Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Clearing my inbox – lots of news in just one article

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

I have decided to make a determined effort to clear my inbox of stories this week!

Here are a few things which are worth a look but which I have been sitting on for a while because I couldn’t justify a full post:

Virgin Atlantic launches a sale for flights until March 2015

Virgin has launched a one-month sale covering all travel classes.  You can fly at any point up to the end of March 2015.  Full details on the Virgin site here.

Airport Angel members get access to the great Plaza Premium lounge in Heathrow Terminal 2

Airport Angel is a (much smaller) competitor to Priority Pass which gives members airport lounge access.  You can get access via the Barclays Premier Life package and there may be other deals as well.  Whilst Priority Pass does not have a deal with Plaza Premium at Heathrow, Airport Angel does as you can see from the search box on their home page.  This is an impressive perk.

Hilton / Virgin promotion from the Spring finally settled

Back in March, Hilton offered 6,000 Virgin Flying Club miles for completing three stays – an impressive deal.  Unfortunately, Hilton – due to an administrative, technical, IT or whatever oversight – did not award the miles to anyone who had registered for a similar Virgin deal in 2013.

According to reader Steve, Hilton is now finally on top of this.  If you were missing Virgin miles from this promotion then you should have received them in the last two weeks.  If not, it is worth contacting Hilton again.

Taxi sculpture Terminal 2 Heathrow

Heathrow Terminal 2 has unveiled a sculpture of a red taxi inside the terminal

…. by Benedict Radcliffe, which gets around the problem of what picture I should insert into this article.

Ikea now accepts American Express cards ….

…. according to reader Tim, although old signage to the contrary may still be up.

As has ParentPay for a few months now ….

…. if your kids school uses that to collect money for lunch, outings etc.

… and the DVLA should be fully taking Amex from September

So far this year, only the ‘original’ DVLA site has taken Amex whilst the beta version of their new site did not.  The new site is scheduled to take Amex from September.

FoundersCard offering 10% discount on British Airways tickets

Entrepreneur / small business group FoundersCard is now offering a 10% discount on BA fares to its members.  Unlike their other airline partners, this applies to UK departures as well as US departures (FoundersCard is a US group).  More details here.  Do your research on FoundersClub first though.

The My Flights app saves my bacon

I wrote recently about the My Flights app.  It is the only flight tracking app which actually checks your booking on a regular basis against Amadeus and Sabre.  Most commonly, you will be alerted about a change of plane, a minor time change or a change of seats.

This week, though, My Flights came through in a big way.  I had a flight ticket which had been arranged by telephone, not email.  The reservation was created, I had been able to select seats etc and I left it at that.  A week later I had an email from My Flights to say that my reservations had disappeared.  And it had.  The airline involved had forgotten to issue the ticket and so the reservation had automatically been cancelled after a week.  I would have been in serious doo-dah had My Flights not alerted me.

Comments (38)

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

  • Craig says:

    I am applying for the Amex gold for my partner and I have a question you may be able to answer. If I add myself as a supplementary card holder, can I use both lounge passes without her being there? Thanks

    • jamesD says:

      why not wait a while, get her to invite you to be a gold card holder in your own right, this way you would both get an additional sign up bonus – and your own loung passes….

  • Simon says:

    I think you can also use 3v cards with ParentPay.

  • Dominic says:

    Am I going blind? I can’t see anything about BA on the Founders Card travel section….??

  • Louie says:

    Just thought I’d point out re the Airport Angels membership via Barclays Premier Life comment that unfortunately “Our Premier Life account is no longer available but if you have one, you can still take advantage of all the benefits we’ve listed here”.

    • jamesD says:

      I dont have a premier life account – but do have a premier account…. it didnt seem to make a difference when applying – there is a code on the webpage – just use that to sign up with.
      JD

  • Bridgit says:

    Great info, thanks. Do you know if I can use Virgin miles to upgrade the economy flights please?

  • Varth Dader says:

    You didn’t mention the Tesco/Avios bonus !?

  • Luke says:

    Agreed, It was a long decision to finally make the jump. The 10% off of BA helped greatly.
    The hotel rates are decent, BA saving paid for my membership to be honest.

    Tripit is quite a good service which is free for a year.
    The $495 is an offer they normally have on. I got it for $395 and got a $100 “amex gift voucher” which ended up being a paypal payment. If you ask them for this offer they will likely still give it, seem to be good for that sort of thing.

    Overall, if you have a big trip to spend on you can use the discount to fund the extra benefits.

    • Polly says:

      Is there any lounge access anywhere with it? Ie like PP or is there any status level with it for any airline, hotel ext like the Cx gold?

    • Dominic says:

      Could Luke, or anyone else who has done this, possibly clarify the details of the BA benefits? It is really a genuine 10% on ANY fare you can find? The shareholders 10% discount forbids then upgrading the ticket you have purchased with Avios – any issues like that? Many thanks!

    • Richard says:

      I had an email from them recently offering the card for $295 (per year). Use the code FCFRIENDS when applying for membership. Supposedly running through August.

  • MilesFromBlighty says:

    My Flights is fine in the example you quote. However, they will charge you for both the iPhone and the iPad app separately if you want to view your reservations on two devices. Unusual pricing model in my experience.

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

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.