The News This Week at Points Well Made - 2nd Nov
- Sam
- Nov 2
- 7 min read
Now this has been a blockbuster week. News aplenty, new records set on Points Well Made for readership, and an obituary for an old friend. This is everything that you might have missed this week!
Finnair is offering a tiered discount promotion on Avios purchases through November 2nd, with savings ranging from 25% off for smaller amounts up to 40% off when buying 85,000 or more Avios. These points transfer instantly and free to British Airways Club accounts, making it an attractive option for those looking to boost their miles balance at a reduced cost.
However, there's a significant catch: the promotion is only available to existing Finnair Plus members who joined before October 24th and already have at least 100 Avios in their account. This means new members can't simply sign up to take advantage of the deal. The offer also comes with standard restrictions like a 200,000 annual purchase limit and a 1-3 day processing time for the points to appear in your account.
Want to know more? Click here!
"Great news - the popular Tesco Clubcard to Virgin Points bonus promotion is back for another round! Virgin/Tesco are once again giving away 5,000 Virgin Points to new auto-exchange sign-ups.
If you're a Tesco Clubcard holder and love to travel, this is your chance to score an extra 5,000 Virgin Points - and it couldn't be easier. Virgin Red is offering a bonus of 5,000 Virgin Points when you sign up for the first time to auto transfer your Tesco Clubcard points into Virgin Points by 25th January 2026."
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So, is there anything else I need to know? Click here for all the details!
"American Express has launched a targeted offer for Virgin Atlantic that's worth adding to your card if you're planning to book flights before the end of November.
The offer is a generous one, spend £800 or more online at Virgin Atlantic, get £100 back.
The offer is valid until 27th November 2025 and is limited to the first 70,000 cardmembers who save it to their card by going into the "Offers" section in the app."
ITA Airways, Italy's national carrier and successor to Alitalia, is launching daily flights between Rome Fiumicino and London Heathrow starting March 29th, 2026. The service will feature two roundtrip flights daily with convenient morning and afternoon departure times, and represents a strategic move as the airline prepares to join Star Alliance in 2026 following Lufthansa Group's majority acquisition.
This new route comes with a significant change: ITA will be abandoning its current London City Airport service the day before the Heathrow flights begin. The switch is designed to tap into better connections with Star Alliance partners and ITA's long-haul network.
They also have the best livery in the sky... click here for timetable etc!
"If you’re a British Airways American Express cardmember, there’s a brand-new opportunity to earn bonus Avios on your next British Airways holiday.
If you hold the British Airways American Express Blue Card, you can earn 2,500 bonus Avios when you spend £2,500 or more on a qualifying Flight + Hotel, or Flight + Car holiday booked directly through britishairways.com/holidays.
Meanwhile, British Airways Premium Plus Card members can enjoy an even better deal. By spending £4,000 or more on a qualifying Flight + Hotel, or Flight + Car package, Premium Plus holders will receive 5,000 bonus Avios, also limited to one per UK Card."
Virgin Atlantic is offering exceptional points redemption deals through early 2026, with some surprisingly low-cost options available for those who know where to look. Using vseats.io to track dynamic pricing, travellers can find economy flights starting at just 12,000 points return (including routes like London to Boston, Riyadh, Mumbai, and Dubai), Premium cabin seats from 21,000 points, and Upper Class redemptions under 70,000 points to destinations like Riyadh and Washington D.C.
The sweet spots span all three months: late November features Boston for 12,000 points return, December offers Caribbean escapes to Barbados and Antigua for 18,000 points, and January brings standout deals like Upper Class to Riyadh for just 46,000 points return. These dynamic pricing deals won't last long, and while taxes and fees still apply, the points value represents some of the best redemption rates available for Virgin Atlantic right now.
"We’ve already explored how broadband and mobile contracts can earn thousands of points. But what if I told you that your train travel – from daily commutes to weekend trips – can steadily build your Avios balance too?
Whether you're booking long-distance journeys, grabbing a Railcard, or even taking the Heathrow Express to catch a flight, there are multiple ways to earn Avios every time you travel by rail in the UK.
Unlike one-off big bonuses such as insurance or broadband, train travel tends to be regular and repeatable. If trains are already part of your routine, you could be collecting Avios week after week without spending anything extra.
Better still, you’re not limited to just one platform. Several train booking services and even railcards now offer Avios on purchases, making travel one of the most reliable ways to grow your balance."
Get up to 5 Avios per £1, but who who? Click here to find out!
Virgin Atlantic is launching a new seasonal route between London Heathrow and Phuket starting October 18th, 2026, with three weekly flights on Boeing 787-9 aircraft. The service operates Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays with convenient midday departures from London and morning arrivals in Phuket, strategically timed to redeploy aircraft during the quieter winter transatlantic season. Package holidays go on sale October 30th, 2025, with flight-only bookings from November 26th, and Virgin has partnered with Bangkok Airways for onward connections throughout Thailand.
American Airlines is relaunching daily Edinburgh to New York JFK service from March 8th through October 24th using their brand new A321XLR aircraft, marking the debut of this next-generation plane in their fleet. The A321XLR allows American to profitably serve routes with solid demand that can't justify larger widebody aircraft, and features 20 Flagship Suite business class seats, 12 Premium Economy, and 123 Main Cabin seats. Tickets go on sale November 3rd, and the flights can be booked using either American's AAdvantage miles or British Airways Avios.
Virgin Money's new refer-a-friend program offers existing cardholders 5,000 Virgin Points for each successful referral, with friends earning bonus points on top of standard welcome offers. Friends who sign up for the Reward+ card (£160 annual fee) receive 7,000 bonus points through referral, while those opting for the free Reward card get 4,000 bonus points, all in addition to any advertised promotions.
Referrers are capped at earning 50,000 Virgin Points per calendar year, which translates to a maximum of 10 successful referrals annually. To qualify for the bonus, referred friends must spend at least £3,000 within 90 days of account opening and enter the referral code within 60 days. Depending on redemption strategy, 50,000 points could cover a one-way Upper Class seat to New York plus a Premium return flight.
After 25 years, SeatGuru has officially closed down. Launched in 2001 and later acquired by TripAdvisor, the site became famous for its simple color-coded seat maps that told travellers exactly which seats to book and which to avoid. However, SeatGuru stopped updating its data in 2020, leaving the site running with increasingly outdated information until its recent shutdown, which now simply redirects users to TripAdvisor's main site that doesn't offer the same seat mapping functionality.
While it's disappointing to see TripAdvisor essentially abandon a resource that could have driven significant traffic to their platform, SeatGuru had become largely useless with five years of outdated maps. The closure marks the end of an era for travel planning, but there are alternatives available for checking seat maps before your next flight. Want to know what we recommend using instead? Click here the full article for our favourite SeatGuru replacement that offers even more detailed seat information.
R.I.P SeatGuru 2001-2025
"Let's jump into it! Between now and 15th November 2025, travellers booking round-trip flights from London Heathrow or Manchester can get £100 off per person on journeys to a wide range of destinations across Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
All you need to do is enter the discount code “FLYCATHAY” when booking your ticket on the official Cathay Pacific website.
The catch? The offer is limited to the first 200 tickets, so it’s very much a first-come, first-served situation."
Sam
Points Well Made is a passion project of Sam and Helena with a loyal following. If you like what we do, and wish to help us continue to create the content you love, please consider buying us a Kofi, or subscribing monthly. Your help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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