You can now transfer ‘pending’ Tesco Clubcard points to Avios or Virgin Flying Club

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

Most Head for Points readers know that both Avios and Virgin Flying Club are Tesco Clubcard partners. This allows you to transfer your Clubcard points into miles instead of using them in-store.

It is a decent deal. £1 of Tesco Clubcard vouchers converts into 240 Avios or 250 Virgin Flying Club miles. This is substantially better value than using your Clubcard vouchers in-store for face value.

You can convert to Avios via this page of the Tesco website and to Virgin Flying Club via this page. The points usually arrive overnight but this is not guaranteed.

To be honest, I prefer to take Uber credit rather than airline miles. £1 of Tesco Clubcard vouchers gets you £3 of Uber and / or Uber Eats credit. This is as good as cash to me which means that I am effectively ‘buying’ Avios for 1.25p if I choose them instead. I don’t value them that highly.

But there was always a snag …..

Tesco only issued your Clubcard points once per quarter. This meant that, if you had a large number of Clubcard points due to you, you had to wait up to 12 weeks to get your hands on them. This was clearly no good if you had a redemption flight to book.

Tesco has now changed its rules. You can request your ‘pending’ Clubcard points whenever you like. You can then transfer them to Avios or Virgin Flying Club.

This is how it works. I used the app – I am not sure if it is possible via the website too. Here is a screenshot I took on Thursday morning, with 257 points pending. I would not receive these before February if I waited.

Tesco Clubcard transfers to Avios

Click on ‘Turn your points into vouchers’ and you see this. I can convert 250 of my 257 points immediately:

Tesco Clubcard transfers to Avios

I confirm and get this message:

Tesco Clubcard transfers to Avios

On Friday morning, I went into the app and got this message:

A voucher code was showing and I was able to redeem it immediately for £7.50 of Uber credit. The code was in my inbox within 30 seconds and I could immediately add it to my Uber account.

There are some rules ….

There are a couple of points to note about this new feature.

The key one is that it is disabled for two weeks before your February, May, August and November Clubcard points statements are generated. This is to stop you withdrawing your points in the period that Tesco is printing and posting your statement, which might mean that you ended up with two lots of points.

Secondly, using this feature requires you to opt out of receiving paper Clubcard statements. Future statements will be sent by email.

You need at least 150 Clubcard points to request instant vouchers, but this is the same rule that was in place for triggering paper vouchers so no-one loses out here.

This is, undoubtedly, a genuine improvement to Tesco Clubcard for miles collectors. It is just a shame that Tesco has gutted the Clubcard scheme over the last two years, especially with the closure of Tesco Direct and Tesco Wine, making it hard to run up substantial points balances.

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:

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

British Airways and Avios, Tesco Clubcard, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

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

Nick says:

20 Jan20 January 07:04

Yes, it is indeed possible through the Tesco website.
Go to “My Clubcard Account”
Go to “Vouchers”
Go to “Turn Points Into Faster Vouchers”
Ken Middleton says:

20 Jan20 January 08:13

I love the Tesco points scheme, even with all its quirks. Using my Tesco Premium card I have just managed to trigger the end of year bonus points (they haven’t acknowledged it yet though). It took me about 9 months to spend £5000. This gets me a bonus of 12000 Avios, plus the credit card points and Clubcard points. To do this I had to buy the groceries and fuel primarily at Tesco, rather than Morrisons or Sainsburys. All 3 supermarkets are close. I also bought all the wine I needed from Tesco, mainly on 25% off days. Id did complain to Tesco about the closure of Tesco Direct making it difficult to collect the end of year bonus, but all I got was a take it or leave it reply with an option to cancel the card and get some money back. However, others must have complained too as they will now address the issue when the Premium card returns this year with a lower fee.
Genghis says:

20 Jan20 January 08:34

Bit late reporting, Rob. Been working since early Dec IIRC.
- Paul says:
  
