Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Happy birthday to us – Head for Points is 1 today

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It was exactly a year ago that I launched Head for Points.   I had actually started writing it at the end of May, but no-one actually knew it existed at that point!  I wanted to run it for a few weeks in private to be sure that I could actually find enough to write about and enough time to write it.

It was July 2nd last year that I put a post on FlyerTalk announcing that it had launched.  Ironically, because there was five weeks of content for people to read on the first day, I got a huge number of page views on Day 1 – it then took me six months before I hit that level again!

HFP

The original version of the site looked like this, for readers who have joined since our relaunch in February 2013 and who never saw the old ‘yellow and black’ ad-free version.

There are probably about 50 people who are responsible for how Head for Points looks today.  You may even be one of them, without knowing it.

One person recommended the designer for the logo, another the hosting company.  Someone else pointed me towards the layout, someone else helped me tweak the coding.  Someone else helped with a key HTML problem, someone else helped me with a bit of Photoshop work.  Numerous people helped me find suitable affiliate partners, someone helped me find an iPad photo-editing app etc etc.  I am extremely grateful to everyone who has helped with advice and ideas over the last 12 months, especially as my IT skills are very minimal indeed!

A lot of the most interesting posts were also triggered by reader emails, which I always enjoy receiving.  It was a reader email that persuaded me to look into the 3V cards seriously, for example.  If you have an idea for a future article, or if you receive news of an interesting promotion by email which you think is worth sharing, please do forward it on to rob at headforpoints.com.  This is genuinely a collaborative venture, since with the best will in the world I can’t keep up with every loyalty scheme.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the site and will continue to do so.  Thank you for your support so far.

Comments (80)

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

  • Gingerbread says:

    Happy Birthday HFP !

    Since the loss of the BMI Diamond Club, you’ve help fill the gap !

    Thanks !

  • Waribai says:

    Great blog. Happy first birthday!

  • Andy says:

    Happy 1st Birthday Raffles!

  • Whiskerxx says:

    Happy Birthday and a big thank you!

  • dannyrado says:

    Once upon a time I was bored on a train. I had just been to the Singapore grand prix (2010) using all of the ‘airmiles’ I had collected to fly myself, and Mrs Dannyrado at the back of a qantas jumbo jet, including a huge monetary contribution. On said train journey I thought i’d take a look at how to earn some more ‘airmiles’. (little did I know what a waste of ‘airmiles’ that was…)

    I stumbled across flyertalk, got myself a coffee, and set about reading the BA stickies. I remember starting a thread, something to the tune of which BA credit card?? I remember one respondent clearly, going by the name of ‘raffles’ he recommended not go for a BA credit card at all, but a BMI one. I’ve never looked back!

    I must say a huge thank you to raffles, we’ve had some fantastic trips. Miami on continental in businessfirst, Hong Kong on Turkish in business with chef service, Singapore on Singapore airlines, on an A380 all business upper deck (amazing.) Abu Dhabi on AirBerlin in business. Returning from Dubai in BA CW.

    I’m off on a CE reward saver tomorrow to Geneve.

    Yet to come we have BA CW to Dubai, Etihad direct home to Manchester, Swiss back out to Dubai in 2014, returning BA CW.

    I have raffles to thank for it all, and that’s without mentioning the all of the hotel ‘benefits’ secured from headforpoints tips…..

  • Simon says:

    Congratulations Raffles, long may the blog continue.

    It is the first website I visit when I switch on my pc.

  • Howard says:

    Happy Birthday. Please keep up your great work. At 62 I can still hardly sleep on a plane but thanks to flat beds I have managed to sleep the odd hour on a long flight.

    Howard

    • Howard says:

      Was out with some friends who say its not worth the effort and one friend said where are you flying from when you go to Palma next week? I said BA from City (12 mins from my house). Then I said “we are going business”. He said “that’s a waste of money”. I said its costing us £80 for two of us return’!!! Economy is £60. You should have seen his face!!!

  • Rohan says:

    Happy birthday raffles.
    Thank you , reading your blog is a morning ritual now. All the best

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

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