Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Earn bonus Avios when you shop at Bicester Village in Oxfordshire

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British Airways Executive Club is a partner with Bicester Village, the designer shopping outlet mecca in the Chilterns.

The link to the BA earning deal is here (click on Chic Outlet Shopping).  You earn 5 Avios points for every £4 you spend. You need to take your receipts to the Visitor Centre at the end of the day and have them credit your account. You also earn Avios at the other outlet sites around Europe owned by the same group.

Until the end of March, however, you will earn triple Avios.  This means you will receive 15 Avios for every £4.  You need to download the PDF voucher here and print it out before you travel.

For bigger spenders, though, there is a better deal.

Bicester Village is also a partner with Iberia PlusHere is the Chic Outlet Shopping page on iberia.com.

As you can see, until 31st March you will receive 1,000 bonus Avios in Iberia Plus when you spend £250.  This is a better deal than the British Airways ‘triple Avios’ offer.  Note that the website says ‘when you spend €250’ but they use a 1:1 conversion rate so you will need to spend £250 to qualify.

The full list of Bicester Village airline partners can be found here.  They also work with Etihad, Flying Blue, Miles & More, Krisflyer, Virgin Atlantic and United amongst others.

Other Bicester tips

If you are an AA (ie Automobile Association, not American Airlines!) member, take your membership card with you.  Flash it in the Visitors Centre and you receive a 10% discount card valid (with no minimum spend) in any of the cafes or restaurants.

The 10% discount applies in every retailer except Prada (possibly one or two others but I couldn’t spot them) but only on ‘full-price discounted’ merchandise, if you know what I mean! Anything discounted further than its original Bicester price does not qualify.

Bicester Village is an easy train ride from London Marylebone with fast trains taking just under an hour.  The train ticket includes the shuttle bus from Bicester North station to the village.

The range of shops is unmatched anywhere in Britain. The ‘poshest’ is probably Loro Piana, with Prada, Gucci, Armani (mainly cheaper Armani lines), Ferragamo, Zegna, Missoni, Burberry (a h-u-g-e store) following on, all the way down to Superdry and Ted Baker. Stock is massively variable, though, especially at the high end brands, so you can’t be too focussed on what you go for.

The Polo Ralph Lauren outlet seems to primarily sell ‘made for outlet’ lines which are not actually available in ‘normal’ stores. I’m not sure what other Bicester brands do this as well, presumably the US-owned ones are most likely to do so as the US is the real global heart of the outlet store.

So …. if you fancy a shopping trip to Bicester, pull out your British Airways Executive Club or Iberia card and get down there before the end of March. And, if you value your sanity, try to avoid weekends.


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 (14)

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

  • Will says:

    Good bonus and an excellent reminder that Bicester Village earns points. Although you might want to check your geography ;-)! Bicester is hardly in the Chilterns.

  • Kai says:

    At Gucci a minimum spend of 500 is required for the 10% discount, but that’s the only store I know who does so.

  • Fenny says:

    I went there the other week with a Canadian visitor. Having been there once, I can confidently say it’s not somewhere I will be rushing back to.

  • Eastland says:

    Nooooo dont tell people to go to Bicester! It’s always busy enough as it is without the HFP crowd joining in!!

  • gnarlyoldgoatdude says:

    Ghastly place. Although there is a Tesco on the outskirts.

  • andy stock says:

    Aviod it at the weekends, the parking can be awful. Best go mid week when its a bit more quiet.

  • Dennis says:

    Damn! I just had a shopping spree on the 2nd, got my usual points though. Arrrr!

  • Nick Burch says:

    Starting in the summer, for weekends it’ll probably be worth driving to the new Oxford Kidlington Parkway station, parking in the large park and ride carpark there, and taking the train to Bicester Town station which is right by the shopping village. Those coming from Oxford have to put up with the bus a bit longer though – the Kidlington-Bicester part is set to re-open before the Oxford-Kidlington part does.

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

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