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News: new Virgin and Mandarin Oriental Amex deals, BA launches Grind coffee on short-haul

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News in brief:

Virgin Atlantic launches a new American Express cashback deal

Back in April we saw what I think was the first ever Virgin Atlantic American Express cashback deal – at least, it was the first one we’d written about.

It seems to have gone well, because it is back.

There are two versions circulating, which may or may not show under the ‘Offers’ tab on your cards:

  • get £150 cashback when you spend £800 with Virgin Atlantic
  • get £250 cashback when you spend £1,500 with Virgin Atlantic

The £800 version is new, and possibly an attempt to woo solo travellers to Premium or a couple to Economy.

You must book by 16th August and depart from a UK airport. Cumulative spend is OK.

I am fairly certain that taxes and charges on Virgin Atlantic redemption flights WILL trigger the cashback as long as you hit the £800 or £1,500 threshold. They go through your credit card in the usual way. American Express will get details of the underlying flight but is it smart enough to weed out redemptions?

The cashback will NOT trigger on the purchase of Virgin Points because this is handled by a third party intermediary.

Remember to opt-in via your ‘Offers’ section before booking. It obviously won’t show on any British Airways cards.

You can check prices on the Virgin Atlantic website here.

Virgin Atlantic launches a new American Express cashback deal

Mandarin Oriental launches an American Express cashback deal

The luxury Mandarin Oriental hotel group has also launched another American Express cashback offer.

You will get £100 cashback when you spend £500+ by 10th October. Cumulative spend does NOT count.

As usual you need to opt in, if targetted, via the Amex website before booking.

It seems that you can earn the cashback multiple times (the wording is ‘valid every time’) so you could split a more expensive stay across cards held by you and your partner. Splitting one transaction across multiple cards in your name risks getting you into trouble with American Express ….

Participating properties are: Paris, Munich, Hong Kong (x2), Tokyo, Madrid, Singapore, Geneva (image below), Zurich, London (x2), Boston, New York, Miami and Luzern.

If booking, get a quote from our hotel booking partner Emyr Thomas first. He can access additional benefits, for the same price as the Best Flexible Rate, as he is a Mandarin Oriental Fan Club appointed agent. There is no booking fee and you pay at check-out as usual, which will trigger the cashback.

Mandarin Oriental launches an American Express deal

British Airways starts serving Grind coffee

British Airways has switched its short haul coffee supplier to Grind.

As of yesterday, Grind will be available on flights to/from Heathrow and Gatwick, but not London City.

Three new sachets have been developed exclusively for British Airways. You can choose from Flat White, London Black and Decaf Black. A ready-to-drink Iced Caramel Latte will be added to the High Life Shop menu.

It seems, at least for now, that Union will retain the coffee contract for the British Airways lounges.

You can find out more on the Grind website here.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

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There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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

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5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (45)

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

  • Ned says:
    19 Jul19 July 06:21

    Can’t comment on the grind offering as I haven’t tried it onboard yet but I thought the Union move a few years back was a huge step forward for their offering. Hopefully this is just as good

    • LittleNick says:
      19 Jul19 July 07:40

      I think Grind is pretty good, long while since I’ve had it I think, is this for both ET + CE? They should give out a complimentary coffee in ET

      • AL says:
        19 Jul19 July 11:56

        I can’t see them having two bean brokers on board, so I imagine it is. That said, I can’t remember the last time I was in ET and they actually served the BoB stuff…

    • Dubious says:
      19 Jul19 July 10:04

      I am not a coffee drinker – so could someone advise me,
      Does the ‘Grind’ refer to grinding the beans, or the daily grind [especially relevant on those early morning flights when heading to one-day meetings]…or does it refer to swiping sachets?

      • Lady London says:
        19 Jul19 July 14:32

        No it refers to the app

      • Andrew. says:
        19 Jul19 July 15:16

        Nescafé Gold Blend adverts used to be quite disparaging of “Grind”. The strap line was “Ground Coffee Taste Without the Grind”

  • Gary says:
    19 Jul19 July 06:43

    Can any Amex card be used, i.e. the BA Amex?

  • Pj says:
    19 Jul19 July 06:48

    Hi, I am staying at MO Madrid in September, if I get them to do 5 payments of 500 will I get £500 back?

  • John says:
    19 Jul19 July 07:39

    “ Three new sachets have been developed exclusively for British Airways.”

    Use of the word sachet does not inspire hope; some heretic at BA previously commissioned coffee in “tea” bags. Why not do fresh ground, sealed in cup base, filtered by lid? Works for others…

    • Novelty-Socks says:
      19 Jul19 July 08:47

      Yeah this sounds like instant coffee. Posh Nescafé, basically.

