How to earn and spend Avios at Heathrow’s World Duty Free – 250 Avios on your first purchase

The World Duty Free shops at Heathrow have an ‘earn and burn’ partnership with Avios.

We have never looked at this in one combined article, because ‘earn’ launched 18 months before ‘burn’. The scheme has also been rebranded to Club Avolta from Red by Dufry, so I thought it was time that we fully revamped our content.

You will earn 1 Avios for every £1 you spend in World Duty Free and other shops at Heathrow run by Avolta.

You will receive 0.5p for every Avios you spend in World Duty Free and other Avolta-run retailers.

This is totally separate from the Heathrow Rewards loyalty scheme and which also earns Avios, letting you double up by earning in both programmes!

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

How do you 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 ‘Club Avolta’ app to your smartphone and register.

Avolta is the new name for Dufry, which 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.

Avolta has its own app-based loyalty programme called Club Avolta.  The key benefit of downloading this app is that you get a 5% discount on purchases at selected Dufry stores.  You can also join online here.

Which airports let you use the Club Avolta 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 Club Avolta.

You will save 5% on purchases at Avolta outlets at Heathrow and in other airports globally.

These include, in the UK, Aberdeen, Belfast City, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Glasgow Prestwick, Humberside, Leeds Bradford, Liverpool John Lennon, London Gatwick, London Luton, London Southend, London Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Southampton and Teesside. You do NOT earn Avios at these airports, however.

You can also save at Eurostar at London St Pancras plus 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 Club Avolta.

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. You can also add your membership card to your smarphone’s wallet.

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 Club Avolta discount.

How do you earn Avios at Heathrow?

Club Avolta has a 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 Club number to your Club Avolta account via the ‘Account’ tab in the app. Go to ‘Explore 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)
• Glorious Britain
• MAC
• Jo Malone
• Sunglasses Boutique
• Haute Perfumerie
• World of Whiskies

Terminal 4

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

Terminal 5

• World Duty Free (various stores)
• Glorious Britain
• Haute Perfumerie
• Macallan

You can also earn Avios at various airports in Spain – there is a list in the Club Avolta app.

How do you SPEND Avios at Heathrow duty free?

Six months ago, Club Avolta added the ability to spend Avios in its Heathrow and Spanish stores.

Because your Club Avolta account is already linked to your British Airways Club account, you can see your Avios balance in the Club Avolta app and use it to create an e-voucher which can be immediately spent on duty free.

How do you order an e-voucher?

Once your Avios account is linked, you will see your points balance showing on the ‘Explore Partners’ page under ‘Account’ in the Club Avolta app.

Click on the British Airways logo and you will be taken to another page with a menu option marked ‘Add voucher’.

You select ‘UK’ or ‘Spain’ as the country where you intend to shop. Don’t be confused here – by ‘UK’ it really means ‘Heathrow’. You can’t use vouchers at any other airport where Avolta runs the duty free store.

Select ‘Spain’, on the other hand, and you will see most major airports listed.

You select the value of voucher you want, which for the UK will be in Sterling:

If you redeem in Spain, you will receive a €50 voucher for 8,490 Avios.

The voucher sits in the Club Avolta app and can be scanned whilst making your purchase.

Vouchers cannot be used for alcohol, tobacco or medical purchases.

You can use a maximum of three vouchers per transaction. (The T&C contradict what is in the app and say that you can only use one voucher. I suspect the app is correct and the T&C has not been updated.)

You can convert Avios into a maximum of £250-worth of vouchers in any rolling 30 day period.

Vouchers are valid for 24 months.

Where can you use your e-voucher?

It is the same list of stores as shown above for earning Avios, except for MAC in Terminal 3. Macallan in T5 is also excluded because of the alcohol restriction.

Conclusion

If you ever shop at World Duty Free at Heathrow, you should sign up to Club Avolta 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 Club Avolta if you travel through any of the other airports where it operates. You won’t be able to earn or spend Avios but you will benefit from the 5% saving.

You can see full details of the Club Avolta / Avios partnership, including the 250 Avios bonus for your first purchase, on this page of the Club Avolta website.