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British Airways improves Club Europe business class food …. but only to Madrid

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If you are flying in British Airways Club Europe to Madrid at any time soon, you will be pleasantly surprised by the food.

For the last few weeks, Madrid has been treated as a ‘long’ flight instead of a ‘medium’ one.  This means that you get a four course meal – small starter, a main, cheese and biscuits and a dessert.

This is apparently a trial for the next round of Club Europe food changes, after the bodged changes last year which saw catering on some key routes downgraded to fund improvements elsewhere.  It seems that we may see all ‘medium’ flights moving to the four course model.

According to cabin crew reports on Flyertalk, the Madrid route may have been chosen for the trial because of all the IAG executives shuttling between the two cities and who were fed up with the current meals.

That is unlikely although it seems odd that BA would trial improvements on a route where IAG faces absolutely no competition for Business Class passengers …..


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

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Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

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There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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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

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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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.

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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

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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

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American Express Business Gold

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

Comments (71)

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

  • Charlie T. says:

    O/T: can a BA AMEX 2-4-1 voucher be used to reserve yourself a spare seat? Have one spare and think having an extra seat may make travelling to Crete in ET with young kids a less awful experience for us and other pax. Any idea what taxes would apply as I was under the impression that second seat bookings shouldn’t be in scope for APD, airport charges etc?

  • Scott says:

    Sorry OT:

    Just upgrade from Amex gold to plat using the upgrade link. Even though card has not arrived yet my Amex online page shows the platinum has already replaced the gold and balance has transferred over.Does this mean if I spend on my gold as usual it will count towards £1000 spend? Thanks

  • Mark says:

    O/T am I right in thinking Melia Gold members get 3x 20% off vouchers? I think I remember seeing it mentioned here previously iirc but cant see anywhere obviously on my Melia Gold homepage.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      They are meant to but find its hit and miss if you have gained through AMEX Plat

  • the real harry1 says:

    O/T need to hit an Amex spend target? The Morrisons 5000 extra points on giftcards promotion is back. Basically, you buy a £50 giftcard, which gives you 1250 + 5000 points (6250 total). say you buy Amazon giftcard – you’ll have 50 MR points + 6250 Morrisons More points – the till will spit £5 vouchers at you once you hit 5000 points. So the 6250 Miles are worth £6.25 plus 50p for the MR points = £6.75. This works out as giving you a 13.5% discount on your giftcard – Amazon one of the best, you can just add the giftcard to your Amazon credit, ie you get 13.5% discount on everything you buy on Amazon PLUS can hit an Amex spend target nice & quickly. The maximum Morrisons More points you can earn in a month is £100 which limits you to buying £100/ 6250 = 16x £50 giftcards, or £800 worth of giftcards.

    • the real harry1 says:

      Though nothing to stop you taking out a second Morrisons More card 🙂

      Provided you can get thru £1600 Amazon credit, go for it.

      • the real harry1 says:

        Sorry folks this time it’s only Halfords iTunes Google Play & Pizza Express so forget what I said about Amazon, oops 🙂

  • Steve says:

    O/T wife and I have received the dreaded MBNA closure letter for Emirates Elite and Basic cards today…we stop earning skywards from 21st July. Time to pre pay utility bills and council tax via Curve and bring forward personal tax payment I think.

    We are being switched over to Visa Horizons. Not sure if this applies to other recently closed MBNA cards but on the basic we will earn a £15 bonus for keeping the card to end of August and with the Elite card, a higher £55 bonus and partial refund of fee.

    • Steve says:

      *Bonus for keeping the new credit card open

    • Memesweeper says:

      Partial fee refund sounds promising for all us Virgin card holders waiting to find out what happens next…

    • Lux says:

      Surprised not more talk of this here but perhaps this card was always niche. This was expected but a real blow – the best earning rate of any card I’ve had, 4 miles per £ and excellent value when using miles to upgrade revenue tickets.

  • Terry says:

    I’m guessing that the Hilton Blackpool will either be rebranded as a Principal Hotel (through owners, Starwood Capital) or a Holiday Inn (being the main franchise used by Kew Green – assuming that their partnership continues).

  • the real harry1 says:

    Bastille pics? What Bastille pics? That’s pic-click-bait by any other name 🙂

    Or has Adblocker disappeared them?

  • johnnyhardwick says:

    It was great to meet you Rob and Anika at the Bastille gig.
    Wouldn’t have known about it without HFP. Was an excellent event. Much more fun using points for things like this rather than just more hotel stays/flights.
    I hope we were not too lairy!!

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