Bits: new American Express cashback deals, how HfP helped Paul see South America

News in brief:

New American Express statement credit deals launched

A new wave of Amex cashback offers launched yesterday.

Some, all or none of these will be available for registration under the ‘Offers’ tab of your online statement.  Unfortunately, if they are not showing, you cannot register for them on the cardmemberoffers.co.uk website.

These offers do appear on the Amex Connect site where you can register MBNA, Lloyds or Barclays-issued American Express cards.

The three new offers are:

Argos – £10 back on a £100 purchase, expires 10th January, 14000 registrations allowed

Eurostar – £20 back on a £100 purchase, expires 10th January, 14000 registrations allowed

World Duty Free – £10 back on a £70 purchase, expires 10th January, 10500 registrations allowed

These deals were added a week or so ago.  They are not on the Amex Connect site:

Costco – £10 back on a £100 purchase, expires 31st December, 10000 registrations allowed

Paul Smith – £65 back on a £350 purchase, expires 21st December, no limit on registrations but only valid in Paul Smith own-brand stores excluding factory outlets (Heathrow seem OK)

The World Duty Free offer is especially valuable as it will double-up with any £5 off coupon you may have been sent, as long as your spend after discounts is still £70 or more.  It would also tie in with the ‘3000 Avios for spending £100 at Heathrow’ offer being run by Heathrow Rewards at the moment.

The Argos deal would be triggered by gift card purchases, although for just £10 back it probably isn’t worth the bother unless you are walking past a quiet store.

How Head for Points helped Paul in South America

Reader Paul dropped me a line over the weekend after a successful two week trip which saw him visit Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Uruguay.  He listed out everything that he had done which he had learned from reading Head for Points:

Flights:

• Booked a low tax Iberia Avios redemption from Madrid to Santiago
• Booked a low tax (as no fuel surcharges from Brazil) Avios redemption on BA from São Paulo to Heathrow
• Booked a low tax LAN Avios redemption for an internal Brazil flight
• Used an American Express £50 travel statement credit against another internal flight
• Got a status match from Cathay Pacific (which he got for free from Amex Platinum) to Qantas Gold to allow him to continue to access oneworld benefits

Hotels:

• Used Hilton points to book a hotel in Madrid, with an upgrade because of the status he gained from spending on the Hilton credit card
• Booked the Pullman hotel in São Paulo during a sale featured on HfP, and gained extra benefits via his Accor Platinum status which came free with Amex Platinum

Other:

• Used Azimo to transfer money to himself in Argentina at close to the dollar blue rate, rather than the artificial official rate

New Head for Points readers may not recognise some of the deals above, such as free Cathay status with Amex Platinum (now stopped).  However, I hope it gives a good impression of what can be achieved using the ideas and offers I highlight.