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Bits: £15 of Starbucks in Terminal 5C gone, double Avios at Swissotel, Fairmont promotion

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Some news in brief:

£15 of free Starbucks in Heathrow Terminal 5C scrapped

If you had a flight departing from Pier C at Heathrow Terminal 5, you were stuffed in terms of lounge access because BA didn’t build one.  Instead, you were allowed to visit the Starbucks store and claim £15 of free items by showing your boarding pass.

This was a semi-secret unless you read Head for Points or Flyertalk – BA did not make any effort to tell people about this perk.  It lost a lot of its value when Starbucks put up the price of mini bottle of champagne (yes, Starbucks sells champagne in Terminal 5) from £15 to £17 a few weeks ago.

Anyway, as of midnight last night, the perk is officially dead.  There will be BA staff warning people as they board the transit and encouraging them to get off at T5B instead where there is a lounge (in fact, a very pleasant and very empty lounge).  If you make it to T5C without being told, you will be sent down to the underground walkway to walk to T5B.

Double Avios at Swissotel

Swissotel is an Avios hotel partner – one of the many listed here at ba.comUntil 30th June, Swissotel is offering double Avios points on all stays, making a total of 1,000 points per stay.

Full details, together with excluded hotels, can be found on the Swissotel website here.

Fairmont Banff Springs 350

Fairmont – 15% off plus a free night plus 500 Avios

Meanwhile, I had an email from Swissotel’s sister company, Fairmont.  They have launched a series of money off or free night deals across their portfolio, for stays until the end of September.

This should be of particular interest if you are heading to Canada this year.  The Banff Springs property is pictured above.

The offers are shown here.  You earn Avios points at Fairmont at the rate of 500 per stay.


Hotel offers update – April 2024:

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Want to buy hotel points?

  • Hilton Honors is offering a 100% bonus when you buy points by 14th May 2024. Click here.

Comments (11)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Neil says:

    Also worth noting that BA have a Fairmont promotion and are currently offering discounts of 20% – 50% and room upgrades depending on availability. Book by 30th April

    I have just booked 12 nights for January 2016 at Fairmont Whistler 50% discount and poss room upgrade. Bargain!

    • CV says:

      I stayed at the Fairmont Vancouver airport, it was excellent and the breakfast was a highlight it was so good, with the flight gates as the backdrop.

      Also, you may have seen the new feature they have “Fit Gear”, where you can order up some gym kit from them, ready and sitting in your room for you – great idea. You have to do it via your account on Fairmont website in preferences.

    • Eshaq Choudhury says:

      Where can I find the BA deals? I need to book for December.

      • Neil Peet says:

        Just do a search on ba.com and the discounted prices will show up in the results where available.

  • Brian says:

    A bit off topic but with lounge club membership and departing from T5, can you use the lounges in the other terminals (unless the lounge rules say other otherwise)? Also, what Heathrow lounge would be recommended for getting some food? Thanks

    • Rob says:

      You can if the terminals connect airside, but only T1 and T2 do at Heathrow. You wouldn’t be able to get airside at T3 to use a lounge if flying from T5.

      • Brian says:

        Hi thanks for the reply. What about the Plaza in T2 arrivals? I will arrive in T5 from Glasgow and have about four hours until my flight from T5 to Boston. Have i any options at all? Thanks

        • Rob says:

          Yes, you can use that – they don’t need to see a boarding pass.

  • Mark says:

    I’m not surprised the BA / Starbucks deal was scrapped. Starbucks used to rinse it. They always made sure you spent as near to £15 as possible.

    Four of us flew out a few weeks ago. I don’t think I’ve ever spent £60 in Starbucks before and had no intention of doing so, but the staff ensured we did!

    • signol says:

      I hear the souvenir mugs sold particularly well 😉

    • Fenny says:

      Given the price of their travel mugs, I would have thought spending £15 was a piece of cake (also given the price of their cakes!). Although their travel mugs are good, Costa mugs at £3 are much better.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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