Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Sunday Times Travel Magazine changes the rules on its 4,500 Avios promo

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Two weeks ago I wrote that The Sunday Times Travel Magazine had rolled over its generous offer of 4,500 Avios points for taking out a £30 subscription.  It was extended to 3rd February 2017.

That is still the case.  However, the magazine has now changed the rules.

The original deal offered 4,500 Avios for a £30 one year subscription to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine.  This was a fantastic deal even if the didn’t want the magazine – although you would have found a lot in it worth reading.

The revised offer is less attractive.

You now receive:

4,500 Avios with a two year, £60, subscription

1,000 Avios with a one year, £30, subscription

On this basis, it becomes a ‘good’ deal rather than a ‘no brainer’ deal.

You can sign up here.

The offer does NOT show immediately.  You need to enter AVIOSIM or AVIOSPP2 in the ‘Promotional Code’ box and hit ‘Submit’.  The page will refresh and the revised deal will show.

YOU MUST CLICK SUBMIT so the page reloads. If you don’t, you will NOT get the Avios as you will be signing up to the standard package.

If you do not see a box during the check-out process asking for your Avios or BAEC account number, you should assume that it has gone wrong and will not work.  Try again using a different browser or device.

At 4,500 Avios for a £60 spend, you are paying 1.33p per Avios point.  This isn’t a terrible deal when you add in the value of the two years-worth of magazines as well.  It just isn’t the steal it used to be.

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

Comments (39)

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

  • Gavin says:
    14 Oct14 October 07:15

    Was going to time this as a Christmas present for someone. Not biting at 1000 avios for a years sub

  • Andyh says:
    14 Oct14 October 07:17

    Subscribed for this first day it was advertised in August!, still waiting for the 4500

    • Michael Rosen says:
      14 Oct14 October 07:32

      You should have received them by now, I have.

      I would call them up

      • Nick says:
        14 Oct14 October 07:33

        Got mine too. I would call

        • Roger says:
          14 Oct14 October 07:39

          Received mine before DD was taken from account.

        • Chris says:
          14 Oct14 October 08:09

          Call who? BAEC or magazine?

          • Simon says:
            14 Oct14 October 08:22

            Andyh,

            I’m in the same boat — I subscribed on Aug 9, the money was debited from my CC, yet no Avios to date. HAVE CALLED THEM 5 TIMES; HAVE EXCHANGED 9 EMAILS WITH THEM. This is not Friday morning hyperbole for effect. 🙂 The call centre staff are pleasant enough, but haven’t sorted the impasse; the staff manning the emails are totally inept, however — I have been asked the same question (“Does the name on your subscription exactly match the name on your BAEC account?”) SIX TIMES in the nine emails I have received to date, this in spite of all previous emails — and my previous answers to lines of questioning — being in the email trail. Clearly, no-one reads the email trail and only the most cursory glance at the issue seems to happen at the online end of their customer services department.

            Long story short: I told them yesterday over the phone that I wanted a manager to look into this and resolve the issue now as I felt what has happened is tantamount to false advertising — you advertised X for the sum of Y; I paid Y, I have not received X. Not expecting miracles notwithstanding…

          • Genghis says:
            14 Oct14 October 08:26

            Start MCOL just for the craic

    • Genghis says:
      14 Oct14 October 07:52

      Chase them. I did when avios.com points didn’t post within the time period promised. The CSA was very friendly and helpful.

      • @mkcol says:
        14 Oct14 October 08:48

        Mine too has been friendly but not helpful as the issue is *still* outstanding. It all seems to stem from the surname for the delivery being different from my surname on the Avios account.

        • Genghis says:
          14 Oct14 October 10:05

          That wasn’t a problem for me as my wife and I both got points for gifted subscriptions (albeit one of those was the same surname as ours but one was different).

    • Dave says:
      14 Oct14 October 08:32

      I subscribed about the 24th august and still waiting for mine too, definitely accepted the code and showed online that i was going to get them

      To be fair though they only took the money 10 days ago

    • @mkcol says:
      14 Oct14 October 08:46

      Likewise – am in contact with the magazine who say they’re investigating…and investigating…and investigating….and you get the picture!
      It’s a great magazine but their support when things don’t go to plan is abysmal.

    • bryan says:
      14 Oct14 October 09:52

      got mine exactly 28 days after i signed up

    • Canuck says:
      14 Oct14 October 17:07

      Subscribed 31st Aug, points posted on the 8th Sept. Was a “Gift” subscription.

    • Richard says:
      17 Oct17 October 10:28

      Still waiting too.

  • Dave says:
    14 Oct14 October 07:33

    I subscribed too when this first started back in August. Do we need to cancel the subscription to stop it automatically renewing next year? Or will it just stop after 12 months?

    I remember thinking that I’d need to cancel it, but can’t find anywhere on their website where I’d do this…

    • Genghis says:
      14 Oct14 October 07:49

      If paid by cc no action required. If DD, just cancel DD. However out of politeness more than anything I emailed them too

  • Michael says:
    14 Oct14 October 09:00

    I *tried* to get the original offer but fell foul of the ‘disappearing’ account number box and submitted without realising there wasn’t another page. Many emails later (which they don’t read, I just get replies saying ‘what do you want’ or ‘give us your account details’ which I have several times) and there’s no resolution, so I just told my bank not to pay them. They set up a blank DD ages before they take money so I hope this is enough. I want the bonus, especially now the offer is weaker, but it’s just not worth the hassle. I wouldn’t go near them again if you paid me.

    • Apoorva Sinha says:
      14 Oct14 October 09:30

      I am on the same boat, 14 emails and 3 phone calls but they haven’t posted the avoid go my account yet !!

  • Imbruce says:
    14 Oct14 October 11:01

    When I signed up originally the promotion code did not get entered so I emailed them then did not get a reply so I called them up and cancelled my subscription, I could not be bothered with it,
    a few days later I received an email asking for my Avios number and it could be added but as I had already cancelled it I decided to forget about it.

  • Kathy H says:
    14 Oct14 October 12:46

    I already subscribe and was hoping this offer would be available when due for renewal – I would have bought Mr H a subscription ;(

  • Linda says:
    14 Oct14 October 14:19

    I am also in the same boat as most of you. Took the offer when it first came out, no Avois so have e-mailed several times, asking for my account number name etc. Still nothing then they said they had forgotten to add my Baec number and to wait another 28 days to post.

    It is really getting to be a joke that will be nearly three months if it takes that long, not satisfactory for a well know publication. Not holding my breath they will ever post.

  • Mikeact says:
    14 Oct14 October 18:44

    But when, exactly, did the rules change ? My confirmation of order makes no mention of the number of Avios to be credited.

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