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BA news: Cruise118 Avios winner, half-term British Airways family treats

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News in brief:

We have a winner of our Cruise118 competition

Thank you to everyone who entered our recent Cruise118 competition.

Congratulations to Ruth H, who was the lucky winner of 100,000 Avios.

If you or a family member are thinking about a cruise, remember that you can earn 3 Avios for every £1 spent with Cruise118.

There are some great February offers available at the moment when you book with Cruise118 including:

  • Up to $700 onboard spending included with Celebrity Cruises (that’s a hell of a lot of cocktails ….)
  • Kids sail from just £99pp with Royal Caribbean
  • Save 10% with Silversea
  • All-inclusive drinks with MSC Cruises

Cruise118 also has a price-match promise – if you find a cheaper price elsewhere, they’ll match it, which means you can always maximise your Avios earning potential when booking a cruise. Use this link to the Cruise118 website to see how many Avios you’ll earn with any itinerary.

Ruth has been contacted so if there are any other Ruth H’s out there reading, I’m afraid it wasn’t you this time. 

Thanks again for taking part and make sure you check out our new Qatar Airways competition to win two Business Class flights.

Earn Avios with Cruise118

British Airways running a new family promotion for half term

If you travelling through Heathrow (from 14th to 17th February) or Gatwick (from 14th to 21st February) with children, you may be able to take part in a new ‘I love to travel’ feature.

The check-in desks will be handing out blank cards headlined ‘I love to travel because …..’.  Your children will be encouraged to fill them in and hand them to the cabin crew upon boarding.

Assuming that flight conditions allow, the Captain or First Officer will read out as many of the cards as possible over the PA system during the flight.  Children who have their cards read out will, if possible, be invited to the flight deck on landing for a photo opportunity with the pilots.

Here’s one which I saw on Twitter yesterday although I have some doubts about its authenticity:

British Airways launches a great deal to …. Shanghai

Who wouldn’t want to travel to Shanghai at the moment?

British Airways is keen to send you, albeit it doesn’t actually have any flights operating.  Don’t let that put you off though.

You can currently book British Airways flights from Madrid or Barcelona to Shanghai for just £1,100.  This is a great deal, especially as you will pick up (amongst other things you might pick up) 360 Executive Club tier points for the trip.

This fare is available virtually every day from 1st April which is when flights are due to resume.

You can book on ba.com here.

PS.  If you missed it, take a look at our recent article on the top 10 reasons to apply for the FREE British Airways American Express credit card.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (181)

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

  • Ayearinmx says:
    12 Feb12 February 06:14

    My capital on tap rewards only seems to be 10000 after entering with your code?
    I have 10000 redeemable points and then 5002 for my spend.

    Surely I should have 15000 redeemable?

    • Chechire Pete says:
      12 Feb12 February 07:03

      You only get them after you’ve paid your statement balance off.

      • Ayearinmx says:
        12 Feb12 February 07:05

        Gotcha. Thank you. What with the lack of actual recognition that you’d entered the code, it’s all a bit cloak and dagger haha

      • Rob says:
        12 Feb12 February 07:34

        Don’t worry – if they don’t adjust let me know and I will have them fix it.

  • The Original David says:
    12 Feb12 February 06:28

    “Read out as many of the cards as possible during the flight”?

    They could get through a lot on a busy 777 to Madrid! Must remember your noise-cancelling headphones…

  • Mikel says:
    12 Feb12 February 07:03

    $700 only applies to suite class and you’ll pay a small fortune for that on Celebrity.

  • Tom C says:
    12 Feb12 February 07:16

    I don’t see the fuss about going to Shanghai, as the local resident health expert on HfP made it clear it’s just a “pussycat virus”. I’ve since stopped reading the news, cancelled my private medical care and de-registered from my GP, so I take all my medical advice from here. Ma, I’m going to live forever!

    • Mike says:
      12 Feb12 February 07:22

      whereas I just stayed clear of the cat – which seems to have worked (so far). Thanks for the advice Harry and for bringing a voice of reason and clarity to cut through the white noise. I am becoming increased less interested in the pure speculation of so called experts..(in so many fields).

      • memesweeper says:
        12 Feb12 February 08:14

        “I think the people in this country have had enough of experts”

      • John says:
        12 Feb12 February 09:26

        Lot of courage on display here: https://apnews.com/8455474af114e6b298cec8cd5da65b65

        • BJ says:
          12 Feb12 February 10:18

          I doubt it’s only in China that we should be concerned about the official narrative. Most, if not all, countries will resort to their own variation on a ‘politically expedient, measured and pragmatic’ approach to managing the outbreak. If these are successful that’s great but the problem is the distance between ‘politically expedient, measured and pragmatic’ and ‘a wing and a prayer’ may be very short and leaves little room for complacency. On the plus side, and provided the data is reliable, the daily rate of increase in new cases globally has been slowing steadily over the last week. The potential remains though for this to be reversed and for increasing cruises at locall/rdegional scales.

