Bits: see BA’s new BOB menu, 25% off Radisson Blu and Park Inn, BA / Avis deal renewed

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News in brief:

Changes to BA’s buy-on-board menu

British Airways has made changes to their short-haul economy buy-on-board menu – and, if you click the link, you’ll see they don’t look great.

There is a new tapas meat and cheese platter with a couple of crackers, a new roasted falafel and spinach wrap as well as a turkey sandwich. But several (healthier) options have been taken off the menu and if you are avoiding wheat or gluten, you’ll have to be happy with cashews and crisps.

The couscous salad and the fruit salad have disappeared without a decent replacement. You can’t get olives any longer and the sweets selection has been reduced from 12 items to 5. Yoghurt seem to have disappeared too. Basically, if it was at risk of going off, it has gone.

If you want to know what the menu was like before, here is a link to our buy-on-board article in January.

The new menu can be found on this ba.com page.

25% off Radisson Blu and Park Inn

Radisoon Blu and Park Inn have launched a half term offer aimed at families.

Club Carlson members can get up to 25% off during the Autumn holiday, free wifi, kids under 16 stay for free in the UK and Ireland and kids under 12 eat for free.

This offer is valid for stays between 16th October and 27th October in the UK and Ireland and stays between 13th October and 12th November in Belgium and France.

The Radisson Blu page to book is here .

The Park Inn page to book is here.

You must book by 24th October to get up to 25% off. The offer is also available at Radisson Red and Quorvus Collection.

IAG renews its exclusive Avis / Budget car rental deal

Avis Budget Group has renewed its car rental partnership with IAG.

The brands will remain the exclusive car rental partners of British Airways, Iberia and Iberia Express, with Aer Lingus to be added later. The two brands will also remain the only car hire brands to earn points in any of the Avios loyalty schemes.

In general, I think the Avis partnership has worked well. It does offer good benefits via avisba.com including a free second driver . The ability to earn bonus Avios by paying with a British Airways American Express card is a rare example of partner brands working together.

Regular Hertz renters will have to stick with crediting to Virgin Flying Club, although their 1,000 miles per rental deal is attractive.

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:

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.)

Category

Avis and Avis Preferred, British Airways American Express, British Airways and Avios, Radisson Rewards

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

Stu R says:

15 Oct15 October 06:27

Noooooooo! They’ve stopped the chocolate covered salted pretzels and popcorn with popping candy mix! The was our ‘must have’ from the BoB menu, damn 🙁
Nick says:

15 Oct15 October 06:57

…..so if you want a reasonable choice of food to buy on board, you now need to book with easyjet http://buyonboard.easyjet.com/#Front Easyjet also have the benefit of higher quality as they did not make the mistake of selecting the UKs favourite purveyor of underwear for the over 70’s as their food provider.
- Prins Polo says:
  
  15 Oct15 October 07:39
  
  Agree, haha.
- Fenny says:
  
  15 Oct15 October 08:32
  
  I flew EasyJet for the first time ever last month. I though the BoB food choices were excellent. Coming home, I was in row 22 on a packed flight, with the trolleys coming from front and back simultaneously. I think there were 3 bacon rolls left by the time they got to me, but I got my first choice in both directions.
Chris says:

15 Oct15 October 07:59

Overheard on a recent short haul flight:
CC: “Sorry Sir, that item is not available – it’s a breakfast item and it’s now mid afternoon”
PAX: “OK, I’ll just have a tea then please.”
CC:”Sure, Sir, English Breakfast tea OK for you?”
Made me laugh…..
Ben says:

15 Oct15 October 08:15

Was on flight to Amsterdam last week, 1st row in economy and they ran out of sandwiches on row two – they had a total of two available for a full flight – just crazy! They need to go back to offering something even basic wrap/sandwich. I refuse to pay for tea on BA so normally just raid the lounge before departure.
- Kinkell says:
  
  15 Oct15 October 10:59
  
  Fly KLM, i’ve just had sandwiches and a drink….in the back!
TripRep says:

15 Oct15 October 08:36

Hmmm, Avis deal renewed…. Should we be hoping for another Iberia 18000 Avios for a £49 wknd rental before the end of the year? 😀

(Sorry TRH, I know you missed out last time)
John says:

15 Oct15 October 08:51

Never been interested in BA’s BOB and never will be.

OT, tried out Icelandair to KEF for the first time last week and quite impressed, the planes are pretty old but they have personal IFE and the J and PE seats are 2-2 instead of 3-3, BOB but soft drinks are free. I guess they are competing with direct flights to the US.

No lounge in KEF for BA anyway, plus FI goes from LGW (more convenient for some) which has lower airport fees. Saga points are not that useful if you aren’t going to fly them often, although can be exchanged via points.com, however once you receive the card you can use points for BOB. The cheapest Y fares earn enough to buy something reasonable, unlike on BA. Booking direct has silly fees but you can avoid them with Amex Travel or Expedia etc.

As for Avis, they seem to have a higher rate of problems than other rental firms, so will continue to avoid and use Hertz which (at the locations I rent, i.e. Australia) has always treated me right even when there is minor damage to the car, and once when there was severe traffic jam into the airport, I had filled up the tank but indicator had dropped to 7/8 by the time I arrived, they didn’t charge me.
- Rakehey says:
  
  15 Oct15 October 09:33
  
  Bit unfair in my view, Avis always been great with me (apart from over-officious miserable staff in downtown San Francisco). Even to point when I’ve returned multiple cars absolutely filthy after long road trips and in once instance with a smashed windscreen. Each to their own.
Peter K says:

15 Oct15 October 08:55

One other gluten free option:
Salted caramel hazelnut millionaire – gluten free biscuit.
That doesn’t sway it for me however to want to fly BA sorry haul however.
- Peter K says:
  
  15 Oct15 October 08:56
  
  Ha ha. Autocorrect! It should be short haul. How ironic.
- Mr Dee says:
  
  15 Oct15 October 16:23
  
  It is actually good 🙂
Anon says:

15 Oct15 October 09:27

OT: Re the free weekend night stay with HH visa, does it ever include free breakfast? And if not, is there any way of getting this? Thanks.
- Radiata says:
  
  15 Oct15 October 09:45
  
  …with Hilton Gold (incl. by way of holding the AMEX Platinum Chahrge Card).
  - Rob says:
    
    15 Oct15 October 10:36
    
    Not unless you book into a Hampton, where everyone gets free breakfast, or you get upgraded to a club room with lounge access.
  - Genghis says:
    
    15 Oct15 October 11:14
    
    Or putting £10k through the HH Visa in a calendar year
- Mr Dee says:
  
  15 Oct15 October 16:24
  
  If gold yes you do get breakfast if not then no, unless at the Hampton hotels