‘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 the latest reviews and features from the Head for Points team.
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.
There’s a different format this week
There is virtually no business travel news this week due to Christmas and New Year – apart from the teeny tiny British Airways announcement below – so this issue is very loyalty-heavy.
Our normal business travel coverage will return next week. This will include an EXCLUSIVE Head for Points competition to win two Business Class flights to Taiwan with China Airlines.
The biggest story of the year (for 2024 and probably 2025):
British Airways moves to revenue-based status for Bronze, Silver, Gold and Gold Guest List.
From 1st April 2025, the way you earn status with British Airways will change – and will, for many, become harder. If we’re honest, it will become impossible for most.
Our article, which has over 2800 comments to date, has all the changes.
If you do nothing else after reading this newsletter, you should read this article.
In other business travel and travel loyalty news:
Hilton’s ‘Spark’ brand continues to roll out – first Romford, now Luton
Good £49 per night deal at the Hampton by Hilton Torquay hotel until 31st March
What Amex sign-up bonuses are you still eligible for? We update our comprehensive annual overview.
How do British Airways American Express 2-4-1 companion vouchers work? A full and comprehensive guide.
What is the difference between American Express Gold and American Express Platinum?
Our top 10 tips for earning and redeeming Avios
How does Avios Subscription work, letting you buy Avios from 0.99p?
How does Avios Balance Boost work, letting you buy Avios from 0.92p?
What are the best hotel promos for January 2025?
Your cut-out-and-keep guide to the Marriott Bonvoy breakfast benefit
Accor is offering double points on hotels across Europe
‘Frequent Flyer – The Video,’ the best 20-minute film ever made about air miles
Our latest reviews:
We concluded our coverage of a trip to Los Angeles with Scandinavian Airlines.
Click here to read our review of SAS Plus, the SAS premium economy cabin, from Los Angeles to Copenhagen. Image above.
Our diary from the SAS million points challenge:
A reader is taking part in the SAS million points challenge and is documenting his journey for us. Here are the final instalments:
- “I’m doing the SAS million point challenge – here’s why” (a reminder)
- Barry’s SAS million point challenge: will his Xiamen Air ticket qualify? (Airline 13)
- Barry’s SAS million point challenge: Korean Air (Airline 14) and a bonus trip on China Southern
- Barry’s SAS million point challenge – a diversion to add Airline 15 (Kenya Airways)
- Barry’s SAS million point challenge – homeward bound on Airline 16 (China Eastern)
LAST CHANCE: Get an 80,000 points bonus (converts to 80,000 Avios) with Amex Platinum
American Express is currently (for another eight days) running a special sign-up bonus on the American Express Platinum Card – apply here.
The bonus is increased from 50,000 to 80,000 Membership Rewards points which converts to:
- 80,000 Avios
- 80,000 Virgin Points
- 80,000 Etihad, Flying Blue, Asia Miles, Delta, Finnair, Qantas or SAS miles
- 60,000 Emirates miles
- 53,333 Singapore Airlines miles
- 160,000 Hilton Honors points
- 120,000 Marriott Bonvoy points
- 240,000 Radisson Rewards points
- 5,332 Club Eurostar points
….. and many other non-travel rewards.
You receive 80,000 Membership Rewards points after spending £10,000 in six months.
The card has an annual fee of £650. For now, you can still get a pro-rata refund if you cancel it mid-year – it looks like Amex has quietly shelved plans to remove refunds.
Our main article on the 80,000 points bonus is here. Make sure you read the bit about whether or not you qualify for the bonus.
You can apply for the American Express Platinum Card with the special bonus on this page of the Amex website. You may even see a bonus higher than 80,000 points as Amex is targeting some people with a different offer.
The special offer ends on 14th January.
The representative APR is 698.1% variable, including the annual fee. The representative APR on purchases is 30.4% variable.
Thank you for reading
We will be back to normal next week with the usual mix of business travel and travel loyalty strories.
Please drop me a note at rob@headforpoints.com with any feedback. See you next Monday.
Rob, Rhys, Sinead and Katie @ Head for Points
PS. If you were forwarded ‘The Travel Brief’ by a colleague, you can sign up for a free email subscription by filling in the form here.
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