Collecting BA Miles with Tesco - The TESCO FAQ by RJB

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. 1 point = 2.4 BA Miles.

As with the BA Amex, you can only convert points to BAEC accounts that are UK domiciled. Bear this in mind if you are considering moving your account to Europe to benefit from the lower tier point thresholds.

How do I join Clubcard?

Pick up a free card at any Tesco. Alternatively, apply for the Tesco Credit Card. This doubles as a Clubcard and, in addition, earns you 1 point for every £2 (equal to 1.2 BA Miles per £1) you spend on the card anywhere, not just at Tesco. This is not as good as the BA Premium Plus Amex (1.5 BA Miles per £1) but it can be used at places that refuse Amex eg council tax bills, John Lewis, Boots. 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.

You should apply for the Platinum Tesco Credit Card if you qualify as this earns 1 extra bonus point for every £2 spent on tesco.com.

Can I have multiple Clubcards?

Yes. Tesco does not pick up multiple cards with the same address, or even the same name. To avoid duplicated mailings, ring the Clubcard Helpline and have the accounts merged. You will then only get one statement with one points total.

Do other businesses award Clubcard points?

Tesco has a range of partners that award Clubcard points. You can find the current list by going to http://www.tesco.com/clubcard/clubcard/index1.htm and clicking the 'Partners' tab. It is worth noting that you get more BA Miles by crediting your Marriott hotel stays to Tesco (and then to BA) then you do by crediting them directly to BA.

How do I convert points to BA Miles?

You can check your points balance at any time by going to http://www.tesco.com/clubcard/clubcard/index1.htm and clicking 'Your 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.

To convert your vouchers to BA Miles, print out the form at https://www.britishairways.com/execclub/tesco and post them to BA.

You can ask Tesco to send your points electronically to BA. You need to call the Clubcard helpline on 0800 591688 and ask for Tesco Freetime. Give the Freetime operator your BAEC number and you are away. You will still receive a statement in the post showing the miles earned.

How can I earn bonus points?

There are occasional bonus offers in-store. These are flagged on FT and often at fixtureferrets.co.uk and madaboutbargains.co.uk. These can get you BA Miles for less than 1p each, compared to 1.7p when buying them from BA. Recent offers included palmier biscuits, Laurent Perrier champagne and instant coffee.

These offers are usually available whether you shop in-store or on-line. Note that some stores may restrict you to six identical items in any single purchase. Points offers are usually not advertised in Metro or Local stores but they should register at the check-out.

Other offers can be found on tesco.com. The Electricals section often offers bonus points but Tesco’s prices are generally worse than other on-line electrical specialists. Some FT’ers buy these items and re-sell them on e-bay for a small loss that is outweighed by the bonus miles.

Tesco Life Insurance - Updated 15/03/05

One interesting points earning opportunity is with Tesco Life Insurance. Tesco is currently offering 4,500 points (10,800 BA Miles) if you take out a policy on-line and hold it for 10 months. Points are credited quarterly at the rate of 1000 after 30 days and then 1000 / 1000 / 1500 at three-month intervals.

You are limited to one policy per person, but don’t forget to sign up your partner as well. The minimum monthly payment is £5 - if you apply for £1,000 of cover over a 2 year term, the system will automatically increase the cover to the maximum available for £5.

If you hold your policy for 10 months you will have earnt 10,800 BA Miles for an outlay of £50. If you do not wish to continue with the policy after this point, you should cancel your direct debit and send a letter to Norwich Union.

Other bonus points schemes

The other ‘no brainer’ is the Tesco Savings Account. Sadly, this offer has not been repeated for a while. When it is running, you can earn 1,500 points (3,600 BA Miles) for investing £1,500 for three months.

Powergen runs regular offers through tesco.com offering 2,000 points for moving your gas and electricity, or 1,000 points for one fuel. You will also earn 1 point per £1 spent on fuel going forwards.

Tesco offer points for recycling old mobile phones (300 points if they turn on, 50 points otherwise) and inkjet cartridges (50 points). You need to pick up a green plastic postage-paid envelope from the leaflet rack in-store.

If you are going to book flights or hotels through lastminute.com, you can book them through the lastminute.com link at tesco.com (under Travel) and earn an additional 1 Clubcard point per £1 spent on top of your usual credit card points.

Other Tesco finance products occasionally offer points but these are only worthwhile if you need the product anyway. These include breakdown cover (500 points), pet insurance (1,000 points), personal loans (2,000 points), Tesco home phone service (1,000 points) and home and buildings insurance (1,000 points).

If you have a Tesco Credit Card, you will receive extra bonus point offers with your statements. You can also see other offers when you check your balance at tesco.com. If you join the Tesco World of Wine or Tesco Healthy Living Club (free, forms in store), you will receive regular mailings with bonus offers.

What is Premium Clubcard?

This scheme, now abolished, let customers who spent over £780 per quarter convert at 800 BA Miles per 250 points. If you ever converted at this level, Tesco is continuing to let you do so. Some reports say that Tesco’s computers are still accidentally converting at the higher rate for customers who spend over the threshold, but YMMV.

For the latest information of the Tesco / BA partnership, look at this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=410750

Other Partners

BA has a lot of other Hotel, Car Rental and other Partners.

Some of the more notable ones are Avis (who offer a pretty good AWD for BA Gold members and nice miles earning opportunities), and Travelex.

This link lists BA’s hotel partners:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel...l/public/en_gb

This link lists BA’s car rental partners:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel...e/public/en_gb

This link lists BA’s other partners:
http://www.britishairways.com/travel...e/public/en_gb