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500 Avios bonus on hotels
There are a number of extra Avios available through the BA shopping portal. Other than a credit card, this is now one of the easiest and most lucrative ways to earn Avios on all your online shopping, including travel, such as Marriott hotels.
There is also a special offer for Avios hotels. You can either use Avios hotels to book hotels with Avios, which I would not recommend as it is poor value, or you can earn Avios when you pay with cash.
You collect up to 10 Avios for every £1 (or equivalent) you spend, but at the moment, there is also a 500 Avios bonus when you spend at least £100 (or the equivalent in foreign currency).
You can find the relevant page here.
Virgin Points – earn up to 50,000 with Virgin Money
Virgin Money has teamed up with Virgin Red to offer customers Virgin Points when they invest £2,000 or more into a new or existing Virgin Money Stocks and Shares ISA between 15 January and 30 April 2024. Customers must keep their money invested until at least 31 October 2024 to earn their Virgin Points.
The more a customer invests, the more Virgin Points they will receive:
Amount invested minus withdrawals & transfers out
- £2,000 to £4,999.99 – 1,000
- £5,000 to £9,999.99 – 5,000
- £10,000 to £19,999.99 – 10,000
- £20,000 to £49,999.99 – 20,000
- £50,000+ 50,000
The investment can be made up of:
- One-off payment by debit card, Direct Debit or cheque*
- Monthly direct debit payments
- Transferring from another ISA provider (this includes Virgin Money Cash ISAs).
Plus existing Virgin Money customers will earn an extra 1,000 bonus points if they invest £2,000 or more and keep it invested until at least 31 October 2024. To qualify as an existing customer, you must hold one of the following products before 15 January 2024: a Stocks and Shares ISA, a personal current account, personal savings account, personal credit card, Investment Account, cash ISA, personal mortgage, personal loan or pension.
Promotional codes will be emailed out during November 2024 with information on how to sign up to Virgin Red (if customers haven’t registered already) and redeem the points.
Andrea Burchett, chief loyalty officer and managing director for Virgin Red, says: “We’re delighted to join forces with Virgin Money to offer Virgin Points for investing in Virgin Money’s Stocks and Shares ISA. Virgin Points can be spent on hundreds of rewards across both Virgin Red and Flying Club. In fact, 50,000 points could get you two return flights to New York**, tickets to the Virgin Red Room at the AO Arena or even 250 sausage rolls!”
Find out more about Virgin Money’s Stocks and Shares ISA here.
Find out more about Virgin Red here or download the Virgin Red app on a smartphone.
BA removing printers from lounges?
It’s reported that BA has been removing the printers from its Heathrow lounges, with staff telling passengers this is a permanent move. During Covid, a printer was essential, whereas I’d guess now they are less frequently used. Nonetheless, it does seem a shame if BA has removed these as there are still times when access to a printer is needed urgently.
What do you think? Have you noticed any other BA lounges where the printers have gone? Let us know in the comments below?
Avis announce changes to Preferred
Avis has announced that it is changing the way you receive your Avis Preferred benefits and will be closing the current voucher scheme from 15 March 2024. I would presume this includes the 15% off and the free weekend vouchers.
You’ll still receive any earned money-off and free weekend vouchers up until then – and they can still be used until their expiry date – but there will be no new vouchers after that.
We don’t know exactly what Avis is planning to do, but given my experiences with them recently, I’m not hopeful it is going to be something better.
Avis say “Get ready for a new Avis Preferred. The good news is we’re making Avis Preferred more rewarding than it’s ever been. We’re replacing our voucher scheme with new and exciting benefits to enrich your car rental experience.”
American Express Emirates offer
A new travel offer has appeared on the American Express Platinum card. When you save the offer to your card, you will get a £100 statement credit when you make one or more transactions up to £800+ online at Emirates by 25/2/2024. The offer is only valid for UK departures.
5 comments
I also used the printer in the BA Lounge during covid, but still eels that is essential in a lounge. So shame they are removing it. I just hope customer service will help if printing something is needed.
I too find a printer occasionally useful – some of us still like paper documents to scribble on! Maybe they should consider leaving ONE in each lounge.
So much for BA promises to end the petty cutbacks and focus on exec bonuses after the little Spaniard was exited. Notice that they have not replaced magazines and newspapers in the lounges and I am sure readers could add a lot to this little list……
They may be going from other airports as there is no longer a printer in the BA Glasgow lounge – just a scanner/copier.
I also suppose the decision may depend on the type of printers used, I know for myself we used to have a normal inkjet printer and I was forever changing the catridges, not because they were empty but because of my infrequent use they used to dry up. This was an expensive excercise, which is why I invested in a Laser Jet printer, which although expensive to buy is actually cheaper in the long run.
This might be an idea for BA if as suggested just have one in each lounge.
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