Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Bits: Hilton / Amex cashback, bonus Avios with stationery, Avios debit card now available again

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News in brief:

Hilton / Amex cashback deal now open to all Amex cards

American Express has been running a cashback deal recently with selected Hilton Group hotels across the UK and Europe.

You receive a £50 statement credit when you spend £250.  Whilst it is not stated in the rules, the spend appears to be cumulative and does not need to be hit in one stay.

The offer has now appeared on the Amex Connect website – click here.  This means that any personal American Express card can be registered even if it is issued by MBNA, Barclays or Lloyds.

You need to stay (or have a prepaid booking charged to your card) by 8th May.  Don’t forget to register and remember to check the list of participating hotels before you stay.

HILTON PARIS OPERA

2,400 Avios or 2,500 Virgin miles with £70 of stationery

Tesco Direct has launched a new style of promotional deal – with stationery.  Until 27th April, if you spend £70 on these stationery items at Tesco Direct you will receive 1,000 bonus Clubcard points.  These transfer into 2,400 Avios or 2,500 Virgin miles.

Only Avios-earning debit card now available again

Tesco Bank has reopened its current account to new applications.  It recently relaunched with an exceptionally generous deal but, swamped by applicants, it was withdrawn and the criteria tightened.

You receive:

a debit card which earns 0.3 Avios per £1 spent (you actually get 1 Clubcard point per £8 spent which gets you 2.4 Avios per £8 spent, note that you need to spend at least £8 per transaction to earn any points from it)

you will earn 3% credit interest on up to £3000, guaranteed until April 2019

your debit card will earn 1 Clubcard point for every £1 you spend on it in Tesco – this is a very generous 2.4 Avios or 2.5 Virgin miles – and this rate is guaranteed until April 2019

There are new rules on opening an account:

you must set up 3 direct debits

you must pay in £750 per month

If you make a lot of debit card payments or spend a lot in Tesco – or just want to earn an easy £90 per year in interest on £3000 of your savings – this is worth a look.  You can apply here.  


Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current 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

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

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

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

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

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

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

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

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

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Comments (201)

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

  • the real harry1 says:

    My wife asked me to check her in for HBO flight.I was shocked t se that while emergency exit is now £23, moving her from middle to aisle IS NOW £11!!!

    What an enhancement rip-off 🙁

    • the real harry1 says:

      For those that don’t know, when you are flying from airports with self check-in machines (eg LHR), you can check in online T-24 BUT don’t print the ticket or save to mobile.

      Then at the airport check in again at the self check-in machines and you can choose any seat on the plane for free, including emergency exits. (Obviously not Club Europe if you didn’t pay for it.)

      Which is what I told my wife to do. Thinking about it, better remind her not to BOB – not totally tight – she does have access to Club Aspire 🙂

      • Sam says:

        At T-24, can’t you just select the seat you want online for free anyway?

        • Genghis says:

          “Unless you have booked a Basic ticket (economy, hand baggage only), you can reserve your seat for free when check-in opens (24 hours before departure).

          With a Basic ticket (economy, hand baggage only), you can either

          – pay to reserve your seat from the moment you book until check-in opens, or
          – we’ll allocate you a seat for free when check-in opens. You can then pay to change to a different seat, although your choice may be limited.”

          https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/seating/reserving-your-seat

          Or use the real harry1’s method

          • the real harry1 says:

            HBO rules explains it, thanks

            makes the £15 difference between HBO & +1 Checked luggage fares less of a factor if you hate middle seats, not that they bother me that much on European flights

      • Nick M says:

        Is there any advantage/need to check in online if you’re going to use a self-service machine at the airport anyway?

        • John says:

          Maybe. It will show you the seats BA has assigned you, if you’re happy with those then you can just keep them, generate the BP and go straight to lounge.

          Sometimes, you won’t be able to use the self-service machine because BA may want to see your passport – even if they didn’t want to see it for similar flights in the past few days. If this is the case, then you won’t be able to change your seat anyway. But if you check-in online early, then you may get a seat towards the front of the plane (sometimes it gets assigned long before check-in, but sometimes it appears not). If you wait to get to the airport then you may be sent to the back, maybe not.

          If the flight is overbooked it may reduce the risk of offloading, but that is a very tiny risk anyway and less likely for status holders.

          • the real harry1 says:

            there’s a massive advantage checking in T-24hrs online – it means close to 100% certainty you won’t get bumped off your flight if it is overbooked

    • TripRep says:

      At checkin???

      I thought “normal” seat selection was free by then?

      • the real harry1 says:

        you can either trust the check-in agent…or not

        do you really think they’ll always offer you the full selection of available seats?

