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Insure your Avios trips and get a 3000 Avios bonus
You may not be aware, but most insurers will not refund your Avios if you have to cancel at the last minute for some reason on a reward booking. This could mean losing a substantial amount of Avios. You should get the taxes and charges back through your insurance, but not the value of the Avios or the actual Avios in most cases. Now you can actually insure trips that are booked with Avios. One thing to consider is that you can cancel or change Avios bookings up to 24 hours before departure for £35pp, but obviously, this doesn’t help if there was a last-minute problem.
Wanda offers the policy, and there is now a 3000 Avios bonus for purchasing a Wanda Plus annual multi-trip policy. I’d advise going through the Avios app, as the Avios website link was not working. You can also get 100 Avios for signing up for their mailing list. I forced the pop-up by going to their T&C page for the Avios offer.
The policy offers cover similar to a standard policy with
- Select cover for trips up to 60 days at a time
- Up to £15m for emergency medical & repatriation costs
- Choose your own excess, starting from £50
- 24/7 emergency support line for when you need it
You can protect up to 500,000 Avios with the annual multi-trip cover, which includes Avios Protect®, with up to 500,000 Avios protected per person, per trip. When you have an approved claim, Avios Protect® will reinstate redeemed Avios into your British Airways Club account. Avios used on flights, car rental, hotels, or experiences are protected. It does mention ba.com specifically, so you need to have booked your holiday through BA rather than another airline’s website.
To receive the 3,000 bonus, you must purchase the Wanda Plus Annual policy, and then collect 3,000 Avios once it has been active for 14 days. The Avios will be added to your existing British Airways Club Account, or you can create an account to start collecting. You will need to link your BA account to Wanda within 60 days. The Avios store offers up to 20 Avios per £1 spent, up to 1000 Avios. It is not clear from the T&C if you get the 3000 Avios on top, but it is worth clicking through from this page just in case.
If this is not the policy for you, it is worth looking at Avios.com here at what other insurers offer Avios when you buy a policy. If you have medical conditions, All Clear is one of the companies I have used before and they offer 10 Avios per £1.
Qatar Airways up to 20% off and up to 10,000 Avios bonus
Qatar has launched a new up to 20% offer, but this one also has a decent Avios bonus, so it could be worth a look even if there is not much of a price reduction.
You can collect up to 10,000 bonus Avios when flying to Australia, or up to 5,000 bonus Avios on all other routes. Log in to your Privilege Club account and use code UKIAVIOS when booking.
The discounts are available from most European departure points to a range of destinations.
The offer is available until 6 August 2025 and you can travel 15 Aug- 10 Dec 2025.
You can find the offer page here.
EU ditches 100ml liquids rule
I recently wrote how some UK airports have got rid of the 100ml rule and are allowing passengers to take up to 2 litres per container. Hopefully, other UK airports will follow suit soon. Now, the EU have announced that they too will start easing restrictions.
Currently, EU regulations require that liquids, aerosols, and gels (LAGs) in hand baggage be limited to containers of 100ml or less. This restriction stems from the inability of older X-ray machines to effectively detect liquid explosives. However, new explosive detection systems (EDS) designed for cabin baggage are now available and have already been installed in some EU airports, such as in Rome and Milan. However, after concerns were raised last year about the new scanners, the 100ml rule was reintroduced or maintained at airports with the new technology.
A crucial step forward occurred in June 2025 when a new screening solution, successfully tested in collaboration with the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), received approval. The focus is now on individual manufacturers to submit their equipment for ECAC testing.
According to a Commission spokesperson, the rollout of this new equipment could happen “in the coming days” once final approvals are granted. It’s worth noting that not all EU airports are currently equipped with the new systems. Italy leads the way with seven terminals already utilizing the new technology, with other airports in Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, Sweden, and the Netherlands also poised to adopt it after final approval.