News you may have missed at Points Well Made - 20th September
Greetings from Kefalonia,
We're in the middle of our holiday to this wonderful little Greek island, and we're planning to actually take a little bit of time off. We won't be posting quite so much this week, and if news breaks, we may not be able to cover it straight away. If that is the case, do keep an eye on our Instagram or Facebook, as those will be the places we will be posting to.
Where were we .... First up, we've got a guest post from Henry Ross, CEO of Ruma Travel, on how he bagged the St. Regis Maldives for 60% less.
Qatar Airways have done a u-turn on that controversial redemption rule change, and we love a good climbdown. Emirates Skywards have also launched a double miles offer for autumn, simple to use and well worth grabbing if you've got a trip coming up.
Lots to get through, so let's get into it.
Helena
Today's post has been kindly written by Henry Ross, CEO of Ruma Travel. Ruma Travel is a free reward flight search engine that compares the price in points and cash and tells you which is better value. You can read our write-up of Ruma Travel here.
I needed 890,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. I had 109,270. Buying hotel points is normally something I'd tell people not to do, and I went and spent roughly £5,000 doing exactly that.
The hotel I was after was The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort, for March 2027.
We love a u-turn. The British government are especially good at this cheeky little move. When the publish outcry is heard in the upper echelons of any organisation, occasionally we get some sensible decisions.
Well, good on you Qatar Airways for deciding your most recent policy was a mistake. We'll forgive you this time, but perhaps in future, just don't do it!
Emirates Skywards, the loyalty programme shared by Emirates and flydubai, has launched a double Miles offer for autumn 2026. Register, book and fly within the window, and you'll earn 100% bonus Miles on top of whatever you'd normally collect. It's a solid offer, and it's simple enough that there's no reason not to take advantage if you've got a trip on the horizon.
British Airways is adding two new destinations in Tanzania next summer, and one plane will fly to both.
From 29 May 2027, British Airways will fly from Gatwick to Kilimanjaro three times a week, then continue to Zanzibar before heading home. The route runs until 31 October, which covers the school holidays and the main safari season.
But that's not all...click here to find out everything announced.
This one night stay was gifted by Staybridge Suites Heathrow. All views and thoughts are the author's own.
My list of airport hotel needs is short. A room that is comfy, clean and pleasant to look at. I don't quite understand people who say things like "oh it doesn't need to be pretty or that comfy, you're only sleeping in it." I need it to be comfy, because otherwise I won't sleep, and everyone wants an aesthetically pleasing room, it just makes the stay feel so much grander and exciting.
But, my most important factor for an airport hotel, is that wherever possible, a runway view must be incorporated by the window. I love planes. I love looking at planes. I love trying to guess the plane (aka which specific Boeing or Airbus it is, not which airline it is because I have that down) and sometimes getting it right and sometimes getting it so wrong I realise I really do need to go and see the opticians asap to get new glasses!
In May this year we launched our Avios calculator because, honestly, finding the prices of Avios flights, and then comparing the prices was just too much hassle. There was no one tool where you could directly compare the prices across all the Avios airlines (British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Qatar Airways, Finnair, and Loganair), which is why we made one to tell you how much any flight would cos in Avios.
That was a good first attempt, let's call it, but we've now decided to improve it in certain areas with this latest update. Click here to see all of the updates.
The best ever New Zealand North Island self drive itinerary - Part one
Right, if you've been following along you'll know we've already dragged you the length of the South Island (twice, because apparently one blog post wasn't enough chaos for us to cram in). Ferries have been boarded, fjords have been ogled, and I have shamelessly cried at scenery on more than one occasion.
But now we're onto the North Island, and honestly? It's a completely different beast. If the South Island was all jaw-dropping mountains and "how is this real life" lakes, the North Island said "hold my beer" and gave us volcanoes, Middle-earth at every turn, and a hike that nearly took me out via my own right butt cheek. More on that later.
For your recap, you can find our South Island Part 1 Itinerary here, and the South Island Part 2 Itinerary here.
Points Well Made is a passion project from Sam and Helena. If you've enjoyed this and want to help us keep the lights on, please consider buying us a Ko-fi or subscribing monthly. You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok for more of the same. Thanks for reading.
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