Get up to 15,000 Heathrow Rewards bonus points with jewellery, watches and technology

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There is good news for Avios, Virgin Flying Club, Emirates Skywards, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Aegean Miles+Bonus, Royal Brunei Royal Skies and Lufthansa Miles & More members.

Today, 1st October, Heathrow Rewards is launching its annual bonus promotion on electronics, watches and jewellery, keen to tap into the Christmas rush.

Heathrow Rewards gives you 1 point for every £1 spent in Heathrow (1 per £10 on foreign exchange) or on Heathrow Express tickets (online bookings only). Once you’ve earned 250 points you can exchange them for miles or shopping vouchers.

Heathrow Rewards

Long-term readers of HfP will know that this promotion usually starts in November. Heathrow Rewards has decided to trial an earlier start this year, possibly to catch the half-term traffic at the end of the month and the new iPhone launch.

This is an excellent opportunity to pick up a large pile of miles. Dixons Travel is included so this is a good chance to cash in on a new iPhone purchase.

Here are the details of the offer, which runs from 1st October until 31st December. Remember that you can convert Heathrow Rewards points into Avios, Virgin Flying Club, Emirates Skywards, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Aegean Miles+Bonus, Royal Brunei Royal Skies and Lufthansa Miles & More miles as well as into Heathrow shopping vouchers.

Heathrow Rewards has been running regular transfer bonuses over the last couple of years. If you don’t need the miles or shopping vouchers immediately, I recommend that you don’t transfer them into miles immediately. You risk missing out on a potential 50% or 100% transfer bonus at some point in the future.

If you are not already a member, you can earn an additional 3,000 Heathrow Rewards points (=3,000 miles, more with a transfer bonus) when you spend £150 in one day via this promo.

Here are the deals for 2018:

15,000 extra points when you spend £4000 or more at Bulgari, Cartier, Dixons Travel, Harrods Fine Watch Room, Rolex, Swarovski, Tiffany, Watches of Switzerland

5,000 extra points when you spend £1500 – £3999 at Bulgari, Cartier, Dixons Travel, Harrods Fine Watch Room, Rolex, Swarovski, Tiffany, Watches of Switzerland

1,000 extra points when you spend £350 – £1499 at Dixons Travel, Swarovski, Tiffany

500 extra points when you spend £150 – £349 at Dixons Travel, Swarokski, Tiffany

The offer runs from today until 31st December.

I took advantage of this deal a few years ago when I bought my wife a watch at Watches of Switzerland. I then sat on the points – over 20,000 in total, including double base points as I was a premium member of Heathrow Rewards – and converted them to Avios when BA joined the programme. They were offering a 100% transfer bonus at the time, and I netted almost 50,000 Avios if I remember! This was a serious rebate on the price paid for the watch, which was already reduced by the equivalent of the VAT.

World Duty Free is not part of the mega bonus promotion but is instead running a double points promotion on £100+ spend.

Full details will be available on the Heathrow Rewards website from some point today.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Emirates and Emirates Skywards, Heathrow Rewards, Lufthansa and Miles & More, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

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

Cuchlainn says:

1 Oct1 October 05:57

OT ( sorry ! ) :
Aer Lingus Avios flights – do I remember reading that taxes are less if I ring BA and book through BA manually, rather than book via Avios.com / co.uk online ? Thanks
- Cormac says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 06:24
  
  Correct. And also make sure you aren’t charged the £25 telephone fee.
  - Cuchlainn says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 08:50
    
    Cheers Cormac – hoping to grab DUB to FAO next year !!
- Rob says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 08:35
  
  For long-haul, yes. Short-haul doesn’t seem to change much and I’ve seen examples where BA was higher.
  - Cuchlainn says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 08:52
    
    Fingers crossed DUB to FAO ( x4 ) will be a few pennies cheaper as Portugese accommodation prices have gone through the roof !!
  - dgsupersonic says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 10:33
    
    Tried this last week for ORK-LHR. BA phone booking charing £48 of fees vs £25.60 at Avios.com
Paul says:

1 Oct1 October 06:35

Of course Rob you did pay all the duties due on your wife’s watch when you returned to the U.K. as it would have been in excess of your allowance. You should make that clear as you wouldn’t want HMRC taking an interest!
- Andrew says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 07:08
  
