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Get 30,000 Avios for £300 – if you know someone in Ireland

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Here we go – the first generous Avios promotion out of Ireland since AerClub was launched as the new Aer Lingus Avios-based frequent flyer scheme.

You don’t need to be based in Ireland to join AerClub.  In fact, if you have an avios.com account, you are already half-way to being a member since your avios.com account number will become your AerClub account number.  You can register for AerClub via this page.

Sunday Independent

What is the deal?

You will earn 30,000 Avios points when you take out a subscription to the Irish Independent or Sunday Independent newspapers for €349 (£300).

These are not digital subscriptions.  These are ‘we will push the newspapers through your letterbox’ subscriptions, which is why you need a friend or relative in Ireland – assuming you live outside the country – who would appreciate a free newspaper.

There are two options, both priced at €349:

Irish Independent and Sunday Independent, delivered daily for six months plus access to the digital edition, or

Saturday’s Irish Independent and Sunday Independent delivered weekly for 12 months plus access to the 7-day digital edition

You can sign up via this website here.

You will need to cancel your subscription before it expires, otherwise it will roll over at a monthly cost of €59 (7-day package) or €29 (weekend package).

Is 1p per Avios a good deal?

It isn’t a steal, clearly.  You need to have a clear strategy for how you would use them.

This is my general ‘what is an Avios point worth?’ article which I really should update and re-run.

1p per point is too much for me to pay to add them to a fairly large existing pile.  If, on the other hand, you are not Avios rich and need to earn x,000 Avios per year to use your BA Amex 2-4-1 voucher then this could make sense.

The offer runs until 31st March.

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

Aer Lingus and AerClub

Comments (56)

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

  • the real harry1 says:
    20 Feb20 February 06:38

    I know a hotel/ doctor’s surgery/ dentist’s

    • Worzel says:
      20 Feb20 February 07:03

      Might have been handy for Genghis, to further gift his extended family- the Sunday Independent would be a nice addition to the monthly arrival of their Sunday Times Travel Magazine!

      Though I imagine his generosity won’t stretch to 1p a point ! 🙂 .

      • Genghis says:
        20 Feb20 February 07:22

        🙂 you’re right – 1ppa is way more than I’d pay to add to my stash. I do hope tho there’s another decent offer come my dad’s next birthday.

  • Boi says:
    20 Feb20 February 06:55

    I lived (and studied) in Ireland for many years. I still have a house there if anyone needs an address to deliver to. And I have plenty of friends there too…….feel free.

  • Graham says:
    20 Feb20 February 06:56

    Speaking of AerClub, did anyone actually receive their 250 Avios (as promised) for registering their interest in AerClub and then signing up?

    • the real harry1 says:
      20 Feb20 February 06:59

      another BA cheating & lying promotion

      same as withdrawing food & beverage on flights paid for before the changes were announced – with no compensation offered

      • Callum says:
        20 Feb20 February 07:06

        Well no, it was an Aer Lingus lying and cheating promotion.

        And not quite the same given the Aer Club issue didn’t cost anything. Though I guess they’re equally trivial given the compensation or flight refund options BA gave after the change for those who get so extraordinarily upset at missing out on a few snacks.

        • Rob says:
          20 Feb20 February 08:27

          Given the state of their IT I’d feel pretty confident putting the blame there. No-one is out there deliberately trying to do you out of 250 Avios!

          • Crafty says:
            20 Feb20 February 08:41

            Given how many of us are waiting on this, Rob, any chance of you using your influence to ask the question?

      • Leo says:
        20 Feb20 February 09:54

        Small Claims not going well?

      • Lady London says:
        20 Feb20 February 14:18

        And basically a Business Class seat get us the space and services we always got free before in Economy. And sometimes even less than we got in Economy before. Without paying anything extra.

        But apart from the outraged cries of frequent fliers, don’t you think BA’s being quite clever here? What other airline are they competing with, if they target the middle? With a mid-level offering to the aspirational low-cost-airlines flyer, that is just a notch above the low-cost airlines in a couple of respects? The aspirational lower-middles are being targeted by really smart businesses the world over. High end customers cost too much to compete for.

        • Will says:
          20 Feb20 February 23:07

          They don’t need to compete with anyone. They have a near total monopoly on LHR landing slots.

    • David says:
      20 Feb20 February 07:03

      Nope!

    • BigDave says:
      20 Feb20 February 07:47

      Not received them
      I contacted avios they say its an aerclub problem=
      I contacted aerclub they say its an avios problem
      I contacted aerclub again and no reply and for 250 points I think I will just leave it there and cancel my aerclub and open one up again if I see myself flying aerlingus in the future

    • Alan says:
      20 Feb20 February 08:00

      Yes, got it many months ago – way before it actually launched! (but was definitely from them, listed as AerClub in my Avios.com statement).

    • Mark says:
      20 Feb20 February 08:08

      I checked mine and my wife’s avios accounts a couple of weeks ago and 250 avios each had been deposited here, which given 99% of our avios activity is through BAEC I can only assume is from AerClub. I have an internal US United Flight next week which I have asked to be credit to AerClub so will be interesting to see where these points turn up (if at all!)

