1,500 free Avios points for switching on auto-convert from Tesco Clubcard. Good deal or bad deal?

Love Clubcard, don’t collect Avios?  You should be reading our sister site, Shopper Points (www.shopperpoints.co.uk), which covers the latest Clubcard and Nectar offers without any distracting frequent flyer talk!  Why not check it out now?

I received an interesting email from Avios yesterday with an offer relating to Tesco Clubcard:

“It only take a few moments to automatically convert all your future Tesco Clubcard points to Avios.  It means you could be flying away sooner than you think.

Simply go to www.tesco.com/clubcard

Select ‘My Clubcard Account’, log in, then select ‘My Preferences’

Scroll down and tick the box which says ‘Avios’.  Then confirm to automatically convert your Tesco Clubcard vouchers to Avios.

Do it by 3 May 2013 and you’ll receive a 1,500 Avios bonus.”

The small print contains a small catch:

“Avios UK Members who join Tesco Automatic Opt in by 11.59pm on Friday 03/05/13 and collect a minimum of 150 Tesco Clubcard points (which are automatically transferred to Avios at the end of the period) will be awarded 1,500 bonus Avios. 1,500 bonus Avios will be awarded by 31/05/13.”

Now, in theory this sounds like a simple deal, but there is an obvious question:

Is it targeted?

The rules imply No.

However … only 1 of the 3 Avios accounts in our house received this offer.

And … I cannot find it on the Tesco or avios.com website

There is no guarantee that you will get the bonus if you didn’t get the email.

Here are some other things worth thinking about:

This is NOT a British Airways Executive Club offer.  It is an avios.com offer.  You must set up auto-convert to avios.com and NOT BAEC.

You can turn off auto-convert after the next set of points have auto-converted.  It is not irreversible.

Remember that a Tesco to Avios conversion bonus may come along again soon.  This could be 50%.  If you have more than 1,250 Clubcard points this quarter (which would be 3,000 Avios) then you would be losing out by converting now and taking the 1,500 Avios points bonus if a 50% conversion bonus came along later.

You may be better off taking a dormant Clubcard account, setting that up to auto-convert, and then trying to earn 150 Clubcard points on it before 3rd May.  The easiest way would be buying £50 of gift cards to earn 150 bonus Clubcard points – see my earlier post on this here.

The deadline for setting up auto-convert in May 3rd.  There is a good reason for this – May 4th is the last day for points to be credited to your account to receive vouchers in the May Tesco mailshot.

Love Clubcard, don’t collect Avios?  You should be reading our sister site, Shopper Points (www.shopperpoints.co.uk), which covers the latest Clubcard and Nectar offers without any distracting frequent flyer talk!  Why not check it out now?