        At the self check-in machines, you can see the whole plane for yourself

        • Callum says:

          Why would you not trust them? The only time they’d refuse to move you is if your ticket doesn’t allow seat selection

          • the real harry1 says:

            might be true for HBO tickets

            at the self check-in machines @ airport you can still move seats for free

      • Genghis says:

        I thought you get what you’re given?

        • Gavin says:

          Presumably the checkin agent is able to move you wherever is available if you ask nicely enough. Able, but maybe not willing (or allowed knowing BA)

          • the real harry1 says:

            the check-in agents often won’t move you when the flight is full – and as we always fly peak (start & end of school hols), our flights are always packed

            whereas the airport self check-in machines let you see every seat where the passenger hasn’t yet checked in – surprisingly on our usual flight route it is usually as much as 60-70% of seats at T-3hrs

    • James67 says:

      Just curious Harry, do you have a choice of airlines to your place or are you stuck with BA? Wondering if you are going to reach a tipping point anytime soon where it makes more sense to use your clubcard points and avios for something else. I think BA seat fees are outrageous, especially in premium cabins given costs of the fares.

      • the real harry1 says:

        nope we have a choice of 4 airlines and have used them in the past – our route doesn’t tend to get discounted much by any of them so eg yesterday’s 4x [Good Friday 2018] flights for £230 + 10,000 Avios = c. £77.50/ seat is competitive, checked luggage included.

        LHR is more convenient than all but 1 of the other airport possibilities – and that one is infrequently scheduled by the LCC concerned whereas BA is daily x3 or x4 slots

        I must say that no more free F&B and the very idea of paying for seats makes BA much less appealing than a year ago but no worse than the LCCs, probably quite a bit cheaper if you include the luggage factor

        • James67 says:

          So, it looks like BA will continue to work for you despite the enhancements unless there is a sea change in RFS. In that event I guess you can still offset costs by using avios for car hire although based on your hire exploits reported here that might not be so great either. If worse comes to worse maybe best just hedging on saving avios until the day comes when you resume your longhaul travels.

          • the real harry1 says:

            incidentally, my daughter turned 12 before our recent [Avios] flights out here for Easter – making her a young adult

            I was somewhat fearing that means we wouldn’t get seated together any longer by the B computer, as I thought that was for under-12s only so that they always sat with an adult?

            but we did get allocated 4 seats together – I changed mine for a window seat free of charge at T-24hrs, and again I don’t know if this £11 charge for seat change is new from a few days ago or if having Avios seats means it stays free to move to window or aisle & it’s only HBO cheap seats that have to pay for any move? (unless you use the self check-in machines at airport)

          • Genghis says:

            At nearly 2m, I think @the real harry1 is very well set up to resume long haul travel.

          • James67 says:

            @Genghis, even so, I believe his daughter is his youngest so six years is a lot of hedging, particularly if Cruz remains at the helm. However, if the scheme goes revenue then those with huge avios stashes could potentially hit the jackpot.

          • the real harry1 says:

            yep it’s a 6 year wait & then we’ll pack her off to university and head somewhere hot, I guess first choice might be a couple of months in Thailand Jan/ Feb as my wife & I love it out there (& yet to try Vietnam & Malaysia, which sound similarly good for the things we love, ie great food esp seafood & island/ coastal life away from the masses)

          • James67 says:

            @Harry, if you like to avoid the tourist crowd then Songkhla might be perfect for you.

        • John says:

          So what happened to your MCOL for BOB?

          • Alan says:

            IIRC he’s waiting for a few more flights to have passed in case BA try to take any punitive action!

          • the real harry1 says:

            yep that’s it, I’ve got 6 years after all

            they might also be more willing to concede my points compo if most people in my position have flown already

          • Genghis says:

            I was doing some bedtime reading yesterday and noted that BA’s CoC:

            “You will have no right to damages if an action is not brought within two years calculated from:

            the date of arrival at the place of destination
            the date on which the aircraft ought to have arrived or
            the date on which the carriage stopped.”

            https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/legal/british-airways/general-conditions-of-carriage

            No idea how BA can be 2 years yet statute of limitations 6

          • the real harry1 says:

            cheers

            it’ll be this late summer/ autumn anyway, ie 12 months after I got my last T-355 tickets with F&B included

            got my screenshots all lined up x3 🙂

  • Nick_C says:

    I don’t agree that there are new rules for opening an account. The new rules only apply to getting interest. If you just want the debit card and are happy not getting interest then you don’t need 3 direct debits. You just need sufficient funds in the account to cover your debit card payments.

    • Luke says:

      Nick’s right. Also, it might be worth making clear that the debit card Clubcard points are on top of the normal Clubcard points. So every £1 you spend in Tesco (or every £8 outside) gets you 2 Clubcard points, or 4.8 Avios.

      • Keith says:

        Would you not only get 1 club card point for every £8 spent outside as you don’t collect club card points outside of Tesco normally?

