‘The Travel Brief’, the weekly Head for Points travel trade newsletter
Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission. See here for all partner links.
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.
This is the 150th edition since we took over the Business Travel News newsletter from Malcolm Ginsberg. Thank you for your support over the last (nearly) three years.
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 week’s top travel news stories:
Why won’t British Airways refund your seat reservation fees when you cancel a flight?
Austrian Airlines tests low cost short haul flights to Dubai – will customers go for it?
Heathrow Express makes it easier to book £10 tickets – and offers 25x Heathrow Rewards points
China Airlines adds a fifth weekly London flight: where do they fly and what can you expect?
Singapore Airlines to serve caviar in business?
Hyatt Regency Nice to refurbish and rebrand
Lufthansa brings its Allegris seat to Frankfurt
Is InterContinental Singapore leaving IHG?
Great Northern Hotel at Kings Cross leaves Marriott
Calcot Manor is now bookable, for cash or points, via Hilton
Stories we recommend from other sites:
Manchester Airport debuts marhaba meet-and-greet service in the UK (Business Traveller)
Hainan drops London Heathrow – Haikou direct service (Simple Flying)
Dnata weighing sale of UK leisure brands Gold Medal, Travel Republic, Travelbag and Netflights (TTG)
Leeds Bradford Airport might soon have 8+ hour intercontinental flights with Airbus A321s (Simple Flying)
Our latest reviews:
What’s it like flying from Toronto’s own City Airport on Porter Airlines?
The latest UK travel loyalty news:
Get a 10%-20% bonus when you transfer Nectar points to Avios – worth it?
NEW: Get 60,000 points (=60,000 Avios) – and no fee in Year 1 – with Amex Business Gold
Lufthansa selling miles with a 60% bonus via its ‘bundles’ – as low as 0.98p
Get England vs Wales VIP Wembley tickets with your Hilton points
How many Avios do I need to fly to ….? Here’s the full BA price list for redemptions
Which Avios airline should you credit your oneworld business class flights to?
The £400 F&B credit with Avios tickets at The O2 has been halved
I finally blow my 250,000 Miles & More miles, as I remember some benefits I had forgotten!
How to monitor Marriott Bonvoy Moments auctions and maximise your chances!
NEW: Big bonuses for adding supplementary cards to Amex Gold and Platinum
Hyatt launches a double points promotion for hotels in Europe, the Middle East and Africa
Radisson Rewards is dropping Avios as a transfer partner ….
…. and we finally work out how to transfer Radisson Rewards points to Avios – the partnership ends on 30th September, remember
NEW: Get 36,000 Virgin Points with the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ credit card!
Virgin Atlantic has launched a new offer for its Virgin Money-issued Reward+ credit card.
The standard bonus of 18,000 Virgin Points on the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ credit card is increased to 36,000 Virgin Points!
This is the biggest offer we have seen on the Virgin Atlantic cards for a number of years. In fact it is the biggest sign-up offer on ANY UK Mastercard or Visa credit card for well over two years.
You need to apply by 13th October and spend £3,000 within your first three months.
There is also a special deal on the free Virgin Atlantic Reward credit card. The bonus is doubled from 3,000 Virgin Points to 6,000 Virgin Points when you spend £1,000 within your first free months.
A key reason to get these cards is that there are NO foreign exchange fees in most European countries. It is a great card to use when travelling, letting you earn up to 1.5 Virgin Points per £1 and avoid the 2.99% FX fee charged by most credit cards.
Our full article on the offer and the card benefits is here.
PS. If you already have one of the two Virgin Atlantic credit cards, you are OK to apply for the other one. The only restriction is that you got the first one more than three months ago. You will get the bonus if accepted. This does NOT replace your existing card – you will have two cards going forward.
Interest rate information is at the bottom of this newsletter. Head for Points receives a commission if you apply via any of the links above – thank you.
Thank you for reading
Please drop me a note at rob@headforpoints.com with any feedback.
If you are booking a hotel this week, click here to read our summary of the best bonus points offers for September from the big chains.
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.
Interest rate information for the Virgin Atlantic credit cards discussed above:
Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard
The representative APR is 69.7% variable, including the annual fee. The representative APR on purchases is 26.9% variable.
Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard
The representative APR is 26.9% variable.
Comments (0)