Avios drops Tristar as a partner – how else can you earn points travelling to Heathrow?

Avios dropped chauffeur group Tristar as an earning partner yesterday.  Existing bookings will still be honoured but you will no longer earn points on new Tristar bookings.

Coincidentally, Emirates gave me a Tristar chauffeur when I arrived at Heathrow on Friday afternoon and it was the smartest car I’ve been driven in for ages.

I’m not sure if this was because I was in First Class rather than Business Class but it was substantially better than the (non Tristar) car Etihad sent me on Tuesday morning.

The email sent out by Tristar makes it clear that this decision was taken by Avios and not by Tristar.  The partnership has only been in operation for a little over 18 months.

It is presumably part of the ‘tidying up’ of the various Avios programmes before they are migrated to the avios.com platform later this year.  That said, Tristar operates in 80 countries – so it’s not as if it lacked coverage in other places where Avios operates – and British Airways Executive Club does not have any other chauffeur partner.

One possibility is that BA could be moving to Blacklane, although this is only a guess.  Blacklane has just launched a partnership with Lufthansa Miles & More and is expanding aggressively.

Virgin Flying Club remains a Tristar partner

If you will still be using Tristar, remember that it remains a partner with Virgin Atlantic.

Full details are on the Virgin Atlantic website here.

You earn 2 Flying Club miles for every £1 you spend.  You can also redeem 17,500 Virgin Flying Club miles for a one-way Tristar transfer if you have booked an Upper Class redemption.

How else can you earn Avios getting to the airport?

There are still two other ways of earning Avios points when travelling to Heathrow.

If you book Heathrow Express tickets via this special link, which does not offer the cheaper advanced purchase options, you will earn 10 Avios points per £1 spent.

If you choose to take a taxi, you can still collect Avios whenever you take a trip using cab app Hailo (now being rebranded as mytaxi).   Full details of that partnership are on ba.com here.  You earn 1 Avios point per £1 spent.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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 Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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

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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits 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.