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Sports news: Amex becomes an F1 partner, use Avios for VIP Champions League packages

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News in brief:

American Express becomes an official partner of F1

American Express is already a partner of Formula 1 in the Americas, and the company has announced a multi-year expansion of the deal to cover virtually all races per season.

It isn’t fully clear what will be on offer. The press release mentions ‘fan experiences’ at races (potentially similar to what is on offer at BST Hyde Park and Wimbledon, including free ‘race radios’) and – perhaps more interestingly – advance ticket sales for selected races. An allocation of Paddock Club and Grandstand tickets will be ringfenced for cardholders.

Apparently “American Express will also have the opportunity to host business customers and partners through certain hospitality offerings” so I better keep my diary clear for 6th July 2025 🙂

More VIP UEFA Champions League packages available for Avios

Qatar Airways Privilege Club has added more VIP UEFA Champions League packages to its ‘Privilege Club Collection’ auctions.

The new packages cover games on 5th and 6th November.

These packages include:

  • Qatar Airways “Warm-Up Experience” for two to watch the teams’ warm up session from pitch side
  • Two Cat 1 match tickets
  • Lounge access for UEFA official hospitality for two with food and beverages included

Rather than list all the available games – which you can look up yourself via the link below – I thought it was more interesting to look at some of the winning bids from the previous round. This will give you a feel for whether you want to take part or not.

Here were the winning bids, which were for two people:

  • AC Milan vs Club Brugge KV – 48,500 Avios
  • AS Monaco vs FK Crvena Zvezda – 36,000 Avios
  • Arsenal FC vs FC Shakhtar Donetsk – 165,000 Avios
  • Aston Villa FC vs Bologna FC 1909 – 72,000 Avios
  • Girona FC vs ŠK Slovan Bratislava – 33,500 Avios
  • Juventus vs VfB Stuttgart – 41,200 Avios
  • Paris Saint-Germain vs PSV Eindhoven – 46,600 Avios
  • Real Madrid C.F. vs Borussia Dortmund – 150,000 Avios
  • SK Sturm Graz vs Sporting Clube de Portugal – 30,000 Avios

Unsurprisingly, games in countries with Avios-based airlines (UK, Spain) went for a lot. The other games …. not so much.

Thanks to Robin for this list.

Two things to note before you bid ….

Here are two very important points to note:

You must have Avios in a Qatar Airways Privilege Club account before you can bid. It is NOT good enough to have Avios in a British Airways Executive Club account which is linked to your Qatar Airways Privilege Club account. You must have physically moved Avios across to your Qatar Airways Privilege Club account.

(One snag here is that you can’t use the entire balance of a British Airways Executive Club household account to bid. The only Avios you can move into a Qatar Airways Privilege Club account are those in your own personal account. If you have 100,000 Avios and your partner has 50,000 Avios to give you a household balance of 150,000 Avios, the most you could use to bid for a single Privilege Club Collection auction is 100,000 – ie your own balance.)

Your must have enough Avios in your Qatar Airways Privilege Club account to match your maximum bid. You cannot bid more than your current Avios balance, and you cannot set a future auto-bid which is higher than your balance.

This Head for Points article explains how to link your BA and Qatar Airways Privilege Club accounts and transfer Avios between them. Transfers are free, instant and can be reversed at any time.

You can check out the auctions currently available by clicking here.

PS. If you are not a regular Head for Points visitor, why not sign up for our FREE weekly or daily newsletters? They are full of the latest Avios, airline, hotel and credit card points news and will help you travel better. To join our 65,000 free subscribers, click the button below or visit this page of the site to find out more. Thank you.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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:

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

Get 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

30,000 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.

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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

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

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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

Qatar Airways and Privilege Club

Comments (37)

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

  • SydneySwan says:
    24 Oct24 October 05:18

    So Arsenal v Donetsk was 10% more expensive than Real Madrid v Dortmund! Some UK soccer fans have too many Avios.

    • R2 says:
      24 Oct24 October 06:49

      I was surprised by that too. Real Madrid has the newest stadium and Tuesday’s game was the most exciting with Real coming back from 2 goals down to win 5-2! Would have been an amazing atmosphere. Makes 150k Avios look cheap.

      I’ll post matchday 4’s winning bids here on Sunday/Monday morning.

    • gundam says:
      24 Oct24 October 09:12

      Some people lose all senses when it comes to football and will easily pay be that in hard cash to watch their team let alone in avios.

