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Let us be the first in the points and miles space to say it: well done, Avios. Avios has been updating something behind the scenes that's been missing from its toolkit for years, something so overdue that third-party tools had to build it for us all first. Without so much as a press release, at the time of publishing, Avios has rolled out a much-improved calendar that allows you to search for reward seats, with additional Companion Voucher availability built in (even if you h

Today's post has been kindly written by Heather Shipley, on Instagram as @heather_shipley_, where you can follow her pursuits to give her family the best life possible thanks to points. Naturally, that is what she'd like to tell you all about today! If you would like to put yourself in front our audience and wish to guest write, just simply DM us on Instagram or email sam@pointswellmade.co.uk with an idea, and we will try and make it work! Let’s set the scene. We are a workin

Hey, hey hey! Welcome back to another news you may have missed. This week has seen another offer from Qatar Airways on top of their Australia one. British Airways has rejigged it's Middle East flights once again, so if you are headed there soon with them, do check this out. We've also produced a handy list of shows which you can utilise your Virgin Points on at the O2 should you wish to. Naturally my recommendation is of course Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring wi

There is a piece of advice that I really feel like I need to give you, and it's one of the most important things you can do to protect the value of everything you earn. It is this: do not transfer your Amex Membership Rewards points to an airline or hotel programme until you are ready to book something specific. But because it runs counter to the instinct most people have, which is to "lock in" their points somewhere familiar as soon as possible, it is worth explaining exactl

American Express is giving £300 back when you spend £700 or more online at United Airlines, not on United Airlines (more on that below), on bookings made by 23 October 2026, for a ticket departing from a UK airport. This is an exceptionally strong offer, effectively giving you at most 43% off your ticket! I know what some of you are saying, and yes, we have seen this offer before at £350 back on a £700 spend, but I wouldn't be turning this current offer down. If you have not

There's been a bit of a Virgin Red Room focus for us right now, but this will be the last for a while, I promise! There are 57 shows bookable right now at the Virgin Red Room using your Virgin Points, from August 2026 through to April 2027, and we thought we'd put them down for you all in price order. So here they all are, cheapest first, starting from only 10,000 Virgin Points. What the Virgin Red Room is The Virgin Red Room is a private box inside The O2, positioned central

British Airways has moved a big chunk of its Middle East schedule around again over the past few days, and I know a number of you were trying to target Dubai with your Avios this winter, so sorry in advance for being the bearer of bad news if you haven't heard already. Because BA keeps setting dates and then changing them, treat this as where things stand today rather than gospel. Dubai is still coming back from 25 October, but as once a day instead of three flights a day. Th

You'll all know the pain that is finding reward flights. Multiple tabs open at once, fighting airline systems that insist on logging you out every five minutes (I'm looking at you Virgin Atlantic, Qatar Airways etc). This, in part, is why we created our Avios calculator, because nowhere else online allows you to directly compare the Avios pricing among all the Avios airlines, and we felt like that was important. Meanwhile, for a user friendly experience that allows you to act

If you missed it last week, Qatar Airways is currently throwing the kitchen sink at you, with up to 24,000 bonus Avios on flights to Australia, buy Avios sales, and now Qatar Airways are offering you up to 10% off your fare and double Avios on top. I wonder why... Who it's for Two groups of people qualify for this deal, and neither can have an active Qatar booking. They are: Privilege Club members with no collecting or spending activity in the last 24 months Privilege Club me

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another news you may have missed. A slightly calmer week on the news front, however Sam and I did spend two fantastic days at this year's Farnborough International Airshow on Monday and Tuesday as Press. I went to the Airline Leasers Summit (part of the Aerospace Global Forum) whilst Sam got to enjoy a Boeing 777X interior reveal event. We were also some of the first media in the world to see inside United Airlines' brand new Airbus A321XLR

