Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

How to earn 7 Avios per £1 shopping at Waitrose, John Lewis and Amazon

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As I wrote last week, Tesco has extended its gift card promotion for another few weeks.  Until 16th October, you will receive 75 Clubcard points – which convert into 180 Avios or 187 Virgin Flying Club miles – for every £25 you spend on third party gift cards at Tesco.

These purchases can be made either in-store or via the Tesco online gift card shop.

This extension coincides with a major change in Tesco gift card policy.  It is now stocking John Lewis / Waitrose and Amazon gift cards.

Avios wing 6

Here are a couple of things you need to know:

You cannot buy Amazon or John Lewis gift cards from the Tesco online gift card store – only in person, in-store

The John Lewis / Waitrose cards are only branded as John Lewis as you can see from the picture.  However, the small print on the back confirms that they can be used in Waitrose.  They can also be used at johnlewis.com.

Amazon gift cards do not need to be used for a specific purchase.  You can add them to your Amazon account as a credit balance and the money sits there until you next buy something.  Future purchases are deducted from your credit balance first with any balance charged to a credit card.

In order to add Amazon gift cards to your Amazon account, you need to visit this page of the Amazon website and input the gift card number.

I imagine that Amazon and John Lewis gift cards will remain a permanent part of the Tesco gift card range.  However, we cannot be certain that Tesco will continue to offer 75 bonus Clubcard points per £25 spent on gift cards after 16th October.

If you are a heavy Waitrose, John Lewis or Amazon shopper, it is worth picking up whatever gift cards you can from Tesco over the next few weeks.


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 (170)

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

  • Dan says:

    Anyone managed to find the John Lewis card in a Tesco in South London – they seem to be sold out everywhere!

  • DebbieP says:

    I drove 25miles to reach my nearest Tesco Extra shop yesterday ; ( big store most likely to have the J Lewis cards), alas, no gift cards- in SWINDON! Back on the road today. 🙁

    • Genghis says:

      Wow. Now that is commitment. So 50 miles yesterday and then another more than 50 miles today? You’d better be seriously stocking up to make the time and petrol money worth it.

  • rams1981 says:

    looking forward to loading up on more Amazon this Friday 🙂

  • DebbieP says:

    Update on earlier post: rather than drive for 20 minutes for the J Lewis vouchers and then be disappointed, (as was the case yesterday,) l phoned Tesco, and incredibly, was told that they don’t sell, and never have sold John Lewis gift cards because they’re also valid for Waitrose and they wouldn’t sell a rival supermarket’s card! Naturally l begged to differ, but the Tesco lady was adamant. Unbelievable!!! Unfortunately in this day-and-age it doesn’t appear to be possible to phone individual Tesco branches directly, you have to go through an ill informed head office! Anyone else had the same denials?

    • Polly says:

      Yes Debbie, you can ask to be put through to a specific store. I do before I drive off, just in case not in stock in that store. Still searching for JL cards in Elmbridge though. Plenty of amazon but not a sighting of JL cards anywhere…

      • Alan says:

        Haha some interesting autocorrect there, Polly – that’s certainly a rather specific sort of store 😀

  • George says:

    Any success in finding the John Lewis card in central London? Surrey Quays have none, although there were lots of Amazon left.

    • Rob says:

      The branch where I got mine is 35 miles (looked it up) from the nearest Waitrose and even further from a John Lewis!

    • stevie g says:

      I bought some JL vouchers from the Tesco Metro near Kings Cross Station (Caledonian Rd)

      • flavio says:

        I confirm John Lewis and Amazon gift cards are available from the Tesco Metro near Kings Cross Station.

  • ana says:

    I got my JL and amazon from the Tesco Wembley store next to IKEA

  • mhuk01 says:

    Got 4 £100 vouchers for Amazon from Tesco today. The manager said the offer is max 4 gift cards, don’t know if that is nationwide..

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

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