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The Tesco Travel Store closes down (and no-one notices)

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Tesco has closed down its online Travel Store, as per this announcement on its website.

There was nothing clever about this site – it was simply a ‘white label’ version of lastminute.com and a fairly unfunctional one at that.

It did have one saving grace.  You earned 1 Tesco Clubcard point for every £1 spent on the site.  This was admittedly offset by the chunky £20 credit card fee charged for actually booking anything, but for people who regularly booked expensive flights it was a good result.

It has received virtually no promotion from Tesco in recent years.  I’d forgotten it existed myself until very recently.  It now seems to have been a victim of the Tesco ‘back to basics’ campaign.


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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

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Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

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There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

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You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

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There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

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American Express Business Gold

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (8)

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  • Phillip says:

    There had been some serious issues with clubcard points being credited for numerous transactions and complaints that the lastminute.com system was not talking to Tesco and vice versa! It became a waste of time chasing points!

    • Michael says:

      Totally agree with this. Never had points credited without a fight even though they were high value Business Class. In the end I just gave up (maybe that’s what they were hoping for). When I complained to Tesco, they just weren’t interested. Glad to see the back of Tesco Travel Store.

  • Jenni says:

    I used it a few times many years ago, but chasing the points was so painful I quickly gave up. Forgot it even existed before this post!

  • Ajay says:

    Closed down – just like Tesco Tyres!

    • Rob says:

      To be fair, it makes sense to ditch something which is taking up management time but is not (after giving it a fair chance) contributing a decent profit.

  • Phillip says:

    Interesting point – I recently noticed that a set of flights retrieved through kayak on lastminute.com were coming out cheaper than the same flights going directly to lastminute.com. Not sure why that was, if there is a special agreement in place. I would have thought it would be the other way round as a means of kayak making a commission.

  • vindaloo says:

    I took a long haul return flight last week that I booked through this site. The points haven’t posted so I’ve just fired off an e-mail to lastminute.com. From what people have written above I’ll not hold my breath!

  • Linda says:

    I ordered some business class tickets in Feb this year and the points never posted for the May quarter. I phoned Tesco yesterday who informed me that the partnership was no more ( I hadn’t realised) but that, as I had ordered my tickets when they were still together that they would honour the points and indeed today they are on my account. I was impressed with their no-quibble attitude.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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