Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

BA news: Cruise118 Avios winner, half-term British Airways family treats

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News in brief:

We have a winner of our Cruise118 competition

Thank you to everyone who entered our recent Cruise118 competition.

Congratulations to Ruth H, who was the lucky winner of 100,000 Avios.

If you or a family member are thinking about a cruise, remember that you can earn 3 Avios for every £1 spent with Cruise118.

There are some great February offers available at the moment when you book with Cruise118 including:

  • Up to $700 onboard spending included with Celebrity Cruises (that’s a hell of a lot of cocktails ….)
  • Kids sail from just £99pp with Royal Caribbean
  • Save 10% with Silversea
  • All-inclusive drinks with MSC Cruises

Cruise118 also has a price-match promise – if you find a cheaper price elsewhere, they’ll match it, which means you can always maximise your Avios earning potential when booking a cruise. Use this link to the Cruise118 website to see how many Avios you’ll earn with any itinerary.

Ruth has been contacted so if there are any other Ruth H’s out there reading, I’m afraid it wasn’t you this time. 

Thanks again for taking part and make sure you check out our new Qatar Airways competition to win two Business Class flights.

Earn Avios with Cruise118

British Airways running a new family promotion for half term

If you travelling through Heathrow (from 14th to 17th February) or Gatwick (from 14th to 21st February) with children, you may be able to take part in a new ‘I love to travel’ feature.

The check-in desks will be handing out blank cards headlined ‘I love to travel because …..’.  Your children will be encouraged to fill them in and hand them to the cabin crew upon boarding.

Assuming that flight conditions allow, the Captain or First Officer will read out as many of the cards as possible over the PA system during the flight.  Children who have their cards read out will, if possible, be invited to the flight deck on landing for a photo opportunity with the pilots.

Here’s one which I saw on Twitter yesterday although I have some doubts about its authenticity:

British Airways launches a great deal to …. Shanghai

Who wouldn’t want to travel to Shanghai at the moment?

British Airways is keen to send you, albeit it doesn’t actually have any flights operating.  Don’t let that put you off though.

You can currently book British Airways flights from Madrid or Barcelona to Shanghai for just £1,100.  This is a great deal, especially as you will pick up (amongst other things you might pick up) 360 Executive Club tier points for the trip.

This fare is available virtually every day from 1st April which is when flights are due to resume.

You can book on ba.com here.

PS.  If you missed it, take a look at our recent article on the top 10 reasons to apply for the FREE British Airways American Express credit card.


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 (181)

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

  • Dr Doo says:

    @Shoestring
    Do you know if you can use the Morrison Gift card to buy a gift voucher for say Amazon like you could with the paper vouchers?

    Thanks

  • Navara says:

    “Up to $700 onboard spending included with Celebrity Cruises (that’s a hell of a lot of cocktails…)”

    Not at their prices with a 18% service charge on top

  • Waddle says:

    Very OT, apologies
    Any readers with U.S. Amexes? Can you add your U.S. card to the same app as your UK cards?

    • Youllnever says:

      I tried to do that with my HK amex and it didn’t work – required me to open a separate online account + app. I have a feeling that applies to US ones as well.

    • Matthew says:

      Unfortunately, nope. You need the “US” version of the app which is only available from the US App Store / Play Store so you’ll need to create a US Apple ID or Google Play account to access it. I personally have cards with Amex in the UK, US, and Canada and it’s definitely annoying how I need separate App Store logins to download each app.

  • Secret Squirrel says:

    Just read that BA are flying NQY -LHR this summer.

    • ChrisC says:

      yes for 4 days a week for 2 months!

      • Shoestring says:

        great for Cornwall/ tourism

        I might not need a £1 car rental this summer hols 🙂

        I bet the timetable won’t fit my flight

  • Anna says:

    OT – hopefully Lady London will see this!
    I am in dispute with Farfetch who sent me the wrong handbag and will only offer a refund, not a replacement. I don’t want a refund as this would invalidate the 5000 bonus avios offer on my BAPP. Farfetch are now saying they only act as a intermediary between customers and sellers and therefore they have no obligations to me under consumer law – is this correct? They process all payments and refunds so I find it hard to believe they have no liability whatsoever in this.
    Thanks in advance!

