BA and Amex Are Giving Away 1,000,000 Avios - But Virgin Just Killed Dubai All Winter

Happy Sunday - a busy week for UK points fans, with a genuinely unmissable prize draw landing alongside some bad news for anyone with Dubai on their Virgin wishlist.

Iberia's 30% Avios discount closes on 10th May - that's tomorrow. The promotion covers dozens of routes including Milan, Rome, and Oslo, and because Iberia Avios redemptions are priced independently of BA, this stacks on top of an already-cheaper way to use your Avios balance. If you've been sitting on a stash and have a European trip in mind, this is worth five minutes of your Sunday morning.

To mark 25 years of the BA Amex partnership, British Airways and American Express are running a prize draw with 1,000,000 Avios on the line. That's not a spend target or a welcome bonus - it's a straight competition, which means even if you've already held a BA Amex card for years and burned through your new-cardholder eligibility, you can still get involved. The full details on how to enter are in this week's post.

The same post carries Virgin Atlantic's decision to pull out of Dubai for the entire winter season - a significant blow if you were planning to use Virgin Points on that route. Dubai has been one of the stronger Upper Class sweet spots in the Flying Club programme, and with Virgin already having scrapped several routes in recent years, the suspension raises questions about whether this comeback will be permanent. Worth factoring in if you're holding Virgin Points and planning Middle East travel.

There's also a 50% transfer bonus from Avios to Accor in the mix - one of the better transfer promotions we've seen this year and it's ending soon. Three genuinely actionable things in one post, which is why it's the story of the week.

Singapore Airlines is adding Madrid as its 14th European destination from October 2026, and the UK network gets a meaningful upgrade at the same time - Manchester and Gatwick both move to daily services. If you're a KrisFlyer collector based outside London, or you've been eyeing business class to Southeast Asia or beyond through Changi, the routing options just improved considerably.

The Amex Business Gold triple bonus closed on Wednesday, but a 60,000 Avios welcome offer is still available - and this post explains exactly which routes require a midnight alarm to catch availability before it evaporates. The Hyatt suite angle is also worth a look if you're planning hotel redemptions: it turns out the programme's suite pricing has become one of the best-value moves in points travel right now.

Virgin Atlantic's spring/summer 2026 menu launches this week - sticky toffee pudding is back in Upper Class, two English wines headline the Best of British drinks list, and the new Seoul service gets its own bespoke menu. It's a softer story, but if you're flying Upper Class this summer it's genuinely useful to know what's on board before you travel.

Until next Sunday.

- Jack

The classic UK business card for Membership Rewards