Thank you for visiting Head for Points. This page will explain more about the site, about me, and about what you will find here if you choose to become a regular reader (which I hope you do!).
What is Head for Points?
Head for Points is the only widely-read UK blog dedicated exclusively to collecting airmiles and hotel loyalty points.
If you have an Avios account or are an enthusiastic British Airways Executive Club, Virgin Flying Club, Hilton HHonors, Priority Club, Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest, BAA WorldPoints, American Express Membership Rewards etc etc member, then this is the place you have been looking for!
Who writes it?
My name is Raffles. Well, not my real name, but the name I use on various online travel forums such as Flyertalk, Milepoint and TripAdvisor.
I launched Head for Points in mid 2012. The time seemed to be right for a dedicated UK blog focussed on collecting Avios points.
In April 2013, Head for Points generated 217,000 page views (WP numbers) from 32,000 unique visitors to the website. A further 95,000 posts were distributed via email and RSS and 80,000 post summaries were sent out via Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. 76% of readers are UK based.
What qualifies you to write Head for Points?
Posting as Raffles, I have been a leading contributor to Flyertalk since 2004.
More importantly, I have redeemed over 3 million British Airways Executive Club and bmi Diamond Club miles over the last decade. I currently have over 2.5 million Avios points and 6 million airline, hotel and credit card points in total.
You don’t get to those sort of numbers without learning a few tricks of the trade, which I hope to share here.
Why did you start the site?
One year before we launched, in mid 2011, the UK still had three major frequent flier currencies – BA Miles, Air Miles and bmi’s Diamond Club miles.
Within a few months, the acquisition of bmi by British Airways and the creation of a new scheme to replace Air Miles and BA Miles had shrunk this to just one currency – Avios. And the active membership of all four schemes, including Iberia Plus, is over 5.7 million people.
If you want to fly for free from the UK, you need to understand how to earn and spend Avios airmiles. You need to understand how to collect as many as possible, as easily as possible. And you need to know how to redeem them as effectively as possible. That is what this blog is all about.
You can learn more about the history of Avios and my philosophy on collecting them by clicking on ‘The Avios Habit‘ in the menu bar.
What do you write about?
There are usually two or three new posts each day. About 50% of the posts on Head for Points are about Avios points – how to earn them easily and cheaply and how to spend them most effectively. This means we cover:
- avios.com
- British Airways Executive Club
- Iberia Plus
We also cover other loyalty schemes which allow you to convert your points into Avios:
- American Express Membership Rewards
- BAA WorldPoints
- Tesco Clubcard
The other 50% of posts cover other airline, hotel and rail loyalty schemes of interest to someone based in the UK. These include:
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Miles & More
- Club Carlson
- Hilton HHonors
- Hyatt Gold Passport
- Marriott Rewards
- Priority Club
- Starwood Preferred Guest
- Avis Preferred
- Hertz No 1 Club
- East Coast Rewards
- Eurostar Frequent Traveller
… although, in reality, I will write about any scheme if it is offering a special promotion that I don’t want you to miss.
The blog also contains the UK’s leading loyalty credit card guide – click on ‘Credit Cards Update’, our comprehensive directory of UK airline and hotel credit cards, in the menu bar.
If you are a new reader to Head for Points, you can catch up with some of the most useful articles published since our launch by clicking on the ‘Favourite Posts‘ tab.
How can I receive Head for Points each day?
The best to way to read Head for Points is to bookmark www.headforpoints.com and check back daily to see what is new. New posts are usually uploaded by 7.30am UK time, seven days a week.
Alternatively, you can receive each new post by email, directly in your inbox. Simply fill in your email address in the box marked ‘Subscribe to New Posts’ that you will find in the right hand margin alongside every post.
If you use an RSS reader such as Google Reader or Feedly, you can add us to your RSS feed by clicking on the icon in the sidebar.
If you visit the site in the morning, or take the RSS or email feed, it is worth popping back to the website later in the day to see the comments left by other readers. These often add valuable extra information (or correct my mistakes!).
You can also follow us on Facebook, Google+ and on Twitter. You will receive a summary of each new post in your feed and you can click through to read the full article if it sounds interesting.
Over 1,900 people currently subscribe to the email, RSS, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter feeds, so you will be in good company.
How can I contact you?
See the ‘Contact Me‘ page in the black menu bar
How is Head for Points funded?
Head for Points is funded via three routes – advertising on the site, our affiliate partners and via American Express, British Airways, Virgin Flying Club and Tesco credit card referrals.
None of the content on Head for Points is reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the companies with which I have a commercial relationship.
Advertising on the site
We use Google to deliver advertising to the site. Our privacy policy regarding advertising data can be found on the ‘Contact Me’ page.
Affiliate partners
Our affiliate partners – whose logos you will see in the right hand margin – are Amazon, ebay, InterContinental Hotels Group (InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Indigo) and Hilton. Clicking on those logos will take you through to the relevant site.
Our aim at Head for Points is to always offer you the best value deal in every circumstance. Hilton, InterContinental Hotels Group, ebay and Amazon are not available on cashback sites such as Quidco or the Avios e-store so you will not be losing out by using our links. (TopCashBack does list Hilton but you can only receive your payment in Tesco Clubcard points, not cash.)
With Hilton, we receive a commission on any hotel booked worldwide, excluding North America, when not booked under a corporate rate. With InterContinental Hotels Group, we receive a commission on any hotel booking.
With Amazon, we receive a commission on all orders placed through the UK site. (Please note that a small number of niche Amazon product categories are offered on Quidco, but they represent only a tiny percentage of Amazon’s product lines.)
With ebay, we receive a commission for any action you complete. This includes buying an item, listing an item or just placing a bid.
I also have a referral link to cashback site TopCashBack. This is an exciting new way of collecting Avios or Flying Club miles, as you can now choose to have your cashback sent to Tesco Clubcard, from where you can convert it into miles. More information on TopCashBack can be found here.
American Express, Virgin Flying Club and Tesco MasterCard card referrals
I am happy to refer readers who want to apply for the British Airways American Express credit cards, the American Express Platinum or Preferred Rewards Gold charge cards, the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club White or Black credit cards or the Tesco MasterCard.
I receive some Membership Rewards points, Virgin Flying Club miles or Clubcard points in return for referring you, and you receive a bigger sign-up bonus than you would otherwise receive. Further details on card referrals can be found on the ‘Credit Cards Update‘ page.
I may also receive a commission if you use some of the American Express links on the site.
Follow us on Facebook, Google+, Twitter and RSS