OFFERS: Aer Lingus sale, Amex £150 off KLM, Virgin Atlantic card 30k bonus and Atlantis the Palm sale

Aer Lingus new sale

Aer Lingus has launched its September sale with fares available from its newest transatlantic hub, Manchester, in addition to savings on short-haul services between the UK and Ireland. You can earn Avios on Aer Lingus but not tier points unless you book as a British Airways codeshare. 

As part of the September sale, customers in the North of England, can enjoy transatlantic fares to New York, JFK, Orlando, Florida and Barbados in the Caribbean, in addition to up to 30% off all flights between Great Britain and both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The prices from Manchester return in business class are:

• Orlando £2480
• New York £1785
• Barbados £3000

Aer Lingus’ customers can take advantage of the promotional fares when booked between September 4 and midnight September 18, 2023, for travel between October 1, 2023 and March 13, 2024.

Aer Lingus has direct daily flights from Manchester to New York and Orlando, operated by the airline’s  A330’s with its modern business class seats. 

From 1 November, customers in the North of England will also have three weekly direct flights from Manchester direct to the Caribbean island of Barbados as its winter service resumes.

Aer Lingus operates direct flights to Ireland from London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Manchester, Liverpool, East Midlands, Cardiff, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bristol, Southampton, Leeds Bradford, Exeter, Newcastle, Cornwall Newquay, Jersey, and the Isle of Man.

Aer Lingus also has flights from Great Britain to five Irish airports, namely Dublin, Belfast-City, Cork, Knock and Shannon. These flights also provide seamless connections onto Aer Lingus’ transatlantic services via Dublin and Shannon. It’s worth considering over a direct flight if there is a good price as you clear customs and immigration before heading to the US, so you arrive as a domestic passenger which is much quicker. 

From next summer, the airline has also announced it will be adding two popular routes to its US network from Dublin, with flights to Minneapolis-St. Paul in Minnesota restarting on April 27, and a brand-new service to Denver, Colorado taking off on May 17.

For more information and to booking, visit aerlingus.com.

Virgin Atlantic 30k points Mastercard bonus

Virgin Points are some of the most versatile points you can earn, particularly on a Mastercard. As well as using them for flights on Skyteam as well as a number of other useful airlines, you can also spend them on everything from a sausage roll to a hotel or cruise. As Amex is not always accepted everywhere, it is always worth having a Mastercard or Visa, but there is not a huge amount of choice for points cards on these. The Virgin Atlantic Rewards card has a free and paid version, which offer perks such as upgrades and companion vouchers when you hit spend targets. The only thing I don’t like is that you have to manage it with an app rather than on a desktop as well. 

For a limited time Virgin Red and Flying Club members can earn up to 30,000 bonus points with the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card. Members that sign up for the card will automatically receive 15,000 Virgin Points for their first purchase. But, members that apply for the credit card between 4 September and 2 October 2023 can also receive a bonus 15,000 points when they spend £3,000 or more within the first 90 days.   

With the Virgin Atlantic Credit Card, you can also double the points earned on certain brands – for example, if you buy something from Boots via Virgin Red and use your credit card to make the purchase, you earn points on both. If you spend £60 at Boots, you’d earn 90 points from the credit card spend (1.5 points per £1 spent) and 60 points from doing the purchase via Virgin Red (1 point per £1 spent) – so a total of 150 points. 

There are two options for the reward credit card – the Virgin Atlantic Reward Credit Card and the Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card. 

Virgin Atlantic Reward Credit Card: 

• Equivalent to: 26.9% APR representative (variable)
• No annual fee
• Earn 0.75 Virgin Points for every £1 spent on everyday card purchases 
• Earn 1.5 points for every £1 you spend with Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Holidays

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Credit Card  

• Equivalent to: 69.7% APR representative (variable)
• £160 annual fee 
• Earn 15,000 bonus points with your first card purchase
• Earn 1.5 Virgin Points for every £1 spent on everyday card purchases 
• Earn 3 points for every £1 spent with Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Holidays 

Find out more at https://www.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/flying-club/credit-card.html, and download the Virgin Red app on your smartphone to start spending points.

Amex £150 off KLM

A new offer has appeared on some people’s American Express cards. Weirdly, mine is on my Marriott Bonvoy Amex. The offer gives Save to Card to collect £150 cashback when you spend £1,000 or more online with KLM by 2 Oct 2023. The offer is only valid on flights departing from London Heathrow, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester and Newcastle.

You can read my review of KLM long haul business class here and short haul here. 

Atlantis the Palm sale

Atlantis the Palm has a new sale with a complimentary half-board upgrade when you book by 22 September 2023 and stay from 21 October 2023 to 4 November 2023. 

There is also the Kids Stay & Dine For Free available on stays when booking a bed & breakfast or half-board package for stays between 1 October 2023 to 23 December 2023.