1200 Avios, 1000 Virgin miles, 1000 Miles & More miles with new BAA WorldPoints sign-up bonus

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BAA WorldPoints – the loyalty scheme for Heathrow’s duty free shops – has launched a new sign-up promotional bonus via partner Virgin Atlantic.

These sign-up bonuses come and go. But this one is the most generous we have seen in a long time. You only need to spend £10 to qualify, and the bonus miles are double what you normally see.

The way the scheme works is that you earn 1 point for every £1 spent in Heathrow (1 per £10 on foreign exchange). You can redeem your points for Avios, Virgin Flying Club miles, Miles & More miles, Heathrow shopping vouchers and some other odd bits and pieces, usually at 1 point = 1 mile (for Avios it is 1 point = 1.2 Avios). Full details here.

In conjunction with Virgin Atlantic, new members who join WorldPoints using promotional code 749 will earn 1,000 bonus points when they spend £10 in one day at Heathrow before 15th April. You can sign-up on the website at www.baaworldpoints.com.

Heathrow Express tickets also count as a qualifying purchase. You need to book tickets online to earn WorldPoints and enter your card number during the booking process. For the purposes of this promo only, bureau de change transactions are not qualifying purchases – although you still earn WorldPoints when you exchange money at Heathrow.

Now (as I also wrote last time such a promo ran, in case this line rings a bell!) you may well have a WorldPoints account already. However, take a minute to think. Is there anyone in your household or in your Avios household account who is not a member?

If so, get a card in their name, use it yourself (this is not a problem) and send the miles over to their account. This is more lucrative than simply adding an extra 10 points for £10 of spend to your own WorldPoints account next time you are in Heathrow. Once you’ve got the bonus, it is easy to cancel a WorldPoints account by simply unsubscribing from their emails.

If your card does not arrive before your next Heathrow trip, don’t worry. Save your receipts and scan or post them to WorldPoints – they will be dealt with promptly. WorldPoints has the best and most efficient customer service of any loyalty product I deal with.

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (December 2021)

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

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, one has a bonus of 15,000 points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

The UK’s most generous free Visa or Mastercard at 0.75 points / £1 Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 points bonus and the most generous non-Amex for day to day spending Read our full review

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points:

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 comes with 30,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 30,000 Virgin Points:

The Platinum Card from American Express

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

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points.

(Want to earn more Virgin Points? Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)

Category

Heathrow Rewards, Lufthansa and Miles & More, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

tangey says:

4 Mar4 March 09:52

“They meant to say that you get 100 for signing up and a further 1,000 for spending £10.”

So the offer is for 1320 Avios, i.e. 1100 world points ?
- Rob says:
  
  4 Mar4 March 10:26
  
  Yes and no – technically yes, but you can only convert in multiples of 250. If you only spend the minimum £10, you will have 1,110 points, but can only convert 1,000 of them.
neuromancer says:

4 Mar4 March 12:09

Sorry for the question, but prefer to avoid registering for Virgin Flying club to see the details.
Does a purchase made on 15 April qualify? That’s the day I’ll fly through Heathrow with a lot of time to spare. I also fly on 1st April, but with 1 hr connection time and two toddlers I won’t have time to think about this.
Thanks
- Rob says:
  
  4 Mar4 March 14:32
  
  Wording is suitably vague:
  
  ‘All new WorldPoints members joining on the above promotion code will be placed in a draw to win £500 of Heathrow Airport shopping vouchers. The winner will be drawn at random from those entrants whose entries have reached Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited by the closing date 15 April 2013.
  
  1. This offer is only available to new members of the WorldPoints programme who join using the above link or register their card and enter promotion code 749 between 1 February and 15 April 2013.
  
  2. 1,000 WorldPoints will be awarded upon a valid registration into the WorldPoints programme. To qualify for the 1000 additional points you must spend £10 in a single day before 15 April 2013. ‘
  
  First 2 paragraphs say 15 April, last para says BEFORE 15 April! Gut feeling is April 15th is OK. Assuming you are buying something you need, you have nothing to lose anyway.
Andrew Grant says:

4 Mar4 March 12:15

It appears that you don’t get the 100 points for signing up with with promotional code. I forgot the code the 1st time I signed up and the 100 points appeared. When I signed up a little later on with the code and using a different email address the 100 points were not credited.
- tangey says:
  
  4 Mar4 March 12:22
  
  Yeap, just signed up with the Virgin promo code, and my account doesn’t show a zero balance. However as raffles said, on its own it doesn’t matter as you can’t convert those 100 points to avios.
tangey says:

4 Mar4 March 12:23

err meant to say “shows a zero balance” not “doesn’t show a zero balance”
Simon says:

4 Mar4 March 18:36

Thanks Raffles, I need to book a Heathrow Express ticket, I like the idea of earning Avios from a Virgin Atlantic promotion.
Alan says:

4 Mar4 March 18:37

Hi, many thanks for the information. I found this site looking for discount on heathrow express, seems none of the codes work any more, but further browsing I found this page and the 1200 bonus avios will more than compensate! (plus WP on my purchase of said ticket!)
- Alan says:
  
  13 Mar13 March 23:08
  
  Well that’s strange. I’ve spent my tenner in heathrow now, but only got 9 points for it ! Got the 1000 bonus too, which is the main thing.
  
  But now I want to redeem them, it asks for an avios account number, which I don’t have, well, not in their format, I am in BA Exec club. Are BA Avios different to normal avios, and do I need to set up a different account to transfer the points across?
  - Alan says:
    
    14 Mar14 March 21:51
    
    D’oh – should have gone to spec-savers!! BA executive club is right above avios on the rewards page!
gnarlyoldgoatdude says:

5 Mar5 March 20:38

Just enrolled my son into my BA household account with the idea of using the worldpoints bonus, but there is an age restriction…18 years and older. I guess 6 month olds don’t have enough spending power.
- Rob says:
  
  5 Mar5 March 21:36
  
  No, there is no restriction on age in a HHA, unless the rules have changed. Only for standalone accounts.
  - gnarlyoldgoatdude says:
    
    7 Mar7 March 22:09
    
    Yes, I know that…however, the HHA was only set up to receive income from a worldpoints card.
Steve says:

9 Mar9 March 01:15

Just wondered – if I applied for a *NEW* WP card at my home address would I not be able to do this?
I currently have a WP card, but last time I used it transfered my miles into Avios points – so if I transfer them to Virgin this time would it be ok?
- Rob says:
  
  9 Mar9 March 06:41
  
  Yes, you’d be OK I think. Perhaps use a different first name (but same initial), or perhaps use Middle Name-Last Name rather than First Name-Last Name. I guess that Virgin only check Surname anyway when you convert.