Bits: new Amex cashback deals, Amex wine deal, 35% ‘buy Avios’ bonus
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News in brief:
Amex launches new travel statement credit deals
A new batch of statement credit deals has appeared from American Express. Some, all or none of these offers will appear on the statement page of your online accounts.
Remember that the offers differ for each card you hold. You need to ‘save’ the offer in order to take advantage.
Amex does a bad job of explaining which deals allow cumulative spend and which do not. For safety you should assume that you need to do the spend in one transaction, but in reality some will pay out if you cumulatively hit the spend target over the promotional period.
Here are the new offers I saw:
Monarch – £20 back on £200 spend, expires 14th May
Addison Lee – £10 back on £30 spend, expires 4th June (app link is here)
Hyatt – £50 back on £250 spend, expires 31st August
LOVEtheatre.com – 5% back on all spend, expires 21st June (LOVEtheatre is an Avios earning partner)
Avis – £15 back on £100 spend, expires 6th May
If you ‘saved’ the recent Hilton offer (£50 back on £250 spend, which IS proving to be cumulative) remember that you need to hit the target spend by 8th May.
And a wine deal ….
There is also a Laithwaites wine deal available exclusively for American Express cardholders until 30th April. Via this page, you can order 12 bottles of New Zealand sauvignon blanc for £66.60, which is just £5.55 per bottle – half the usual price. Delivery is FREE. (Oddly, whilst the deal is for Amex cardholders, you can pay with any card.)
Up to 35% bonus when you buy Avios
Iberia Plus has launched a new ‘buy Avios’ promotion which runs until 30th April.
The offer is:
10% bonus when you buy 2,000 to 15,000 Avios
20% bonus when you buy 20,000 to 24,000 Avios
30% bonus when you buy 30,000 to 80,000 Avios
35% bonus when you buy 85,000 to 100,000 Avios
At the top end, you will be paying €1,800 for 135,000 Avios. Given the weak £, this works out at 1.12p per Avios based on £1,523. You would need to add a 3% foreign exchange fee to this price if your credit card has one.
I would not usually be a buyer at this price unless I had a very specific redemption in mind which I knew would be worth more than I am paying.
The exact rules for who can buy Iberia Plus Avios are always confusing. You MUST have been an Iberia Plus member for 90 days before you can transfer Avios from Iberia to BA via ‘Combine My Avios’. I think you also need to have earned at least one Avios point in your Iberia account before you can buy points although that may have changed.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (August 2022)
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
25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher for spending £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher for spending £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 UK’s most valuable card perk – the 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 £12,000 Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points.
EDIT: Until 25th October 2022, there is an exceptionally generous sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card. You will receive 60,000 Membership Rewards points – double the usual amount – and £200 to spend at Amex Travel. You need to spend £6,000 within six months to earn the bonus.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express
60,000 points, £200 travel credit and an unbeatable set of travel 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 10,000 Avios.

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa
10,500 points bonus – the most generous Avios Visa for a limited company 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 a long list of travel benefits 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.
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