The Avios Thread

Financial Chat
#1

A little surprised this topic doesn’t exist already, but I guess much of the Avios chat is covered under the AMEX topics.

Anyhow, last week the Sainsbury’s Nectar loyalty scheme was announced as the replacement to the previous Tesco Clubcard partnership.

There’s lots more about it here: Sainsbury's is the new Avios supermarket partner!

The headlines seem to be that:

  • Points can be transferred in both directions at no value loss.
  • 250 Avios = 400 Nectar Points
  • 400 Nectar Points = 250 Avios
  • 400 Nectar Points = £2
  • Suddenly every bonus Nectar offer becomes a bonus Avios offer and vice versa.
  • Necar has become a great way to spend Avios with 1 Avios being worth 0.8p when spent via Nectar.

The partnership has also launched with two introductory offers:

  1. Convert 1600 Nectar to Avios and get a 500 Avios bonus.
  2. Double points on all Sainsbury’s shopping from 25/01 to 19/04.

I’m personally really happy about this. I’ve been stacking Nectar points for years and with Sainsbury’s slowly moving electricals into Argos the annual Nectar double up has lost its value to me. Being able to shift my points to Avios is great.

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#2

Ah, I don’t like this. It’s good for those who shop at Sainsbury’s anyway, but it quite get me to shop there. I find they’re more expensive and occasionally worse quality than Tesco for things we usually buy. And with them not offering click and collect around here there’s no chance I’ll be going in.

I guess I’ll have to convert Clubcard vouchers to Virgin miles and hope they don’t go under

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#3

I’m very happy with this. Nectar’s app is great for bonus points and I have often rocked out with a few hundred points from one visit when you combine them with the additional points for certain items.

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#4

I think the biggest thing to note is that you’re not limited to spending at Sainsbury’s to earn points whereas previously you were limited to just Tesco.

There are so many Nectar partners, for example Argos, ESSO, DFD, eBay and many many more.

Partnerships with the likes of South Western Railway mean that you can earn points on virtually any national rail journey in the UK too.

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#5

Given the closest small and big shops to me are Sainsbury’s this is great news for me.

Have already done the initial transfer for the extra 500. Hopefully this will help build my Avios quite substantially :crossed_fingers:

Edit: good thread creation also. I am sure I’m not making the absolute most of my points, so def interested to hear what others do to boost and get extra etc.

#6

Can you switch the bonus Avios back to Nectar?

#7

There were some T&Cs saying you couldn’t reverse for so many days to get the bonus. Can’t recall seeing anything saying never though so maybe at a later date?

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#8

Aside from AMEX-related bonuses the single most lucrative way I’ve found to get extra Avios is by shopping via the British Airways shopping portal.

Pretty much every online retailer is on there and occasionally you’ll find places offering anywhere between 5 and 15 points per pound spent. This is all on top of anything you’d earn paying with a rewards card too.

https://www.shopping.ba.com/

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#9

Oh nice. I had seen this a while back but completely forgot to properly check it out.

#10

I’ve never signed up for avios but feel like this might be a good time to do so.

My OH’s grandma saves her papers for us to use on our wood burner and her daily paper is the daily Mail. I might start collecting the nectar codes off the back before I burn them… :crazy_face:

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#11

First time I’ve ever heard of a good use for that :joy:

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#12

Something to be aware of:

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