    • Anna says:

      Even worse, the Citizen’s Advice website suggests that S 75 doesn’t apply to third party sellers 🤦‍♀️

      • Shoestring says:

        I guess you saw the T&Cs [We provide the Services to you through the Website. Further details of the Services we provide are set out in section 3 below. When you purchase products using the Website, you are purchasing them from the third party retailers (“Partner(s)”) named on the Website. It is important that you understand that the contract for the purchase of the products is between you and the relevant Partner. We are acting as agent on behalf of the Partners, which are the principals. You are not purchasing the products from us. We are authorised by the relevant Partners to conclude the contract on their behalf but we are not a party to that contract and you are not purchasing the products from us. Further details about the products, the Partners and the contract between you and the Partners in relation to your purchase of the products are set out in sections 5, 6 and 7 below.]

        nice way to swerve S75!

    • Lady London says:

      nasty, nasty. Almost as though Farfetch was deliberately set up in a way to defraud people.

      I think I’d review their ts and c’s to see if what they now say about being only intermediary/third party/agency is true. Even if it now looks that way on closer examination then those ts and cs are only valid if provided before, or when, you purchased. Otherwise you are entitled to assume your counterparty is Farfetch.

      You could query with Trading Standards (I think they have been renamed) CAB, or even check/contact MSE! Do you have legal advice service included on your motor or household insurance policy?

      Assuming this is not worth doing more than the above. I would now want to get away from Farfetch and retrieve my money before they go bust which is what I had my gut feeling about.

      -> if you paid on charge card then get a chargeback. Sounds like you would have no problem. You might have to get the whole transaction charged back under their rules though.
      -> if you paid on credit card invoke s.75 and either get the whole lot refunded or find an identical replacement for the incorrect bag or agree a suitable replacement and it’s value with the credit card co (in which case you might be able to work in some recovery of the value of the 5000 ltd eat. £50.

      I suppose you could also find out who is Farfetch now saying is your counterparty then do a moneyclaim online suing both Farfetch and the named counterparty and let the court sort it out. Personally life’s too short and I would be wanting to recover my money before either Farfetch and/ or the party they claim is your counterparty goes bust.

      If I have time today I will take a look at Farfetch’s website to see how well they appear to be set up to deny responsibility but my gut feeling is if this is the way they’re doing business I’d get my money out quick before they fold.

      • Lady London says:

        Ta Shoestring that will save me looking.

        The question now is were those terms made clear before or during your purchase process. If not then you are entitled to consider Farfetch as the responsible seller.

        I think I’d still proceed as above – unless you do have access to a lawyer who can offer something helpful – perhaps via one of your insurance policies.

      • SimonW says:

        Farfetch is a $4bn company listed on the NYSE. It enables small boutiques to sell goods throughout the world. It’s a cracking company, with $1bn revenues. Why anyone would consider getting legal representation because they have offered a full refund on a good that is now out of stock is beyond me. All for 5,000 Avios. Buy something else, trigger the deal. End.

    • Andrew says:

      Will Trading Standards really be interested in:-

      “Woman who was sent wrong handbag is upset she’s getting her money back in full”?

      • Lady London says:

        Good point. The thing is (1) they know the law inside out and can advise and (2) even if they might not say so there’s a good chance they might have had other complaints about Farfetch so would steer @Anna in the right direction of what’s feasible.

        FWIW this same agency/intermediary situation applies with eBay, PayPal and Amazon merchant’s. But all of those have some fairly robust rectification/compensation procedures in place.

