Prospero

01 Collecting Avios with Tesco (UK residents only)



Tesco is the UK’s largest supermarket chain. It operates a loyalty card scheme called Tesco Clubcard which awards 1 point for every £1 spent. Points can be spent in-store or with partners, including BA. Every £2.50 you receive in Clubcard vouchers can be converted into 500 Avios and every additional 50p worth of vouchers gives you 100 Avios.

As with the BA AmEx, you can only convert points to Executive Club accounts that are UK domiciled.

How do I join Clubcard?
Pick up a free card at any Tesco, and then register it online or by posting back the form attached to the card. Alternatively, apply for the Tesco Credit Card. This doubles as a Clubcard and, in addition, earns you 1 point for every £4 (equal to 0.5 Avios per £1) you spend on the card anywhere, not just at Tesco. This is nowhere near as good as the BA Premium Plus AmEx (1.5 Avios per £1) but it can be used at places that refuse AmEx e.g. council tax and other utility bills. It can also be useful if you normally use your BA AmEx but want to delay the issuance of your next '2 for 1' redemption voucher.

Can I have multiple Clubcards?
Yes. However, Tesco does appear to be getting cleverer at spotting multiple mailings to the same address, and you may find that you can only qualify for a promotion on one of your accounts. To avoid duplicated mailings, ring the Clubcard Helpline and have the accounts merged. You will then only get one statement with one points total. However, if you receive multiple statements then you will also receive multiple bonus points coupons, of course!

Do other businesses award Clubcard points?
Tesco has a range of partners that award Clubcard points. See tesco.com for the current list. These include Avis and E.On.

How can I earn bonus points?
We have seen a gradual reduction in in-store promotions in the last few years, and you are now more likely to earn extra points from using special bonus codes for your online shopping. These usually give you an extra 200 / 500 / 1000 points when spending £x in specific areas of the Tesco website. These promotions, when available, are listed in Post 1 of the current ‘Tesco and BA’ thread. Post 1 also explains how to join the various Tesco clubs (lots of opportunities to receive bonus points coupons!) and how to recycle old mobile phones and inkjet cartridges for points.

How do I convert Clubcard points to Avios?
You can check your points balance at any time by going to tesco.com and clicking 'My Account'.

Once every quarter, you will receive a statement with vouchers for points earned (minimum 250). Quarters run from Aug-Oct, Nov-Jan, Feb-Apr and May-July and you will receive your statement 2-3 weeks later. Each statement comes with a number of bonus points coupons to use in-store.

Historically Tesco would automatically convert your points to Avios. This is no longer available to new cardholders but is still being done for those of us who signed up when it was possible. Today, you convert your points by going to the Tesco website and inputting the numerical code from your clubcard voucher. Ensure that your BAEC account address is the same as your Clubcard address.

Can I do anything else travel-related with my Tesco points?
There are a number of tour operators who offer discounts on holidays for Tesco points. You can get a £10 reduction for every £2.50 on Tesco vouchers you use. The more upmarket operators in the scheme include Cadogan Holidays and P&O Cruises. You can also redeem for Hilton, Marriott, Novotel and Mercure hotel stays, although there are often restrictions on minimum stay or weekend stays. See tesco.com/clubcard for details.


02 Shell Driver’s Club (UK residents only)



Join Shell Driver's Club by picking up a card at a Shell Service Station, and register the card online. If you do not register your card within six months of first use and do not have any activity on the account in that period, the account may be closed, and points may be lost. If there has been no activity in a 12-month period for any card, Shell may close the account.

There may be sign-up promotions where you can earn bonus points or Avios. Please see this master thread for up-to-date information.

Log in to your membership account on the Shell website (if you just registered online, allow 48 hours after receiving your password) and select the option you want to redeem your points to. Shell will automatically redeem your points every quarter, in multiples of 20 points (10 Avios). So, fill up in Jan/Feb/Mar, and get Avios in May (it takes 28 days from statement date).

If you want to change which redemption scheme to send your points to, make sure you do this four weeks before the end of a calendar quarter for it to take affect at the end of that quarter.

If you do not select any redemption choices, then Shell will give you Shell Fuel Vouchers each quarter, 500 points gives you £2.50 fuel vouchers.

If you buy more 150 or more litres of V-Power fuel in a quarter, you are invited to join the top tier level; the Shell V-Power Club, in the following quarter.

The card is UK only, you cannot use it at Shell stations worldwide and can only be credited to UK based BAEC accounts.

