News: Virgin Atlantic boosts South African services, 100% bonus buying Hilton points
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News in brief:
Virgin Atlantic to increase services to South Africa
With South Africa now off the UK ‘Red List’, in time for the peak Winter tourist season, Virgin Atlantic is stepping up its flight schedule.
There is now a date for the resumption of Cape Town flights – 17th December. There will be three flights per week.
Johannesburg will see an increase in frequency, with the current 3x weekly service increasing to daily from 8th November.
All services will be on a Boeing 787-9. You are getting a new aircraft but, in Upper Class, you are getting the old-style herringbone layout rather than the new Upper Class Suite.
Our review of Upper Class on a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787-9 is here.
You can find out more, and book, on the Virgin Atlantic website here.
Get a 100% bonus when you buy Hilton Honors points
Hilton has brought back its offer of a 100% bonus when you purchase 15,000+ points.
The Hilton ‘buy points’ page is here.
What makes this offer different to the last one is that the annual purchase limit has been increased. You can now buy 160,000 points, which would double up to 320,000 points with the bonus.
EDIT: Looking at the comments below, it seems that the ability to buy 160,000 points is targeted. You may not see this. I have it but some others do not.
320,000 points is what you need to book a 5-night stay at an 80,000 points per night luxury hotel, given the ‘5 for 4’ deal given to all elite Hilton Honors members.
This is the deal I used to book 5 nights at the Waldorf Astoria Palm Jumeirah Dubai over Christmas 2020, saving over 60% on the cash price. I wrote about how I did that in this article.
The page to buy points is here if you are interested. The offer runs to 7th December.
How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)
There are various ways of earning Hilton Honors points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.
Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as they hold the card? It also comes with Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status. We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.
The Platinum Card from American Express
40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review
Did you know that the Virgin Atlantic credit cards are a great way of earning Hilton Honors points? Two Virgin Points can be converted into three Hilton Honors points. The Virgin Atlantic cards are the only Visa or Mastercard products in the UK which can indirectly earn Hilton Honors points and they come with generous sign-up bonuses. You can apply here.
You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:
- American Express Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
- American Express Rewards Credit Card (10,000 bonus Amex points)
and for small business owners:
- American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
- American Express Business Platinum (40,000 bonus Amex points)
The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton points is 1:2.
(Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)
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