  20 Jan20 January 09:24
  
  Even before then. I did a faster voucher transfer at the beginning of October last year
- Mr(s) Entitled says:
  
  20 Jan20 January 09:44
  
  Still news to me and very useful when I trade in a large voucher and have previously had to wait a quarter for the change.
  - A270 says:
    
    20 Jan20 January 09:46
    
    Yes, news to me too so thank you Rob.
    - Russ says:
      
      20 Jan20 January 17:28
      
      …and me. Thanks Rob.
- BJ says:
  
  20 Jan20 January 09:48
  
  Rob probably gihued it would be a good idea to give people a couple of months to collect 350 points before reporting it! Clubcard really has gone down the drain with the exception of opportunities on fuel. Cannot see that lasting much longer tbh.
  - Russ says:
    
    20 Jan20 January 17:30
    
    Not everyone shops at Tesco so it isn’t high on their priority list to keep tabs on. Don’t think mine is even on Award…thingy
- Rob says:
  
  20 Jan20 January 10:43
  
  Only went onto the app as an option this week which is the only place I look!
John says:

20 Jan20 January 08:35

Why not just scrap the normal voucher system altogether? Are there people who still like using vouchers to get 1% off in Tesco?
- Mark says:
  
  20 Jan20 January 10:52
  
  If you saw the stats, I think you would be amazed at the numbers who don’t have computer or smartphone, nor even a bank account. I guess these would use CC vouchers etc in the shop and think they were getting a good deal.
- Spurs Debs says:
  
  20 Jan20 January 10:56
  
  Yes, the vet i use told me just this week she uses hers in shop, she knows it’s the worse value but she said it suits her the best. Most of friends also use them in the shop.
  - Matt says:
    
    20 Jan20 January 11:36
    
    I’d also imagine the vast majority of people use them in-store as it’s the most obvious unless you’re sussed up on the savvy front.
    - Lady London says:
      
      20 Jan20 January 17:23
      
      Even the sussed ones seem to just say its easier to use them in the shop.
      
      I have a keen Tesco friend who used her Tesco points for some Avios that she got an rfs flight with. She said it was all too much bother and she’ll just use them for money off her shopping in future.
      - Alan says:
        
        21 Jan21 January 09:20
        
        Ah well, leaves more redemptions for the rest of us lol
Mikeact says:

20 Jan20 January 08:47

I think I’ll leave the instant conversation option as I’m still on the Grandfather rate, and if rather not mess that up.
- DerekH says:
  
  20 Jan20 January 08:50
  
  Same here..
- The Original Nick says:
  
  20 Jan20 January 08:59
  
  Lucky you. I’ve been finished with Tesco for a while now. No CC to Avios bonuses or Virgin anymore and since the 3v card trick went it ended it for me.
  - Erico1875 says:
    
    20 Jan20 January 09:19
    
    Me too. I’ve went from 30000 CC points to 30.
    - Mark says:
      
      20 Jan20 January 10:49
      
      Have you really “went”?!
    - RussellH says:
      
      21 Jan21 January 15:19
      
      Normal spoken usage in some parts of the country!
      🙂
Roger says:

20 Jan20 January 10:34

I know the answer would be NO; still trying.

When I transfer Amex MR to Delta SkyMiles, are this Elite Qualifying?
i.e. would it count towards Elite MQM – Medallion Qualifying Miles?

Any other avenues for earning MQM other than flying?
In UK of course we do not have any Delta credit card, so that does not seem an option.
- Rob says:
  
  20 Jan20 January 10:39
  
  No
Peter K says:

20 Jan20 January 10:36

Except he doesn’t shop at either. Plus the COOP is much more than 5% more expensive to stay off with.
- Darren says:
  
  20 Jan20 January 12:36
  
  Ah, but Waitrose is always ones much preferred grocer. 😉
  - RussellH says:
    
    21 Jan21 January 15:20
    
    Yes.
Rob says:

20 Jan20 January 11:05

Tesco Metro is 45 seconds from my house, Co-Op is 2 miles …..