‘The Travel Brief’, the weekly Head for Points travel trade newsletter
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Welcome to The Travel Brief, 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.
The Travel Brief 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.
We’ve had a rebrand to ‘The Travel Brief’
It’s now 18 months since we acquired Business Travel News from Malcolm Ginsberg.
We didn’t want to use the BTN name going forwards because of the clash with BTN Europe (although Malcolm used it first!). We thought we could get away without giving the newsletter a formal name at all.
We’ve now decided that we do need some sort of branding, and so please welcome the new newsletter name – The Travel Brief.
Literally nothing else will change. You will still get a curated ‘rip and read’ summary of the top UK business travel and travel loyalty stories in your inbox or LinkedIn feed every Monday morning. Thanks for your ongoing support.
The latest UK business travel news:
Virgin Atlantic scraps its planned Manchester Clubhouse …. could a oneworld lounge replace it? London Clubhouse image above.
You can (finally!) earn British Airways Executive Club tier points on Aer Lingus flights
Save up to 66% on Avios redemptions to Tel Aviv, Cairo and Amman. This looks like a permanent reduction.
The cost of UK passports is increasing – jump in this week to save
Will Oman Air still join oneworld? The airline is shrinking rapidly.
Virgin Atlantic adds a second daily flight to Mumbai
Fly London to Dubai in business class for less than £1,300 – and cheaper from European airports
Grand Hyatt Barcelona hotel opens
…. which is good news because Hilton has lost management of The Biltmore Mayfair LXR hotel in Grosvenor Square
Stories we recommend from other sites:
Cheval Collection joins the Global Hotel Alliance (Business Traveller)
Virgin Atlantic and British Airways aircraft collide on the ramp at Heathrow (UK Aviation News)
KM Malta Airlines replaces Air Malta (Travel Weekly)
UK airports granted extensions to install new CT scanners (Business Traveller)
Border Force strike at Heathrow suspended (Travel Weekly)
Our latest reviews:
Rob writes about the day he flew to Barra and landed on the beach
The latest UK travel loyalty news:
Save 25,000 Avios on a Business Class redemption with Qatar Airways, and 10,000 Avios off Economy redemption flights
It’s April – you’re now in your BA tier point ‘transition year’. We explain what that means to you.
How to earn Avios from petrol by converting your BPme Rewards points
Iberia Plus Kids: another way to earn Avios when your children fly
Planning a trip to New York? Save a fortune in Avios and cash by flying Iberia. We show you how much you can save.
What are HSBC Premier credit card points worth?
Get 2x-3x bonus Accor Live Limitless points on Sofitel and MGallery stays
Get FA Cup semi-final tickets with Emirates Skywards miles
ENDS TUESDAY: 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.
You only have a few days left to apply. If you are self employed or have a small business, you should take this very seriously. Remember that Business Gold is FREE for the first year.
If you apply for American Express Business Platinum by 9th April, 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 by 9th April, 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 if you apply via our links – thank you.
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
PS. If you were forwarded ‘The Travel Brief’ by a colleague, you can sign up for a free subscription by filling in the form here
