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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FINAL HOURS: 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 mid-morning on Monday 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.

Remember that the offer will be pulled during Monday morning.

The representative APR is 78.9% APR variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 28.9% variable.

The latest travel and aviation news:

Doncaster Sheffield Airport is to close for good in October. We are the only news outlet to have the actual closure date – others are still repeating a statement from the airport owner about launching a ‘consultation’.

Heathrow Airport has asked airlines to stop selling fresh seats for flights until 11th September. It is quite clear by now, however, that the airlines aren’t listening.

Virgin Atlantic has launched its brand new Business Class seat. We were at the launch event last week and have all the details about what the airline is planning for its new A330neo fleet, the first of which arrives in September.

Air Canada and Emirates have launched a new partnership, which will involve both codesharing and reciprocal frequent flyer benefits and redemptions.

British Airways news:

It has been announced that British Airways will be moving to the brand new Terminal C at Orlando airport when it opens in mid September. Virgin Atlantic, interestingly, is staying put.

Speedbird Cafe, the pre-order meal service for short-haul Economy passengers, is getting a refresh. See which dishes are on the way out and what will replace them.

We have the full list of British Airways short-haul cancellations for August from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City.

We published an updated version of our guide to the new British Airways First Suite.

Avios news:

EXCLUSIVE: We have an exclusive offer for HfP readers of 3,000 Avios when they get the new British Airways Prepaid Mastercard. Click here to find out more. You need to use our promo code to apply

We took a deep dive into Qatar Airways ‘Flexi Awards’ which let you book Avios seats on busy flights if you pay double the normal number of points.

You can get up to 10,000 Avios with household, business, medical or landlord insurance from Alan Boswell Group.

Hotel news:

We were invited to the opening party for citizenM London Victoria Station. Rhys stayed the night and brought us a review.

Do you know that some frequent flyer schemes, including Avios, let you convert your miles into Accor Live Limitless hotel points? We look at whether it makes sense.

Accor launched a new promotion giving you 500 Accor Live Limitless points if you make a taxi booking via their new app feature.

Hilton has opened a 4th resort in the Maldives.

Other interesting articles:

SeatSpy, our favourite tool for sending email alerts when frequent flyer reward seats open up for your preferred date and route, has added six new airlines.

With flight cancellations and delays headline news at the moment, we take an in-depth look at your rights to a new flight or cash compensation if your flight is cancelled or delayed.

What happened at the Head for Points 10th birthday party? If you weren’t one of the 500 people that came along, here is what you missed.

Emirates will no longer let you redeem Skywards miles for JetBlue business class flights.

See you next Saturday! Don’t forget to think seriously about the 50,000 Avios bonus on the Barclaycard Avios Plus card (see here) before the offer ends on Monday morning.