13:04

    Pressure will continue to mount – see HfP tomorrow for an example ….”

    Surely the AF-KL status match meets that criteria of ‘pressure’

    BBbetter 1,254 posts

    Flew the 60 miles on Air Asia. Bit like Ryanair but on this short a flight they gave out a cooked meal and water to anyone that had booked it. Don’t remember paying anything for it although we did pay a measly couple of quid to sit near the front. It shows what an airline can do when motivated.

    But their cost base, especially wages, is a fraction of what is paid in Europe.
    Cabin crew in Malaysia cost £5k per year. Compare that to uk after the employer NI etc.

    PeteM 921 posts

    Flew the 60 miles on Air Asia. Bit like Ryanair but on this short a flight they gave out a cooked meal and water to anyone that had booked it. Don’t remember paying anything for it although we did pay a measly couple of quid to sit near the front. It shows what an airline can do when motivated.

    But their cost base, especially wages, is a fraction of what is paid in Europe.
    Cabin crew in Malaysia cost £5k per year. Compare that to uk after the employer NI etc.

    And the UK is actually a pretty cheap developed country to employ people in…

    BBbetter 1,254 posts

    Reading the comments on flying blue post, looks like the regional airports are going to see a boost soon, at the cost of LHR.
    Starmer will appreciate BA’s contribution to levelling up.

    Edit:
    Didn’t know AF doesn’t fly from LCY!

    Blair Waldorf Salad 1,357 posts

    Reading the comments on flying blue post, looks like the regional airports are going to see a boost soon, at the cost of LHR.
    Starmer will appreciate BA’s contribution to levelling up.

    Edit:
    Didn’t know AF doesn’t fly from LCY!

    Eurostar

    Gordon 199 posts

    @davestat – Hope the weather is not spoiling that part of your trip. I’ve flown Air Asia several times, also Bangkok airways for internal flights and find them both satisfactory, we flew air Asia from BKK – CNX shortly after the December 2014 incident, so was a little unnerving.
    I will be in the process of looking for several interval flights soon, so it will be interesting to see the price point for a comparison!

    Hbommie 248 posts

    Can I enter the Qatar premium lounge in Bangkok on a finnair business award ticket ?

    Yes this should be possible, and I’ve done this many times but you need to be mindful of QR flights and the timing of your flight.

    But they couldn’t accommodate me during my recent transit with a business OW ticket. If it’s full of Qatar customers they may refuse.

    AJA 1,367 posts

    Just want to vent. My mum was hooked by a telephone scammer today. She received a call from someone saying her 52inch tv would be delivered today. She was sharp enough to tell them that they were wrong as she hadn’t bought a tv of any size and then hung up on them. Unfortunately 5 minutes later she had another call, this time purportedly from her bank saying that someone had used her debit card details to make a purchase. They convinced her to give them her card details so that they would “block the card” which of course they didn’t!

    Fortunately she immediately phoned me realising that she had made a mistake. I have power of attorney over her bank so I immediately phoned the bank and explained the situation. They helped me cancel her debit card and order a replacement. They also confirmed that no suspicious transactions had occurred. So well done them!

    Banks will never phone you up and ask for your full card details. At most they will ask you to verify the last 4 digits of your card based on the information they hold. They will state the last 4 digits – they won’t ask you to tell them what they are!

    Now have to keep an eye out in case anyone tries to order a subscription on the account.

    Eoc 45 posts

    BA Accelerating Business offer just came thru. 45k points for a £5k business spend in 3 months. Plus 1.5 Avios ppt. Does that seem reasonable for a quick boost?

    polly 318 posts

    @AJA
    What a bummer, well done on intercepting. Couldn’t believe how good these guys are. When l got a call supposedly from hsbc, luckily we still have a branch open in our town. I walked there, spoke to the manager. When he quoted a previous address, knew it was a con, but hoped to track him. The fraud team said no issues, but the con artist kept saying he was actually from hsbc, and quoting an employee number! Unreal. Bare faced with it. HSBC team were astonished at his audacity. He got nowhere, fast.
    But can only imagine how well your mum was taken in. Keep her safe👍

    NorthernLass 10,479 posts

    @AJA, that was a close call, good on your mum for calling you though, a lot of older people feel too embarrassed to tell anyone they’ve been scammed so it doesn’t come to light until a lot of damage has been done.

    Did the scammers know who she banks with or were they just fishing (or phishing)? I’ve had a couple of scam calls over the years, I recall once a woman said she needed to speak to our broadband account holder urgently, and I asked her who SHE had listed as the account holder and she ended the call immediately!

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