Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Is Iceland’s low cost carrier WOW Air going bust?

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

If you have a booking with WOW Air, you need to keep a very close eye on it.

The airline appears to be on the cusp of going bankrupt.  Icelandair has walked away from its agreed deal to buy the airline (we wrote about that here) and on Wednesday the airline handed back two A330 and two A320 aircraft to their lessors.

Whilst the airline is still flying as of today, you should start to research a back-up plan if you have tickets.  This may include, for example, booking Avios redemptions on the same routes which can be cancelled for £35 if WOW does survive.

(EDIT: overnight on Thursday, a US venture capital group announced – subject to due diligence – that it would invest in WOW.  Whilst not guaranteed, if this goes through it should take the pressure off for a few months.)

Category

General

Comments (164)

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

  • Go says:
    30 Nov30 November 08:08

    how long does it take for the golden circle points to post?

  • AJ says:
    30 Nov30 November 08:13

    OT – for those hitting the shops tomorrow (specifically oyster top ups in London), my map is back again for this year: https://shopsmallcrawl.com – please do add comments to shops based on your success and add new shops if any verified ones are missing! The map currently has approx 100 verified shops from previous years.

    • The streets says:
      30 Nov30 November 08:19

      Anything available for pub crawls?

    • Lev441 says:
      30 Nov30 November 08:21

      Great tool – I used this a lot last year!

    • MDA says:
      30 Nov30 November 08:33

      Can you explain the caveat? Re: receipts and one go trx?

      • AJ says:
        30 Nov30 November 09:53

        Last year TfL’s automated systems were quite trigger happy in blocking new Oyster cards that were topped up (to near max). It seems that an almost sure way to flag the card is to top it up in chunks of £10. So if you have multiple amex cards, ask the shop to take payment (in £10 chunks) off your amex’s first, then apply 1 top-up (the sum of all your £10 spends) to the Oyster card. That should reduce the number of oysters that get blocked.

        If they do get blocked, TfL request proof of payment so best to keep the receipts as you go along. Given plenty of people are doing this, they’re usually well aware of what’s going on and it’s not too much hassle to get the money back off TfL!

        • Roger Carpenter says:
          30 Nov30 November 10:34

          I got blocked last year. Would it not be safer to marry individual CCs with individual Oyster cards and get each shop to top up each Oyster with a different card? I was assuming that the problem was using multiple CCs with the same Oyster card which is, I guess, what someone who had stolen a load of credit cards might do.

          Probably best not to register them on the site all at once….

        • AJ says:
          30 Nov30 November 11:01

          Roger – oyster have no idea which amex card you used to top up with. The oyster topup system is in no way linked to card terminals (you could have paid for it in cash and TfL wouldn’t know..)

    • Nate1309 says:
      30 Nov30 November 08:39

      Great map. You should expand out of London or get a job for amex.

      The official map is awful this year. Loads of shops I know are shop small are missed of the map overview, yet if you search for them they them pop up on their own on the map.

      • Mark2 says:
        30 Nov30 November 09:25

        the map is awful every year. Lots of shops listed which do not take Amex including our local travel agent who do not take any credit cards.

        • Nate1309 says:
          30 Nov30 November 09:33

          I haven’t had that happen luckily. I have a list saved of ones near me now and just add and take away each year.
          Rob should make a community based map on HfP ;p

      • AJ says:
        30 Nov30 November 09:54

        Thanks Nate – it was rather quickly hacked together on my end. Helpful when community comments on shops so we can minimise time wasted with some shops!

    • Genghis says:
      30 Nov30 November 09:38

      Has this been rec’d to the latest map? I rec’d my spreadsheet to the updated map and a number of ones have disappeared.

      • Nate1309 says:
        30 Nov30 November 09:47

        Genghis have you searched for the business by name? Lots of places I shop small were missing from the map this year when searching by area, but if searched by name of business they were still there.

