Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

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

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

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.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

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.

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.

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 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.

Category

oneworld alliance partners

Comments (79)

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

  • lev441 says:
    12 Jul12 July 12:26

    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..

  • Rob says:
    12 Jul12 July 12:36

    Works if you have Gold Charge, does not if you have Gold Credit.

    • S***o says:
      12 Jul12 July 12:42

      Great thanks! – have two accounts both with gold charge cards – Taking the punt then referring for BA Prem

      • Genghis says:
        12 Jul12 July 12:48

        The +£170 probably comes from people upgrading and saying they want a supplementary card (when there was already one on the account) and then getting two supps (only first Plat free, subsequent plat ones are £170). Been there, done that.

      • S***o says:
        12 Jul12 July 12:51

        So… If I already have a supp on the account – they should auto get the new Plat too? (fee free?)

      • Genghis says:
        12 Jul12 July 13:38

        Yes

  • Jay says:
    12 Jul12 July 13:30

    I applied for the Plat upgrade on behalf of my wife’s gold charge card couple of weeks ago and the upgrade was declined based apparently on Experian credit report …was thinking to appeal as not requested any additional credit? Anyone had experience of making a complaint to Amex on something similar or able to suggest how to go about?

    • Genghis says:
      12 Jul12 July 13:40

      It’s a new application and Amex have the right to reject you – it’s their business. However, I’ve heard that others have written a letter to Amex and have had the decision overturned.

  • gill says:
    12 Jul12 July 13:42

    OT – checking my options on transferring avios.

    I’m short of 8k avios to make a booking on a 241. I don’t have enough in my avios / iberia to make it up. My son has 26k MR rewards but no BA or avios account. Am i right in thinking that he should setup executive club, shift MR to avios to cover the shortfall and then we’d create a household account to combine?

    There’s plenty of points across avois / ba in my partners account but I haven’t found a free transfer option.

    thanks

    • Peter K says:
      12 Jul12 July 15:12

      Why not add your partner to a household account then the Avios are removed pro-rata from your accounts. It will work with your idea for your son as well. I think you can only make one change to a household account every 6 months. Rob has an article on this.

  • lev441 says:
    12 Jul12 July 13:55

    O/T – anyone know how many guests (if any) I can take into the eurostar lounge using my platinum amex

    • KevMc says:
      12 Jul12 July 14:09

      Off the top of my head, I don’t think you’re allowed to guest anyone in. When me and my wife went, we both had to show our platinum cards to gain access.

      • Rob says:
        12 Jul12 July 14:16

        Correct, no guests. You’d need to issue a supp Platinum card to your partner (first one is free, rest are £170).

  • pauldb says:
    12 Jul12 July 14:48

    OT – if you didn’t read, the Amex Platinum Vista email is offering free hospitality at Brighton Premier League games. Seems like you call them up and request, then within seven days they’ll make a selection and let the lucky ones know. Chance of success must be pretty good.

  • gill says:
    12 Jul12 July 16:42

    Thanks – I was avoiding as my partner needs to move some avios around to do a Lloyds but I think that will be the quickest solution. Get the points he needs from his ba to avois.com then setup the household one.
    I had through the MR to BA was instant but it looks like that would take a day or two.

  • Andy says:
    12 Jul12 July 16:43

    Hi Rob.
    Interesting read and oddly enough I was at a football event at the Habtoor Grand last night (less said about that the better).
    The grounds and interior for what little I saw last night look very impressive, its a little bit of a pain to get from Black Tap / Rixos perhaps but I will book a stay there next time Im back (it was 44 degrees at 0130 last night) so wont be for a few weeks yet and give you a bit more feedback.
    Glad to see your event went well, I will get to one someday…
    Cheers

    • BLT says:
      12 Jul12 July 17:35

      Would be great if you did report back. Was considering using a Marriott TP at the Habtoor Grand as a cheap get away.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!