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Choose your Avios / Nectar auto-convert deal: 2x Nectar points at Sainsbury’s or win 50,000 Avios

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British Airways and Nectar have launched two promotions to persuade you to auto-convert your Nectar points into Avios.

There are two deals. It may be possible to get both of them – the terms and conditions are confusing.

One offers a guaranteed bonus, one offers a chance of winning a big prize.

get double points for linking your Avios account

Before we go into this, if you want to learn more about the Nectar and Avios partnership, take a look at these articles from last year:

Over on the Nectar website ….

Sainsbury’s is offering double Nectar points on your shopping if you activate auto-conversion of your Nectar points to Avios.

To take part, you need to go to the Avios page of the Nectar website and activate auto-convert by 28th February.

You will receive double Nectar points (2 per £1) on all of your shopping in Sainsbury’s between the day you register and 28th February. Clearly, the sooner you register, the longer you have to earn double points.

Auto-conversion must be retained for at least 28 days after 28th February, and the bonus points will be added after that date. Double points only relates to base points and not any instore promotions.

You can find out more on the Avios page of the Nectar website here.

If you read the small print, it contradicts what I have written above and implies that you get the bonus whether you activate auto-convert on the BA site or the Nectar site. This is important because …..

get double points for linking your Avios account

Over on the BA website ….

If you look at the British Airways website, there is a competition for you. You need to have the BA app to see the details:

Avios / Nectar auto-conversion deal

I should point out that, whilst the competition sounds very simple from the headline advertising, it is actually quite complex.

On the upside, your chances of winning – if you jump through the hoops – should be good.

What can you win?

There are 350 prizes to won, totalling 3,125,000 Avios:

  • 20 x 50,000 Avios
  • 30 x 25,000 Avios
  • 50 x 10,000 Avios
  • 100 x 5,000 Avios
  • 150 x 2,500 Avios

How do you enter?

This is the trick bit. You must activate auto-conversion from Nectar to Avios and transfer at least 400 Nectar points EVERY MONTH between February and May (four transfers).

A draw will take place in July to award the prizes.

I don’t know how many people generate 400 Nectar points each month, but it will only be a small percentage of account holders. If you do earn 400 points each month, I would set up auto-convert and take part in this competition.

Remember that you can always transfer your Avios back into Nectar points at the end!

The terms and conditions are vague, unfortunately. Despite running to 25 clauses, you are not told:

  • what the last day to activate auto-conversion in, to trigger a transfer out in February
  • whether existing auto-converters are also eligible

The terms and conditions also suggest that you are entered into the competition irrespective of whether you set up auto-convert from inside the BA website or the Nectar website.

Neither promotion makes any mention of the other offer in its terms and conditions, so it isn’t clear if you can have both.

EDIT: To add to the confusion, this competition is now showing on the Nectar site today. Do you get both offers?

Nectar Avios autoconversion offer

Can you take advantage of both promotions?

It really isn’t clear.

The situation got even more confusing this morning when the competition also appeared in my Nectar app. I now see both offers there, but separately.

The Nectar page to set up auto-conversion is here.

The ba.com page to set up auto-conversion is here.

If you already have auto-conversion activiated then I have absolutely no idea what is going on …..

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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Sainsbury's and Nectar

Comments (66)

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

  • Paul says:
    26 Jan26 January 07:18

    Can you choose the amount to move automatically and set it to monthly? My option seems to read as it will move the the maximum allowed upto 40,000 weekly? I’ve built up a healthy balance at Nectar from Avios conversion and don’t want to move the whole lot back.

    • Ian McDowall says:
      26 Jan26 January 07:43

      It’s really badly set up. But I think you’re right it’ll auto convert all your nectar points up to 40k per month.
      I have 65 k but that’ll only cover one month if I set up auto convert at the wrong moment. I’d need to wait til week 4 of Feb so 40k goes in the last week of Feb and next lot 1st week march.
      I won’t earn 400 base pts in a month, but using the nectar app offers its easy. I have to assume collecting any nectar pts is fine.

  • Mark says:
    26 Jan26 January 07:33

    Can the 400 Nectar points each month be from those I hold in my account or does it have to be accumulated that month through spend?

  • BJ says:
    26 Jan26 January 07:46

    “I don’t know how many people generate 400 Nectar points each month, but it will only be a small percentage of account holders.”

