Checking out the latest BA partner, Bicester Village

British Airways Executive Club’s latest partner is Bicester Village, the designer shopping outlet mecca in the Chilterns.

The link to the BA promotion is here (click on Chic Outlet Shopping).

The long-term BAEC offer will be 5 Avios points for every £4 you spend.  You need to take your receipts to the Visitor Centre at the end of the day and have them credit your account. 

You also earn Avios at the other outlet sights around Europe owned by the same group, see the BAEC link for details.

Until 30th September, there is a special BA promotion available.  Show your BAEC card in the Visitor Centre and you receive a 10% discount card and a £5 voucher valid (with no minimum spend) in any of the cafes or restaurants, so fundamentally free money. 

The 10% discount applies in every retailer except Prada, but only on ‘full-price discounted’ merchandise, if you know what I mean!  Anything discounted further than its original Bicester price does not qualify.

Bicester Village is an easy train ride from London Marylebone albeit at a spookily high £32 for a standard class return.  This includes the shuttle bus from Bicester North station to the village. 

The xx:07 departures from Marylebone are classed as ‘Mainline’ trains and have free wi-fi, which worked fine for me, and a (paid for) trolley service.  These are also the fastest trains, taking under 50 minutes.  There is no price difference between a Mainline and a regular service.

I had no problem collecting my £5 voucher and 10% discount card from the Visitor Centre.  Sadly, the latter didn’t get used!  The only thing I bought was a Polo Ralph Lauren jumper for my little boy, reduced from £89 to £19.99.  There was no further 10% reduction because it was already double-discounted.

I nearly bought a cashmere trench coat in Prada (60% off) but sadly (or not, for my bank balance) it was cut with a nipped-in waist, in just the area where my waist starts to nip-out.

The range of shops is unmatched anywhere in Britain.  The ‘poshest’ is probably Loro Piana, with Prada, Gucci, Armani (mainly cheaper Armani lines), Ferragamo, Missoni, Burberry (a h-u-g-e store) following on, all the way down to Superdry , Ugg and Ted Baker.  Stock is massively variable, though, especially at the high end brands, so you can’t be too focussed on what you go for.

The Polo Ralph Lauren outlet seems to primarily sell ‘made for outlet’ lines which are not actually available in ‘normal’ stores.  I’m not sure what other Bicester brands do this as well, presumably the US-owned ones are most likely to do so as the US is the real global heart of the outlet store.

So … if you fancy a shopping trip to Bicester, pull out your British Airways Executive Club card and get down there before the end of September.  If you value your sanity, try to avoid weekends.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios?  Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)