What you missed on Head for Points last week
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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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COMING NEXT WEEK: Exclusive HfP bonus offer on the new Barclaycard Avios Mastercards
Next week, we will be running an exclusive sign-up offer on the two new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard credit cards.
You’ll receive a special extra email from us as soon as the offer is live.
There will be a higher bonus on both the free Barclaycard Avios credit card (usually 5,000 Avios bonus) and the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card (usually 25,000 Avios bonus).
LAST CHANCE: Get 100,000 points with American Express Business Platinum
This is your final reminder – because it closes before we send next week’s email – of the limited time sign-up bonuses on the two American Express small business payment cards.
American Express Business Platinum
Until 31st March, you will receive a crazy 100,000 American Express Membership Rewards points with American Express Business Platinum. Those would convert, for example, into 100,000 Avios or many other interesting things. Click for our full article or apply here.
American Express Business Gold
Until 31st March, you will receive 50,000 American Express Membership Rewards points with American Express Business Gold. Those would convert, for example, into 50,000 Avios. Business Gold is free for your first year too. Click for our full article or apply here.
The latest travel and aviation news:
Flybe announced its launch date (13th April) and its 23 initial routes, including three from London Heathrow. The route map is above.
Air Canada is relaunching its Edinburgh to Toronto service this Summer.
Manchester Airport has had to postpone the reopening of Terminal 3 at the last minute, reportedly due to a lack of staff. See what this means for your British Airways flight.
Qatar Airways has launched new Diptyque amenity kits.
easyJet will drop face masks from Sunday – to the few places where it is allowed to.
IAG has given Air Europa a €100m loan without security – as long as Air Europa doesn’t allow any other airline to buy it for 12 months, whilst IAG tries to work out a way of getting a deal past the EU competition authorities.
Avios news:
The big news story this week has been the launch of the Qatar Airways and Avios partnership. If you don’t already have a Qatar Privilege Club account, you can get 2,500 FREE Avios – which post instantly – for opening one. You can immediately transfer the Avios to your British Airways account.
Have a read at our introductory articles:
There are some great deals here. For example, using Avios on British Airways to Sydney costs 300,000 Avios in Business Class plus around £1,000 in taxes and charges.
Use Qatar Airways and you can fly to multiple cities across Australia and New Zealand for just 180,000 Avios and under £600 of taxes and charges in Business Class – and with a superior airline.
British Airways news:
Got any On Business points? There is currently excellent long haul reward availability.
There is no link because the article isn’t live at the time of writing, but if you visit headforpoints.com we have an article today listing the routes where British Airways has confirmed that you will still need a face mask. All other routes are now exempt.
If you received an eVoucher for a cancelled British Airways flight between March and November 2020, you can now insist that BA redeems it for cash. Perhaps the lawyers were getting worried about the legality of the refund options that BA was offering between those dates ….
Credit card news:
Why should you get the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold credit card? 10 good reasons ….
Get £50 cashback at selected mid-market IHG hotels across Europe with a new American Express offer.
Hotel news:
Rhys reviews the St Regis Bangkok hotel.
Hilton is opening a hotel on a private island off Abu Dhabi next year, to operate under its high end LXR brand. See image below.
Other interesting articles:
Which airlines have the most Heathrow landing slots? Obviously British Airways is top, but who do you think is second?
Here’s how to redeem Virgin Points for hotel rooms via Kaligo.com.
Marriott Bonvoy has opened up a lot of new concerts for its box at the O2 in London. Redeem points for seats.
Italian airline ITA is matching British Airways elite status again. This will give you SkyTeam status which is also valid on Air France, KLM, Delta etc.
Deals you missed:
Flybe offered £10 off all seats for one day only to promote its relaunch.
Interesting threads from our forums this week:
- Amex is making changes to the Centurion card – in return for a £1200 fee increase!
- Should you drop your BA Amex for two years now the Barclaycard Avios cards are here?
- Amman hotel suggestions (this post got no replies – can anyone help?)
The full forum index is here.
See you during the week, with our exclusive Barclaycard offer, and then again next Saturday.
