Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

What are the best credit card deals for April 2018? – plus a news round-up

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UPDATE – APRIL 2024:  This article is now out of date, but don’t worry.  We produce a monthly directory of the top UK travel credit card offers – please click HERE or use the ‘Credit Cards’ menu above.  Thank you.

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.

Keep up to date with the latest UK credit card bonuses by signing up for our free daily or weekly newsletters.

It is time for our regular round up of what is coming and what is going in the world of UK airline and hotel credit card sign-up deals.

Finally, after a few relatively dull months, we have had some exciting developments in the last couple of weeks!

Our directory of the 16 main UK travel credit cards can be found by clicking the ‘Credit Cards’ tab at the top of the site or – for email, Flipboard, Apple News or mobile readers – by clicking here.

Virgin Atlantic Reward free credit card

What is new?

“A lot” is the answer.  And it has been a long time since I could say that.

You can now get the two new Virgin Atlantic credit cards

The big news this month, of course, is the launch of the two new Virgin Atlantic credit cards.  As these are brand new, you should – if you haven’t read my recent articles – read these three pieces: one, two and three.  They will help you decide which card to get.

If you don’t have any existing Virgin Flying Club miles, I wrote this article to help you decide if the new credit cards were a good excuse to start collecting.

In summary:

You CAN apply for these cards – and get a sign-up bonus – if you already have the MBNA Virgin Atlantic credit cards

The free Reward card has a 5000 miles sign-up bonus, earns 0.75 miles per £1 and comes with a 241 or upgrade voucher for spending £20,000 per year

The £160 Reward+ card has a 15000 miles sign-up bonus, earns 1.5 miles per £1 and comes with a 241 or upgrade voucher for spending £10,000 per year

The cards are issued by Virgin Money so it is very unlikely that you will be conflicted due to having any other cards from the same bank

You can apply for the free Reward card here and the £160 Reward+ card here.   You can compare the cards side-by-side here.

Frankly, as long as your credit is excellent, picking up 5000 miles from the free Virgin Reward credit card seems a no-brainer especially as there is no minimum spend threshold.

Legal stuff: I need to tell you that the free Reward card has a representative APR of 22.9% variable.  The Reward+ card has a representative APR of 63.9% based on a notional £1200 credit limit and the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 22.9%.

Virgin Atlantic Reward Plus credit card

Tesco Bank has also launched a new promotion

Tesco Bank is also keen to get your attention at the moment.

The Tesco Premium credit card is offering 5,000 Tesco Clubcard points until 11th July.  This means that the bonus is worth 12,500 Virgin Flying Club miles or 12,000 Avios.

The snag is the £150 annual fee, which basically nets off the bonus.  This means that whether you get the card depends on how you value the other benefits, including free travel insurance and a strong (for Avios) earning rate which works out at 0.6 Avios per £1 spent.

You can apply here but read my full article on deal first.  Representative APR 56.5% variable, including the fee, assuming a £1200 credit limit.

We may get some news on the Starwood Amex ….

As I mention in my other article today, we learn about the new combined Starwood Preferred Guest / Marriott Rewards / The Ritz-Carlton Rewards loyalty programme tonight.  This should give us some clues about the future of the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card – although I doubt we will get a clear answer.

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

American Express Gold card, American Express Platinum card, British Airways and Avios, IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, Tesco Clubcard, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (71)

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

  • Adam says:
    16 Apr16 April 05:20

    On the BA prem plus amex card is the free refundable pro rata also?

  • Memesweeper says:
    16 Apr16 April 06:58

    > This is my preferred Visa / Mastercard because of the strong overall package

    Why? Surely the paid Virgin Atlantic Card has a better long term payback than IHG at any spend level? I’m keeping my IHG until i’ve collected my free night, but after that my non-Amex spend is likely to go to Virgin.

    • Malibu Stacey says:
      16 Apr16 April 07:10

      +1

    • Genghis says:
      16 Apr16 April 07:26

      I have no real desire to fly in W (really) so Virgin

      Reward+numbers for me work out at £150+£150-£160=£140 benefit on £10k spend (new sign up, 1p val, no VS status).

      The IHG black, however, I would use the free night so for me numbers work out at £80+£80+£200 (what I would and have paid for decent hotels) – £99 = £261 (new sign up, 0.4p val and 20k qualifying points).

      Different strokes for different folks though.

    • Rob says:
      16 Apr16 April 08:32

      As Virgin is long haul only, the miles needed for a long haul redemption are unlikely to be earnable just from card spend, especially now HMRC is closed (except for Curve routing).

      In truth, VS miles are worth nothing until you get at least 50k (or whatever a PE redemption to the US costs) whilst Avios have value from as few as 4k (one way to Europe).

      • Memesweeper says:
        16 Apr16 April 08:47

        I already have just under 200k in Virgin miles, and a large family to keep happy, so the more the merrier. Oh, and our top planned destination is Cuba which isn’t possible on Avios. Not considered that some folks will struggle to find a redemption opportunity with Virgin.

        IHG hotel points are a PITA to redeem with three kids in tow. The free night voucher might make life easier when coupled with the points. But IHG standard rewards are for one room per night only, which means a substantial outlay for another room with cash.

        Assuming some sort of reasonable opportunity to redeem with either I’d prefer Virgin for the long term. The points per pound spent seem more valuable to me.

      • Alan says:
        16 Apr16 April 10:33

        30,000 for return LHR-JFK in economy on Delta is not a bad deal as the fees are only £161.
        Its 20,000 and £266 on Virgin though.

