Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

LATAM launches a £973 business class flight deal to Rio for August travel

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LATAM has launched a very attractive business class fare to Rio, from just £973 in Business Class.

In theory this fare can be booked out of Madrid, Barcelona, Frankfurt and Rome.  By late last night, the two Spanish starting points were virtually out of availability.

Rome and Frankfurt were still available. 

Similar fares were also still showing from Frankfurt.  The issue is that Rome and Frankfurt use older aircraft without the newest seat.  Anika did a review of LATAM / LAN business class here, albeit on the short-hop from Madrid to Frankfurt, but that was on a Boeing 787 (the A350 is similar) and not the older Boeing 767 or 777 you are likely to find here.

Note that the 1 hour connecting flight from Sao Paulo to Rio is in Economy.

As LATAM is a member of oneworld, alongside British Airways, you will earn BA tier points (140 points each way for the long-haul segment) and Avios on the ticket.

You need to book by 17th July.  More importantly, all travel must be completed by 31st August.

You can book on the LATAM / LAN site here.

If you don’t have a credit card with 0% foreign exchange fees, your best option for paying is American Express Preferred Rewards Gold which offers triple points – 3 per £1 – when you book flight tickets in a foreign currency.  This is because the transaction triggers the ‘double points for airline spend’ and the ‘double points for foreign spend’ bonuses.  Our review of Amex Gold is here.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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 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

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.

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.

Comments (79)

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

  • Riku says:

    I always tried to avoid connecting flights in Sao Paulo, there can be huge queues at security and passport control and sometimes the domestic connecting flight is operated as an “international flight” which means you arrive from Europe. clear immigration. collect your bag. check it in again. back through passport control. take the connecting flight to Rio. then go through immigration again in Rio (even though you started in the same country!!).

  • Mark says:

    Ok so what is the site that cannot be named cut and paste trick please. I have a 10k Avios for BA Amex offer. Can I do better (am Amex Gold holder).

  • Sarah says:

    Having been into the Habtoor Grand for drinks, I would definitely not say that it’s the best SPG/marriott holiday option in Dubai – it felt like a cheap package holiday hotel. The Royal Meridien and Westin are far nicer properties.

  • Cuchlainn says:

    OT: Curve / Tesco CCs
    3 weeks and numerous emails and finally have £7.98 + interest refunded by Tesco for monthly £200 cash withdrawal ( as first posted in early June ) !!!
    Not sure if I can fight another battle like that BUT has anyone tried their monthly Curve cash withdrawal linked to a Tesco CC in July yet ?

  • Boi says:

    Rob- which “best resort” article did you read please? I am looking for a family resort for a 3 night stay.
    There’s just too many hotels and don’t know which one to choose.
    Thanks in advance

    Oh yeah, and recommendations of what to do 3-4 days

    • Bsuije says:

      Atlantis probably best option. Currently available as a deal on Voyage Prive, albeit with flights included.

      Things to do – Atlantis waterpark will take a day or two. Rest of the time – shopping, lying on the beach and maybe a trip out to the desert or Abu Dhabi.

    • Rob says:

      Madinat Jumeirah is, by far, the best option. Four Seasons is not massively kid focused but would do a good job. I don’t like Jumeirah Beach Hotel but you do get free access to Wild Wadi and if you do the 5 minute walk to Madinat down the beach you can cross-charge.

      Hilton / Meriden / Habtoor a bit tired. One & Only on the Palm has good reputation but a long way out. Some love One & Only in Jumeriah but I’ve been round it and couldn’t see what the fuss was about. We have reviewed Zabeel and Waldorf on the Palm – OK resorts but a long drive on and off (Zabeel comes with free Wild Wadi access).

      • Jonathan says:

        @Rob – the JBH is going through a mega refurb currently…

        • Rob says:

          Won’t change much re the number of guests vs the amount of space around the pool, kids club, beach etc.

          I have never, ever understood how they get away with charging roughly the same as Madinat for an inferior experience.

  • Shane says:

    O/T: very new to this hobby, thought I could use iberia avios to book BA LCY to JFK – showing availability on BAEC but not on Iberia.com spoke to Iberia call centre who say they dont have any availability for that route as a whole. Is this correct? Do BAEC and Iberia not share the same availability for BA flights?

    Apols for the re-post I incorrectly posted on the football thread!

    • KevMc says:

      Have you looked at other dates?

      Also check AA.com and/or Qantas, as BAEC could be showing ‘phantom availability’

      • Shane says:

        Yes cannot see any availability for the London City Airport route via Iberia website but can book (avios plus alot of cash) if i used my small avios balance on BAEC, I dont want to buy avios for mY BAEC when my priority is to spend my Iberia Avios.

        Anyone had any luck booking this route outside of avios.com/BAEC?

        • KevMc says:

          When you called Iberia did you give them the flight number or just the date of travel?

        • pauldb says:

          I thought it might be the one-way restriction affecting other BACF flights (which shouldn’t affect BA1/2) but indeed it isn’t. Oddly I can’t see BA1 but I can see BA2 JFK-LCY (e.g. Oct 18th).

  • TripRep says:

    Bits: Tesco Clubcard Fraud !

    Looks like Tesco Clubcard Fraud is still ongoing.

    My account has been emptied and all vouchers spent.

    Worth checking your accounts and consider changing password.

    Awaiting Tesco’s response, but I have to say not overly impressed with my first interaction with the customer services team…

  • lev441 says:

    It works if you are wanting to upgrade the gold charge card which is no longer available. My personal experience is that the card fee was never applied whilst in the first year of card membership of the gold..

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

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