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Convert you Marriott / HSBC points into Etihad miles and earn 40% bonus
Etihad is no stranger to the game of selling miles or offering point conversion bonuses. A very good offer was just made available if you are a member of Etihad Guest.
- Deadline is April 30
- Convert points from participating partners into Etihad miles to earn 40% bonus
- If you convert into between 10,000 and 20,000 miles, you also earn 40% tier miles on top
- The maximum tier miles you can earn is 20,000
Here are the most relevant participating partners:
- Marriott: 3 points = 1 mile
- Hyatt: 2.5 points = 1 mile
- Accor: 4,000 points = 2,000 miles
- Shangri-la: 1 point = 1 mile
- HSBC UK: 2 points = 1 mile
40% is the best bonus that Etihad has ever offered. If you convert 60,000 Marriott points in one go, you should receive (20,000 + 5,000) * 1.4 = 35,000 miles, which isn’t a bad deal at all. We have an article on how to redeem Etihad miles, but I’m not sure how easy the redemption process is in real life.
For those who are already active Etihad Guest members, the tier miles bonus is a great addition too. However, as you need 25,000 tier miles for Silver upgrade, it’s not possible to take advantage of this offer to become an elite member from scratch.
Flying to the US? Take 15% off your next TAP Portugal flight
TAP Portugal has semi-frequent 15%-off discount codes, and another one is making its rounds which may be useful if you are travelling to the US soon.
You could check the (UK-version) landing page here.
- Book by April 10
- Travel between April 18 and May 16
- Depart from Europe for the following destinations: Chicago, Miami, New York and San Francisco.
- Limit one use per person
- 15% discount against the base fare and carrier imposed surcharges (but not taxes)
- Not valid for Discount or Executive (Business Class) fares
Discount codes are market-specific. For UK departures use USA15GBP, and for other European countries it would be USA15EUR or USA15CHF etc.
Enter the code when searching for the flight, and below is an example of the discount being applied:
Shame that it doesn’t work on business class tickets. For economy class, the code should work on all fares except Discount, a.k.a the hand-baggage only fare.
Virgin Atlantic Points Booster 40% bonus promotion (0.71p)
Virgin Atlantic has brought back its Points Booster promotion, which is a cheap way to bag some Virgin points.
You could check out the offer here. If you partake by April 22, you’ll earn up to 40% bonus on top of your usual points.
Points Booster is a special feature of Virgin Atlantic which allows you to purchase points when you have a past or upcoming booking with them. They are normally priced at 1p per point, and you can purchase either 1x, 2x or 3x of the flight distance (in miles).
For example, London Heathrow to New York JFK is 3,458 miles in distance, which means if you have a one-way flight booked, you can purchase either 3,458 points (£34.58), 6,916 points (£69.16) or 10,374 points (£103.74) under the usual circumstances. You will receive 20%, 30% or 40% bonus respectively, and with 40% bonus it works out at 0.71p per point, which is an excellent deal.
Beware that Virgin Atlantic (and BA) has recently increased their surcharges on award tickets though, so make sure you are still happy about the total cost before jumping on board.
For upcoming flights you could simply do it online, but for retroactive flights flown within the last six months you need to call the customer service. Both revenue and award tickets are eligible, and despite what the terms say, from my previous experience you could boost flights operated by partner airlines too, or for award tickets issued by Virgin Atlantic at least.
You should receive the bonus points soon-ish, but the original booster points won’t be credited until after the flight’s flown. Note that Points Booster purchases are final and non-refundable – the points will hit your account even if you cancel the flight ticket.
My review of Cathay Pacific First Lounge, London Heathrow Terminal 3
After returning to the Qantas Lounge after more than two years, I spent the most of my afternoon in the Cathay Pacific Lounge, since I could only enter the American Express Centurion Lounge from three hours before my flight departure.
Cathay’s Lounge is coded Lounge C, situated to the left of the Qantas Lounge. I have been here quite a few times, and it’s probably my favourite lounge at Heathrow.
Thanks to my BA Gold status, I could access its First Class Lounge. They share the same entrance, but once you are in you either head straight for Business, or turn right for First.
The lounge itself is, to be honest, quite compact.
With a selection of snacks and drinks on the counters.
The actual thing that stands out is its restaurant service, which isn’t available in the Business Class Lounge.
If you fancy sitting down for a proper dinner, it’s a good place to be at. There are a bit more food choices here than in the Business Class Lounge, but not significant.
I’m quite impressed by its wine list, which I forgot to take a photo of.
After lunch, I quickly moved myself to the Business Class Lounge for the rest of the afternoon. To be honest I favour it heavily over the First Class Lounge, as it’s much more spacious, plus has a proper bar and multi-purpose seating areas. If you only have access to the Business Class Lounge – don’t worry, you haven’t missed much.
My review of Qantas Lounge, London Heathrow Terminal 3
Heathrow Terminal 3 is a great place for lounge hopping if you are flying a Oneworld airline. Prior to trying out to new Amex Centurion Lounge, I spend some time in the good old Qantas Lounge and Cathay Pacific Lounge too.
Qantas Lounge is labelled Lounge B.
The ground floor is closed at the moment, which used to be the beloved restaurant and bar.
