Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Bits: Tesco 20% bonus emails, bonus on Flying Blue miles purchases, Marriott / Hertz bonus

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News in brief:

Emails arrive for the Tesco / BA 20% conversion bonus

The mythical emails regarding the new 20% conversion bonus of Tesco Clubcard points to British Airways Executive Club finally arrived yesterday.  Details of this promo can be found in my original article here.

Unfortunately, they left more questions unanswered.

Not everyone has received the email, which came from BA and would therefore be based on your privacy setting with the Executive Club.  I got it but no-one else in my family did.  Are they blocked from the bonus?  Or, as Tesco has been telling people, is anyone who is a member OK?

The £100 cap on conversions is also not clear.  The wording implies that you could make unlimited transfers as long as none of them exceeded £100.  Is this really true?  After all, auto-convert transfers are capped at £100.

If you got the email and plan to convert under £100, you are good to go.  For everyone else, questions remain.

Up to 50% bonus when purchasing Flying Blue miles

Flying Blue, the Air France / KLM loyalty programme, is running a bonus promotion for anyone who is looking to top up their account.  It is slightly worse than the previous offer in July as the threshold for getting the maximum bonus is raised from 20,000 to 30,000 miles.

Until 13th November, the following bonus is available when you buy miles:

  • Up to 2,000 Award Miles = 10% Bonus
  • 4,000 – 8,000 Award Miles = 20% Bonus
  • 10,000 – 28,000 Award Miles = 30% Bonus
  • 30,000 Award Miles = 50% Bonus

Members can buy up to 75,000 miles per year, excluding bonuses. Elite members have no cap.

At the top end, buying 75,000 miles with an extra 37,500 will cost €2,062.  That works out at 1.3p per mile which is not a massive bargain.

At the end of the day, though, I don’t imagine anyone except an existing Flying Blue member topping up an account getting excited by this. It is also worth remembering that Flying Blue is an American Express Membership Rewards partner – why pay for a pile of FB miles when you can take out an Amex Gold and get 20,000 miles free (22,000 if I refer you)?

If you are interested, the link to buy miles is here.

Marriott and Hertz bonus

Finally, Marriott Rewards has launched a new promotion with Hertz.  Hertz is not an Avios partner – although you can collect Virgin Flying Club miles – so this could be an interesting option if you have a Hertz booking coming up.

Until 31st March 2016, you will receive:

  • 2,000 Marriott Rewards points on 2-4 day rentals
  • 5,000 Marriott Rewards points on 5+ day rentals
  • Valid at participating locations in the UK, Europe, USA, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Australia and New Zealand

You need to quote PC 169680 when you book.  In theory, you should also use code CDP 154080 to bring up the negotiated Marriott rates with Hertz.

You will often find that PC codes give you the bonus irrespective of which CDP code you use, so if you have access to a cheaper Hertz deal then I recommend you use that.  If you still receive the Marriott Rewards points then that is great.  If you don’t, you have the comfort of having saved hard cash instead.  Full details can be found here.


How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

There are various ways of earning Marriott Bonvoy points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

The official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card comes with 20,000 points for signing up, 2 points for every £1 you spend and 15 elite night credits per year.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points sign-up bonus and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points by converting American Express Membership Rewards points at the rate of 2:3.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Marriott Bonvoy Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points indirectly:

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Marriott Bonvoy points is 2:3.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Marriott Bonvoy points

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Comments (52)

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

  • Nick says:

    I got the email and when following that link it does take you to a different Avios redemption page on the Tesco clubcard website. The product code for the bonus is P9100, the standard code is P9000. So just using the normal page wont work I assume.

    • harry says:

      That would be disaster lol

      Let’s hope it’s not the case, as the email doesn’t actually say you must click on the link, does it?

      • Nick says:

        It doesnt say only use this link, and the link itself cant be the only important bit if as the email says “Exchange your Tesco Clubcard points automatically? You’ll still receive 2,880 Avios for every 1,000 Clubcard points exchanged.”

        I did however try searching for P9100 in the clubcard search system and it came up with the Avios bonus page, so they arent doing much to hide it either!

        • Brian says:

          Guys the P9000 and P9100 is irrelevant here.

          P9000 is Avios. P9100 is BA Exectuive Avios.

          Two completely different things and nothing to do with the bonus.

  • pointsarb says:

    @ James

    I have always been intrigued by Alaska air redemption on EK but thought that only US residents could open an Alaska acciount? I seem to be recall also that Alaska previously restricted miles purchases to US residents. Has all this changed now?

    Also, have you found any good sweet spots on EK using Alaska miles?

    Many thanks in advance for your help, every day is a learning day here on HFP!

