Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Bits: Avios launches targeted Super Boost promotion, Lloyds brings back refer-a-friend

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News in brief:

Avios launches new targetted Super Boost promotion

avios.com launched a new promotion yesterday to encourage you to increase your Avios collecting this spring.

Super Boost is a targetted offer which has gone to a minority of members.  None of my family have received anything.  If you didn’t get it, there is nothing you can do about it.

You need to opt in by the end of February and then collect a specific number of Avios before the end of April.  Irrespective of when you register, all earning from 1st January counts towards your target.

The bonuses are based on your previous earning activity and vary sharply.  For example, I saw one offering:

1,500 Avios for earning 18,000 points or 3,000 Avios for earning 25,000 points

but another reader got:

200 Avios for earning 400 points or 400 Avios for earning 600 points

Quite a difference.

Avios from all air and non-air partners count towards your target.  There is no leeway on the receipt of Avios, however – they must be in your account by 30th April.  If you have the Lloyds credit card, check what date your points hit to ensure that you don’t spend unnecessarily in the final month.

The easiest way to hit your target is probably from a Tesco Clubcard conversion although the cut-off date for the next voucher run is Thursday 26th January.  This means that you will struggle to do anything quickly to earn additional points this quarter.

Be careful about crediting British Airways flights to avios.com because you not receive any elite status bonus that BAEC would give and your tier points will be lost.

Bonus Avios will be credited to accounts by 31st May.  The full terms and conditions are here.

Lloyds Avios Rewards credit card refer-a-friend bonus is back

I wrote an article yesterday moaning about the loss of the refer-a-friend bonus on the Lloyds Avios Rewards credit card

This definitely seemed to have died. I saw two separate tweets sent by Lloyds to Head for Points readers confirming it.

And then, a few hours after my article appeared, it was relaunched!  You can, yet again, receive 4,500 Avios points when you are referred for the Lloyds Avios Rewards card.

Meanwhile, I have been sent a document showing potential plans for the future of the Lloyds Avios Rewards card.  More on this tomorrow …..


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (November 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

Get 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

30,000 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 – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

Huge 80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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

20,000 points (ONLY TO 9TH DECEMBER) Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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

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

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

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (196)

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

  • Jonny says:

    OT – am helping out a friend looking to fly on Avios to South America and I have suggested redemptions from Madrid through Iberia Plus. Low taxes, good availability.

    He doesn’t yet have an Iberia Plus account, and hence will need to set one up and earn at least 1 Avios before being able to transfer more across and book (I think 90 day rule only for transferring out of Iberia Plus?)

    My question is what is the quickest way to earn the 1 Avios required to “activate” the account? Unfortunately he doesn’t have an Amex gold card. And must be something better than paying EUR54 to buy 2,000 Avios?

    • Ro says:

      Spg transfer?
      Or what about tesco clubcard -> avios -> iberia?

      • Ro says:

        Does iberia have a shopping portal? Or use avios shopping portal then move to iberia maybe?

        • Jonny says:

          I don’t think transferring from avios.com would count. SPG not possible to Iberia?
          I thought of shopping portal but likely to take some time!

    • Fenny says:

      IB are notoriously slow for crediting avios. Even a transfer from e-rewards can take a while.

    • Rob says:

      Transfer some hotel points? Erewards?

  • Harpo says:

    Iberia Plus Store is fiddly and I’ve had mixed results with tracking, but some successes – bought a new diary last year through MoleskineES at 20avios/Eur which did post in the end (but was about 2 months)

  • ana says:

    When using the online shopping portal, do you get the same points when using BA and avios or is one better than the other?

    • Harpo says:

      Mostly but not always – worth having a check each time, sometimes bonuses differ in their timings, and the odd merchant only appears in one or the other.

  • Joe says:

    No boost, super or otherwise here

  • Doug says:

    OT: Anyone knows what will be the first off peak day in 2018 for BA avios?

    • Anon says:

      Guesswork on that one, maybe 4/5th Jan (if your v lucky)

      What routes you after?

      • Douglas says:

        It is a busy one from America to London, so hopefully I will be able to book the first offpeak back and save a bit of time off + cash 😉

  • JohnNI says:

    O/T but I cannot seem to find the answer after searching HFP

    I have ordered £600 of foreign currency from Moneycorp to pickup and pay at Gatwick tomorrow.
    If I use my BAPP card is the transaction treated as a cash purchase or just as a purchase with no fees. Thanks in advance

    • Rob says:

      Moneycorp often puts Amex through as a purchase, so I’ve heard, but not guaranteed. Let us know.

  • Rob says:

    Yes

  • Richard Thomas says:

    I was offered 1200 Avios if I collect 4,500 and 2,400 Avios if I collect 5,500
    Not enough of a reward to make me spend on my Llloyds Amex over my BA Amex I think.

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

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