Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

News: get FA Cup Final tickets with Emirates, Air Canada adds Manchester-Toronto flights

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

News in brief:

Emirates Skywards offering FA Cup Final tickets for miles

As expected, Emirates Skywards is offering FA Cup Final tickets to members with miles to burn.

Unfortunately, as you see on the Emirates ‘events’ page here, the tickets are being auctioned. This means that you cannot purchase them with a transfer of American Express Membership Rewards points to Emirates Skywards because you need to have the miles in your account in order to bid.

The auctions are being run on three day cycles, with the 2nd wave starting today. There are standard tickets, VIP tickets and mascot packages on offer.

The pricing in the first wave was ludicrous – the leading bid for two standard seats in the Liverpool end is 250,000 Skywards miles at the time of writing with a few hours still to go. I can’t imagine any scenario under which this offers value for money given that getting 1p per mile on a flight redemption isn’t difficult with Emirates.

Air Canada to resume Manchester to Toronto flights

Air Canada has announced that its seasonal service between Manchester and Toronto will return this Summer.

There will be five flights per week, operating from 1st June to 30th September.

Flights will use an A330-300 with three classes, including Premium Economy and lie-flat business class seats. Flights will depart on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

Air Canada is also now flying:

  • London Heathrow to Toronto, Vancouver, Montréal, Calgary
  • Dublin to Toronto

You can search prices and timings on the Air Canada website here. You can learn how to earn Air Canada Aeroplan miles from UK credit cards by reading this guide.

Comments (26)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Chas says:

    Gold status would earn you 50 points per $, as you normally get 25.

  • Jamil says:

    Hi, I have been trying to log in to the forum today. I have reset my password and tried on my laptop and on my phone but I am getting an ‘ERROR: Please solve Captcha correctly’ notification ‘ Can anyone help?

    • Jamil says:

      To add to my message – there is no Captcha that I can visibly see to solve..

      • Froggee says:

        You didn’t link your forum login to Curve did you?

      • Rob says:

        This is a weird error that happens when you trigger our web security package. We have been trying to get to the bottom of this since Christmas with no joy. The only ‘official’ Captcha on the site is on the forum registration page, which you are not on. We’ve found that is good enough – stop bots registering and they can’t post anyway, so we don’t need a captcha elsewhere.

  • Ryan says:

    Might try out the Palazzo Montemartini Rome with this. Anyone had any experience with it?

  • Mr(s) Entitled says:

    Getting 1p per mile for a flight may be easy but getting tickets to the final may not. And if you have lots of miles, why not? It is a chance to see 1/4 of a quadruple.

    • Rob says:

      I paid £30 to see Rotherham at Wembley last month, plus £10 for the kids 🙂

      4-2 after extra time, with Time Vine and the remaining Chuckle Brother as guests of honour. I doubt 250k Skywards miles can top that.

    • Jeff77 says:

      Can probably buy a ticket off a tout for £200ish

      • Bob says:

        Face value is over £200 in parts of the stadium which is a joke as it is.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      £2500 of miles for a couple of standard seats is so over the top it’s unbelievable. A tout will sell you a pair of club Wembley tickets for that.

      I think the final will be £400-500 each via touts until very close to the date.

  • Derek Scott says:

    Re Air Canada.. you’ve missed out Toronto -Edinburgh route this year

  • Andrew. says:

    Air Canada are also operating a London-Halifax service from 1st May. Outbound 10:05, think it’s 4 days a week.

    Return is a daytime flight at 11:00, arriving into Heathrow at 21:00.

    • qrfan says:

      Was intersted in this as zoom used to fly via Halifax to Montreal back in the day. I couldn’t find this route on google flights and looking on the air canada site i can now see why. It’s a 737MAX 2 class plane with no business class. Even premium economy on that route is pricing at £1900 return in July. Canadian destinations are such a rip-off that they remain the last bastion of good value for avios for our family (who have family in Montreal).

      • Andrew says:

        I was looking at June, £420 return in economy.

        But then I spotted Air Transat are flying directly to YQB for £380 from Gatwick with an Airbus.

  • Tim LIMBACH says:

    Thanks for your article on the semi finals. I was able to get two fantastic seats for my son and his girlfriend, in the Chelsea section. Front row on halfway line. I’ll not be bidding for the final!

  • MarkZ says:

    Based on an admittedly small number of test bookings for some upcoming stay possibilities, you will get double points at any chosen Radisson hotel but not necessarily the sale rate reduction. Also, rates overall are lower on the website than on the app.

    • RussellH says:

      Just looked at a stay in Karlsruhe. Double points only on the specific Double points rate, which is non-refundable and includes breakfast. Room only, standard points, and cancellable up the day before arrival is £27+ cheaper.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.