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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Which of the SEVEN special credit card sign-up bonuses currently available should you get?

American Express and Virgin Money are running a number of aggressive sign-up bonuses across airline and travel rewards cards right now, including:

• 30,000 Membership Rewards on the Amex Gold card
• 60,000 Membership Rewards on the Amex Platinum card
• 10,000 Avios on the free British Airways Amex
• 40,000 Avios on the British Airways Premium Plus Amex
• 60,000 Avios on the BA Business Amex
• 2,000 Virgin Points on the free Virgin Atlantic Reward card
• 30,000 Virgin Points on the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ card

This article compares all of the bonuses and will help you decide which card(s) to apply for.

IMPORTANT!

This is your final warning to apply for the Virgin Money Reward+ credit card with a sign-up bonus of 30,000 Virgin Points. The offer closes on Friday morning so will have expired by the time the next weekly email goes out.

You can apply, or learn more, here.

The latest travel and aviation news:

The Government has also cut the red list to just seven countries, opening up travel to winter sun destinations such as South Africa and Mexico, plus you no longer need a return-to-England ‘Fit to Fly’ test.

Marriott Bonvoy launched its ‘Week of Wonders’ campaign with a week of offers and benefits, including:

• Up to $300 credit when you book luxury hotels
• A 55% bonus when you buy Marriott Bonvoy points
• Pay off-peak redemption prices at 4,000 hotels in October
• Get 2,000 bonus points if you hold the Marriott Bonvoy Amex card and stay by mid November

Credit card news:

Capital On Tap is changing its credit card offering. All users now get 1% cashback on spend, regardless of whether you hold the free or paid card. If you want to earn Avios – and this is the ONLY way for a Limited Company to earn Avios from a Visa or Mastercard – you still need the premium card. Find out more here.

(Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa is also the only Avios-earning credit card which has NO FX FEES.)

You have only a few days left to apply for the Virgin Atlantic credit cards with the increased sign-up bonus of up to 30,000 Virgin Points.

British Airways news:

Things are looking up for British Airways. We broke the news this week that the A380s are returning from November, plus British Airways is likely to return short haul flying to Gatwick next year as its pilots vote in favour of the new deal.

A Government report by the Competition and Markets Authority says that BA cannot be forced to refund flights you missed as a result of lockdown restrictions.

Here’s your guide to the BA On Business rewards scheme for company travel. You earn On Business points ON TOP of earning Avios, so if you have a small business you should sign up.

Hotel news:

Here’s our overview of the best hotel promos for October.

IHG launches a ‘stay longer’ offer with up to 15% off the Advance Saver rate for stays of 3+ days.

Rob reviewed the spellbinding Jumeirah Port Soller hotel in Mallorca.

Other interesting bits:

An Etihad business class sale has flights from Europe to Dubai for €739 return.

Did you know you can earn Avios when flying Emirates via the Qantas codeshare?

Further covid casualties: the Malaysia and Skyteam lounges in Heathrow Terminal 4 will not re-open.

Here’s our review of the Lufthansa Business Lounge at Heathrow Terminal 2.

You can get 500 free Miles & More points just by downloading the app.

Here’s how to earn Virgin Points when buying fuel or food at Esso garages.

Aer Lingus is offering more flights from Belfast City to cities in England.

Rhys had a two-page article published in The Sunday Times last week looking at how UK airlines had survived (or not) the pandemic.

Offers you missed:

Marriott’s latest ‘buy points’ offer ended last week.

British Airways added an extra December and January flight to Dubai. Avios redemptions were wide open in Business Class for Christmas and New Year but went within hours of our article going up. With British Airways now likely to add back a lot of long haul flights to ex-Red List destinations, it is worth keeping an eye on the Head for Points website for announcements of Avios availability.

You can see a list of other offers closing soon here.

See you next Saturday.