      • James67 says:

        Agreed, I read it the same way as you guys. I’m not sure what to do about fuel though, just pay with debit card or use credit card for points and pay with the debit card?

        • Alan says:

          For fuel it works fine as a Clubcard – just tell the cashier that’s what you want to do. Unfortunately doesn’t seem to work like that in-store, you have to actually pay with the debit card.

  • Gareth says:

    When you say spent on the Tesco debit card could this include ATM withdrawals i.e. £300 per day or whatever the max is

    • Nick M says:

      You don’t get points for paying financial institutions (eg credit card bill) so I would be very surprised… I’m sure there may be one/two that slip through the net though

      • Rob says:

        You can pay the Revenue.

        • Genghis says:

          I wouldn’t call “the Revenue” a financial institution though.

          • Rob says:

            It isn’t a payment for ‘goods and services’ though. Some bank accounts lets you make deposits with a debit card, those should definitely not earn points. I’m sure, somewhere, there is one that would slip through though ….!

          • Genghis says:

            But also not a bank, insurance company, investment manager, broker etc.

          • Genghis says:

            Oh – I’m interested in hearing about the potential one. Please email me 🙂

          • James67 says:

            @Genghis, if you want to know how the magic works join the magic circle!

  • Go says:

    So comparing it with say with using a BA premium plus card which gets you 1.5 avios plus normal club card points you are earning 0.9 avios more per £ on Tesco store spend. On petrol I think you get 1 cc per £ rather than the normal 0.5 with a normal clubcard so you earn 2.1 more avios per £.

    • Klaus-Peter Dudas says:

      On Tesco spend you’re earning an extra 2.4 Avios/£ (on top of what you earn with the club card anyway, which you get regardless of how you pay…)

      • Genghis says:

        The Tesco cc point earned in store should never be included in payment option calcs though should perhaps be for fuel if you don’t hold a Tesco credit card

      • Go says:

        Surely you only earn 0.9 extra because if you had used a BA card instead of the Tesco card you would earn 1.5. The Tesco card gives you 1cc or 2.4 miles which is 0.9 more than BA. On both methods the standard club card points for spend are the same so cancel out

    • Oliver says:

      Don’t forget the fee for the BAPP a Tesco debit card is free

  • CatherineXX says:

    Hi, I have an OT question about AMEX.
    I have a gold card and want to refer my husband. Can I refer him for a platinum card or just a gold one, and would the bonus for both of us be the same?
    Thank you to anyone who can help

    • Genghis says:

      Same for both at 9k.

      Potential options:
      Straight to Gold -> 9k+22k+2k(+UG to Plat, 20k+1k) = 54k MR for £3k spend and a few quid in fees
      You UG to Plat then refer Plat->20k+1k+18k+35k+2k = 76k MR for £3k spend and a few more quid in fees

      • James67 says:

        What is a “few quid in fees” Genghis? Annua plat fee and cancel? At one time the platinum fee on upgrade was not applied until the anniversary date of the upgraded gold if I understood correctly? Is the £450 fee now applied soon after upgrade?

        • Genghis says:

          Not sure when fee now applied.

          Obviously people spend at different rates. Assuming a reasonable £2k per month spend based on the target audience being “UK-based business travellers and high-end leisure travellers” and that fee charged when UG to plat:

          Straight to Gold option then UG to plat only requires £1k spend on Plat so 1/12*0.5*450 = £17.50 fees if straight in straight out

          Upgrade to Plat then refer to plat requires £3k spend on plat so 1/12*1.5*450 = £56.25, thereby effectively paying £37.50 for an extra 22k MRs or 0.17p/MR.

          • James67 says:

            Yes, but people used to upgrade to platinum and didn’t get hit with the fee for months afterwards. I believed this to be the anniversary date of upgrade gold card. That was great because you took out PRG for free, got your bonus, upgraded to platinum, got another bonus and enjoyed platinum benefits for months fee-free. If the fee is now applied soon after upgrade then we have to choose between paying for platinum or cancelling the card. It would be useful if people using the new upgrade offer could report back on when the fee is applied,

      • Boi says:

        Hubby is due to cancel his plat ( he hasn’t been charged a fee yet as it was an upgrade)….I am not due a churn til July….. Genghis would you wait or cancel in this situation?

        • Genghis says:

          You’ll have to do the maths to calculate if it’s worth it. Or if you answer the below I’ll do some rough calcs for you:
          1) When did your husband upgrade to Plat?
          2) When is your husband’s anniversary year?

          • Boi says:

            He upgraded in June 16. I am assuming his anniversary year is may 17 as he got PRG last May.

