Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Groupon is selling Avios points from a mileage broker ….

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For the first time, Groupon UK is selling Avios points.  We have seen this on Groupon Spain and Groupon Ireland before, but not here.

Full details of the offer are here.

The prices are:

  • 10,000 Avios for £129
  • 20,000 Avios for £249
  • 30,000 Avios for £359
  • 40,000 Avios for £479
  • 50,000 Avios for £569

In all cases, these prices are lower than you will pay via the current ba.com ‘buy Avios’ deal we covered the other day.

So far, so good.  Except ….. the Avios are NOT being sold by British Airways.  They are being sold by a US group called buyairlinemiles.com.  If you visit their website, it is quite clear that they are basically a mileage broker, someone who finds ways of trading miles against the rules of the programmes.  The T&C’s say:

“We, at buyairlinemiles.com, are in no way affiliated with any of the respective, selected airlines.”

This looks very dubious to me and I am pretty sure that British Airways knows nothing about it.  For a start, Groupon calls them ‘Avios miles’ – BA / Avios Group is very specific that they must be called just ‘Avios’ (not ‘Avios points’ and certainly not ‘Avios miles’) at all times, in all communications.

Now …. you may well get your points if you buy.  If you use a credit card, you are protected by Section 75 chargeback coverage and indeed Groupon’s own guarantee.  I would be wary, however.


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.

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.

Comments (140)

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

  • Lady London says:

    Defo go back to them on this and say you want the full 60 days notice in writing (email acceptable) of which exact date the changes will take place on and that what they have provided is not conformant with your t’s and c’s (assuming you have same as everybody else)..

  • G says:

    If BA find you’ve traded in adios you can be kicked out of exec club and loose all you adios and other benefits, not worth it

  • Newbie Pointser says:

    The groupon page says “not available”….. all groupon points seem to be sold out.

    Question for the avios experts: I want to book using Avios to go to from LON to RIO (GIG) May 2020 lie flat bed, for 2 people, would prefer BA….. as i understand it the best thing is to buy via Iberia, that way the airline taxes are far lower, and I can even simply book from LHR to GIG via BA, but booked via the Iberia Plus site (of which I am now a proud member with “0” points, awaiting my 90 day probation period to end).
    I’m budgeting 75000 return per person for Club World – have i read the pricing charts correctly?
    Is the best strategy to buy business class with avios, or try for an upgrade after springing some more cash for premium economy? (I can keep any extra avios for later adventures)

    I’m going to load up with BA’s 45% offer to get reach my target of 150,000 avios.

    That would be 2 x lie flats for the cash upfront price of approx £1615, so thats suffiicient vfm for me….

    By the time I book I may have added a few more from here and there, and also some actual flying to Madrid for a few days break credited to the Iberia Plus account.

    • Doug M says:

      Is the £1615 just the cost of the Avios? If so I think you’re under estimating the real cost. Firstly you have no guarantee of availability with Avios. Iberia may have lower fees, but they’re not nothing, and if you book from London on a single ticket they’ll be £172 ADP regardless of other fees. 75K is the BA off peak price I think.

      • Newbie Pointser says:

        Annoying… in fact the redemption chart was one way.
        so for each traveller I need 150k, so 300k in total.
        £1615 is about what I can pay for TAP or even KLM business class, so i guess its down to how much I care about the BA business class offering.
        Maybe paying premium economy and upgrading is a better use of miles, is that a practical option? I know its not common with virgin, who i normally fly with.
        Failing that I’ll focus on virgin points which i’ve got a healthy balance. thing is virgin don’t fly there, although it looks like i maybe able to use KLM \ Air France in near future.

    • Rob says:

      The BA lawyers have had it pulled.

  • Declan says:

    “BA / Avios Group is very specific that they must be called just ‘Avios’ (not ‘Avios points’ and certainly not ‘Avios miles’) at all times, in all communications”… someone forgot to tell that to Aer Lingus. The Aer Lingus App displays your balance as ‘My Avios Points’

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