      • Shoestring says:

        doubt it, unfortunately for Anna

        and she never actually formed a contract to buy the item at a certain price – that contract is formed when 1) they take your money *AND* 2) you receive the goods

        eg you can buy something (& pay), but if the company realises error price, they can countermand the courier instruction and get their parcel back (and refund you) – all perfectly legal

        in Anna’s case (wrong item received), all she is legally entitled to is a refund – most nicer retailers would probably make good by sending you the correct item instead – but there’s no legal entitlement to this and sometimes it would be impossible (item out of stock)

        • Anna says:

          Thanks for the constructive responses. To the others, that’s not really the point. They not only sent the wrong bag, they sent one which has quite obviously been used and returned by someone else (it helps to be in possession of the full facts). I don’t trust them enough to buy anything else from them now (especially after reading some of the reviews on Trust Pilot about people not receiving goods and still waiting for refunds months down the line). So I’d lose the BAPP offer and suffered the inconvenience due to what has been a really shoddy service.

          • SimonW says:

            If you chose something from a different boutique it is a totally different transaction though. I’ve used Farfetch several times, from boutiques in Hong Kong, Italy and Spain and Germany and havent had any problems. Don’t write them off because one shop assistant thousands of miles away tried to pull a fast one.

          • Anna says:

            This is also from their T’s and C’s –

            “Once the item is received by the relevant Partner, you will receive a full refund of the defective product, or alternatively a discount, replacement or repair for the item where possible, agreed on a case by case basis by us.”

            Yet they told me they do not send replacement items under any circumstances and only offer refunds!

          • Lady London says:

            Walk away and get your money back as fast as you can. s.75 if you can make it stick otherwise chargeback. Notify Farfetch and whoever to come collect their stuff by a deadline (there’s a sample letter on MSE or might be on Resolver) and in parallel BN or before, contact card co for a chargeback. I wouldn’t keep either of the handbags. Life’s too short. Certainly I would avoid dealing with Farfetch again based on the feedback you’ve seen which is why card company is best approach.

          • Lady London says:

            The other reason to take the refund from the card company and walk away now rather than engaging further on this with Farfetch (who have setup to avoid responsibility) and/or their seller (who sounds sleazy already) is that apart from people still waiting for refunds months later from Farfetch, there’s a good chance that Farfetch’s seller will blame you for the item being used.

            It’s the wrong item so won’t hold up but dealing with it will add stress and delay. So get a chargeback if you can’t get s75 and walk away. Chargebacks are a black mark for merchants relationship (and who knows, maybe costs the merchant?) and you get it done and walk away instead of waiting months.

            Do you seriously think with those t’s and c’s, Farfetch is going to refund you if their merchant goes bust, stops dealing with them, tells lies about the condition of what they sent or owes other money to Farfetch?

        • Lady London says:

          @Shoestring I believe contract is *formed* when buyer agrees to buy the item and seller agrees to sell it and there is compensation involved which in this case is money.

          Contract is *fulfilled* when buyer receives the item as well as the money having been paid.

          In this case contract has not been fulfilled as @Anna has not received the item ordered. But the contract was made as there was an agreement with offer, acceptance, and compensation. It’s possible Farfetch has some weasel words on their site that cloud this or try to state a contract was not made or not by Farfetch but factually we do not have a fulfilled contract here.

          This stuff is pretty much the only part of my CPE course that I recall being awake for. Perhaps it has changed since then but either way securing the prompt return of my money from this rubbish platform / sleazy seller without waiting uncertainly for months would be my practical aim now.

          • Shoestring says:

            yep you’re probably correct on this point, eg substantiated by a very good post here https://www.hotukdeals.com/discussions/after-payment-at-checkout-your-order-is-cancelled-by-the-seller-105657

            they make the point that most retailers add in commercial terms in their favour – Farfetch haven’t given themselves much extra wiggle room (just clauses about price & availability needing to be confirmed) – they state: [By completing the check-out process and placing an order by clicking the “Place Order” button on the checkout page, you are offering to purchase the products from the relevant Partner (and not directly from us). Your order for the products is subject to these Terms and Conditions which are incorporated into the contract between you and the relevant Partner. All orders are subject to availability and confirmation of the order price, which is determined by the relevant Partner. After entering into the contract for the products with the Partner, the Partner will be under a legal duty to supply you with goods that are in conformity with the contract. Legal title to the product purchased will pass to you upon your payment being accepted. Risk in the product will remain with the Partner and/or Farfetch (as applicable) until it is delivered to you at the address specified when you placed your order.]

