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Bits: Heathrow protest today, Etihad sale, update on 40,000 Nectar points deal

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News in brief:

Heathrow anti-expansion protest today may cause delays

British Airways has issued an advisory warning due to a protest against Heathrow Airport expansion which will take place today, Saturday.

To quote:

A peaceful demonstration against airport expansion is expected to take place at Heathrow Airport on Saturday 1 October.

Heathrow Airport is working with the Metropolitan Police who will manage any protest activities in and around the airport or terminal facilities.

Roads around Heathrow may see a period of disruption around the middle of the day and customers travelling to/from the airport may wish to allow extra time for their journey.

Etihad A380

Etihad launches 96 hour sale – with bonus miles

Etihad is running a sale this weekend which runs until Monday evening.

As well as some decent prices in Business Class, the airline is offering 15,000 bonus Etihad Guest miles for every Business Class flight.  Economy flights will attract a 5,000 mile bonus.

Whilst Etihad Guest was devalued sharply last year, the ability to top up your account via American Express Membership Rewards, the UK Etihad credit card, the HSBC Premier credit card and Heathrow Rewards makes their miles flexible.  You can also redeem across the full Etihad Airways Partners alliance.

Here are some headline business class fares from London.

  • Abu Dhabi £1,500
  • Bangkok £1,550
  • Mumbai £1,552
  • Johannesburg £2,191
  • Perth £2,600
  • Melbourne £2,600

Whilst these are not the cheapest deals seen this Winter, you need to remember that I rate the Etihad A380 Business Class Studio as the best seat on the market.  Heathrow will be operating a 100% A380 service from November.

These deals can be booked for travel until June 2017.  Full details are on the Etihad website here.

Update on the ‘40,000 Nectar points’ credit card deal

Yesterday I wrote an article about the attractive American Express Nectar credit card promotion which launches today.  If you are targetted via the Nectar app or website, you will receive a whopping 40,000 Nectar points for signing up.

Full details of the card are here although you should not sign up via this page.

This is worth at least – in the worse case scenario – £200 to spend at Sainsbury’s, easyJet, Expedia etc.  However, if you use your points wisely during special offers, you could get as high as £400.

I missed out a key point in the early version of the article yesterday which was the version emailed out.

Anyone who is targetted will receive the 40,000 points as long as they have not had a Nectar credit card in the last six months.  That statement was correct.

However … the terms and conditions state that you only receive the first year of membership for free if you have not had any Amex-issued Amex cards in the last six months.  That will disqualify 95% of HFP readers, who will have a BA Amex, Amex Gold, Amex Platinum, Starwood Amex or similar.

You WILL still get the 40,000 points but you need to be resigned to paying the £25 fee.  This is still very small in contrast to the sign-up bonus, however, and is refundable pro-rata if you cancel the card.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current 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 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 card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus 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

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Category

British Airways and Avios, Etihad and Etihad Guest

Comments (107)

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

  • Will Squires says:
    1 Oct1 October 09:44

    Gutted I’m not targeted for the Amex 🙁

    • Liz says:
      1 Oct1 October 09:55

      I don’t have it either ! 🙁

    • Michael says:
      1 Oct1 October 13:38

      James I don’t think that’s true – if I go direct to Amex is still says fee waiver is only for true newbies, which I’m not. So it’s 20k for £25 fee for those of us (sadly) not targeted. I might wait and see if they expand the selection in a week or two.

  • Ed says:
    1 Oct1 October 09:49

    I guess this will also apply to Iberia miles which are a better deal from Accor. See ton last post on the Accor triple miles offer

    • Rob says:
      1 Oct1 October 09:53

      Yes, BA is not the best way to collect from Accor as Iberia gives twice as many Avios per €1. And the current ‘10000 Avios for 4 x 2-night Accor stays’ is even better.

  • Boris says:
    1 Oct1 October 09:58

    Ah.

    Singapore Airlines Geography

    Joining Krisflyer for the purpose of Star Gold, but their compulsory “Province” list for the UK does not include my County (or Notts, Cornwall or Northumberland for that matter). And it does include “North England”.

    Someone has been reading the Daily Metropolitan.

    Oooops.

