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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.)

Avios wing 14

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

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

American Express Gold card, American Express Platinum card, British Airways American Express, Iberia and Iberia Plus, Marriott Bonvoy American Express

Comments (102)

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

  • Tim says:
    18 Apr18 April 06:26

    A word of caution for the Hyatt offer, like the last one it has a very restrictive list of participating hotels. Basically unless you are travelling to India, there are very few hotels with none in the USA.

  • the real harry1 says:
    18 Apr18 April 06:42

    I already took delivery of the Laithwaites Sauv blancs & they are excellent value, though are they not offering 1000 Avios on top any more?

    • Worzel says:
      18 Apr18 April 07:22

      Squills:

      I know you won’t have touched the stuff- just wondering though, how Mrs S got on with the ‘cut grass and lime-scented “Mussel Pot” Sauvignon’….?

      Might there be an essence of BS in in Laithwaites description, 🙂 .

      • the real harry1 says:
        18 Apr18 April 07:49

        heh heh, NZ in a bottle is enough for me, great memories, they are truly delicious, though

        just back from the land where £1.75 for a very decent bottle of local stuff is still attainable, got my favourites though a very heavy dry red and a very light & floral dry white always go on the shopping list – the white so ‘fragrant’ that it seems almost sweet – but it’s not, shame you can’t seem to get it in UK, just enjoyed locally

        in passing, yesterday managed to grab 2 free exit seats (window & aisle) on RFS redemption homewards by getting early to check-in, I think the 6 foot 7 inch guy behind me was slightly miffed lol

        • Worzel says:
          18 Apr18 April 08:50

          Mmmm,

          Our last flight- paid for exit row seats with extra legroom-middle and window.

          Window for me- Mrs G prefers to read her book whereas I like to see what’s occurring outside.

          However(!), the guy in the aisle seat was 6’4′ tall and “4’6′ wide” – of course I did the decent thing and Mrs G and I swapped seats- cosy!! 🙂 .

      • JamesB says:
        18 Apr18 April 10:28

        On the contrary, he usually declares most of them “very drinkable” within 24h 🙂

  • Toby says:
    18 Apr18 April 07:47

    Hyatt one also says that spend has to be in GBP, which is presumably in danger of being pretty bad value if using abroad (the hotels often offer very bad rates for spending in pounds).

  • Stu N says:
    18 Apr18 April 07:58

    Anyone know how quickly purchased Avios deposit in an Iberia account?

    And how quickly Avios redeposit from a BA cancelled award booking?

  • the real harry1 says:
    18 Apr18 April 08:13

    The rule about having at least 1 Avios point in your a/c is still valid – it is not enough to have previously earned Avios points then transferred them out, however recently. With a zero balance, the option to purchase Avios for yourself won’t appear – though you can still buy them to gift to another person, eg partner.

    • Stu N says:
      18 Apr18 April 08:50

      Doesn’t seem to be the case this time Harry, I have nil Avios in my IB+ account and it’s giving me the “purchase avios” screen.

      • the real harry1 says:
        18 Apr18 April 08:58

        stand corrected, just reporting what didn’t work last month/ 2 months ago, so I transferred in 1 Avios and it opened up purchase options, not that I bought any

        • Stu N says:
          18 Apr18 April 09:52

          The Ts&Cs say “Promotion valid from 17th to 30th April (both included) 2017 (CET), only for purchases and gifts of Avios made on Iberia.com through the option enabled for all Iberia Plus customers (regardless of whether they have Iberia Cards).”

          Wonder if the “enabled for all Iberia customers” is the important bit? Anyway the purchase has worked, the Avios credited almost instantly and I’ve sent them via Avios.com to my BAEC account already. I’ve left 1 Avios in IB+ anyway, just as a precaution…

  • NigelM says:
    18 Apr18 April 08:15

    OT – will soon have enough tier points for silver from flying QR. For the 4 flights on BA, do reward flights count or only cash purchases? Thanks

  • Amit says:
    18 Apr18 April 09:02

    O/T looking to book for the Aus Open next year. Decent price from EDI-MEL at around £2660 in J. Should I book at this price or wait till some sales come along. Happy to do ex EU

    • Rob says:
      18 Apr18 April 09:27

      You could probably get China Southern ex AMS for £1999 at some point, but factoring in transfer costs plus the guarantee of knowing you’ve got it booked, this is a decent price.

