Bits: 10000 bonus Radisson points, ITA joins Star Alliance, GWR boosts Gatwick trains

News in brief:

Get 10,000 Radisson Rewards points on a single stay

There’s a new team running Radisson Rewards in Madrid, which can only be good news in the medium term.

In the short term, there is a decent offer at selected hotels in Europe.

You will receive 10,000 bonus Radisson Rewards points with a stay, however short. These are worth around £15.

Remember that Radisson no longer has ‘reward nights’. You use your points for a discount on a future stay, so you can use your 10,000 bonus points for a cash saving of roughly £15.

Full details are on the website here. Registration is NOT required, it seems.

You must book by 14th April and stay by 18th May. You must book a prepaid rate.

Participating UK hotels are:

If you staying 2+ nights, this offer will double up with the current Radisson Rewards global offer which you can register for here. The T&C for the 10,000 points offer specifically say that it can be combined with other promotions.

You can find out more about the 10,000 points offer here.

Bits: 10000 bonus Radisson points, ITA joins Star Alliance, GWR boosts Gatwick trains 1

ITA officially joins Star Alliance

Italian airline ITA has now officially joined Star Alliance.

This means that you can now credit ITA flights to any Star Alliance frequent flyer programme. The airline has just moved its London to Rome flights to Heathrow.

ITA left SkyTeam last year after taking investment from Lufthansa, which is slowly absorbing it into its empire. It is adopting Miles & More as its frequent flyer programme.

ITA becomes the 26th member of Star Alliance, which now offers more than 17,500 daily flights across over 190 countries. It fills a gap left by the defection of SAS in the opposite direction – from Star Alliance to SkyTeam – following an investment from Air France KLM.

Bits: 10000 bonus Radisson points, ITA joins Star Alliance, GWR boosts Gatwick trains 2

GWR to trial early/late trains between Reading and Gatwick

Great Western Railway (GWR) is to trial new overnight services to Gatwick airport from 6th June.

The 12-week trial will involve two services from Reading to Gatwick and three in the opposite direction every Saturday morning, plus one service from Reading and two from Gatwick every Monday morning.

GWR services only run between 04.30 and 23.30 at present, which means that 20% of Gatwick passengers are arriving or departing at times with no GWR trains.

The services will call at Reading, Wokingham, Guildford, Dorking Deepdene, Reigate, Redhill and Gatwick.

Timings are:

Saturdays – departing Reading at 02.28, 03.30
Saturdays – departing Gatwick at 00.30, 01.24, 04.00
Mondays – departing Reading at 03.24
Mondays – departing Gatwick at 00.24, 04.00

Bits: 10000 bonus Radisson points, ITA joins Star Alliance, GWR boosts Gatwick trains