            if you think about it, price and availability clauses mean yes there might be a contract in place but Farfetch (partners) don’t have to fulfil the contract simply by saying the price was wrong or there was no stock available

          • sayling says:

            I think it’s ‘consideration’, rather than ‘compensation’?

          • Lady London says:

            @Shoestring it’s clear Farfetch’s lawyer had instructions to keep liability away from Farfetch and did an OK job. As regards the seller and the contract there’s lots to argue over in this wording. But the one thing that is sure is there is no fulfilled contract here however payment has been taken. Justifying a chargeback.

            If @Anna sued it’s a 3 way contract so sue Farfetch and the vendor. Let the court sort out who is liable. No one is going to spend time on this – do a chargeback, get the money back and walk away. Oh, and tell everyone.

          • Lady London says:

            PS @Sayling of course you’re right. I fumbled for the lawyer word for money and fell on that Americanism ‘compensation’ instead of the term ‘consideration’

    • Grant says:

      This seems obvious, so apologies, but for the avoidance of doubt, presumably you cannot buy the handbag you want as a new order (and send back the used incorrect bag for a refund) because a) it’s no longer available and / or b) the terms of the BAPP offer don’t cover cumulative spend?

      • Voice of experience says:

        High chance the Avios will stick even with the refund in my opinion.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          Not in my experience of Amex offers. Extremely high chance they will be clawed back.

          • Lady London says:

            I suppose in the circumstances, if type of card was not a credit card and so requesting a chargeback was the only option, whilst requesting the chargeback one could ask, as it wasn’t one’s fault, whether the 5000 credit could remain? Unlikely though.

  • xcalx says:

    I saw somewhere on here that points posted to shopaway account within 48hours. However i made a purchase on Sunday and nothing showing as yet.

  • Frank says:

    OT:

    Am I doing something wrong? I used the BA App to check reward availability to Mumbai. It tell’s me that First is available 4th – 18th September. But when I go to book it tells me there is nothing available in First.

    Is the search function normally unreliable?

    • Rhys says:

      Never used the app, but you’re better off using rewardflightfinder.com anyway!

      • Frank says:

        Thanks, but unfortunately Reward Flight Finder shows 4th – 18th as available too. Yet can’t be booked it seems as BA do not show is as available.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        The sites been feed / picking up dodgy First data for a couple months now.

    • Harry T says:

      Perhaps ring BA?

    • Graeme says:

      Both Reward Flight Finder and Seat Spy are showing lots of First availability to New Delhi in September and October, none of which exists. No idea what’s up.

  • Shoestring says:

    Just checking Avios availability for tomorrow (out), Sunday (return) for my wife – her mum’s seriously ill in hospital

    and noticed BA has made 14th-17th February peak! might as well exploit the romantic break people, I guess was their thinking

    • Andrew says:

      First weekend of half term…

    • Lady London says:

      Is it an easyJet route? I am holding flights Friday and Sunday which I was going to cancel, that could be reused for fare difference only, ok for Rob to share my email if Shoestring is interested

      • Shoestring says:

        thanks but already booked a flight out on points

        looks like I’ll have to stump up for Business on the way back, no need to buy it just yet

        the good news is her mum luckily collapsed in a chemist’s (as opposed to in her home) – a stroke – and they were very quick to get her to hospital and put a stent in, so she’s feeling a lot better than it looked just a few hours ago

        • Lady London says:

          Lucky Mum-in-Law. Good location if that had to happen.

          You can always choose whichever way to bring her back when she’s ready/nearer the time. I hope MIL recovers well and at least she will be comforted by the support of family.

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