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Bits: bizarre new easyJet service, hidden IHG Accelerate goals, airberlin cancellations

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News in brief:

easyJet launches new ‘check in your hand baggage’ service

No, 1st April has not come early.  easyJet really did launch a new service yesterday called ‘Hands Free’.

Apparently, many people who travel with just hand baggage – in order to avoid queuing to check in a bag, waiting for its return on arrival and risking that it never arrives at all – arrive at the airport and decide that they made a mistake.

Luckily for you, easyJet can now help you.  For just £4 per bag, you can now queue up and check in your hand baggage.

This will give you “a stress free experience” because “[you] do not need to …. carry it around the airport”.

(You need to offset from this, of course, the stress of wondering whether you will see your bag again or wondering what state it will be in after 50 suitcases have been sat on top of it for two hours.)

The upside is that your bag will have a “Priority” tag on it which means that it will come our first at your arrival airport.  Because we all know how effective those “Priority” tags are …..

You can also board in the first group after the “Speedy Boarding” people have boarded ….. but, as you won’t have any hand baggage to put in an overhead locker, why bother boarding first?!  Why not board last and give your knees a break?

However, what do I know?  Andrew Middleton, Ancillary Revenue Director at easyJet said:  “We’ve seen a fantastic response from customers upgrading to the ‘Hands Free’ experience and we’re confident once you go ‘Hands Free’ you’ll never want to drag cabin baggage through the airport again.”

You can find out more on the easyJet website here.

See your hidden extra IHG Accelerate challenges

IHG’s Accelerate promotion, which starts on 1st September, is likely to be the most generous hotel promotion this Autumn.  

You can learn more about IHG Accelerate in this article.  It may be worth diverting some stays towards Holiday Inn, HI Express, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental, Hotel Indigo etc if your personal target is attractive.

There appear to be some ‘hidden’ extra targets too.

Go to the page of the Accelerate website which shows your personal targets and click ‘print’.  You don’t need to actually print anything.  Go into ‘Print Preview’ and scroll down.

You should see four additional targets which may well be publicly revealed to you as the weeks go on.  I have:

October Bonus – earn 5,000 points for one stay during October

November Bonus – earn 5,000 points for one stay during November

December Bonus – earn 5,000 points for one stay during December

Final Week Bonus – earn 2,000 points for a stay between 24th and 31st December

It isn’t 100% certain that these ‘hidden’ targets will eventually become part of my official Accelerate goals, but it seems likely.  You may want to reassess whether Accelerate makes sense for you, and when you will make your qualifying stays, in light of these extra bonuses.

My main article on Accelerate is here.  Thanks to the readers who sent this across.

airberlin

airberlin cancels long-haul flights

Unfortunately the airberlin bankruptcy saga is getting worse.  A report in German newspaper Bild yesterday said that long-haul flights from Berlin to Abu Dhabi, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco will end on 1st October.  Flights from Dusseldorf to Boston are also scrapped.

All other long-haul routes are, for now, still timetabled to operate.

If you have an Avios booking on any of these routes, you should contact British Airways to see what is available.  The article suggests that passengers will be rerouted on Lufthansa but that may not apply to redemption tickets.  Some routes can also be rerouted via airberlin services from Dusseldorf.

If you have an airberlin long-haul booking on another route, I recommend checking daily to ensure it is still operating.  The MyFlights app can do this for you, if you have an iPhone, but as it only checks once every 48 hours you should manually refresh your booking daily.

Unfortunately, my thought that Lufthansa would seemlessly takeover the long-haul routes with no loss of service does not seem realistic now.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

IHG One Rewards, oneworld alliance partners

Comments (103)

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

  • Graham Walsh says:
    30 Aug30 August 08:27

    What’s people’s views on staying say at a IHG property on points/point+cash? Do you think you are treated differently than a cash paying guest?

    • John says:
      30 Aug30 August 09:54

      I’ve never been treated differently but I am Spire and I don’t stay in ICs.

      (btw, hotels do not know if you do cash&points, it shows up as points only)

      • Graham Walsh says:
        30 Aug30 August 14:42

        At the David IC Tel Aviv this week and I’m Platium Elite. I booked using points+cash. Checked in and told I was given an upgrade to a balcony. Ok thanks I’ll take that. Went to the room and it was a twin room with beds moved around and a camp bed setup. Ok fine hopefully one of the kids would take it. Clearly not!! Welcome letter and fruit/wine and all was good.

        Went down the first morning to see what breakfast was all about and their comment was sorry sir because you booked with points that will be $30 for an adult and $24 per child (6 & 4 yr old). Now my children probably eat ½ a bagel each for breakfast so I decided to pass. A very different experience from IC Dublin (kids were free) and CP Times Sq where it was $10 for me and kids free.

        Due to my comment on twitter I got a call about 24hrs later from reception offering me lounge access for $80 a day and kids would be allowed in. I decided to pass on this generous offer.

        It seems a global brand has franchised out so much it can’t keep consistency of rules and standards which is frustrating as you sort of become used to it.

        No wonder all the other IHG properties in Tel Aviv were full, this was the only one accepting points.

        Anyway, Roll on the next accelerate bonus to build up for next years holiday.

        • Genghis says:
          30 Aug30 August 14:52

          It’s best to assume that you’re not going to get anything by way of breakfast from any IHG hotel – if you do it’s a bonus.

