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LATAM drop its flat-bed Frankfurt to Madrid flight …. not that it matters now

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If you wanted to earn some easy British Airways Executive Club tier points in comfort, LATAM offers a great opportunity.

LATAM runs a Boeing 787 between Frankfurt and Madrid, which continues on to Santiago.  You can buy tickets separately for Frankfurt to Madrid (or vice versa) and they are usually under £100 each way.  Given that the trip gets you 40 BA tier points each way plus a flat bed seat for the trip, you can see why it was a popular option for aviation enthusiasts keen to try something different.

Anika reviewed the LATAM Frankfurt to Madrid service for us three years ago.

LATAM is leaving the oneworld alliance on 30th March.  This means that you won’t be able to earn tier points (and potentially not Avios, although LATAM may retain a BA partnership) from April.

This means that it doesn’t matter much that LATAM is ending its Frankfurt-Madrid service on 30th June.  There is a good reason for this.  LATAM has decided that it can now justify running a direct ‘three times per week’ service from Frankfurt to Santiago as well as from Madrid to Santiago.

It’s a shame to see the service go as these ‘Fifth Freedom’ flights are becoming an endangered species.

If you want to learn more, this article looks at ‘Fifth Freedom’ flights in Europe plus other intra-Europe flights which use long-haul aircraft.  It is 18 months old so please double-check the information.

If you want to book this LATAM flight before it ends (and preferably before 30th March whilst it still earns tier points) you can do so here.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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

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

25,000 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 – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a 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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

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

40,000 points sign-up bonus 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 (133)

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

  • Rim says:

    Just spent 20 minutes at Heathrow T4 Plaza Premium arrival lounge and was told shower now at £10 per person with PP.. Not the best news..

    • Rob says:

      One reader, still TBC, said that if you get in with Amex Plat, however, the showers remain free.

      • Rim says:

        Will check again in a week+.. I have PP through Amex Platinum.

        • Shoestring says:

          you can probably afford to pay (or charge) the f****** £10

          • Callum says:

            Calm down… There are many things in life I can afford but aren’t willing to pay for!

      • Metopes says:

        The Plaza Premium at Brisbane did not include alcohol with PP I asked if this was better and showed the Platinum they said yes, imagine most people use PP out of habit but clearly it’s better to use Platinum at Plaza.

      • Alex M says:

        Nope – checked on Fri and was told it’s tenner regardless of what card used to enter

        • Lady London says:

          I think their normal paid rate where it’s charged is about £21.

          What would worry me would be if all lounge BN passes, such as the ones you can find through places like holidayextras but bought for Plaza Premium specifically, would also start charging extra for showers.

          At £27-£30 total for an entrance including a shower that does change the cost profile a lot though if you are a frequent traveller. To the extent I might rearrange my travel to skip the lounge altogether. Such as taking a later landing flight then going straight to hotel.

        • jc says:

          Then complain to amex, because their website says if you enter with the amex directly the showers are included

  • Jonathan says:

    Can anyone confirm if Lloyds charge a fee for topping up Revolut please?

    • TGLoyalty says:

      Everyone charges something because the MCC is now showing it as a cash advance.

      Some cards will charge a fee plus interest others just interest. Best to check your cards T&C’s to see what they charge.

  • Tom says:

    Presume no sign of the Red Dufry offer coming back for those of us who missed the cut off point for upgrades & stuck at Silver?

  • Aleks Nicole says:

    Not sure if this got discussed in the comments previously, but the original Dragonpass article was unsure whether you could use 2nr passes in one go for entry for yourself and another at the same time (the T&Cs seemed to be different on different platforms).
    I tried this last week in Bangkok and was told I was only authorised entry for myself (even though I had 3nr passes on my account).

  • Roberto says:

    It is no longer possible to buy airport lounge passes in Spain. In other countries, no problem.
    Dragon Pass does not recognize Spanish airports or VIP lounges if you are Dufry Platinum.

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

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