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American Express has launched yet another round of limited-time sign-up bonuses on the Gold and Platinum cards, running until 26 May 2026. If you missed out on the last set of offers ( which ended in January ), this is your second chance to grab a good haul of Membership Rewards points. Today we are going to cover what is on offer for both new and existing cardmembers, and we will also show you how to bag an even bigger bonus through a referral link. Why Does This Matter? Mem

United Airlines, Currensea, and Mastercard have launched the United Airlines Debit Card, the first rewards debit card offered to UK travellers by a US airline. It's available now. We've been keeping an eye on this one since the waitlist opened a few weeks ago. We wrote recently about why every major travel loyalty brand is launching debit cards in the UK , and United is the latest to follow Hilton and Marriott through that door. It's also the first airline-branded debit card

This is a big one. British Airways has just announced a major expansion to its winter 2026 long-haul network, and it is comfortably the most significant route launch we've ever covered on Points Well Made. Two brand new destinations. Frequency increases across 11 existing routes. A nine per cent growth in long-haul flying. And for the first time in 20 years, BA is flying to Melbourne. At the time of hitting publish, these routes have not yet been added to the BA website, but

I arrived at the American Express Centurion Lounge in Heathrow Terminal 3 at 5:30am on a Saturday morning, right as the doors opened. I was proudly the third guest of the day. I was flying Finnair to Helsinki on what was was supposed to be a two-week trip to the Philippines, before the Middle East situation spoilt that . But that's another story. This one is about whether Amex's only Centurion Lounge at Heathrow justifies the hype, and whether it's worth your time. The short

Hello, I hope you've all had a good week! It's been a year since British Airways retired the Executive Club and launched the British Airways Club, so we've taken a fresh look at what's changed, what's worked, and whether the rebrand was really just a rebrand. We've also got a big one on the tier point changes coming from 1 April. Your fare type is about to matter, and American Airlines and Iberia flyers are finally being brought into the fold. Elsewhere, we dig into whether u

Virgin Red is celebrating its fifth birthday, and to mark it, they're giving away one million Virgin Points to one lucky member. Ten runners-up will each win 100,000 Virgin Points. It costs nothing to enter, takes about 30 seconds, and the deadline is next Monday. How to enter Head over to the competition page on Virgin Red , answer one quiz question correctly, and you're in. That's it. One entry per person, and the draw closes at 23:59 on Monday 16 March 2026. Winners will b

Did you know you can spend your Avios on things other than flights? Not just hotel bookings or seat upgrades, but actual stuff. It’s called "The Edit", and if you haven’t heard of it, that’s probably because we haven't got round to it yet, sorry! It’s essentially a separate part of the Avios Shop that allows people to use Avios to part-pay for products from Apple, Antler, Aspinal of London, Smythson and a handful of other brands. When it first launched, you could only cover u

Just when you'd got your head around the spend-based tier point system that launched last April, British Airways is tweaking the formula again. From 1 April 2026, how you earn tier points on flights is getting a fairly significant upgrade, and for once, these changes are mostly in your favour. The headline? Your fare type now matters. And if you fly American Airlines or Iberia, you're finally getting a piece of the action too. Let's break it all down, including how it compare

British Airways has started emailing members of The British Airways Club today to let them know the Avios Shop, the programme that earns you Avios when shopping, is moving to a new provider. So far so boring. There's more to it though. New card registrations for in-store purchases are being paused between today and 15th April 2026 . If you haven't registered your card yet, you've got until 4pm GMT today (11th March) to do it. (If you don't know what we mean when we say you c

We've talked a lot recently about status matching, but I wanted to address a commenter the other week who wondered could you just keep matching status in perpetuity, thus keeping some sort of elite status alive. Is this some sort of status match loophole? In theory, yes. You could keep airline elite status alive indefinitely without earning it through flights. Match your British Airways Gold to Air France/KLM . When that expires, match it to another airline. Rinse and repeat.

