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Bits: TAP launches London City, generous SAS / Hertz deal, KLM drops free bags for BlueBiz

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News in brief:

TAP launches flights from London City

In a surprising move, Portuguese national carrier TAP has announced a new service from London City Airport to Lisbon.   One possible reason I saw yesterday is that it is a potential prelude to a sale of TAP’s 06.00 Heathrow departure slot, which could presumably be used for an early morning arrival by a long-haul carrier.

Launching at the start of the winter timetable on 29th October, the City service will operate twice daily during the week with one flight a day on Saturday and Sunday.

TAP is a member of Star Alliance if you are considering earning and redemption options.

Generous SAS EuroBonus / Hertz deal

The SAS frequent flyer scheme, EuroBonus, has launched a very generous deal with Hertz.  If you rent a lot of cars, or fancy doing the car equivalent of a mattress run, you could nicely from this.

As you can see here, you will earn 5,000 SAS EuroBonus miles for every Hertz rental you make before 30th June, for pick up before 30th September.

There is no minimum rental period, except in the US and Canada where a minimum of three days is required.

EuroBonus is a member of Star Alliance so you could use your points to book flights on any Star airline – including the new TAP flight I wrote about above!  You can also use EuroBonus points for hotel stays – I did this last year to book a night at the 5-star The May Fair in London for 20,000 points.

Details can be found on the Hertz site here.

KLM drops free baggage for BlueBiz and corporate customers

Whilst KLM brought in baggage charges on short haul flights back in 2013, they gave an exception for the first checked bag to travellers on corporate deals or those who were members of the corporate BlueBiz scheme.

You can learn more about BlueBiz here if your company is not already a member.

This exception was quietly dropped on 1st April.  Even if your company is a member of BlueBiz or has a corporate deal with KLM, you must now pay for all checked baggage on short-haul flights. 

How to earn Flying Blue miles from UK credit cards

How to earn Flying Blue miles from UK credit cards (April 2024)

Air France and KLM do not have a UK Flying Blue credit card.  However, you can earn Flying Blue miles by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.

These cards earn Membership Rewards points:

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:1 into Flying Blue miles which is an attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 1 Flying Blue mile. The Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it.

Category

Air France KLM and Flying Blue, Hertz and Gold Plus Rewards

Comments (121)

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

  • SteveB says:
    20 Apr20 April 20:54

    OT, I see that all of my stays for the IHG Accelerate Q1 2017 promotion have now posted including stays right up to 15 Apr. Points not yet posted to account though.

    Only one not recognised is for IHG spend on Creation card despite several transactions being more that the 6-8 wks referenced in the T&Cs. Wondering if anyone else has received points for cc spend yet?

    • Roger says:
      20 Apr20 April 20:59

      Mine is posted but not all.
      One I checked out on 14th April posted but one checked out on a different hotel and different city is still not posted.

      Good to see Accelerate dash board working again.
      From past experience any idea how long before points hit IHG account?
      I know it says allow 2/3 weeks.

      • Roger says:
        20 Apr20 April 21:01

        And same as you I have not received any points for transaction on IHG Black card – HG® Rewards Club Premium Credit Card

    • Michael says:
      20 Apr20 April 22:11

      Hi Steve – same issue here. Seems to take them over 6 weeks to recognise anything related to the Creation IHG card. But I have been assured it will hit the account.

      • Genghis says:
        21 Apr21 April 12:03

        +1. Raised a complaint. They promised to get back to me by COP today.

  • Nick says:
    20 Apr20 April 22:38

    OT – does anyone know what Carlson Gold normally gets (or should get) in terms of recognition at Park Inn? I’ve just checked in and there was nothing at all, just wondered if it’s worth a comment at reception tomorrow or whether I’d be wasting my time as I shouldn’t have expected anything.

    • Kai says:
      20 Apr20 April 22:43

      Stayed at Park Inn Cardiff Centre last weekend. No upgrade (hotel was full) but got slippers and robes in both rooms, paid for breakfast. In theory they should offer some welcome gifts but didn’t bother to ask.

      • Nick says:
        20 Apr20 April 23:21

        Thanks. Not even that here, think I’ll mention it (as a throwaway comment if nothing else) at check-out in the morning. Even a ‘welcome back mr smith’ would have been something at least.

    • The_real_a says:
      21 Apr21 April 02:37

      Yes i recieved a delicious mint club biscuit at the park inn outside cardiff in recognition of my gold status. Outside the uk i normally get the business class room but no free breakfast. In not sure all park inns have better rooms in the uk.

    • Nick Burch says:
      21 Apr21 April 06:13

      It’s worth mentioning it – they sometimes forget to put it out, or shuffle the rooms round and it ends up in the one you were going to get. Generally at a UK Park Inn it’s just a drinks bottle or two and some sort of snack. Let them know and they’ll normally sort it on the spot.

  • Kathy says:
    20 Apr20 April 22:39

    Has anyone has their Economist Avios yet?

  • Brasov says:
    21 Apr21 April 00:56

    The Iberia comp was won by Gemma Paine

    • the real harry1 says:
      21 Apr21 April 06:12

      does she recognisably figure on the HFP email subscribers list?

      • Rob says:
        21 Apr21 April 09:40

        There are 2 ‘paine’ on the list but neither is a Gemma!

        • The Original Nick says:
          21 Apr21 April 20:07

          Maybe she’ll become a subscriber.

          • the real harry1 says:
            21 Apr21 April 20:20

            my wife pinches my email address all the time (& Paine is not too common)

            Ms Gemma Paine – step forward!

  • Mark T says:
    21 Apr21 April 20:06

    Like the TAP flights a lot. Only £101 return too, v.good. And a few more Flybe flights starting in the winter too.

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