News you may have missed at Points Well Made - 3rd May
- Sam
- 6 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Hello all,
Something a bit different this week as I've finally written the story of how I got into points. It doesn't involve a corporate Amex or a business class upgrade. It involves that photo of me aged 10, my parents, and a route into this hobby that I suspect quite a few of you will recognise. If you've been reading along and wondering who's actually behind this site, now you know.
On the aviation side, BA is shuffling its A380s around and it's actually good news. Club Suite finally arrives on the Johannesburg route, Los Angeles becomes a guaranteed Club Suite route, and while Singapore cops the old seat, there's a reason that's not necessarily a bad thing. Those A380s are 13 years old and have never had a refit, so something had to give. Elsewhere, Iberia has up to 30% off Avios redemptions until 10 May, and if you combine that with their off-peak calendar during UK school holidays, the savings stack nicely. We've also pulled together all the rewards card offers from the last few weeks into one place, reviewed a surprisingly good lounge in Palma, and written up a handy trick for checking how busy BA's T5 lounges are in real time.
As always, a bit of housekeeping, if you want to get in touch to change your subscription to a weekly only email, or from weekly to daily, then please do email sam@pointswellmade.co.uk. Or if you have anything else you want to ask us, tell us or request for us to cover, we love to hear from you so feel free to email helena@pointswellmade.co.uk.
Sam
If you're flying out of Palma de Mallorca, the Sala VIP Mediterráneo in Module C is a nice reward for the trek down to this end of the airport. It's recently been refurbished, and it's now one of the better Sala VIP lounges I've been to in Spain.
BA is shuffling its A380s around again, but overall this is a good thing as they're finally going for their refits!
They've now filed a wave of schedule changes covering September 2026 through March 2027. If you were looking to use your Avios on one of the routes affected, here's what's changing.
Club Suite finally arrives on the Johannesburg route. Los Angeles becomes a guaranteed Club Suite route. Singapore now cops the old Club World seat, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing, as I'll explain, by clicking here!
It's been a busy few weeks for card offers. Amex has refreshed both Gold and Platinum. The Marriott Bonvoy Amex is back at triple. Virgin Money has doubled both Virgin Atlantic cards. Hilton has refreshed both debit cards with a boosted bonus on the Plus.
Five separate articles in three weeks felt like enough excuse to pull them into one place. Here's a quick rundown on the rewards cards with offers, with the full breakdowns linked if you want to look further into any of them.
Iberia is running an Avios discount on reward flights, with savings of 10%, 20% or 30% depending on the route. You need to book by 10 May 2026 and travel has to be completed by 15 September 2026.
The discount applies to the Avios cost only. Taxes and fees stay the same.
Bookings must be made on the Iberia website. If you try and book through BA, you will see the standard price.
All routes are to or from Madrid, meaning you will have to connect if travelling onwards.
The travel window covers May half-term and the summer holidays. Iberia's own peak/off-peak calendar follows the Spanish school year, which leaves UK half terms as off-peak. So for travel during May half term, the off-peak Avios price stacks with this up to 30% discount. We covered this fully in our article on how to save up to 50% Avios during school holidays.
Anyway, all the details about Iberia's up to 30% offer can be found here.
If your tier dropped overnight, sorry.
But plenty of you still have lounge access today that has nothing to do with status, mind. If you're flying in Club or First, your boarding pass does the job. And to the lucky few who requalified, well done. Either way, here's a handy tip for all of you.
Did you know there's a live page that shows you how busy each BA lounge at T5 is in real time?
We've been writing Points Well Made for over a year now and I haven't really told you much about myself. Perhaps it's time to fix that with explaining how I found myself in the points world, and how that led to us starting Points Well Made.
There's a standard points-blog origin story. City job, corporate travel, expensive American Express. Mine doesn't really go like that. I don't work in London, and I don't travel for work. Also, my first American Express was a free one.
So if you've been reading along and wondering who's actually behind this site, here's the honest answer.
It starts with this guy.
That's me, somewhere around age 10. Odd place to start, I know.
But start I did. You can read all about my origin story 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.
