What you need to know about the HfP Summer Party on Monday 9th July (new date)

Last week we announced the light, sunny and airy Glasshouse suite at the Holiday Inn Camden Lock as the venue for our first Head for Points Summer party.

We proposed Tuesday 3rd July. Unfortunately, as we hadn’t got our World Cup wall charts up at the time, we didn’t realise that there was a potential clash with an England football game.

Which is why we moved the date to Monday 9th July.  There are no games on that day at all.

The exciting news is that we can announce Etihad Airways as our sponsor.

This means that tickets will now include your first drink for free and Etihad Airways will also be giving away a cool raffle prize for one lucky attendee.

Etihad Airways currently flies three times per day from Heathrow to Abu Dhabi with an ‘all A380’ service.  This features the impressive Business Class Studio which Rob reviewed here (pictured below) and was very positive about.  There is also the revolutionary First Class Apartment which we reviewed here.

Etihad Airways also has a double daily departure from Manchester and, until the end of September, from Edinburgh.  If your travel plans are focused on Dubai and not Abu Dhabi, remember that Dubai is a very short and cheap taxi ride away – and the first Etihad flight of the day from Heathrow (9.35am) leaves three hours earlier than the first BA services to Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Our Summer party will be a more casual event than the Christmas parties.

There will be a full cash bar with normal Camden prices, which means £5ish for a beer, and a couple of sitting areas and every guest will receive one refreshment voucher.

Because we need to ensure that people who ask for tickets turn up, we will be charging for tickets.

The party will be 6pm to 8pm on Monday 9th July. The bar will remain open for a while after 8pm for anyone who wants to stay longer, and of course there are no shortage of bars and restaurants in Camden if you want to carry on your evening elsewhere.

Tickets, including a voucher for your first drink, are £10 including VAT and will go on sale this Thursday 21st June at 1pm.  We will publish the link on Thursday morning.

There will be 250 tickets available. We hope that the larger venue will give more readers the chance to join us and also slow down the ticket sale process so they don’t all go in two minutes as at Christmas …..

We hope that you can come along to meet Rob and myself and to talk miles, points, credit cards and travel with other readers. Bring a friend or come by yourself – you won’t struggle to find someone to share your stories with.

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How to earn Etihad Guest miles from UK credit cards (April 2025)

Etihad Guest does not have a UK credit card.  However, you can earn Etihad Guest miles by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.

Cards earning Membership Rewards points include:

• American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 20,000 Etihad Guest miles. This card is FREE for your first year and also comes with four free airport lounge passes.

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.

• The Platinum Card from American Express (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 50,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 50,000 Etihad Guest miles.

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 Rewards credit card (review here, apply here) – sign-up bonus of 10,000 Membership Rewards points converts into 10,000 Etihad Guest miles. This card is FREE for life.

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:1 into Etihad Guest miles which is an attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 1 Etihad Guest mile.

The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it, not just with Etihad but with any airline.