    • sam says:
      20 Feb20 February 08:42

      yes mine are there

    • Harpo says:
      20 Feb20 February 11:18

      I tweeted them on Friday – and it posted this morning. Need to try again now for my wife

      • BigDave says:
        20 Feb20 February 15:02

        I facebooked them but no result they keep passing the buck to avios
        Rob please help us!

    • Fenny says:
      20 Feb20 February 13:25

      No spare entries for 250 avios in my account since last May.

  • Brendan says:
    20 Feb20 February 06:57

    With plenty of relatives living there, I’m sure I could reach an arrangement should anyone wish to avail of this. Rather than delivering junk mail to a random address!

  • Sohan says:
    20 Feb20 February 07:14

    As I’m about to move back there I’ll be taking advantage of this one for a BA 2 for 1.
    I can provide details of at least 20 people who would love to receive this (the “farmer’s” newspaper!)
    Am on twitter @so_hanlon or happy for Rob to pass on my email address to anyone that enquires.
    Shane

  • Genghis says:
    20 Feb20 February 07:25

    Do you need an Irish credit card? The Economist didn’t like us getting a South Korea sub with a billling address of ‘London, South Korea’.

  • Roberto says:
    20 Feb20 February 08:18

    O/T and apologies.. I just took out the Starwoods Amex and have triggered the 10K bonus. The points are showing when I look at Amex online. The question is how long do they take to appear into my actual Starwood account? Do they get swept over once a month like my BA Amex points do? If so, is there a particular day this happens (or does it differ from person to person) as I am keen to try to get the 35% bonus conversion to Avios beforeit finishes on the 8th of march

    • Rob says:
      20 Feb20 February 08:26

      Same as BA. Balance zeroes out 6 days before your statement date and they hit SPG 2-3 days later.

      • Roberto says:
        20 Feb20 February 11:02

        thanks…

        • Roger says:
          20 Feb20 February 12:46

          Possibly you can also change your statement date thereby hopefully accelerating the SPG points credit to your SPG account from Amex.

          • Genghis says:
            20 Feb20 February 13:08

            Didn’t think this was possible. Does anyone have any empirical evidence?

          • Roger says:
            20 Feb20 February 19:17

            I have managed to change statement date on many of my cards in past, nothing recently and cannot remember if that was Amex issued card.
            But in general you can change your statement generation date and hope the points would sweep across earlier.

  • James says:
    20 Feb20 February 09:22

    Further to Crafty’s comments – I see you neatly closed that line of dialogue down:
    Given that so many people have not received their 250 points, and most of them were, I guess, pointed in that direction from this blog, perhaps you could try to find out the explanation as to why so many have not posted?

    • Rob says:
      20 Feb20 February 09:53

      As it happens, I am with 8 members of the Avios team at Loyalty 2017 this afternoon – if any of them claim to have responsibility for AerClub I will let them know.

      In general, though, this game works best if you just shake off small inconveniences like this.

      I only have a certain level of political capital with Avios and I prefer to save it for situations where there is something meaningful at stake. There will not be a ranty article about why lots of people haven’t got their 250 Avios.

      • James says:
        20 Feb20 February 10:41

        I wouldn’t expect a ranty article. If you are with Avios personnel today, it seems like the ideal opportunity to let them have some important feedback on behalf of your readership.
        Maybe they are unaware?
        I would have hoped that they should be interested enough to convey that feedback to a colleague/contact who is involved with Aer Club (if that person isn’t in attendance).
        I think you mentioned the other day that the CEO of Avios “gets it”. Well perhaps he would also “get” why some people would be hacked off if they don’t receive the points they were expecting.
        As for it being a “small inconvenience” – well yes, it’s not a large amount.
        However, not everyone is sitting with a substantial stash, and there are plenty of articles on Headforpoints and Shopperpoints about such trifling amounts. perhaps we shouldn’t bother with any of them?

        • Scott says:
          20 Feb20 February 11:38

          Jeez, get over yourself.

        • Nate1309 says:
          20 Feb20 February 13:37

          I haven’t had mine either. But there is no point getting so worked up about it. Rob didn’t force you to sign up for a possible free 250 avios. You win some you lose some. Look at the Sunday Times Travel and Avis weekend that have come up lately.

        • Simmo says:
          20 Feb20 February 14:03

          Been in this ‘game’ for 4-5 years.

          You win some you lose some! – This will be replaced by a silly offer down the line at some point !

        • JohnW says:
          20 Feb20 February 14:46

          They’re worth about £2.50. It’s ridiculous to expect Rob to chase-up something as trivial as this.

      • BigDave says:
        20 Feb20 February 15:11

        Tthanks Rob thats all you can do I guess and that is well over beyond the call of duty already.
        I doubt you’ll get far as all my enquiries via avios has been very informative and detailed that they have no idea who to contact in aerclub only that it is 100% an aerclub issue.

    • Callum says:
      20 Feb20 February 12:10

      If you’re talking about the reply button not being there – that happens automatically after a certain number of replies (I assume because they become too thin on mobile screens?). You can just reply to the last one with the option and it will appear at the bottom.

      He’s not censoring you!

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