The scheme enables you to earn points which can be converted to Avios through purchasing Shell's products. 1 point is equal to 0.5 Avios (or 0.5 pence Shell vouchers).

Fuel
1 point per litre on all fuel types (maximum 125 litres per transaction), unless:

You buy more than 200 litres of fuel in any month:
2 points per litre up to and including 400 litres in a month.

For each litre after 400, the normal rate of 1 point per litre applies. This means you get a maximum of 800 points at the 2 points rate, and any additional litres is added to that balance at 1 point.

You hold a V-Power Club Card,
2 points per litre on V-Power fuel, no limit on earnings.
Standard 1 point per litre rate apply to regular fuels.

Other Shell Products
Shell card members can also earn

• 1 point per £ on selected Shell Helix (oil) products.
• 25 points for a Shell Gold car wash.
• 15 points for a Shell Gold jet wash.

Shell Shopping
Shell has a cashback shopping website at www.shellonlineshopping.co.uk where each whole £10 spent will earn you 10 points. However, if you spend £19.99, you will only get 10 points, not 19 or 20 points. Occasionally promotions are on offer, for example, £2 spending on a particular brand will net you 10 points.

It can take up to 35 days for points to be credited from the shopping website.

It is generally regarded better value using the BA's own Gate 365 to collect Avios.

Miscellaneous and Promotions
At time of writing, there is a 50 points bonus for downloading the iPhone Shell Motorist app and purchase xx litres of fuel within xx weeks, and other offers pushed through the app along the same vein.


03 Heathrow Rewards (No domicile restriction)



Receive 1 point for every £1 you spend in shops, bars, cafes and restaurants, at car parks and on pre-booked Heathrow Express tickets, and 1 point for every £10 exchanged at Bureaux de change. (Excludes tobacco and certain other products and outlets. Read the Heathrow Rewards terms and conditions for details.)

As an Executive Club Member you can then convert your points for Avios in increments of 250 points. 250 points will give you 250 Avios.

If you're not currently a member and wish to join Heathrow Rewards, an initial visit to ba.com for available sign-up bonuses.


04 American Express Membership Reward points (No domicile restriction)



Certain American Express cards offer Membership Reward points for purchases. The amount of points varies considerably between the different cards offered by Amex. The Reward points can then be transmitted to BAEC (and a long list of other loyalty programmes) via an online menu. There is an initial registration process to link your BAEC card number to Membership Rewards - this can take 2 weeks to be completed - but thereafter any transferred Reward points will arrive in your BAEC account within a few days.

The conversion rate may vary depending on the country. In the UK, 1 Membership Reward Point will transfer over as 1 Avios point, there is a minimum transfer of 1,000 Reward Points / Avios. In Hong Kong it is 15 MR to 1 Avios. There are sometimes promotions with bonus Avios points awarded above the normal 1 to 1 exchange rate. Reward Points can also be transfered into Iberia Plus' frequent flyer programme at the same rate.


05 Transfer from (and to) other IAG programmes



Iberia Plus (No domicile restriction)
Avios collected in your existing Iberia Plus account can also be transferred into your existing BAEC account using the "Combine My Avios" tool on ba.com. Note, Combine My Avios does not apply to accounts that are less than three months old.

AerClub
Transferring your Avios points between your AerClub account is possible but in order to do this you need to be enrolled in the Avios Travel Rewards Programme. Go to Avios.com and log in. Select 'Your account' and 'Combine/Transfer Avios to/from your AerClub, British Airways or Iberia accounts'.

Avios Travel Rewards Programme (UK/ROI/ZA domicile restrictions)
IAG also own a standalone Avios Travel Rewards Programme which is not directly connected to its airlines. Avios Group Ltd have an online presence via avios.com. The company was previously known as Airmiles.
Points earned in avios.com can be used to redeem flights and other travel related services, including Eurostar train tickets. Sometimes the availability of flights on avios.com is better than via BAEC. Avios can be collected either from flying BA or IB (in which case the avios.com operates in a similar way to BAEC, minus the Tier Points), or as a loyalty scheme for retailers such as Tesco, Shell and Lloyds TSB. Sometimes avios.com has promotions and collection opportunities which are not available via BAEC. Avios can be freely transferred between the Executive Club and Avios Travel Rewards Programme using the "Combine My Avios" tool on ba.com.



Introduction and overview of the Executive Club | Avios and Tier Points explained | Membership Tiers | Earning Avios on flights | Earning Avios on hotel stays | Credit card partners | Earning through everyday spending | Exchanging other points for Avios