Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

LATAM abandons its planned joint venture with IAG

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Regular readers will know that LATAM, the Chilean airline, has announced that it is leaving the oneworld alliance next year as we explain here.  This follows a $1.9bn equity investment from SkyTeam member Delta Air Lines and the signing of a major joint venture agreement.

There was some hope that LATAM may retain a full ‘earn and burn’ frequent flyer agreement with Iberia and British Airways.  The three airlines had been planning a joint venture – co-ordinating fares and schedules – between Europe and South America for a couple of years, although nothing had been signed.

LATAM and IAG abandon joint venture

This will no longer happen.  LATAM has reportedly stated that IAG and LATAM have jointly decided to terminate the negotiations.

Existing codeshare agreements will continue.  Even when LATAM leaves oneworld, you should be able to continue earning Avios on their flights if they carry a British Airways or Iberia flight number.  There is no certainty that redemptions will be possible, however – British Airways has numerous codeshare partners with whom you cannot spend Avios.


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 (74)

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

  • Sal says:

    o/t If i book a holiday through British Airways and say for example book a hilton hotel. Will i still get my hotel status from peoples experience or is it classed as a booking agency?

    • Benilyn says:

      Agency

    • John says:

      Can try asking front desk to add your HH number, but they are not obliged to do anything

    • Anna says:

      I took a BA holiday earlier this year staying at the HGI in Rome. After making the booking I asked Hilton to add my HH number to the booking, which they did. We got the gold free breakfast for 3 of us for the 4 day stay, but no points. The Hilton MAN airport also recognises status if booked through BA.

      LL – We booked a Homewood Suites near Washington DC through hotels.com a couple of years ago and our reception verged on belligerent (they were very keen to point out that we were entitled to nothing as we hadn’t booked direct), but in general I find the service in the US much inferior to what we get in the UK and Europe, probably due to so many status customers in America as been pointed out before (except for the Hilton Millennium UN Plaza in New York where we were treated really well, I would thoroughly recommend it).

      • Anna says:

        The one we stayed in (Alexandria) was actually very nice, well maintained one bedroom suites with a pleasant lobby with an attractive fireplace (which wasn’t it use in August lol). The free breakfast and 24/7 coffee were also very good and saved us a fortune. The only thing lacking was the staff attitude!

  • Clive says:

    Morning, does anyone know how long before you receive the bonus Bonvoy points from an Amex transfer?

    • Russ says:

      Just 3 clear business days last week from transferring from Amex to showing in my Marriott account.

      • Russ says:

        Sorry Clive I thought you were referring to the extra points usually applied.

      • Rob says:

        Base points only I assume, not the targeted bonus some people were offered which posts later?

    • stevenhp1987 says:

      Early January I’d expect, after the offer ends (runs to 31st December).

  • Henry says:

    OT what’s the cheapest way to travel from Paddington area into Heathrow (Term 3)
    Also any lounge recommendations for T3 ?
    We are flying eco delight with Virgin so no free entry.
    We have lounge key with Curve card and also a Hsbc world elite card that we can use for getting inside though
    Thank you

    • 1nfrequent says:

      TfL Rail is probably your best bet – goes from platforms 12 and 13 and stops at Heathrow Central for Terminal 3 but only goes every 30 minutes so you’ll need to check out the timetable. You can tap in and out using a credit card rather than buy a ticket. It’s about £10.

      I suspect you’ve left it to late to get one of the advance tickets that bring down the cost of the Heathrow Express.

      Tube is cheaper still (about £6) but getting to the Piccadilly Line from Paddington is a bit of a pain.

      1F

      • Lady London says:

        Absolute cheapest would be a bus. Anything to Hyde Park Corner then change for another bus to Edgware Road (short walk to lots of Paddington. Other routes on tfl dot gov dot uk.

        Google maps is quite good now for public transport although sometimes does not offer the route you’d take as a local. Citymapper app seems excellent and works in quite a few cities internationally.

    • Liam says:

      If there is more than one in the party you may find an Uber/Kapten/Bolt the best option. It won’t necessarily be the cheapest but might work out at a very reasonable per-person cost. It’s certainly worth checking if you’ve never used Kapten or Bolt before and can find a sign-up/referral offer.

      • Lady London says:

        Kapten is churning out quite a few offers after I recently signed up – they seem to have a program of them that they send one after the other for a few weeks.

  • Shoestring says:

    Lounge Key gets you into the 2 lounges, No1 is the only one to let you reserve for £5, though so is your best bet – what day & time are you travelling? – as 80-90% of the time you’ll get turned away without a reservation (both)

    Club Aspire being the other lounge – both reviewed on HFP

    • henry says:

      We are flying at 2.45 pm with Virgin to Las Vegas we have not been to Heathrow for over a decade as we use Manchester whenever we go away due to our location.

  • Shoestring says:

    I felt a touch nervous passing through Great Scotland Yard’s forbidding pine-green doors.

    —> google the above and you can get behind the paywall (Sunday Times/ Times)
    Exclusive review: inside the Great Scotland Yard hotel, London

  • Benilyn says:

    OT: Anyone feeling festive and want to gift me Hilton Diamond status?I really would like the status for a January trip for Executive Lounge….

    • TGLoyalty says:

      What or which other status allows you to gift Hilton diamond status?

      • Benilyn says:

        Hilton diamond who have hit enough nights I think can gift Hilton Diamond if I’ve read correctly.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          Looks like yep 60 night diamond can gift Good and after 100 nights they can gift diamond.

    • The Original Nick says:

      Would they not gift a good friend or relative first?

  • Nic says:

    BITS/OT CURVE

    I’m a Curve legacy Black user. Curve just reset the retailer choices and three month trial of Curve Cash as a “Christmas present”. Check your app.

  • LK35 says:

    O/T

    Best way to keep Turkish Airlines miles from expiring? Received an email saying a chunk of my miles (only 7k) expire in 20 days. Not quite sure if MR points can be transferred or something to keep them alive…

    Any input appreciated!

    L

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