Happy Christmas! Head for Points returns on Tuesday

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Happy Christmas to you and your family. I hope you enjoy a well deserved break, wherever in the world you are.

Do please post below if your travels have taken you anywhere exciting this Christmas. I am in London with the in-laws! Anika is in Hamburg with her family.

Head for Points is taking a two day break. We will be back on Tuesday 27th with a review of my travel highlights and lowlights of 2016.

If you want something to read in the meantime, take a look under the ‘Favourite Articles‘ tab where you will find my pick of the most relevant pieces published in 2016, including our ‘Avios Redemption University‘ series and all of our credit card reviews.

If you collect Avios via Tesco Clubcard, you may also want to take a look at the recent articles over at our sister site Shopper Points.

Thank you for your support over the past year.

Category

General

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

Steve says:

26 Dec26 December 14:25

A belated Merry Christmas from A very sunny Lisbon on board the Ventura.
Dominic says:

26 Dec26 December 14:32

Does anyone use their rewards card abroad irrespective of the fee?

I recently got back from Germany and made several payments with my amex and paid substantially less than I would have in cash.

Take one payment for example of €202.24 which I used my amex for. This cost me £178.10 which included a fee of £5.17. When I changed my money I literally received €1 for £1 in a high street travel agency. This, therefore, was nearly £25 cheaper than it would have been if I had used the cash I exchanged.

Additionally, on my points statement I received 178 points, which included points for the fee which I didn’t realise amex did.
- Alan says:
  
  26 Dec26 December 14:41
  
  It’s still OK value but a fee free card saves another 3%. Or go with Lloyds for fee free plus Avios. Different if you need the spend to hit a bonus though, that then changes the equation.
- Rob says:
  
  26 Dec26 December 16:23
  
  It is, absolutely, cheaper to use a credit card with a 3% FX fee than taking out the equivalent in cash via a bureau de change.
  
  However, it is still 3% more expensive than using Supercard, Lloyds Avios Rewards, Halifax Clarity, Post Office and 2% more than using Curve.
- Dave says:
  
  27 Dec27 December 00:31
  
  What FX shop are you using to get £1:€1?!
  
  My go-to place (Covent Garden FX) is selling €1.15 for £1 today…
Yan says:

26 Dec26 December 15:10

Happy holidays from sunny Puerto Rico. Semi TP run booked in ex-Germany J sale for £900. Outbound in AA 77W via JFK to see friends and Xmas lights in NYC. Inbound via PHL in ex-LUS Envoy Class and BA 787-9 mini-cabin followed by 23hr in London for NYE countdown and fireworks. Free night certificate and 5-for-4 HHonors points redemption on Conrad New York and Caribe Hilton San Juan, respectively; both upgraded with Diamond status.
Ailsa Gunn says:

26 Dec26 December 21:30

Hi we are in Naples, Florida. Flew BA to Miami on a very turbulent flight :(. Having a great time and fly home on 29th Dec to the cold weather of Leeds. Slowly trying to collect those points for a club trip soon and planning the next holiday to California in Summer. BA Sale is on but the flights in Summer are the same price as they were last week, so not sure if its a great sale – 286 each way. Happy Christmas everyone 🙂
- Clive says:
  
  27 Dec27 December 12:36
  
  Alisa I was seeing good WT+ fares to CA which potentially could be upgraded using Avios to Club. Don’t forget to try OAK as well as SAN as CA options for BA