Italian airline Meridiana launches an Avios scheme – what does it mean for you?
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Meridiana is an airline you may or may not have heard of. It is the second largest Italian owned airline and runs a mix of short haul and long haul routes. British Airways used to codeshare with them on Meridiana’s Gatwick to Florence service. Today Meridiana runs three Italian routes out of Gatwick.
And then this appeared on their website ….
Meridiana has relaunched its Hi-Fly frequent flyer programme as Meridiana Club.
And the currency for that programme is Avios points.
This is a very interesting development for the Avios programme. British Airways has persuaded a third party airline, totally independent of International Airlines Group, to use Avios as its loyalty currency.
As far as you are concerned, these are the important points:
Effective immediately, you can redeem your Avios points for Meridiana flights.
At present this can only be done on the telephone via BA Executive Club but online redemptions will be added later this year.
You cannot – for now – earn Avios when flying on Meridiana. This will change later in 2014.
You CANNOT use ‘Combine My Avios’ to move Avios to or from Meridiana Club.
Let’s take a step back and look at what is happening here.
Meridiana’s frequent flyers will now be earning Avios points when they fly.
Existing Hi-Fly points have been converted to Avios as the rate of 2:1
As well as redeeming on Meridiana, they will also be able to redeem on BA and Iberia via their service centre.
They will NOT get access to oneworld partner airlines such as airberlin.
Later in 2014 Meridiana members will also be able to earn Meridiana Club Avios by flying BA or Iberia (but not other oneworld airlines)
There is no mention of whether or not Meridiana Club members will be able to use ‘Combine My Avios’ to move Avios to or from BA. I doubt this will happen.
The press release makes it clear that Meridiana Club members will only be able to earn and burn on BA and Iberia, not the whole of oneworld. If it became part of ‘Combine My Avios’ then Meridiana would effectively have snuck into oneworld by the back door, since members could credit oneworld flights to BA and then move the Avios across.
The inability to use ‘Combine My Avios’ means that I will NOT be posting about easy ways to earn Avios in Meridiana Club as there is no way of moving these across to BA.
Tomorrow, I will run a separate article on Meridiana’s route network and possible redemption opportunities for UK Avios collectors. They fly to The Maldives for a start …..
How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (March 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 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.
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
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.
SPECIAL OFFER: You receive a huge 120,000 Membership Rewards points if you apply for American Express Business Platinum by 9th April 2024. You receive 80,000 points for spending £12,000 within 90 days and a further 40,000 points if you retain the card for 14 months. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: You receive 60,000 Membership Rewards points if you apply for American Express Business Gold by 9th April 2024. Remember that the card is FREE for the first year. You receive 40,000 points for spending £6,000 within 90 days and a further 20,000 points if you retain the card for 14 months. Click here to apply.
American Express Business Platinum
Crazy 120,000 points bonus (to 9th April) and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review
American Express Business Gold
Huge 60,000 points sign-up bonus (until 9th April) 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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