Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

BP is leaving Nectar on 31st May

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

BP has confirmed it is leaving Nectar on 31st May.

As we covered in this long article back in March, there are major changes in petrol station loyalty taking place this Summer.

Shell Drivers Club is closing to be replaced by a new scheme called Shell Go+.  This is NOT points based and so you cannot earn Avios.  The last day to collect Avios from Shell Drivers Club is 30th June.  Learn more on ba.com here.

Esso is withdrawing from Tesco Clubcard.  The exact date is not known but I assume it will be 31st May.

BP is withdrawing from Nectar.  The date for this is now confirmed as 31st May.  You will not be able to earn or spend Nectar points at BP from this date.

Once this is done, Esso will be signing up with Nectar on 1st June – a move that I genuinely cannot understand, since Nectar has about as much traction with the public as a greasy pole.  You can already register your Nectar number via the Esso app.

In terms of points collection opportunities:

Avios collectors can only collect at Tesco filling stations, via Clubcard conversions.  You will no longer be able to earn via Shell Drivers Club or Esso.

Virgin Flying Club collectors can only collect at Tesco filling stations, via Clubcard conversion.  You will no longer be able to earn via Esso.  The Texaco / Virgin Atlantic partnership ended last year.

Nectar collectors cannot earn at BP from 30th May but will be able to collect at Esso from 1st June.

We will cover this again in more detail nearer to the time that Shell Drivers Club closes.

You can learn more about the end of the Avios / Shell partnership on this special page of ba.com.

Our review of the American Express Nectar credit card is here if you are interested in other ways of boosting your Nectar points.

HFP-Barclaycard-Avios-Card

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (September 2023)

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 £12,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points.

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

30,000 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.

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

Get a 10,000 points bonus plus an extra 500 points for our readers 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.

EDIT: Applications for this card are temporarily suspended due to IT issues with the British Airways On Business SME loyalty scheme.

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 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

Sainsbury's and Nectar

Comments (175)

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

  • Alan says:
    16 May16 May 18:49

    O/T – I have booked some nights in the HIE Mongkok (25K points per night) for next February but didn’t have enough points to book all the nights I need. Just rechecked availability and it is now 30K points per night. Do IHG often put up the required points for a hotel when they aren’t doing a widespread announced increase?

    • Rob says:
      16 May16 May 19:35

      Happens occasionally, yes.

      • Alan says:
        16 May16 May 19:48

        Thanks. Live and learn!

        • BJ says:
          16 May16 May 22:14

          You might get lucky with the new points break list, due out soon I think.

          • Alan says:
            17 May17 May 10:41

            Thanks, although probably unlikely if they have only just put it up. I’ll keep my eyes out for the new list though.

  • AmexNoMore says:
    16 May16 May 19:58

    O/T i Just tried calling to downgrade, who said that they can’t downgrade on the phone. I need to apply for new green card online, then call to merge MR accounts and then cancel Platinum… Have others had to do it this route? Seems convoluted!

    • Lumma says:
      16 May16 May 20:40

      Not exactly the same but that’s what I had to when I wanted a rewards credit card to keep my MR balance alive but not pay for gold second year. Apply for new one and then close gold. Seemed a waste of a credit check when they’re both credit cards

  • Huge fan says:
    16 May16 May 20:27

    OT Rob your doppelgänger was at the refinery regents place this evening, I almost asked for a selfie

    • Rob says:
      16 May16 May 22:15

      Wasn’t me, I was flying in from Oman!

      • BJ says:
        16 May16 May 22:59

        Oman Air, will we be getting a review? I’vd been tempted to give them a try sometime when I need to be in London so the two stops wouldn’t matter.

  • Liz says:
    16 May16 May 20:28

    OT Does spend in Dixons at T5 and World of Duty together count towards the Heathrow Rewards 3000 bonus offer when spending £150 or is it just World of Duty – I can’t remember if there are spending rules.

    • BJ says:
      16 May16 May 20:39

      Any combination of participating merchants totalling over £150 in a single day. Hold on to all your receipts.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      16 May16 May 21:55

      Yep anywhere in LHR as long as they participate plus services like parking.

      Usually you can only use the money off spend vouchers in WoDF

  • Yawn says:
    16 May16 May 20:41

    O/T I’m about to book a Qatar airways flight from the UK to Australia – does anyone know of any discount codes? There have been so many in the past, including on this site… (Or any knowledge about a sale around the corner?) Seems worth asking. No Amex offers that I can see, sadly.

    • Shoestring says:
      16 May16 May 20:50

      try code TAXDAY in the promo box

    • AndyL says:
      16 May16 May 21:08

      This sounds unbelievable/unlikely but worked for me with QR…. Buy something / anything from Argos / Trainline dot com and on the receipt page click on “ I want to save £16.87 of this purchase… then sign up for complete savings dot com ( and yes I know its £15 pcm subscription but bear with me ) Then amongst many other retailers one can click on Qatar airways and have 10% refunded when one books via ones complete savings dot com account.

      It even worked for me ex EU during a sale to Asia !!

      Of course one needs to upload a suitable receipt once every month to claim the £15 subscription back and it can be a pain … but surely this method (if one has the time to make the initial Argos online purchase )

  • Dale says:
    16 May16 May 22:26

    I haven’t seen anything on here, but is there a Hilton UK sale on right now?
    I’m getting sale prices coming up on the site.

    • Lady London says:
      17 May17 May 01:55

      Maybe they loaded some to compete with IHG who just announced

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.

Get 40,000 bonus Membership Rewards with the American Express Business Platinum Card

Amex Business Platinum

Get 20,000 bonus points and your first year free with American Express Gold

Amex Gold

Latest Forum Posts

Get 30,000 points with American Express Platinum

Amex Gold

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

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

GET £10 CASHBACK WHEN YOU SPEND £150 ON CURRENSEA

Currensea

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? Earn points worth 10,500 Avios with Capital On Tap

SPECIAL OFFER: Get 30,000 Virgin Points with a Virgin Atlantic Reward+ card!

VAA

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!