Win 1 million Avios from BP – and a reminder of how to convert your BPme Rewards points

BP has launched a June promotion to encourage you to convert your BPme Rewards points into Avios.

Everyone who converts their points into Avios during June, and makes a purchase of BP Ultimate fuel, will be entered into a competition.

There is also a points bonus for buying BP Ultimate fuel this month.

We haven’t looked at BPme Rewards since the Avios partnership launched last year, so I thought it was worth running over the details today.

For those who have already signed up, here is how the June promotion works.

To qualify for the competition, you must buy at least 1 litre of BP Ultimate fuel during June.

After that, for every Avios you earn from BPme Rewards during June, you receive one entry into a competition. The more points you convert, the more entries you receive.

The winner will receive 1 million Avios. 50 runners-up will each receive 50,000 Avios.

To help you earn more points this month, you will earn 5 BPme Rewards points (3.1 Avios) for every litre of BP Unlimited fuel you buy. This is 2.5x the standard earning rate of 2 points per litre. This bonus is only for BPme Rewards members who have linked a British Airways Executive Club account to their account.

IMPORTANT: The T&C here, see clause 20, confirm that you must buy at least 1 litre of BP Ultimate fuel to qualify for the competition. This was not made clear in the email that BP sent out to members.

How do you join BPme Rewards?

For the benefit of those who are new to BPme Rewards, this is how the scheme – and the Avios partnership – works.

The BPme Rewards website is here.

It’s worth noting that there is a 500 point bonus for registering. Given that the current competition gets you one entry for every Avios you earn during June, this bonus gives you a head start.

You cannot register on the website without first visiting a BP garage. You need to pick up a temporary card and then register online using the number on the card.

However, you CAN register instantly by downloading the BPme app to your smartphone. You receive the 500 points instantly.

The ‘refer a friend’ alternative has been suspended for some months, so you no longer need to juggle the maths on which sign-up route is best.

Earning BPme Rewards

How do you earn BPme Rewards points?

The programme is easy to understand, which is good. Unfortunately, it isn’t exceptionally generous.

The ‘earning’ page of the website is here. You earn:

• 1 point for every litre of regular fuel purchased
• 2 points for every litre of Ultimate fuel purchased
• 1 point for every £1 spent in a BP forecourt shop

The Ultimate earning rate is increased to 5 points per litre during June 2022 for everyone who has linked a British Airways Executive Club number to their BPme Rewards account.

Some, but not all, fuel cards are exempt from points earning. You cannot earn in the shop if it is run by a major national brand eg Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons etc.

1 point is worth 0.5p if converted to cash, or slightly more if moved to Avios.

Is this a generous return on my spending?

No.

A typical litre of unleaded fuel in the UK costs around 175p. Assuming your local BP is charging this, you are getting a return of just (0.5p / 175p) 0.28% of your spending.

With the best will in the world, no-one gets excited about a 0.28% return on their spending.

In a BP forecourt store, you are getting a return of 0.5% on your groceries based on one point per £1.

Not only are the rewards poor but there is no gamification element. It has the same structural issue as Nectar. Your points are worth the same irrespective of how many you have, and irrespective of where you use them.

The only gamification is via the occasional special offers that BPme Rewards will email to you, or show you in the app, in return for making a particular transaction in the following days.

As with Nectar, converting your BPme Rewards points to Avios is arguably the best way of maximising value from them.

BPme Rewards and Avios

How many Avios do I get for my BPme Rewards points?

The conversion rate is 25 Avios for every 40 BPme Rewards points you convert.

You will receive a bonus of 50 Avios on your first conversion, which is good for another 50 entries in the June ‘win 1 million Avios’ competition.

How does this compare to taking cash rewards?

The standard reward deal is 200 BPme Rewards = £1.

You can use your points to pay for fuel, car washes or BP store purchases, or redeem them for gift vouchers for retailers such as Amazon. You get the same 0.5p per point irrespective.

Which is the better deal – Avios or cash?

200 BPme Rewards will get you £1 or 125 Avios.

The means that you are ‘paying’ 0.8p per Avios compared to taking a fuel discount.

This is a good deal.

My conservative spreadsheet of the value I have got from the 8+ million Avios I have spent since 2013 gets me just over 1.2p per point. It is very rare that you can pick up Avios for less than 0.8p each.

This is also the same valuation that the Nectar / Avios partnership offers. This means that you won’t lose out if you end up converting points from BP to Avios and then moving them into Nectar to spend at Sainsburys or Argos:

• 200 BPme Rewards points = 125 Avios or £1 of shopping
• 125 Avios = 200 Nectar points
• 200 Nectar points = £1 of shopping

Can I set up auto-conversion?

Yes.

You can arrange a monthly auto-conversion of your BPme Rewards points to Avios. They will be moved across in chunks of 40 BPme Rewards points.

Can I convert in the other direction, from Avios to BPme Rewards?

No.

Is there a bonus for making my first transfer?

Not at present. The occasional bonus has been offered since the Avios partnership launched.

Can I sign up to BPme Rewards, get the instant 500 points for registering and move them to Avios without going near a garage?

No.

You need to earn 25 base points to activate your BPme Rewards account to allow Avios transfers. This would require you to spend £25 in the shop or buy 25 litres of standard fuel.

(The target used to be just 1 base point, but I think too many non-car owners were signing up, spending £1 in a BP shop and then transferring over their sign-up bonus to Avios. That’s what I did!)

The upside is that BPme Rewards points post INSTANTLY – literally as soon as you have paid – so once you have spent £25 you can move your sign-up bonus points across to Avios.

Conclusion

If you’ve not joined BPme Rewards yet, you may want to consider joining up this month to maximise your chance of winning the 1 million Avios.

As a new member, you’d receive 500 BPme Rewards points. Buy 5 litres of BP Ultimate fuel (during June this is enough to earn the 25 points needed to activate your account) and you’d have 525 points. These would convert into (40 points = 25 Avios) 325 Avios, with a bonus of 50 additional Avios as it is your first conversion. This gets you 375 entries into the competition.

You can find out more on the BPme Rewards website here and at ba.com here. The competition is not mentioned on the BPme Rewards site but the rules are outlined in the scheme T&C here.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (March 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Successfully apply for either of the Barclaycard Avios credit cards by 2nd April 2023 and you will be entered into a free draw to win ONE MILLION AVIOS! Full details are on the application forms here (free) and here (paid). This competition is exclusive to Head for Points readers. T&C apply.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

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

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.

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.

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.

Until 30th March 2023, the sign up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to 120,000 Membership Rewards points – click here. The bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – click here. T&C apply, see the application forms for details.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.