Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Clubcard vouchers now available online … and Virgin 30% bonus still running for 3 days

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

It usually takes a while for Tesco to take the Clubcard points earned in the previous quarter and convert them into vouchers. This time, though, they have been super-quick.

If you log in to your Clubcard account, you will see that your vouchers for the last quarter are there, available for redemption. Some people have also reported already receiving their postal vouchers as well – although you don’t need to wait for these in order to redeem, as the voucher code numbers are already online.

This means – rather unexpectedly, since vouchers do not normally appear in accounts until the following month – there is an unexpected opportunity to still take advantage of the 30% conversion bonus on Tesco Clubcard points to Virgin Flying Club.

There are a few rules if you want to convert to Virgin:

The offer is open to everyone

You must convert by 31st October

There is no maximum or minimum conversion, apart from the usual £2.50 minimum which applies to all deals

One converter will win 4 UK domestic flights on Little Red (woo!)

The bonus appears to post automatically with the base miles

Virgin has made real efforts recently to make economy redemptions more attractive in recent months. As I posted here, Virgin has cut taxes on many routes (New York is £120 cheaper than BA) and charges fewer miles at times (5,000 fewer for an economy ticket to New York.)

The changes to the Virgin cancellation policy have also made Virgin Atlantic redemptions more attractive.

Virgin Flying Club miles can also be converted to Hilton HHonors at a decent ratio of 1:2 (and also to IHG Rewards Club at a poorer 1:1) so this is also a potential opportunity to bump up your Hilton balance as well.  (Note that the UK Virgin website mistakenly says the conversion rate to Hilton is 1:1.  The US – and indeed all the other regional – sites show the correct 1:2)

That said, if you value Hilton HHonors points at 0.3p, as I do, then you are effectively only getting (1 CC = 3.25 Virgin = 6.5 Hilton =) 2p of value for each Clubcard point. Not outstanding, but OK if topping off a balance. The minimum transfer is 10,000 miles to either Hilton or IHG.

If you want to convert to Virgin, remember that you only have three days to initiate your transfer. I am assuming that October 31st relates to the date that you initiate the conversion, as you have no control over how long it takes Tesco to send them over. That said, they usually appear very quickly (24 hours is not unusual).


How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 15,000 Virgin Points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

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

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

A generous earning rate for a free card at 0.75 points per £1 Read our full review

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.

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 comes with 40,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 40,000 Virgin Points.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

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 Virgin Points

(Want to earn more Virgin Points?  Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)

Comments (53)

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

  • Clive J says:

    I bit the bullet last night and switched £50 of CC vouchers to FC points. I sort of feel I should be concentrating on either BA or Virgin but I like the flexibility that holding some of each brings.

  • Lewis says:

    Transferred a load of CC to VS yesterday. Posted overnight including 30% bonus.

  • Eastland says:

    I hope when they do a conversion bonus it doesnt have a 12 month clause… i had to convert some vouchers about to expire in august and stupidly didnt think to go into avios instead of BA. Of course, it means I can always transfer to avios if they are both on offer.

  • Rob says:

    If the surname and address match it may work, going into a BA account. Don’t try it with avios.com as they don’t ask for your account number and may try to match first and surname.

    • Rob says:

      No, no address verification.

      Unless you already have a HHA, you don’t necessarily need to start one. If you change her Tesco address to match your BA address, you may be able to send the vouchers into your BA account from her Tesco account.

      If you do already have a BA HHA, of course, you might as well add her and do it all above board.

      • pazza2000 says:

        Address certainly needs to match however you can may get away without surnames matching. In the past I have converted family members vouchers with different surnames / same address to my BAEC, with no issues converting them on there own or along with my own vouchers. I have not did this in about 9+months now however so things may have changed.

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

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.