Adios to the Virgin Little Red status match and using pre-paid Visa cards with NS&I
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Two good deals have just bitten the dust:
Virgin Atlantic status match closed
For well over a year, Virgin Atlantic has been offering a status match to your British Airways Executive Club card if you took a flight with Little Red.
This was a great offer which I took advantage of last year and I know many other Head for Points readers also used. Unfortunately, Virgin withdrew the promotion on March 1st. This is not altogether surprising as Little Red services to Manchester will stop at the end of the month.
National Savings & Investments no longer accepting pre-paid Visa cards
Until December 2013, there was a fantastic deal to be had via 3V pre-paid Visa gifts.
These could be bought in Tesco for £25, earning you 150 Clubcard points (360 Avios) for every £50-worth purchased plus the miles earned from your credit card. You could then pay them into a National Savings ‘Direct Saver’ account and withdraw the cash back to your back account.
It was, literally, free Avios as long as you could find the cards in-store. A year ago, however, 3V cards were changed and are no longer accepted by ‘financial services’ businesses. They are still taken by some utilities, Vodafone, Sky, some council tax areas etc – here is my last article on the topic. Tesco still gives 150 Clubcard points for every £50 you buy although stocks are very low as they are being relaunched under the ‘pay.com’ brand soon.
Plan B was to buy the ‘paid for’ Visa gift cards from Tesco. Whilst these carried a £3.95 fee for a £50 card, this could be negated by using the conditional spend coupons (eg ‘£5 off £50’) that Tesco is always posting out and finding a cashier who would accept them.
In recent weeks, it seems that National Savings is no longer accepting these ‘paid for’ gift cards either. – The cards are not totally useless if bought with a coupon – plenty of places still accept them – but NSI was a very easy exit route. On the odd occasion I bought one I paid the money to HMRC against future tax bills. I don’t know if this is still possible or not.
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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2025 update
If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.
In 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
Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.
American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review
British Airways American Express Premium Plus
30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review
The Platinum Card from American Express
80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review
Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard
18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review
Earning miles and points from small business cards
If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:
American Express Business Platinum
50,000 points when you sign-up 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
Capital on Tap Pro Visa
10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review
Capital on Tap Visa
NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review
British Airways American Express Accelerating Business
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
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