British Airways 777 First Class overview – Sydney to Singapore

I had long wanted to try British Airways’ only First Class service to Australia, with their daily Sydney – Singapore – London flight operated by a Boeing 777.

Award seat availability for using your points is not terrible, especially for well-planned or later bookings and availability is shown on the Qantas website. I redeemed 50,000 AAdvantage miles that I had purchased specifically for this flight. Continue reading…

Iberia A330 Business Class overview

After a fantastic two-week trip through Colombia in April 2017 and no return ticket back to my home base in Austin, Texas, I spontaneously decided to head across The Atlantic to see friends in Madrid, jumping on last-minute award availability just two days before departure and a discounted award redemption offer through Iberia Plus.

This ten-hour overnight flight was comfortable enough but I wouldn’t recommend Iberia over a more highly-regarded airline like Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines or any of the three large Middle Eastern carriers. Continue reading…

(Possible) 250 free Avios with the launch of new Aer Lingus Avios-based frequent flyer program

Back in April 2016, Irish carrier Aer Lingus announced it would be creating a new loyalty program called AerClub, from which Avios points could be transferred to British Airways Executive Club and Iberia Plus.

If you registered your interest in the launch of the program back then, you should’ve received an email from AerClub over the past week with a link to create an account and receive 250 free Avios for signing up.

If you didn’t get to register your interest, there is no harm in taking a minute or two to create an AerClub account, as the bonus points offer may still work for you. Continue reading…

4,500 Avios (enough for a one way domestic Qantas Economy, or 1/2 a Business Class flight) with ~$90 annual subscription to Sunday Times Travel mag

Sunday Times Travel, a magazine in the UK, is currently offering 4,500 Avios for a 12 month subscription – and this deal works for delivery to Australia too.

If you’re not up to speed on Avios yet, it’s British Airways’ frequent flyer program currency – much more about Avios can be found in our guide here, but in short, a one way redemption between, say, Sydney and Melbourne in Economy is 4,500 Avios, or in Business Class 9,000 Avios.

If delivered to the UK, then Sunday Times travel will costs £32 for a one year subscription (good for a gift) or if delivered to Australia, it’s £49 – which is around $85-$90 depending on your current exchange rate. Not bad for half a short Qantas Business Class flight.

Head for Points has the full lowdown on this deal, and advises:

  • I would not order more than one subscription per BAEC (British Airways Executive Club) or avios.com account
  • If you have a BA household account there is no reason why you couldn’t order a subscription for everyone in it.
  • I’m not sure if you’d get away with ordering two subscriptions for yourself – one credited to your avios.com account and one to your BAEC account

The deal runs until September 30th, and avios are awarded within 28 days.

To get in, use promotional code STTM0916 when subscribing to Sunday Times Travel Magazine here.

I have subscribed, and of course haven’t seen any Avios credit to my BA account yet – but I can’t see any terms that would prohibit overseas account-holders taking advantage of this.

BA Avios and Australian Memberships

British Airways still has a pointless restriction on accounts from Australia and NZ being unable to join their frequent flyer program (Executive Club) and earn Avios, a hangover from the Qantas and BA joint venture days.

In order to join BA Executive Club you’ll need to use an address anywhere other than in Australia or NZ. I’d suggest getting creative – use a friend or family member in the UK, Europe, the US or where-ever else makes sense. You’ll just receive a welcome pack there, and unless you end up earning elite status with BA, that’s about it.

Sign up for a Royal Air Maroc frequent flyer account and get a free flight within Morocco – or soon to be 5000 free Avios

With thanks to Frequent Flyer Bonuses and View From The Wing for this tip, getting a free domestic flight within Morocco or 5000 free Avios is pretty simple, although a touch time consuming – you’ll need to put aside half an hour. 

Although these points are of limited use in the short term, these points might become useful down the track.

Until 30 September 2016, if you sign two or more members of your family (including yourself) up to Royal Air Maroc’s (RAM) Safar Flyer program, and then link them in a family account, you’ll receive 5000 bonus miles.
Continue reading…

Super guide! How to use points from non-Qantas credit cards for Qantas flights

It’s no secret to anyone who has been reading for a while that we think the American Express Platinum Edge card is one of the most useful credit cards around for collecting points, with its bonus point earn categories matching well to where a lot of household spend goes, and is one to consider for people starting to look into optimising their frequent flyer points.

Amex’s Membership Rewards program being a flexible rewards program offers a lot of transfer partners and gives you a lot of options with where to redeem your points.

One of the biggest objections, however, I hear from people is that you can’t transfer your points to Qantas Frequent Flyer, and that they prefer to fly on our national airline – but there are ways to use these points for Qantas flights. Continue reading…