      • Guesswho2000 says:
        16 Apr16 April 10:46

        Not quite nothing, 10k plus can be transferred to Hilton or IHG, of course!

        • Rob says:
          16 Apr16 April 11:36

          You can get a £50 Virgin Group voucher for 12,500 too, but I don’t recommend that for great value either! With the Hilton Visa now closed Virgin is a route to Hilton points but not a great one. You’d be getting just over 1 HH per £1 spent which is about 0.35p of value. At least transfers to IHG count for status – but so does spending on the IHG credit cards.

  • Ali says:
    16 Apr16 April 07:24

    “Do note, however, my comment above about the new Amex Rewards Credit Card which may be a better choice for many people.” – where?

  • David says:
    16 Apr16 April 07:34

    Hi all – re: Platinum benefits, I’ve got the Platinum charge card; I’m tempted to book an FHR hotel stay in early autumn but planning on cancelling my plat in late May (and just having the BAPP) – will that cause me any problems?

    • Andrew S says:
      16 Apr16 April 09:05

      I think you just need to pay with an Amex card at the hotel. I plan on using my SPG card when I stay in Venice at an SPG hotel via FHR later this year

  • JamesB says:
    16 Apr16 April 07:52

    Has anybody had the 20k bonus points for the amex gold-platinum upgrade refused of had difficulty with it posting? I hit the spend target last Tuesday but still no bonus.

    • Tilly says:
      16 Apr16 April 08:29

      No sorry. Mine posted really quickly. Have you contacted their customer services?

    • Anna says:
      16 Apr16 April 09:04

      Mine also arrived in a couple of days but if you speak to them on chat they give you various posting times ranging from 30 days to 10 weeks!

    • Wivus says:
      16 Apr16 April 09:23

      Added they day after hitting it.

    • JamesB says:
      16 Apr16 April 10:10

      Thanks all, I called them and it seems I missed a refund that leaves me with about £47 still to spend 🙂

  • David S says:
    16 Apr16 April 07:57

    I have the free IHG card currently. Can I apply for the IHG premium card and still get the bonus or do I have to cancel my basic card, wait 6 months like AMEX churning?

  • MattyS says:
    16 Apr16 April 08:32

    Does making a referral for a BA blue card count for referral bonus from my Amex Plat, or is it classed as a ‘basic’ card so no bonus ? Friend asked for a referral on Saturday and was accepted straight away, but nothing added to my MR so far.

    • Anna says:
      16 Apr16 April 09:05

      +1 – I have referred 2 x gold and 1 x blue in the past month. The referral points for the golds arrived in a couple of days, but so far nothing for the blue. Unless BA are slower at posting than MR?

      • GB74 says:
        16 Apr16 April 17:00

        Yep – referred my mother for Blue from my Plat and got 18000 MR points. posted 4 days after referral made.

        • MattyS says:
          16 Apr16 April 19:53

          Thanks GB, just hoping its still worth transferring them to SPG after 10 pm tonight !

        • MattyS says:
          16 Apr16 April 19:54

          Thanks GB, just its still worth transferring to SPG after 10 pm tonight

  • Henry says:
    16 Apr16 April 08:47

    What are thoughts on the amex platinum travel insurance. I don’t currently have the card but when I did, amex ascribed significant value to the travel insurance but it seems to me that it is overvalued. Cancellation, curtailment and belongings all require the trip to have been purchased on the card. This is not always possible and if the trip is booked in advance of having the card impossible. That leaves only the medical benefit but as you would need other insurance anyway that is irrelevant.

    For £450 I would have thought the travel insurance would be more open. Then bizarrely, they undervalue the lounge pass.

    • Rob says:
      16 Apr16 April 09:02

      Purchased on ANY personal UK Amex card, inc a BA Amex.

      I don’t really value the three things you mentioned. We generally self insure – we do not have contents insurance for eg – and using Avios tickets makes cancellation / curtailment mute. As long as medical bills are covered (since obviously they could hit six figures) I am ok. I don’t give a monkeys about getting £200 if my plane is delayed by 12 hours.

      • Henry Nicholson says:
        16 Apr16 April 09:37

        Thanks. Sadly I don’t have enough avios for that and I live in Scotland so oneworld is not usually my best option. I wasn’t really meaning delay compensation as I wouldn’t insure for that anyway. I got caught a few years ago having to cancel a trip due to my dad’s death. The cancellation was covered but had I already been away and was self insuring at having to fly two people back from the US that is something I would want to be covered no matter how remote.

      • John says:
        16 Apr16 April 14:12

        ‘moot’

    • the_real_a says:
      16 Apr16 April 13:30

      I travel extensively and rely on the AMEX travel insurance. I have made a number of claims, including an emergency whilst in Borneo, all paid in full without quibble. AXA`s emergency line is excellent (to the extent of sending grim injury photo`s to confirm the advice given in Borneo was correct).

      Also, i have claimed on the travel inconvenience section after a 4 hour delay at Heathrow. You can spend £100 on anything… so i enjoyed a very good lunch at Fortnum and Mason.

      There is also car hire excess wavier insurance included, which means i can often pick up hire cars for less than £10 a day – sometimes even less than this in the states.

      Then there is also the priority pass which is worth £200 on its own. With this I’m very happy to fly Y for regional flights.

      All in all £450 is a lot of money, but i still can justify the value (although any further increases and it would be difficult)

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