      It’s not that hard to do good coffee. Fresh beans, decent filter machine, it’s all you really need.

      You can slap fancy branding on it, but instant is still instant.

      (Yes, this is the hill I want to die on.)

      • NorthernLass says:
        19 Jul19 July 10:59

        Is it nothing but a hill of beans, though?

      • Andy says:
        19 Jul19 July 12:05

        It’s interesting because Grind don’t do instant coffee as far as I can tell (and I’ve been using them since before all their odd collaborations, Green Day was the latest this week!). They have pods, beans, and ground coffee on their site, it would be strange for them to introduce instant coffee if it was just for BA.

        • Novelty-Socks says:
          19 Jul19 July 14:08

          Yeah you’re right, that would be strange. Maybe it’s filter coffee in a sachet that can be served in a cup with a filter in the lid?

          TBF their cafe / bar by Old Street used to be great – I’ve not been in for years though, and their shift towards pods makes me doubt their commitment to quality coffee. Still, I should probably give them the benefit of the doubt here!

    • Andrew J says:
      19 Jul19 July 09:39

      Or an espresso machine in the front galley for Club.

      • John says:
        19 Jul19 July 12:58

        True. I believe I was recently served genuine espresso on Iberia’s wide body service MAD-LHR.

    • Lady London says:
      19 Jul19 July 14:33

      Yes long long ago they did the Rombouts filter which was totally acceptable.

      • Roy says:
        20 Jul20 July 10:43

        Whilst Rombouts filter coffee was good, the drawback is that you have a funnel full of very hot water teetering on a cup whilst the coffee brews. Add a spot of clear-air turbulence and you could have a warmer lap than you wanted!
        But, back to the Grind (sorry). They do indeed say “sachets” which suggests instant ‘coffee’. Can’t wait…

  • Terry Butcher says:
    19 Jul19 July 07:44

    So we’ve gone from filter coffee to instant? Progress! Not!

    A few crew, but alas only a few, knew how to make decent coffee as it was – and the secret was to use two portions per jug rather than the one they were told too. The result was splendid👌

    • TimM says:
      19 Jul19 July 09:21

      I have tried practically every type and way of serving coffee in my long life. I have witnessed the trends come and go. I have been shocked on how much a day my students have spent on coffee, often horrified by what passes as ‘proper coffee’ at stupid prices and how much money and space people waste on ‘coffee machines’. Once you master the art of making a perfect ‘Nescafe frappe’ in Greece and know how to use fresh bread with Turkish coffee, all becomes clear. The rest is marketing froth – a tax on the gullible.

  • Andrew. says:
    19 Jul19 July 08:00

    On my BA flight back from the USA on Saturday night, I asked for a black coffee. The Crew member poured from the jug, looked at it, sniffed it suspiciously then said “I think that’s coffee”.

    I drink both tea and coffee black, without sugar. The dark fluid served could have been tea, coffee or Bisto, I’ve no idea.

    • Stu N says:
      19 Jul19 July 09:11

      Sounds like the vending machine Ford Prefect encountered in HHGTTG that produced “a substance almost, but not entirely, unlike tea.”

  • Paul says:
    19 Jul19 July 09:32

    Is the VS offer likely to trigger on bookings made via the phone? i.e. using the VS credit card voucher.

    • Wenby says:
      19 Jul19 July 09:39

      This one says online only whereas the previous one allowed different booking methods. I triggered the last one online with points booking, the tax/fee element triggered the offer.

    • Rob says:
      19 Jul19 July 09:40

      T&C should clarify.

      • Paul says:
        19 Jul19 July 09:59

        Saw it said online only but you know how these things often work! Worth a shot

  • Panda Mick says:
    19 Jul19 July 09:39

    I want to backtrack on my comment yesterday that the Grind announcement is a step forward. This all sounds abhorrent.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      19 Jul19 July 11:51

      Surely you should try it before passing judgement

      • Rob says:
        19 Jul19 July 11:56

        If it is genuinely a Nescafe style sachet then, to be honest, it doesn’t matter how it tastes. It will still look cheap for £2.50 or whatever BA is asking for it. Remember they will give you a cup of hot water for free if you bring your own sachet, so you’re literally paying £2.50 for the coffee.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          19 Jul19 July 13:50

          Is anyone really paying for one of these coffees because it’s a good drink? Core customer must be those that are flagging and need caffeine and forgot to get a proper barista coffee in the terminal?

          • TGLoyalty says:
            19 Jul19 July 13:51

            Also reminds of people that buy teas at coffee shops that use bags, what an absolute waste of money.

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

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