Get 250 free Avios for joining Meridiana Club (but any use?)

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You may never have heard of Italian airline Meridiana, even though it uses Avios for its reward programme.

I wouldn’t blame you. It does appear to be a slightly bizarre operation. It is the 2nd biggest Italian-owned airline in Italy but that isn’t saying much. In terms of passenger numbers, the league table goes Ryanair / Alitalia / easyJet / Vueling / Meridiana, with Meridiana just 15% the size of Ryanair in Italy.

You also have Meridiana’s odd ownership. Formerly almost wholly owned by the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims, a 49% stake was acquired by Qatar Airways in April 2017. This follows the trend of Middle Eastern airlines investing in loss making Italian airlines, following Etihad’s debacle with Alitalia.

Meridiana

Etihad wasn’t totally mad. Rumour has it that the money it invested in Alitalia was secured on its Heathrow landing slots. With the airline clearly unable to repay the loan, it may give Etihad backdoor access to the extra slots it needs at Heathrow to compete with Qatar Airways and Emirates head to head.

In 2014, Meridiana adopted Avios as its loyalty currency.

I wrote about the deal here. It is an odd agreement because, at present, you cannot move Avios between Meridiana Club and any other Avios programmes. However, you can redeem Avios points on Meridiana flights via ba.com (long haul routes seem to require telephone booking) and Meridiana Club members can redeem across BA and Iberia.

Whether you would actually want to redeem your Avios on Meridiana is a different question. Taxes are huge – a return economy flight from Olbia to Naples costs 9,000 Avios plus £133 for example. The option is there, though.

Get 250 free Avios for joining Meridiana Club

All of the above is just a long way of saying that the offer below is not necessarily any use to you. As it’s a Sunday, though, you might want to give it a go if you have a quiet minute.

When you join Meridiana Club in July, you will receive 250 free Avios.

There is no small print. The Avios will be added within 10 days.

For total clarity …. there is no logical reason to do this at the moment. The points will be stuck in Meridiana Club.

However ….. at some point soon, all of the various Avios programmes, including Executive Club, will be moved onto the central Avios IT platform. It is more likely, although not certain, that you will then be able to move points around freely and move your 250 Avios from Meridiana Club into British Airways Executive Club.

Frankly, if it is a choice today of joining Meridiana Club or going out for a kick around with your kids, I’d take the latter. On the other hand, if you’re reading this on the sofa whilst your other half is watching Fake Or Fortune? then it might be worth a minute out of your life ……

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: