NEW: Earn Avios at Heathrow’s World Duty Free, with 250 bonus Avios on your first purchase

The World Duty Free shops at Heathrow have launched a new partnership with Avios.

You will now earn 1 Avios for every £1 you spend in World Duty Free and other shops at Heathrow run by the same parent company.

This is totally separate from the Heathrow Rewards loyalty scheme – which also earns Avios – and it appears that you can double up by earning in both programmes!

Even better, you will receive 250 bonus Avios with your first transaction.

How do I earn Avios at Heathrow duty free?

It’s a little bit fiddly. However, it is worth the effort as you will also save 5% on your purchases.

You need to download the ‘Red by Dufry‘ app to your smartphone and register.

You might not know the name Dufry, but it is the dominant global duty free retailer.  As well as owning World Duty Free in the UK, it also owns – in various corners of the world – Dufry, Nuance, Hellenic Duty Free, Colombian Emerald, Duty Free Uruguay, Hudson and Duty Free Shop Argentina.

Dufry has its own app-based loyalty programme called Red By Dufry.  The key benefit of downloading this app is that you get a 5% discount on purchases at selected Dufry stores.  You can join here. There is also a link with DragonPass (the airport lounge access card) which is very interesting.

Which airports let me use the Red By Dufry app to save 5%?

Before we move on to the Avios angle – which only operates at Heathrow – let’s look at the broader UK-wide benefits of joining Red By Dufry.

Here are the UK airports when you can save at the World Duty Free or Dufry store:

• Aberdeen
• Belfast City
• Birmingham
• Bournemouth
• Bristol
• Cardiff
• East Midlands
• Edinburgh
• Exeter
• Glasgow
• Glasgow Prestwick
• Humberside
• Leeds Bradford
• Liverpool John Lennon
• London Gatwick
• London Heathrow
• London Luton
• London Southend
• London Stansted
• Manchester
• Newcastle
• Norwich
• Southampton
• Teesside

…. plus Eurostar at London St Pancras, Cairnryan Port, Dover Port, Hull Port, Liverpool Port and Eurotunnel at Folkestone.

If you buy at World Duty Free or Dufry on a regular basis, you could make decent savings by signing up for Red By Dufry.

What do I save?

At Heathrow, the discount for Silver level members – which is what you get when you sign up – is 5%.  Tobacco purchases are excluded, as are airport arrivals stores.

You receive the discount by scanning the QR code in the app at the till.

This makes it a no-brainer to sign up if you ever make purchases at World Duty Free stores in UK airports or from other Dufry businesses abroad.

With $400 of spend you reach Gold level, where your discount rises to 7%.  At $1000 of spend, over a two year period, you reach Platinum.

At Heathrow, you will continue to receive Heathrow Rewards points on top of your Red discount.

How do I earn Avios at Heathrow?

Red By Dufry has launched a new partnership with Avios at Heathrow.

You will earn 1 Avios per £1 spent at participating retailers. You will receive a bonus of 250 Avios with your first transaction.

You add your British Airways Executive Club number to your Red By Dufry account via the ‘Account’ tab in the app. Go to ‘Manage Partners’. Avios will be sent over automatically after each transaction.

Here are the participating outlets at Heathrow:

Terminal 2

• World Duty Free (various stores)

Terminal 3

• World Duty Free (various stores)
• World of Whiskies
• MAC
• Jo Malone
• Sunglasses Boutique

Terminal 4

• World Duty Free (various stores)
• Glorious Britain
• Jo Malone

Terminal 5

• World Duty Free (various stores)
• Collections
• Glorious Britain
• Sunglasses Hut
• Haute Perfumerie

You can also earn Avios at various airports in Spain – there is a list in the Red By Dufry app.

How do I get airport lounge access?

Here’s an added benefit of joining up to Red By Dufry to earn Avios.

Dufry has a partnership with airport lounge card DragonPass which is a competitor to Priority Pass.

As a Silver member of Red By Dufry – which is what you get just for signing up – you can pay for access to any DragonPass lounge for $28.  Virtually every lounge in Priority Pass is in DragonPass.

Conclusion

If you ever shop at World Duty Free at Heathrow, you should sign up to Red By Dufry and start earning Avios on your purchases.

(Make sure you sign up to Heathrow Rewards too, so you can double dip and also earn Avios that way!)

Even if you don’t fly from Heathrow, it is worth joining Red By Dufry if you travel through any of the other airports where it operates to benefit from the 5% saving.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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:

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. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

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.

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