The weekly Head for Points business travel newsletter - 27th March

Welcome to?your weekly round-up of UK business travel and travel loyalty news?as well as?links to the latest reviews and features from?headforpoints.com.

We are now publishing our weekly trade newsletter on LinkedIn to allow more people to access it. This is the 17th edition available here. If you would prefer to receive it by email every Monday,?you can sign up here. It's free, obviously! You can also subscribe via LinkedIn and get new editions in your feed.

Interview of the week:

We interview Dr. Nejib Ben-Khedher, divisional SVP of Emirates Skywards. The UK is, surprisingly, the largest market for Emirates Skywards with nearly 4 million members.

As a follow-up,?we took a deep dive into Skywards+, the PAID Emirates loyalty programme.

The latest UK business travel news:

Heathrow Terminal 5 security staff strike to disrupt British Airways flights for for 10 days from Friday.

Virgin Atlantic codeshare flights to Seoul are now bookable.

The Club Aspire lounge at Gatwick’s South Terminal reopens after three years.?Priority Pass is accepted.

The American Airlines First lounge at Heathrow Terminal 3 has reopened, and?here’s a look inside.

Redeem 12,000 Virgin Points for a 12-bottle case of wine for Easter.

Which lounge are Air France and KLM using at Heathrow now they’re at Terminal 4 again?

British Airways On Business has now been offline for a whole month.?What’s going on?

Business travel stories we recommend from other sites:

Eastern Airways to link UK regions with Paris?(Business Traveller)

Air Mauritius to move operations from Heathrow to Gatwick?(Travel Weekly)

JetBlue granted slots at Amsterdam Schiphol?(Simple Flying)

Airlines for Europe names new managing director?(FlightGlobal)

London Hilton on Park Lane begins multimillion pound refurbishment?(Business Traveller)

Our latest reviews:

No reviews this week, but if you visit?headforpoints.com?on Monday you will see?a review from the official opening event for Virgin Hotels Edinburgh.

The latest UK travel loyalty news:

Get up to 3,500 Avios when you spend ￡100 or more with BA’s The Wine Flyer.?There’s also a 10% discount.

Tesco Clubcard has cut the conversion rate to Virgin Points.

Barclays will soon offer 7,000 Avios an alternative to the Upgrade Voucher they offer each year to credit card and Barclays Premier customers. Good deal?

How to book Virgin Atlantic’s new Retreat Suite, first hand.

Which energy suppliers can you pay using an Amex card?

Get ￡50 cashback with Hilton and American Express.

LAST CHANCE: Get 120,000 points with Amex Business Platinum and 60,000 points with ‘free for a year’ Amex Business Gold

American Express is currently offering the biggest payment card sign-up bonus we’ve seen in the UK. Ever.

If you apply for American Express Business Platinum before Thursday, you can receive 120,000 Membership Rewards points as a sign-up bonus.?This converts into, amongst other things, 120,000 Avios or 120,000 Virgin Points.?You can apply here.

If you apply for American Express Business Gold, which is FREE for Year 1, you can receive 60,000 Membership Rewards points as a sign-up bonus.?This converts into, amongst other things, 60,000 Avios or 60,000 Virgin Points – and from a card which is free for 12 months.?You can apply here.

Here is our overview of the two bonuses and how they differ

Sole traders are welcome to apply?as well as Limited Companies. Both offers end on Thursday 30th March.?Head for Points?receives a commission if you apply via our links – thank you.

Thank you for reading

Thank you for reading. Please drop me a note at [email protected] with any feedback.

See you next Monday.

Rob, Rhys and Sinead @ Head for Points

PS. If you would prefer to receive this newsletter by email on a Monday morning, you can sign up for a free subscription by?filling in the form here