Avios Ireland: You can no longer earn Avios points from the free Bank of Ireland personal credit card

As a reminder, our occasional AerClub / Avios Ireland coverage only appears on the HFP website. We do not email these articles to our subscribers unless it is an offer available to UK readers.

Aer Lingus recently launched its first Irish co-branded credit card with Bank of Ireland.  We covered it in detail here.   The general response from our Irish readers was underwhelming given the stonking €7.99 monthly fee for holding the card.

There was an alternative if you didn’t want to pay €7.99 per month.  This was it:

If you had the standard Bank of Ireland personal credit card, you could also leverage this to earn a handful of Avios points on your day to day spending.  This is because the Bank of Ireland personal credit card let you earn SuperValu Real Rewards points.

You received:

1 Real Rewards point for every €1 you spent in SuperValu on your credit card

1 Real Rewards point for every €10 you spent elsewhere

With the 1:1 conversion of SuperValu points into Avios, this wasn’t a great return – 1 Avios point per €10 spent.  The card was free, apart from Irish stamp duty, so it was better than nothing.  For many people it was certainly better than paying €7.99 per month for the official AerClub credit card.

Unfortunately, Bank of Ireland and SuperValu are ending their relationship.

From 1st April, you will no longer earn Real Rewards points when you spend on a Bank of Ireland personal credit card.  This closes off the only alternative credit card route to earning Avios in Ireland.

If you have this card, you are going to have to decide whether to give up collecting Avios from credit card spend or bite the bullet and pay the €7.99 for the ‘official’ Aer Lingus card – although unless your spend is high I doubt it will be worth it.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – January 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our January 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus. 

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here.

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these:

Disclaimer: Head for Points is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Recommendations are based primarily on the ability to earn miles and points and do not consider interest rates, service levels or any impact on your credit history.  By recommending credit cards on this site, I am – technically – acting as a credit broker.  Robert Burgess, trading as Head for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a credit broker.