News in brief:
Join me at Loyalty Summit and the Frequent Traveller Awards Europe
Thursday 20th September sees a new travel loyalty conference in London called Loyalty Summit.
Held at the Hyatt Churchill, the speakers include senior members of Le Club AccorHotels, Radisson Rewards, Marriott Rewards, Finnair Plus, Norwegian Rewards, Miles & More, Flying Blue, American Express, SAS EuroBonus, Scandic Friends and IHG Rewards Club amongst others. The agenda for the day is here.
Following the summit, guests will be heading to the RAF Museum in Hendon for a reception and gala dinner underneath a Lancaster bomber! The evening will conclude with the Europe and Africa version of the Frequent Traveller Awards.
I will be attending the Summit – but not speaking – and I will also be hosting a table at the Frequent Traveller Awards dinner.
I was offered five heavily discounted tickets for my staff, but as I don’t have five employees I have been allowed to offer them to readers who work in the loyalty sector.
The standard rate is $399 if you work in the airline, hotel or car rental industry. I can sponsor registrations for five people for just $199, so roughly £150. This covers breakfast, attendance all day at the Loyalty Summit, lunch, transport from the Hyatt Churchill to Hendon, the gala dinner, drinks etc.
If you are interested, email me at rob at headforpoints.co.uk and I will send you a registration code. As I like to help people who are at the beginning of their careers, priority will be given to people who work for the main companies we cover – Avios / BA, Virgin, Hilton, IHG, Marriott, Qatar, Etihad etc – and especially those who are at a junior level and who would not otherwise be able to get the full conference fee approved.
Eurostar launches its London lounge cocktail bar
Following the huge success of the cocktail bar in its new Paris lounge (see our review here), Eurostar has opened another on the upper level of the London St Pancras lounge.
A press photo is above.
The menu has been designed by the London Cocktail Club and includes Lavender Dusk, a signature Eurostar cocktail created by the Business Premier culinary director Raymond Blanc.
Remember that Eurostar lounge access is a benefit of the American Express Platinum card, irrespective of your class of travel. You cannot bring a guest although obviously your nominated supplementary Platinum cardholder can come in with you by showing that.
How to earn Club Eurostar points via UK credit cards
As a reminder, Club Eurostar does not have its own UK credit card. However, you can earn Club Eurostar points by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards. These are:
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold – 10,000 Membership Rewards points sign-up bonus
The Platinum Card from American Express – 30,000 Membership Rewards points sign-up bonus
American Express Rewards credit card – up to 5,000 Membership Rewards points sign-up bonus
Membership Rewards points convert at 15:1 into Club Eurostar points. The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, so you earn the equivalent of 1 Club Eurostar point for every £15 you spend.
British Airways launches a new Indian codeshare
British Airways has announced a codeshare deal with Indian airline Vistara.
This will allow you to book flights on ba.com to 13 new Indian cities including Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Goa, Kolkata, Kochi, and Pune.
You will change planes in Delhi, Chennai or Mumbai to a Vistara service. Bags will be checked through for you.
You will earn Avios and tier points for the Vistara flight. This is only possible if you book a Vistara flight under a British Airways flight number, which means it must be connecting to a mainline British Airways service. You cannot earn Avios or tier points if you book a Vistara flight directly.
Services are now bookable on ba.com for travel from 27th September.
(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for the latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios from current offers and promotions.)
About Head for Points
OT Tried to cancel my SPG on the web chat. I was told as I was a loyal customer they would like to speak to me on the phone. On hold now in the worlds biggest queue. Guessing they want to offer me something so I don’t cancel? What is it? Double points?
If you’re lucky! Keep holding because that’s a great deal.
Complete waste of 28 minutes. No offer. I even hinted that the chat agent said I was loyal and I needed to review my options for canceling. Oh well, let’s see in 7 months time 🙂
OT: If I no show for a (Ryanair) flight, will there be any issues for my 2 year old daughter travelling? There are 3 other adults on the booking, who would all be travelling, including my partner (who is my daughter’s mother). I am just worried that they might have “tagged” her ticket to mine in some way.
I dont want to ask the airline this directly for obvious reasons.
Hi o/t.
If I book flights with a AA code, can I still earn BA tier points in the same way as if I booked BA codes?
Yes, but you may earn fewer Avios