News You May Have Missed at Points Well Made - 26th April
- Sam
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
Morning all,
Well, BA had one to forget. Thousands of members woke up earlier this week to find their status had been extended for another year, and that's despite not having re-qualified. Cue celebration, confusion, and then the inevitable U-turn: BA has confirmed it was a technical error. If you got the email and you're wondering what happens next, or if you missed out by a whisker and you're rightfully fuming, we've covered both the original story and the backtrack.
On the deals front, BA has a 40% bonus Avios sale running until Sunday, Virgin Money has doubled the welcome bonuses on both Virgin Atlantic credit cards until mid-May, and we've put together a guide on how to save up to 50% on Avios during school holidays by playing the off-peak calendars across BA, Iberia, and Aer Lingus. I also reviewed the Plaza Express lounge at Gatwick North Terminal. The £18 entry point is tempting, but is it actually any good?
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Sam
Virgin Money has today launched boosted welcome bonuses on both of its Virgin Atlantic credit cards, running until 18 May 2026. If you have been thinking about picking up one of these cards, this is the strongest offer we have seen since the autumn, and a solid opportunity to build up a decent stash of Virgin Points before summer.
Today we are going to break down both offers, explain who is eligible, and help you figure out which card actually makes sense for you.
Opening in 2024, the Plaza Express is the latest lounge to open in Gatwick's North Terminal, so surely it's worthy of a review?
The Plaza Express is the "casual" brand of the Plaza Premium group, aimed more at cost-conscious leisure travellers. I visited in September 2025, with the terminal still in full swing from the tail end of people's summer holidays, and with prices starting from £18 for an adult, is it worth your money? Because you're not getting in here with a lounge card.
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If you woke up to an email this morning telling you that your BA status has been retained for another year, and you're pretty sure you didn't earn it, you're not going mad. It also appears that you're not the only one.
And if you didn't get the email despite getting ever so close, you've every right to be fuming (please do let us know if this is you).
British Airways have put Avios on sale with a 40% bonus promotion on purchased and gifted Avios, running for five days from today, Thursday 23rd April until Sunday 27th April 2026.
The offer at a glance
Promotion period: Until 27th April 2026 at 23:59 BST
Bonus rate: 40% extra Avios on all purchases and gifts
Eligibility: British Airways Club members
Where to buy: avios.com/collect-avios/buy
Gifting: Recipient must hold a BA Club account with at least 1 Avios
If you have to abide by school holidays, you already know the problem. You are locked into the same travel windows as everyone else, and the Avios price reflects it. BA treats every school holiday as peak.
There are two ways around it though, depending on which school holiday you are trying to escape.
I'll give you a hint, BA, Iberia, and Aer Lingus all use Avios and all run peak and off-peak pricing, but their calendars are not the same.
British Airways has now confirmed what many suspected. The recent wave of surprise BA Club status renewals was, in fact, an error.
Earlier this week, thousands of BA Club members discovered that their Silver or Gold status had been extended through to 30 April 2027, despite not having re-qualified. Some had earned few, if any, tier points over the past year. Others who had come frustratingly close to the threshold received nothing at all. You can read our original story here.
IAG Loyalty, the company that runs the British Airways loyalty programme, has confirmed that a technical issue led to some members being incorrectly told they had retained their status.
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