Travel News Round-up – Latest points & miles promos, tips, deals

Tuesday 18th February 2020

See these pages on TSTW for all the hotel promos, and lounges cars & parking promos or buy points deals

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50% bonus on Marriott Bonvoy points

Until 25th March, get a 50% bonus buying Marriott Bonvoy points. The annual limit has been doubled. You coud get 150000 points through this promo.

You would be paying about 0.64p per point. If you have a redemption in mind where you will get much more value for your points than this, then you could profit nicely from this bonus.

If you bought 60000 Bonvoy points to exchange for 25000 airline miles, for example with Etihad, Emirates or Qatar, and would be paying about 1.5p per mile. That’s not great unless you have a specific redemption in mind and just need to top up your points.

Buy Avios from Iberia for as little as 1p

Iberia Plus are running a 50% bonus promo when you buy Avios until 28th February.

Triple Aspire rewards points

Get triple Aspire Rewards points at Manchester T1 and Edinburgh, until 30th March. Full guide to Aspire Rewards.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club / Flying Blue partnership begins

You can now earn and redeem Flying Club miles on Air France and KLM. Elite members get reciprocal benefits. For Flying Club Gold members:

  • Priority check-in, bag drop, security, and boarding, with any ticket
  • One extra checked bag
  • Lounge access including one guest

Flying Club Silver members get priority check-in, bag drop , and boarding.

For earning miles, Silver members get a 30% tier bonus, and Gold gets 60%. Full details of the earning rates are here. You will earn a percentage of the distance flown, and tier points according to booking class.

Alaska Airlines to join oneworld

Alaska Airlines has announced that it will join the oneworld alliance as a full member by summer 2021.

Double Club Eurostar points to Amsterdam and Rotterdam

Book by 25th February for double Club Eurostar points on trips to the Netherlands.

  • Travel to Amsterdam between 30 April and 30 June 2020
  • Travel to Rotterdam between 18 May and 30 June 2020

See our full guide to Club Eurostar including an analysis of the points value.

The value of a Club Eurostar point varies a lot depending on how and when you use it, but used wisely is worth 10p or more.

You earn 1 point per £ spent, so during this promo you would be getting back points worth more than 20% of your ticket price.

World of Hyatt category changes

Hyatt has announced a list of category changes that will take effect on 22nd March. Some are going up, some are coming down.

If you have any Hyatt reward nights booked, check the list to see if you should cancel and rebook after the changes.

There are a number of interesting changes in Europe at some airport hotels and city centre locations that could be quite handy.

  • Hyatt Place Frankfurt Airport drops from 2 to 1
  • Hyatt Regency Amsterdam drops from 5 to 4
  • Hyatt Regency Paris – Charles de Gaulle drops from 2 to 1
  • Park Hyatt Hamburg drops from 5 to 4
  • Hyatt Place London Heathrow Airport drops from 2 to 1
  • Grand Hyatt Dubai drops from 4 to 3
Remember that Hyatt currently have a bonus points promo and a buy points 25% discount.

BA begins codeshare with Royal Air Maroc

Royal Air Maroc has a hub in Casablanca, with flights to London, Tenerife, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Istanbul, and numerous North and West African destinations.

Codeshare flights will operate from 20th February. On 1st April, Royal Air Maroc will join the oneworld alliance.

You will be able to earn Avios on Royal Air Maroc codeshare flights beginning 20th February.

BA adds services to Cape Town, Cancun, St Lucia

Perhaps in direct response to Virgin’s recent announcements, BA has announced extra services to Cape town from Gatwick for winter.

St Lucia will get two more flights per week in the winter, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

From 6th December, Cancun will get an extra flight on Sundays.

From 10th January 2021 there will be 2 more flights per week to Cape Town.

Emirates Palace Abu Dhabi joins Mandarin Oriental

The enormous Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi is now part of Mandarin Oriental.

Join Fans of MO to choose guaranteed perks on each booking including breakfast, upgrades, late check-out, or dining credit.

Virgin Atlantic announces daily Cape Town flights

From 25th October Virgin Atlantic will begin a daily 787-9 flight between Heathrow and Cape Town.

Tickets go on sale from today with Economy tickets starting at £713. Sadly, the 787 does not have the new Upper Class suites that you’ll find on the A350.

Flight VS478 departs LHR at 16:20 arriving just before 6am, making it a perfectly timed night flight.

VS479 departs Cape Town at 08:00, arriving into Heathrow at 18:00. 

With the recently added Tel Aviv flight, daily flights to Sao Paolo starting in March, and the ability to earn and redeem on Air France and KLM, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is looking more attractive than ever.

Ticket prices for new Eastern Airways Teesside routes

Bookable now for flights beginning 9th March, the new Eastern Airways routes to Dublin, Belfast, Cardiff, Southampton, Isle of Man, Aberdeen and London City will start at £68.95 one way. Book on the Flybe website.

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