Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

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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LAST CHANCE – Get a huge 60,000 points PLUS £200 travel credit, and great benefits, with American Express Platinum

This is your last chance to jump in on American Express’s exceptional deal on The Platinum Card. The bonus is doubled to 60,000 Membership Rewards points which converts to:

  • 60,000 Avios
  • 60,000 Virgin Points
  • 60,000 Emirates, Etihad, Flying Blue, Alitalia, Asia Miles, Delta, Finnair, Qantas or SAS miles
  • 40,000 Singapore Airlines miles
  • 120,000 Hilton Honors points
  • 90,000 Marriott Bonvoy points
  • 180,000 Radisson Rewards points
  • 4,000 Club Eurostar points

….. and many other non-travel rewards.

Even better, American Express is throwing in a £200 travel credit too. Once you have triggered the 60,000 points (£6,000 spend in six months required) you will also be given £200 to spend at Amex Travel.

Whilst the annual fee is £575, this is refundable pro-rata if you cancel once you’ve banked the bonus.

Our main article on the ‘60,000 points plus £200 travel credit’ bonus is here. Make sure you read the bit about whether or not you qualify for the bonus.

You can apply for The Platinum Card with the special bonus on this page of the Amex website.

The closing date for the 60,000 points offer is Tuesday 25th October.

In other news …..

The latest travel and aviation news:

British Airways has confirmed the restoration of its pre-covid meal service in Business Class on long haul flights. After two and a half years, it is about time! Rob is on a Club World flight the day after it restarts so we’ll have a review soon.

UNTIL MONDAY NIGHT: British Airways is offering excellent value ‘part pay with Avios’ discounts on flights from Gatwick. You’ll get 2p per Avios of value – better than most redemptions, up to a maximum discount of £100.

A shocking Radisson Rewards devaluation has cut the value of your points in half – with no notice. We look at the gory details.

WIN: We’re giving away two exclusive theatre experiences at the National Theatre in partnership with American Express. The competition closes on Monday.

Avios and British Airways news:

The end of reduced tier point thresholds is in sight: this week, British Airways emailed all members as a reminder that the reduced thresholds, which made it easier to earn status, will come to an end at the end of the year. Here is what it means for you.

When Qatar Privilege Club adopted Avios it added a number of new earning and redemption partners. Here’s a list of all the new hotel chains you can earn Avios with.

Credit card news:

Barclaycard is adding lounge access to the Avios Plus credit card next week.

Did you know the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card lets you earn points and miles with 38 different airlines? For many of those 38 airlines this is your ONLY way to earn miles via UK credit card spend. You can also get 40,000 Bonvoy points for signing up this month.

Sheraton Grand Edinburgh view

Hotel news:

Missed out on last week’s ‘free Diamond status’ mistake by IHG? Here’s how you can get IHG One Rewards Platinum status with just five nights.

Fancy seeing Charles crowned King next year? There is surprisingly good redemption availability at a number of central London hotels, including properties from Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, IHG One and World of Hyatt.

Rob reviews the Hyatt Regency hotel in Amsterdam, a new option with a surprisingly impressive Club Lounge.

Meanwhile, Rhys reviews the Sheraton Grand Edinburgh, just off Princes Street and with an impressive spa.

Don’t get caught out: eight Hilton hotel brands do not offer upgrades to Hilton Honors Gold and Diamond members. Here’s the full list.

Hilton and IHG have both launched ‘buy points’ bonuses.

A good Accor deal has launched, letting you earn 6,000 Avios or €120 for three two-night stays.

Virgin Atlantic A330neo

Other interesting articles:

Virgin Atlantic’s first A330neo aircraft arrived from Airbus on Sunday. The plane will start commercial flights later this month.

Which UK airports have the most passenger arrests? We received a press release with the numbers and thought it would make an interesting topic of conversation!

Here’s how you can earn miles and points with Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Lounges, first class and route resumptions – we chat with the Cathay Pacific Head of European Marketing.

What you missed:

Lots of Avios availability appeared in Club World to Bermuda, although by the time you read this on Saturday it may have been snapped up by our daily readers! It was still looking pretty good at 10pm last night though ….

Our latest roundup of miles and points offers closing soon is here.

Don’t forget to visit our forum if you have any questions relating to frequent flyer or hotel loyalty programmes or loyalty credit cards.

See you next Saturday.

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