Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Big changes to Tesco Clubcard – with no notice – as many redemptions dropped or cut in value

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Tesco announced a pile of changes to the Clubcard scheme yesterday.  We have covered these in detail on Shopper Points today – click here.  We covered them for The Guardian as well – see here.

In general, the changes are bad.

Some little-used ‘two times’ deals will now give 3x face value, but a lot more deals which used to give 4x face value are dropping to 3x.  This mainly impacts restaurant and days out vouchers.

Big changes to Tesco Clubcard with no notice

From a travel perspective, it is actually positive to neutral:

National Express, Megabus and redspottedhanky.com (train tickets) credit now gets you 3x the face value of your Clubcard vouchers, up from 2x

There is no change to the Avios or Virgin Flying Club conversion rates 

You have also gained Uber and hotels.com as new 3x face value redemption partners this year.  Uber is now my preferred redemption as we use it heavily and it is a genuine ‘3x’ value.  If I took Avios instead I would be giving up £3 of Uber for every 240 Avios I earned which means I would be ‘paying’ 1.25p per Avios – and I don’t value them at that.

To do this without ANY notice at all stinks, however.  It particularly stinks that we are just 9 days from the end of the current Clubcard collection quarter.  People have 10 weeks of points locked up inside Clubcard which cannot now be spent at the old 4x redemption rate.

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

Tesco Clubcard

Comments (261)

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

  • The streets says:
    16 Jan16 January 07:34

    I received a new AMEX platinum at the weekend – just over six months since cancelling the previous one. however, after activating the card, it is not showing my welcome sign up bonus on my account page (or anywhere else). luckily i found my previous cancellation letter and spoke to AMEX. they said that i was entitled to the bonus but would take some time to appear on my account page…. i really hope this is not the end of repeat sign up bonuses !

  • Anna says:
    16 Jan16 January 07:38

    Rob, you don’t actually say what the two people told you! (Though I know there was a comment mentioning changes to the 6 month rule a few days ago).

    No more sign up bonuses would leave me with a measly 40k or so avios per year from card spend so I desperately hope the end of churning is not nigh, however if it did happen I would think that Amex are going to lose an awful lot of customers.

    • Martin says:
      16 Jan16 January 08:04

      Couldn’t agree more, right now I’m start/mid 6 month break with both me and my Mrs now not eligible for any bonuses so this change would hit me badly and would mean a real Avios re-think

    • Genghis says:
      16 Jan16 January 08:05

      Do Amex really want customers like me who they make no money from? I doubt it. My best guess is that the vast majority of people would be unaffected by any changes.

      • mark2 says:
        16 Jan16 January 08:20

        Exactly; they lose money on me too. This is exactly what I would o if I were a senior manager at American Express.

    • JamesB says:
      16 Jan16 January 08:47

      Best case scenario is that it’s all rumour. If it’s true, a good result would be retaining current system but extending reapplication period. Worst case scenario would be one bonus per card per custoner ever. Whatever, I cannot see them scrapping bonuses because they need them to drive applications as I suspect most people still see amex as some type of niche card compared to mastercard or visa.

      Also, don’t forget that amex has a much simpler tool at it’s dusposal to deal with the likes of me and other serial churners here who are just costing them money.

    • Andrew says:
      16 Jan16 January 17:47

      Why would amex lose customers? Even with no churning their ongoing earning rates beat everything else so there’d be no reason for anyone to close accounts.

  • M says:
    16 Jan16 January 07:39

    When cancelling the free BA card, do I need to wait 6months to apply for BAPP to get the signup bonus?

  • simon says:
    16 Jan16 January 07:43

    Just got my Hilton Honours Gold via my amex platinum…. And about to book Hilton Sa Torre in Mallorca on Rob;’s recco….. Is it right that you dont get the Hilton Gold benefits (ie free breakfast) if I book via a travel agent. Amex Travel are coming in much cheaper (c 25%), and the hotel direct will not match it….

