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Important deal updates: Accor, British Airways ex-Dublin, Tesco conversions

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There have been a few important updates on some of the deals I have covered in the last couple of weeks.  Whilst I don’t normally do this, I thought it was worthwhile spending an article running through some updates:

Get 1,050 free Le Club AccorHotels points

Last weekend I told you how to earn 1,050 free Accor points via completing a quiz on their website.  Later in the week, I showed you how to convert these to Avios despite being below the usual 3,000 point threshold.

Accor has now pulled this promotion.  It appears that there was substantial abuse of it in China with many thousands of accounts opened and the points fraudulently used.

It looks like some innocent accounts have been caught up in this.

If you transferred your points to Iberia and your account reads: “FFP Systematic Transfer : Iberia” then you are OK.  If it says “Account Regularisation” then it appears that your points have been removed by Accor.

Book British Airways Club World flights to Hawaii for £945

On Friday I wrote about the British Airways Club World deals available out of Dublin.

One of these was a £945 return business class deal to Honolulu.  This fare has either sold out or been removed by BA.  Hawaii Club World / business class tickets are still available for €1,846 (£1,340) which is a more widely available price – excellent value for what is, in theory, not a sale fare.

The other Dublin deals are still available – see my original article for details.

Tesco Clubcard bonus points are now in – check your account

If you transferred Tesco Clubcard points to your British Airways Executive Club account last month, your 20% bonus (capped at 4,800 Avios) should now have arrived.

This whole process has been a bit farcical.  Initially it wasn’t clear who was targetted, we were then all surprised to see that the bonus did not post instantly and, finally, someone made a big mistake and gave everyone a flat bonus of 480 Avios instead.

The 480 Avios should have been removed and replaced with the correct figure.

All in all, this promotion was substantially more confusing and messy than it had any right to be.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.

Category

Accor Live Limitless, British Airways and Avios, Tesco Clubcard

Comments (112)

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

  • James says:
    20 Dec20 December 05:23

    The sub £900 fares (£880 was the lowest I saw) were a mistake, however star alliance matched them (still available) so they will be honoured I am sure.

  • jonboy73 says:
    20 Dec20 December 05:59

    I can’t log in to my accor account today, anyone else having issues?

    • JoshBosh says:
      20 Dec20 December 06:05

      Ah, so its not only me then! The forgot password didn’t work either.

    • Neil Smith says:
      20 Dec20 December 06:25

      Me too – password reminder isn’t working either

    • Sasha says:
      20 Dec20 December 06:30

      Yes, same here.

    • Hugh says:
      20 Dec20 December 06:44

      I’m glad i’m not the only 1, on a Sunday, at 0600, reading HfP and trying to access my Accor account, as well as plan and buy a TP run to HNL 😉

    • Craig says:
      20 Dec20 December 07:30

      It looks like they’ve changed their website. If you click login there is a link to “Activate my Le Club Accorhotels membership” and if you click it, fill in your surname and email address I believe it will reactivate our accounts but when I tried it I got an error message saying their servers were congested and to try again later. Now when I try it I can’t even click the login button. Probably just need to try later I guess as I’m sure they’ll be working on whatever the issues are.

      • Tariq says:
        20 Dec20 December 08:53

        Same, if they’ve deleted my account then I’ll be glad. Their company is a waste of space.

    • Stu R says:
      20 Dec20 December 08:15

      Ditto all of the above …. looks like that might’ve been a wasted effort!

    • Guesswho2000 says:
      20 Dec20 December 09:49

      It’s working now, I had the same issue earlier but have got back in now.

      Wanted to check and see where the points had gone – I got the email about the autoconversion, but they’re still not in IB+. Says FFP Transfer, so I guess they’ll turn up, but I had an ibis stay about a fortnight ago where the points appeared in IB within a few days!

      • MrCinnamon says:
        20 Dec20 December 11:05

        I had similar problems but got access through clicking on the email link that was sent informing me of the autoconversion to Iberia Avios. My statemet confirms 3000 points have been converted to 3000 Iberia Avios BUT they are still not in my Iberia Plus account. I do find that Avios transfers into Iberia take significantly longer than similar transfers into BAEC, so I have not given up hope yet.

        • flibbly says:
          21 Dec21 December 06:25

          Me too – my statement shows the “Systematic transfer” on 13/12, but nothing in my Iberia account yet.

    • Fenny says:
      20 Dec20 December 09:49

      I just logged in no problem. Took a while to find where the points account is, but eventually found the right message. Still no points arrived at Iberia.

  • Stan C says:
    20 Dec20 December 06:14

    Wish I was so lucky with the Tesco Avios Bonus…. Have been given the 480points you mentioed – way less than I should receive. an earlier call said thee bonus miles would be paid end of December….. as you say rather a mess this promo…

    • Jenny says:
      20 Dec20 December 06:20

      still 480 points for me too, sort it out Tesco!

      • Koshka says:
        20 Dec20 December 07:10

        I’ve now received the 4800 but it should have been 6400 as I’m on the old 800 rate.

        • avidsaver says:
          20 Dec20 December 08:12

          Same here.