  Only if he was on a flight to outside the EU, otherwise the store would pay the VAT on the watch, absorbing the cost in their profit and no concern over HMRC – in fact when flying inside the EU you can collect the goods on your return and no need to even take it with you on your travels. Louis Vuitton is the only store (with the exception of duty-paid goods such as tobacco and spirits) where they won’t pay the VAT on your behalf when flying within the EU.
  - Paul says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 07:42
    
    Except you don’t get a duty free price on a watch when flying to the EU. Certainly in July the cost at LHR for a Rolex, Chanel or watches of Switzerland was the same as the U.K. high street unless flying outside the EU. For many years now the costs at so called duty free have been no better, and often are higher than my local supermarket for booze. The rest is for the the Chinese and Japanese and I won’t even go into Dixon’s. Just google item on sale there and there are almost always less on Amazon and delivered to you home.
    - Shoestring says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 07:52
      
      Many people flying intra-EU still refer to the airside shops as Duty Free. The booze brand owners are ‘desperate’ to get their high end products on display there – think: prime ABC1 captive market. So they offer rather good prices to the likes of Heinemann etc. And they (DF retailers can then pass on good savings (from time to time) to airside passengers, even with the VAT payable. In UK, it does vary product by product, promotion by promotion. It’s definitely possible to get better prices on Amazon (particularly with the likes of £15 off £25 Amex offer – still going strong!)
    - Rob says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 08:31
      
      Watches of Switzerland have changed their policy in recent years. It didn’t always work that way.
    - Rivo says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 08:49
      
      That is certainly true for Rolex. You have to be flying outside of the EU in order to obtain that 20% discount. Fly inside the EU and you’ll pay the price on the high street.
      
      However for other makes, Bristling, ICE, Jaeger Le Coultre then Watches of Switzerland will effectively give you a 20% on the High St regardless of where you are flying. You effectively pay duty free prices.
    - Rivo says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 08:55
      
      I hate auto correct. Breitling and IWC.
      
      Prada will also give you an 18% discount from the retail price regardless where you are flying.
    - Andrew says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 09:53
      
      All of the Harrods operated shops offer tax free prices to all passengers – this includes the fine watch room and Cartier. In addition, you earn Harrods rewards points as well as Heathrow points.
    - Lady London says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 14:08
      
      The best I’ve seen at Dixons is about 15% off for the things I’ve looked at. Not even the VAT really. It does feel like a bit of a con. I think I’ve seen price match signs there but IIRC quite a few exclusions. And in the case of any query on their side about the price you’re matching, you only have a limited time to sort it out as presumably you’ve got a flight to catch!
    - Andrew says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 14:42
      
      Lady London, a 15% discount is not far off the VAT…
      
      £100 + VAT at 20% = £120
      £120 less 15% discount = £102
      
      It’s all down to marketing. 16⅔% discount doesn’t sell well.
    - Genghis says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 14:47
      
      Good spot @Andrew. Margin vs mark up.
- The pitch says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 09:00
  
  Andrew is right most of the luxury stores like Gucci pay the vat on your behalf if you are travelling within the EU.
  
  In other news there are rumours on flyertalk that the Etihad lounge at Heathrow is turning into a No. 1 lounge on Friday.
- Max says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 09:10
  
  Didn’t know that – Thanks.
  
  Always assumed that if i purchased before flying to say the USA there was no issue in bringing the item back in.
  
  After all I would assume that I had not purchased abroad. Maybe I am wrong!
  - Jovanna says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 11:46
    
    Yes, I assumed that too.
Anna says:

1 Oct1 October 07:00

Are duty free prices worth paying at UK airports at the moment, given the miserable $ exchange rate which makes duty free shopping e.g. in the Caribbean unattractive just now? (For things like jewellery that it, not perfume and alcohol which are often cheaper on the high street!) I haven’t bothered looking in airport shops much since I discovered HFP and lounge access!
- Crafty says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 07:36
  
  Just like normal shops, browse and you will uncover occasional gems.
  
