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Bits: £100 off £500 BA spend, 4000 Miles & More miles with a hotel, Troy Warfield leaves BA

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News in brief:

New £100 off a £500 British Airways spend deal with Amex

American Express is offering a very limited number of cardholders a £100 statement credit with their next £500 British Airways purchase.

If you are targetted, it will appear on your American Express online account under ‘Offers’.  It is limited to the first 7,000 people to save the offer to their card and the £500 transaction must be made by 12th June.

Neither my wife or I have this.  If you have put British Airways transactions through one of your Amex cards recently then you will probably be out of luck.   Some – but not all – HfP readers who have contacted Amex Customer Services have managed to get this offer added to their accounts even though they were not targetted.

Helpfully, £500 just covers the taxes and charges on a Club World or First Class long haul Avios redemption.

Get 4,000 Miles & More miles with any hotel booking

Lufthansa is again offering a generous bribe to encourage you to try its new hotel booking website.

It is only valid for first-time bookers via the Miles & More Hotels portal which you can find here.   There is no minimum stay and no minimum spend.  You need to book by 23rd May but the stay can be for a future date.  All bookings must be pre-paid.

The 4,000 miles is the minimum you will earn – this consists of a 3,000 miles bonus and 1,000 base miles.  You may receive more than 1,000 base miles based on the cost of your room.

British Airways BA 777X 777 9X

British Airways loses its second ‘Director of Customer Experience’

British Airways staff were told last week that Troy Warfield, BA’s ‘Director of Customer Experience’ is leaving the company after 18 months.

The announcement:

Troy Warfield, Director Customer Experience, has decided to leave British Airways.  Since joining the airline, Troy has led many customer improvements including the Gatwick and Boston Lounges, First Wing and forthcoming transformation of Club World catering, service and sleep proposition.  The process of finding a successor is now under way and an announcement will be made once an appointment is confirmed.

…. seems to be lacking the usual ‘leaves with our best wishes’, ‘we wish him success in his future career’, ‘I am sad to leave behind such a hard working group of colleagues’ etc platitudes normally found in such wording.

There were raised eyebrows when Warfield was hired, given that his previous employer (Avis Budget) is not exactly known for its outstanding customer service.  His job before Avis was running Andrex, Kleenex, Scottex and Velvet for Kimberley-Clark in Europe ….

That said, Warfield’s departure mirrors that of Frank van der Post.  van der Post was Warfield’s predecessor and the first person to have this role.  He came from a successful stint at Jumeirah Hotels – which does have a good reputation for customer experience – but he did not last too long either, albeit he went on to a senior role at KPM Royal Dutch Telecom.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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 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

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Lufthansa and Miles & More

Comments (187)

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

  • Jovanna says:
    16 May16 May 13:25

    My next flight is £199.57. Anyway to bump this over £200? On BA I could add the carbon tax. Is there a booking fee on the Amex Travel site? That would do it.

    Also, my partner has the supplementary Amex Plat card. Is there anyway that I can register that card so that she can receive these offers?

    • Gavin says:
      16 May16 May 13:37

      Yes your partner can register and use the offers. I can’t remember how I did this however for my wife. Getting her to make use of the offers is another matter altogether!

    • Simon Schus says:
      16 May16 May 17:25

      £200 with Amex Travel? Is there an offer?

    • the real harry1 says:
      16 May16 May 17:58

      I had a look last year and couldn’t find anything small to get us over £200

    • the_real_a says:
      16 May16 May 21:35

      There are some “experiences” in asia for £5-6. Try a cooking class in Chiang Mai

  • xcalx says:
    16 May16 May 13:37

    Totally OT I am travelling down to London tonight and need to get from Kings Cross to Park Royal at around 21.30. I see that both underground stations are on the Piccadilly line but when I use the TFL route planner it has me changing at a couple of tube stations then a bus. Is Park Royal under ground closed at this time. Staying at the Park Plaza Western Ave which looks to be opposite the underground station.
    Any help appreciated.

    Thanks

    • Genghis says:
      16 May16 May 13:55

      Nothing to do with the Piccadilly line going the long way round to Park Royal via Hammersmith? I.e. it might be quicker to take a couple of trains and bus?

    • bill says:
      16 May16 May 14:28

      hmm not sure why its done that, if you take away the bus option from journey planner it then gives you the option to go all the way with the Piccadilly line. No engineering works that im aware of

    • Lady London says:
      16 May16 May 18:00

      Hanger Lane on central line is half a mile or less from Park Royal station. Central line is a faster route too. Also North Acton is not far.

