Bits: bizarre new easyJet service, hidden IHG Accelerate goals, airberlin cancellations

News in brief:

easyJet launches new ‘check in your hand baggage’ service

No, 1st April has not come early.  easyJet really did launch a new service yesterday called ‘Hands Free’.

Apparently, many people who travel with just hand baggage – in order to avoid queuing to check in a bag, waiting for its return on arrival and risking that it never arrives at all – arrive at the airport and decide that they made a mistake.

Luckily for you, easyJet can now help you.  For just £4 per bag, you can now queue up and check in your hand baggage.

This will give you “a stress free experience” because “[you] do not need to …. carry it around the airport”.

(You need to offset from this, of course, the stress of wondering whether you will see your bag again or wondering what state it will be in after 50 suitcases have been sat on top of it for two hours.)

The upside is that your bag will have a “Priority” tag on it which means that it will come our first at your arrival airport.  Because we all know how effective those “Priority” tags are …..

You can also board in the first group after the “Speedy Boarding” people have boarded ….. but, as you won’t have any hand baggage to put in an overhead locker, why bother boarding first?!  Why not board last and give your knees a break?

However, what do I know?  Andrew Middleton, Ancillary Revenue Director at easyJet said:  “We’ve seen a fantastic response from customers upgrading to the ‘Hands Free’ experience and we’re confident once you go ‘Hands Free’ you’ll never want to drag cabin baggage through the airport again.”

You can find out more on the easyJet website here.

See your hidden extra IHG Accelerate challenges

IHG’s Accelerate promotion, which starts on 1st September, is likely to be the most generous hotel promotion this Autumn.  

You can learn more about IHG Accelerate in this article.  It may be worth diverting some stays towards Holiday Inn, HI Express, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental, Hotel Indigo etc if your personal target is attractive.

There appear to be some ‘hidden’ extra targets too.

Go to the page of the Accelerate website which shows your personal targets and click ‘print’.  You don’t need to actually print anything.  Go into ‘Print Preview’ and scroll down.

You should see four additional targets which may well be publicly revealed to you as the weeks go on.  I have:

October Bonus – earn 5,000 points for one stay during October

November Bonus – earn 5,000 points for one stay during November

December Bonus – earn 5,000 points for one stay during December

Final Week Bonus – earn 2,000 points for a stay between 24th and 31st December

It isn’t 100% certain that these ‘hidden’ targets will eventually become part of my official Accelerate goals, but it seems likely.  You may want to reassess whether Accelerate makes sense for you, and when you will make your qualifying stays, in light of these extra bonuses.

My main article on Accelerate is here.  Thanks to the readers who sent this across.

airberlin cancels long-haul flights

Unfortunately the airberlin bankruptcy saga is getting worse.  A report in German newspaper Bild yesterday said that long-haul flights from Berlin to Abu Dhabi, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco will end on 1st October.  Flights from Dusseldorf to Boston are also scrapped.

All other long-haul routes are, for now, still timetabled to operate.

If you have an Avios booking on any of these routes, you should contact British Airways to see what is available.  The article suggests that passengers will be rerouted on Lufthansa but that may not apply to redemption tickets.  Some routes can also be rerouted via airberlin services from Dusseldorf.

If you have an airberlin long-haul booking on another route, I recommend checking daily to ensure it is still operating.  The MyFlights app can do this for you, if you have an iPhone, but as it only checks once every 48 hours you should manually refresh your booking daily.

Unfortunately, my thought that Lufthansa would seemlessly takeover the long-haul routes with no loss of service does not seem realistic now.

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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.