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Bits: BA launches airberlin match, 1200 Avios with £20 NOW TV box

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News in brief:

British Airways status match for airberlin Topbonus members

If you had airberlin status, British Airways has joined the list of airlines offering a status match.

The BA offer is poor.  Anyone who was oneworld Sapphire or Emerald equivalent with airberlin should take the Iberia status match offer we wrote about here instead, as you will at least get lounge access.

British Airways Executive Club will give you nothing higher than Bronze status, which is not worth much.  Well, priority boarding and free seat selection seven days before you fly, but that’s about it.

You will also receive 9,000 bonus Avios when you credit four flights to British Airways Executive Club before the end of the year.  This is more interesting.

I suppose …. if you were being clever …. Emerald or Sapphire airberlin Topbonus members could match with both BA and Iberia.  Use the Iberia card to get into oneworld lounges but credit four flights to BA in order to pick up the 9,000 bonus Avios.

The offer is here on ba.com.  Note that your BA account must have a German address.

1,200 Avios with £20 NOW TV box

Tesco Direct is offering 500 bonus Clubcard points, worth 1200 Avios or 1250 Virgin Flying Club miles, when you buy a £20 NOW TV box before 22nd November.

Even better, you’ll also receive either one month of Sky Cinema, two months of Sky Entertainment or three months of Sky Kids for free as well.

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

British Airways and Avios, oneworld alliance partners, Tesco Clubcard, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (100)

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

  • Graeme says:
    19 Oct19 October 07:11

    OT (posting here rather than the BA Amex card article as I think more people will read this) – I’m looking to redeem a 2-4-1 voucher in First to Hong Kong for an SE Asia holiday next October, but there’s never any availability (getting nothing from the hourly baredemptionfinder.com updates). Am I wasting my time? Are hardly any First seats released, or are they snapped up in seconds? I’ve only really read that about Australia.

    I’ve redeemed to Beijing and Mexico City with no bother at all in the past – I’ve had my first choice of dates both times, so this is frustrating. Are Kuala Lumpur or Singapore better options?

    • Rob says:
      19 Oct19 October 07:24

      Given that you can get Avios flights on Cathay to HK from all of Asia, no problem going via somewhere else. Shanghai is probably nearest if you don’t want to visit another city.

    • Anonym says:
      19 Oct19 October 07:24

      Popular route…try 355 days in advance via a one way thru a US based call centre…that’s what I hear otherwise will be very difficult indeed!

    • pauldb says:
      19 Oct19 October 08:18

      I personally don’t think HKG is a particular difficult option. It’s a high capacity/frequency route, which plays into redeemers hands. There are plenty of F seats about at other points in 2018.
      BA only commit to release Y and J seats at t-355. Sometimes F appears immediately too, but far less consistently. I have a theory/observation that often BA push out a second, more considered/variable round of seats around the t-330 mark. Inline with this there are plenty of F seats available in August and up to Sep2, though equally that could reflect the summer holidays and peak pricing. But I would keep an eye on if the Sep2 envelop expands in the next couple of weeks which might point to some October availability coming around in a month’s time.
      Beijing could be an option for you again – the avios required are less, and would therefore pay for the onward CX leg. You could book PEK or somewhere else and cancel/change if HKG opens up, though that becomes harder once you’ve added your return leg.

      • Stu N says:
        19 Oct19 October 09:20

        I got 2xF returns for mid-March ‘18 – booked 16 April 2017 which fits with the t-330-ish theory. They were releasing F on the 777 (BA27/28) fairly consistently about 11 months ahead. Usually released a couple of days a week (usually Tues and Wed) when I was looking earlier in the year. Basically I waited until I could see flights that gave us about a week in Hong Kong then booked up, was enough coming on stream I was comfortable in doing this. Obviously the whole thing is a bit random but with flexibility you should get something sorted.

    • Bonglim says:
      19 Oct19 October 08:53

      As what Anonym said.

      I wanted a popular route and did it at 355 days in advance by calling the Japan call center. The agent was extremely helpful and the whole process worked really well. I think they release to phone operators slightly before they are released online.

      Had to do it twice, to book the outbound then separately call to add on the return leg, but the agent knew exactly what to do – suspect it happens quite a lot.

      They tend to not charge the amendment fee for adding in the second leg in those circumstances.

