Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

You can still get £15 of free stuff from Starbucks in Heathrow T5C

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

When we flew out to Dubai last Wednesday we departed from Terminal 5C, the newest satellite terminal.

If you flight leaves from 5C, as I have mentioned before, you can claim one of the odder British Airways frequent flyer benefits.

British Airways status card holders and Club World / First passengers still get £15 each of free goodies from Starbucks.

Unlike the 5B satellite terminal – which has a BA lounge which is generally empty – there is no lounge in T5C.  Most people, of course, will use the lounges in the main terminal and then take the train over to T5C when boarding starts.

However – whether or not you have already used the lounges in the main terminal – passengers who could use the T5C lounge if there was one (First, Club World, Club Europe and BAEC Gold and Silver cardholders – but not other OneWorld elites, it seems) can instead claim £15 of free goodies from the Starbucks in T5C by showing their boarding card.

The bad news is that they don’t sell gift cards. They DO sell mugs and bagged ground coffee which you could take home.  The most tempting item is mini-bottles of champagne for, I think, £14.99.  This is probably only of use if you are travelling in World Traveller or World Traveller Plus whilst having BA status as champagne is freely available in Club World and First.  I didn’t fancy my chances of getting them into Dubai given that your baggage is x-rayed on arrival although I may well have been OK.

If you are booked on an A380, you will know with 100% certainty that you will be flying from T5C and can plan accordingly, leaving space in your hand baggage.


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 (28)

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

  • Dominic says:

    No reason you can’t bring the champagne home if you have checked luggage! It makes a nice aperitif for two!

    • squills says:

      Reminds me of flying back to UK from Bordeaux after visiting my then French girlfriend – I stuck 4 bottles of red wine in my somewhat rubbish suitcase.

      All I got the other end was broken glass and ruined clothes 😉

  • Britbronco22 says:

    I was there in August and they would only allow one bag of coffee or one box of tea if you use your boarding pass.
    I seem to recall that Champers is excluded, but not sure on that

  • Andrew says:

    CAA regulations prohibit drinking alcoholic on board an aircraft that isn’t served by the cabin crew. And the mini Moët bottles actually have propper popping corks (the only house to do this – all others have screw caps that look like a propper cork) so you might be heard!

    • JoshBosh says:

      Might want to inform Royal Brunei about this then. They don’t mind you cracking open your duty free onboard the dry airline, and will give you ice and mixers.

      I feel like an alcoholic for just knowing that.

    • stealthmoose says:

      Where do the CAA say that? You’re talking nonsense.

      • Andrew says:

        Its FAA regulations.

        However even if flying a N-reg there is nothing to stop you having one of the crew open the bottle for you…

        • Andrew says:

          and rather bizarrely i have no connection with my namesake who posted the original comment!

  • JoshBosh says:

    Dubai does allow 2L of alcohol to be taken in…. well i assume it does, as Abu Dhabi did when i was working there.

    • Tariq says:

      But it’s prohibited on the Dubai Metro (doesn’t specify in the rules whether that means carrying it in an obvious way)!

      We managed to make sufficient space in our carry on luggage to ‘sneak’ it to our hotel…

  • Mark says:

    We had 3 bottles of the wine each which were a perfect size for chilling in the mini bar at our hotel….

  • danksy says:

    Excellent, I’m flying out of T5 on Wednesday morning, might grab a couple of bottles!

    😀

  • andy21 says:

    You’re limited to buying one “retail product” (coffee beans, mugs etc) per person – I went up to the counter loaded with beans and teabags but had to put them back and stock up on chocolate and bottles of water. The assistant did encourage me to spend up to my £15 and even let me go over by 50p or so.

    • Strawb says:

      I stocked up on 2 peroni beers, a egg mayo sandwich, a chicken tortilla wrap and a fruit and nut bar for £15.38 earlier this month. Wasn’t asked to pay extra. I did contemplate champagne but £14.99 for 200ml is too much for me even if it’s free. I think it’s Piper Heidsieck.

  • Wembleygal says:

    I picked up a mini-bottle in August …

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

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.