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Avios Ireland: Supervalu, a new Irish credit card option and how HfP will cover it

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This article covers some new options for earning Avios via the new AerClub scheme in Ireland.

How HfP intends to cover Avios earning in Ireland

Before I go on, I want to write briefly about how we intend to cover the new Avios scheme in Ireland.  This is my starting position:

The majority of HfP readers are UK based and are not hugely interested in Avios earning opportunities in Ireland

There is no business model, at the moment, to justify a separate headforpoints.ie site

Aer Lingus is not being hugely co-operative so far

This is how I intend to operate in the short term:

Avios earning opportunities with AerClub which non-Irish residents can take advantage of (eg bonuses for crediting hotel stays, car hire, flights etc to AerClub) will run as main articles online and will be emailed to our subscribers as usual

Avios earning and spending opportunities which are only of interest to Irish residents – such as the two deals below – will in future run as a fourth daily article.  They WILL appear on the website, on Twitter, on Facebook, on Apple News, on LinkedIn and on Flipboard.  They will NOT be emailed to our subscriber list because the vast majority of our 9,000 subscribers would see them as irrelevant.

If you live in Ireland and JUST want to receive our Aer Lingus coverage, you could do so via an RSS reader which is set to receive the following:  https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/category/aer-lingus/feed/

SuperValu now officially launched as an AerClub partner

Whilst Tesco has a major presence in Ireland, AerClub has teamed up with supermarket chain SuperValu.

(Is it still possible to use a UK-issued Clubcard in Irish Tesco stores, and thus earn points in the UK Clubcard scheme which can be converted to Avios? Do let me know.)

You earn one Real Rewards point for every €1 you spend in SuperValu.  You can convert Real Rewards points into Avios at the rate of 1:1 with a minimum conversion of 50  points.  This makes it roughly half as generous as the Tesco partnership which gets you 2.4 Avios per £1 spent.

Until 31st March, you will receive 250 bonus Avios when you make your first conversion from Real Rewards to Avios.  Full details can be found on the SuperValu site here.

Bank of Ireland credit card

SuperValu opens up a Bank of Ireland Avios card option

If you have a Bank of Ireland personal credit card, you can now leverage this to earn a handful of Avios points on your day to day spending.

If you link your Bank of Ireland credit card to your SuperValu Real Rewards account, you will receive:

1 Real Rewards point for every €1 you spend in SuperValu on your credit card

1 Real Rewards point for every €10 you spend elsewhere

Frankly, 1 Avios point per €10 spent is weak.  It even makes the 0.25 – 0.3 Avios per £1 on UK Visa and MasterCard products look good.  However, if you’re doing the spending anyway, you might as well get some rewards.

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:

Nectar American Express

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

American Express Platinum card Amex

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 card

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

Aer Lingus and AerClub

Comments (25)

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

  • Sohan says:
    10 Feb10 February 07:11

    Thanks Rob, this is great news. I’m returning to Ireland post-Brexit and thought I’d lose all miles earning opportunities… Your coverage will be much appreciated.

  • Chris says:
    10 Feb10 February 07:48

    Tried to use my UK Tesco Clubcard in a Dublin Tesco last year but it wasn’t accepted.

    • Orange-Peel says:
      10 Feb10 February 09:31

      Really ? My husbear working in Dublin has been racking up the points for me for several years now !! (Bord Gais also now do CC points.) #everylittlehelps 🙂

  • Thefeenster says:
    10 Feb10 February 07:50

    We have SuperValu in the north too.

    I’m assuming the €1 1avios will become £1 1avios?

    Mark

  • Kevin Lee says:
    10 Feb10 February 07:51

    UK Tesco Clubcard does not work in the Republic of Ireland. Neither does Boots Advantage. We have an Irish and UK accounts at both these chains.

    • Robert Clarke says:
      10 Feb10 February 08:28

      Kevin, I live on the border and often use my UK Clubcard in Tesco Letterkenny, Donegal without a problem. I get 1 point per € so the earning rate is slightly better. Perhaps stores close to the border have a different policy?

    • Stuart says:
      10 Feb10 February 08:35

      Not true. Using my UK CC twice a week in Tesco Maynooth for fuel and food and never been refused.

      • HIDeHi says:
        10 Feb10 February 08:55

        I’ve used my UK CC in Ireland a number of times. Cant remember the last time but it was within the last year. You get 1 point per Euro if memory serves.

    • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
      10 Feb10 February 10:25

      Worked for me in Dublin last year.

  • takke says:
    10 Feb10 February 08:16

    It’s just over a year since I last used my UK Clubcard in Tesco Ireland, so it’s possible that they’ve changed something since then. I seem to recall that some staff were not too keen on the idea, but using the self-service tills it was fine.
    Boots is another matter entirely and they have not accepted UK Advantage cards for years.

  • Alan says:
    10 Feb10 February 08:18

    Never did get the bonus Avios for pre-registering with AerClub.

    Pretty rubbish start to a new program when they can’t even get their opening offer right

    • Tobeman says:
      10 Feb10 February 08:35

      Still not managed to get registered. Having changed Avios password to match Aer Lingus requirements I still can’t get the accounts to pair at registration.

      Raised it with the telephone support team and via staff on Twitter and still no resolution all these months later.

    • Sean says:
      10 Feb10 February 15:57

      I haven’t received the pre-register bonus either – did anyone actually get it?

  • James says:
    10 Feb10 February 08:31

    Not sure about that comment above. My UK registered Clubcard has always worked in Ireland (used in Dublin and Tipperary frequently ) earning more points than the UK due to the exchange rate. It seems it’s exactly the same system as it will also tell you your points balance on your receipt.

  • Andy says:
    10 Feb10 February 08:49

    Why have Aer Lingus not launched a branded credit card with Amex yet as Amex operate in Ireland already?

    • John says:
      10 Feb10 February 09:45

      Because it’s very difficult to get an Amex in Ireland, the requirements are similar to the UK International Dollar Card (which Raffles has detailed on here already). Furthermore, Irish cards have an annual tax of 30 euros and many have a per transaction fee.

    • Rob says:
      10 Feb10 February 09:47

      Amex has a contract to launch if it wants, I understand. The €30 stamp duty is a damper though and there is a limit to what they can issue in a country of 6m people.

      • John says:
        10 Feb10 February 11:19

        ROI population is around 4.7 million but ebbs and flows (actually still net migration – mainly graduates! – not quite offset by immigration).

        Most schemes for ROI don’t operate in NI (and vice versa).

        Supervalus in NI tend to be franchised by Cork based wholesaler Musgrave, which used to own Londis in GB and operates many Maces in NI. Doubt their (weak) reward scheme will ever cross border.

        New Aer Lingus programme is as rubbish as gold circle, so doubt you’ll have much to write about, Rob.

        And I’ve just just bought some junk food to go in Tesco Lr Bag & used UK clubcardd.

        Got the usual one euro one point from self-service checkout.

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

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