          • Genghis says:

            If your husband upgraded in June but the fee for this year hasn’t crystallised (almost a full year but say £420), your husband would then have to pay for 2 more months (£75) to then refer you in July. £495 for 18k MRs. I’d cancel and then you can refer him 6 months after he cancels.

      • Sam says:

        Are Amex actually offering 20k to upgrade Gold to Plat? At the end of last year there were several comments about how no upgrade bonus was being offered anymore.

    • James67 says:

      You can refer him for platinum.

    • David says:

      Piggybacking on this – apologies – can anyone tell me how long from approval of the referee, the referrer gets their bonus avios for the BAPP?

      • Genghis says:

        A few days.

      • Sam says:

        Not long. Shortest in a day, longest 3 days for me. Have done it several times.

      • Rob says:

        48 hours

        • David says:

          And does it hit my BAPP account or my BAEC account? Friend got approved immediately on application on Saturday following my ink and nothing as yet in either…

          • Alan says:

            Points will show up in BAPP a/c, will then be swept across to BAEC a/c at the normal time of the month as per normal spend (same applies to the bonus for additional cardholders)

  • Matt says:

    Very important update that Hilton spend is accumulative!
    If only I’d known before…oh well.

    Related issue, I have pure Amex cards and MBNA one, the connect page mentioned above keeps sending me to the main Amex page, where I can’t see how to add the Hilton offer to my MBNA.
    Do I need to make another account for MBNA, with another email address?

    • Jen says:

      I kept getting sent to the main amex page where the offer didn’t appear but if you don’t on a computer, type in card number and click stay on connect then it does eventually take you to the registration page

    • Alex W says:

      Yes i think you need a separate account for amex connect. Don’t try to login with your normal amex username and password.

    • Alan says:

      It was mentioned quite a few times in the comments previously 😉 If you made enough tx and it didn’t credit then drop Amex a secure message..

  • John says:

    Hilton offer doesn’t appear on my supplementary Amex-Amex, it is possible to get it? When I try to register on Amex Connect every route still forces me to log in to the normal Amex page, where it doesn’t appear.

    • the real harry1 says:

      only by ringing up Amex and asking nicely

    • Gill says:

      T&Cs say that offer doesn’t apply to sup cards, just main ones.

      • John says:

        I can’t see where it says that in the T&Cs, but anyway that isn’t how it works, you always have to register each individual card but it just depends on whether the offer shows up on your offers tab.

      • Boi says:

        I got this to be applied on 3 other cards (incl supp) by sending Amex a secure message

  • Mr Bridge says:

    O/T
    wonder if BA will adopt a similar policy to UA when overbooked!

    • John says:

      Are you referring to the policy of overboarding and then asking people to get off, or calling the local thugs to assault them when they refuse?

    • Anna says:

      It would be interesting to know what circumstances allow for force to be used in the UK where the passenger is not drunk or otherwise disruptive. There may be different regulations for issues aboard aircraft, however in all other circumstances the person could be said to be exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest by continuing to occupy their seat!

      • Nick_C says:

        Article 78 of The Air Navigation Order 2005 basically says you must do as you are told while on board an aircraft. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/1970/article/78/made

        • the real harry1 says:

          yep it’s an interesting one

          on ship & planes the captain is the Big Boss & can decide on whatever action he/she sees fit to take for the good of the vessel & pasengers

        • Leo says:

          Doesn’t say you can be smacked in the mouth and dragged down an aisle though!

        • Anna says:

          “77. Every person in an aircraft shall obey all lawful commands which the commander of that aircraft may give for the purpose of securing the safety of the aircraft and of persons or property carried therein, or the safety, efficiency or regularity of air navigation.”

          It would hinge on whether the command was “lawful” – this doesn’t give the captain carte blanche to do what he/she likes. In the case of the UA plane (if this were to happen in the UK), I’m not sure wanting to swap one passenger for cabin crew would be classed as “securing the safety of the aircraft”.

          • Nick_C says:

            Which is why I quoted 78 and not 77.

            “No person shall while in an aircraft —
            (a)use any threatening, abusive or insulting words towards a member of the crew of the aircraft;
            (b)behave in a threatening, abusive, insulting or disorderly manner towards a member of the crew of the aircraft; or
            (c)intentionally interfere with the performance by a member of the crew of the aircraft of his duties.”

            If the crew have been instructed to remove you from the aircraft and you refuse, then you are in the wrong. (Even if they are also in the wrong!)

          • Genghis says:

            Is it the crew’s duty to offload passengers that have already boarded such that the airline can operate effectively the following morning?

    • James67 says:

      What does one do when they drag your other half on a 2for1 off the plane kicking and screaming? Answers to Alex on a postcard please, he needs more feedback from passengers to deliver the service improvements we all crave.

      • CV3V says:

        what happens when they drag you out of club world into economy, screaming ‘no i am not going there, i want my champagne’?!?

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