What you missed on Head for Points last week

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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ASTONISHING OFFER: Get 50,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

This week, Barclaycard launched potentially the most impressive credit card deal we’ve seen in years.

Until 18th July, you will receive 50,000 Avios when you apply for the ‘£20 per month, cancel whenever’ Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard credit card.

The bonus of the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard has also been increased, to 10,000 Avios, but frankly you’d be crazy not to go for the paid card and bank the 50,000 Avios bonus.

(To put this in comparison, even if you have no interest in Avios, you can convert 50,000 Avios points into 80,000 Nectar points which are worth £400 to spend in Sainsburys, Argos or on eBay.co.uk. That is £400 just for getting a £20 per month credit card and hitting the £3,000 spend target.)

You can apply here. Our full article on the deal is here.

The representative APR is 80.1% APR variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 29.9% variable.

The latest travel and aviation news:

A new Qatar Airways lounge has opened at Heathrow for all status passengers who aren’t on a business class ticket. We take a look inside. A photo is above.

Oman Air is joining the oneworld alliance which will mean you can earn and burn Avios on the airline from 2024.

A flurry of potential new routes have been filed, including a possible new direct flight from London to Tampa with Virgin Atlantic.

JetBlue has secured permanent Heathrow slots.

You’ll be able to fly Air Canada from London to Mumbai this winter!

British Airways news:

British Airways check-in staff at Heathrow have voted for strike action. No dates have yet to be announced and they are legally required to give 14 days’ notice, so potential strikes won’t start until the 8th July at the earliest.

Four British Airways lounges in the United States have joined Priority Pass – although only when there are no BA flights operating.

Credit card news:

American Express has announced big changes to the Preferred Rewards Gold Card, including a marginally higher annual fee, extra lounge passes and more. Our article has all the details.

Did you know American Express Membership Rewards members can buy frequent flyer miles at a discount?

Not all airlines offer UK points-earning credit cards, but in some cases you can use the Marriott Bonvoy Amex card and transfer points to your favourite airline. Here’s a list of the airlines where this is possible.

If you’re an SME you can get 40,000 bonus points when you sign up to the Amex Business Platinum card.

Hotel news:

Heading to Newcastle soon? Groupon has a £69 offer for the Hotel Indigo in Newcastle, including breakfast for two and late checkout.

If you need to top up your World of Hyatt points balance you can now do so with a 30% bonus.

As part of his trip to Austin with Virgin Atlantic Rhys reviewed the Fairmont Austin hotel. How does it compare to other luxury brands?

All change in Venice as both Rosewood and Four Seasons announce plans to launch new hotels in the sinking city.

Best Western is offering free breakfast as well as a status match.

Other interesting articles:

Rhys was on the inaugural Virgin Atlantic flight to Austin two weeks ago and has updated our review of the legacy Virgin Atlantic Upper Class seat on the Boeing 787 fleet. Is it time that it’s replaced with something better?

Got too many Virgin Points? You can convert them to Hilton or IHG points, but is it worth it?

Here’s what to do if you have small amounts of orphaned frequent flyer miles.

Deals you missed:

You missed out on Irish Open golf VIP packages with Marriott Bonvoy as well as Cirque du Soleil tickets for the O2. These deals generally sell out within a couple of hours of our articles going live.

For more offers ending soon, click here.

See you next Saturday!