Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Bits: Miles & More online booking, 80% IHG ‘buy points’ bonus, is Royal Air Maroc joining Avios?

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News in brief:

Lufthansa Miles & More expands online booking

One of things that BA should get credit for is online Avios reward booking.  You can book flights on all oneworld member airlines via ba.com.  This is something that we take for granted but is something that Star Alliance and SkyTeam have struggled to adopt.

The Lufthansa Group’s Miles & More programme recently expanded its online booking system to handle 26 airlines.  This is excellent news as it makes it easier to book and far easier to check availability.

The airlines now covered are: Adria, Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Austrian, Avianca, Brussels, Ethiopian, Condor, Croatia, Egyptair, Eurowings, Eva, LOT, Lufthansa, Lux Air, SAS, Shenzhen, Singapore, South African, SWISS, TAP, Thai and Turkish.

To save you working it out, the missing Star Alliance partners are United, Air India, Copa and Asiana.

IHG Rewards Club ‘buy points’ bonus

Until tomorrow, 21st December, you can buy IHG Rewards Club – the InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza etc scheme – points with a bonus of up to 80%.

The page to buy points is here – log in and see what is available.

This is not the most generous offer IHG has had, and it is also staggered which is unusual:

  • Buy 5,000-19,000 points, get a 60% bonus
  • Buy 15,000+ points, get an 80% bonus

Some people have an even better offer of a 100% bonus, although 80% seems to be the most common.

I wouldn’t buy speculatively with an 80% bonus as I am fairly sure that a 100% bonus for everyone will be along in a few months.  If you need to top up your account in advance of a planned redemption, however, you might as well do it whilst the bonus is on.  It is also worth buying if your IHG Accelerate promotion has a ‘buy points’ target you need to hit.

Is Royal Air Maroc still joining Avios?

Back in 2016, I wrote in this article that IAG had announched Royal Air Maroc was going to adopt Avios as its reward currency ‘this year’.  18 months later, we are still waiting.

I’ve nothing more to add …. it just popped into my mind.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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

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

25,000 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.

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

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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

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

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

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

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

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

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (39)

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

  • Roger I* says:

    OT (but since we’re talking about lounges :)), Mrs Roger and I will be flying SWISS biz Johannesburg to London via Zurich soon, using the deal Rob mentioned some months ago. After a short (55 min) transfer at ZRH, we’ll go on to LHR.

    I really fancy proper breakfast on the ground. Will we be able to use a T2 arrivals lounge at LHR? No *A status any more. 🙁

    Thanks.

    • Radiata says:

      I would have thought so. Used the *A T2 Arrivals Lounge a year ago or so arriving on an SAA flight in J to LHR from JNB with no *A status.

      If you have a Priority Pass card there is an independent lounge next door as well. A Plaza Premium if I remember correctly. As landside able to be used as an arrivals lounge and I seem to recall Rob using it for a meeting even without any boarding pass although they may well check.

      • Roger I* says:

        Thanks, Radiata.

        There’s a difference, though. You were arriving longhaul direct from JNB, I’ll only be arriving short haul from Zurich transit ex JNB.

        I think I may be pushing my luck. Perhaps time to activate my DragonPass Groupon. I was hoping to delay that until closer to the expiry date, but better safe than sorry.

  • RussellH says:

    They told me about bmiregional yesterday, and of rather less interest to most here, on Germania a couple of days before that – as far as I can tell, Germania’s only ex UK service is LGW-Priština.

    🙂

  • jtz says:

    OT: I asked last week about Amex hotel upgrades. Just wanted to say OH done SPG upgrade on Friday or Sat night and it came through as Gold last night.

    Wanted to also ask, we will be in SAW,DXB,AUH next week, can we use any Priority pass lounge even in different terminals? And also can we use a lounge after arriving (arriving DXB, leaving AUH)

    Thanks

  • N says:

    OT: Driving myself nuts over this. I recommended my dad put through a big five figure euro transaction on his PRGC based on the fact that he will get double points (ignore transaction fee on this) on foreign currency transactions. I’m 99% sure I read PRGC gets double points on these transactions but can’t find anything online. Did I make this up? Or have I misremembered something?

    • Rob says:

      It does, you’re fine (unless it was quietly changed).

      • Genghis says:

        Still being advertised
        Earn Membership Rewards points on all your purchases at the following rates:
        One point for every £1 spent on purchases on your Card
        Two points for every £1 spent directly with airlines or in a foreign currency
        Three points for every £1 spent at American Express Travel, your exclusive Cardmember online travel site.
        https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/charge-cards/gold-card/

        • N says:

          Thanks both. Reassuring.

          Now for a slight curveball – what if the PRGC is a supplementary card, rather than a primary one?

  • Cate says:

    OT. just received this if anyone is interested from ANA.

    Economy Class from only £499* return
    Premium Economy from only £1,024** return
    including up to two free stop-overs.

    Price based on Birmingham-Tokyo return fare via Dusseldorf, including all taxes and charges. One stop-over in Tokyo, Osaka or Nagoya is permitted each direction. Book by 31 Jan. 2018 and 7 days before departure.
    *Valid for departures : 9 Jan. – 8 Mar. and 3 Apr. – 20 Jun. 2018. From £649 for London-Tokyo direct. No refund, no change permitted.
    **Valid for departures : 16 Apr. – 31 Aug. 2018. From £1,299 for London-Tokyo direct. No refund. Change permitted at the fee of £190.

  • Tilly says:

    OT – just got email from Hilton Honours for their points unlimited offer 01 January to 30 April. 2000 bonus points per stay.

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