Just a heads up for those who shop at Tesco, and use their Clubcard points to convert them into use travel related items (like British Airways Executive Club Avios, Virgin Flying Club Miles, Monarch Vouchers, Red Spotted Hanky Vouchers).

The  current collection period for ClubCard is coming to an end on the 26th January. Given that it takes 2-3 days from shopping points to credit, points need to be done and dusted by 23rd January so they post as vouchers.

• Virgin Atlantic are offering a 50% uplift, so a 1 x £2.50 voucher (normally 625 miles) becomes 937 miles, with an “Auto-Optin” bonus of 1,000 Flying Club Miles – http://www.tesco.com/clubcard/deals/product.aspx?R=2179
• There are no special offers on Avios at the moment .
• There are some other ingesting offers if you don’t want miles (£10 of vouchers for £40 of Le Shuttle vouchers). It pays to dig around.

If you must to convert to Avios, only convert expiring vouchers only (vouchers have 2 year life), otherwise for Avios collectors – hang on until the next uplift promotion. You can find the voucher expiry dates in the “My Clubcard account” section of the site.

A little – but important reminder for those of you who are BMI Gold/Silver and have yet to match to British Airways Executive Club.

Time is now running out with the status match closing on the 31st December 2012, and if you haven’t matched over yet - now is the time to do it. It does take a little while to do – so the sooner you do it, the sooner the status is in your hands. 

The Diamond Club programme will close outside of the UK & South West Pacific on 31st December 2012.

• United Kingdom members can continue to earn Diamond Club Miles via the the BMI Credit Cards and convert them to Avios.
• For those in The South West Pacific (Australia and New Zealand), your accounts remain frozen for now.
• Elsewhere, you really need to get your finger out and transfer any remaining Diamond Club Miles out by 31st December 2012. Beyond that point, for rest of the world members (other than South West Pacific) will have those miles deleted.

Those who have yet to set up a BA Executive Account can do so at http://www.ba.com/welcomebmi. You can then transfer your Diamond Club miles to Avois.

But seriously, don’t hang around. Do it soon…

With one year gone since the word “Avios” formally became part of the frequent flyer list of words, it seems Avios.com, British Airways and Iberia are having a bit of a party.

The skinny: 25% off redemptions using Avios or Avios+Money bookings (Avios part only).

Bookings must be made between for travel between 14/11/12 & 19/11/12 for departures from 14/11/12 & 31/05/13.

And it seems to be available in ALL classes of travel.

Now, this is to Zone 4 of travel and beyond. For those who need that spelt out for them in a list of destinations…

Abuja, Cairo, Jeddah, Kuwait, Tel Aviv, Abu Dhabi, Accra, Bahrain, Baltimore, Bermuda, Boston, Chicago, Doha, Dubai, Lagos, Montreal, Muscat, New York, Philadelphia, Riyadh, Toronto, Washington, Antigua, Atlanta, Barbados, Beijing, Bangalore, Calgary, Cancun, Cape Town, Chennai, Dallas, Dar Es Salaam, Delhi, Denver, Entebbe, Grand Cayman, Grenada, Houston, Hyderabad, Johannesburg, Kingston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Luanda, Lusaka, Male, Mexico City, Miami, Montego Bay, Mumbai, Nairobi, Nassau, Orlando, Phoenix, Port Of Spain, Providenciales, Punta Cana, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, St Kitts, St Lucia, Tampa, Tobago, Trinidad, Vancouver, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Rio De Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Singapore, Sydney.

Now for the nitty gritty:

• The 25% discount does not apply to: 25% discount does not apply to the taxes, fees and charges which are payable in full on all bookings.
• Exculdes Zone 1,2,3 flights from the offer, Zone 4-9 flights are good though
• Flights depart London.
• Flights are subject to Avios/BA/Iberia terms and conditions.
• Bookings must be made between for travel between Some flights may have no availability or have very limited availability, particularly during peak periods and periods of high demand.
• The 25% Avios discount on reward flights is only available on British Airways and Iberia operated flights and codeshare flights.

It’s one hell of an attractive offer, even when having to stomach the taxes and fees… and if your travel need requires BA or Iberia and you have the Avios, I’d be looking very carefully at this…

Bookable at:
- https://www.britishairways.com/main/spend-avios/?source=MNVEXC2_spend_avios British Airways
- http://www.avios.com/spend/cp/6day-birthday-sale - Avios.com

Double Avois or Doube AAvantage Miles?  Depending on which programme you’re married to will depend which you go for (and also how deep your pockets are…)

American Airlines Promo:

American Airlines offer is simple enough – fly to North or South America in First or Business Class in the high fares – get bonus AAdvantage miles.

