Bits: 50% bonus Virgin miles with Kaligo, see Sunny Afternoon and earn Avios, BA cancellation fees

News in brief:

50% bonus Virgin miles when you book hotels via Kaligo.com

Online hotel booking site Kaligo.com, which gives airline miles on every booking, is offering 50% bonus Virgin miles on every booking made by 30th June – see here.  Your stay must be completed by 31st December.

There is no small print – both new and existing customers can take part and there is no minimum spend.

Remember that you will NOT earn hotel points or receive status benefits when you book via Kaligo.com, so this option is best used for non-chain hotels.  Compare prices before you book as Kaligo.com can vary sharply from hotel to hotel versus booking direct.

The special link for the Virgin Atlantic offer is here.

See ‘Sunny Afternoon’ for half price AND earn Avios

A few weeks ago my wife and I went to see ‘Sunny Afternoon’, the musical based on the story of The Kinks, as the guests of new Avios partner LOVEtheatre.com – and a good night out it was too.  It won the 2015 Olivier Award for Best New Musical so you don’t need to take my word for it.

‘Sunny Afternoon’ is LOVEtheatre’s ‘Musical of the Month’ and they have an exclusive offer of £34.50 for top price tickets, valid any day of the week.  Cheaper seats can be bought from £10.

Details are here.  You will also earn 3 Avios per £1 when you book this or any other show via LOVEtheatre.

British Airways changes cancellation fees (in your favour)

As part of the move to its new check-in system, British Airways announced a change in cancellation fees on semi-flexible tickets last month.  It moved from being a charge per ticket to a charge per segment.

This led to some ludicrous situations where expensive semi-flexible tickets were effectively non-refundable because of the fee.  A semi-flexible ticket from Dusseldorf to New York became €300 per segment, so the cancellation fee was €1,200.

Effective immediately, all published cancellation fees have been halved for semi-flexible tickets.  This means that, in the example above, cancellation would now only be €600.  For a standard return flight of two segments, the fee is now reduced to the original level before the changes took place.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

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

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

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

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

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)