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Win 500,000 Avios with Flora at Sainsbury’s!

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If you were an Avios collector when British Airways was a Tesco Clubcard partner, you’ll know that there were weird and wonderful ways of picking up points for buying obscure products.

The genius with the Clubcard scheme, especially Tesco Direct offers, was that the item you were buying often cost less than the value of the points. You effectively got the item for free, ready to ship off to eBay. Click here, for example, for a deal where £44 got you a colour printer with 6,100 Avios on top!

In the spirit of those weird days, and not necessarily because it’s worth bothering with, I introduce you to the great Sainsbury’s / Flora competition.

Flora Avios Sainsburys competition

Flora has, for some odd reason, donated 1.8 million Avios to fund a Sainsbury’s competition.

Two people will bag 500,000 Avios whilst 20 will pick up 40,000 points.

This is what you need to do:

  • Have your British Airways Club account linked to your Nectar account (you don’t need to have ever transferred points, just linked the accounts)
  • Buy any Flora-branded product at Sainsbury’s, online or in-store, by 13th May

It is limited to one entry per person, so there’s no need to buy a lifetime supply of Flora Buttery or whatever you prefer.

There are two interesting bits of small print which are not made clear upfront. If you don’t have a telephone number in your Nectar profile, you will lose your prize and it will be redrawn. If you do not answer the telephone call from Nectar to say that you have won, you will lose your prize after the 2nd attempt and it will be redrawn.

This seems a bit petty – 40,000 Avios is not exactly life-changing, assuming that the runners-up are subject to this rule as well as the two main winners – but the rules are the rules.

Full details should be under the ‘Partners’ section in your Nectar app. No registration is required and the competition is not targetted.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (June 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 Card

30,000 Avios and the famous annual Companion Voucher voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express Credit Card

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 Credit Card

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

50,000 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 points worth 0.8 Avios per £1 on the FREE standard card and 1 Avios per £1 on the Pro card. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 0.8 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 Card

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.

The American Express Business Platinum Card

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

The American Express Business Gold Card

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 (55)

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

  • Jonathan says:

    With the amount of this brand that Sainsbury’s is selling, if it’s not a usual purchase or something you’d regularly buy anyway, there’s little point in trying, only 22 winners in total

    • TimM says:

      Jonathan, yes and no. Nectar Card x Sainsbury’s shopper x registered telephone no. x linked BA membership x answering the phone to an unknown caller. All this does reduce the odds. These days you probably have to be a vegan to buy Flora as part of your regular shop which even further reduces the odds.

  • TimM says:

    “Full details should be under the ‘Partners’ section in your Nectar app.”

    Not in mine – the competition must be further targeted.

    • CB Root says:

      Not in mine either – shame as I’m planning to pop into Sainsbury’s on my way home later!

      • CB Root says:

        I tell a lie – logging in and back out again has magicked it into existence !

        First time for me spread betting 😀

  • Budva says:

    I never believed people won these things until I won 100,000 nectar points after buying a jar of coffee or something similar. I’m in!

  • Londoner 79 says:

    Well, as somebody who never answers an unexpected call from an unknown number I may as well sit this one out 😂

    • mradey says:

      +1

    • John says:

      Well this would have been the perfect time to bring out my stash of payg SIMs with £1 of credit that I am keeping “just in case”, but I will not be in the UK so I wouldn’t answer any calls anyway.

      • Londonsteve says:

        That’s a great idea. Having a second number only for this kind of purpose, allows one to keep ignoring calls from unknown numbers on the main phone. However, I wonder if by giving Nectar your number, through a roundabout way (and I’m not implying Nectar would do anything nefarious) it would still end up on the numbers lists of telemarketers and scam artists. Perhaps it would anyway simply because it exists and it’s logged onto the network.

    • Dave says:

      You’d hope they would leave a message after the first attempt!

      • Londonsteve says:

        One would hope so but it’s then either pick up the second call or you’ve lost it. What if you’re driving/at the GP/in the theatre/having a nap at the time they make the second call? Why not send an e-mail and give the winner a few days to respond?

  • Fiona says:

    As someone who is profoundly deaf and don’t answer calls to unknown numbers, Nectar are discriminating and, most likely, breaking the Equality Act by not providing reasonable adjustment to those who cannot use the phone. That goes for every competition organizer.

    • mkcol says:

      +1

      This!

    • Clayton says:

      I decided to approach Sainsbury’s regarding the fact the rules as set excluded those of who are deaf or HoH. Tbf the young lady I live chatted with was amazingly empathetic. We had a chat yesterday lunchtime and I think they’re approaching it in a kind of “Oh crap. How the hell did that get passed by legal”!?

      I was very soft in my Initial approaching, especially as I knew it wasn’t going to be anything to do with the CS agent I spoke to. More i wanted to highlight it and have it avoided in future.

      Since then I’ve been contacted by a senior CS manager and asked for some patience as someone on their executive board happened to get wind of it & took interest/ wants a few days.

      May be blowing hot air up my *** but I don’t see any need as it’s not like I came at them screaming blue murder

  • LittleNick says:

    Ridiculous they can’t just send an email? Like others I tend not to answer unknown numbers unless I’m expecting a call

  • Can says:

    Read
    https://www.nectar.com/about/privacy-and-legal/i2c/220425-flora-british-airways

    It IS under partners section but not from the menu, only accessible from the main page of the app.

    • Can says:

      Potential dates for the call is there so you’d know

      • Londonsteve says:

        Well, yes, but what if like me you get anything up to 5 calls a day from unknown numbers (that never leave a voicemail I might add)? I don’t pick them up as a rule simply because it’s 5 distractions I could do without and by picking up I suspect that I’m triggering even more calls in the future as they know they can reach you and sell your number as a live prospect.

      • meta says:

        Potential dates are not there. They say that the draw will happen on 27 May but they may call up to 17 June. It’s a long period of keeping your phone turned on. What if they decide to call at 3am? Nothing about exact time of the call.

        What if no one picks up at all within that period? It’s silly rule and very likely means that the competion is riggged from the start and they actually don’t intend to award anyone.

  • Michael_s says:

    raise your hand if you bought thousands of individual piece of okra or chili peppers to earn avios

    • Oviplokos1 says:

      Do printer cartridges count?

      • The real Swiss Tony says:

        Not really in the spirit of it, because a single Okra would be 3p and is never intended to be bought as a single item, whereas a single printer cartridge would be £30…. 😉

    • Polly says:

      Well, there were the tiny cabbages too.. that was hilarious.

      Actually opened up the original article link Rob, just to read the comments, had a good giggle, esp at Graeme’s comment… We did need a printer, and the avios covered my next Dublin trip too…

    • Lumma says:

      I kept getting 100 nectar points for buying any jam or marmalade. They used to do a budget one for 17p a jar. I’d put it straight in the food bank donation bin on the way out.

      Apologies to the poor of east London who keep getting that in their food bags

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