Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Bits: good Amex / Nespresso deal, Vueling sale, BA flights to Tehran resumed

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

News in brief:

Amex / Nespresso deal

Three people dropped me a note about a new American Express promotion which, to be honest, I saw on my account but dismissed without investigation.  Two readers rated the deal highly, one thought it stunk.

Details of this deal should be under the ‘Offers’ section on your American Express online account. Check under each card you hold.  It should be there for one of them.

This is the deal – you order a specific coffee machine (link removed as broken overnight) which sells at £129 but you pay just £39.  However, you must order 400 Nespresso coffee capsules at the same time which cost you a minimum of 29p each.

Nespresso products are rarely heavily reduced so this is a decent deal in terms of value for money.  Whether you want to commit to buying 400 capsules upfront – especially as you may not be familiar with most of the flavours – is a different question.

Vueling

Major Vueling flight sale

Vueling is the little known sister of British Airways and Iberia.  International Airlines Group, the parent of BA and Iberia, took full control of the Spanish low cost carrier in 2013 and since then it has expanded rapidly to serve over 160 airports across Europe.

You can redeem Avios points for flights on Vueling as long as you transfer them to Iberia Plus first.  This is good news for travellers outside London who have a wider range of regional Avios redemption options.

From the UK, Vueling flies to (some services seasonal):

Birmingham – Alicante, Barcelona, Malaga

Cardiff – Alicante, Barcelona, Majorca, Malaga

Edinburgh – Alicante, Barcelona, Paris, Rome

Leeds Bradford – Barcelona

Liverpool – Barcelona

London Gatwick – Asturius, Barcelona, Bilbao, Florence, Paris, Rome, Santiago de Compostela

London Heathrow (T3) – La Coruna, Barcelona

London Luton – Amsterdam, Barcelona

Manchester – Alicante, Barcelona, Rome

Newcastle – Barcelona

Until 13th September, Vueling has a major sale with 1 million seats at €29.99 one way.   This could be a decent option for a cheap Autumn break in Spain.  Details of the sale are here.

British Airways Airbus A350 Aircraft

British Airways resumes flights to Tehran

British Airways flights to Tehran resumed last week, opening up an interesting range of new tourist options for more intrepid readers.

The service will operate six days per week with a four class Boeing 777.

British Airways’ only Farsi-speaking captain, Kami Johnson, explains the appeal of Iran for first time visitors in this video: https://youtu.be/QmBBdYB41Ao

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Vueling and Vueling Club

Comments (77)

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

  • Billy says:
    5 Sep5 September 06:19

    Link for the nespresso deal seems to be broken

  • mark2 says:
    5 Sep5 September 07:23

    To book a flight on Vueling do you have to use the same Iberia site as for points. It is frequently broken!

  • Concerto says:
    5 Sep5 September 07:28

    I’d love to go to Iran, but you’d be stuffed for going to the US after. You’d need to obtain a visa for the US if they see you’ve been to Iran. I hesitate to imagine all the other problems which would arise too, including lots of S’s on your boarding pass.

    • Clare Gibb says:
      5 Sep5 September 07:53

      Quite – see below:

      Under the Act, travelers in the following categories are no longer eligible to travel or be admitted to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP):

      Nationals of VWP countries who have traveled to or been present in Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria on or after March 1, 2011 (with limited exceptions for travel for diplomatic or military purposes in the service of a VWP country).

    • Lewis Watson says:
      5 Sep5 September 10:03

      If you are a UK passport holder you can have 2 passports at one time. Make sure the Iranians stamp one and Americans the other.

      • Genghis says:
        5 Sep5 September 10:21

        But you will then have lied to get the ESTA, no?

        • harry says:
          5 Sep5 September 13:35

          bit of a white lie imv

          they used to say get 2 passports if you’re going to Israel as well, to hide it from ME destinations

          I guess these days you can’t/ won’t want to visit the likes of Syria/ Libya etc & I imagine the Gulf States don’t care any more

    • Callum says:
      5 Sep5 September 10:12

      I’m more concerned about Irans requirement for you to always be escorted by a tour guide.

      From reading around it seems very easy to just line up a guide for day one then travel alone, but no matter how minuscule the risk, I don’t really fancy breaking the law in Iran! Another good reason to apply for an Irish passport (the rule doesn’t apply to them).

    • Gavin says:
      5 Sep5 September 11:00

      I had to get a USA visa recently having visited Iran in late 2011 (before having a tour guide was necessary – it only applied to Americans at that point). I was worried I’d be stuck in long passport queues at US immigration but you can actually use the new machines just like an ESTA user so it’s just as quick. I’ve had no other problems. The visa lasts for 10 years so no need for an ESTA until 2026.

  • Lumma says:
    5 Sep5 September 07:39

    I haven’t had any offers on any of my amex cards for months now. It’s starting to annoy me

  • Ed says:
    5 Sep5 September 08:03

    Anyone see eBay resale potential on the nespresso deal?

    • Peter K says:
      5 Sep5 September 09:11

      I had a look and you could make money on the machine but you would lose money on the capsules. Overall I think you would be lucky to break even so no it is not worth it. A good present for someone maybe if you want to spend ~£150 on them however.

      • Andy says:
        5 Sep5 September 17:38

        Perhaps good if you already have a machine and would use the capsules anyway?

  • Mark says:
    5 Sep5 September 08:26

    I would love to go back to Iran, but until they remove the required guide for British nationals i will not be back :/

    It’s a shame, i would love to go back to this beautiful country, honestly one of the friendliest nation i have been to.

  • Federico says:
    5 Sep5 September 09:22

    Does anybody know how to check Avios redemption flight availability on Vueling?

  • Lewis Watson says:
    5 Sep5 September 10:01

    If you have BA status do you get longue access priority boarding check in etc with vueling?

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

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.

Got it!