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Bits: Club Eurostar Shop opens, has the Avios reward chart vanished?, Cathay Pacific sale

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News in brief:

The Club Eurostar Shop opens for business

One aspect of the new Club Eurostar programme I haven’t touched on yet is the new Club Eurostar shop.

This offers a new redemption option for those travellers who are – in the nicest possible way – sick to death of Eurostar after weekly commutes and would prefer to use their points for something totally different!

The Club Eurostar Shop is only available to mid-tier Avantage and top-tier Carte Blanche members.  You will find a link on your home page after you log in.

There is certainly a lot on offer and the quality level seems to be pitched right given the target Eurostar market.

Regular readers won’t be surprised to know that the value you get is not great.  I ran a few examples and you seem to be getting around 3p per point.

This isn’t Club Eurostar trying to rip you off, it is simply logical because of how these schemes work.  If you redeem for, say, a Pure Evoke H3 DAB radio (3,460 points) then Eurostar has to buy it for you for £120.  They would be happier if you redeemed for a Eurostar ticket which costs them virtually nothing in comparison.  This is why you get around 10p to 15p per point for train redemptions.

That said, I am always in favour of giving people more choice when it comes to redemptions and the Club Eurostar Shop does add a lot of new options.

Has the Avios reward chart vanished?

I was trying to find the Avios pricing chart on ba.com yesterday.  Since the site had its revamp, however, I can’t find it anywhere.

If you want to know how much a redemption costs, it seems that you need to plug in your route into the redemption flight calculator here.

I also looked on avios.com.  It still has a zonal map but nothing as simple as the table below.

This is, of course “not a good thing”.  An unwillingness to be upfront about what redemptions actually cost is the first step to removing reward charts altogether and moving to some form of variable pricing.

Redemption chart 2

The zones relate to the distance flown:

  • Zone 1:  1 – 650 miles
  • Zone 2:  651 – 1,150 miles
  • Zone 3:  1,151 – 2,000 miles
  • Zone 4:  2,001 – 3,000 miles
  • Zone 5:  3,001 – 4,000 miles
  • Zone 6:  4,001 – 5,500 miles
  • Zone 7:  5,501 – 6,500 miles
  • Zone 8:  6,501 – 7,000 miles
  • Zone 9:  7,000+ miles

Cathay Pacific launches its winter sale

The Cathay Pacific sale is now on, with headline prices to Asia from £489 in Economy.

Business Class deals start at £2999 to Australia and New Zealand, £2359 to China, £2469 to Japan and Korea and £3619 to Hong Kong.  (Hong Kong is never a great deal with Cathay because it is a direct flight from the UK, other destinations require a change of plane.)   These are for travel from 9th January to 30th September 2018.

Cathay Pacific is a member of oneworld, so you will earn Avios and British Airways tier points when you fly with them.

Don’t forget that Cathay also flies from Manchester as well as Heathrow and Gatwick.

Full details are on the Cathay Pacific website here.

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, Cathay Pacific and Asia Miles, Club Eurostar

Comments (73)

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

  • TripRep says:
    19 Dec19 December 05:20

    Bits O/T: Got a few bills to pay and was wondering about options to continue my HH Gold that’s set to expire in the spring… (Yes I know an upgrade from Amex Gold to Amex Plat is also an option)

    If you spend over £10k on a Hilton Plat Visa in a calendar year to keep/activate Hilton Gold, when does the status start & expire….?
    https://headforpoints.com/2017/10/23/hilton-hhonors-platinum-visa-credit-card-review-3/

    • Jon says:
      19 Dec19 December 10:27

      Hi TripRep,
      I hit through spending target for the HH card in September 16 and got Hilton gold from September 16 to end March 18. This is assuming you don’t hit the target again in 2017 to extend the status into 2018.

      • Jon says:
        19 Dec19 December 10:27

        * I hit the. Autocorrect …

      • Cate says:
        19 Dec19 December 10:37

        I was told it was as long as I kept the card.

        • Jon says:
          19 Dec19 December 10:54

          That’s for the silver status – so a useful card to have even if you don’t hit the spending target for gold!

