Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Bits: Luxury Travel Diary auctions, 3000 Virgin miles for joining Flying Club, Avios / LOVEtheatre deal

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News in brief:

Luxury Travel Diary auctions

The Luxury Travel Diary site dropped me a line about another wave of its auctions closing this week.

Here is two nights in Paris which ends this week, as is this one for two nights in Leeds Castle (which is in Kent).  This offer for four nights in the Maldives is probably the plushest deal at present.  Not everything will work for you, either in terms of location, length or dates, but you’ll probably find something of interest if you poke around!

Virgin Atlantic

3,000 free miles for joining Virgin Flying Club

Whilst I cover Virgin Flying Club on Head for Points, you may not be a member because you never thought it was relevant to you.

This offer may change your mind.  Via the Virgin Red app, you will receive 3,000 miles for joining Flying Club.

You don’t need to do anything.  The miles will be automatically dropped in your account within 7 days.

3,000 miles won’t get you far.  However, once you have your account open, you are better placed to pick some miles via the generous credit card sign-up bonus, opening an ISA, buying wine, Heathrow Rewards, Tesco Clubcard conversions or American Express Membership Rewards.

The offer expires on 17th September.

Avios / LOVEtheatre bonus extended

Finally, lovetheatre.com, the new Avios theatre ticketing partner, has extended its offer of double Avios points on all tickets booked until 30th September.  It doesn’t matter when the event takes place.

Double Avios means 6 Avios per £1 spent.  As well as working with all West End theatres, it also sells tickets for selected off-West End venues including Shakespeare’s Globe, National Theatre, Barbican Centre, Menier Chocolate Factory and Royal Court, as well as key regional theatres.   LOVEtheatre is also an agent for attractions including the Tower of London, National Gallery, London Eye, Madame Tussauds, The View from the Shard and Buckingham Palace.

Details of the promotion can be found here although the article has not been altered to reflect the new closing date.  The lovetheatre.com home page is here.


How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

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 BA Amex American Express card

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 BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

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:

Nectar American Express

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

American Express Platinum card Amex

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 card

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.)

Comments (99)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • Chris jones says:

    can’t see any sign info on this 3k Of miles for the virgin red app?

    do you have any details or codes?

    • Graeme says:

      It’s definitely still there. When you open the app swipe right to left on the offers in the lower part of the window and it’ll appear as one of the offers. That’s on an iPhone btw not sure if it’s the same on android

      • Chris jones says:

        I decide to install it and there it was, put me off installing as it mentions a code for rewards.

        also installed on android. exactly the same offers

  • James67 says:

    It can go as high as 5000 so unless in urgent need of miles probably best to wait.

  • LEE says:

    HI

    Can someone please advise on the best flight number/Airplane type to take to New York over new year , from the following In First class using my 2 for 1 voucher
    thanks in advance

    Inbound flightshide
    British Airways
    Departs Sort by arrival Flight Premium Economy Business Class First
    08:30
    6 Jan
    JFK

    20:15
    6 Jan
    LHR

    British Airways – BA0178
    Non-stop
    6h 45m journey time
    OFF-PEAK
    Available
    Available
    Not Available
    Departs Sort by arrival Flight Premium Economy Business Class First
    18:40
    6 Jan
    EWR

    06:30
    7 Jan
    LHR

    British Airways – BA0184
    Non-stop
    6h 50m journey time
    OFF-PEAK
    Not Available
    Not Available
    Available
    Departs Sort by arrival Flight Premium Economy Business Class First
    18:55
    6 Jan
    JFK

    06:45
    7 Jan
    LHR

    British Airways – BA0174
    Non-stop
    6h 50m journey time
    OFF-PEAK
    First
    Not Available
    Available
    Selected
    5 LEFT
    Departs Sort by arrival Flight Premium Economy Business Class First
    19:25
    6 Jan
    JFK

    07:10
    7 Jan
    LHR

    British Airways – BA0176
    Non-stop
    6h 45m journey time
    OFF-PEAK
    Not Available
    Available
    2 LEFT
    Available
    4 LEFT
    Departs Sort by arrival Flight Premium Economy Business Class First
    20:10
    6 Jan
    JFK

    08:10
    7 Jan
    LHR

    British Airways – BA0116
    Non-stop
    7h 00m journey time
    OFF-PEAK
    Not Available
    Available
    7 LEFT
    Available
    3 LEFT
    Departs Sort by arrival Flight Premium Economy Business Class First
    20:50
    6 Jan
    JFK

    08:45
    7 Jan
    LHR

    British Airways – BA0172
    Non-stop
    6h 55m journey time
    OFF-PEAK
    Not Available
    Not Available
    Available
    4 LEFT
    Departs Sort by arrival Flight Premium Economy Business Class First
    21:30
    6 Jan
    EWR

    09:10
    7 Jan
    LHR

    British Airways – BA0188
    Non-stop
    6h 40m journey time
    OFF-PEAK
    Not Available
    Not Available
    Available
    3 LEFT
    Departs Sort by arrival Flight Premium Economy Business Class First
    21:30
    6 Jan
    JFK

    09:20
    7 Jan
    LHR

    British Airways – BA0114
    Non-stop
    6h 50m journey time
    OFF-PEAK
    Not Available
    Available
    Available
    7 LEFT
    Departs Sort by arrival Flight Premium Economy Business Class First
    23:10
    6 Jan
    JFK

    11:00
    7 Jan
    LHR

    British Airways – BA0182
    Non-stop
    6h 50m journey time
    OFF-PEAK
    Not Available
    Not Available
    Available
    7 LEFT

    • Rob says:

      The key to maximising the F experience is actually the aircraft operating the service, which you didn’t list – although personally I try to take the earliest flight possible.

      • Alex W says:

        And the aircraft to go for is…?

        • Rob says:

          787 would be optimum I think, followed by A380 (neither of which are likely). Then the 747 for old-times sake? 777’s are generally best avoided although F is not as bad as Club World.

  • LEE says:

    its doesn’t tell which plane it is operating I guess I have to use the flight number in google to see this is that correct ?

  • LEE says:

    its seems a shame they dont fly the new style first class to new your on the dreamliner

    • Rob says:

      It does tell you. Click on the flight number during the booking process on ba.com and a little box pops up.

  • biscuiteer says:

    Anyone else had problems with getting the 3,000 miles free offer? It was on the Red app yesterday but today it’s gone! (or it could be me!)

    • Graeme says:

      its still there for me…scroll left to right on the offers in the lower part of the app… its the 9th one on my phone

  • LEE says:

    i was told by insideflyer that the virgin red app only shows the offer for 3000 points if your a Virgin Media customer as i downloaded it about 2 weeks ago for the points but didnt get the offer but have used the app a couple of times already in Nero for BOGOF

    • biscuiteer says:

      It was defiantly on my Red offers yesterday and I’m not a Virgin Media customer. It’s gone today.

    • Genghis says:

      Still on there for me this morning. I’m not a Virgin media customer.

  • jaime diaz izquierdo says:

    ¿3000 miles flying or just to enroll in virgin? please explain to me step by step how to get them, many thank you very much. excuse my ignorance

    • Genghis says:

      1) Go to your app store of choice
      2) Download Virgin Red
      3) Look for widget for join Virgin Flying Club
      4) Join
      5) Sit back and wait for points

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.