          • Jerry says:
            20 Dec20 December 14:00

            I also get the 800 rate, but bonus is 4800. So who do we complain to Tesco or BA? If the award is at 800 the bonus should be at 20% of that. The ASA code will apply as it was marketed by email.

          • Koshka says:
            21 Dec21 December 06:33

            There’s a BA rep over on Flyertalk who is contacting people directly if they post that they’ve had a problem (on the Tesco thread).

          • Koshka says:
            21 Dec21 December 23:46

            I’d complain to BA. After responding via Flyertalk I’ve had an apologetic email from BAEC assuring me that they’re working to correct it.

    • Stu says:
      20 Dec20 December 07:59

      Yep I’m still showing 480 points too

    • Stu R says:
      20 Dec20 December 08:16

      Tesco’s told me 29th December when I rang a couple of weeks back, this was before the 480 points arrived …. watch this space ….

  • BeThatGuy says:
    20 Dec20 December 06:16

    Hmmm, when I try to log into my LeClub Accor account today, it is telling me “Incorrect user name and password” even though my password has been the same for the last 2 years. To top it all, the “Forgotten your password?” link does not result in any email coming through to me…

    I really hate Accor, I really do. I have got to the point where I will go out of my way to spend money with a competitor 🙁

    • Globetrotter7 says:
      20 Dec20 December 06:19

      Can’t log in either…. I haven’t even attempted to transfer my points

      • Sandgrounder says:
        20 Dec20 December 06:36

        Same for me, and my wife.

        • Genghis says:
          20 Dec20 December 06:58

          Same here. For those that did the Iberia transfer, have the avios appeared in your Iberia Plus account? Mine haven’t yet

          • JoshBosh says:
            20 Dec20 December 07:57

            Negative. The last transfer i did took a few weeks to process. I believe it states 6-8 weeks.

          • James says:
            20 Dec20 December 08:24

            Nope. Mine auto converted the day I did the challenges but has not hit my Iberia account yet.

          • MrCinnamon says:
            20 Dec20 December 11:08

            As above, transfers in to Iberia Plus often take significantly longer than in to BAEC.

            Unlike others, I do like Zccor, specifically Sofitel and stay there in London, be it LHR, LGW or St. James.

    • Sebastian says:
      20 Dec20 December 13:19

      Have to agree with this. Personally my two most used programmes are Hilton and Accor, since both are excellent at providing status benefits when you arrive, they both have a great spread of reasonably priced properties with enough decent hotels at the top end – Sofitel, WA, Conrad – and if used for sweet spots their points/vouchers are very handy.

      Obviously, Hyatt and SPG are better quality hotels however, for me there are too few of them where I travel and due to top status being relatively hard to obtain, expensive.

      For me I personally do not get why everyone loves IHG so much. Yes, if you get a good/excellent Accelerate offer you can get good deals, but their record of recognising status is woeful, while their points – even with great Accelerate offers – are starting to become less attractive owing to the 5k offers for the past two/three offerings only offering hotels that aren’t great and in the back end of nowhere – as for the Ambassador offer don’t get me started on the lack of guarantee of lounge access. Additionally, apart from Intercontinental, which is only on par with WA, Sofitel and Conrad at best, their brands are over priced and often uninspiring excluding the odd CP.

      • Will says:
        20 Dec20 December 22:55

        I used to think the same, but this year visited IC’s in San Francisco, Shanghai and Hong Kong and was treated exceptionally well as a spire ambassador. If you use the weekend voucher on a suite, and sign your partner up for one too/acquire another from someone else then they are excellent value.

        I’m pretty well travelled at posher Hilton brand hotels and the three IC’s above were better than most Waldorf / conrads. The IC Hong Kong is the best service I’ve ever experienced.

  • Brian says:
    20 Dec20 December 07:33

    Guess Tesco/BA forgot how to do the conversion bonus, since it was so long since the last one!

    • Danksy says:
      20 Dec20 December 07:37

      I almost spat out my coffee 😀

    • Jason says:
      20 Dec20 December 11:23

      Let’s hope the next one isn’t so long coming now they have got some practice 🙂
      Although I am struggling to find availability at peak times which never used to be a problem, fortunately etihad release their seats as stated 🙂
      Used 2 241’s to Oslo

  • Tilly71 says:
    20 Dec20 December 08:37

    People on grandfather rates previously, are you sure this BA Clubcard promotion applied for this old rate?

  • AmandaB says:
    20 Dec20 December 08:45

    I had the BA transfer bonus show correctly at the end of Nov. Then the 480 posted and have now been removed. The original points value have now been reposted so I have had them twice…… They really dont know what they are doing do they?

    • harry1 says:
      20 Dec20 December 09:07

      Wow have you really hit the mother lode & got a special present +24000 Avios?

      Better move them to safety on Avios.com if so…

      • Jon Dear says:
        20 Dec20 December 10:13

        yep, same here. however I’m a little concerned they can remove avios from your account. And it seems you can go in to a minus status as some have reported recently so i’m just going to leave mine where they are and hope they don’t vanish.

  • Alex says:
    20 Dec20 December 08:45

    8 BAEC in this house and 6 are now showing correct bonus. Other 2 still have the 480 in the account.

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