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Bits: new Liberty washbags in BA First, 75% Club Carlson ‘buy points’ bonus, Worcester Whitehouse

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News in brief:

British Airways and Liberty washbag collaboration

Liberty has designed a new line of washbags for BA‘s First Class cabin.

From 1st January 2017, initially on the Los Angeles route, passengers travelling in FIRST will be given a new washbag the British brand has designed exclusively for BA.

The ladies washbag features an oriental inspired Liberty flower print.

The men washbag is black with a subtle paisley pattern.

Both washbags are filled with Aromatherapy Associates toiletries which, from the pictures above, look identical to the contents of the current bag.  It’s not exactly on a par with the revised Qatar Airways Armani amenity kits though …..

Wash Bags by Liberty of London for British Airways First Class Customers Taken: 21st October 2016 Picture by: Stuart Bailey

Get a 75% bonus when you buy Club Carlson points

Club Carlson, the loyalty scheme for Radisson, Park Plaza and Park Inn, is offering a 75% bonus when you buy points, however few or many points you buy.

The link is here.  The offer runs until TODAY, 30th October.

This deal does potentially offer value if you redeem in the right places on expensive nights, although the fall in the value of the £ makes buying points in $ to use in the UK far less attractive than it was.

The maximum number of points you can purchase is 70,000 (40,000 + 30,000 bonus) for $280.  That is £228.

The key London hotels such as Park Plaza Westminster Bridge – a new London property with a pool and next to the London Eye, London Dungeon, London Aquarium etc – are 70,000 points per night, so £228.  Rob reviewed the hotel here and we were also there last week at a conference.  It is a lot smarter than you might imagine.

The May Fair (which Rob reviewed here, and didn’t like much) is also 70,000 points.

At the more prosaic end of the scale, there are various Park Inn budgets hotels around the UK for 9,000 points per night.  Under this promo, 9,000 points would cost you just £29 based on the pro-rata price of 70,000.

Remember that you can also transfer American Express Membership Rewards points at the 1:3 rate if you need a few extra points for a planned redemption.  To be honest, if I had the Amex points I would use those rather than buy points even with a 75% bonus.  You are getting almost 1p per Membership Rewards point.

We have a winner for our Worcester Whitehouse competition

Two weeks ago Head for Points ran a competition in association with the Worcester Whitehouse Hotel giving away a ‘romantic weekend in Worcester’ to one of our readers.

We were genuinely surprised by the number of people who entered and we may run similar competitions in the future if the right prizes come along.  There is only one winner, unfortunately, who is … James Baggaley.  Congratulations!

We hope you have a fantastic stay at the Worcester Whitehouse Hotel.

If you didn’t win, but would still like to go and visit Worcester, you can find out more about the Worcester Whitehouse Hotel at the hotel’s website.

Comments (38)

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

  • Lady London says:

    OT does anyone know of any promotional or special access to Priority Pass unlimited membership? (other than Amex). Apologies for the OT, someone mentioned a cost of 220 pounds a few days ago, is this price or anything more advantageous, perhaps associated with another membership, readily available?

    I have BA status but finding I’m not even flying much OneWorld now… my Star Alliance Gold will be renewed but in 1-2 years. I am looking at Priority Pass for non-OneWorld flying in the interim. Only the unlimited version would make sense for me, any ideas for an offer or a referral anyone?

    • Alan says:

      Heathrow Rewards used to offer a discount on it. I don’t think PP themselves offer unlimited with guest though, so the Amex deal is still worth considering – if you’d be willing to pay £220 anyway for PP then should be fairly easy to get £230 value out the rest. This year I got £400 value out of FHR through free night promotion and inclusive breakfast (resort so no other nearby options!) so am continuing with it for now.

      • Lady London says:

        Thanks Alan. Right now I’m just interested in getting signed up with Priority Pass on an unlimited basis although I will give your comments some thought when I get time to sit down and go over things.

        • Rob says:

          You can redeem Hilton points for a PPass. There was the recent Groupon coupon too. I think I have a 10% off code somewhere too. However, surely Amex Plat is a better deal, at least for a year given the sign-up bonus?

        • Terry Buller says:

          having been bumped out of several lounges with a PP card, with preference given to others – have discontinued.

  • Paul says:

    Not much about BA is on par with Qatar even though they own a large chunk of IAG. Qatar are a quality driven customer focused carrier providing state of the art travel in the main and superb levels of comfort. BA don’t.
    BA First is nothing more that an overpriced business class product which is why they give it away in sales or free upgrades. The last time BA offered quality in First was back in the late 19080’s early 1990’s when Floris amenities were in the bags and there was still silver service at the seat. Long gone….along with any pretence that BA are in the premier league of carriers.

  • Si says:

    Wife and I have first ever first class flights coming up in March to India. Do they provide [much] better headphones than economy? Been meaning to buy decent set for ages and wondering if could “acquire” some off BA or if I’m best off writing to Santa to see what he brings??

    • Alan says:

      BA headphones are OK but never great. If you’re wanting a treat from Santa I’d look at the Bose range of noise-cancelling headphones, they’re superb! The QC35s are wireless but if you’re not bothered about that and looking for a bargain then there’s some decent prices on ebay for older models that still sound superb! Enjoy your first first 😀

    • CV3V says:

      In First you will get some non branded noise cancelling headphones, nothing special to look at, but noise cancelling on them is ok. Will be fitted with the airplane double jack plugs that airlines use for some reason….

      If you are wanting to buy, hold off until Black Friday, 2 years ago there were on offer on Amazon, but not last year IIRC.

      Enjoy First, lots of people knock the BA product, but its still a great way to fly!

  • LEE says:

    talking of headphones I want to use my own on my flight in first class on the dreamliner 787-9 with the new BA first class cabin does anyone know if I need an adaptor or is it a standard headphone jack ?

    • Lewis Watson says:

      It’s a standard head phone jack on economy and club. I couldn’t say for first but would imagine it’s the same

      • Andrew* says:

        I ended up using the BA provided ones in F (it was a 747, LHR-JFK) as the adaptor that I have for my Bose QC15 – in-ear noise cancelling ones – didn’t fit the BA socket.

        I’m guessing this is to do with the fact that the headphones (which apparently won’t work off the plane) get their power from the plane socket…

        I have used the Bose airline adaptor fine on KLM flights before…

  • Alex W says:

    OT. The Alitalia Freccia Alata card proves its uselessness once again. Not allowed in Delta Sky Club for US domestic flights, apparently. However, I managed to get in with an expired Amex Plat!

    • HAM76 says:

      SkyTeam has lounge access based time n status only on international flights. Domestic will only get you into lounges where you have status.

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

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