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Bits: Avios launches targeted Super Boost promo, 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 (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 (201)

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

  • Robert samuel says:
    11 Jan11 January 14:12

    Offered 4000
    If I collect 13000
    don’t think so

  • CDB says:
    11 Jan11 January 14:15

    Offered 4k bonus on 13k or 8k bonus on 17k. Do we think Amex MR or SPG transfers will count? If so easy 8k for me:) However nothing on wife’s account.

  • the real harry1 says:
    11 Jan11 January 14:19

    O/T can anyone please remind me of that tip/ link on the cheapest way to buy cruise holidays? It was on here a year or so ago. ISTR it was in the States & the prices were typically discounted by over 50% vs UK prices. (Got an elderly neighbour planning a cruise.)

  • HV says:
    11 Jan11 January 15:32

    O/T Hope someone can help. Virgin flying club only allows return bookings on ANA. If I wanted to use my virgin miles for HIJ-OKA and didn’t turn up for the return leg since I want to go OKA-HND because I don’t have enough virgin miles but have loads of avios and I book this part of the journey on JAL. is there anything I need to worry about not taking the return leg? Thanks

    • Jeff says:
      12 Jan12 January 03:05

      1. Love the itinerary, Hiroshima still haunts me (everyone should be obliged to visit!) Miyajima worth visit while in vicinity.

      2 Back on topic, but am slightly confused by your dilemma? For domestics I suggest you use avios on JAL if possible as so cheap and no taxes plus they unsurprisingly have best network/ flight frequency.

      However…..this is Japan and

      3. Trains are fantastic (stations are gourmet hideaways) – but pricey unless u use consolidator ‘tours’ e.g. Japanican

      Enjoy!!!!!!

      Rob – I hear you’re going back! Lucky lucky you. Have done Kyoto Nara (earthquake architect specialists a must visit!!) Osaka Hiroshima Miyajima Fukuoka Tokyo etc during last years Cherry Blossom – happy to offer any advice ‘if’ you wish.

      • Genghis says:
        12 Jan12 January 04:47

        I lived in Fukuoka for two years. Great place. Sounds like you enjoyed.

        My tips – get a JR rail pass if travelling around on mainland. If you’re after beaches / sun, Ishigaki is beautiful.

        • HV says:
          12 Jan12 January 12:05

          Thanks for the info Jeff/Genghis. We booked returned flights from LHR to NRT using the BA 2-4-1 voucher with Avios in CW. We then spend 4 nights Tokyo, 1 night Hakone, 4 nights Kyoto, 2 nights Hiroshima, 3 nights Okinawa and 1 night Tokyo before our flight back to London from NRT. I booked Okinawa to HND on JAL using Avios as well and intend to use Japan Railways for all the other parts of the trip. The only direct flight from Hiroshima to Okinawa is on ANA and they only allow return Virgin air mile redemptions. So I booked HIJ to OKA return but do not intend on using the return leg since it quicker for me to get back to Tokyo from Okinawa on JAL . Any risk in not showing up for the return leg e.g. OKA to HIJ? This has all been possible with the help of HFP and information gleamed from the comments sections. Thanks to all.

          • Genghis says:
            13 Jan13 January 10:38

            Nice itinerary. A few more tips:
            – Good free view from Tokyo Metropolitan Gov building in Shinjuku
            – Try onsen tamago (egg cooked in hot spring water) in Hakone
            – Go to Arashiyama in Kyoto (you can take a boat back to the town which is a nice trip)
            – Kokedera moss garden in Kyoto – book in advance
            – Nara is impressive for the Todai-ji, not far from Kyoto
            – If your itinerary is not yet set in stone, I’d recommend a night at Koya-san, just south of Osaka, staying in a temple overnight.
            – Stop off in Himeji to visit the castle when travelling to Hiroshima – best castle in Japan IMO

            Re flights, you should be OK.

        • Jeff says:
          12 Jan12 January 21:16

          Hi Genghis – absolutely, I now love Japan full-stop having spent considerable time during 2014/15/16. It’s a funny one, some people don’t like it (or quite possibly just don’t get it) and thats fine, but for some reason I really ‘get’ their culture and embrace/respect it.

          A viewing of Bill Murray’s Lost in Translation is worth it before anyone’s first visit.

          (theres a travel blog out there for some extremely wealthy – dare I say privileged – young chap who it seems does nothing but travel 5* around the world full-time, lucky lucky him; however he slated his experience of Japan – eg he didn’t fathom the concept of Ryokan – but all it told me was, I’m glad I don’t have to meet/socialise/work/be friends with him – plus the Japanese will be delighted he has long departed the country promising never to return – his words not mine – lol)

          May I ask, what you worked at in FUK ? (apologies if this is too personal a Q, in which case please just ignore it!)

          • Genghis says:
            13 Jan13 January 10:42

            Hi Jeff. I love ryokan – being brought vast quantities of quality grub for dinner and breakfast, things you would never order on a menu. Even better if there’s a private hot spring just outside your room. I recommend Kurokawa onsen in Kumamoto prefecture as the best get away (much better than Hakone but much more difficult to get to. The horse meat sashimi is fantastic! Anyway, I digress. I went to Japan on a scholarship post university and spent a year studying there. I liked it and got a job for another year in an international school before coming back to the UK to get a ‘proper job’.

  • TripleB says:
    11 Jan11 January 16:11

    My offer was:

    500 = +200 boost
    2000 = +400 boost

    better than a kick in the teeth

  • Sohan says:
    11 Jan11 January 16:26

    OT anyone get their miles and more 7x earnings at Best Western? I didn’t.

  • ankomonkey says:
    11 Jan11 January 16:29

    I got the same 🙁

  • Boi says:
    11 Jan11 January 16:33

    OT:
    Message for Genghis- thanks for info re nationwide.
    Unfortunately my twitter account has been purely for collecting points and I have no idea how to contact people. I don’t know how twitter works

    Any chance you can send me the link?my twitter is @babymangoali.

    Thanks in advance

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