        • Cate says:
          19 Dec19 December 13:29

          @Jon, thanks for that and you are right. I remembered querying it last year and this is the message i received from Barclaycard:

          ‘I would like to inform you that once £10,000 is spent in a calendar year you are automatically upgraded to Gold status for the remainder of the year and the whole of the following year. Hilton customers automatically receive Silver status as long as the account remains open’

          • Rob says:
            19 Dec19 December 13:33

            …. and to March of the year after that, as all Hilton statuses expire in March.

  • Stu N says:
    19 Dec19 December 07:53

    Following yesterday’s comment can confirm Amex does work at EDI WHS. £2.59 so not the highest value but every little helps.

    • the real harry1 says:
      19 Dec19 December 07:58

      of course, it was never in doubt

      @WHS T3 I point blank refused to hand over my BP @ payment and they just shrugged, I guess they get this a lot after the media kerfuffle

      • Stu N says:
        19 Dec19 December 08:18

        It was for me. You know when people tell you you’re wrong but you’re so sure you are right, that you have to see for yourself? Well, now I have seen for myself and I admit I am wrong.

        It wasn’t even like the Amex logo was smaller or hidden or anything….

        • Cate says:
          19 Dec19 December 13:49

          You did the right thing in my view. It’s important to check everything before you part with money based on something you’ve read on the internet. No offence to HfP’s who are usually right on the ball 🙂

      • Lady London says:
        19 Dec19 December 12:08

        I always go straight to the “manual” queue for the till at WHS in airports now. Because the machines ask for your boarding pass. They are quite used to people doing this now who don’t want to give information to assist WHS marketing analysis as to who’s buying what flying where. It’s not necessary and WHS cannot insist on seeing your boarding pass as WHS is not selling duty free.

        • the real harry1 says:
          19 Dec19 December 14:23

          they do actually claim back the VAT (ie swelling WHS coffers) for people not flying to EU/ EEA destinations

          I think that’s their main motivation

          • Rob says:
            19 Dec19 December 14:27

            It is their only motivation. However there is no VAT on a lot of what WHS sells, remember. Nothing on books, magazines or newspapers. Admittedly those giant toblerones do have it.

  • the real harry1 says:
    19 Dec19 December 08:08

    O/T British Airways has cancelled around 100 UK and European flights on Tuesday
    http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/flights-winter-mayhem-manchester-heathrow-flybe-british-airways-easyjet-a8117586.html

    this is where the merits of airport expansion @ Gatwick/ Boris Island would come into their own, ie LHR will NEVER get away from this sort of disruption

    not because it is especially prone to fog but because even with a 3rd runway, the runway traffic is so intense that precautionary cancellations in the event of bad weather are inevitable, leading to all sorts of follow-on problems with aircraft out of position etc

    I had a real soft-spot for Boris Island, which with dedicated motorway & train links would have been just a few minutes more away from Greater London than LHR/ GTW – plus with no significant population to worry about, the flight day could have been expanded by a couple of hours even with flight heading out/ coming in over the sea

    a much better use of a few spare £billions than HS2 🙂

    • Alan says:
      19 Dec19 December 08:20

      I agree that Boris Island would suit some, but not very helpful for those coming from anywhere west of London (as London is pretty much on the east coast, that’s quite a few of us).

    • Cate says:
      19 Dec19 December 12:47

      We live at Gatwick and it was freezing but there was no fog. It was a very clear night. Gatwick, unlike HR is open 24/7 – other aircraft where coming and leaving.

  • wally1976 says:
    19 Dec19 December 08:20

    OT – I took a gamble and applied for a new SPG Amex recently without waiting the full 6 months from previous cancellation. I’ve noticed the ‘spend tracker’ isn’t updating, it still says £0.00 spent and £1000.00 to go for the sign-up bonus even though I’ve spent £550 on it in the last couple of weeks. So looks like I probably won’t get the sign-up bonus – I have no complaints about this of course but just wondering what other people’s experience is of this.

    • GB74 says:
      19 Dec19 December 08:59

      You might be ok – on my wife and I’s last churn of SPG it took around a fortnight for the spend tracker to even show up and earned points to be visible on our account pages. Was all fine in the end. Also took 10 days for points to transfer at the end of the month rather than the couple it normally is.

      • wally1976 says:
        19 Dec19 December 11:06

        I hope you’re right but I have my doubts as the spend tracker is showing (zero) and the normal earned points are also showing correctly. I might get on live chat and ask then at least I’ll know!