    • CV3V says:
      19 Oct19 October 09:04

      For KUL up to Oct 8th there is availability everyday in CW and some days in F. To KUL BA fly a 787 on which CW is actually quite good. From KUL you have Air Asia option for most of asia along with MAS and CX options for further avios redemptions (I have flown in MAS First on A380 from KUL to HKG (which no longer flies) and CX Business on this route).

      If it was me i would book what was available and keep checking to see if a better option becomes available later.

      • CV3V says:
        19 Oct19 October 09:24

        i just mean from Oct 1st onwards btw

      • Polly says:
        19 Oct19 October 10:32

        Agree, we are on F 241 to KUL too,nursing it as a jump,off point , go mas to Bali for £12.50 pp plus some avios ..so plenty of,options in and around Asia for jump off. CX great too, always availability even in J.

    • JamesB says:
      19 Oct19 October 11:08

      My advice would be to save the voucher and avios for something else if practical, and get an avios- anc TP-earning exUK return in J for around £1500 on AY. Take your pick of dates, and the seat is just as good as BA First. If there is no availability to HKG then try one of the other seAsian destinations and use Air Asia. I don’t know when you are going but just as an example TK has been selling BKK exLHR for around £1150 in J, less if you are happy to do 24h stopover in IST. Avios redemptions to seAsia don’t work IMO unless you can get your avios for about 0.4p or you attach greater value to BA First than most people on HFP seem to think it’s worth going by past comments.

    • sue says:
      19 Oct19 October 11:22

      Graeme- When I booked my 2-4-1 seats T-355 1am on line for Lhr to Hkg for Easter school holidays 2018 there were first seats available for the 777 flight. I chose club world on the a380 but noticed some first seats and more club world seats opened up around around a month after I booked.
      I then booked my return leg by phone dead on 6am T-355 and took 2 first seats on the 777 flight Hkg to Lhr ( there were more than 4 I think – but none for a380 ). I wasn’t charged the £35 fee.
      The customer services agent said these seats were like ‘gold dust’ and I’d done well to secure a return booking! Good luck

    • Graeme says:
      19 Oct19 October 12:15

      Thanks for the advice, everyone. I’ve found seats on dates that work(ish) into KL and out of Beijing (which is doable, right?). Just need to convince the other half that another day or two off work is a good idea!

      We actually don’t want to spend any time in HK anyway – it’s a means of getting to Vientiane or Siem Reap and eventually Myanmar.

      I know that CW (particularly to Bangkok) is an option, but we’re keen to stick with First. And while I can see the sense in paying on another carrier, I’d rather not! 😉

      • CV3V says:
        19 Oct19 October 14:02

        When i find dates that work for me I book, then that is my minimum best option. I then keep checking to see what else comes available and get on the phone to BA to amend/cancel rebook accordingly. First on the 787 is significantly better (IMO) than First on an old 777. Likewise CW on a 787 (in the front mini cabin) is much better than CW on a 777.

        Intra asia flights on Air Asia dont tend to price fluctuate too much, so can be left late to book.

      • pauldb says:
        19 Oct19 October 15:11

        You probably know from your last visit you can have 72hrs in Beijing visa free (on a European passport and others, not Norwegian!). But be aware you can change routes if something better comes up, but in theory (apparently exceptions occur) you can’t change bands. So you can change PVG to HKG or KUL to SIN, but not KUL/PEK to HKG. That would require cancelling and rebooking, by the rules, which puts your other leg at risk.

      • JamesB says:
        19 Oct19 October 18:01

        To add to CV3Vs comments, Air Asia might still be doing their ASEAN airpass so possibly worth researching.

  • the real harry1 says:
    19 Oct19 October 07:50

    O/T one for the planespotters – idiotic AB pilot gets himself suspended (video)
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/19/air-berlin-pilots-suspended-saying-dignified-goodbye-fly-by/

    he could at least have waggled the wings 🙂

  • Genghis says:
    19 Oct19 October 07:52

    OT. I have IHG SE AMB and my wife only Plat.
    If I front end a stay and book one night on points in my name and the following night in my wife’s (to use a reward night certificate), what are the chances of the hotel linking the bookings so any AMB benefits they “might” give are over the two nights?
    (I know that Hilton are more than happy to do this)

    • Alex W says:
      19 Oct19 October 08:02

      If you’ll use the free night certificate, it could be worth just buying ambassador for your wife as well.

    • Alex W says:
      19 Oct19 October 08:02

      If you’ll use the free night certificate, it could be worth just buying ambassador for your wife as well.

