We check out the latest BA partner, Bicester Village

British Airways Executive Club’s latest partner is Bicester Village, the designer shopping outlet mecca in the Chilterns.

The link to the BA promotion is here (click on Chic Outlet Shopping).

The long-term BAEC offer will be 5 Avios points for every £4 you spend.  You need to take your receipts to the Visitor Centre at the end of the day and have them credit your account. 

You also earn Avios at the other outlet sights around Europe owned by the same group, see the BAEC link for details.

Until 30th September, there is a special BA promotion available.  Show your BAEC card in the Visitor Centre and you receive a 10% discount card and a £5 voucher valid (with no minimum spend) in any of the cafes or restaurants, so fundamentally free money. 

The 10% discount applies in every retailer except Prada, but only on ‘full-price discounted’ merchandise, if you know what I mean!  Anything discounted further than its original Bicester price does not qualify.

Bicester Village is an easy train ride from London Marylebone albeit at a spookily high £32 for a standard class return.  This includes the shuttle bus from Bicester North station to the village. 

The xx:07 departures from Marylebone are classed as ‘Mainline’ trains and have free wi-fi, which worked fine for me, and a (paid for) trolley service.  These are also the fastest trains, taking under 50 minutes.  There is no price difference between a Mainline and a regular service.

I had no problem collecting my £5 voucher and 10% discount card from the Visitor Centre.  Sadly, the latter didn’t get used!  The only thing I bought was a Polo Ralph Lauren jumper for my little boy, reduced from £89 to £19.99.  There was no further 10% reduction because it was already double-discounted.

I nearly bought a cashmere trench coat in Prada (60% off) but sadly (or not, for my bank balance) it was cut with a nipped-in waist, in just the area where my waist starts to nip-out.

The range of shops is unmatched anywhere in Britain.  The ‘poshest’ is probably Loro Piana, with Prada, Gucci, Armani (mainly cheaper Armani lines), Ferragamo, Missoni, Burberry (a h-u-g-e store) following on, all the way down to Superdry , Ugg and Ted Baker.  Stock is massively variable, though, especially at the high end brands, so you can’t be too focussed on what you go for.

The Polo Ralph Lauren outlet seems to primarily sell ‘made for outlet’ lines which are not actually available in ‘normal’ stores.  I’m not sure what other Bicester brands do this as well, presumably the US-owned ones are most likely to do so as the US is the real global heart of the outlet store.

So … if you fancy a shopping trip to Bicester, pull out your British Airways Executive Club card and get down there before the end of September.  If you value your sanity, try to avoid weekends.

---

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:

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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