What you missed on Head for Points last week
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Welcome to the Head for Points weekly newsletter, full of the latest Avios, travel loyalty and travel credit card news, hints and tips.
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LAST CHANCE: Get 10,000 Avios with the FREE Barclaycard Avios Mastercard credit card!
Barclaycard has launched a special promotion if you sign up for the free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard credit card by Thursday 26th September.
The sign-up bonus is doubled – you will receive 10,000 Avios instead of the usual 5,000 Avios.
If you’ve not had any Barclaycard products for the last two years then you will definitely get the bonus if you spend £1,000 in three months. If you have/had other Barclaycards, the full rules about whether you qualify are in our article here.
This is the ideal credit card to use when American Express is not accepted. You will earn 1 Avios for every £1 spent.
It is also worth using as your primary credit card if you currently have the free British Airways American Express card but don’t spend £15,000 per year to trigger the Companion Voucher. You might as well use the free Barclaycard Avios credit card and just have one credit card for all your spending.
If you spend £20,000 per year on the card you will also earn an upgrade voucher, valid on any Avios redemption. Full details of how that works are in our article here.
You can apply for the free Barclaycard Avios credit card by clicking here.
The representative APR is 29.9% variable.
This week’s top travel news stories:
British Airways has an A380 problem – in a special report, we look at the reliability issues plaguing the fleet
Emirates opens its new lounge at London Stansted, reducing pressure on the Escape Lounge, image above
BA and easyJet both announce flights to Tbilisi on the same day
Etihad goes double daily from Manchester
Hilton adds the final 100 Small Luxury Hotels to its booking system – we look at the UK options
British Airways increases flights to North America – next summer will see 400 flights per week at the peak!
Global Hotel Alliance adds 32 more hotels as four small chains join
The Sofitel Dublin Airport hotel breaks ground
Aer Lingus reopens its Heathrow lounge whilst Lufthansa closes for refurbishment, Aer Lingus photo below
Top travel deals this week:
Get £75 off £300 spend at Amex Travel, but flights are excluded
Get 100% American Express cashback – up to £100 – with Virgin Atlantic – we look at what should count
Get 2,000 Virgin Points for buying a Railcard
Get 15,000 Membership Rewards points by spending £600 at Leading Hotels of the World, and for once the list of hotels for an Amex cashback deal is truly global
Credit card news:
Which Amex sign-up bonuses are you still eligible for? We’ve updated this article with the new rules.
Virgin Atlantic Redemption University:
Dive into the world of Virgin Points redemptions as our introductory series continues:
- How to use Virgin Points for a Virgin Holidays discount
- How to convert Virgin Points to Hilton or IHG points
- How to upgrade your Virgin Atlantic flight with Virgin Points
- How to redeem Virgin Points on ANA and other airline partners, image above
Hotel news:
Earn double points with IHG Business Rewards – the small business and PA loyalty scheme
Reviews:
Rob reviews the (ex-Macdonald) Manchester Marriott Hotel Piccadilly, fully refurbished and with the largest standard rooms in the city.
Plus a review of the Avanti West Coast First Class Lounge at London Euston, image above
Other travel news:
How to add an icon to your HfP comments
That’s all, folks
Our latest round-up of miles and points offers closing soon is here
Don’t forget to visit our forum if you have any questions relating to frequent flyer or hotel loyalty programmes or loyalty credit cards.
See you next Saturday,
Rob, Rhys and Katie @ Head for Points
