‘The Travel Brief’, the weekly Head for Points travel trade newsletter

Welcome to your weekly trade round-up of UK business travel and travel loyalty news as well as our latest reviews and features.

This newsletter is the successor to Malcolm Ginsberg’s Business Travel News which Head for Points has acquired. If you are not a subscriber, you can sign up here to receive this free newsletter in your inbox every Monday. Please forward it to any colleagues who you think may be interested.

Malcolm’s new monthly forward-looking Travel News Update is available at travelnewsupdate.co.uk.

Special report #1:

Etihad’s A380s returned to commercial service after 40 months in storage, and we were on the first flight

Special report #2:

We were at the launch of Global Airlines on Thursday night, the new carrier that has just bought (outright, for cash) 4 x A380 aircraft to fly between Gatwick or New York. Mad or genius? We take a look.

The latest UK business travel news:

Iberia joins the British Airways and Qatar Airways joint venture, opening up 60+ destinations to seamless connections

IAG’s Avios subsidiary is under HMRC investigation for VAT avoidance with investors warned that any penalty may be ‘material’

British Airways orders six more Boeing 787-10 aircraft plus other news from Friday’s half-year financial results

Finnair rolls out its innovative new ‘no recline’ long haul business class seat to more routes

Volotea launches Strasbourg-London flights

Lufthansa launches UK ski flights this winter

Pittsburgh Airport is trying to attract an Aer Lingus flight

Domes Lake Algarve joins Marriott Bonvoy’s Autograph Collection

Virgin Atlantic closes its Newark Clubhouse lounge for good

eGates at all UK airports are now open to 10 and 11 year olds

British Airways makes some amendments to its winter short haul flying schedules

Business travel stories we recommend from other sites:

Lufthansa expands business class meal pre-selection service (Business Traveller)

Boeing to increase production rates of 737 MAX and 787 aircraft (Simple Flying)

Weekend strikes at UK’s Gatwick airport called off (Reuters)

Prue Leith brands Caledonian Sleeper service to Edinburgh a ‘crashing disappointment’ (Daily Record)

Regulator brings enforcement action against Wizz Air (CAA)

Riu Plaza London Victoria hotel opens this week (Business Traveller)

Our latest reviews:

Rhys heads to Abu Dhabi on the inaugural A380 service – read his report of the day here. Here is his review of the Etihad Lounge at London Heathrow T4.

Rob heads to the South Coast to try The Grand Hotel, Eastbourne. Can wonderful service and period flair make up for dated interiors? Image below.

The latest UK travel loyalty news:

Here are the 2024 peak and off-peak dates for British Airways redemptions

How is Virgin Red different from Virgin Flying Club?

NEW: you can now book ITA Airways flights using Virgin Points

How many Virgin Points do you need to redeem for flights on Virgin Atlantic and its partners?

How to earn Avios and get the best deals on Heathrow Airport parking

NEW BENEFIT: Get £300 to spend at Indeed each year with the Amex Business Platinum card

Get VIP tickets to the BMW PGA golf with your Hilton Honors points

Which hotel loyalty programs will roll over your ‘excess’ elite nights on 31st December?

ENDS SOON – HfP reader exclusive for limited companies:

If you have a limited company or LLP, we are running an exclusive special offer with Capital on Tap and it’s small business Visa card.

This is a hugely powerful card. You earn points worth 1 Avios or 1p of cashback for every £1 you spend and it comes with no FX fees and no ATM fees.

Until 13th August you will receive 10,000 points (worth 10,000 Avios or £100) for making your first purchase, and a further 20,000 points (worth 20,000 Avios or £200) if you spend £20,000 within three months.

This bonus is on top of your standard ‘1 point per £1’, so your first £20,000 of spending will earn a total of 50,000 points (worth 50,000 Avios or £500). This comprises 20,000 base points for spending £20,000 and 30,000 bonus points.

Even if you can’t spend £20,000 within three months, you still qualify for 10,000 bonus points for making just one purchase.

You can find out more in this article. You must apply via this exclusive HfP link to get the bonus.

The annual fee is £99.

Thank you for reading

Please drop me a note at rob@headforpoints.com with any feedback. See you next Monday.

Rob, Rhys and Sinead @ Head for Points

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