      • George says:
        24 Oct24 October 09:58

        Given the new silly format, most of these matches barely even count as a “big” match

        • TGLoyalty says:
          24 Oct24 October 11:24

          Disagree there some fixtures are far bigger than you would have seen in the past at the stage

          • George says:
            24 Oct24 October 16:03

            “Disagree there some fixtures are far bigger than you would have seen in the past at the stage”

            No they’re not. A big game has some jeopardy attached to it. Teams can probably lose 5 matches out of 8 and still qualify for the next round

          • TGLoyalty says:
            24 Oct24 October 16:26

            So that’s importance rather than the teams involved in the fixtures. There’s no doubt more of the top teams are facing each other.

            Milan vs Liverpool, inter vs Man City, Barca vs PSG, Arsenal vs PSG, Real vs Milan, inter vs Arsenal, Bayern vs PSG, Juventus vs Man City, PSG vs Man City, Liverpool vs Real,

            You would maybe have 3/4 of these before now there’s atleast 10+

            I don’t even think the importance has changed because the top teams could afford to lose / draw 2-3 out of 6 now it’s just a similar % out of the 9.

    • Ian says:
      24 Oct24 October 09:47

      All it takes is 2 Arsenal fans with a lot of avios, for a match to go high. But I’m not surprised to be honest. Fanatical following, London-based (so more people with more avios). I would have bet money it would have been the game that wen for the most.

      • George says:
        24 Oct24 October 16:35

        “So that’s importance rather than the teams involved in the fixtures. There’s no doubt more of the top teams are facing each other.”

        With no real meaning to the matches as it doesn’t matter if they lose. Big teams playing each other in friendlies, doesn’t make it a big match.

        Also, 9 points out of 6 games might have been enough before and now 9 points out of 8 will likely be enough. So actually quite a big % difference

        • TGLoyalty says:
          24 Oct24 October 20:13

          The top 8 qualify for the next round, 9 won’t be enough to get anywhere near that. 9 teams already have 7+ points after 3 games with 5 to go. That has meaning.

          9-24 go into a playoff but 9-16th are seeded and 9 won’t be enough to get in there either since 16th already has 6 points. That has meaning

          9 might get you 24th position but you still need to be better over two legs than the better team. That still has meaning.

          • George says:
            24 Oct24 October 21:56

            9 points will probably be enough to qualify. Garbage format for gullible people.

            “ To finish in the top 24, which guarantees you a play-off spot at least, Opta believes 10 points – so three wins and a draw, or other combinations – will almost certainly guarantee you a place in that round.

            Nine points – so three wins from eight games, or other combinations – could be enough to finish 24th, with that points tally being enough in 69 per cent of the simulations.”

          • TGLoyalty says:
            24 Oct24 October 22:18

            You need a total 4/5 wins to actually get through the league and playoff though, and you would have beat a team significantly better in the league than . You keep missing that part.

            I literally don’t see how it’s any less meaningful than the old group stages when you could go through with 2 wins and a couple draws

  • Kwab says:
    24 Oct24 October 05:37

    I think it is a combination of location and teams involved. London matches in CL will often be in demand.
    Girona is in the heart of ‘avios country’ but clearly a. VIP experience for Girona vs SK is going to be less of a deal to the neutral than say a Barcelona vs Real Madrid tie.
    In a similar vein, even though Germany and Italy do not have an Avios based airline, if Man City or Liverpool turned up to play Juventus or Bayern those VIP experiences would be very much in demand!

    • Lumma says:
      24 Oct24 October 16:59

      You can generally buy Barcelona v Real Madrid tickets at face value for the league games too, although they are definitely “dynamically priced”. I pad €196 in 2019 for the top tier.

      I’ve also bought Barcelona v Bayern in the champions league a few days before for about €100 direct from the club.

      No chance of that for most of the top premier league teams, although I don’t believe they’re allowed to raise the prices like they do in Spain

  • ianM says:
    24 Oct24 October 07:34

    So £1650 for the Arsenal game? How does that compare to the actual cash price (roughly)
    Watching a pitchside warm up doesnt add much vale for me.

    • Mikee says:
      24 Oct24 October 07:49

      Official club resellers price was £250 per person for Club Level (inc food and drinks) . If you held an Arsenal membership, standard seats were available on the Arsenal Ticket Exchange and cost approx £40-80 each. The game was not a particularly attractive fixture hence the relative ease of getting tickets but this won’t be the case for the knockout rounds where these Avios tickets will become more valuable (and probably cost a lot more).

      • Michael C says:
        24 Oct24 October 08:00

        I remember trying to find Old Trafford tickets for my son a couple of years ago. The 2 Jan. match vs. Bournemouth would have been £200 per seat in the very very top row, and not sitting together. We spent a weekend in Paris at the Hilton Opera instead.