    • Barry cutters says:
      19 Oct19 October 08:25

      we do this quite often and never had a problem .i just make the 2 separate bookings . Call or email to make sure they know I’m coming and ask for an upgrade etc. then at check in look confused when they say it’s only a 2 night stay . Then remember you added another night ‘ oh we must have booked in on the wife’s account’ never had an issue , benefits for full stay – I’m same status as you . Best to put lower status night in the middle if possible but works at end too

      • Barry cutters says:
        19 Oct19 October 08:26

        Ps I have an ambassador free night certificate going spare if anyone wants it.

      • Genghis says:
        19 Oct19 October 10:14

        @Baz Cutters – cheers. I’ll do just that.
        @Alex W – I might actually struggle to use my own AMB 241 voucher for the current year (even without using the 241 renewal would work out OK due to the points on renewal, it was an accelerate target and the 10% rebate).

    • xcalx says:
      19 Oct19 October 12:54

      2 experiences for me at intercontinental San Juan PR
      Booked cheapest room for 1 night under the price promise plus 2 nights on points. Plat status got us upgraded to poolside club room for the 3 nights plus full use of the lounge .

      Six month earlier booked 1 night my points as plat and 1 night using mrsxcalx points no status. First night upgraded to nice room , no lounge access. Second night made us move to a crap room.
      So no consistency,

  • Crafty says:
    19 Oct19 October 08:30

    OT: Does anyone by chance have a screenshot or other proof of the recent Club Carlson promotion for 2,500 bonus points per stay that ended 30 September? I have searched my email but cannot find evidence, but I’m sure this promotion existed. Customer service are refusing to honour it, saying it ended 3 September, which isn’t my recollection.

  • soloflyer1977 says:
    19 Oct19 October 09:27

    O/T
    I redeemed a 2for1 companion voucher a trip at the end of November. My companion can no longer no travel. I know they can cancel his seat and return the 2for1 voucher for future use through the call centre. My question is, what is the latest time I can cancel his seat? 24hrs before the flight? TIA

    • Anna says:
      19 Oct19 October 10:03

      If you look at the cancellation policy on BA.com it has all this info. Re the 2 4 1, would you not have to cancel the whole booking and re-book again for yourself?

      • soloflyer1977 says:
        19 Oct19 October 10:47

        No. I think they can separate the booking into 2 PNR’s (according to the good people at flyertalk) and then cancel the PNR for the non-travelling seats. This means that I don’t lose my Row 1 seat 🙂 and also get my 2for1 voucher returned to use on another rewards. From looking at BA.com, once I cancel 24 hrs before the flights, I can get my voucher returned. Thanks for the tip Anna

        • Rob says:
          19 Oct19 October 11:07

          That’s what they did for my wife last week when I took her off a booking.

  • Rita says:
    19 Oct19 October 09:30

    It was a 10,000 points promotion given on 2 stays or free Friday night. It ended on 30 September. I find that contacting club carlson on twitter the most efficient method. If you provide your email, I will forward you details of the promotion.

  • Anna says:
    19 Oct19 October 10:08

    OT – in August stayed in a hotel for 2 nights booked through Hotels.com, and at check-in was charged an extra $40 government tax (which has been in place for years). There was no mention of the tax at the time of booking so I assumed it was included. Hotels.com tried to wiggle out of this by saying they could never guarantee there would not be extra taxes on top of their prices, however after I insisted on lodging a formal complaint and reporting them to the ASA, they sent me a voucher for $45 towards my next booking. The ASA have warned Hotels.com and will consider legal action if it happens again. Hotels.com are still advertising this hotel without the tax, however…

    Worth keeping an eye on, if, like me, you want to continue using Hotels.com for the free nights and the Clubcard voucher deals.

    • Genghis says:
      19 Oct19 October 10:18

      I’ve not yet used the Clubcard voucher deal on hotels.com. Have all the initial problems been sorted out (i.e. booking at chains etc). Anyone with any recent experience? Is it a genuine 3x (less any potential cash back / reward night if paid cash) = c.2.5x?

      • Anna says:
        19 Oct19 October 10:32

        I’ll be (hopefully) making a booking to Washington DC when I get this quarter’s Clubcard vouchers in a couple of weeks, I’ll report back.

      • Rob says:
        19 Oct19 October 11:12

        Issues are now fixed I understand. No reward credit so, yes, nearer 2.5x.