    • Leo says:
      16 Jan16 January 08:06

      As a diamond I found this hotel very unwilling to provide any HH benefits (no upgrades, no late check out, weeks to post points which were wrong) – aside from breakfast which to be fair was good aside from lack of and variable quality of staff. In fact I’ve never experienced ruder staff in any hotel from front desk through to one particular waiter and junior management. Very clear indication that they Don’t buy into Hilton Honors. I’ve never got over it! Miles from anywhere too.

      • simon says:
        16 Jan16 January 08:27

        Thanks Leo. Was going to book 5 nights here then move to Jumeirah Port Soller for another 5 nights. Have hired a car too… Seems such a shame that Mallorca in general has no decent hotels for family holidays besides the 2000Euro a night places…..

        • Rob says:
          16 Jan16 January 08:35

          Smart thing to do is buy Hyatt points in a promo and then book the Park Hyatt – cuts a huge amount off the cost.

          Fine Hotels and Resorts will earn Hilton credit, Amex Travel probably won’t. Losing free brekky is expensive at Sa Torre and you are miles from any alternative, Upgrades in peak season are unlikely unless you are on a very short stay.

      • simon says:
        16 Jan16 January 08:42

        Thanks Rob. Amex is £340 a night for a family suite with brekky, which seems a steal for August. Struggling with other alternatives in Mallorca

        • Rob says:
          16 Jan16 January 08:51

          That’s not bad, as long as it is clearly the same level of room as shown on the Hilton site. It is a decent hotel, I would go back (and we paid cash, it wasn’t points). Worth trying Hilton BRG though just in case as long as Amex Travel accept all credit cards. If they only take Amex the BRG is rejected as it is a ‘membership’ site.

        • Leo says:
          16 Jan16 January 12:30

          We’ll have to keep agreeing to disagree on this one Rob. Worst experience I’ve had in a hotel in the Med. I was paying cash and it was mid September so no excuse for any of it! Far better hotels on the island but I appreciate August is crazy price-wise.

    • Dave says:
      16 Jan16 January 08:12

      If the room and cancellation conditions etc are exactly the same you could book direct and claim under their BRG. They will match the rate and give a further 25% discount if successful.

      • simon says:
        16 Jan16 January 08:28

        Looked at doing this last year at the Waldorf in Dubai. They get round it so easily by claiming the room/package/conditions are very slightly different…..

      • Brian says:
        16 Jan16 January 08:34

        Good luck with that!! BRG is, with most chains, just a con. They generally find some way to get around it, even if it’s only waiting until prices change before processing the claim. Unless one is happy to pay the more expensive rate and sees the potential discount simply as a bonus, it’s not worth going down that route.

        • Rob says:
          16 Jan16 January 08:36

          You will find that one has a 2pm check in and one has a 3pm check in, or one has a ‘windmill view’ and one has a ‘tall tower with blades on it that go round’ view which they will claim is different.

        • Kai says:
          16 Jan16 January 09:51

          I’ve done BRG with Hilton 4 or 5 times and all got approved very quickly without a hassle.

  • Neil says:
    16 Jan16 January 07:58

    Will suck if there’s no churning at 6 months. I’m currently in the waiting period for both a PRG for my wife, and a BAPP for me.

    Was wanting the BAPP in about May or June so I could pay my large BA holiday balance with it for many bonus Avios, as well as instantly hitting the spend target.

    Please don’t spoil my plans, Amex!

  • JamesB says:
    16 Jan16 January 08:21

    I agree the Tesco approach to these changes stink. They tend to hurt people on low incomes most, many save their vouchers for a long time for days out to give their kids a treat. It was the same with double up in store,, people saved for most of the year with intention of buying toys for Christmas only for the double up to be scrapped, halving their spending power.

  • Adil says:
    16 Jan16 January 08:24

    Does anyone know when Amex stopped offering the BA PP card for free to Plat holders?

  • MS says:
    16 Jan16 January 08:31

    Is there a way of checking which date I cancelled my Amex Gold card, as I am struggling to find any record that they sent over of cancellation?

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

NEW: Sign-up bonuses boosted to 3,000 and 18,000 points

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!