Bits: Tallinn BA tier point run, 10% Clubcard to Virgin transfer bonus, 500 Avios with Iberia wine

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News in brief:

Tallinn tier point run on British Airways

Tallinn is being launched by British Airways as a new route next year as we wrote over the weekend.

In the meantime, British Airways is running a very attractive offer if you want to check out the city.

For £234, ba.com will sell you a Business Class return flight from Heathrow to Tallinn. You can fly on either BA or Finnair. This will earn you 200 tier points for the return trip because you need to change planes in Helsinki for a Finnair ‘all economy’ connection.

Even better, selected Finnair flights between Heathrow and Helsinki are operated by long-haul A350 aircraft which means you will get a flat bed. I reviewed the Finnair A350 here and it is VERY impressive.

This is a very attractive deal which gets you a weekend away in a very attractive city and give you a leg up towards status (re)qualification. Pop over to ba.com and have a play around with dates.

Tesco to Virgin Flying Club transfer bonus launched

Virgin Atlantic has launched a transfer bonus if you convert your Tesco Clubcard points – 10%.

I’m not sure what prompted them to offer something so weak. 20%-25%, which we have seen recently, seems like a minimum bonus to make it worth the effort. An extra 10% of anything will never make a bad deal into a good deal.

At least there is some bonus, which will be a small benefit to anyone desperately trying to top up their Virgin Atlantic account before a lot of redemptions go up in price on 16th January.

You can find full details here. The deadline to convert is 13th November.

500 Avios with Iberia wine deal

In the absence of any codes for bonus Clubcard points on Tesco Wine deals, you may be interested in this new Iberia Plus wine offer.

Via their UK wine partner Vinoseleccion, you can order a six bottle of case of two wines for half the usual price – £50 instead of £100 – and receive 500 Avios and get free delivery.

Remember that you will need an Iberia Plus account to receive the Avios, which can later be transferred into British Airways Executive Club or avios.com.

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 and Avios, Finnair and Finnair Plus, Iberia and Iberia Plus, Tesco Clubcard, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

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

Roger* says:

8 Nov8 November 21:26

We’re after a (Nordic) midsummer trip to both Tallinn and Helsinki. It’s many years since I last visited Helsinki, and Tallinn would be totally new.

One option is to book LHR/HEL/TLL and HEL-LHR on AYBA and take the ferry between Tallinn and Helsinki. There are three ferry companies and foot passengers cost from £45 for the two of us one way.

Calling ferry experts! Is any ferry better or more convenient than the others? Do we need/must we have a cabin – for a 2-2,5 hour midday crossing in June? Thanks.
- Johnnycl says:
  
  8 Nov8 November 21:44
  
  I’ve used Tallink Silja before and highly recommend it as a great way to experience local life with commuters and cheap booze being taken across borders. It arrives at the secondary port in Helsinki (nr Ruoholahti) which is a 20-30 min walk to the subway then around 10 mins journey to the centre. Other ferries may drop you off at the main port which is right in the centre but I have not used them before.
  
  No need for a cabin, there are plenty of seating options and a bar/cafe as well as free wifi to keep you occupied for the crossing.
- Yan says:
  
  8 Nov8 November 21:51
  
  Linda Line is the fastest / cheapest option, but also prone to last-minute cancellation in bad weather since it uses a much smaller vessel.
  - David says:
    
    8 Nov8 November 23:27
    
    I used Linda Line last year for a day trip from HEL – €20 return, quick and easy for me.
- Graeme says:
  
  8 Nov8 November 22:17
  
  Definitely no need for a cabin!
Paul says:

8 Nov8 November 21:28

You don’t need to tell them, they will decide the CB rate based on what you book.
Tony says:

8 Nov8 November 21:28

Bargain BA J fare to Tallinn via HEL (including the A350) is still bookable via Expedia. Just booked in June for £237 – it’s ticketed and shows 7,670 avios & 200 tier points in MMB. Sweet!
- Ryan says:
  
  8 Nov8 November 21:36
  
  so book via expedia not BA.com? Does that then show the non-direct only BA flights Tony?
  - Tony says:
    
    8 Nov8 November 21:50
    
    BA.com won’t price the BA codeshare Finnair flights as it’s after they’ve started the direct TLL service. Expedia shows all the flights required for the maximum tier points – just choose the timings you prefer. There’s no need to move to Ukraine to save CC fees either!
    - Ryan says:
      
      8 Nov8 November 23:50
      
      Booked for May! Thanks Tony. Love that expedia shows the wifi symbol for the flight, so there must be the A350! Booked the 10.20 and the 8am coming back.
- Nate1309 says:
  
  8 Nov8 November 22:51
  
  How do you know what flights are the a350?
  - Tony says:
    
    8 Nov8 November 23:03
    
    BA6032 leaves LHR @ 10.20 & BA6031 leaves HEL @ 08.00
Matt says:

8 Nov8 November 21:57

Put the next 9 digits in the big (middle) box and the 10th digit in the last box. I got this info from a support ticket last week and it seems to have worked.
Roger* says:

9 Nov9 November 10:32

Thanks, Johnnycl, Jan, David and Graeme for ferry advice. 🙂

I was able to find the A350 flights for June at ba.com. This is probably because I used the multi-city page for LHR-TLL and HEL-LHR. This prices up at the TLL fare. I was inspired by the need to use ba.com to benefit from the £100 AmEx credit.
- JAJH says:
  
  9 Nov9 November 20:27
  
  Hi
  
  I’m new to this site and keen on a TP run to Tallinn but can’t seem to find out when the offer starts, which days the flights go and how I find out how many points are offered.
  
  Sorry to be so thick !
  - Rob says:
    
    9 Nov9 November 21:19
    
    Bookable everyday on ba.com before March when the direct service starts. The 10.20am on most days ex Heathrow is the A350 with flat beds.
ThatGuyOverThere says:

10 Nov10 November 11:47

I have a nice trip planned for the end of May, A350 out, A319 back (but much better timing).

I would book some more for the TPs but with US election result, I suspect Putin may be causing trouble in Estonia next year so have decided to limit my exposure !!
- Marshy says:
  
  11 Nov11 November 07:36
  
  Booked. Flights came in at £466 so I added an airport hotel for the night before our travel to take us over the magic £500 to trigger the Amex £100 statement credit. Booked the Hilton using points. All in all, a very acceptable situation. I also chose the flatbed outward and A319 return, purely because the very early start on the Sunday morning would be too tiresome.
Dawn says:

12 Nov12 November 17:21

BA seem just to be pushing their own flights on ba.com now and saying there is no availability on other days, but found the deal with a BA codeshare but AY Business Class flights on Expedia just now. £232 per person – great deal!
James says:

12 Nov12 November 23:18

The Tallinn flights are no longer on BA.com?