      • Amit says:
        18 Apr18 April 10:19

        Thanks Rob/ Peter. Also saw a very tempting ex FRA fare @ £1850 with Air India although long layer in Delhi on way back. £ holding up ok against EUR

        • guesswho2000 says:
          18 Apr18 April 11:03

          Last time I made the trip I picked CX Premium Eco ARN-LHR-HKG-MEL £800, over Air India J CDG-DEL-MEL, £1,100 after reading the reviews. Both prices were one-way, before you get too excited (I’m not going back!), but I’d definitely make sure you prepare yourself for Air India if you do decide to go that way.

        • Alanr says:
          18 Apr18 April 18:47

          I did LHR – MEL return in Air India J a couple of years ago for £1750. You definitely need to be prepared if using Air India: on the outbound leg there was a 10 hour rolling delay during transit in DEL with no information as to when it would end. Flight eventually left after the Indian passengers started a kind of riot and blockaded gates in the terminal to delay other Air India flights and force them to sort out the problem. The long layover in DEL on the way back came with an airside hotel room but getting into it involved navigating lengthy and frustrating bureaucratic obstacles. After the DEL chaos on the way out I decided it wasn’t worth it, even for £1750 and a new 787.

          http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/66231044/air-india-goofs-up-cricket-fans-grounded

    • Peter K says:
      18 Apr18 April 09:59

      Qatar have been doing some deals to Oz for about £2250 in business ex-eu recentlyish. No guarantee they will do the same again with the weak £ and it’s worth deciding if the getting to the EU destination is worth the hassle and £400.

    • John says:
      18 Apr18 April 11:05

      QR sale rumoured for 24 April, I’d wait and see

      £ is going up, but might go down in 10 minutes time

    • Mikee says:
      18 Apr18 April 16:45

      Just did IST-MEL last month in J with Qatar for £1200 rtn. Booked last year in the sale around October time. Some great deals to be had if you can wait for the next set of sales.

  • Grimz says:
    18 Apr18 April 09:11

    Boots offer spend £20 and get £5 statement credit. They have loads of gift cards M+S, Primark etc etc

    • the real harry1 says:
      18 Apr18 April 10:13

      Boots sell a £25 prepaid MC unfortunately with £2.95 fee on top

      not worth it unless you need a spare card to leave in your shoe on the beach while you go swimming

      • Grimz says:
        18 Apr18 April 14:40

        I have just bought 10 x £25 M+S gift cards on all my amex and supplementary cards so a saving of £50 ( :

        • the real harry1 says:
          18 Apr18 April 14:56

          might copy you, we’re actually at long last getting a nearby M&S Food tacked on to BP fuel station, opening in a few months I believe – I presume you can buy food with the gc

          • Gavin says:
            18 Apr18 April 15:36

            I’ve never tried using a gift card there, the BP / MandS close to my house goes through as BP on my card though so perhaps not

          • mark2 says:
            18 Apr18 April 15:40

            You can certainly buy food/wine at a full M&S branch.

          • Grimz says:
            18 Apr18 April 16:10

            I would check that out first as i’m not sure you can use them in the BP garages

          • RussellH says:
            18 Apr18 April 16:46

            I have had M+S gift cards refused at M&S Food at motorway services. The manager, who was called to deal with me said that it was just an M+S banner over the store and M+S products on sale, but otherwise nothing to do with M+S.

          • the real harry1 says:
            18 Apr18 April 17:09

            ah, thanks folks

          • Gavin says:
            18 Apr18 April 19:01

            I’ve used M and S gift cards fine at a motorway service station I think, though it was at a self-scan till

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