News in brief:
See ATP tennis at the O2 with Emirates miles or Amex Membership Rewards points
Emirates Skywards is currently offering standard and VIP tickets to the Nitto ATP tennis tournament at the O2 in November.
The tournament runs from the 11th – 18th November, with both day and evening sessions available. It is 7,500 Emirates Skywards miles for one standard ticket or 25,000 Emirates Skywards miles per person for the hospitality package.
The VIP seats are described as: “Experience Emirates exclusive hospitality suite in the VIP Village. Enjoy a wide range of international food and beverages and Emirates award winning service before watching the top ATP tennis stars in action from some of best seats in the house.”
How to use American Express Membership Rewards points
American Express Membership Rewards points transfer at 1:1 into Emirates Skywards. Transfers are INSTANT if your accounts are already linked. If they are not linked, it may take a day to complete.
I do not normally recommend making transfers from unlinked accounts to book tickets as they can easily sell out before your miles arrive. However, if you are not fussy about which day you attend, I think it is a manageable risk if your Amex and Emirates accounts are not already linked.
You can book your seats via this page of the Emirates website.
Delta increases Heathrow services
Delta Air Lines has announced plans to increase service on two of its US routes. The Heathrow to Portland route will increase from 4 times weekly to daily and the Detroit route will increase from daily to twice daily.
Launching on 10th May 2019, both services will use a Boeing 767-300ER.
The daily flight to Portland will leave Heathrow at 12:30 pm and land in Portland at 3.30 pm. The return leg will leave Portland at 8:08pm, arriving back at Heathrow at 12:05pm the next day.
The newly added daily Detroit flight will leave Heathrow 1:50pm at land in Detroit 5:22pm. The plane will fly back to London at 10:33pm and land at 11:10am the next day.
With Delta being a Virgin Atlantic partner (and 49% shareholder) this opens up new options for spending your Virgin Flying Club miles.
Caledonian Sleeper overhaul delayed until 2019
Travellers preferring overnight trains to planes will have to wait until next year to experience the new luxurious Caledonian sleeper trains on the London to Glasgow / Edinburgh route.
The new Caledonian sleeper trains were set to launch at the end of this month as we wrote earlier in the year. They have now been delayed for a further six months. This is apparently due to a delay in getting the trains approved.
An official statement by Caledonian Sleepers says that “this is the first introduction of new sleeper rolling stock in the UK for over 35 years. It means the process of testing and gaining the necessary regulatory and operational approval is both time-consuming and complex.”
Tickets for the new trains have been bookable since March and those who booked tickets especially to travel on the new train can either get a full refund or be refunded the price difference between the old and new trains.
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