    • James says:

      Hi pointsarb,

      I have never actually gotten around to redeeming via alaska yet. I understand from FT that you can now buy miles as a uk resident again. There is a minimum time the account needs to be open but the website doesn’t say what it is (I think it’s only a few days?), so last time I tried to purchase it failed.

      As for redemptions, EK is only to/from the USA, so can’t go east from the UK. That said my family live in Beirut and their connection to DXB is included in the headline price. Can also build in a stopover. 90k each way in first = £2400 return. Not bad for a trip that costs around £6600 for cash.

      Cathay looks good value too, same cost as when using AA miles.

    • Brian says:

      Friend of mine spent about 100,000 Alaskan miles for First on the A380 from San Francisco to Dubai – complete with shower. His taxes were less than 100 USD, I believe. That’s pretty good.

      • Rob says:

        Pretty sure these must be booked ex-US though. There is no redemption table for e-UK to Dubai tickets.

        • james says:

          Ex middle east works too. As I said no way to go east on EK from the UK. Can go east on cathay though for not far off half the number of avios required.

        • Brian says:

          Yes – SF to Dubai. He’s American.

  • harry says:

    O/T
    Processed my last 3Vs today, all still working normally. I left a bit of change on a couple of cards as that comes in handy for various deals when they want a card number from you even though they’re ot going to bill you.

  • Stephan Whelan says:

    Has anyone tried more than £100? I’ve been holding on for a promo and want to transfer as much as possible.

    • harry says:

      Sure but not in 1 transaction. Ie max £100 per transaction. As nobody has got the bonus yet, we won’t know if it works until that evidence gets posted.

      But some of us already got another kind of ‘bonus bonus’ lol, fat finger possibly to blame but fairly widespread so I doubt that, more likely a programming glitch.

  • Mikeact says:

    Well, that’s useful..all five of my household accts received the email so I shall transfer £100 to each…two done. and both show in my BA account and now for the other three.Hopefully the bonus will eventually appears.

  • harry says:

    It has to be the £25 cards. Maths:
    3x £25 – 20% = £60 + 360 Avios (£3.60) = £56.40 —> 25% discount
    5x £25 – 20% = £100 + 720 Avios (£7.20) = £92.80 —> 26% discount
    10x £25 – 20% = £200 + 1800 Avios (18.00) = £182.00 —> 27% discount

    I think that’s right 🙂

    Depends if you like beer & pizza, I guess – or have an Xmas pressie to buy etc

    • Brian says:

      Don’t know if it makes a difference to your calculations, but it’s worth remembering that you get 150 CC points for every separate lot of at least 50 pounds. In other words, it can’t just be a total of 100. So I don’t think the 5 x £25 calculation would get you 300 CC points…

      • harry says:

        2x £25 wouldn’t work for the 150 points (as £50 – 20% = £40). Which is where I got my multiples from (3, 5, 10) to maximise discount. I’m pretty sure the till just looks at the giftcard total after giftcard discounts.

        And 5x £25 = £100 was just me applying the 20% discount.

        • Brian says:

          Not in my experience. I once got caught out by that. It’s 150 bonus points per 50 pounds, so it has to be a separate £50+ to get another 150 points. It’s not usually a problem with even amounts – it’s when there is a discount going that you can have problems.

          • harry says:

            Easy enough to put it to the test. If what you suggest turns out to be the case, 3 x £25 wouldn’t give you 150 bonus clubcard points as there are no £50s in there.

            Elsewhere they’re saying you get the points provided the discounted total is over £50 – and you can of course buy in quantity to get 150 points per £50 in multiples (on the same receipt) after discount.

            None of the cards really appeal to me, so somebody else will have to try it.

          • harry says:

            latest only these cards get 20% off, to get the 150 points you need to go over £50 after discount

            £25 Cards New Look, ITunes or Monsoon = £20

            £20 Cards Pizza Express or Dining out Mitchell’s & Butler = £16

            £10 Card Accessorize = £8

          • Brian says:

            It doesn’t have to be exactly 50 pounds, but it has to be at least fifty pounds for each lot of bonus 150 CC points. So if you buy five £25 New Look gift cards, you’re paying £100, but because each one is costing £20, it’s one lot of £60 and one lot of £40 for the purposes of the bonus points. In other words, you only get 150 bonus points and not 300.

  • lbc says:

    ah Tesco…
    i finally received that email today too…. even though last week i received an email saying my avios were “ready”… and of course my clubcard points for last quarters have disappeared, but my avios are nowhere to be seen… so they don’t seem that ready, do they!? and my last tesco order from november 1st still hasn’t had its clubcard points credited…
    quite a struggle for a point collector to deal with them really…

  • pointsarb says:

    @ James

    Thanks for that. Just found out that the Alaska a/c needs to be open for 14 days before you can buy miles. So best to prepare in advance!

    Cheers

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

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