Bits: Virgin East Coast sale, IHG ‘buy points’ bonus, earn Nectar points with South Western

News in brief:

Virgin East Coast flash sale launched

Virgins Trains (East Coast) has launched a flash sale with a full 50% off Advance Standard and Advance First tickets.

You need to book by Monday 28th August for travel between 11th September and 20th December.  Note that you cannot book for weekends after 5th November.

Full details are on the East Coast website here.  Remember that you will also earn 1 Virgin Flying Club mile or 2 Nectar points per £1 spent.

IHG Rewards Club ‘buy points’ bonus

Until 12th September, you can buy IHG Rewards Club – the InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza etc scheme – points with a bonus of up to 80%.

The offer is targetted so it may not be available to you.  The page to buy points is here – log in and see what is available.

This is not the most generous offer IHG has had, and it is also staggered which is unusual:

• Buy 5,000-19,000 points, get a 40% bonus
• Buy 15,000+ points, get an 80% bonus

I wouldn’t buy speculatively at this price, as I am fairly sure that a 100% bonus will be along in a few months.  If you need to top up your account in advance of a planned redemption, however, you might as well do it whilst the bonus is on.

Earn Nectar points with South Western Railway

The South West Trains franchise changed hands on Sunday, and services are now operated by First Group.

This means that you can now earn Nectar points when you book South Western rail tickets via their website.  The earning rate is 2 points per £1.

In fact, you can earn Nectar points on ANY train ticket booked via the South Western website irrespective of train operator.  Full details are here.