Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Update on the Amex / Amazon deal – points showing, gift cards OK, Prime OK, so jump in

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There was a huge response to my article on Monday about the fantastic new Amazon offer from American Express.

It is available for many – but not all – British Airways American Express, Amex Gold and Amex Platinum cardholders.

You will find this offer on the ‘Offers’ tab of your British Airways American Express / Amex Gold / Amex Platinum statement page online, or in the app.

Amazon

There are a few versions.  You will hopefully see some combination of:

Get 500 / 1,000 Avios / Membership Rewards points when you spend £25 at amazon.co.uk before 19th September using your BA Amex / Amex Gold / Platinum card

It isn’t clear who gets what and you may have got nothing if you are very unlucky.

It is limited to the first 20,000 people to register so I recommend you sign up immediately.  You have until 19th September to make a purchase and have it post to your Amex account.

There was some confusion over the wording of the offer.  It said “purchases made with Market Place Sellers, Amazon Prime or subscriptions to Amazon Prime” do not count.  Secondary terms and conditions also implied that gift cards would not count, even though American Express has no idea what you bought.

I did a test purchase on my own Amazon account for a £25 gift card.  I AM an Amazon Prime customer.  Within 2 minutes of making the purchase I got an email from American Express saying “Congratulations, you have earned 500 bonus Avios – if your transaction meets the offer terms”.

The 500 bonus Avios have now posted to my account.  See below (click to enlarge):

Amex Amazon screenshot

This means:

gift card purchases do count

even Amazon Prime customers still earn the bonus on gift cards

This offer should be a no-brainer for qualifying BA Amex / Amex Gold / Amex Platinum cardholders, especially if you have the 1,000 points version.  £25 is a ludicrously low purchase limit for earning 1,000 Avios or Membership Rewards points.

As I found, purchases of Amazon e-gift cards count.  These can be bought online via this link and added to your personal Amazon account via this page.  The balance is used automatically on your next purchase.


Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our November 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the top current deals:

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

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

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers.

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review

Amex Platinum Business American Express

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and a long list of travel benefits Read our full review

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

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending:

Barclaycard Select Cashback Credit Card

1% cashback and no annual fee Read our full review

Comments (169)

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

  • Hsergio10 says:

    I called the support 2 days ago and complained why i didn’t get that offer.They did even say that offer was for targeted customer.

    On top of that, there system issue on my online account ( email servicing not working at all, All emails were erased) so i wasn’t really happy about that

    Long story short , 1 day later 1K MR points posted

    Let’s just say I’m lucky. Next target Mulberry 3k MR points
    Thanks Rob

  • Tilly says:

    Amex wouldn’t add the offer for me over chat either so exhausted both avenues. Given up. I’ve redeemed the Mulberry 3k MR offer though, just waiting for the points to post, goods will be delivered tomorrow amd looking forward it receiving them. Bonus is somehow managed to get my hands on sale items through the online store so got a lovely leather purse and 100% lambswool scarf for £251 including delivery charge.

  • LW says:

    Hi Rob,
    I’m relatively new to your site having decided to start actively collecting Avios and really appreciate all your posts. I have checked Amex offers just now and had the 1000 membership points so clicked through your link to Amazon, purchased £25 e gift and within a minute had confirmati of the 1000 points. Easy! Thank you
    LW

  • 3CT says:

    Hit the Amazon gift card scramble and bought a “small” Xmas present on the Mulberry site to trigger the Mulberry bonus.

    A useful nights work.

    • Tilly says:

      I’ve also bought two “small” Mulberry Christmas gifts using the offer. Looking forward to seeing my mum’s ans sister’s faces when they open their presents. Not bad really for £251 incl postage and packaging for two main Chistmas presents all sorted. Think I got lucky with the sale items. Tempted to keep them for myself but that would be naughty. I’ll enjoy the 3k points instead.

  • Geoff says:

    Has anyone successfully received the bonus points/avios from the *supplementary* card spend? I’ve triggered the £25 spend on each (main card and supplementary card) but the bonus has only been applied for the main card spend – although the supplementary card does day the offer has been redeemed, just no actual bonus applied.

    • bill says:

      Same here, ive got the offer on 6 cards but only done 3 (2 main and one Supp). The points for both mains have both gone in, the supp shows as claimed and shows the £25 put only records 25 points. I called Amex and they said give it 5 days….hmmmmm

      • Geoff says:

        Thanks Bill – still no supplementary points/avios here – maybe keep this page updated if you hear anything? We’re definitely in the same boat!

  • upperdeckplease says:

    Here’s what I got on my second visit to ‘Chat’ after not being able to get on it for 5 days as ‘live chat not availalble’, do others know if this is true?

    I apologize. However, It is a targetted offer extended to BA and MR card members who have not redeemed an Amex offer before or in 2017.

    • Kip says:

      Just told my brother to go on chat to get this offer added. That’s the same reason he got. I believe it not to be true as I managed to get it added to my account and I redeemed a Heathrow money back offer maybe 3 weeks ago.

      I told him to come off chat and try another agent. This one said that Marketing may be sending out another round of offers as it doesn’t expire till later and that the offer cannot be added manually. He is currently telling her I got mine added manually.

      It’s escalated to the agent asking her manager. The answer is still – No, it can not be done.

      He also asked the agent why they were able to add it last week. Marketing error apparently….

  • Alex says:

    Just used this in conjunction with the Top Up offer, where you buy a gift card for yourself and get 1% bonus. Seems to have gone through OK. It’s only 25p on the £25 spend but every little helps!

  • Terry says:

    I purchased the £25 gift card straight away as I had 1000 Avios showing under my offers. Never got an email or the points………

    • Rob says:

      Odd. Is the offer still showing under Saved Offers on your Amex statement? If so, ring Amex and ask why it didn’t trigger.

      (I’m assuming you did click Save To Card.)

      Literally hundreds of readers have done this now, including me twice, with no problems.

      • Terence Semmence says:

        Thanks Rob I’ll call them.
        Just checked my Amex app and I did save the offer and it’s showing as redeemed.

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