Bits: excellent Virgin East Coast sale, Heathrow Airport Parking sale, 3000 Avios with Rocketmiles

News in brief:

Virgin East Coast launches an impressive sale

A number of HfP readers have been in touch this week to highlight some of the good deals they had picked up in the Virgin Trains sale on the East Coast line.

The Superfly sale runs until 9pm tomorrow.  You can book for travel until 23rd March.

Prices are lower, apparently, than the last sale held under State ownership of the line.  London to Leeds starts at £5 each way, London to Newcastle is from £10 and London to Edinburgh from £15.

Heathrow Airport Parking launches a January sale

You can’t move for sale deals at the moment.  Even Heathrow Airport Parking has got in on the act.

If you book before 7th February, you can currently book the long stay car parks from £4.49 per day based on a 6+ day booking.  Meet & Greet is available from £8.49 per day based on a 7+ day booking.

More information can be found here.  The last day to park is 23rd March.

Don’t forget my ‘secret tips’ for easier or cheaper Heathrow parking – using JustPark or booking a ‘sleep and park’ deal at the Thistle and using the driverless pods to reach Terminal 5.

Get 3,000 miles with your first Rocketmiles hotel booking

I mentioned hotel booking site Rocketmiles recently when I touched on their Thanksgiving promotion.  All of this week until today (and apologies for not running this deal earlier) you will earn 3,000 bonus airline miles if you are a new customer.

This includes British Airways Executive Club for Avios as well as various other airline schemes.

The 3,000 bonus miles is on top of the standard earnings from your booking.  Whilst you need to book today, the stay can be for a future date.

As with Kaligo.com and Pointshound, you need to be careful when you book as prices tend to jump around quite a bit.  If you can find a hotel which is priced very similar to what you would pay elsewhere, the bonus miles make it a bargain.

Remember that you will not receive points in any hotel loyalty scheme for your stay as these bookings are treated as non-qualifying.  You will also not receive a VAT receipt which may be an issue for small businesses booking a hotel inside the EU.

The booking page for the deal – which is only available to new customers – is here.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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 Mastercard

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

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 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

30,000 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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.