• Purchase an eligible First or Business Class ticket on select transatlantic routes
• Register prior to travel using promotion code UKDBL
• Travel up to 31 December 2012

Here is the nasty bit – you need to check your fare codes carefully:

• First Class or Business Class fares booked in P, F, A, J, R or D on American Airlines operated flights
• First Class or Club World fares booked in F, A, J, C, or D on British Airways operated flights
• Business Class fares booked in J, C or D on Iberia operated flights

Featured routes:

• From London Heathrow to: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Mexico City, New York JFK, Newark, Philadelphia and Raleigh/Durham.
• Nonstop from Manchester to: Chicago and New York JFK
• London Heathrow via Madrid to Sao Paulo, Mexico City and Bogota with Iberia

British Airways Promo:

British Airways has a variant of the offer with a few different destinations from London with Double Avios on North and South American destinations as well as a few further afiled in F or J, on BA, AA or IB

London Heathrow to:

• Singapore, Delhi,  New York (JFK), Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles, Johannesburg, Dubai, Newark, Philadelphia, Raleigh-Durham, Lagos, Moscow, Boston, Miami, Mexico City

London Heathrow via Madrid (operated by Iberia) to:

• Sao Paulo Mexico City Bogota

Manchester to:

• Chicago O’Hare, New York (JFK)

Register at http://www.britishairways.com/travel/double-avios-points/public/en_gb. Travel up to 31st December 2012.

Again, the same conditions as the AA offer you will need to check your fare codes carefully:

• First Class or Club World fares booked in F, A, J, C, or D on British Airways operated flights
• First Class or Business Class fares booked in P, F, A, J, R or D on American Airlines operated flights
• Business Class fares booked in J, C or D on Iberia operated flights

I’d wager the same thing is going on over at Iberia Plus too for those who are members of Iberia Plus.

As to the value of the offer – it’s a nicety if you can take advantage of it, but full fares are expensive. Very expensive if you’re on your own coin…

It seems there is a bonus point promotion going on from Avios.com eStore at the moment, with some reasonable offers – depending what you’re shopping for.

The promotion runs until the 31st October, with a chance to win £2000 in John Lewis vouchers too.

Points are awarded  to your Avios  account 35 days after you shop – and your bonus Avios a week later.

There’s a full list at Flyertalk, with the highlights in the 24 Avios per pound section.

Now, like Quidco, this all relies on tracking cookies to do all the dirty work, so plan appropriately by flushing cookies as needed.

But before clicking how many Avois you’ll earn, it’s important also to check on Quidco and TopCashBack to see what deals they are running with the same vendor and ask “Is the cashback going to be worth more than the Avios“.

Personally, I’d always grab the cash, but if you’re making a £100 purchase or more, 2400 Avios (at 24 Avios per pound) maybe worth more to you…

I’m sure most of you have converted your Tesco ClubCard points into something more useful already, but if you haven’t there are two good promotions which end on 31st August.

• Avios conversions to British Airways Executive Club or Avios.com are offering a 50% uplift, , so a 1 x £2.50 voucher (normally 600 Avios) becomes 900 Avios
• Virgin Atlantic are offering a 50% uplift, so a 1 x £2.50 voucher (normally 625 miles) becomes 937 miles

A 50% bonus is a 50% bonus in my book. So if you have any spare Clubcard vouchers to convert now is the time to do it at www.tesco.com/clubcard

If you’re out of vouchers, or if you have less that £2.50 of vouchers to convert – hang on to them and continue shopping.

As these uplift promotions happen every now and again, my advice is simple – continue earning your Clubcard vouchers, but don’t convert them until a promotion hits – the vouchers are valid 2 years from issue… and I’m sure that there will be another promotion featuring Avios and Virgin miles sooner rather than later…

In a mail-out today, Tesco confirms the 50% extra bonus that is being offered on Avios (where a £2.50 Tesco Clubcard voucher becomes 600 Avios with 300 bonus extra) is now being extended to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club as well:

Text:

Exchange your Clubcard vouchers between 16 July and 31 August 2012 and receive 50% more Flying Club miles. For every £2.50 in Clubcard vouchers exchanged, you will receive 937 Flying Club miles instead of 625.

(Please note if your Clubcard points have already been converted into Clubcard vouchers for your August statement, just manually exchange these for Virgin Flying Club miles before 31 August 2012 in order to receive the 50% extra Flying Club miles)

Plus if you ‘auto opt in’ you will receive an extra 1,000 bonus miles during this period.Offers ends 31 August 2012

If you collect Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles, this is rather juicy:

• 1 x £2.50 voucher is normally worth 625 miles
• Convert during the promotional period, this becomes 937 miles
• Choose to “Auto Opt In” to convert future Tesco Clubcard points to Flying Club miles, and you’ll get an extra 1000 miles

Now, I’m not a Virgin Atlantic flyer, but if you are, this is a reasonably good bonus to get you on your way.

