How to earn Avios points when you pre-order foreign currency from Travelex

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This articles shows you how you can earn Avios points when you buy foreign currency from Travelex.

Over the years it has been hard to keep up with how you are meant to earn Avios when purchasing foreign currency. At some point British Airways has had deals with Travelex, Moneycorp and American Express. Dropping Travelex for American Express turned out to be a mistake, as Travelex took over the American Express desks in Terminal 5.

Avios and Travelex are now best buddies again. You can earn Avios points when you pre-order foreign currency via the Travelex website for collection at the airport or delivered.

The webpage you need is here. This drops you straight into the currency calculator.

Do not go via the Travelex homepage as there is no option there to add your Avios account details.

Travelex lets you pre-order over 40 currencies and collection is available with as little as four hours notice.

This is what you need to know:

You collect 1 Avios for every £1 when exchanging over £300

Collect 1 Avios for every £2 when exchanging below £300

You must pre-order via the Travelex website here, for airport collection, for Travelex store collection or delivery

Home delivery is free if you exchange over £600, chargeable if you exchange less

You can credit your Avios to BA Executive Club or Iberia Plus

Avios will be added within 14 days of collection or delivery

It is good to see that pre-ordering is required. The walk-up exchange rates at Heathrow are, frankly, shocking and you should never exchange money without ordering in advance. You will receive a substantially better rate this way.

The special Avios / Travelex ordering page is here.

(This article is part of our ‘BA Q&A’ series which explains how British Airways Executive Club works. You can see all of our ‘BA Q&A’ articles here. )

(Head for Points is the UK’s biggest frequent flyer website with 1.8 million monthly page views. Want to learn more about earning and spending Avios? Click here to read our latest news stories, click here to join our email list and click here to read our ‘Avios Redemption University’ series.)

How to get 20,000 Avios from Amex Gold or 30,000 Avios from Amex Platinum (December 2021 offer)

The sign-up bonus on American Express Preferred Rewards Gold converts to 20,000 Avios and the card is free for the first year. You can apply here.

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

You don’t qualify for the Amex Gold bonus if you have a British Airways American Express card. You DO qualify for the bonus on The Platinum Card, which converts into 30,000 Avios. You can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

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

If you have your own small business, the best way of earning Avios is via the Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa. It has a sign-up bonus which converts to 10,000 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 look at the British Airways Accelerating Business card, because it currently has a limited time offer of 60,000 Avios when you sign up by 14th November. You can apply here.

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

You can find out more about ALL UK credit cards which offer travel rewards in this article, updated monthly.

Category

British Airways and Avios

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

Ken says:

28 Mar28 March 08:33

So I’d be paying at least 2p per Avios compared with high street names.

Just don’t see any sense in this.
- Rob says:
  
  28 Mar28 March 09:51
  
  Clearly you pay for your own currency then, unlike many of our readers.
  - ken says:
    
    28 Mar28 March 10:03
    
    On holiday yes.
    
    At work, I still wouldn’t do it.
    
    I know for sure, its not just me.
    
    And no, its not the same as having a preference for say BA over another airline, after being stuck in USA with Delta in 2010 after Eyjafjallajökull
    - Graham Walsh says:
      
      28 Mar28 March 13:18
      
      Agree, even if work are paying, I treat it like my own money. Maybe it’s because its a small company (150 people). Maybe working at multi nationals, you care less?
  - Alan says:
    
    28 Mar28 March 10:59
    
    How many will take wads of cash on a business trip though? Would imagine pretty uncommon nowadays given widespread acceptance of plastic.
- Anthony Edwards says:
  
  28 Mar28 March 10:37
  
  Surely the best bit is being able to order it in the morning and pick it up at the airport, saves me wasting my lunch break in a queue.
Funtime says:

28 Mar28 March 09:00

Your link says home delivery is free on orders over £600 not £500.

Still having your pants down though.

Surprised you’re pushing this.
- Shoestring says:
  
  28 Mar28 March 09:31
  
  as already mention: if flying on business and you can claim back the cost of your Travelex transaction, hey presto – double whammy on card points & Avios, sod the exchange rate 🙂
  - Shoestring says:
    
    28 Mar28 March 09:32
    
    triple whammy if you get HR points on top by collecting at Heathrow 🙂
  - Russ says:
    
    28 Mar28 March 20:00
    
    As you said Shoestring you have to be sure you can claim the costs back or be happy to write off the expense. I can’t claim for most of my work travel expenses because I can’t justify working in a hotel room writing when I have a perfectly acceptable office in the UK. Fortunately earning and spending points offsets the costs.
    - Shoestring says:
      
      28 Mar28 March 20:21
      
      Also depends on your company. I had years when I was UK based but travelling a lot abroad with hefty foreign expenses that the old corporate Amex didn’t always cover, followed by years living abroad working for the same company when I was also reimbursed in GBP for non-Amex expenses. Never once did some beancounter ask me to justify the exchange rate on the day I was claiming (I guess they could look it up to see I was in the right ballpark). Never once did I falsify my expenses, though I was admittedly very generous with meals & drinks for business purposes. Or they were, I suppose you could see it that way. Good levels of trust.
    - Russ says:
      
      28 Mar28 March 20:52
      
      Totally agree *abuse it you lose it*
      
      Did well out of that, kept coming back for little nibbles of the cake rather than taking huge chunks 🙂
Bootlace says:

28 Mar28 March 10:25

O/T WOW ceased operations flights cancelled……
Waddle says:

28 Mar28 March 14:43

FX-related but very OT
Are there any places which let you buy cash and pay with the currency of the cash you are acquiring? So if I wanted some CAD, is there somewhere I could order some and then pay in CAD to get it?
- SimonW says:
  
  28 Mar28 March 15:01
  
  Why would you buy CAD if you already had CAD ? sounds like a cash withdrawal
  - Waddle says:
    
    28 Mar28 March 15:05
    
    Yes it’s what I meant but I guess I oversold it. Where can I perform a withdrawal of CAD or another currency in London? I know some ATMs give EUR and USD but I haven’t come across any other currencies.
    - John says:
      
      28 Mar28 March 20:29
      
      Generally only in the country of origin. Beware of euro ATMs in non euro countries (UK, Czechia, Denmark, Switzerland etc.)
      
      These tend to be just banknote vending machines that charge you in your card’s currency. There was an Ulster Bank euro ATM at Bishopsgate London which genuinely dispensed euros but that was dismantled.
- Roy says:
  
  28 Mar28 March 20:31
  
  I believe some of the multi-currency ATMs allow you to do that, but you’re unlikely to find ATMs dispensing much other than EUR or maybe USD.