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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NEW OFFER: Get 30,000 American Express Membership Rewards points with ‘free for a year’ Amex Gold
American Express has increased the sign-up bonus on the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold credit card from 20,000 to 30,000 points.
If you meet the bonus criteria, you now receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend £3,000 within 90 days. This is a special offer which runs to 19th July.
This is an exceptionally generous deal for a card which is FREE for the first year. Remember that 30,000 Membership Rewards points convert into 30,000 Avios, amongst other things.
You can apply here. Our full article on the deal is here.
The interest rate on the card is 61.0% APR variable after the first year. The interest rate on purchases and for the first year is 25.3% APR.
The latest travel and aviation news:
Yesterday, the United States dropped the requirement for a negative Covid-19 test before entering the country. It’s one less thing to worry about if you are planning a US trip this Summer.
Comair, the South African British Airways franchise (image below), has gone bust and will not be returning to the skies, with liquidators already appointed. Here are Comair’s rebooking guidelines.
British Airways news:
British Airways scrapped its ‘Book With Confidence’ guarantee on Tuesday night. There was no official notice although we knew and were able to warn readers. You can no longer refund or change a new BA booking for free.
British Airways has finally started opening up First Class Avios availability to the USA.
British Airways has launched flights to Portland – these were originally due to launch pre-pandemic.
Avios news:
You can earn 1,000 bonus Avios on your IHG (Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza etc) hotel stays this Summer if you are willing to forgo your IHG One Rewards points.
Get 50% bonus Avios on your Airbnb bookings (did you even know you can earn Avios from Airbnb?!)
You can win 1 million Avios with BPme Rewards.
We ran an introductory guide on how to convert Nectar points to Avios.
Booking a cruise? Here is how to earn Avios with Cruise118.
Credit card news:
What is best Mastercard or Visa credit card to get if you want to earn travel rewards? We run through the options.
Hotel news:
IHG One Rewards is now live – here is our view on which Milestone Rewards you should pick. You may already be able to claim one.
Is it worth transferring Radisson Rewards points to Avios or Flying Blue miles?
Virgin Hotels is now open in Edinburgh.
Here is our summary of the best hotel bonus point offers for June 2022.
Other interesting articles:
We reviewed the BRAND NEW Qatar Airways business class being rolled out on the new Boeing 787-9 fleet. What did we think?
We also reviewed the cavernous Al Mourjan business class lounge at Doha airport.
If you’ve ever tried to book an Air France or KLM flight using Virgin Points, you probably got a message implying that the seats didn’t really exist. This isn’t true as Rob found this week, having successfully booked Air France by phone.
Singapore Airlines is devaluing its KrisFlyer programme – but there are still some ‘sweet spots’ for UK residents if you transfer in Amex Membership Rewards points.
We published our annual guide to the British Airways ‘On Business’ loyalty programme for small businesses.
How can you use up small amounts of orphan hotel points? Here are the best ideas.
Virgin Atlantic is offering a 40% bonus when you buy points via Points Booster – worth it?
Deals you missed:
As part of the launch of IHG One Rewards, IHG put up tickets for some of the UK’s top tennis tournaments – for just 1,000 points per pair! Our readers cleaned them out in 30 minutes.
See you next Saturday!
