Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
News in brief: American Airlines reopens its arrivals lounge in Heathrow Terminal 3 The American Airlines arrivals lounge at Heathrow reopened on Tuesday. This is good news for anyone flying in from the US on an AA service. British Airways and Cathay Pacific passengers will also be able to use the lounge when long-haul services […]
Category: American Airlines and AAdvantage
Goodbye JFK Concorde Room: British Airways and American are joining forces in New York
Written by Rhys Jones @ Head for Points
Three years ago, British Airways announced it would be leaving its dedicated Terminal 7 facilities at New York JFK airport and re-locating to Terminal 8 with joint venture partner American Airlines. The move is part of a $13bn improvement project at the airport. It will see JetBlue expanding from Terminal 5 to cover the space […]
Is American Airlines finally opening a Flagship First lounge at Heathrow?
Written by Rhys Jones @ Head for Points
I was on a lounge safari at Heathrow Terminal 3 last week to check out the newly-reopened Cathay Pacific lounges and update our reviews of the other oneworld lounges at Heathrow. Cathay Pacific is the latest airline to re-open its Heathrow lounge – despite not operating any flights from the airport at present – but […]
American Airlines now lets you earn status from credit card spend – but is it a good deal?
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
There is a joke in the US, which contains more than a grain of truth, that the three legacy US airlines are effectively credit card reward programmes with a few cash flights tacked on. There have even been suggestions that one of the big US banks should buy American, Delta or United purely to capture […]
SkyTeam status match now extended to 25 airlines including British Airways
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
Last week we covered how you can get status in the SkyTeam airline alliance by matching your British Airways Executive Club status. This is due to the launch of ITA Airways, the replacement airline for the bankrupt Alitalia, and its new frequent flyer programme Volare. If you are successfully matched, your new SkyTeam status will […]
FINAL CALL: Save 30% on SeatSpy ‘First Class’ membership, exclusive to HfP
Written by Rhys Jones @ Head for Points
For almost two years now, SeatSpy has been a convenient way of finding reward seat availability on British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. It is by far the easiest way of seeing Avios and Virgin Points reward seats across an entire year without having to search individual dates. It is the only service of its type […]
Save 30% on SeatSpy ‘First Class’ membership – Avios data now updated every 35-40 minutes
Written by Rhys Jones @ Head for Points
For almost two years now, SeatSpy has been a convenient way of finding reward seat availability on British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. It is by far the easiest way of seeing Avios and Virgin Points reward seats across an entire year without having to search individual dates. It is the only service of its type […]
Bits: 500,000 BA seats for under £40, bonus Avios at Melia and NH Hotels, 1000 American miles at Hyatt
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
News in brief: 500,000 British Airways seats for under £40 As part of its current sale, British Airways is offering some special fares on short-haul routes this weekend. Until Monday 13th, 500,000 seats to Europe have been reduced to £40 or less one-way. The cheapest routes, with return trips possible for under £60, are Dublin, […]
SeatSpy fixes Avios reliability and adds American and United reward searches
Written by Rhys Jones @ Head for Points
For just over a year now, SeatSpy has been a convenient way of finding reward seat availability on British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. It is by far the easiest way of seeing Avios and Virgin Points reward seats across an entire year without having to search for dates individually. It is the only service of […]
Bits: BA adds Alicante to Southampton, take a look inside American Airlines AAdvantage
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
News in brief: British Airways adds new route from Southampton We were, to put it mildly, a little surprised when British Airways announced that it was opening 11 routes from Southampton Airport this Summer. Southampton was, as the picture below shows, a major Flybe base before the airline collapsed last year. The services will be […]
Rumours on the opening of Heathrow Terminal 3 and changes at Terminal 5
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
The timetable for the reopening of Terminal 3 keeps slipping back, unsurprisingly. When we attended the Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 farewell event before Christmas, the airline was hoping to be back ‘home’ by April. The current block on international travel until mid May has clearly put a stop to that. The wheels continue to turn, […]
Bits: save 25% on Avios seats on Vueling, BA drops direct Buenos Aires flights, American buys Finnair slots
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
News in brief: Save 25% when you redeem Avios on Vueling Vueling is the Barcelona-based low cost short-haul airline owned by IAG, the parent of British Airways. It does not, it has to be said, have a stellar reputation but you will often see it popping up on routes where you wouldn’t necessarily expect it […]
Earn BA tier points on (some) Aer Lingus flights soon as it joins the BA/AA JV – and launches Manchester?
Written by Rhys Jones @ Head for Points
The US Department of Transport has tentatively approved the Aer Lingus application to join the British Airways and American Airlines transatlantic joint venture. Iberia and Finnair are also part of the agreement. A fourteen day window is now open for responses, after which a formal approval is likely to be granted. Approval by the European […]
Why the Competition & Markets Authority won’t renew the AA / BA transatlantic JV until 2024
Written by Rob Burgess @ Head for Points
2020 was to be an important year for British Airways and American Airlines as their transatlantic joint venture (together with Finnair and Iberia) was up for renewal with competition regulators. It’s difficult to overstate just how important this joint venture is for both BA and AA. London to New York brought in revenues of over […]
How to upgrade your British Airways flights using American Airlines miles
Written by Rob @ Head for Points
This article looks at how to upgrade British Airways flights using American Airlines AAdvantage miles. Being able to upgrade British Airways tickets using Avios is a well known feature of the programme as I wrote in this article. There is also a full page on ba.com […]
Bits: American moves to Terminal 5, 2500 Avios with an Avis long-term rental, Amazon Summer Sale
Written by Rob @ Head for Points
News in brief: American Airlines moving to Heathrow Terminal 5 American Airlines will be moving all of its London Heathrow flights into BA’s Terminal 5 from tomorrow, Tuesday. ‘All’ isn’t much at the moment, of course. American is only operating four flights – one per […]
Bits: American adds Heathrow flights, Langham / BA Gold benefits dropped, join Rhys on Instagram Live at 4pm
Written by Rhys @ Head for Points
News in brief: American Airlines starts flying to Heathrow from five US cities American Airlines has confirmed its plans to add additional routes from London Heathrow. From 5th August, flights to Charlotte, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Raleigh-Durham will resume. Phoenix will join these routes from […]
AA and BA forced to surrender some London to USA slots by The Competition & Markets Authority
Written by Rob @ Head for Points
The Competition & Markets Authority has today published its provisional findings into its 18 month review of the ‘UK to US’ part of the transatlantic joint venture operated by British Airways, American Airlines, Iberia, Finnair and (soon) Aer Lingus. This is a difficult time to […]
Will the British Airways / American Airlines joint venture be broken up if Virgin Atlantic goes bust?
Written by Rob @ Head for Points
However good your hearing is, you will have struggled to pick up the sound of British Airways demanding that Virgin Atlantic and Norwegian must not receive Government support and be allowed to fail. Have you wondered why? After all, Willie Walsh – CEO of BA’s […]
How to redeem Avios points for low tax US American Airlines domestic flights (Avios Redemption University, Lesson 13)
Written by Rob @ Head for Points
This article explains how to redeem Avios for domestic flights in the United States. The “Avios Redemption University” series is a good starting point for beginners, although I hope everyone will learn something from it. Click here to see the other “Avios Redemption University” articles although […]