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.

If you are not a subscriber, you can sign up to this free Saturday newsletter by filling in the form here. Please forward it to any friends or family who you think may be interested in improving how they travel. The newsletter also runs on the Head for Points website every Saturday.

(We also offer daily emails. You would receive each article in full on the day of release, so you won’t miss any short-notice deals or offers. If you want to switch, create a fresh subscription to the daily emails via this form. You will then need to unsubscribe from the weekly email by clicking the ‘Unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of this newsletter.)

ENDS WEDNESDAY: 100,000 (!) bonus Avios with Barclays and Barclaycard:

Barclays and Barclaycard have launched a fantastic new promotion with 100,000 bonus Avios up for grabs (150,000 Avios in total, if you include individual product sign-up bonuses). It’s bonkers 🙂

You need to take out the Barclaycard Avios Plus credit card and Premier Banking with Barclays Avios Rewards. If you already have one of these products, you need to add the other.

Our introductory article is here, and you can find out more and check your eligibility directly on the Barclays website here.

The offer ends on Wednesday 30th November.

Black Friday:

Black Friday offers are popping up left, right and centre with most companies launching promotions of one kind or another.

We’ve collated the best of the airline and travel deals for you, although few are outstanding:

• Get up to £300 back in the British Airways Holidays Black Friday sale
• Get £200 Aer Lingus business class flights from Manchester
• Save 40% on a Priority Pass membership
• Black Friday roundup: Expedia, Hotels.com, Booking.com, Qatar Airways, Marriott, CitizenM, Malaysia Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Norse Atlantic
• Black Friday roundup: BA, Virgin, Etihad, Iberia, TAP, Lufthansa, Europcar, Apex Hotels, Travelodge and No1 Lounges
• Two Black Friday gift card offers for Accor and D&D Restaurants

The best deal is from Air France and KLM, who are offering Business Class flights from Spain to the United States from around £1,000 return, with good availability for much of 2023.

British Airways & Avios news:

British Airways makes it harder for you to cash out to Nectar points. After cuting the exchange rate, it is now using ‘dark patterns’ to persuade you from transferring ….

Iberia’s new ‘earn Avios on your spend’ scheme gets messy before it even launches. Iberia pitched the move as a way to simplify Avios earning rates. Instead, it is looking increasingly confusing. Does anyone think this is a good idea?

British Airways is trialling biometric boarding. After being used on domestic flights, the new technology is now being trialled on certain international routes.

Iberia will launch flights to Edinburgh next summer. Surprisingly, Iberia does not currently fly to the Scottish capital. Flights will be operated by Iberia Express and are available for Avios redemption.

How would the HfP team spend 100,000 Avios? Rob, Rhys and Sinead share how and why they would spend 100,000 Avios from the current Barclays Premier and Barclaycard joint promotion.

Hotel news:

Redeem IHG points at 70 Iberostar beach resorts. Iberostar, a family run Spanish chain, operates a number of all-inclusive family resorts. A new long-term agreement with IHG means they will soon be bookable on points.

Rhys reviews the Hilton London Heathrow Airport hotel at Terminal 4. It is one of four hotels connected directly to the terminal and has recently been refurbished. Sadly the pool was permanently closed during the work.

Get extra benefits at InterContinental, Indigo, and Kimpton hotels. IHG’s Luxury and Lifestyle Collection offers a number of benefits when booking via a luxury travel agent.

Rob reviews The Thompson Central Park, a Hyatt hotel. This is one of Hyatt’s smaller brands, with the first European Thompson having opened in Madrid earlier this year.

Get 1,000 free points when you download the IHG One Rewards app. No booking required. After relaunching its loyalty programme this year, IHG is keen to get you trying out its app.

HfP in Thailand:

• Review: the Grand Hyatt Erawan in Bangkok
• Review: the Hyatt Regency Hua Hin in Thailand, an impressive beach-front resort

Other interesting articles:

Virgin Atlantic won’t grow in the regions. Shai Weiss, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, dismissed potential expansion opportunities outside London and Manchester. He believes the UK’s regions are better served via the joint venture with Air France and KLM.

Plaza Premium is taking over El Al lounge at Heathrow Terminal 4. Whilst it previously managed the lounge, now it will be rebranded as ‘Blush by Plaza Premium’ and be open to non-El Al guests. It complements Plaza’s existing lounge in T4.

What you missed:

Hopefully you weren’t caught up in the limited tube strike affecting Heathrow stations this week…

eBay was offering 30 Nectar points (19 Avios) per £1 spent – but only between noon and 1pm on Black Friday.

Our latest roundup of miles and points offers closing soon is here and will be updated on the site on Sunday.

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.