    • Scottydoggiom says:
      19 Dec19 December 09:29

      I done it with Amex gold by mistake recently , instead of waiting 6 months , i miss calculated and applied again after 5 months and a few days . The spend count down tracker was missing so i opened up a chat with them and they confirmed that i had not waited the 6 months so was not entitled to the sign up bonus again . shame , so i cancelled there and then and applied for a BA card the next week 🙂

      • wally1976 says:
        19 Dec19 December 11:08

        🙂 if I don’t get this sign-up bonus I shall keep the card for a while anyway – until I can refer my wife in February (which will be 6 months for her). Then I’ll put it down as a lesson learned for future reference!

  • Anna says:
    19 Dec19 December 09:15

    Hmmm, when the term “dynamic pricing” popped up in relation to avios it made me a bit apprehensive. Following on from the short thread yesterday about sought-after redemption seats, perhaps the price of a flight to Male or Sydney will be a million avios if Mr Cruz sees this as his daily cost cutting opportunity!

    • Mikeact says:
      19 Dec19 December 09:24

      I guess the removal of the chart is indeed, the sign of things to come. At the moment, doing some dummy bookings, there seems to be no ‘ inflation’ of Avios required throughout 2018, but it would certainly be useful, somehow, to get a ‘heads up’ going forward. Would Avios.com have to give a period of notice, ie weeks, months ?

      • Rob says:
        19 Dec19 December 09:32

        They are not going to change anything short term, don’t worry about that. It is probably more BA IT incompetence or, more likely, an acceptance that they have made the chart so ludicrously complex most members can’t understand it.

    • Rob says:
      19 Dec19 December 09:33

      This makes little sense because it ‘breaks’ the dynamics of the scheme. Luckily.

  • DanTTL says:
    19 Dec19 December 09:26

    OT – trying to work out the best way strategy with credit card points if anyone can help! I have a BA PP Amex and have just earned my 2-4-1 in Dec, my year starts in July. I now have 3 vouchers queued up to use. I understand that I need to keep a BA Amex to use them, but thinking I should downgrade to the Blue and get a 50% rebate on my annual fee?
    At the same time I have an Amex Platinum which will hit its first anniversary in January, I’m planning to cancel before then as the £450 fee isn’t worth it for me without a sign-up bonus. That would leave me with just a BA Blue. I would then wait six months and sign-up for a new card (probably a Gold).
    I spend around £2500/month on cards mostly for work. Am I missing a trick anywhere? Should I be looking at supplementary cards? I don’t have a partner but could get a card for a family member and use it for my spend (most of it is online hotel bookings etc).
    Any advice much appreciated!

    • Optimus Prime says:
      19 Dec19 December 09:30

      You don’t need to keep any BA Amex to use them. Just wait till they pop up in your BA account and cancel the card.

      You could also churn the SPG Amex. Every 20k points you convert to Airmiles will give you an extra 5k miles. Or save them for a Marriott Travel Package.

      • Optimus Prime says:
        19 Dec19 December 09:34

        Also the IHG Black Card (£99 non-refundable fee) would give you a free night certificate when you spend £10k. This can be redeemed at very nice and expensive properties such as Intercontinental Amsterdam or Paris.

      • DanTTL says:
        19 Dec19 December 10:30

        Ah, I was sure I’d heard you need to keep it… or is just that you need any Amex card to pay the taxes when you redeem?
        Thanks for the advice, will check out the SPG card.

        • Alan says:
          19 Dec19 December 19:56

          You just need ANY Amex to pay, doesn’t matter which flavour (Lloyds, MBNA, etc. all fine too).

    • Genghis says:
      19 Dec19 December 10:27

      Find a friend / family member you can use as your ‘partner’ for referrals.

  • Scottydoggiom says:
    19 Dec19 December 09:32

    With regards to BA’s reward charts , since the revamp of the website , they don’t seem to have the interactive map like they used to ? unless im just being blind . I used to like using that to get an idea of where my points could take me

  • Geoff says:
    19 Dec19 December 09:48

    OT: BA’s Low price finder is showing a lot of “sale” fares – presumably loaded up ready for a launch today or tomorrow.

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