‘The Travel Brief’, the weekly Head for Points travel trade newsletter

Welcome to The Travel Brief, your weekly trade round-up of UK business travel and travel loyalty news as well as the latest reviews and features from the Head for Points team.

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The latest UK business travel news:

Norse Atlantic drops flights from Gatwick to Las Vegas, image above

EXCLUSIVE: Cork Airport to lose its only lounge at the end of June

Virgin Atlantic continues to tweak its flight schedules: some routes win, some lose

British Airways and American Airlines announce concessions to keep their transatlantic joint venture alive

American Express launches new Hilton cashback offers, saving you up to £75

Get £75 back on £300 spend at selected UK hotels with a new ‘Amex Stays’ promotion

How does the Amex Platinum ‘4 hour grace period’ for Hertz car rentals work?

How do you get a British Airways Club Premier card?

Stories we recommend from other sites:

Grade II listed Atlas House in City of London set to become boutique hotel (Business Traveller)

Thomas Kochs to return to Claridge’s as managing director (Boutique Hotelier)

Aer Lingus set to lift-off for Nashville this weekend (UK Aviation News)

Oman Air to increase Heathrow-Muscat service to twice-daily (Business Traveller)

Our latest reviews:

Japan Airlines:

It was Japan Week on the site! Rhys visited Tokyo and Okinawa to check out the new Japan Airlines flagship A350-1000, now flying to London Heathrow.

We published three articles on Japan Airlines:

• JAL A350 premium economy review
• JAL A350 business class review, image above
• JAL Sakura Sky View lounge at Tokyo Haneda review

and, in terms of hotel reviews:

• The Ritz-Carlton Okinawa review, a hill-top golf resort
• Conrad Tokyo review

Great Western Railway:

Closer to home, Conny checks out Great Western Railway’s First Class lounge at Paddington Station, image above ….

…. before trying out the Night Riviera Sleeper, which gives you a private cabin between Paddington and Devon / Cornwall.

Next week we will cover GWR’s Pullman Dining service.

Virgin Atlantic:

Rhys also finds time (no idea how!) to pop over to Los Angeles to review the new Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse.

The latest UK travel loyalty news:

NEW: Get BA Silver-equivalent status from Malaysia Airlines in one trip, image above

How Santiago highlights the oddities of Avios reward pricing, with taxes from £59 to £625

IHG One Rewards devalues points redemptions at top hotels

Save 15% on reward nights at new IHG hotels

Get a 100% bonus buying Hilton Honors points – click here to buy, and read the article for an example of where you would save 64% over paying cash!

IHG One Rewards experiments with opening up all room categories for points redemptions

Thank you for reading

Please drop me a note at rob@headforpoints.com with any feedback.

If you are booking a hotel this week, click here to read our summary of the best bonus points offers for April from the big chains.

See you next Monday,

Rob, Rhys, Sinead and Katie @ Head for Points

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