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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FINAL WEEK: Get an astonishing 50,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Barclaycard is currently running 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:
Good news: British Airways has averted a strike over the summer holidays by offering an improved pay offer for its check in staff. The offer will now be balloted, with Unite recommending acceptance.
British Airways continues to consolidate its schedules over the summer holidays in order to minimise disruption due to airport staffing issues. Here is the complete list of routes affected in July. We have yet to see which flights will be impacted by the reported ‘10,000 cancellations’ coming across August, September and October.
Virgin Atlantic has confirmed a new route from Heathrow to Tampa, Florida, starting in November. Tickets will go on sale on Wednesday. It is the first new route since Virgin guaranteed at least two Upper Class reward seats per flight, so the route will be wide open for redemptions on the 15th.
British Airways news:
Next week, Virgin Atlantic is unveiling its brand new Upper Class seat, but here is what it’s up against at British Airways: the Club Suite, first introduced in 2019 and slowly making its way across the Heathrow fleet.
British Airways has extended its wet-least arrangements with Iberia and Finnair, which will see the two airlines operating some routes on BA’s behalf with their own aircraft and crew. We have the list of affected routes.
SUN-AIR, BA’s Danish franchise partner, will resume services from Billund to London City.
Avios news
You can now transfer Avios between accounts for free thanks to a new technical quirk in the ‘Combine My Avios’ function with Qatar Airways.
It is now possible to book flights with Avios on 30 different airlines thanks to the recent ability to use Avios to access Qatar’s airline partnerships.
More Avios routes are coming to Belfast City Airport thanks to Aer Lingus.
In a bizarre turn of events, it still appears possible to book S7 redemptions in Russia using Avios despite S7 being suspended from the oneworld alliance.
Credit card news:
You have just one week left to get an increased 30,000 point sign-up bonus on the Amex Gold card.
Plus, here’s how a couple can get 186,875 Avios if you are new to American Express.
HSBC continues to support its HSBC Premier reward credit cards with the expansion of its transfer partners. The list is tripling, from four to eleven and adding hotel partners for the first time. We have exclusive details on the new partnerships.
Hotel news:
Marriott and Hilton have both launched a raft of new points redemption experiences, including O2 gigs and cricket matches.
If you’ve got a stash of IHG One Rewards points you might like to redeem them at the Grand Hotel Wien which will be joining IHG’s ‘Vignette’ collection brand this summer. Redemptions are currently a bargain 30,000 points per night compared with €300-€400 for cash.
Reader Cat recently visited the Conrad Maldives Rangali and wrote an in-depth three-part review:
- Part 1: getting to the Conrad Rangali and resort overview
- Part 2: Sunrise Water Villas at the Conrad Rangali – worth it?
- Part 3: what are the best restaurants and how can you keep costs down at the Conrad Rangali?
Our round-up of the latest hotel promos in July is here.
Other interesting articles:
Heathrow Express is offering fast track security for anyone who buys a Business First ticket.
Meanwhile, Virgin Trains Ticketing now has its own app letting you earn Virgin Points on all train bookings.
Did you know you can turn your Etihad Guest miles into real cash using the Etihad Guest Reward Card?
By the time you read this, photographs from the Head for Points 10th birthday party on Wednesday, attended by over 500 readers and industry guests, should have been posted on headforpoints.com. Thank you to our headline sponsor Barclaycard and to Malaysia Airlines for providing two business class flights as our top raffle prize, and thank you to you if you came along.
Deals you missed:
For more offers ending soon, click here.
See you next Saturday!
