Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Update on the Amex / Amazon deal – points showing, gift cards OK, Prime OK, so jump in

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

There was a huge response to my article on Monday about the fantastic new Amazon offer from American Express.

It is available for many – but not all – British Airways American Express, Amex Gold and Amex Platinum cardholders.

You will find this offer on the ‘Offers’ tab of your British Airways American Express / Amex Gold / Amex Platinum statement page online, or in the app.

There are a few versions.  You will hopefully see some combination of:

Get 500 / 1,000 Avios / Membership Rewards points when you spend £25 at amazon.co.uk before 19th September using your BA Amex / Amex Gold / Platinum card

It isn’t clear who gets what and you may have got nothing if you are very unlucky.

It is limited to the first 20,000 people to register so I recommend you sign up immediately.  You have until 19th September to make a purchase and have it post to your Amex account.

There was some confusion over the wording of the offer.  It said “purchases made with Market Place Sellers, Amazon Prime or subscriptions to Amazon Prime” do not count.  Secondary terms and conditions also implied that gift cards would not count, even though American Express has no idea what you bought.

I did a test purchase on my own Amazon account for a £25 gift card.  I AM an Amazon Prime customer.  Within 2 minutes of making the purchase I got an email from American Express saying “Congratulations, you have earned 500 bonus Avios – if your transaction meets the offer terms”.

The 500 bonus Avios have now posted to my account.  See below (click to enlarge):

Amex Amazon screenshot

This means:

gift card purchases do count

even Amazon Prime customers still earn the bonus on gift cards

This offer should be a no-brainer for qualifying BA Amex / Amex Gold / Amex Platinum cardholders, especially if you have the 1,000 points version.  £25 is a ludicrously low purchase limit for earning 1,000 Avios or Membership Rewards points.

As I found, purchases of Amazon e-gift cards count.  These can be bought online via this link and added to your personal Amazon account via this page.  The balance is used automatically on your next purchase.

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:

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.

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

Category

American Express Membership Rewards, British Airways American Express

Comments (169)

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

  • Hsergio10 says:
    10 Aug10 August 15:31

    I called the support 2 days ago and complained why i didn’t get that offer.They did even say that offer was for targeted customer.

    On top of that, there system issue on my online account ( email servicing not working at all, All emails were erased) so i wasn’t really happy about that

    Long story short , 1 day later 1K MR points posted

    Let’s just say I’m lucky. Next target Mulberry 3k MR points
    Thanks Rob

  • Tilly says:
    10 Aug10 August 18:13

    Amex wouldn’t add the offer for me over chat either so exhausted both avenues. Given up. I’ve redeemed the Mulberry 3k MR offer though, just waiting for the points to post, goods will be delivered tomorrow amd looking forward it receiving them. Bonus is somehow managed to get my hands on sale items through the online store so got a lovely leather purse and 100% lambswool scarf for £251 including delivery charge.

  • LW says:
    10 Aug10 August 20:27

    Hi Rob,
    I’m relatively new to your site having decided to start actively collecting Avios and really appreciate all your posts. I have checked Amex offers just now and had the 1000 membership points so clicked through your link to Amazon, purchased £25 e gift and within a minute had confirmati of the 1000 points. Easy! Thank you
    LW

  • 3CT says:
    10 Aug10 August 23:14

    Hit the Amazon gift card scramble and bought a “small” Xmas present on the Mulberry site to trigger the Mulberry bonus.

    A useful nights work.

    • Tilly says:
      11 Aug11 August 19:08

      I’ve also bought two “small” Mulberry Christmas gifts using the offer. Looking forward to seeing my mum’s ans sister’s faces when they open their presents. Not bad really for £251 incl postage and packaging for two main Chistmas presents all sorted. Think I got lucky with the sale items. Tempted to keep them for myself but that would be naughty. I’ll enjoy the 3k points instead.

  • Geoff says:
    11 Aug11 August 17:47

    Has anyone successfully received the bonus points/avios from the *supplementary* card spend? I’ve triggered the £25 spend on each (main card and supplementary card) but the bonus has only been applied for the main card spend – although the supplementary card does day the offer has been redeemed, just no actual bonus applied.

    • bill says:
      11 Aug11 August 21:38

      Same here, ive got the offer on 6 cards but only done 3 (2 main and one Supp). The points for both mains have both gone in, the supp shows as claimed and shows the £25 put only records 25 points. I called Amex and they said give it 5 days….hmmmmm

      • Geoff says:
        12 Aug12 August 10:50

        Thanks Bill – still no supplementary points/avios here – maybe keep this page updated if you hear anything? We’re definitely in the same boat!

  • upperdeckplease says:
    14 Aug14 August 11:06

    Here’s what I got on my second visit to ‘Chat’ after not being able to get on it for 5 days as ‘live chat not availalble’, do others know if this is true?

    I apologize. However, It is a targetted offer extended to BA and MR card members who have not redeemed an Amex offer before or in 2017.

    • Kip says:
      14 Aug14 August 17:44

      Just told my brother to go on chat to get this offer added. That’s the same reason he got. I believe it not to be true as I managed to get it added to my account and I redeemed a Heathrow money back offer maybe 3 weeks ago.

      I told him to come off chat and try another agent. This one said that Marketing may be sending out another round of offers as it doesn’t expire till later and that the offer cannot be added manually. He is currently telling her I got mine added manually.

      It’s escalated to the agent asking her manager. The answer is still – No, it can not be done.

      He also asked the agent why they were able to add it last week. Marketing error apparently….

  • Alex says:
    14 Aug14 August 19:57

    Just used this in conjunction with the Top Up offer, where you buy a gift card for yourself and get 1% bonus. Seems to have gone through OK. It’s only 25p on the £25 spend but every little helps!

  • Terry says:
    23 Aug23 August 13:53

    I purchased the £25 gift card straight away as I had 1000 Avios showing under my offers. Never got an email or the points………

    • Rob says:
      23 Aug23 August 15:03

      Odd. Is the offer still showing under Saved Offers on your Amex statement? If so, ring Amex and ask why it didn’t trigger.

      (I’m assuming you did click Save To Card.)

      Literally hundreds of readers have done this now, including me twice, with no problems.

      • Terence Semmence says:
        27 Aug27 August 08:38

        Thanks Rob I’ll call them.
        Just checked my Amex app and I did save the offer and it’s showing as redeemed.

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? EARN POINTS WORTH 10,500 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

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.

Got it!