The Travel Brief, your weekly business travel and loyalty round-up - 16th December

Welcome to The Travel Brief, your weekly trade round-up of UK business travel and travel loyalty news as well as the latest reviews and features from the Head for Points team.

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Interview:

We chat to Icelandair CEO Bogi Bogason: Lie-flat business class, alliance membership and more, image above

The latest UK business travel news:

Is British Airways ending its brunch service? We've heard some inside rumours ....

Virgin Atlantic: ‘We scrapped the 12 guaranteed reward seats due to member feedback’

Virgin Flying Club opens up household accounts to everyone – are they worth it?

JetBlue adds Edinburgh-Boston (bookable on Avios), drops Gatwick-New York

No1 Lounge opens in Heathrow Terminal 2

KLM adds its 18th UK airport as it launches flights from Exeter

Waldorf Astoria New York is taking bookings again, seven years after it closed for refurbishment

Norwegian adds three new UK routes

Kenya Airways adds a new Nairobi flight

Do you know the cost of reserving a British Airways Club World business class seat?

The British Airways lounge in Singapore repopens after refurbishment

Mandarin Oriental gains two of our favourite city hotels in Europe

W Prague hotel opens

The Stratford hotel in the Olympic Park joins Marriott

Hilton loses two hotels in the UK

Hilton opens a new hotel on Dubai's Palm Jumeirah

Flying to or from the US? Your new rights if your flight gets delayed or cancelled

Win a BA Holiday to New York (Club World) and help two charities at the same time

How to do a hotel mattress run – and what can go wrong

Save £250 on Cathay Pacific business class flights beyond Hong Kong

Stories we recommend from other sites:

easyJet to launch flights from Birmingham to Bordeaux and Gibraltar (Business Traveller)

South Korea to safeguard competition after Korean Air, Asiana merger completes (Reuters)

Corinthia Brussels opens its doors (Sleeper)

Gatwick expects DfT decision on expansion by February (Travel Weekly)

Radisson RED opens first Irish property (Business Traveller)

Our latest reviews:

As part of his trip to Iceland to interview the Icelandair CEO, Rhys tried out Icelandair Saga Premium on the Boeing 737-8 MAX. Image above.

He also found time to nip to Amsterdam to review DoubleTree by Hilton Amsterdam Centraal, image below.

The latest UK travel loyalty news:

A reader is taking part in the SAS Million Points challenge and is documenting his journey for us. Here are the latest instalments:

• “I’m doing the SAS million points challenge – here’s why” (a reminder)
• Barry’s SAS million point challenge – Airline 6, Virgin Atlantic and Airline 7, Delta

Register today:

REGISTER NOW: Hilton launches its new bonus points promotion for January to April stays - click here to register

In other loyalty news:

Get FREE Platinum status in Club Avolta and (hopefully) free TOP TIER Radisson VIP status

Virgin Red drops redemptions at Greggs!

Heathrow Rewards is joining ‘My Heathrow’ – what do you need to know?

Get €5-€10 of Accor Live Limitless hotel points for joining ClubOpinions

ENDS SOON: Get a 30,000 points bonus (converts to 30,000 Avios) with 'free for a year' Amex Gold

American Express is currently running a special sign-up bonus on American Express Preferred Rewards Gold - apply here. The bonus is increased from 20,000 to 30,000 Membership Rewards points which converts to:

• 30,000 Avios
• 30,000 Virgin Points
• 30,000 Etihad, Flying Blue, Asia Miles, Delta, Qantas or SAS miles
• 22,500 Emirates Skywards miles
• 20,000 Singapore Airlines miles
• 60,000 Hilton Honors points
• 45,000 Marriott Bonvoy points
• 90,000 Radisson Rewards points
• 2,000 Club Eurostar points

….. and many other non-travel rewards.

You receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points after spending £3,000 in three months.

Even better, you get:

• four passes for any airport lounge in the Priority Pass network

• 24 x £5 credits to spend at Deliveroo (max one per order and two per month)

• up to 12,500 bonus Membership Rewards points each year based on your spending (2,500 points per £5,000 spent)

The card is free for the first year. If you keep it beyond the first year there is an annual fee of £195. You receive a further four airport lounge passes and more Deliveroo credits on renewal.

Our main article on the 30,000 points bonus is here.

You can apply for American Express Preferred Rewards Gold with the special bonus on this page of the Amex website.

Thank you for reading

Please drop me a note at rob@headforpoints.com with any feedback. See you next Monday.

Rob, Rhys, Sinead and Katie @ Head for Points

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