      • AJ says:
        30 Nov30 November 09:56

        No it hasn’t, it’s largely based on previous years success data. I’ve seen also that amex have removed more merchants than in previous years – this may be to do with the change in law re card fees.. certainly going to make the ‘trail’ interesting this year. I will be voluntarily offering to pay shops an extra fee if they’re reluctant to take amex. Will be updating as I go along as will other people so hopefully we’ll build up a clearer picture by the end of the weekend.

    • FlyingChris says:
      30 Nov30 November 09:42

      Anyone know of any good independent wine retailers in the (ideally North) London/Greater London area on Shop Small? Need to stock up ahead of a wedding next year and looking for a friendly shop who doesn’t mind putting together a selection and then paying for it in 10 transactions…!

      • CDB says:
        30 Nov30 November 09:51

        Not shop small but have £30 off £150 at Berry Bros & Rudd on my SPG card

      • AJ says:
        30 Nov30 November 09:57

        Been to these wine merchants in previous years, had some great bottles:

        Trina’s Wines – 385 Upper Richmond Road (Putney)
        Vini Italiani – 72 Old Brompton Road (South Ken)
        Handford Wines – 105 Old Brompton Road (South Ken)

      • Tom W says:
        30 Nov30 November 10:00

        Surely this won’t work if it’s one discount per retailer? Unless i’m missing somethin

      • ahop says:
        30 Nov30 November 10:03

        Bottle Apostle near Victoria park is good.

      • Simon says:
        30 Nov30 November 10:03

        Noble wined is miles out of you way in Hampton Hill, Twickenham but an excellent independent that is usually on shop small.

      • FlyingChris says:
        30 Nov30 November 10:13

        Thanks for all the suggestions!

      • David P says:
        30 Nov30 November 10:29

        Can’t help for North London specifically, but I’ve had success in the past with the following independents in South/SW London:

        Dulwich Vintners (Dulwich Village)
        Bacchus (Dulwich/Herne Hill)
        Vintage 1824 (Herne Hill)
        Philglas and Swiggott (Battersea)
        Vagabond Wines (Battersea, Fulham, Victoria)
        Humble Grape (Battersea, Clapham)
        Handford Wines (South Kensington)
        Vini Italiani (South Kensington)

        This year I’ve also found the following on the official Amex map which I’ll make an effort to get to, but no guarantees they’ll work:

        Lant Street Wine (Borough)
        Mayfly Wine Company (Borough)
        Friarwood (Fulham)
        Fulham Wine Rooms (Fulham)
        Bottle Apostle (Clapham, Victoria Park)

      • Vivian says:
        30 Nov30 November 11:44

        Not wine but the East London Liquor Company near Victoria Park produces really good gin, rum, and vodka and they participate in Shop Small.

      • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
        30 Nov30 November 13:17

        Sourced Market (several of these)
        Soho Wine Supply

      • Kevin C says:
        30 Nov30 November 13:17

        The excellent Highbury Vintners has worked in previous years. You can go to La Fromagerie for cheese to go with your wine while you’re in the area.

        • Crafty says:
          30 Nov30 November 15:04

          HV is a brilliant shop. LF disappeared up their own arses a few years ago…

        • Lady London says:
          30 Nov30 November 16:12

          Oh, @Crafty thanks for saying that about La F? exactly what I had come to think about them… thought it was just me.

    • Gritts1 says:
      30 Nov30 November 09:59

      Thanks very much AJ. It certainly helped last year.

    • MD says:
      30 Nov30 November 11:45

      Many thanks for this AJ, will be very useful indeed.

    • Jon says:
      30 Nov30 November 16:05

      Thanks for this AJ- didn’t think about the oyster card opportunity. Just checking on the Amex shop small map, I’ve found a few asian places (Hop vietnamese, K10) near Moorgate that I pop into on there, so happy with that!

  • Rob says:
    30 Nov30 November 08:39

    ….. and live in Asia, and a Mastercard issued in Asia (which they can tell by the first six digits).

