The weekly Head for Points travel trade newsletter
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Welcome to your weekly trade round-up of UK business travel and travel loyalty news as well as our latest reviews and features.
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.
This newsletter is the successor to Malcolm Ginsberg’s Business Travel News. Malcolm’s new monthly forward-looking Travel News Update is available at travelnewsupdate.co.uk.
The latest UK business travel news:
This week, British Airways held a special showcase for journalists and top-tier Executive Club members to lift the lid on what’s happening at the airline in 2024.
We produced four articles following the event:
- British Airways relaunches flights to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur
- Exclusive: BA working on 5-year plan to renovate Heathrow lounges
- BA unveils new short haul seating (with tables returning to Club Europe) – image above
- More news: BA improves punctuality, new A380 First, free messaging, new website and GGL changes
BA Holidays extends its double tier point offer to June 2025
SAS will leave Star Alliance and join SkyTeam in Q2
Plum Guide home rentals join Global Hotel Alliance
Here are the 2024 Hyatt hotel category changes – it’s not great news for Europe
Get a Flying Blue (SkyTeam) status match from your British Airways status – including to the top (Gold) tier
Stories we recommend from other sites:
IHG’s Vignette Collection makes UK debut in Liverpool (Business Traveller)
SAS chief: SkyTeam will ‘unlock’ network benefits previously unavailable in Star Alliance (FlightGlobal)
Lufthansa cabin crew call new two-day strike in Germany (BBC)
JetBlue officially kills Spirit Airlines merger agreement (Simple Flying)
Manchester Marriott Hotel Piccadilly set to be unveiled this spring (Business Traveller)
Interview of the week (Part 2):
Rhys spent over an hour with Sir Tim Clark, CEO of Emirates, as part of a media roundtable recently.
In Part 2 of our interview, we talk about issues with Airbus and Boeing aircraft and how they affect Emirates’ fleet plan.
If you missed the link to Part 1 last week, you can read it here.
Our latest reviews:
Conny visits SCHLOSS Roxburghe, Hyatt’s new Scottish resort hotel. It’s certainly not your standard Hyatt property. Image above.
Did you miss any of our 28 London airport hotel reviews? Here’s a summary of what we’ve tried in the last few years.
The latest UK travel loyalty news:
Should you take 7,000 Avios from Barclaycard instead of the annual upgrade voucher?
BRIT award winner Raye plays Hilton’s latest Secret Socials gig – see image above
How to transfer hotel points to another member – a guide to all major loyalty programs
What are the best hotel promotions for March 2024?
How to use the British Airways multi-partner chart to redeem on multiple oneworld airlines
Avios and Nectar still haven’t notified customers about Monday’s conversion devaluation
Nationwide strikes £2.9bn deal to buy Virgin Money – what will happen to the Virgin Atlantic credit cards?
What happens to your Amex Membership Rewards points when you die?
Get a 70% bonus buying Virgin Points (click here to buy)
Listen to Radio 4’s ‘Inside the World of the Frequent Flyer’
CRAZY TIMES: Get 120,000 points with Amex Business Platinum and 60,000 points with ‘free for a year’ Amex Business Gold
American Express has brought back the biggest payment card sign-up bonus we’ve seen in the UK. Ever.
If you apply for American Express Business Platinum, you can receive 120,000 Membership Rewards points as a sign-up bonus. This converts into, amongst other things, 120,000 Avios or 120,000 Virgin Points.
If you apply for American Express Business Gold, which is FREE for Year 1, you can receive 60,000 Membership Rewards points as a sign-up bonus. This converts into, amongst other things, 60,000 Avios or 60,000 Virgin Points – and from a card which is free for 12 months.
T&C apply to the bonuses – read our articles for details:
- here is our full review of American Express Business Platinum and what you can do with the 120,000 bonus points (and you can apply here)
- here is our full review of American Express Business Gold and what you can do with the 60,000 bonus points (and you can apply here)
Sole traders are welcome to apply as well as Limited Companies. If you don’t have a business of your own, please forward this email to any friends who may be interested.
The application form for Business Platinum is here and for Business Gold is here.
Head for Points receives a commission from American Express if you are accepted which helps support the site.
Thank you for reading
Please drop me a note at rob@headforpoints.com with any feedback. See you next Monday.
Rob, Rhys and Katie @ Head for Points
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