Bits: get 15% off Avis with Amex, earn miles from your overseas mobile calls

News in brief:

Get 15% off Avis with American Express

Until December 8th, American Express is offering 15% off Avis car hire rentals.  This is valid for rentals in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa which are completed by that date.

Car rental pricing is, of course, a mysterious science and you may still be able to beat this price using other codes to which you have access.  It is a decent place to start though.

Details are on the cardmemberoffers.co.uk site here.

Don’t forget the dedicated Avis / BA booking site either – one benefit of booking through that is the free additional driver.

Earn miles using your mobile phone abroad

I have written about Travelling Connect before.  It is a very easy way to earn miles and points in various programmes when you use your mobile phone outside the UK.

Put simply, once you are registered you will earn points whenever your UK mobile is used in certain countries on specific networks.  Some overseas networks pay Travelling Connect a commission for sending them traffic which funds your points.

The company hopes that you will automatically adjust your phone when travelling to use their preferred network.  If that is too much trouble, you should still register as you will receive points should your phone happen to use their preferred network anyway.  My wife and I are both registered and, once in a while, we receive a random amount of IHG Rewards Club points because we used a Travelling Connect partner network without knowing it.

My original article is here if you want to know more.   The point of this update is to highlight the new Travelling Connect app.  The latest version lets you know automatically which networks you should be using in whichever country you are visiting, making it easy to switch.  You will also find local offers, dining recommendations etc based on your location.

Current miles and points partners include IHG, Marriott, Hilton, Qatar, Flying Blue, American and Etihad, although not BA or Virgin.