Last chance: Hilton hotel sale, £1500 business class flights to Sydney or Melbourne
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News in brief:
Hilton EMEA sale ending soon
The Hilton EMEA sale which covers the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa ends on 31st January. The special landing page is here.
Whilst it is nominally called the Winter Sale, you can book for any weekend between now and the end of 2017. The sale offers a discount of up to 30% off the standard Best Available Rate if you are a Hilton HHonors member, albeit that sale rates require prepayment and are non-refundable. You receive a smaller discount (25%) if you are not logged in. This offer is for all Hilton Group hotels, including Hampton, Conrad, Waldorf-Astoria etc.
(The photo below is the Gran Hotel Montesol in Ibiza, a new member of Hilton Curio Collection. We will be reviewing it next week.)
Malaysia Airlines £1500 Sydney / Melbourne deal still available
If you have been thinking about a trip down under then you still have a couple of days to jump on this excellent deal from Malaysia Airlines.
Via Expedia, you can book London to Sydney or Melbourne in Malaysia Airlines business class for just £1,500 return.
To get this price you MUST book a ‘flight and hotel’ package. If you select the cheapest hostel option for just one night (select ‘I only want a hotel for part of my trip’) it will cost exactly £1,507 for one person to Sydney. You do not need to stay in the hostel and your return flight will not be cancelled if you don’t turn up.
Remember that Malaysia Airlines is a oneworld alliance member so your flights earn Avios and British Airways tier points. Australia would be 600 tier points return (140 + 160 + 160 + 140) which is a BA Silver card, albeit you’d still need to have flown 4 BA flights in your current card year before you were upgraded.
Between London and Kuala Lumpur you will get an A380, with an A330 onwards on most routes. The A330 business class seat is the latest version and has some very attractive solo window seats as the seating plan on this page of the Malaysia website shows.
Bangkok, Phuket and Bali are also available for around £1,100 return.
You may want to try other Asian destinations too.
Pop over to Expedia and have a play around. It is VERY easy to find dates later in the year – note that the maximum possible stay is 25 days from departure. You must travel by 26th November 2017.
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How to maximise your miles when paying for flights (April 2025)
Some UK credit cards offer special bonuses when used for buying flights. If you spend a lot on airline tickets, using one of these cards could sharply increase the credit card points you earn.
Booking flights on any airline?
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold earns double points (2 Membership Rewards points per £1) when used to buy flights directly from an airline website.
The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points. These would convert to 20,000 Avios or various other airline or hotel programmes. The standard earning rate is 1 point per £1.
You can apply here.
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.

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
Buying flights on British Airways?
The British Airways Premium Plus American Express card earns double Avios (3 Avios per £1) when used at ba.com.
The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 30,000 Avios. The standard earning rate is 1.5 Avios per £1.
You do not earn bonus Avios if you pay for BA flights on the free British Airways American Express card or either of the Barclaycard Avios Mastercards.
You can apply here.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus
30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
Buying flights on Virgin Atlantic?
Both the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard and the annual fee Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard earn double Virgin Points when used at fly.virgin.com.
This means 1.5 Virgin Points per £1 on the free card and 3 Virgin Points per £1 on the paid card.
There is a sign-up bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points on the free card and 18,000 Virgin Points on the paid card.
You can apply for either of the cards here.

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard
3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard
18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review
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