News you might have missed at Points Well Made - 1st November
I'm not quite sure how it is already November, but there you go!
Our latest guest written post is all about how a family of five flew business on Avios to Sri Lanka, which is absolutely worth a read. Sam has written a piece all about why there are so many points earning debit cards coming onto the market at the moment.
We've also written a guide on why you have to phone up to use your Virgin Atlantic Reward Voucher. Uber and Avios are running a promotion to earn a bonus 1,000 Avios, with loopholes to jump through of course!
And in interesting news to many, Emirates launched two credit cards. But applications are shut at the moment, which is a little confusing. Emirates have confirmed the reasoning, so be sure to check out the article to read this.
Lastly, Sam wrote a guide on what the sweet spot is when booking a BA flight part points, part cash. Because there is one, and you should definitely know about this!
We're off to Berlin next week for a few days, but we'll still be working and posting every day. However, we would love any recommendations you might have, so feel free to pop them in the comments, or drop us an email or DM on our socials.
Helena
This week's guest post has been kindly written by 'an anonymous chemistry teacher'. She and her husband managed to take their family of five in business class Sri Lanka using Avios and voucher. The trick, flying via Mumbai!
We’ve been points enthusiasts for years, and for most of that time we had one goal that felt slightly out of reach: flying our family of five long haul in business class without paying cash fares, which would have cost us around £20,000.
My husband and I had already redeemed Avios on Qatar Airways Qsuites without the children, so we knew how good long haul business class could be. Getting five reward seats together was always going to be the tricky part. In the summer of 2026, we finally did it. We flew all five of us to Sri Lanka via Mumbai, using Avios, two British Airways Companion Vouchers and a Barclays cabin upgrade voucher.
This has been sponsored by Currensea.
Back in March, I wrote a piece asking why Hilton, Marriott, IHG and United were all launching points-earning debit cards in the UK rather than credit cards. At the time, Currensea had two partners live and a third on the way.
Seven months on, Currensea has five partners: Hilton, Marriott, United, Lufthansa Group and American Airlines. A sixth, Global Hotel Alliance, launches early next year. (IHG went its own way, with Revolut.) And because some brands offer two versions, that’s eight cards, with a ninth in the works.
So the obvious question is why. Why so many, why so fast, and why Currensea? Click here to read all about it.
This is the rare occasion where British Airways comes out ahead on IT (pick those jaws up off the floor!).
When you earn either the American Express Companion Voucher, or the Barclays Cabin Upgrade Voucher, both of them go straight into your BA account. You go to book the flight online, tick the voucher, done (yes, I am simplifying the process somewhat). No phone call, no agent, no terrible sounding hold music.
Virgin, meanwhile, still operates like we all have half an hour to spend waiting on the phone. So, why do you have to phone up to claim your Virgin Atlantic Reward Voucher? You can find out here.
Uber is offering 1,000 bonus Avios to British Airways Club members who link their accounts and complete one Avios-earning Uber ride and one Uber Eats order of £25 or more in the UK.
The bonus is on top of the Avios you earn on the ride and the order themselves. The catch is that not every ride or order counts, so I’ve pulled out everything you need to know.
Good news: Emirates has announced two new UK credit cards that earn Emirates Skywards miles, both issued by Jaja Finance (no, we hadn’t heard of them either). They are the Emirates Skywards Premium Credit Card and the Emirates Skywards Rewards Credit Card, and they aren't just focusing on Londoners, as you will see further into the article.
Bad news: you can’t apply for either of them yet. An exclusive early application period went out to a select few on 29th October, and it has already closed.
We've gone into detail about the new cards here, including a statement from an Emirates spokesperson on when applications will open again.
As I often do, I was on the BA website this week pricing up a flight from London to Berlin. Once I'd chosen my flight, BA had already made a choice for me, that I'd want to pay 10,000 Avios plus £2.50, ticked and ready to go.
I can't lie, £2.50 is a nice number. Berlin for less than a flat white. It's the figure you'll see in every "I flew to Europe for £2.50" reel and all of the BA marketing, and I completely get why, who doesn't want a flight for only £2.50?
But there were five other options underneath the Avios + £2.50 option, and one of them is a smarter use of your Avios, and the one I'd pick every time. Find out which one 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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