    I strongly disagree, I think it will be most of those who regularly do their main weekly shop at Sainsbury and actively participate in Nectar. Even a more passive regular Nectar shopperwould clear 400/month if shopping for a family, and many may be earning extra too due to holding financial products with SB. Such products could also bring singles and couples into the mix too. The more pertinent question is how many of these are autoconverting to avios? To meat, that seems more likely to be a small percentage (hopefully) rendering the chances in the draw good.

    • Paul Pogba says:
      26 Jan26 January 07:52

      If you opt in to the offers on the app you can easily get 300 bonus points a week on a £20 shop. I’d spend more but they don’t seem to be able to stock their shelves at any of the three branches I visit.

      • BJ says:
        26 Jan26 January 08:08

        It had been good for me so far this year but today I only managed 160 bonus on a £86 order. However no complaint, for January I’m already at 6520 points and they’re easy to collect 🙂

        • DevonDiamond says:
          26 Jan26 January 09:50

          I easily bring in 5-6k points / month from Sainsburys bonus points offer spending approx £200 – they helpfully target what I buy

          • john says:
            26 Jan26 January 12:19

            Rob clearly isn’t actively participating in Nectar! I got 480 bonus points on a £37 shop yesterday. 1700 so far this month. I go in once or twice a week as top-up shops to my main Tesco delivery order. I do love the “Please have these free points for things you are going to buy anyway”!

            I think a key question is do the double points stack if you get double points already from e.g. Sainsburys Bank insurance or Sainsburys Energy?

          • PJJ says:
            26 Jan26 January 13:17

            @DevonDiamond
            Is it mainly Sainsbury own brand you are buying ?
            T.I.A.

          • DevonDiamond says:
            26 Jan26 January 22:09

            PJJ – Yes. I’m getting big offers on a variety of products, mostly own brand but some on whole categories eg tinned fish, Mexican cooking sauces etc.

  • John says:
    26 Jan26 January 08:00

    I see both offers on the nectar app, but neither on the BA website or app. Not sure what to do, guaranteed but small win with double points or possibly bigger win from the draw

    • BJ says:
      26 Jan26 January 08:13

      Small win is peanuts so a small price to pay for a chance of something much more useful IMO.

    • strickers says:
      26 Jan26 January 08:13

      I see the BA one in the Nectar app but it says offer inactive?

  • LukeM says:
    26 Jan26 January 08:03

    Oh my. Life can be complicated.

  • Martin says:
    26 Jan26 January 08:38

    The competition sounds like a non-starter if you already have a balance of more than 40k Nectar – the BA website says that auto-convert works like this: “ We’ll convert your points every Monday, up to a maximum of 40,000 Nectar in a 3-month period.” So I have over 40k and just have signed up – it sounds like next Monday 40k Nectar will covert to Avios and then nothing more for the next 11 or so weeks until a new 3 month period starts. Or am I missing something having never auto-converted before?

    • BJ says:
      26 Jan26 January 08:47

      Not so, just do a manual transfer to avios to get your Nectar account in position before opting into the offer.

      • Martin says:
        26 Jan26 January 09:02

        Thanks a very good suggestion, but unfortunately with a balance 156k I can only get it down to 76k before Monday 🤦. To take a more positive stance, I never win prizes anyway 🤷😂

  • memesweeper says:
    26 Jan26 January 08:41

    Anything to stop me manually sending them back from BA to Nectar again?

    • BJ says:
      26 Jan26 January 08:45

      No, unless the unexpected happens without notice.

    • Rob says:
      26 Jan26 January 08:50

      You need to wait or your entry is disqualified I think. Long term, no issue.

      • memesweeper says:
        26 Jan26 January 09:51

        You are correct Rob, it’s in the T&Cs:

        Participants will not be eligible for entry in the following scenarios: … any amount of Avios are converted to Nectar within the “offer period”

  • Ben says:
    26 Jan26 January 08:42

    OT but related – is Avios flight purchase broken on BA.com? They went offline briefly last night to “fix” something and now I’m getting constant errors when trying to search for reward flights

    • Alex Sm says:
      26 Jan26 January 09:41

      Wrong topic for this thread – better to ask in Bits article or on the forum

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

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