There’s also a bar upstairs, although not quite as fancy.
Seats next to the bar are best for runway view.
There’s enough room on the first floor. What I don’t like is they spread out everything across the floor, and there’s no separation between dining area, business centre or relaxation area etc.
It could be tricky to find a private place for making phone calls or working quietly.
Breakfast / Lunch buffet is served at the time.
The chicken tikka masala is pretty good.
The most popular feature of the Qantas Lounge is a-la-carte dining in the ground-floor restaurant, which is missing for now, and I don’t know for how long. Considering this, I don’t really see a reason of choosing Qantas over the Cathay Lounge, although food-wise it seems that Cathay never changes their menu, so Qantas could be a refreshing alternative.
Save Avios with British Airways’ Multi-Carrier Award
The Oneworld alliance has a unique feature called Multi-Carrier Award, which means if an itinerary involves multiple airline partners, the pricing of the award will adopt a different chart, and it could cost significantly less than travelling on a sole airline.
Airlines have different definitions of multi-carrier and also different pricing systems. You could find BA’s relevant page here. Basically it applies whenever your itinerary includes at least two Oneworld airlines (whether BA is one of them or not), and the following chart is for economy class redemption:
The only deciding factor is your travel distance, whether it’s one-way, open-jaw or return. In general the longer you travel the sweeter the deal becomes, and for other cabin classes you simply multiply the Avios by a factor accordingly:
- Premium Economy: 1.5x
- Business: 2x
- First: 3x
By comparison, the multiplying factors of BA’s regular redemption chart for long-haul flights are roughly 2x, 3x and 4x, although it’s just approximation and varies by distance.
It doesn’t take a genius to tell multi-carrier awards on business or first class can have tremendous value, although the latter is probably much less practical due to availability. An ultra-long 50,000-mile around-the-globe trip in business class costs only 480,000 Avios, plus other fees.
BA’s website can actually price such awards correctly. For example if you want to book Tokyo Narita – Kuala Lumpur – Singapore:
The first option which is a multi-carrier award, costs 35,000 Avios in economy and 70,000 Avios in business. The second option on the other hand, falls into BA’s regular partner redemption and costs 26,750 Avios and 74,500 Avios respectively.
Unfortunately BA’s award search engine doesn’t handle open-jaw or complex itineraries, which are what multi-carrier awards are designed for. You’ll have to come up with your itinerary, make sure there’s availability for each segment yourself, and than call BA’s customer service to book.
Qatar Airways to adopt Avios as its loyalty currency, and free 2,500 Avios for everyone
Qatar Airways, out of nowhere, has announced its decision to switch its loyalty program currency from Qmiles to Avios.
[Implications]
There are currently four airlines using Avios as their currency:
- British Airways
- Aer Lingus
- Iberia
- Vueling, which is a subdivision of Iberia
Although no more details are disclosed yet, we believe that Avios will work in a similar fashion with Qatar Airways. Qatar Airways will have its own partners and rates for earning / spending Avios, but a member’s accounts between all airlines can be linked and Avios can be transferred between them. Otherwise it makes no sense to have one Avios program totally separated from the others.
Existing Qmiles will become Avios at 1:1 ratio. Qpoints and Qcredits will remain in place.
The new move benefits us in four ways:
First, Qatar Airways has a few airline partners that aren’t part of Oneworld. You’ll soon be able to redeem your Avios on flights with:
- Bangkok Airways
- JetBlue
- MEA
- Oman Air
- RwandAir
Second, Qatar Airways has a different redemption chart with British Airways, and redemptions on certain route may be considerably cheaper. You could move your Avios over from BA and save, like what many are already doing with Iberia’s MAD-JFK route.
Third, Qatar Airways also has some exclusive non-airline partners. For example, you could convert Qmiles to Acoor points, although the ratio isn’t appealing.
Last, if you fly a lot with Qatar Airways, you may want to credit your flights to their Privilege Club instead of BA’s Executive Club to enjoy better benefits, while still earning Avios.
[Promotions]
If you are not a member of the Privilege Club yet, register using this link gives you 2,500 Qmiles straightway, which will become 2,500 Avios at some point. You’ll earn an additional 5,000 Qmiles if crediting an eligible QR flight by September 30.
If you are a student, don’t forget to participate in their Student Club program, which offers up to 20% discount on air fares, plus other benefits including additional check-in allowance and fast track status.
4 days only: Fly business to the U.S. for £999 with TAP Portugal’s Valentines sale
TAP Portugal is starting a Valentines’ sale for departure from certain origins including the UK.
The landing page for Economy is here, with some headline prices:
- Lisbon £74
- Porto £69
- Faro £93
The landing page for Executive (business class) is here, with some headline prices:
- New York / Boston / Chicago / San Francisco £999
- Toronto / Montreal £1249
And the rules are:
- Book between Feb 10 and Feb 14
- Travel by September 30
- You also earn double status miles
£999 for business class to the U.S. is especially good, although you need to transit in Portugal. For such promotions you usually get free stop-overs at Lisbon or Porto too – and if you stay in Portugal for more than 24 hours before your onward travel, your ticket potentially gets even cheaper due to the lower APD charged by the UK.