Bits: Avios flights from Liverpool and Newcastle, American Express Platinum not dropping Accor

News in brief:

Avios redemptions soon possible from Liverpool

Over the weekend I published details of Avios flights from UK regional airports.  If you got the email version, you will have missed a late change I made in response to a HFP reader comment.

Two Avios redemptions will soon be available from Liverpool John Lennon airport.  Neither will necessarily be a good use of miles, however.

First up is an Aer Lingus flight from Liverpool to Dublin.  This route begins in October.  You can book Aer Lingus flights with Avios if you call British Airways – they cannot be booked online.  Be warned, though, that the taxes (there is no Reward Flight Saver on Aer Lingus redemptions) can often approach the cost of a cash ticket.

The second new route is a flight from Liverpool to Barcelona with Vueling.  Vueling is a low cost Spanish airline, owned by BA’s parent company.  You can only book Avios redemptions if you transfer your points to an Iberia Plus account and redeem from there.  Again, such redemptions are not necessarily going to be a great deal given the cost of cash tickets.

The Barcelona route starts from late March 2016.

And also from Newcastle ….

Last week, Vueling also announced a new route from Newcastle to Barcelona from Summer 2016.

It will start at two flights per week in late March, rising to three flights per week from June.

With prices reportedly starting at £80 return, an Avios redemption is not necessarily going to make such sense.  I doubt those prices will be around for peak Summer dates though.

You can find out more at vueling.com.

Accor Platinum status has NOT gone as an American Express Platinum benefit

Finally, there has been some concern on Head for Points in the reader comments in recent days that American Express had dropped Platinum status in Le Club Accorhotels as a member benefit for American Express Platinum charge card members.

(Amex does ‘have form’ here.  In 2013 it removed Hilton Gold status overnight without notice.  This was especially galling for many members as, since it was a one off benefit, they had delayed their application as they had no Hilton stays pending.)

The good news is that Accor status is not going away.  The following notice has now appeared on the Platinum cardholders website:

“NOTICE: AccorHotels is currently experiencing a technical issue. Le Club Accorhotels enrolment capabilities will be reinstated once this issue has been resolved. We apologise for any inconvenience.”

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Accor Live Limitless update – April 2025:

Earn bonus Accor points: Accor is not currently running a global promotion

New to Accor Live Limitless?  Read our review of Accor Live Limitless here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our analysis of what Accor Live Limitless points are worth is here.

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from Accor and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.