What you missed on Head for Points last week

Welcome to the Head for Points weekly newsletter, full of the latest Avios, travel loyalty and travel credit card news, hints and tips.

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Rhys is sunning himself in Santorini this week, so the job of doing the weekly newsletter has fallen to Rob. If you’re missing Rhys’ style it will return next week – although I have been trying to tell him that there really isn’t anything worth rushing back for at the moment.

British Airways news

Following the announcement of the November lockdown, British Airways has taken an axe to its November and early December schedules. A list of cancelled British Airways routes is in this article – it includes some surprising ones, such as Frankfurt.

Moscow, Amman and Cairo will no longer earn 140 tier points each way in Business Class. They are cut to 80 tier points. For Amman, you should fly Royal Jordanian – you still get 140 tier points AND you get a flat bed seat.

Avios news

Because Avios flights price on bands based on distance, you can often save substantial sums by starting outside the UK. Frankfurt to the Middle East, for example, is just 77,500 Avios in Business Class return vs 120,000 Avios on a peak day from the UK. Find out more here.

You now earn Avios from Avis using a different formula. Some will be better off, others worse.

We also did a reminder of how to earn Avios from Budget Car Rental.

We published the peak and off-peak 2021 Avios dates for BA, Iberia and Aer Lingus.

Credit card news

We published our monthly round-up of the latest loyalty credit card news and the best current offers.

Amex launched a lot of new cashback offers, including £100 off at Mr Porter. This includes £100 off a Qatar Airways flight – which you could cancel for a Future Travel Voucher, valid for 24 months …..

Eating at the Berners Tavern restaurant in London triggers the £400 Marriott / Amex cashback. Read the comments – why were some posters trying to spread false information that it didn’t?

Hotel news

Hilton lost a THIRD hotel in Aberdeen to bankruptcy.

A reader reviewed his upgrade to the £10,000 per night top suite in the Shangri-La Hotel in The Shard.

Marriott launched three new ‘work from hotel’ packages. They earn Bonvoy points but NOT elite night credit.

Mr & Mrs Smith hotel redemptions are now bookable with IHG points.

Our weirdest hack of the week – a decent three star in London’s Kensington where THEY will pay YOU to stay there. And you get breakfast included!

Marriott was fined £18m for the data breach suffered by Starwood before Marriott bought it. It still took Marriott two years to spot it though …..

Interesting other stuff

Do you have a few random hotel loyalty points sitting unused? Here are ideas on how to use them or top them up.

Virgin Atlantic is launching flights to St Vincent in the Caribbean.

Whilst heading off to Santorini, Rhys tried out Zipcar Flex. He drove himself, paying just £19 for the one way trip, and dropped the car in the Terminal 5 short stay car park.

Get £5 for free by signing up to the new LNER Perks reward scheme.

That’s all from us – see you next week. We have some interesting loyalty news breaking at 11.30am on Monday, so if you don’t want to wait a week to hear it in next weeks newsletter, pop across to the main site.