Laithwaites launches a decent Avios bonus promotion on wine
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Wine retailer Laithwaites, the UK’s largest mail-order wine retailer (it runs The Sunday Times Wine Club as well as pretty much every other branded mail-order operation), has been a BAEC partner for many years via The British Airways Wine Club. It has also offered deals to avios.com members since the Air Miles relaunch.
The British Airways Wine Club usually offers 1,000 Avios for your first order of a 12-bottle case of wine, with a paltry 250 Avios for subsequent orders. Cases are priced from £80 plus postage. There is no obligation to make further purchases after your first case, but you need to proactively cancel. It is not a cheap way to accumulate Avios.
However, at present they are now offering this deal:
A 12-bottle case for as little as £51
FREE delivery
1,000 Avios
A pair of Dartington crystal glasses
You are getting tied into something, though. Every 12 weeks, Laithwaites will contact you with details of a new case. If you do not specifically say that you do not want to receive it, either online or by phone, it will be sent to you and charged to the credit card you used for your initial order. Here is the small print:
I understand that, every 12 weeks and at Christmas if eligible, I will be notified of the next Laithwaite’s Wine Plan selection, and Customer Favourites selection if applicable, which I will automatically receive unless I request otherwise. I will be charged the appropriate sum for each delivery – all currently £89.99 except Season’s Rose and Taste of Spain which are £79.99, Taste of Australia which are £99.99 and the appropriate price for my Customer Favourites case (Pinot Grigio & Friends and Merlot & Friends currently £79.98). (A £7.99 delivery charge will be added). There is no obligation, you can delay or stop your deliveries of Laithwaite’s Wine Plan cases at any time – simply let us know.
So, in return for the cash saving on your first case, you are going to have to deal with some admin from Laithwaites going forward. Once you have got your 1,000 Avios banked you can quit Laithwaites Recommends, but this may take a month or so.
Whether you want to go for this depends on how well organised you are. Overall, to be honest, it is a pretty good deal – 12 bottles of wine at a bargain price, 1000 Avios and the wine glasses. I doubt the wine will be too bad, given that they want to encourage you to buy more. And you can always give it away as Christmas presents ….

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2023)
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:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus
25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £12,000 Read our full review
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.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive 30,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 30,000 Avios) with American Express Preferred Rewards Gold. You receive 25,000 points if you spend £3,000 in three months and a further 5,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 9th January 2024, you will receive a huge 100,000 Membership Rewards points (convertible to 100,000 Avios) with The Platinum Card. You receive 75,000 points if you spend £10,000 in six months and a further 25,000 points if you hold the card for 15 months. You can apply here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points (TO 9th JANUARY), FREE for a year & four airport ….. Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express
Crazy 100,000 points (TO 9th JANUARY) and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review
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.

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa
Get a 10,000 points bonus plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review
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.

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
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.

American Express Business Platinum
40,000 points 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 Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.
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