Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

You can still get £15 of free stuff from Starbucks in Heathrow T5C

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

When we flew out to Dubai last Wednesday we departed from Terminal 5C, the newest satellite terminal.

If you flight leaves from 5C, as I have mentioned before, you can claim one of the odder British Airways frequent flyer benefits.

British Airways status card holders and Club World / First passengers still get £15 each of free goodies from Starbucks.

Unlike the 5B satellite terminal – which has a BA lounge which is generally empty – there is no lounge in T5C.  Most people, of course, will use the lounges in the main terminal and then take the train over to T5C when boarding starts.

However – whether or not you have already used the lounges in the main terminal – passengers who could use the T5C lounge if there was one (First, Club World, Club Europe and BAEC Gold and Silver cardholders – but not other OneWorld elites, it seems) can instead claim £15 of free goodies from the Starbucks in T5C by showing their boarding card.

The bad news is that they don’t sell gift cards. They DO sell mugs and bagged ground coffee which you could take home.  The most tempting item is mini-bottles of champagne for, I think, £14.99.  This is probably only of use if you are travelling in World Traveller or World Traveller Plus whilst having BA status as champagne is freely available in Club World and First.  I didn’t fancy my chances of getting them into Dubai given that your baggage is x-rayed on arrival although I may well have been OK.

If you are booked on an A380, you will know with 100% certainty that you will be flying from T5C and can plan accordingly, leaving space in your hand baggage.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

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

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

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.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

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

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

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

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

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

Comments (28)

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

  • David says:

    Also works if you have a Oneworld Sapphire or Emerald card – such as a Cathay Gold card from the Amex promotion.

  • Andy says:

    They do a very nice coffee press for £14.99. got one on my last trip, strangely the assistant insisted I have 1 consumable item to go with it so he chucked a small packet of cookies in as well.

  • oyster says:

    Rather have an extra 10 mins in the CCR than going to T5C and back. In that time I could have an extra glass of champagne. And it would be of a higher quality.

    • richie says:

      You woildnt be coming back. Surely you can only get this if your plane is actually departing from c

      • Blenz101 says:

        You can claim the £15 and walk back to B or A gates should you really be that desperate for a free bag of coffee.

        The staff at Starbucks have no way to know if your flight is actually from the C gates.

        • Andrew says:

          Apparently they enter your details in a log which eventually gets back to BA…

    • andy21 says:

      Just arrive at the airport 10 minutes earlier and do both….

  • jac says:

    I flew out this week to Saudi Arabia departing from C so visited Starbucks to pick up some freebies but as you said the selection is not great… importing alcohol into Saudi is not allowed so the champagne while clearly the best option was a clear no go, carrying a mug not very tempting so I thought to pick up some chocolates bars (1£each). But 2 days later I now find my bag full of melted chocolates….

  • John says:

    I’m guessing you can’t ‘guest’ someone into £15 of free credit at starbucks like you can guest them into the lounge?

  • kevino says:

    A little harsh Jon, as I am sure that Starbucks are reimbursed for whatever they distribute.

    BA have only recently stopped Starbucks giving more than one non-food item, and Starbucks certainly encourage you to buy to the maximum or beyond from them.

  • squills says:

    Made me chuckle 😉

    Strange idea of what makes for ‘immoral’ lol

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

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.