News you may have missed at Points Well Made - 30th August

Hello,

I hope you're all well and enjoying the rain, for now... Here's what we've covered this week at Points Well Made.

Both British Airways American Express cards have doubled their welcome bonuses. The Premium Plus is offering 60,000 Avios (usually 30,000) after £6,000 spend in three months, and even the free card has gone from 5,000 to 10,000, or 15,000 if you apply through a referral link. Both run until 6 October. I've just taken the Premium Plus out myself after spending my two years in Amex purgatory, and if you've been waiting for the right moment, this is probably it. There are also three new Avios offers to save to your BA Amex cards as part of the 25th anniversary activity, covering hotels, shopping, and wine.

I've also written something a bit different this week. In counter to the good news above, I'm sure you know that BA Premium Plus earn rate is being cut from 1.5 to 1.25 Avios per £1 in October, but the bit that hasn't had enough attention is what Amex is putting in its place: tier points by default, and more of them. You're being paid less in the currency that gets you to the Maldives, and more in the one that gets you to Silver. There's a reason for that, and it says a lot about where this whole industry/hobby of ours is heading. On a more practical note, we've tested the new Avios reward flight search tool and it's a step forward, but it's got some issues we think you should know about. Double Virgin Points on train tickets are back until September, and Helena has written Part 2 of our New Zealand South Island road trip.

Sam

The new Avios reward flight search tool is great, apart from these things

The other week, we brought you the news about the launch of the new and improved Avios Reward Flight search.

It's great, but it's not perfect, so here are a few things we would like to see changed.

Double Virgin Points on train tickets are back, plus 2,000 for a Railcard

Virgin Trains Ticketing are running two offers currently. Book a train ticket by 20 September 2026 and you'll earn six Virgin Points per £1 instead of the usual three, and buy a digital Railcard in the same window and you'll get 2,000 bonus points on top.

We covered the last time this offer ran back in March. All of the details are the same, apart from the finishing date, and you can read all about them here.

Two huge offers on both of the British Airways American Express cards, up to 60,000 Avios!

If you've been sitting on the fence about applying for either the British Airways Premium Plus American Express, or the free British Airways American Express, today's news should give you a little "boost" to want to. The welcome bonuses, for both the free card and the Premium Plus card, have been enhanced, and are currently running until 6th October 2026.

Here's what you need to know before these offers skip away from you.

Three bonus Avios offers worth saving to your British Airways American Express cards

In the latest instalment of the ongoing run of 25th anniversary activity from Amex and BA, we have three new Avios offers to load to your British Airways American Express cards. Admittedly this isn't as exciting as a bargain Avios-only flight to New York, but at least this one won't be horrifically oversubscribed...

There's a route to bonus Avios for all British Airways American Express cardholders, whether that's through hotels, everyday shopping or a wine delivery.

Here's how each Amex Avios offer works, and what to check before you save anything to your card.

You were never supposed to be this good at collecting points, so they're changing the game to status

By now I'm sure you know the BA Premium Plus Amex is having its Avios earn rate trimmed, from 1.5 Avios per £1 down to 1.25 from 7 October, with the 3 Avios earn rate on BA and BA Holidays spend also being reduced down to 1.25 Avios per £1 spent.

Whilst the cuts to the Avios earn rate captured most of our attention as points collectors, it

is the other half of the announcement that I want to bring your focus towards.

Does getting access to airline lounges regularly matter more to you? - Qatar Airways lounge at Heathrow T4

Amex isn't just taking Avios away with the change to the BA Premium Plus, it's giving you tier points instead (by default, instead of an opt in benefit), one for every £10 you spend, up to 3,000 a year, from April 2027. The end result is that you're being paid less in the currency that gets you to the Maldives, and more in the currency that helps you get to Silver.

I've got a couple of theories, and I think both are true at once.

Is this the best New Zealand South Island self-drive itinerary? - Part two

Welcome back to part two of our South Island self drive itinerary. I am going to be vain enough to say that our full South Island and North Island itinerary for New Zealand was damn-near perfect.

Did we manage to do everything we wanted? Haha, no! We didn't, but that means we get to go back one day and yes I have already planned the itinerary. Surprise Sam! Your "Type A Planning" wife has got it all sorted already!

So no, we didn't cover everything, but we were very happy with everything we did manage to do. So, let's crack on with the second part.

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.