Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Triple Avios from Amex Currency Exchange and Moneycorp

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British Airways is running a special promotion in conjunction with its two foreign exchange partners, American Express Currency Exchange and Moneycorp (Terminal 5 only).

From today until 6th January, you will receive 3 Avios per £1 exchanged.  You must exchange a minimum of £400 to qualify.

P-l-e-a-s-e, though, do not take up this offer with Moneycorp.  Due to the terms of BA’s agreement with Amex Currency Exchange, Moneycorp will only award Avios points for ‘walk-up’ purchases.  The ‘walk-up’ rate at Moneycorp – and indeed Travelex – at Heathrow is absolutely shocking.

If you pre-order for collection at Moneycorp in Terminal 5, you will not receive any Avios points.  You will, though, save a fortune, so I recommend you take that route.

American Express Currency Exchange (website here) will deliver to your home, and delivery is free if you spend over £500.  You can also order for collection at Edinburgh and Birmingham airports.  They are closing all of their Heathrow outlets – Terminal 5 has already gone and T1, 3 and 4 are following soon if they are not already closed.

Remember that pre-order and home delivery purchases at American Express Currency Exchange on an Amex-issued American Express card are treated as a purchase.   This means that you will also earn SPG points / Avios / Membership Rewards points on the transaction, and spending counts towards any sign-up bonus.

(Whenever I write this, someone rings Amex to check that I am right.  The Amex call centre tells the caller that I am wrong.  I am not.  Trust me.)

For clarity – ONLY Amex-issued Amex cards are treated as a ‘purchase’.  If you use an MBNA Amex card (eg BMI, AA, United) or Lloyds Amex card, you will be charged the 3% cash advance fee and you will not earn any miles from your credit card.  Be warned!

American Express Currency Exchange will also sell you Sterling Travellers Cheques for a 1.5% fee.  Most banks will allow you to pay these into your account directly.  It is not clear if these count for ‘triple Avios’ or not – in theory, £ travellers cheque purchases do not give Avios.  The transaction does count as a purchase on your Amex-issued Amex credit or charge card, though.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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:

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

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 £15,000 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.

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

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

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 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 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 Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (41)

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

  • Anonymous says:

    […] its only on walk up rate, not on prebooked… https://headforpoints.com/2013/12…and-moneycorp/ El Guru says its terrible, and thats enough for me! __________________ 98% of my money I spend […]

  • Postiepaula says:

    Tried this, I have a British airways Amex, with a large limit, but it won’t let me do it, .. After a phone call it appears that I have a £400 cash limit.
    Is there a way around this with out having to pay the postage?

  • Smiley miley says:

    This offer can possibly be used to manufacture spending. Buy Dollars/Euros and earn the Avios/Amex MR. Then sell them back to a different FX bureau. Whether this scheme works for you depends on the rate that you sell the currency back, but I think that there are bureaus in Central London that make this scheme profitable. The obvious risk with this is that the currency moves adversely in the time between you buying and selling. For those of you who can stomach this risk then it might be an option.

  • Joe says:

    On first year of Gold Amex Preferred hoping to get triple avios on my BAEC as well as double MR points, if this is considered “travel”. However there is a clause in Amex website that states:

    “Membership Rewards points are not earned on Cash Withdrawals, American Express Travellers Cheque purchases, Foreign Exchange, Fees and Interest Charges for Returned Payments, Finance Charges, Late Payment and Referral Charges, Fees/charges including joining, annual and Membership Rewards fees. ”

    Does this mean that I will not get any MR points for buying the currency from Amex Currency Exchange? Does anyone have any experience using their Gold Amex for this type of transaction?

    Thanks in advance for everyone’s response

    Joe

  • Paul says:

    Seems a good deal to me but alas I can’t get the website to accept my order.

    Anyone else experienced this error message on ordering? “Unfortunately we have been unable to process your order as we cannot verify your personal details at the address provided. If you would like to collect your order at one of our airport locations, please restart your order or consider purchasing from one of our airport locations.”

    I’ve ordered several times before, but always for collection at the (now closed) Heathrow counter. Needless to say, I am using my registered AMEX card. Will call the helpline on Monday and see if they’re able to put it through for me.

  • Tezz says:

    Hi,

    Just tried this on a BA AMEX card (Amex issued) and unfortunately the transaction gets declined.
    I called up and they said it exceeded the daily £400 cash limit.

    Seems like a bit of a hit and miss though an excellent deal mile-wise if you can get it through as a purchase (not cash): spend x 3 + spend x 1.5 …

    • Tezz says:

      To clarify they said it would be treated as cash, though clearly i am not challenging the numerous reported successes. Just seems like it’s an AMEX mess…

      • Paul says:

        It definitely seems to authorise as a cash withdrawal, and is hence subject to any limit amount / lack of express cash facility on your card account. Once the purchase is authorised however, it is processed as a purchase (not cash withdrawal).

  • jc says:

    BAPP Amex Card failing with the same personal details could not be verified error as Paul reports above. Called the helpline and there’s apparently nothing they can do about it.
    Fail.

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

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