        • Rhys says:
          19 Oct19 October 18:06

          Used it back in September (hotel near Pula actually!) and all worked smoothly. Hotels.com was offering 10% off bookings in return for no credit so was genuine 3x value.

      • BLT says:
        19 Oct19 October 13:29

        I’ve used the Hotels.com CC route twice now, once using the max £250CC -> £750 Hotels.com credit. no issue booking any hotel. Just make sure you use the correct Tesco link to Hotels.com

      • Louise says:
        19 Oct19 October 21:56

        Yes, also make sure you only convert voucher amount minus the taxes and fees as u have to pay that element! Nearly tripped me up, as you cannot get change from converted voucher.

        I’ve booked a hotel here and in Poland OK

    • Alexey says:
      19 Oct19 October 11:42

      O/T but related on tesco site there are also voucher exchange options for hilton and accor I think ? Why is that never mentioned here ? Are they bad deals or any ‘small print’ I’ve missed ? i.e. why use hotels.com then ?

      • Genghis says:
        19 Oct19 October 11:57

        Hilton is poor rate and UK only

        • Genghis says:
          19 Oct19 October 12:00

          Actually, it’s not that poor. You pay a cancellable rate for a non-cancellable room.

      • Rob says:
        19 Oct19 October 12:11

        I do an article on Tesco / Hilton once a year or so.

        I have never known anyone who redeemed for Accor so no idea how tricky they make it.

        Hilton rooms earn points back and count for status. However, not strictly 3x if you didn’t need a non-cancellable room or if you have status and would not need a B&B rate.

  • Gin and Tonic Please says:
    19 Oct19 October 10:18

    OT: The Shop Small email just landed in my inbox. Having had a quick look at the map for my local area I can see (1) a load of places I know from last year don’t take Amex and (2) quite a few new places, including several pubs and offies. Very happy on both fronts… 🙂

    • Genghis says:
      19 Oct19 October 10:30

      (1) = lots of phone calls to Amex but they do pay up and say “thanks for letting us know”. I guess they never then update the map.

      • Polly says:
        19 Oct19 October 10:44

        I must have made 20 of those calls, they really don’t care it’s only £5 to them…great customer service for our inconvenience!

        • Crafty says:
          19 Oct19 October 11:24

          Used to be easier with the secure messaging – will be more of a hassle now.

      • Gin and Tonic Please says:
        19 Oct19 October 11:22

        Oh I know – that’s why I’m happy! Last year I found 5 local stores on the map that didn’t take Amex. Made quite a tidy little sum when I applied that across all my cards… They thanked me for the feedback and said that they’d update the map for future reference. Admittedly, last year I did it all by email (one email per card, to be exact). Will be more of a hassle this time.

        • Lewis says:
          19 Oct19 October 19:04

          I don’t see why you can’t do this via online chat. I’ve cancelled cards with it too no problem

        • the real harry1 says:
          19 Oct19 October 19:10

          Amex Chat seems to go round in circles for me, rather slow to actually verify ID & get the result I was after – I prefer phoning & find the phone agents normally very good

      • Drav says:
        19 Oct19 October 21:12

        what – so you go to shop X and pay with your e.g. visa card and then call up Amex saying – this shop was on your map but doesnt take amex…cam i have a fiver please?

        • the real harry1 says:
          19 Oct19 October 21:22

          not for me – I got my CS £5/s when I used my Amex but didn’t get the statement credit (the map is rubbish)

          even better when you use 6 cards and ask for 6x £5

        • Rob says:
          20 Oct20 October 08:48

          Yes

    • Tom says:
      19 Oct19 October 11:43

      Never seen a small shop offer on our cards 🙁

      • Genghis says:
        19 Oct19 October 12:02

        When did you get your Amex cards? Small shop comes around once a year and recently has been for two weeks the first two weeks of December.

        • Tom says:
          19 Oct19 October 15:10

          That’d be why then! Got the free BA amex in Feb, upgraded to the BAPP in May I think, and hold the gold amex too which I’ve had for approaching a month I think.

        • Tom says:
          19 Oct19 October 15:13

          In fact strike that I’ve only had the GC 2 weeks or so!

    • Wally1976 says:
      19 Oct19 October 14:42

      Where are you finding the Shop Small map please? Can’t see a link in the email and all the info on http://www.amexshopsmall.co.uk seems to relate to last year? Thanks

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