Earn Avios with Travelex at Heathrow – but it is a really bad idea

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

At the end of May, Moneycorp – the British Airways bureau de change partner – lost its offices at Heathrow. Travelex took over, making it the de factor monopoly currency provider.

A few years ago, Travelex lost the British Airways partnership contract to Moneycorp. With Moneycorp now out of Heathrow, the two partners have been forced to make up their differences.

Since May 30th, you have been able to collect Avios points from Travelex at Heathrow.

Full details can be found on the Travelex website here.

Travelex

You will earn 1 Avios point per £1 exchanged. In addition, if you change £500 or more during July, you will be entered into a competition to win a weekly prize of 25,000 Avios points. One person who exchanges over £1,000 will win a price of 50,000 Avios points at the end of July.

However, under no circumstances should you enter this competition.

You can ONLY earn Avios points from Travelex for walk-up purchases. Currency which is pre-booked via the Travelex website does NOT earn Avios points and does NOT get you into the competition.

Your currency will, however, be SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper if you pre-order. On a €500 currency purchase, I estimate that you would be around €35 better off by pre-ordering. There is no way that 500 Avios points are worth €35.

There is no way, at the moment, of earning Avios points for pre-ordered currency at Heathrow.

I will be taking an in-depth look at how to earn other miles and points when ordering foreign currency later this week as part of our ‘Holiday Tips’ series.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

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 BA Amex American Express card

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 BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

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: