Avios Points Boosting guide discussion

mrweeble

Wondering what the easiest, cheapest and quickest way to earn one point is. I have a load of unspent Tesco ClubCard vouchers I want to convert into Avios points for a Eurostar trip. To maximise my rate, I want to do it before the 31st March in order to get the bonus points (#03), however I also want to pick up the bonus points for being a first timer (#04).

As I am a brand new Avios customer, I need to have earned at least one point before doing this. Was thinking of buying two MP3s via iTunes (£1.18) which would get me 2 points to be eligible, however it and all the other e-shops say it takes 35 days to credit my account, by which time I will have missed the Tesco points increase. Does it really take that long or is it just a worse case scenario?

Any ideas?

boobies

mrweeble wrote: »

Wondering what the easiest, cheapest and quickest way to earn one point is. I have a load of unspent Tesco ClubCard vouchers I want to convert into Avios points for a Eurostar trip. To maximise my rate, I want to do it before the 31st March in order to get the bonus points (#03), however I also want to pick up the bonus points for being a first timer (#04).

As I am a brand new Avios customer, I need to have earned at least one point before doing this. Was thinking of buying two MP3s via iTunes (£1.18) which would get me 2 points to be eligible, however it and all the other e-shops say it takes 35 days to credit my account, by which time I will have missed the Tesco points increase. Does it really take that long or is it just a worse case scenario?

Any ideas?

The time taken for points to be credited varies - my last twenty transactions have averaged two weeks to be credited, but I have had some that have taken several months.

mrweeble

Thanks Boobies, I guess I shall try it out and see if I get lucky

trevorh

Great guide, thanks very much.

Just for info the BA upgrades referred to (Point 17) appear to be able to be booked on BA's website (I've not actually booked but I did get to payment page)

From my limited checking, upgrading from WT+ to Club seems to give the best value per Avios by miles (excuse the pun) if you can live with the limited availability of Club seats.

Happy flying!

dougz_2

boobies wrote: »

The time taken for points to be credited varies - my last twenty transactions have averaged two weeks to be credited, but I have had some that have taken several months.

Anyone got any clues to which retailers tend to be quickest?

If worst comes to worst and the deadline looms before the earned points are credited, is it possible to just buy some points instead, or don't they count?

cassis

I wonder if MSE Jenny can confirm if only a max of 6000 (perhaps theoretically 8000) Avios - not the 12000 mentioned in the guide - is possible with the Tesco Clubcard and Shell quarterly bonus incentives?

The Ts&Cs say;

You can collect in more than one way but can only receive one Bonus offer per way per quarter. Avios award times vary depending on where you're collecting. Avios must be added to your account by the end of each quarter to qualify. Shell awards are as follows: Fill up in Jan/Feb/Mar, Avios on account in June. Fill up in Apr/May/Jun, Avios on account in September. Fill up in Jul/Aug/Sep, Avios on account in December. Fill up in Oct/Nov/Dec, Avios on account in March. Bonus Avios will be awarded within 28 days of the end of each quarter. Shell Bonus Avios will be awarded within 28 days of the Shell award appearing in your account and will be backdated to include the month in which you collected the Shell Drivers' Club points and not the date they appeared in your Avios account."

It seems that only one partner can award a quarterly bonus per quarter, not both Tesco Clubcard and Shell, as the guide says.

Can their press office clarify?

budgetflyer

If you are near a Tesco Recycling Centre then you get I club Card point for every 2 Aluminium cans.
At the standard rate of £2.50 vouchers = 600 Avios then 1 aluminium can = 1.2 Avios.

Boost points by getting friends and family to save for you too

MSE_Jenny

cassis wrote: »

I wonder if MSE Jenny can confirm if only a max of 6000 (perhaps theoretically 8000) Avios - not the 12000 mentioned in the guide - is possible with the Tesco Clubcard and Shell quarterly bonus incentives?

Hi cassis,

The T&Cs agree with what we say in the guide. They say "You can collect in more than one way but can only receive one Bonus offer per way per quarter."

So Tesco is a 'way' and Shell is a 'way', and you can only collect one bonus per way per quarter, ie, one for Tesco, one for Shell.

Avios says: "There is no limit on how many new participating (in the multi-collect offer) partners you can begin collecting with per quarter and for each partner it goes up by 2,000 Avios."

Could this be the world's most complicated offer?!

boobies

dougz wrote: »

Anyone got any clues to which retailers tend to be quickest?

If worst comes to worst and the deadline looms before the earned points are credited, is it possible to just buy some points instead, or don't they count?

The best for me are John Lewis, and House of Fraser most of the time. ebay tend to take a long time, if they post at all.

Roger1

cassis wrote: »

Confusing or what?!

Very, very confusing. What work experience trainee devised schemes using the name Avios both as a currency (for BA and IB frequent flyer programmes as well as avios.com) and the name for the expired Airmiles scheme? :eek:

cassis wrote: »

But does anyone know if the "Shell 6000 bonus Avios" tip applies to the BA Exec. Club Avios scheme, or just to the standard Avios scheme?

The Tesco and Shell bonus offers apply to qualifying members of BOTH BAEC and avios.com. 'Qualifying' means existing members who have had at least 1 Avios/Airmiles credit in the past year and have not credited with the new partners in that time - but do check T+Cs as my summary may not be sufficient.

The 6,000/12,000 is actually 8,000/16,000 since the offer began in November, but the first quarter finished yesterday, hence the remaining 6,000/12,000 now on offer.

MSE_Jenny wrote: »

The 2,000 bonus points are only available via the main Avios scheme.

Leaving aside 'the main Avios scheme' for the moment, perhaps ask the press office to confirm that they are available to all qualifying Avios collectors, be they BAEC or avios.com?

MSE_Jenny wrote: »

Could this be the world's most complicated offer?!

Yes!

One point seems to have been overlooked. These 2,000 Avios per quarter bonuses are two different versions of the New Partners offer to avios.com and BAEC collectors. Collect qualifying Avios from 'new' partners and receive 2,000 bonus Avios per quarter, roughly Dec-Feb, Mar-May, June-Aug and Sep-Nov (Shell is different). Avios.com has FOUR potential partners: Tesco, Shell, British Airways and Lloyds TSB Duo Avios credit cards; BAEC just Tesco and Shell.

FWIW, I'm looking for three bonuses for the Nov-Feb quarter from avios.com (Shell is far too complicated for me) and one from BAEC. In view of all the confusion, I will not be surprised if I have to chase some of them. (For example, it took over two months and an amount of persuasion for a BA flight to be credited to my avios.com account).

A request: may we please stop talking about 'the main Avios scheme'. At least some of us collect Avios with both avios.com and BAEC and in any event they are transferable between accounts. If necessary, how about BAEC Avios and avios.com Avios? (Stupid, I know, but that comes from the BA marketing genius who thought up the whole Avios nonsense branding.)

BAEC bonus Avios T+Cs are at http://www.britishairways.com/travel/shopping-offer-tc-ec/public/en_gb
Avios.com bonus Avios T+Cs are at http://www.avios.com/collect/get-more