News in brief:
An interesting Finnair tier point run
Airline Route reports that Finnair is switching its Helsinki to Malaga service to a long-haul A330-300 aircraft between 14th December and 29th March – but only on Friday and Sunday. On other days it will remain a short-haul route.
(Looking at finnair.com, the A330 is not yet showing on every Friday / Sunday flight but it is there in March.)
Why is this even vaguely interesting? Because Helsinki to Malaga is 2,086 miles according to Great Circle Mapper (gcmap.com). By breaking 2,000 miles, it qualifies for long-haul tier points if you credit the flight to British Airways Executive Club. You would earn 280 tier points for the return flight in Business Class. With an A330, it would be a comfortable 4+ hour flat bed flight.
You should expect to pay around €600 return for this flight in Business, which is £2 per tier point. This is decent. You can pay less on other days but you will be on a short-haul aircraft.
Remember that London / Manchester to Helsinki is an 80 tier point route, or 160 tier points return, in Business Class.
This means that if you flew London / Manchester – Helsinki – Malaga – Helsinki – London / Manchester, you would earn 440 tier points in Business Class. The total cost of the two tickets would be around £950. This isn’t a bargain but it is a lot easier than, say, flying to Asia with Qatar Airways in Business Class in order to earn 560 tier points.
Thanks to Simon for this.
Tesco Clubcard to Virgin Flying Club conversion bonus?
There may, or may not, be a conversion bonus running from Tesco Clubcard to Virgin Flying Club this quarter.
I received an email offering me a 10% bonus on conversions between 25th October and 14th December. This would get me 275 Virgin Flying Club miles per £1 of Clubcard vouchers instead of the usual 250. The BA Avios conversion rate is 240 Avios per £1.
I was also offered 1,000 bonus miles for turning on auto-conversion of Clubcard points to Flying Club. I generally don’t recommend this as it can mean missing out on future bonuses or good deals from other partners. It is best to keep your Tesco vouchers intact until you need the miles.
If you look at the Tesco page on the Virgin Atlantic website, however, these is no mention of any bonus. Weirdly, there are the T&C’s for a competition to win 100,000 miles if you do a conversion to Tesco between 25th October and 30th November – but the competition itself is not mentioned anywhere. All very odd.
For now I would hold tight and see what emerges. Remember, too, that Uber is a 1:3 partner with Tesco Clubcard and, unless you value Flying Club miles at more than 1.1p, you are better off taking £3 Uber credit – which is also valid on Uber Eats – than 240 Avios or 250 / 275 Virgin miles. Note that the Uber credit can only be spent in the UK.
Save on new luxury hotels in Asia with Mastercard and Be The First
Be The First, if you haven’t heard of it before, is a website specialised in offering discounted rooms at new luxury and boutique hotels.
We covered it a couple a years ago when it launched but, to be honest, I thought it had faded away. I was wrong, and to prove it the company has recently partnered with Mastercard, offering cardholders even better prices at new upscale hotels in Asia.
Offers vary depending on the property and could be for example 30% off or stay 3 pay 3 nights. All hotels included can be found on this special partner website here. More hotels will be added as the partnership advances.
Play Marriott’s ‘daily win’ game
Finally, don’t forget to click here to play the Marriott Rewards ’29 Ways To Stay’ daily win game today. You should win at least 50, but hopefully more, Marriott Rewards points.
(Want to earn more Virgin Flying Club miles? Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)
About Head for Points
OT:
The Wyndham stay twice for 15K points is back (new members only though). For stays before mid February 2019.
(Or at least is showing on their wbesite)
Was worth at least £150 to me last year
Have you got a link? Can’t see it on the website
O/T – has anyone had a issues with Curve being declined when paying in store recently? Used it in that restaurant many times before but was declined lastnight. Nothing wrong with underlying card (Hilton Visa) as used that to pay bill without Curve.
More declines than any other card I’ve ever had, but it then just seems to reset and work again. Certainly not a card to be relied on, fine if you have alternatives with you. On occasion I’ve had a Curve decline followed by acceptance of the underlying card.
I had it do that at a BP garage in-store by LGW. Completely dead, either contactless or Chip & PIN. Worked fine the next day and onwards.
Thanks both. Glad to hear it’s not just me but it’s rather inconvenient. Will definitely make sure I have other card options in my purse. Hope it works on my two trips abroad before Christmas, would like to make use of the 0% fx.
I attached a lloyds mastercard to it, cpl of days later I get a letter from lloyds saying they detected strange activity and cancelled the mc.
Bits – Harrods
I’ve had a text through that as Harrod’s Rewards Member that I will enjoy a 10% discount throughout the store on 3rd & 4th November and online from 2nd to 4th November.
http://www.harrods.com/en-gb/rewards-weekend
This *should* layer nicely with my Amex £50 off a £100 spend.
Wish I had that Amex offer. Across 2 main cards and 2 supplementary, it’s not offered.
Do you know if this will work on iPhone’s / does Harrods sell them in store.
I just signed up – is this 10% specific to higher tier members or open to all? Thanks
Normally open to all harrods rewards members ( free to join)
Any valid across whole store
Valid online too. Obviously gift cards are not reduced by 10%. Some people also opt out, eg Louis Vuitton. Can’t remember if they include iPhones or not, which is a bit stupid of me as I bought my last two in Harrods ….
Bits – Nectar
Just flashed up on my Nectar App that points can be exchanged for a £10, £20 or £50 voucher between today (29th October) to 4th November online and from 5th November instore. Spend the voucher before 18th November.
as vague as that? lol
Which stores? How many points? Is it 1p/ point by any chance? Which would be same as Sainsbury double-up.
OT: I got a 25GBP off code for Swiss at the London Ski Festival: swissukski25
UK to GVA/ZRH
Book by 31/1/19
Travel by 31/3/19
Tested and working, random LHR-GVA return with luggage in Feb was GBP74 with voucher
Targeted offer, but might be worth checking your emails to see if you got a radisson offer of 15,000 bonus points for one stay before 28 December.
I only signed up to the scheme as you get gold status from amex plat, but with amex mr conversion 1:3, and with some rooms in good locations like Mauritius/ Malta only costing 50/44000 points might be a good offer if you have it
“Register to earn a one time bonus of 15,000 points when you book and stay by December 28, 2018. Whether you’re on vacation exploring a new and exciting destination or traveling for business this exclusive one time bonus offer is available just for you!**”
OT: I am trying to explore ways to use a family member’s MR points (~30k) for myself (I built up the spend). I know I have option of BA & Emirates through pooling, is there anything else, hotel or airlines? Thanks
Hilton allows free transfers (which they call pooling) but best not to do it on a brand new account
All 3 hotel partners let you transfer or pool points for free so no problem there. BA is quite rare in offering family accounts unfortunately.
Thanks guys
For the hotel partners, that person doesn’t need to come to the booking right? I can go myself right? Thanks
OT – I’m seeing lots of posts on other articles suggesting ‘cross referral’, i.e. referring from BAPP to Gold, but I am having trouble doing this. I’ve already done BAPP and my wife is also now a BAPP holder having been referred by me – that was easy enough. I want to use my wife’s BAPP account to refer myself to Gold but am only getting an option to refer for BAPP. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks
Try another browser
Thanks but makes no difference.
For clarity I am doing – Amex Homepage > Rewards > Refer friends. Get rewarded > login to wife’s account.
From there I am only presented with an option to refer for a BAPP.
That should be fine. When you send the referral link you should then be able to choose a different card.
Bingo, thanks Sean. Just needed to scroll down the page a bit!