Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Bits: £199 to LA with Air New Zealand, Iberia offers, Dragonair becomes Cathay Dragon

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

News in brief:

Get £199 Air New Zealand deals to Los Angeles at 10am

It’s Cyber Monday.  Yes, I know.  Before things go back to whatever passes for normal a month before Christmas on the shopping front, we’ve got one day left of deals.

Most of the offers we covered in our two Black Friday articles here and here are still running.  If you are interested in a cheap Priority Pass, ignore the earlier article and read this from Saturday instead.

This deal is the best specific Cyber Monday deal we were sent but will be tough to get. Air New Zealand is releasing 100 return economy tickets to LA for £199.

The airline ran this offer last year, via STA Travel if I remember, and it got a bit messy.  This year it is online only.

You need to book today at 10am via the Air New Zealand website.  Joining the ANZ loyalty programme will help you grab one as your details will be filled on on the booking form, saving valuable seconds.

The travel period has to be 5-7 February 2017 or 12-13 February 2017 for the outbound flight and 12-14 February 2017 or 20-21 February 2017 for the inbound flight.

Iberia offers for Black Friday

Iberia has two Black Friday / Cyber Monday offers we didn’t get around to mentioning on Friday.

The first offer is 25% off Iberia Business Class tickets originating in the UK and the second offer is a special UK tourist class Black Friday offer.

In order to access these offers, you need to subscribe to Iberia’s newsletter by entering your name and email address and book by 1st December.

Dragonair rebrands as Cathay Dragon

This is nothing to do with Cyber Monday, but we have been planning to squeeze this in for a few days and kept failing.

Dragonair, the Asian regional carrier mainly operating out of mainland China and owned by Cathay Pacific, has rebranded as Cathay Dragon as of 21st November.  Your ability to earn and redeem Avios on the airline is unchanged.

You can find out more on the Cathay Pacific website here.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

best credit card to use when buying flights

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

Category

Cathay Pacific and Asia Miles, Iberia and Club Iberia Plus

Comments (30)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • scott says:
    28 Nov28 November 03:58

    Heads up but neither of the Iberia links worked me. Might just be me though…

  • Genghis says:
    28 Nov28 November 06:13

    OT. Amex offers. £1 back on £3 spend at Starbucks, up to £5 statement credit.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      28 Nov28 November 07:20

      Didn’t get this last time so can’t remember. Does buying a £15 gift card in store triggger the cash back?

      • Tariq says:
        28 Nov28 November 07:37

        “Offer includes in-store top-up spend of Starbucks loyalty cards made with a UK American Express Card that has saved the offer.”

      • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
        28 Nov28 November 07:41

        Spending on the app triggered it too.

        • BARBARA A says:
          28 Nov28 November 16:34

          Does this mean topping up Via starbuck App with £15? and calming £5 back? T

          • Alan says:
            28 Nov28 November 16:36

            Yes, I’ve done that before and it worked fine for me.

          • Genghis says:
            28 Nov28 November 17:13

            That’s my plan too. Not a bit Starbucks drinker though occasionally buy so a decent offer IMO.

          • Alan says:
            28 Nov28 November 17:14

            Ditto – I don’t drink coffee but for the odd soft drink/sandwich it can be handy getting it at 33% off (I’ve still got a decent amount of credit when it was 50% off!). Also remember is using abroad they convert at spot exchange rate so can just use the app there too (in most places, some European countries such as Austria IIRC don’t tie in to the same global system)

  • Gavin says:
    28 Nov28 November 08:42

    OT – any idea what time Happy Mondays are bookable from? 9am?

  • Alan says:
    28 Nov28 November 08:57

    My wife an I flew dragonair J from HKG to Penang last November. It was a great short haul business product I though. IFE was great food was decent and the bar was very well stocked.

    The lounge in Penang left a bit to be desired with super noodles and bad coffee. But of course in HNK you get to use the wing.

  • BARBARA AHONSI says:
    28 Nov28 November 10:06

    managed to grab two tickets. Thanks Rob

  • Paul L says:
    28 Nov28 November 10:03

    ANZ all gone!

    • Tom says:
      28 Nov28 November 10:07

      Thought I was in. But sold out as payment was being taken. A think a slight delay at the seat selection page cost me (I thought I could skip straight past).

      • damboy says:
        28 Nov28 November 10:43

        Same happened to me, but I’m chilled about it. There were also fares available for £300 per person that were more obtainable – still available at 10:10 this morning (gone now though). However I didn’t proceed as I think I was being too hasty just to get a great bargain, rather than considering that I’ve been to LA a number of times before and should probably try to explore new destinations and experiences.

      • A different Paul L says:
        28 Nov28 November 10:55

        Tom: you should have ‘held’ the fare for £25 and done all the footery stuff at a later time.

        • Tom says:
          28 Nov28 November 11:37

          I did consider it in the race to checkout, but the option comes before you knew you had missed out. I guess I was gambling on getting all the way.

          I was compromising slightly on dates, so it isn’t the end of the world.

  • Miatb says:
    28 Nov28 November 10:33

    Managed to get LHR-LAX for £199. 7-12 Feb. Anyone on the same flights?

  • dicksbits says:
    28 Nov28 November 11:45

    Iberia showing 20% discount on some biz routes, not 25%. Still £267 vs £330 for a connecting flight to Spain via MAD is worth it for 120 TP!

    • Mike says:
      28 Nov28 November 12:02

      Had a look from Edi, direct outbound to Madrid £190 in biz (offering avios discount) but coming back (via Heathrow) was £457. Played around with a couple of dates either side but no direct flight available.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Get 25,000 Avios with the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

GET A SIGN-UP BONUS OF 18,000 VIRGIN POINTS!

Latest Forum Posts

Get 80,000 bonus points (worth 80,000 Avios) and £400 of dining credit with The Platinum Card (Offer ends 27th May)

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get up to 10,000 bonus Hilton Honors points

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? GET THE ONLY FREE SMALL BUSINESS CREDIT CARD WHICH CAN EARN AVIOS

Get points worth 30,000 Avios with 'first year free' American Express Gold (ends 27th May)

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!