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Starting 2/15/21 – new UK “Red List” restrictions go into effect
If you’re a UK resident and you’ve been to any of the countries on the UK “Red List” in the last 10 days, and you want to enter the UK, you’ll not only be required to quarantine for 10 days, but you’re also mandated to purchase a Quarantine Package for £1,750. Note that if you aren’t a UK resident and you’ve been to a Red List country you aren’t permitted entry at all. You’ll need to book your quarantine package via a dedicated portal and you’ll get the following as part of the package:
- assigned government transportation
- food and drinks
- accommodation in a government-approved facility
- security
- welfare
- testing
Currently the UK government has secured over 16 hotels and over 4k rooms.
You’ll need to get tested twice during your quarantine as well
- On day 2
- £1,000 penalty if you fail to take this test
- On day 8
- £2,000 penalty if you fail to take this test
Your passenger locator forms will not only detail your journey, but also whether you have purchased a quarantine and testing package. Thinking of not listing you’ve been to any of the listed countries…
- 10 years in prison
- £10,000 fine
The Red List countries as of 2/10/2021
- Angola
- Argentina
- Bolivia
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Burundi
- Cape Verde
- Chile
- Colombia
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Ecuador
- Eswatini
- French Guiana
- Guyana
- Lesotho
- Malawi
- Mauritius
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Portugal (including Madeira and the Azores)
- Rwanda
- Seychelles
- South Africa
- Suriname
- Tanzania
- United Arab Emirates (UAE)
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
All passengers arriving into the UK must do the following:
- Proof of negative Covid test 3 days prior to departure
- Complete a Passenger Locator form within 2 days of arrival into UK
- passengers arriving without a completed form and negative test face a £500 fine and the airline faces a £2,000 fine
- All passengers arriving into the UK must self isolate for 10 days
- subject to spot checks
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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