    • George says:
      24 Oct24 October 07:56

      Liverpool vs Leverkusen hospitality tickets with a hotel are around £900 for two people.

      The current highest bid is 122,000

      I’ll let you make your own mind up about whether it’s worth paying cash instead

      • Ken says:
        24 Oct24 October 08:43

        There are a massive range of hospitality tickets at all the top English clubs.
        I’d hope these tickets would be the best outside of the directors box.

        The Liverpool tickets are no doubt behind the goal (new stand is full of hospitality seats) which is generally the bottom of the pile.
        You can’t either put a price on being able to watch the warm up from pitch side.

        Still paying those price seems insane when I’ve once paid a fiver to watch a FA cup final and about £20 to watch a semi final match at the 96 Euros when stadiums were literally only half full.

        • George says:
          24 Oct24 October 09:45

          “The Liverpool tickets are no doubt behind the goal ”

          They’re not. They’re on the halfway line in the middle tier so (for me anyway) a much better view than pitch side, which is too low

          • No longer Entitled says:
            24 Oct24 October 14:46

            £456 are the cheapest tickets from the club for that game. Not sure how you are getting a hotel thrown in for free but given the demand for LFC tickets I would suggest you don’t share your source.

    • Fazzy Bear says:
      24 Oct24 October 08:13

      Arsenal vs Shakthar – I was offered the day before the match the following for £150 per person.

      Cannon Club Level Package
      Premium padded seat in Club Level, VIP Lounge access 2.5hrs pre/ 1hr post, Pre-match Hospitality (drinks & food voucher to redeem from club level menu in lounges/bars) occasional seating,
      HT Beer/Wine/Soft Drinks, Official Match Programme, Official Stadium & Museum Tour, Arsenal FO
      Megastore Voucher & Uber voucher. Away fans ano away colors are not allowed.

      • George says:
        24 Oct24 October 08:27

        Looks much better than what you would have got for avios even if you only value a point at what you’d get if you converted avios to nectar and spent it in Saino’s

      • Anouj says:
        24 Oct24 October 10:54

        Where were you offered that?

        • Rob says:
          24 Oct24 October 11:22

          Not sure about this one, but Events Hospitality has an email list you can join and they email you about deals similar to this with last minute availability. Never bought but they appear reputable.

          • George says:
            24 Oct24 October 16:04

            “Not sure how you are getting a hotel thrown in for free but given the demand for LFC tickets I would suggest you don’t share your source.”

            P1 travel are a licenced hospitality provider. It’s on their website so not really a secret source

        • Fazzy Bear says:
          24 Oct24 October 11:25

          Go Sport Travel (Swedish Company) with UK offices.

          Prices on site reduce closer to the date

    • TGLoyalty says:
      24 Oct24 October 08:48

      At these prices pay cash. In fact could cash out to Nectar to buy your groceries and still be better off with cash.

  • Red Flyer says:
    24 Oct24 October 07:42

    As a VIP I bet they don’t serve you a brunch either and you get a proper ‘meal’

  • ianM says:
    24 Oct24 October 07:53

    Thanks Mikee, sounds more realistic prices!

  • R2 says:
    24 Oct24 October 08:32

    Qatar Airways Privilege Club F1 Las Vegas closed this morning. Winning bids for their packages as below (All include two 3 day Paddock Club tickets and Hotel)

    Melbourne (+ F1 Garage) – 756,000 Avios (F1 RRP: £51k)
    Miami (+ F1 Garage) – 845,000 (F1 RRP: £51k)
    Monaco (+ F1 Garage) – 1,200,000 (F1 RRP: £51k)
    Silverstone – 876,000 (F1 RRP: £11k)
    Las Vegas – 991,000 (F1 RRP: £18k)

    Closing next Sunday > Lusail – Current Bid: 601,000 (F1 RRP: £18k)

    • Ironside says:
      24 Oct24 October 16:44

      I got sick of F1 after 20 years of watching high-speed politics and very little actual ‘sport’. That said, £10k worth of Avios for £50k worth of experience is a no-brainer. One of those things you do once, and take lots of photos.

      Just so long as you don’t care who wins. The FIA do that for you…

  • RobH not Rob says:
    24 Oct24 October 13:26

    Delighted people are burning their points on this weak format of a basket case competition.

    I really couldn’t put any Avios price on our win at Kenilworth Road last night.

    The best league in the world.

  • RM says:
    25 Oct25 October 12:54

    Does anyone know if these tickets differ from the Mastercard Priceless VIP tickets you can get for 150pp

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