Bits: bonus Avios on all BA Amex spend, £10 supermarket cashback with Amex, win a £12k Malaysia holiday

News in brief:

Get bonus Avios on all BA Amex spend until 27th December

American Express is currently running a special offer for all British Airways American Express cardholders.

You may have been emailed about this last week, but if you have opted out of email marketing you won’t have seen it.  The offer is automatic (Amex has confirmed to me that all cardholders are eligible) and does not require registration.

You will earn 1 bonus Avios for every £4 you spend on your BA or BAPP (or indeed BAP if you’re an old timer) American Express card until 27th December.

The bonus is ‘per transaction’ and you receive one bonus Avios for every full £4 spent.  A £7.99 purchase would earn one bonus Avios, for example, whilst a £12 purchase would earn three.

The official terms and conditions for the deal are very badly written and imply that you get one bonus Avios per transaction of £4+.  I have spoken to Amex and they have confirmed that it is one bonus Avios per multiple of £4, as in my example above.

The offer is valid for both UK and overseas spend.

For British Airways Premium Plus cardholders, this bonus takes the effective rate – at least on larger transactions where the impact of rounding down is negligible – to 1.75 Avios per £1 spent.  This is highest earning rate on any UK travel rewards credit card, at least for the next 17 days.

If you applied for a card today it should arrive before Christmas, allowing you to get the bonus over the first couple of days of the sales.  The free British Airways American Express card comes with a sign-up bonus of 5,000 Avios (apply here, full BA Amex review here) whilst the Premium Plus card comes with a sign-up bonus of 25,000 Avios (apply here, full BA Premium Plus Amex review here).

Interest rates:  BA – representative APR 22.9% variable.  BAPP – representative APR 76.0% variable including £195 fee based on a notional £1200 credit limit.  Interest rate on purchases 22.9% variable.

And save £10 on supermarket spend this Christmas …..

Talking of Amex, a new supermarket promotion has appeared on a lot of cards.

If targetted, you will receive £10 statement credit when you spend £50 at a participating supermarket by 31st December.

BA Amex cardholders may have an alternative version offering 1,000 Avios.

‘Participating supermarket’ means Aldi, ASDA, Co-Op, Iceland, Lidl, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose.

Look out for exclusions, which include supermarket petrol stations and in-store chemists.  Interestingly, the M&S offer works at all stores and is NOT restricted to food spending – I did a £50 M&S clothing spend yesterday and got an email confirming it had triggered the cashback.

There is no mention of whether cumulative spend counts.

Remember that you need to click ‘Save To Card’ under the ‘Offers’ tab of your online statement page, or in the app, to qualify for the offer.

Win a £12,000 Malaysia holiday with Malaysia Airlines

If you enjoyed Rhys’s review of Malaysia Airlines business class earlier this year (see here), you will be interested in this new competition that the airline has launched with Conde Nast Traveller magazine.

Malaysia Airlines, The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur and Tanjong Jara Resort are offering the winner and a guest a six-night trip to Malaysia, staying in Kuala Lumpur and Terengganu, including return business class flights.  The total prize is valued at £12,000.

You don’t need to be a subscriber to Conde Nast Traveller to enter.  You simply need to visit this page of the Conde Nast Traveller website and answer the very simple question.  Entries close on 5th February.

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