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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The latest travel and aviation news:

Rob took his family to Center Parcs over half term. After a couple of days of texting me to say he hated it, he actually came away reasonably impressed, albeit with one caveat ….

In an unsurprising move, Aer Lingus has delayed the start of its Manchester-USA flights due to the continuation of the travel ban. It is now scheduled to start in September.

British Airways is also codesharing on a number of Loganair flights from Teesside, allowing you to book flights on one ticket from Teesside to the world ….

Credit card news:

The credit card that’s best for you depends on your spending habits. In this article, we look at the best airline credit cards for long-term spending, ignoring sign-up deals.

British Airways news:

British Airways has launched four new domestic routes from Belfast, including Leeds, Exeter, Newquay and Glasgow. This is to cover gaps caused by the collapse of Aer Lingus Regional last weekend.

Hotel news:

Can’t be bothered with hotel loyalty schemes and only want to chase Avios? We take a look at which hotel group is the best to earn Avios, based on Avios per £1 spent.

Sometimes, you are short of a few nights to upgrade your hotel status. The easiest way of doing this is to book into the cheapest hotels you can find. This article looks at which European Marriott Bonvoy hotels are Category 1 and cost as little as 5,000 points.

The Ritz Carlton Maldives is astonishingly good value on points versus cash, and is now open. The 7Pines Resort in Ibiza is also an excellent redemption – albeit with Hyatt where you are less likely to have points. However, even buying Hyatt points will get you a big saving on rooms at 7Pines.

Rob was in Bath last week and stayed at IHG’s new Hotel Indigo. His first impressions are here. An image is above.

Did you know you can use Tesco Clubcard points to book Hilton rooms? Well, now you know. But is it good value?

Our latest loyalty scheme review takes aim at Radisson Rewards. Is it any good?

Other interesting bits:

Aer Lingus Regional, a subsidiary operated under franchise by Stobart Air, went into administration this week.

DragonPass has confirmed it will refund all discounted $10 airport lounge passes it sold in January 2020 via a special promotion but which, unsurprisingly, were not used.

Not ideal: Which? finds that only two insurance policies out of 250 tested offer full covid coverage.

No1 Lounges is downsizing. It has sold its Australian arm and may not re-open some UK lounges. What is going on?

Jersey’s travel policies keep changing. It has now banned all unvaccinated UK holidaymakers.

Amazon Business has launched its latest registration offer: get 25% off your next Amazon order up to a maximum of £50 when you open a free Amazon Business account. Importantly, you can get the 25% off anything sold by Amazon – you are not restricted to business products.

Offers you missed:

British Airways released lots of Club World Avios availability for Maldives and Mauritius flights, but the seats went fast after we wrote about it.

Don’t miss any offer closing in the next couple of weeks by checking our fortnightly offers roundup.

See you next Saturday!