      For those of us who do not regularly travel in limo’s I have found googlemaps is getting really good at suggesting routings even combining buses, overland rail and underground and pretty accurate too.

      Lastly it’s always worth calling a hotel’s reception if you want to find out how to reach them

      • Genghis says:
        16 May16 May 18:05

        @Lady London I thought you’d have a driver called Parker? “Yes, M’Lady” 🙂

      • Ro says:
        17 May17 May 07:19

        Google maps is solid but its definitely worth getting the free citymapper app. Found it to be even better and much more accurate for bus arrival times.

        Also has that nice feature where it tells you what section of the tube train to sit in so you are nearest the exit

    • Rio says:
      16 May16 May 19:00

      Park Royal is working and you will be able to go directly using Piccadilly line.
      Stayed in that hotel on Sat, good value for a brand new hotel.

  • Ruth Findlay says:
    16 May16 May 13:52

    I secure messaged Amex this morning to see if they could give me the BA offer and they applied it straight way…excellent!

    • Jimmy says:
      16 May16 May 14:24

      Once you select your card, what sub-topic did you choose? They have changed the available options, plus they have also removed the ‘complaint’ sub-topic!

    • Kinkell says:
      16 May16 May 14:36

      I phoned Amex, and under no circumstances was the agent going to add to my account. Extremely adamant that this was not allowed, was not happening to anyone(!) and there was nothing she could do! I think I will call back later.

  • IslandDweller says:
    16 May16 May 13:55

    @xcalx. Direct Piccadilly line will work fine.
    I suspect your problem is the default options that the journey planner uses. It always assumes quickest, even if that gives a stupid result that saves about two nano seconds and that no one in their right mind would select. Change your preferences in the journey planner to “fewest changes” and you’ll see the direct option.

  • xcalx says:
    16 May16 May 14:04

    Thanks Genghis and IslandDweller

    Glad to hear the station is open. I will stay on the tube as am in no hurry. Not familiar with the London transport system.

  • Sussex Bantam says:
    16 May16 May 14:19

    OT – Lloyds have finally got round to crediting my Avios (and somewhat unbelievably actually did it correctly !) However I can’t see any sign of the voucher which I’m due – could someone tell me where I would see it in my account before I complain (again) ?

    Thanks

    • Genghis says:
      16 May16 May 15:06

      If you go to ‘Your Account’ -> ‘Overview’, under ‘Vouchers’ it should say ‘You have 1 voucher’, with a hyperlink taking you to a ‘Vouchers’ tab with the details.

      • Sussex Bantam says:
        16 May16 May 15:15

        Thanks Genghis I suspected as much but as there is nothing there I wanted to check before engaging with Lloyds CS again !

    • Alex W says:
      16 May16 May 18:19

      Lloyds rang me today saying it will take 6 months to resolve the issue…

  • bill says:
    16 May16 May 14:31

    Has anybody been greedy and managed to get the offer applied to both their main card and supplementary card? :p

  • mycity says:
    16 May16 May 14:59

    Can anyone confirm the start date of the £100 off £500 in the terms they have? I had the offer loaded direct onto my card by Amex following my email but no terms, Nick above says he has been told the offer does not start till the 22nd May, anyone else?

    • Nick says:
      16 May16 May 15:57

      I called Amex again and was told something completely different from what I was told the first time, that the offer had already exceeded its maximum allocation. So who knows what’s going on.

      My girlfriend has the offer on her card though, so I’ll use hers to book!

    • Nick M says:
      16 May16 May 16:28

      No mention of a start date for me:

      OFFER TERMS
      Offer only available when you spend £500 or more at ba.com by 12th June 2017 with the British Airways American Express® Card to which the offer is saved and on transactions made in Great British Pounds (GBP).
      The offer does not apply to spend on other Cards you might hold and on transactions made via payment wallets or payment aggregators including, but not limited to, PayPal.
      An awarded credit can be reversed if qualifying transactions are refunded or cancelled.
      Credit should appear on your billing statement within five days from qualifying spend but may take up to 90 days from 12th June 2017.
      All travel is subject to British Airways conditions of carriage, subject to availability and standard booking conditions apply. For full terms and conditions please visit ba.com/theclubterms.
      For full Offer Terms and more details about statement credits click here. By saving the offer to your Card, you agree to the Offer Terms.

      • Mycity says:
        16 May16 May 16:33

        Fantastic, thanks Nick M for the terms, as I said I’ve been told the offer has been saved but I’ve no terms.

      • Alan says:
        16 May16 May 23:14

        Thanks for posting these, Nick M – the offer doesn’t show up when directly added by Amex, so handy to have a note of them.

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

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