          I stayed at the Indigo in Tel Aviv on points on a Friday night (essentially a place to rest my head after having been to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea prior to an early morning flight out) and it was seriously in the sticks. Struggled to find anything open due to the Sabbath (though did eventually) as the hotel’s shabbat buffet certainly didn’t appeal.

          The David IC isn’t far from where I stayed when I had to be in Tel Aviv for work. There’s some decent cafe’s on Rothschild Boulevard if you’re looking for somewhere for breakfast.

          • Genghis says:
            30 Aug30 August 14:54

            “cafes” – no idea how that apostrophe snuck in there

          • Graham Walsh says:
            30 Aug30 August 15:17

            Good point. Expect no extras (which I wasn’t really but was spoilt in the US) but enjoy the discounted hotel rate. Visited many local places. All been very good. This IC is $379 a night for a balcony room, where I paid about $100 a night.

            I actually have a work colleague that refuses to eat at hotels. He prefers to get out and sample the local culture.

    • Rob says:
      30 Aug30 August 10:18

      Rarely. When I was at the IC Amstel in Amsterdam in June they upgraded me (on points, as a Spire Elite / Ambassador) from a street view to a river view room. At the same time, people who had paid €600 per night had no view at all because their windows were covered with plastic sheeting due to the restoration work on the facade that is going on.

      • Rom says:
        30 Aug30 August 18:03

        + 1 you get treated nicely at IC Amstel if spire ambassador; email beforehand to ask for an upgrade

    • mark2 says:
      30 Aug30 August 10:28

      In June we stayed for one night at a Holiday Inn in downtown Vancouver on points. I am Spire and to my amazement they upgraded us to an enormous suite (in HI!). Breakfast was rubbish and very expensive. My only stay of the year so that I can match for Hilton Gold (perhaps).

  • Jamesay says:
    30 Aug30 August 08:33

    If it’s as effective as some speedy boarding where you pay to get on a bus early then it’s worth just as much! i.e. Nothing!

    • flyforfun says:
      30 Aug30 August 13:41

      Left from Gatwick last week from a bus gate and they did say Speedy Boarding only. However I don’t think she checked as some old geezer made a remark when on board to the FA saying was there some sort of priority boarding as he just got on the bus.

  • Rich says:
    30 Aug30 August 08:46

    O/T – hi all. Quick question concerning credit card referrals. If my wife (BA blue Amex) recommends me for a card, and I select the BAPP instead of the free card, do all the referral bonuses go through still? I know this works for the PRG and Platinum referrals, and wanted to check it’s also the case for the BA cards.

    Cheers,

    Rich

  • Mahomed Jogiat says:
    30 Aug30 August 08:59

    Hi – I get 3k bonus for each month . Thanks for pointing that out .

  • roberto says:
    30 Aug30 August 09:02

    Re hand luggage but slightly O/T… I flew Ryan Air this week from Malaga and they must have taken 60+ roller bags off people at the plane door.

    I had a great view from 1A. The bags were tagged , presumably at the gate and no one seem to complain or mind.

    There were 49 people in “priority boarding” and they were allowed to take bags onboard but I guess Ryan Air have a limit and enforced the cut off some time durring main boarding.

    Mr O’Leary certainly runs a tight ship and the flight was, on time, actually quite comfatable, very well catered and professionally staffed. Unlike Stansted which was a zoo.

    • Polly says:
      30 Aug30 August 10:47

      Ryan air only allow the 1st 90 bags on board so they start taking bags off people asap…amazing as they need to be offloaded by paid staff the other end. Must be worth it somehow…

  • john says:
    30 Aug30 August 09:49

    How can Easyjet say “We’ve seen a fantastic response from customers upgrading to the ‘Hands Free’ experience” if they only launched it yesterday?!

    • Rob says:
      30 Aug30 August 10:09

      They have been trialling it on flights from France, apparently.

      • Lumma says:
        30 Aug30 August 13:21

        Flew back from Prague in July and I saw it advertised there.

        • Stephen says:
          30 Aug30 August 15:17

          I received an email offering the £4 bag service before my flight to Krakow in May this year.

  • Go says:
    30 Aug30 August 10:29

    If you have hotel status and book a redemption for a couple who do not have status, is there a way they can get the status benefits such as lounge access?

    • IanMacK says:
      30 Aug30 August 14:28

      Certainly Hyatt has a programme ‘Guest of Honor’ but I think that may only be valid for Diamond / Globalist tier members to pass to their guest redemptions. (Have also read feedback of specific Hyatt hotel (ME ?) not honouring that facility).
      Not aware of any other hotel chain doing this.
      My wife and daughter have stayed at two hotel chains in London on my status redemptions when I was ‘missing’ on work trip abroad …

      • JK says:
        31 Aug31 August 04:48

        Hilton have honoured my status when I’ve booked rooms for other people… upgrade & breakfast etc. I was Plat & Gold. I think it’s hotel specific though, in both cases these were good Hiltons that do a lot for status guests. YMMV….

  • JamesB says:
    30 Aug30 August 10:54

    OT: Has anybody received any promotion or account credit when attampting to cancel their Hilton credit card recently? In the past I always found their retention team quite generous but the only thing they would offer today was 6 months interest free credit which is useless to me. I guess this is another downsude to the fee cap.

    • Crafty says:
      30 Aug30 August 14:11

      Nothing offered at all.

      • JamesB says:
        30 Aug30 August 15:57

        Did you go ahead and cancel Crafty? My thinking is to cancel now and reapply in January (if theres no restriction) in hope of another free night and 4 x 2500 points.

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