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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Top deals of the week:

This week (Tuesday to be precise) is:

• your last chance to get a sign-up bonus of 30,000 Membership Rewards points on American Express Preferred Rewards Gold – article here, apply here

• your last chance to get a sign-up bonus of 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy points on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card – article here, apply here

The latest travel and aviation news:

British Airways will make Avios-earning rates on flights revenue based during 2023. The change, which was revealed in an Iberia press release, won’t occur until next year, but here’s how it could change things. Iberia is adopting the new system immediately.

We try the brand new Upper Class cabin on Virgin Atlantic’s new A330neo. Virgin has once again delivered in style, taking on board feedback form the A350 Upper Class suite to create an impressive business class cabin. A photo is above and click through for the full story of our trip to Tampa.

Flybe pulled its new routes from the Isle of Man with just 48 hours notice. There will be no flights to Belfast City or Heathrow this Winter. Flybe claimed it was short of aircraft ….

…. but a day later Newcastle Airport had a windfall when Flybe announced new routes to Heathrow and Belfast.

Emirates will also increase its Newcastle services. These three additions should be a boost to Britain’s 13th biggest airport.

Ryanair is adopting the hidden disabilities ‘sunflower’ lanyard. The change means that those with the lanyard will be officially recognised.

Wizz Air has launched a number of new routes from the UK.

Luxair is launching a new route from London City Airport to Antwerp – the only Antwerp flight from the UK.

British Airways brings back its full Club World meal service. Rob was one of the first to experience the return to pre-pandemic service levels and reports back from his recent flight from Dubai.

British Airways & Avios news:

Surprise: the Avios to Nectar exchange rate has been devalued. The change means that you will get fewer Nectar points when converting your Avios, although Nectar to Avios transfers remain the same. Here’s what the change means for the value of Amex Membership Rewards points.

British Airways has changed its Dubai lounge access rules. The lounge, which is far too small for an A380 service, is now restricted to BA Gold cardholders and those travelling in First. Everyone else – including Club passengers – will need to use a third party lounge.

Aer Lingus has added a number of new flights from Belfast, including to Newquay and Jersey. Avios redemptions are now available on these flights.

Credit card news:

Amex has introduced a new £200 travel credit to the Business Platinum Card, and it works better than we expected. This year’s credit will have a 12-month validity, regardless of year membership renewal date.

Hotel news:

Sinead reviews the CitizenM hotel in Shoreditch. The Dutch hotel chain offers high-tech capsule-like rooms.

When do Marriott Bonvoy points expire? Plus how to keep your points balance alive – without even staying at a Marriott hotel.

Round-up: the best hotel points promotions in November. Our quick summary will catch you up with all the current offers from Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and more.

When do IHG One Rewards points expire? We take a look!

When do your Radisson Rewards points expire? Here’s what you can do to stop your points expiring and going to waste.

InterContinental Ambassador is tightening up its benefits and reverting to the pre-pandemic rules.

Four Seasons has launched a £200 cashback offer with American Express.

Other interesting articles:

Virgin Atlantic has tweaked its Clubhouse access rules for Gold members. The change is necessary because the Clubhouse is increasingly undersized for the volume of Virgin and Delta status holders.

Review: the Finnair Schengen lounge in Helsinki. Whilst the least premium of Finnair’s three lounges, it still makes a good impression.

Rob explains his most complicated redemption ever. The trip involved redeeming points from nine diffrent airline and hotel programs for his annual family trip to Dubai.

And finally ….

We’re delighted to say that we have been shortlisted for ‘Editorial Team of the Year’ at the 2022 Business Travel Journalism Awards.

What you missed:

Our exclusive offer of 3 months free myCitizenM+ membership ended on Monday.

Crazy car promo: you could have got 25,000+ Etihad Guest miles with a 3+ day rental. The offer was a great way to top up your Etihad Guest account but only ran for a couple of days.

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.