Bits: 9000 Thistle hotel rooms in London for £90, Norwegian launching Gatwick to Vegas flights

News in brief:

Book £90 Thistle hotel rooms in London, including breakfast

Thistle Hotels is running a four day promotion, starting today, to celebrate the 90th birthday of the Queen.

There are 9,000 rooms available at exactly £90 each including breakfast, spread over the eight Thistle hotels for stays until June 2017.  On peak dates a price of £90 will represent a decent saving.

You should be able to book via this special link from today.

Sister company Guoman Hotels, which runs The Tower by Tower Bridge amongst other hotels, is having a similar sale.  It is charging more but you get breakfast and a bottle of prosecco thrown in!  This deal is bookable until the end of February 2017.  Click here for details.

Norwegian launching Las Vegas flights from London Gatwick

I haven’t covered budget long haul airline Norwegian for a while.  I looked at them when they launched their New York service and I wasn’t hugely impressed – the cost savings over BA were modest and the terrible flight times meant that you either lost sightseeing time or had to pay for another hotel night.

The company has continued to expand using a growing fleet of new Boeing 787-9 aircraft.  It now flies to Boston, New York, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Los Angeles and Oakland / San Francisco.

In October it will launch flights from Gatwick to Las Vegas.

I took another look.  3rd to 7th November, for example, is £380 return.  However, adding food (!) and a suitcase takes you to £480.  This compares well with Virgin Atlantic (£612) and BA (£719).

Premier class was £910.  This only comes with 46 inches of legroom – we’re not talking a flat bad here – but does include food, seat selection (which BA charges for), luggage, fast track security and lounge access.

This is not such a great deal, however, when you consider that – ex Dublin – you can buy ‘proper’ flat bed business class to Las Vegas for £1,175 on BA, Virgin or American.  Factor in the Avios or Virgin miles you would earn and Norwegian looks even poorer value.  For economy travel it might be worth a look.

If you’ve ever flown with Norwegian long-haul, please post below – I’d be interested to know how you found it.

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How to maximise your miles when paying for flights (April 2025)

Some UK credit cards offer special bonuses when used for buying flights. If you spend a lot on airline tickets, using one of these cards could sharply increase the credit card points you earn.

Booking flights on any airline?

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold earns double points (2 Membership Rewards points per £1) when used to buy flights directly from an airline website.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points. These would convert to 20,000 Avios or various other airline or hotel programmes. The standard earning rate is 1 point per £1.

You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

Buying flights on British Airways?

The British Airways Premium Plus American Express card earns double Avios (3 Avios per £1) when used at ba.com.

The card comes with a sign-up bonus of 30,000 Avios. The standard earning rate is 1.5 Avios per £1.

You do not earn bonus Avios if you pay for BA flights on the free British Airways American Express card or either of the Barclaycard Avios Mastercards.

You can apply here.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

Buying flights on Virgin Atlantic?

Both the free Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard and the annual fee Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard earn double Virgin Points when used at fly.virgin.com.

This means 1.5 Virgin Points per £1 on the free card and 3 Virgin Points per £1 on the paid card.

There is a sign-up bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points on the free card and 18,000 Virgin Points on the paid card.

You can apply for either of the cards here.

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review