  • Matthew says:
    30 Nov30 November 08:49

    Can’t find where it says you can get $31 per 250 points for being a Jade member. I did an old style food and beverage conversion with the vouchers (didn’t realise you could do instant as I remember the Shard being excluded at one point) so it seems I may have missed out on lots of extra credit…having just exchanged 7000 points!! 🙁

  • Craig says:
    30 Nov30 November 09:00

    OT: Cape Town. Currently have 3 nights booked at the Hilton mostly using points, this will give me lounge access as Diamond. Somehow managed to keep Marriott Plat Elite, so looking also at the Westin. Does anyone have any experience of the two hotels or other suggestions? Thanks.

    • Roger1* says:
      30 Nov30 November 09:21

      What experience are you looking for? Both are well appointed tourist hotels ofering the usual ranges of services. Not particularly close to the sights you may want to see, but that’s easily overcome by taxi/Uber/sightseeing buses/rental car.

      The Hilton restaurant is dry though alcoholic drinks are available in the lounge. No bacon at breakfast. Restaurant has a limited menu, much of which was unavailable earlier this year.

      IMO the Westin is an expensive Sheraton (which is whatit was before they increased the prices). It’s out on its own, not on the main drag so more difficult to mingle with locals, unlike the Hilton which is nearer local restaurants.

      • Ben says:
        30 Nov30 November 10:20

        I have stayed in the Westin for work (its a very business oriented hotel) the outside pool is tiny and next to the motorway then the indoor pool/spa is great (but as the name suggests indoors)
        The lounge in the Westin is nice, its best to have breakfast up there as its a much nicer experience. As Roger1* points out its not really near anything, I walked home a couple of times from Long Street and let just say I walked pretty fast

        I will say that a couple of weeks ago I stayed in the Radisson Red and was very impressed with it all, location, staff etc (although no lounge etc). And the red bus tour stops outside the hotel (well the silo hotel next door but its about a 10 second walk)

    • Craig says:
      30 Nov30 November 12:18

      Thanks all. I’ll probably stick with the Hilton and use Uber.

  • Pgw says:
    30 Nov30 November 09:05

    The $ exchange rate really impacts on these hotel points offers. I used to be a fairly regular buyer of IHG points but don’t bother these days.

  • Oliver says:
    30 Nov30 November 09:13

    OT: is it possible to book a reward flight for someone not in my BA household account? It’s been so long I forget the rules

    • Nate1309 says:
      30 Nov30 November 09:17

      if they are in your friends and family list you can IIRC

    • Rich says:
      30 Nov30 November 09:38

      You can add Family & Friends to your household account. That’s the only way to redeem outside the HHA

  • Walty says:
    30 Nov30 November 09:39

    OT BPme Amex offer….My wife completed the transaction. Put in £30 on the app…..stopped at £29.60 and it wouldn’t let he fill up anymore so didnt manage to get the offer. However I notice the transaction shows as the name of the filling station rather than BPme.
    Has anyone had success yet?

    • Ed says:
      30 Nov30 November 10:00

      The advice appears to be set to £31 in the app. And you’ll probably get £30
      Of fuel

    • Andy says:
      30 Nov30 November 12:13

      I did £40 last night and it stopped filling at £39.66. This is presumably to ensure that you can be filling at full speed and then the system shuts off to prevent going over your set limit as I doubt that the thing that controls it is able to slow the flow rate sufficiently to be precise to the penny.

      Showing as pending with the garage name on my Amex account for the full authorised amount (along with a £1 PayPal charge) but I’m sure I’ll be charged the proper amount when it comes off pending, and it did trigger the e-mail from Amex so they must know somehow.

    • Geoff says:
      30 Nov30 November 18:31

      Same here – set £30 and it stopped at £28.53 – Grrr! Best bet is probably to set it to fill up and then just manually stop at any stage over £30.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Learn more on our About page.

VAA

Latest comments

Latest Forum Posts

Get 30,000 points bonus with American Express Platinum

Amex Gold

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.3 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

Get 20,000 bonus points and your first year free with American Express Gold

Amex Gold