‘The Avios Big Reward’ is unveiled – and it’s rubbish

On Saturday, I ran an article asking if anyone knew what the ‘bigreward.avios.com’ website was meant to be about.  All the site had was a holding message saying that something ‘exciting’ was coming on Wednesday 28th.

Well, Wednesday 28th arrived yesterday.

The result (see here) is exceptionally underwhelming.

You need to understand that Avios is ‘bigging up’ this competition at great expense.  As I got off the tube yesterday, all of the video ads on the walls of the escalator were promoting it.  And yet, the top prize isn’t worth much more than the £800 of free Melia hotel stay that I gave away on Head for Points a couple of weeks ago!

What is it all about?

This is how the “The Avios Big Reward” works:

You go to theaviosbigreward.com

You nominate someone who you think deserves a holiday, by means of either a 60 second video or a 250-word story

The person you nominate cannot be a pet or other non-human (this in the rules!)

Your video, if you go that route, will be published on the website although the winners will be chosen by independent judges rather than the public

You must upload your entry by June 18th

The winner is the person you nominate and NOT you, the person who nominates them.  The rules specifically state that the nominee can take whoever they want and is not obliged to take you.

All of this obviously requires a bit of effort on behalf of the entrant, so the prize must be pretty good, yes?  Er, no.

Here are prizes:

2 x a pair of World Traveller (yes, economy) tickets to New York

5 x a pair of Eurotraveller (yes, economy) tickets to a ‘9,000 or 15,000 Avios’ destination

43 x a pair of Eurotraveller (yes, economy) tickets to a ‘9,000 Avios’ destination

You are not even given the Avios to spend as you wish, although the trade-off is that BA will pay your taxes for you.  You need to submit a destination and three pairs of dates that you want to fly and then you will be told which of the three you are getting.

As part of entering, you also agree to your video or story being published online – which seems a lot of privacy to lose (especially if the person you nominate is ill) in return for two flights to a 9,000 Avios destination. 

In fact, by entering you are giving Avios the right – for two years – to use your entry in any way it wants, in any media it wants, without asking your permission, crediting it with your name or paying you a penny.  Fantastic.

Obviously there is nothing wrong with the idea of this competition and some of you may want to enter.  I just always get a bad feeling when a company spends far more advertising a competition than it is willing to put up as prizes ….

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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:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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.

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.

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.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.