Bits: Gatwick lounges open, avios.com Clubcard competition, use Avios with Amazon Echo

News in brief:

New British Airways Gatwick lounges now open

The two new British Airways lounges at Gatwick had a soft opening over the weekend.  I understand that there is no table service food offering yet in the First / Gold lounge.  

It seems that Club Europe customers are not being allowed to use the Business Lounge but will be redirected to the Speedbird (ex Virgin) lounge.  Reports on Flyertalk suggest that the Business Lounge had to close entirely yesterday afternoon due to ‘toilet issues’.

Feedback is generally positive so far, which is good news.

If I can get down there this week I will do a report.  If not, I need to be in Gatwick next Saturday anyway and will do a review then.

Competition for converting Clubcard points to avios.com

Regular HFP readers won’t be surprised to learn that there is no bonus for converting Tesco Clubcard points into Avios this quarter.

There is a 10% bonus for converting points into Virgin Flying Club miles (see my article from Friday) but as this is only open to first time converters I doubt many readers will qualify.

If you are converting into Avios, it makes sense to convert via avios.com because of the competition they are running this month.  BA has not launched any sort of offer.

Remember that it doesn’t matter which route you take as you can move your points around, instantly and for free, using ‘Combine My Avios’ on either site.

This is how the competition works:

For every £2.50 of Clubcard vouchers you send to an avios.com account before 28th February, you receive one entry into a prize draw.

50 people will win 10,000 Avios points.

You convert via this page of tesco.com.  The competition is not mentioned there but it is on the Tesco page at avios.com.

Avios partners with Amazon Alexa

Avios has launched a new ‘skill’ for Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service.  It is now available in the UK through Amazon’s voice-controlled speakers, Amazon Echo and Amazon Echo Dot.

Alexa is the ‘brain’ behind Amazon Echo.  As you can see from the image above, it is basically a cross between Apple’s Siri service and a hi-fi speaker.  It allows customers to play music, get information, news, sports scores, weather and more, just by asking. Alexa also provides capabilities, or skills, that help customers to interact with services in a more intuitive way, using just their voice.

If you download the Avios ‘skill’, you will be able to ask your Amazon Echo or Echo Dot questions such as:

How many Avios are in my account?

How many Avios are needed for a particular award? 

How can I increase my Avios balance?

“Avios is passionate about embracing new technologies that enable our customers to interact with Avios in new and innovative ways” said Paul Miller, Director of Strategic Innovation at Avios, using that strange press release version of English which people never use in real life. “We believe that working with Amazon to offer the Avios skill for Alexa will increase our ability to make recommendations that will inspire customers to travel using their points.”

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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:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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