Most people collecting Virgin Points are saving them for a flight, and this is normally what we'd be doing, but in all honesty, I was bored one day and wanted to book us something to look forward to. In that vein, did you know that Virgin Red has a private suite inside the O2 arena in London called the Virgin Red Room, and you can book it for almost any show there using points rather than money? You book the whole thing through Virgin Red directly in about the time it takes t

Earlier in the month, Amex added ALL Accor as a transfer partner allowing you to move and spend your Membership Reward points on hotels with the Accor group. Building on that initial partnership, Accor Gold membership has now been added as a feature for Amex Platinum cardholders. That takes you from four free hotel statuses to five, and it gave us a reason to do something we'd been meaning to anyway: go back through the whole list! So if you're holding the Amex Platinum, here

If you've got an American Express card, thanks to a hefty amount of sponsorship The O2 is one of the better venues in the country to use it. There's a free lounge with a complimentary drink, free bag drop, and a separate enrolment programme that gives you 10% back on food and drink across the arena. Here's how each one works. The Amex Lounge The Amex Lounge sits on the ground floor of The O2 arena. As a cardmember you get: A complimentary drink for the cardmember (one per car

Another week, another cut to your benefits. In December, we lost a chunk of value in the Avios devaluation. In May they raised the taxes and fees for reward flights. Then Friday last week, Amex confirmed it's cutting the earn rate on the Premium Plus card and scrapping the triple Avios on British Airways spend. Now the British Airways American Express Accelerating Business Card is getting an even more brutal cut. Everything below takes effect on 7 October 2026, the same day a

You did it. You booked your dream Avios flights. You are going to the Maldives. But then BAM. You finally get off the waitlist for the operation you need / you realise you're going to be due to give birth at any moment / your ogre of a manager won't let you take the time off ... you get the idea. So you realise, you're going to have to cancel the flights. Now you're worrying about the cost and whether you get your Avios back. Oh my friend, take a breath, and let me reassure y

If Australia has been sitting on your travel list, Qatar Airways has just given you up to 24,000 reasons to move it up. If you book a flight between Doha and Australia during the promo window below, you'll get up to 24,000 bonus Avios on top of whatever you'd normally earn. It's a short booking window, so worth acting on quickly if the numbers work for you, but you have quite a while before you have to have completed your flight. So if this is the winter (or summer in Austral

Welcome back to another Sunday round up, and goodness what a week it has been. Half of our planned articles were shelved because there was just far too much going on. There is a plan in the near future to move to multi-posting if you were wondering, but not quite yet. First up in the week we had a wonderful guest writer Neil (otherwise known of ManofMilesUK) who wrote us a great article all about whether solo travellers have an advantage in the points and miles world. Huge th

Well, they've said something. IAG Loyalty (AKA Avios) put a statement up on the 25th Anniversary Flight landing page on 16th July. It's short, but crucially, unlike a lot of corporate apologies, it does actually say sorry. Twice. Let's have a look. The statement in full "We know customers experienced technical issues accessing the booking page for our 25th Anniversary Celebration Flight with our partner, American Express. We're truly sorry for the frustration and disappointme

Amex has confirmed it's cutting the Avios earn rate on the British Airways Premium Plus Amex, and if you hold this card, the notification is either already in your inbox or about to be. From 7th October 2026, the card drops from 1.5 Avios per £1 to 1.25 Avios per £1. The old perk of triple Avios (3 per £1) on BA and BA Holidays spend is gone too, that spend now earns the same flat 1.25 Avios per £1 as everything else. BA Premium Plus Amex vs the free BA Amex: what's the real

In a less eventful post compared to the last few days, we thought we'd do a quick Avios route round-up of what's being added, and what's going away. BA's going to see Father Christmas British Airways are to start flying from Gatwick to Rovaniemi on 4 December 2026, Mondays and Fridays, twice a week, through the winter. For those who don't know, you may know Rovaniemi as Lapland. Gatwick to Ivalo (also Lapland) carries on as before. Cabin Off-peak Peak Economy 15,000 Avios 16,