  I bought some amazingly cheap Tanqueray at Girona airport last week.
Dev says:

1 Oct1 October 07:07

I’m flying out this morning and scheduled to pick up an iPhone X from Dixon’s…..do I have to register?
- Andrew says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 07:10
  
  How much are they discounting the XS by?
  - Dev says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 07:11
    
    Not sure as I’m buyin the X for 849. Will check if they have it in store?
    - Andrew says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 07:15
      
      Thanks. I know Dixons are a bit tight on their discounts and certainly don’t take all the VAT off. And in answer to your question – no need to register, just use your Heathrow Rewards card as normal.
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 07:29
      
      If you have a work discount scheme that sells gift cards Dixon’s take curry’s gift cards (I get a further 8% off for example)
  - Dev says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 08:54
    
    Xs: 64gb = 979, 256gb =, 512gb = 1319.
    
    Add £100 for xs max versions.
    - Maciek says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 09:45
      
      @TGLoyalty, T&C say “Cards issued, as part of an insurance claim or through a benefits scheme cannot be used in Dixons Tax Free”. Can they differentiate between currys card purchased outright and ones purchased through a discount scheme?
    - Benylin says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 10:54
      
      I have used cards purchased from Zeek and Xexec successfully at Dixon’s at a London airport (forget which one!)
    - the_real_a says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 13:11
      
      Yes they can differentiate – Tesco do this for fuel purchases. They have a different design and numbering. No idea if they enforce it in practice, but other companies do.
Andrew says:

1 Oct1 October 07:13

Semi-OT: I have a spend £500, get £100 back at Prada on Amex Platinum and it lists the T5 store as participating.
- Roger says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 12:36
  
  What do they sell?
  - Rob says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 14:55
    
    Prada T5 is – like most Heathrow designer stores – less focused on the new season product and more on the ‘greatest hits’, shall we say. If there is a specific shirt or jumper from AW18 you want it is unlikely to be there, if you want an evergreen bag you may be OK.
Brighton Belle says:

1 Oct1 October 07:30

Will we ever get Gatwick Rewards? I pass through twice a month and look in the shops but never buy. Heathrow is just too inconvenient.
Brian says:

1 Oct1 October 08:10

OT. 30 pounds off 100 with Selfridges on my Gold Card.
- Rob says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 08:28
  
  Yes, this seems quite widespread.
  - rams1981 says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 08:37
    
    Not on mine again. I never get any of the offers I actually want
    - Jill (Kinkell) says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 11:49
      
      Same here. I have 0 on SPG and 3 on BAPP. Quite a few on Plat carried over from Gold upgrade, but no new ones. And I do spend on the cards!
    - Russ says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 17:41
      
      Agree and I’m not sure what I’ve done to earn 20% off Jimmy Choos.
- Jay says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 10:41
  
  Might gift cards work with this offer online/in-store as with the Harrods offer previously?
- Optimus Prime says:
  
  1 Oct1 October 13:04
  
  Apologies if this’s been asked before: are these offers valid when paying by Amex through Apple Pay?
  - Rob says:
    
    1 Oct1 October 14:54
    
    No
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      1 Oct1 October 21:13
      
      Are you sure? Apple Pay transactions show as the actual retailer unlike PayPal. Ie boots not Apple Pay *boots
      
      I would’ve given it a go today at boots for my £5 of £20 but they didn’t have the thing I wanted so bought online instead.
      - Rob says:
        
        1 Oct1 October 21:45
        
        This is the wording “Offer does not apply to spend on other Cards you might hold and is not valid for transactions made using third party Payment Aggregators” and I always assumed (admittedly never tried) that Apple Pay fell under this.
Roger1* says:

1 Oct1 October 08:30

World Duty Free is a Dufry company. The RED by Dufry app has recently been updated and is now much more manageable. (Make that manageable, as the previous version was rubbish, for me at least.)

Entry membership as Silver offers 5% discount on purchases at WDF as well as a number of promotions. I don’t know whether the promtions are exclusive to RED cardholders.

When I tried to use RED (old version) at LHR T5, Helsinki and Zurich, it was worth precisely nothing. I’m hoping the new version works better.

Rob wrote about RED by Dufry here: https://headforpoints.com/2018/06/05/save-money-at-world-duty-free-dufry-with-red-app/