Bits: now a Tesco / BA competition, 20% Tesco to Virgin bonus?, 1200 Avios with PayQwiq

News in brief:

British Airways launches a Clubcard / Avios conversion competition

Last week I wrote about the competition that avios.com is running if you convert your Tesco Clubcard vouchers into Avios via the avios.com platform.

As a reminder, for every £2.50 of Clubcard vouchers you convert via avios.com before 31st August, you will receive one entry in a prize draw:

Two people will win 50,000 Avios

Three people will win 25,000 Avios

150 people will win 5,500 Avios

British Airways has now released its competing competition.

For every £5 of Clubcard vouchers you convert to Avios via ba.com before 31st August, you will receive one entry in a prize draw.  There is ONE prize consisting of:

two return British Airways Club Europe flights to Berlin

a three night stay at a choice of 5* hotels on a B&B basis – Waldorf Astoria Berlin 5* (very nice, says Anika), Ritz Carlton 5* (I’ve stayed, very nice, picture below) and Hilton Berlin (why you’d pick this I’ve no idea!)

The prize is valid for travel between 1st October and 20th December 2017.

I’d value the BA prize at about £1,000.   The avios.com prize pot (1m Avios in total) is worth around £10,000!  Logically, you should enter the avios.com competition although on the face of it the British Airways prize sounds more exciting.

Details of BA competition can be found on the Executive Club ‘News & Offers’ page here.

Get 20% bonus Virgin Atlantic miles with Tesco?

There were some reports in the HfP comments yesterday from readers who received a 20% bonus when they converted their Tesco Clubcard vouchers to Virgin Flying Club.

There is no official announcement yet on either the Clubcard or Virgin websites.  However, if you are considering what to do with your vouchers, you may want to hold off for a day or so until we know if a Virgin deal is live and what the terms are.

Of course, now that Clubcard is offering a ‘genuine’ 3 x face value deal with Uber, any Uber user would be ‘paying’ 1p per Virgin mile this way.  A £1 Clubcard voucher would be worth £3 of Uber credit or (250 * 20% bonus) 300 Virgin miles.  You may not consider that worthwhile.

If there is any official news on a bonus, it will appear on the Tesco / Virgin website here or the Virgin /  Tesco website here.

Get 1,200 Avios with PayQwiq

Tesco and PayQwiq have brought back their “free Clubcard points when using PayQwiq” offer.

New customers downloading the PayQwiq app and using it can get up to 500 free Clubcard points (1,200 Avios).

The app must be downloaded by 3rd September and the last day to collect points is 31st October.  You can collect 100 points once per week, so you need to spread out your Tesco visits.

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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.