Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

What you missed on Head for Points last week

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

Welcome to the Head for Points weekly newsletter, full of the latest Avios, travel loyalty and travel credit card news, hints and tips.

If you are not a subscriber, you can sign up to this free Saturday newsletter by filling in the form here. Please forward it to any friends or family who you think may be interested in improving how they travel. The newsletter also runs on the Head for Points website every Saturday.

(We also offer daily emails. You would receive each article in full on the day of release, so you won’t miss any short-notice deals or offers. If you want to switch, create a fresh subscription to the daily emails via this form. You will then need to unsubscribe from the weekly email by clicking the ‘Unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of this newsletter.)

The latest travel and aviation news:

British Airways has unveiled its final, final, final status extension. This time it’s for certain Gold members only, whilst certain Silver members get a 50% tier point reduction. All other BAEC members still benefit from a 25% tier point reduction for 2022.

What happens when British Airways leaves your luggage behind? Rhys found out last weekend on his trip to Germany ….

Mandatory masks on planes and trains to and from the US have been scrapped following a surprise court ruling in Florida. Whether you wear a mask or not is now down to personal choice.

Meanwhile, you can get 20,000 Virgin Points for opening a (free) current account with Virgin Money.

British Airways Manchester lounge

British Airways news:

British Airways finally returns to Manchester Terminal 3 when it reopens next week. The lounge (above) will not be reopening, however.

You can get a 25% bonus when converting hotel points to Avios – but is it worth it? Possibly for one hotel scheme, yes.

Is it possible to book a return flight with a ‘new style’ Amex 2-4-1 Companion Voucher before booking the outbound flight? We don’t know, so we’ve asked you!

Credit card news:

Bizarrely, Amex is offering a 30,000 Membership Rewards point sign-up bonus on their Gold card if you accept cookies when going to the website. You are not told this until after you’ve accepted cookies, however ….

Good news for IHG One Rewards members as we discover that UK credit card spend will still count for status.

Amex is currently offering a 60,000 point sign-up bonus on the Amex Platinum Card, but what can you do with 60,000 Membership Rewards points?

Here’s how you can keep your Amex Membership Rewards points alive with a free alternative card if you choose to cancel The Platinum Card after receiving your 60,000 points bonus.

Grand Hyatt Berlin

Hotel news:

Rob visits the Grand Hyatt Berlin to try out his new Hyatt Globalist status for the first time. Is Hyatt status worth having?

Hilton Honors has just launched its next promotion – register now for double and triple points this summer.

The Jurys Inn hotel chain is being rebranded later this year after the Israeli owners decided to rename all 35 hotels. Here is what Jurys Inn’s new name will be.

Which of the four free hotel status cards that come with Amex Platinum are worth having?

If you need to book a hotel and hold an Amex Platinum card, then the Fine Hotels & Resorts benefit is well worth a look.

Marriott Bonvoy is offering VIP tickets for Celine Dion, Dua Lipa, Bryan Adams and many more in their box at the O2 in London. They start at 45,000 points for two people.

No1 Lounge Birmingham check in

Other interesting articles:

Rhys reviews the new Aspire Lounge at Belfast City Airport, formerly the British Airways lounge, as well as the new(ish) No1 Lounge at Birmingham Airport.

In Amsterdam, Rob reviews the KLM Crown Lounge – open to anyone who did the ITA Airways status match to SkyTeam recently, as he did!

You can book Queens Club tennis tickets, standard and VIP, using Emirates Skywards miles.

Our list of important offers expiring soon is here.

Interesting threads from our forums this week:

The full forum index is here.

See you next Saturday.

Category

General

Comments (3)

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

  • Rma says:
    23 Apr23 April 12:05

    Re BA holidays double tier points. If you select the flight option which requires a change of flight in Madrid for travel from LHR to the Canaries, does this still qualify under the double tier points offer? Also, do the Iberia flights count towards the four flight requirement for retaining Silver? I would be interested if anyone has experience of these situations. Thank you.

    • Rob says:
      23 Apr23 April 15:11

      IB flights count towards retaining Silver, I think, but doesn’t the small print of double tier points offer require you to only fly BA?

      • Rma says:
        23 Apr23 April 21:27

        Thank you for your reply, Rob. I agree the small print does appear to require flights on BA. I was looking at a BA holidays to the Canaries ( to up the tier points) and within the booking page, they offered alternative flights with better times which went via Madrid. I wondered if this was included or excluded from the double tier points offer. Normally I would ring BA to ask but…… I think I shall play safe and put up with the inconvenient times.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

NEW: Sign-up bonuses boosted to 3,000 and 18,000 points

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

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.

Got it!