The British Airways Club is the airline’s reimagined loyalty programme, officially launched in April 2025 to replace the long-standing Executive Club. While many travellers initially saw it as a rebrand, the truth is that British Airways used the transition to reshape how loyalty works, how status is earned, and what it actually means to be a frequent flyer today with British Airways. With updated branding, revised thresholds, and a more flexible earning structure, the Britis

Well I got more than I bargained for this past week... You can read all about the pivot to rescue my trip, the curious case of the rise of points earning debit cards, a strategy to help you hit your sign-up bonuses, how to extend your companion voucher, and the culmination of Helena's points challenge to see how many Avios she can earn on her trip! As always, if you want to get in touch to change your subscription to a weekly only email, or from weekly to daily, then please d

Well! I knew this challenge would be interesting. What I didn’t expect was quite how many of you would ask for the full breakdown, nor the fact I would surpass my goal of 10,000 Avios by a huge margin! This has turned out to be such a great example of why we talk about having a clear points strategy. Every single pound was thought about intentionally earning me Avios. Instead of letting thousands of pounds drift past without a second thought, I tired my utmost to strategicall

If you hold an American Express card and you’re working towards your sign-up bonus, refunds are one of those sneaky things that can trip you up. Whether you’re eyeing up a juicy sign-up bonus, pushing towards a British Airways Companion Voucher, or chasing an annual spend perk, it’s well worth understanding how American Express treats refunds behind the scenes. Because alas, when it comes to rewards credit cards, refunds are never just “nice to have your money back”. Net spen

If you have a trip that has been, or will soon be cancelled thanks to the conflict in the middle east, you might be thinking your luck is running out. People plan their holidays up to a year in advance, and with no sign of this conflict dissipating, that trip you booked a year ago might now be in the crosshairs. But what if you booked your British Airways flight using Avios and a Companion Voucher, what happens to the Companion Voucher? What is a Companion Voucher? The Ameri

If you've signed up for an American Express card where you're eligible for a welcome bonus, you'll have a minimum spend requirement. For the Amex Gold, it's typically £3,000 in three months to get the welcome bonus. For the Platinum welcome bonus, it's £6,000. That's a fair amount to put through a card, especially if Amex isn't widely accepted where you normally shop. But lets say you're just short of hitting the amount, how about buying a gift card? This strategy works for a

United Airlines and IHG (the hotel group behind Intercontinental, Holiday Inn, and Six Senses) are both launching new cards in the UK, exciting! Full details on earning rates and annual fees are still to come, so once we hear about the actual important details, we of course will give you the full write-up. But one thing is clear about these cards, they're both debit cards. That might sound like a footnote. But I don't think it is. United and IHG are joining Hilton, and Marrio

On the morning of Saturday 28th, the United States and Israel launched air strikes targeting Iran. This is occurred whilst I was sitting at Heathrow waiting for my flight to Helsinki, before connecting onto Doha, Qatar, and then onwards to Clark, Philippines. Yes, my route was convoluted ( here is my detailed post very excitedly explaining it ), but to many of you I am "the Avios man", and I planned my route to show you how you too can use your Avios on a variety of airlines

Hello, I hope you've all had a good week! I write this from a hotel room in Helsinki, somewhere I wasn't expecting to be staying at the start of this week. Certain world events have paused my trip to the Philippines... I think I know where I'd rather be. You can read all about my planned trip at the end. In other news on Points Well Made, we've got some information on Amex only Wimbledon tickets, a free status match to Club Avolta for literally any elite status that you may h

If you're reading as soon as this is published, around 8am Saturday 28th February, I will have (hopefully) just taken off from Heathrow (AY1340, track me on Flightradar!) on a bit of a mammoth adventure. Let me explain what I am doing over the next couple of weeks, the flights I'm taking, the cabins I'll be travelling in, how many Avios I've used, and some tips along the way to help you travel in a similar fashion. Why just me, and not Helena as well? She was given the offer