British Airways has launched another ‘buy Avios’ promotion, offering a bonus of up to 30% for purchases before 31st August. The link to buy is here, scroll down to the Avios logo.
Frankly, this is not an impressive deal. The bonus on 1,000 Avios is nothing – despite costing a rip-off £31. The bonus on 2,000 to 6,000 is just 5%. You need to spend £447 on 27,000 Avios to benefit from the full 8,100 Avios bonus. Even at this level, you are paying 1.27p per point which I consider high.
(Of course, if you just need a few Avios to top off your account to reach a specific redemption target then it is a different matter!)
Iberia Plus has also launched its own ‘buy Avios’ promotion, see here for further details. (If a Spanish page comes up, change the language in the top left corner and then, if necessary, click through again.)
Note that you need to log-in to see details of the bonus offer. Without logging in, the page just shows the standard pricing.
At the top end, you will be paying Euro 665 for 45,500 Avios (35,000 + 30%). That works out slightly cheaper than the ba.com deal at 1.16p per Avios, based on £529. You would need to add a 3% foreign exchange fee to this price if your credit card has one.
This is clearly a slightly better price even with the FX credit card fee. However, you must have been an Iberia Plus member for 90 days before you can transfer Avios across to a BA account.
(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to see our latest articles on earning and spending your points and click here to see our list of current Avios promotions.)
About Head for Points
@Raffles, do you think it’s worth it to spend a few bob on some avios in order to hit a spending target on one of my cards?
Only if you have no other way of getting the avios, and you need them very soon, and there are no gift cards / vouchers you could buy, whether they are 3v, amazon, high street or supermarket ones…
JK, I don’t think so. I think it’s better to by sterling travellers cheques to be honest. Raffles details it in one of his posts, but in brief:
1) You can buy sterling travellers cheques through Amex currency exchange and if you buy them on an Amex issued (BA gold plat spg etc) card it is treated as a purchase not and advance
2) if you spend over £500 (that’s over, not £500 or more) delivery is free. There is a 1.5% charge.
3) therefore if you order £550 it will cost you £8.25 in fees. With the BA PP card you will get 837 avios offsetting this at 1p/avios. With a card that gives you 1 point per £ you’ll get 558 points
4) you pay the £550 in travellers cheques directly into your own bank when they arrive. The whole deal has cost you £8.25.
Genius, Percy Pig. Could you do this for the whole spend target, ie if you needed to spend 3 k in 2 months?
Please don’t push this option, it should be a very last resort. A lot of banks are now NOT accepting TC s into accounts. Be careful. Best to do it on an odd occasion if you need to hit a genuine target. Do try to use your card for other things like pre payment of bills, all food and petrol the usual. You could buy a mix of currency, eg if you need euros and TC s then put them into one order.
Cheers for the tip PP, I already did this on both my amex plat and BA Amex. But I have an account with HSBC who have now stopped accepting TC’s.
Does anyone reading this know of a UK bank account or other service where a fellow points hound could get face value for sterling TCs?
Thanks
JK
Purchases of Sterling Travellers Cheques online are not eligible to collect Avios – see my other reference below. Happy to be proven wrong.
Cashing them in has got a lot harder recently. HSBC, as I posted in June, no longer accepts them. Not sure which banks do.
Squills, I’m not talking about the avios collected via travelmoneynow (which as you say does not apply to sterling TCs), I’m talking about the avios/MRs for the actual spend through your card.
Nationwide still happily accept them.
For hitting spending targets – Amazon vouchers and Waitrose and Sainbury vouchers have been what I have done.
JK – I and a lot of others have been unable to buy any currency/TC`s on cards within the bonus window. AMEX insist the card must be active for 6 months before any like-cash purchases (TC`s) can be made. Each card is treated as an individual, so the fact you have held other cards for several years has no bearing.
Note Tesco gift cards can be used for Petrol.
https://www.travelmoneynow.com/britishairways/uk/help-and-advice
The following is in the terms and conditions that suggests only Sterling Travellers Cheques are excluded:
Collect 1 Avios per £1 spent* on foreign currency when you present your Executive Club Membership number when ordering online. Your Avios will be added to your account within 40 calendar days.Note you will not collect Avios on the purchase or sale of Sterling Travellers Cheques unless purchased using foreign currency in person at one of our bureau locations.* This promotion is valid on foreign exchange transactions only and is subject to minimum and maximum order amounts. Purchases of Sterling Travellers Cheques online are not eligible to collect Avios. Avios are awarded by British Airways.
I agree with tim and all, just stick to buying gift cards for the stores you use ie tesco Sainsburys everyone really, as they cover both food and petrol. And of course call up to per pay your utilities, many of them accept amex. TC s are a more difficult route now.
Which utilities accept Amex?
You have to try paying in your on line account, or call them up and see if they accept an advance payment with amex..orange, b gas,,t mobile, try your own and see….
Whilst Tesco’s gift cards cover petrol Polly, Sainsbury’s don’t
Does anyone know when the Iberia buy Avios promotion ends?