The best Avios collection tip I’ve had from a reader this week ….

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I get to hear some great Avios collecting stories from readers. I rarely repeat them because the idea is often not scaleable or would collapse if given wider exposure. I am happy to share this one though.

With Amazon Prime Day coming on Tuesday (see our Shopper Points article on it here), this tip is even relevant.

The British Airways American Express Premium Plus card earns 1.5 Avios per £1 spent. However, as the American Express reporting system cannot handle fractions, it always rounds up your points.

Our reader initially discovered this quirk after he popped into his local branch of Poundland and bought just one item …..

Last year Amazon introduced a very quick way of topping up your Amazon account with credit for future use. You simply go to this page, type in the amount you want to top up and submit. The sum is automatically charged to your linked credit card and added to your account.

Imagine that our reader wants to buy an item for £15.

Instead of buying it directly and charging £15 to his BA Premium Plus credit card – earning 23 Avios in the process – he buys 15 x £1 top-ups.

This goes through his statement as 15 separate transactions of £1. Each transaction earns 2 Avios because Amex rounds up the 1.5 Avios due. This means that you earn an additional 33% Avios on each Amazon purchase.

This only works with the British Airways Premium Plus card, not the free BA card which gives 1 Avios per £1 and therefore does not benefit from any rounding. It may work with other credit cards which offer an odd number of points per £1.

If you have any similar Avios collection tips which would not be killed off if they were shared with a wider audience, please let me know. I can’t guarantee to use them but at the very least it will make me smile to read them.

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:

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.)

Category

British Airways American Express

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

Mr Dee says:

9 Jul9 July 15:27

Whilst the fuel saver is on at Morrisons (Until the 11th) you would get a voucher worth 10p off fuel with a maximum saving of £10, if you filled up with 100 litres then the cost of Avios by topping up would be 20p per point.

From the 11th July, a better solution is to buy the Amazon gift vouchers from Morrisons for a £100 spend you would get £2.50 in points back vs the extra 50 points by topping up your amazon account direct, effectively meaning your paying 5p per point.

Topping up your amazon account direct is ok if your in a hurry but better to buy the vouchers from Morrisons.
- David says:
  
  9 Jul9 July 19:04
  
  Is that really the best way?
  - Mr Dee says:
    
    9 Jul9 July 22:46
    
    Even with their new points scheme your getting £2.50 back for every £100 and if you can buy/value the Avios points at 1p then thats an equivalent of 250 Avios as opposed to 50 Avios in the topping up your account 100 times with £1.
- harry says:
  
  9 Jul9 July 20:24
  
  No max on fuel saver, you can get 100p off a litre if you feel like it
  - Mr Dee says:
    
    9 Jul9 July 22:42
    
    Sorry I meant on a £100 spend you would get a 10p off voucher and if you filled up with 100 litres that would be a £10 saving, there is no limit as often use £1 off and on 100 litres this is £100 off. So thats a £100 saving on a £1000 spend effectively 10% off, that is until they stop on the 11th of July.
- Mr Dee says:
  
  9 Jul9 July 22:43
  
  10p voucher based on a £100 spend example
  - harry says:
    
    9 Jul9 July 22:57
    
    OK Mr Dee let’s ignore fuel
    
    So I can top up my Amazon balance @ Morrisons, I use my Amex card
    
    You say I get £2.50 back on a £100 voucher (Morrisons points)
    
    Plus I get 100/200 Avios points through my Amex
    
    Total for me (2 points card) would be £4.50 discount on £100 Amex spend
    - Mr Dee says:
      
      10 Jul10 July 01:04
      
      Yes, definitely worth buying at morrisons using your Amex over Amazon direct even with the new devalued points scheme on gift voucher purchases.
Duncan says:

9 Jul9 July 23:42

I’ve always been intrigued by the use of PAYG topups to pay for things. I’ve noticed I can load cash onto a PAYG 3 SIM using my BAPP card, then use that to top up a PokerStars account, which then allows me to withdraw to my bank account. I’ve topped up my account a couple of times and emptied it back out, but wonder if that’s an opportunity to manufacture some more meaningful amount of points.
- harry says:
  
  9 Jul9 July 23:55
  
  Try £500 & report back?
  
  Thanks
- Mr Dee says:
  
  10 Jul10 July 01:08
  
  Interesting but some of these gambling sites will just block your account if your not using the balance ie wagering your whole deposit at least once. Then during the wagering process you could easily lose your value of points that you would be making. Worth a try though and see if it works for you!
- Andy says:
  
  10 Jul10 July 01:16
  
  I imagine that your PokerStars account would get shut down fairly quickly if you did this repeatedly or in large amounts. It earns the bookie nothing (which they don’t like), and it’s probably a technique used by people trying to launder money which will get your account flagged.
  
  If you wanted to take it a step further you could matched bet (back something at Pokerstars and then lay the opposite at a betting exchange like Betfair) so that the money is “lost” at Pokerstars which would keep them happy, but I think it would be more trouble than it’s worth for the points.
- Genghis says:
  
  10 Jul10 July 04:35
  
  Give it a go. Just don’t tell anyone. Oh wait…
  
  Also don’t muck about (too much) with PAYG Oyster.