News: win flights in Virgin Atlantic’s live aviation quiz, £16 Europcar discount

News in brief:

Virgin Atlantic hosting a lockdown quiz for charity

Virgin Atlantic is holding a lockdown quiz on Thursday 25th March – and you are invited.

A range of prizes are up for grabs, with the overall winner getting two Upper Class return flights to anywhere on the Virgin Atlantic network.

The quiz will take place at 7pm on Thursday 25^th March and is set to last for one hour. It will be hosted via Zoom using quiz website Crowdpurr. With most rounds being ‘fastest finger first’, don’t think that you can cheat!

Rounds will cover Virgin Atlantic, its destinations and airline history, with a few random questions thrown in on top. A trial version of this quiz was done at the virtual Virgin Atlantic media Christmas Party last year and it worked well, with the winner that time being a Mr Rhys Jones …..

The evening is being run to raise funds for the Trussell Trust charity. Tickets costs £5 each and are available now at https://virginatlanticquiz.eventbrite.co.uk. I will try to ensure that Rhys is not allowed to enter to give the rest of you a chance …. 

£16 Europcar discount code

Europcar is offering a £16 discount code off a £160+ car rental for bookings made this month.

Your rental can be for any time before the end of June.

Participating countries are the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria and Belgium.

The code you need is EC_MARCH_0321. The Europcar website is here.

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How to get FREE car rental status and other benefits via UK credit cards (April 2024)

If you hire a car in the UK, you can get special benefits (discounts, upgrades, free additional drivers etc) if you have elite status with a car rental programme. You can get elite status for free via certain American Express cards.

The Platinum Card and American Express Business Platinum

The Platinum Card from American Express and American Express Business Platinum come with two free car hire status cards. Your supplementary Platinum cardholder can also receive status in their own right.

From Avis, you receive President’s Club status in Avis Preferred. This gets you up to 25% off standard rates, a free additional driver and a guaranteed one class upgrade. For weekend rentals you will receive a two class upgrade, subject to availability.

From Hertz, you receive ‘Five Star’ status in Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. This gets you up to 15% off standard rates, a free additional driver and a one class upgrade, subject to availability.

Hertz also offers Platinum cardholders a 4 hour grace period on rentals. Your final day is treated as 28 hours, so a 1pm pick up with a 5pm return the following day is only charged as one day, not two days. We wrote about the Hertz / Platinum 4 hour grace period here.

The Platinum Card also comes with full car hire insurance with no obligation to pay for the rental via American Express. You can refuse any attempts to sell you additional insurance at pick up. This benefit has substantial value if you rent on a regular basis.

You can find more details on the two Platinum cards, and apply, in our full reviews linked below. You can apply here for the personal card and here for the business card.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is an excellent card in its own right. You receive 20,000 Membership Rewards points for signing up (convert to 20,000 Avios amongst other things), four airport lounge passes and £120 of Deliveroo credit. Even better, your first year is free.

There are two car rental benefits:

• you receive Preferred Plus status in Avis Preferred

• you receive a special package with Hertz – 10% off best available rates at participating locations, a one class upgrade for rentals of 5 days or more, subject to availability, and no additional driver fees

Find out more about the benefits of American Express Preferred Rewards Gold in our review. You can apply here.