J.P. Morgan's 10,000 Avios Bonus Closes Friday - Plus Emirates Launched a Rail Platform With Wrong Times and a 10% Markup

Happy Sunday - this was a week where the deadlines matter more than usual, so let's get straight to it.

The doubled J.P. Morgan Personal Investing Avios bonus - 10,000 Avios for a £500 investment - closes this Friday, 7th August. That's a hard deadline, and 10,000 Avios for putting £500 into an ISA or general investment account is genuinely one of the better low-effort Avios earns available right now. There are a few eligibility caveats worth checking before you commit, but if you've been sitting on the fence, this is the week to act.

Emirates Skywards Rail arrived this week with a lot of fanfare - and promptly embarrassed itself. The platform, which promises Skywards Miles on train bookings, launched with incorrect departure times and prices sitting roughly 10% above what you'd pay booking directly. For a product that's supposed to make rail travel more rewarding, paying a markup to earn miles is the worst possible first impression.

Buried in the same post: IHG's 30% off summer stays sale is live, and there's a £100 Amex cashback deal at Small Luxury Hotels worth knowing about if you're travelling before the summer's out. The Emirates rail story is the cautionary tale here - always price-check any points-earning booking portal against the source before you assume you're getting a good deal.

The IHG and Amex angles alone make this worth a read, but the Emirates rail saga is the one you'll want to flag to anyone tempted to book through Skywards Rail right now.

The IHG x Revolut Elite debit card just increased its sign-up bonus to 30,000 IHG One Rewards points - worth several free nights - and the offer runs until 25th August. Same post also covers Qatar Airways doubling Avios for European members (deadline already passed, but worth understanding for next time) and Flying Blue quietly killing its shopping app.

Nectar points on Uber Eats Sainsbury's orders sounds like a no-brainer, but 1 point per £1 is worth almost nothing unless you're converting them to Avios. The real question isn't whether to earn - it's what you do with the points afterwards, and our piece runs through the maths so you're not left disappointed.

If you hold a BA Business Amex, the On Business points earn is gone - and the wording around the personal card leaves enough ambiguity to be genuinely worrying. This one's worth reading if either card is part of your points strategy, if only so you can decide whether to adjust your spend or switch cards before anything else changes.

Have a good one.

- Jack

The classic UK business card for Membership Rewards