Bits: get 12 Bonvoy points per £1 with the Marriott Amex, Vueling gets the Boeing 737 MAX

News in brief:

Earn 12 Bonvoy points per £1 at selected Marriott hotels

The Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card has quietly rolled out a ‘double points’ promotion.

Assuming this is open to all cardholders, you will see it under the ‘Offers’ tab in the Amex app or website. You must opt-in by clicking ‘Save to Card’.

Usually, you earn 6 Marriott Bonvoy points per £1 on the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card when you pay at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels. We value Marriott points at 0.5p so this is equivalent to a 3% rebate.

Until 4th September, this is doubled to 12 Marriott Bonvoy points per £1.

Payment must be made by 4th September. Pre-paid bookings made for a later date should trigger the double points, as long as the hotel does actually take the payment in advance, but you can never be 100% certain.

There are participating hotels in Austra, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

The full list here is here (PDF).

Our full review of the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card – which comes with 15 elite night credits each year – is here.

Vueling gets 50 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft

Six years ago, IAG, the parent of British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus, and Boeing agreed a huge 200 aircraft order for the 737 MAX. The aircraft was still grounded at the time following the loss of the two Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines flights.

It was widely assumed that the order was one of opportunism. With the aircraft’s reputation at rock bottom the prices that IAG negotiated were expected to be significantly lower than you would otherwise find.

This was the same opportunism that led Ryanair to order 150 Boeing 737-800s in 2002. Ryanair called it the ‘deal of the century’ and the bulk of Ryanair’s financial success in the years since can be traced back to it.

The letter of intent, announced at the Paris Air Show in 2019, was confirmed in 2022 when IAG finalised the order for 50 aircraft plus 100 options. Initially deliveries were expected to start in 2023, but subsequent issues with the aircraft (including the Alaska Airlines door blowout) have reduced Boeing’s capacity.

IAG has now confirmed that it will receive the first of 50 Boeing 737 MAX “from late 2026 onwards.” As widely anticipated, the aircraft are destined for Vueling, IAG’s Spanish low cost airline.

Luis Gallego, CEO of IAG, confirmed that the plan was to transition Vueling into an all-Boeing airline over a six year timeframe.

It will mark the first time in eleven years that an IAG airline will fly Boeing single-aisle aircraft, with British Airways phasing out its last previous generation 737s in 2015.

IAG must have got a fantastic deal on the order because transitioning from an all-Airbus to all-Boeing feet is neither cheap nor efficient, with all pilots and crew having to be retrained. IAG admits this will create short term “inefficiencies”.