News you may have missed this week at Points Well Made - 9th August
Hello everyone, and welcome back to another Sunday post, and another "news you may have missed this week".
First up, and the most momentous of the news, has to be Avios updating their free calendar search tool for finding rewards flights. Not only is it actually a really good tool, but they have also added in the ability to search Aer Lingus and Iberia, as well as extra availability for if you have a BA Premium Plus Amex Companion Vouchers. This was a soft launch from them, but we have written a full guide on it.
We had another guest post this week from Heather Shipley all about how she travels with her family of four regularly on points. When I say regularly, there isn't really a school holiday when they aren't away somewhere, and her ability to harness the power of the point is fantastic.
You can now status match your Amex Platinum Accor Gold status with Kenya Airways to get you two years of Sky Team Elite Status for about £200. Qatar Airways launched the first of their monthly 25% offers on Avios bookings. Whilst this is exciting, the routes are limited, but we have written a full guide on this as there are some intricacies.
Sam has written a handy guide on which hotel groups give you a free night when you book with points. Lastly Helena has done a little Q&A all about her favourite travel moments.
We just wanted to say a massive thank you, also, as earlier in the week we hit 30,000 followers on Instagram which is slightly unbelievable. We know some of you are already following us on there, or you came here to our website because of it. So, a huge thank you for following us, trusting us and engaging with us.
Helena and Sam
Today's post has been kindly written by Heather Shipley, on Instagram as @heather_shipley_, where you can follow her pursuits to give her family the best life possible thanks to points. Naturally, that is what she'd like to tell you all about today!
Let’s set the scene. We are a working family, with two primary school age kids. Yet we are rarely home for a full school holiday. City breaks, off-the-beaten-track adventures, the odd long-haul when we can swing it, we try to pack a lot in for a normal working family.
A question I get asked a lot is “Where are you off too next?”, shortly followed by “How do you afford all this travel?”
Airmiles play a huge part for us. Turning our everyday spending into flights we’d otherwise have to think twice about booking.
There’s a lot of chat online about airmiles being the ticket (pardon the pun!) to Business class seats and long-haul adventures, but for us, they’ve been the thing that enables us to travel multiple times a year, and to spread our budget that little bit further.
And it really doesn’t have to be that complicated. So here are some ways we maximise our points earning potential and get the most out of spending them on family travel.
Let us be the first in the points and miles space to say it: well done, Avios.
Avios has been updating something behind the scenes that's been missing from its toolkit for years, something so overdue that third-party tools had to build it for us all first.
Without so much as a press release, at the time of publishing, Avios has rolled out a much-improved calendar that allows you to search for reward seats, with additional Companion Voucher availability built in (even if you haven't earned one yet!), and improved search for Aer Lingus and Iberia reward seats as well.
We only caught wind of these changes because the "Product Manager for Reward Flights" mentioned it on LinkedIn. Yes, we have to be those people, and no, I don't post AI slop talking about how the new Emirates U-Dream headrest made me realise the sanctity of B2B marketing, and that it's wholly responsible for my inability to connect on an emotional level with my enemies.
Stay with me on this one, because it'll be worth it.
Kenya Airways have a long-standing status match programme where you can show them your status with another airline/hotel, pay a fee, and they'll give you an equivalent status with themselves.
What's changed is that they have temporarily boosted the match you will get from Accor Gold, Platinum, and Diamond to Asante Rewards Platinum Elite Plus (side note, I love this name. It's named as if David Brent was tasked with naming a loyalty tier and he just stacked fancy-sounding words atop each other).
Okay, why should you care? Because if you have an Amex Platinum, Accor Gold was added as a perk to your Platinum card last month, meaning you can match your newly acquired Accor Gold to Kenya Airways, essentially buying you lounge access, fast-track security etc on Air France, KLM, Delta, Virgin Atlantic, Korean Air and a dozen more, in economy upwards, with a companion, for a minimum of two years, not just one!
And breathe...
If you have any Avios, which I think the vast majority of you do, you're probably going to want to read this.
Qatar Airways has rolled out a new up to 25% off monthly discount scheme on Avios redemptions. This is different to our usual coverage which is usually around Qatar sales to do with purchasing Avios.
The first round of deals has already gone live, so here is everything you need to know about this Qatar Airways Avios sale before this booking window closes.
Did you know that some hotel groups give you a free night on points stay? I apologise for never having spoken about this sooner.
Marriott and Hilton are both selling points at a discount at the moment, which is what prompted me to write this. And it just so happens that they are the two groups where the free night is easiest to get hold of.
Today’s post is a little bit different - we’re stepping away from flight reviews and points earning credit cards to bring you something more personal.
I am Helena, one of the co-founders of Points Well Made, other half to Sam, passionate traveller, and all-round adventure seeker. I've always loved travel, but since meeting Sam I consider myself thoroughly infected with the travel bug. We have been on many adventures since meeting, all over the globe.
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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