  • Douglas Grimshaw says:
    1 Oct1 October 09:59

    Ref nectar – How to know if targeted? Nectar account offers 40k, but when clicking on link to Amex shows only 20k?

    • Rob says:
      1 Oct1 October 10:14

      That is correct. As long as you apply that way you will get the extra 20k from Nectar.

    • Singing Dwarf says:
      1 Oct1 October 10:18

      Anyone fancy posting a direct URL for the offer – should be able to get this from your account.

  • dave says:
    1 Oct1 October 11:07

    just signed up for new nectar account.
    only 20k on offer.
    https://www.nectar.com/collecting-points/sponsors/nectar-credit-card

    • Anon says:
      1 Oct1 October 13:07

      Then clearly you signed up for the old not new offer

      • wetboy1uk says:
        1 Oct1 October 14:01

        There is only one offer for 20,000 showing though as of today so clearly not an old offer

    • Rob says:
      1 Oct1 October 18:18

      It won’t be there. It will be under your personalised offers on the home page.

  • wetboy1uk says:
    1 Oct1 October 14:00

    I am not seeing the 40,000 points offer either. How do you knwo if you are targeted for it?

    • Rob says:
      1 Oct1 October 14:32

      It will show on the Nectar app or on their site when you log in.

      • wetboy1uk says:
        1 Oct1 October 15:13

        Should the nectar page show me 40,000 or 20,000 points? ie is it 20,000 from nectar and 20,000 from amex or will the nectar page confirm it is 40,000? Getting a bit confused as my nectar page is only showing 20,000

        • Roger says:
          1 Oct1 October 15:19

          Well on Nectar App and website for me it showed 40000 points but on Amex Application site it only says 20000 points, but in the end it should all work out OK.
          I also have email from Nectar saying 40000 points so can show that to CS if need be.

          • wetboy1uk says:
            1 Oct1 October 18:03

            where on the website did you find the 40,000 points showing up?

          • Rob says:
            1 Oct1 October 18:09

            Log in and see you personalised offers on the first page. It is either there or it isn’t. Or download the app and scroll through the offers tab.

      • Clive says:
        1 Oct1 October 18:34

        Would be nice if somebody could please post the URL to the offer showing on their Nectar page, so that those without it can see if it works for them…

  • Simon Branson says:
    1 Oct1 October 14:07

    this is poorly worded there is no 40k offer. This would mean £800 on double up which is inaccurate.

    • Genghis says:
      1 Oct1 October 14:31

      There is 40k on offer for me. As nectar points are generally valued at 0.5p, double up means 1p so 40k = £400. Where do you get £800 from?

    • Rob says:
      1 Oct1 October 18:13

      Most of us have a 40k offer showing in our Nectar accounts. Not all of us, but most of us.

      • Clive says:
        1 Oct1 October 18:35

        What evidence do you have for that !?!

        • Geoff says:
          1 Oct1 October 18:43

          Yes, got it on two accounts

        • Rob says:
          2 Oct2 October 08:28

          That is based on the number of people who have posted on here that they don’t have the offer, which isn’t many.

          • Michael says:
            2 Oct2 October 10:06

            For those who don’t have it, is there any way of forcing it? Would Nectar CS be able to add it?

          • Oh! Matron! says:
            3 Oct3 October 09:02

            I don’t have it either

          • Clive says:
            3 Oct3 October 13:53

            Thats why I posted asking for a URL the other day. I wondered if it would work for others that way.

          • Clive says:
            3 Oct3 October 13:55

            Its just on the original post that you said “it seems very widespread”.

            I just wondered how you knew that, when nobody had had the opportunity to post that they did not have the offer on their account?

            Did you get insider information from Nectar/Amex about the scope of the offer – or were you making a rash assumption?

          • Alan says:
            3 Oct3 October 19:09

            I think you’ll find it was already discussed multiple times in the comments here on HfP the day before Rob wrote the article…

  • Roger says:
    1 Oct1 October 15:06

    Applied but not sure why (I have 2 credit + 1 Charge card from Amex), the online decision process said….cannot approve online…wait for 10 days….

    Will wait and see.
    During application it also said first year is fee free however only showed 20000 nectar points as bonus.

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

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