STILL ON: Get FREE Platinum status in Club Avolta via your airline or hotel status

We haven’t mentioned the Club Avolta status match for some time, so I thought it was worth a reminder today.

This match allows you to leverage any hotel or airline status you have to get extra savings when shopping at World Duty Free stores across the UK and sister stores globally.

Your FREE top tier Platinum status in the Club Avolta (World Duty Free) loyalty programme will get you a 10% discount on purchases – and at Heathrow you still earn Avios on top.

Even better, you will receive 250 bonus Avios with your first transaction if you are a new member and link your Club Avolta account to your Avios account.

What you will NOT get, unfortunately, is free VIP status in the Radisson Rewards hotel scheme. This has recently been removed as a Club Avolta elite member benefit. It is a shame because a lot of HfP readers, including myself, have made good use of it during 2025.

The link to apply for the Club Avolta status match is here.

What is Club Avolta?

You might not know Club Avolta, but it is the dominant global duty free retailer. It was previously known as Dufry and ran the Red By Dufry loyalty scheme.

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 Club Avolta.  The key benefit of downloading this app is that you get a 5% discount on purchases (doubled to 10% with this status match) at selected Dufry stores.

There is also a link with Dragonpass (the airport lounge access card) which is worth knowing about.

How do I get my Club Avolta status match?

You can claim a match whether you are a new or existing member of Club Avolta. Simply click here and fill in the form.

Got airline status?

If you have elite status with virtually any airline then you will qualify for an immediate uplift to Platinum status in Club Avolta.

With most airlines, even the lowest level of elite status is accepted. Bronze with British Airways or Silver with Virgin Atlantic is good enough.

Got hotel status?

If you don’t have airline status, you can still qualify with intermediate or top tier status in most major hotel loyalty programmes.

The minimum status required to apply is Gold with Accor, Gold with Hilton, Explorist with Hyatt, Gold with IHG, Gold with Marriott and (slightly oddly as it is top-tier) VIP with Radisson.

How long will my Platinum status last?

12 months

What are the benefits of top-tier Platinum status?

It’s very simple – your discount at World Duty Free and other Avolta-run outlets is doubled from 5% to 10%.

Which airports let me use the Club Avolta app to save 10%?

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.

Here are the UK airports where you can save at the World Duty Free or Dufry / Avolta 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 Club Avolta.

What do I save?

The discount for Silver level members – which is what you get when you sign up without doing the status match – is 5%.  Tobacco purchases are excluded, as are airport arrivals stores.

The discount is doubled to 10% if you complete the Platinum status match.

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 / Avolta businesses abroad.

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

How do I 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 ‘Manage Partners’. Avios will be sent over automatically after each transaction.

The key outlets are the large World Duty Free stores in each terminal at Heathrow, but some other boutiques are also included.

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

How do I get airport lounge access?

Here’s an added benefit of joining up to Club Avolta to earn Avios.

Avolta has a partnership with airport lounge card Dragonpass which is a competitor to Priority Pass.

As a member of Club Avolta you can pay for access to any Dragonpass lounge for $31.  The vast majority of airport lounges in Priority Pass are in Dragonpass. $31 is a substantial discount to the usual walk-up rate at most airport lounges.

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.

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 to benefit from the cash saving. Take part in this status match and your discount will be 10%.

The special status match website, whether or not you are an existing Club Avolta member, can be found here.