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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Latest travel news:
After an historic 50+ years at New York JFK Terminal 7, British Airways has moved in with American Airlines at Terminal 8. As part of the move, AA and BA have opened two brand new lounges for guests, and Rhys was there this week to see them:
Both lounges are impressive and set a new standard across the British Airways network. Did you ever think you’d see Krug being served in a British Airways lounge?!
In other news:
easyJet expands flights from Belfast. An additional aircraft will be based at Belfast International, taking the count to eight. The first route to be announced is Rhodes.
Fly Atlantic is the latest start-up airline to attempt low-cost UK to US flights. It wants to do so from a base in Belfast, which is certainly an …. interesting choice.
British Airways & Avios news:
Can you cancel the return flight of an Avios redemption if you’ve already flown the outbound? This interesting quirk highlights the complexity of Avios redemption ticketing and why, sometimes, booking two one-ways is best.
British Airways is now the second largest operator of A380s globally. No prizes for guessing who comes in first.
Credit card news:
Get £5 off at BP with the latest Amex cashback offer. This cashback offer gets you £5 when you spend £50 or more, and don’t forget you can also earn Avios.
How to use your American Express Business £50 or £75 Dell credit this Winter. This is genuinely free money – so you should make the most of it!
Get 10% off Heathrow Express with this Amex offer. If you need a speedy transfer into central London this offer will at least lighten the load on your wallet.
Hotel news:
What are the best hotel promos for December 2022? Stay informed of the latest offers with our monthly roundup.
Hyatt makes another acquisition. Not satisfied with snapping up various smaller groups recently, Hyatt has bought The Dream Hotel Group, further cementing its aggressive expansion plans.
Clayton Hotels has opened a new hotel in Glasgow this week.
Nectar Connect is offering some people 20 Nectar points per £1 spent at IHG hotels. This is a card linked offer when you pay with a registered credit card.
Other interesting articles:
Review: Aerotel Singapore, an airside transit hotel with outdoor pool! If you’ve got a long layover in Singapore, this unique transit hotel might brighten your day! Photo above.
oneworld rumoured to be courting China Southern. oneworld founders British Airways and American Airlines are said to be keen for China Southern to join the alliance. It was on the cards pre-covid – will it still happen?
Rob reviews Air France business class to Dubai. He managed to book this using his Virgin Points and was particularly impressed by the food.
On the same trip he also reviewed the Air France business class lounge in Paris.
Listen to Rob on Simon Calder’s travel podcast. They had a broad discussion about Premium Economy, the best business class seats and how frequent flyer miles work.
Rhys interviews TAP Portugal CEO Christine Ourmières-Widener. The airline is currently in the midst of a restructuring. Christine says she expects TAP to operate at 100% pre-covid capacity from early 2023, beating many of the larger airlines.
How to book Oman Air flights using Etihad Guest miles. Oman Air isn’t joining oneworld for some time so this is the easiest way for a UK traveller to redeem points via Amex Membership Rewards and Etihad Guest.
SWISS and Lufthansa have some good Dubai fares in First Class and Business Class from the UK, but only for Summer 2023.
What you missed:
The Barclaycard and Premier Banking offer has now ended. You may have missed out on 100,000+ Avios!
Cyber Monday turned out to be better than Black Friday this year, with a 48-hour flash offer from IHG offered 10,000 points for every two night stay plus a good 24-hour Preferred Hotels promotion.
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.
