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

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.

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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.

Special feature:

Rob spent a day with Hyatt’s Area Vice President for the UK and Ireland:

How does an upscale hotel General Manager spend their day? I find out

EXCLUSIVE: I get a hard hat tour of Park Hyatt London River Thames

The latest UK business travel news:

I visit aether, the new private terminal at Manchester Airport, which you can use from just £90 – image above

British Airways launches flights to Tromsø

British Airways and JetBlue apply for permission to codeshare

Bristol Airport will soon see a huge expansion in its lounge capacity

Aer Lingus launches flights to Las Vegas

Redeem Virgin Points for the new Virgin Red VIP box at The O2 in London

Pizza Express opens in Gatwick South and joins Priority Pass – even for Amex cardholders

Which British Airways Club Europe routes earn 160 tier points?

Why Amex Platinum Fine Hotels & Resorts is a great choice for one night stays

Where does British Airways fly from Southampton Airport?

Stories we recommend from other sites:

JetBlue launches New York-Edinburgh service (Business Traveller)

Loganair begins year round Glasgow to Donegal service (UK Aviation News)

Virgin Voyages designing Brilliant Lady itineraries specifically for UK market (Travel Weekly)

Ryanair expects to be 23 737 Max jets short of planned summer capacity (FlightGlobal)

Norse Atlantic to operate Caribbean flights from Gatwick and Manchester with P&O Cruises (Business Traveller)

Our latest reviews:

It’s been ‘Emirates week’ on the site as Rhys headed to Dubai:

Review: The Emirates Lounge at London Heathrow Terminal 3

Review: Emirates Premium Economy from London to Dubai – the world’s best? Image above.

Review: Emirates Business Class Lounge, Dubai Terminal 3 Concourse A

Review: Emirates A380 business class from Dubai to London Heathrow

The latest UK travel loyalty news:

Rare First Class Qatar Airways Avios availability to Perth for spring 2025, image above

We review the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (Amex Gold) credit card

How to transfer Avios from Finnair Plus to British Airways Executive Club, and vice versa – transfers are now live

How to pay at Ticketmaster with your Hilton Honors hotel points

TrueBlue – a different approach to loyalty from JetBlue

Don’t forget ….

Marriott Bonvoy is still offering a 60,000 points sign-up bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. Our article on the deal is here and you can apply here. HfP earns a commission if you apply via our link – 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

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