Even if you’re collecting for Avios as opposed to Virgin Atlantic, here is the big stinger (and I only found out when I checked my own Tesco Clubcard account today):

THE DEADLINE FOR COLLECTING CLUBCARD POINTS IS THE 21st JULY. THIS MEANS IF YOU WANT ALL POINTS TO COUNT, YOU NEED THEM BY 19TH JULY (as they take 2 days to credit appropriately).

So if you’re planning a weekly shop… I’d do it by Thursday evening if you want those extra points to convert…

Well the tool is live… so it’s time to convert those BMI Diamond Club Destination Miles to British Airways Avios (unless there’s a reason you want Diamond Club miles – eg redemption space on Jet, Qatar, Virgin Atlantic or Transaero).

An update before you begin from BMI – Ensure the following is up to date:

• Contact details
• Name
• Email address
• Date of birth

in both your Diamond Club and Executive Club accounts. Also note that into Household Account balances are not possible.

How to do it:

1) Go to www.britishairways.com and log into your Executive Account Page

2) Go to Manage My Account

3) On the next page click Combine My Avios

4) You’ll be presented with a screen. Read the T&C’s, and hit Combine my Avios

5) There will be a short load period, and then you’ll be asked what you wish to combine. Select bmi Diamond Club:

6) Next you need to log into your Diamond Club account FROM THIS PAGE to extract the Avios. Fill the form in and press LOG IN AND CONTINUE

7) We’re now getting to the serious bit. If the tool recognises your BMI details, you’ll get your BMI Balance on the right. Now, here’s the biggie. THIS IS A ONE WAY TRANSFER, and you will not be able to move your miles back to BMI.

Providing your happy with this, enter the amount of miles you wish to convert into Avios, and press “Review Combine my Avios”

We’re almost at the point of no return now. Read everything on the screen and ensure you’re happy with the amounts. If you’re not happy in any way, hit “Go back a step”.  If you are happy, and agree to the T&C’s, click the check box and hit “Combine my Avios”

9) And now. Wait. It takes a minute or so to complete.

10)  And if all goes correctly, you’ll get this screen:

That’s it! Your Diamond Club Miles have been moved successfully. To check it, ignore the big screens and head to your statement. (Click Manage My Account, then My Statement)

11) You should get something like this:

Give it 30 minutes (or log off and log back in again), and the big balances on the right hand side should have updated successfully. You’ll also get two emails – one from your Diamond Club Account and one from your British Airways Executive Club Account.

And that’s all there is to it. Again, make sure you’re happy to remove your BMI Diamond Club Destination Miles as it is a one way process from Diamond Club to Executive Account.

If you’ve got problems transferring, head to The BMI Diamond Club FlyerTalk Thread – http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/bmi-diamond-club/1362406-diamond-club-baec-avios-transfer-tool-report-successes-issues.html where a lot of questions have been already answered.

Happy converting!

For those of you in Avios land, this is an offer that isn’t great, but is reasonable if you’re missing Avois.

The offer is Buy Avios in quantities of 1,000 to 24,000  (in 1,000 Avois )

Image and data – Avios.com

Whilst not great value at the lower levels, it improves after the 17,000 level and above.

The Diamond Club offer of 20% more Diamond Club miles on miles purchases is cheaper though (£255 for 24,000 Diamond Club miles, convertible into Avios at a later point – ends 30th June 2012), but if you’ve used up your purchasing limit on Diamond Club miles, this is an extra method getting Avios.

The offer runs until 2nd August 2012.

Other than usual of shopping at Tesco, fuelling you car at  Shell Drivers Club in the UK, using the Avios shopping portal, applying for a Llyods TSB Avios credit card…

Don’t look at me in that tone of voice. We all have to start at the bottom of frequent flyer membership scheme no matter were we are.

Some time ago (February) I got this kit, and have been meaning to pop it online. AS there are a lot of BMI Lolcats Diamond Club Members moving to British Airways Executive Club, it seems timely to bring up what’s in the Blue package.

This is order-able upon having grand total ONE Avios in your account

Welcome envelope

Welcome letter

Welcome pack contents – BA Blue card on the right.

Hopefully this won’t be the only BA Welcome Kit I’ll be showing you as I’m waiting for the Gold Kit to come

For those of you with Tesco Clubcard vouchers, the big conversion periods are ending.

• For most of you, the best value is the 250 Clubcard points = 1000 Avios (vs usual 600 Avios) offer. And if you’ve got multiples of £2.50 clubcard vouchers left, you’ve got until Sunday 31st March to convert them.
• If you go for the auto-opt in of Virgin to exchange your current and all future Clubcard vouchers into Flying Club miles. there’s an extra 1000 mile. Deadline again is the 31st March

Take advantage if you have spare Clubcard points that are available for conversion!!!