      • callum says:
        12 Feb12 February 09:46

        If you’re taking advice from Harry on Coronavirus you need to get your head checked…

        If you haven’t been able to find advice elsewhere that isn’t scaremongering then you need to improve your research skills – it’s really not hard to find, nor are reputable media firms engaged in any scaremongering (you may be confused because they’re accurately reporting what is happening, in stark contrast to Harry’s increasing daft “pussycat virus” rants).

    • Polly says:
      12 Feb12 February 08:14

      Tom C. Funny.. post of the day!

  • Anna says:
    12 Feb12 February 07:19

    OT but bits – IHG has allowed me to top up Revolut from a single card by £1300 over the last 4 days. I don’t know whether it’s a glitch or because the MCC code has now changed for top ups. (Or Creation hoping it will lure customers into accruing more interest?). Anyway, it could be an interesting development…

    • memesweeper says:
      12 Feb12 February 08:15

      Thanks for the intel Anna. Shame my curve is at the limit!

    • Alex W says:
      12 Feb12 February 08:17

      Be prepared to get hit with cash transaction fees on your next statement.

    • MD says:
      12 Feb12 February 08:21

      Thanks for the info. Presumably being charged interest like everybody else, so paying it off immediately to limit the charges?

    • John D says:
      12 Feb12 February 09:26

      I also had a €2000 bill to pay which I paid with my Revolut card by adding money in £250 chunks from my creation IHG card over a few days. No cash advance / interest fees levied when I received my statement. FWIW larger amounts of top ups were blocked by creation but £250 was allowed everytime but only once per day.

    • stevenhp1987 says:
      12 Feb12 February 09:55

      This will be because Revolut changed their MCC. It used to be 6012 (Financial Institution Merchandise and Service) and is now 4829 (Wire Transfer).

      That is why you can spend more than £700pw as that was for MCC 6012. You will get interest when your statement is generated and it may be reported to the credit agencies as a cash advance. Not sure on the later but I’d imagine it would be.

      • Anna says:
        12 Feb12 February 10:37

        I got charged 92p last month and didn’t make any early payments, this month I am paying off my whole balance every few days (a couple of minutes effort at most). I am assuming they can’t charge you interest when you have no outstanding balance?

        • Lady London says:
          12 Feb12 February 12:18

          It depends on the terms. One of my Mastercards used to have a condition that interest was due on any cash advance up to the next statement date even if repaid meanwhile.

    • Guesswho2000 says:
      12 Feb12 February 12:20

      As others have said, interest will appear on your next statement, but hopefully no fees. I don’t mind a small amount of interest now Spire is retained for another year.

  • Anna says:
    12 Feb12 February 07:26

    Also, my 3000 BA bonus avios for £300 spend credited very quickly – spent last Friday, points now showing.

    • Ayearinmx says:
      12 Feb12 February 07:30

      Ditto. After posting about it the other day, I received an email and then checked my account and they were already there.

    • Harry T says:
      12 Feb12 February 08:30

      In contrast, it took over a week for me to get an email saying I’d triggered the BA offer and the points haven’t hit yet! Similar situation with the Amex travel offer I used on my PRGC.

      On my Platinum card, I get the emails instantly and the CB arrives faster.

      • meta says:
        12 Feb12 February 08:45

        Same here. Only got the email this morning and points are not there yet. I am on day 8 today!

        • BJ says:
          12 Feb12 February 10:24

          About the same for me, 8 days, points arrived yesterday, email today.

          • Neil Donoghue says:
            12 Feb12 February 10:31

            Day 12 and still nothing for me! Online chat confirmed it could take up to 6 weeks to credit and the offer is still showing under saved offers.

  • Marcw says:
    12 Feb12 February 07:38

    This Shanghai deal from Spain has been there for ages, already available before Christmas.

  • Mark says:
    12 Feb12 February 08:27

    OT. A bit stuffed at the moment getting from Vietnam to Hong Kong for Lufthansa flights home on Saturday. Our plan A flight was cancelled, and having booked replacements it now seems that the Vietnamese government has stopped all direct flights so now have a plan C booked via Bangkok!

    Plan B and C booked using Amex Platinum, but not our original plan A flights (paid for on the Tandem card). Can I claim difference from our original flights under Amex travel inconvenience, or only the difference between the two sets of flights booked on the Amex Plat card?

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

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