Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Get a 25% bonus when you convert TopCashback money to Avios points

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Cashback shopping site TopCashback is offering a 25% bonus this month if you convert your earnings to Avios.

Until 30th April, you will receive 1.25 Avios for every 1p of cashback you convert.

Topcashback Avios conversion bonus

Be clear about the maths before you do this.  You are basically buying Avios at 0.8p each compared to taking the cash.

This IS a decent deal, and it would be hard to lose money on this basis given that HFP readers should be getting well over 1p per Avios when they redeem, but think it through.  Cash is flexible and not prone to sudden devaluation, Avios are not.


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:

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

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 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

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.)

Comments (107)

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

  • Chris L says:

    I reckon the most likely scenario would be that BA would offer you an alternative routing or would return your Avios. They’re essentially acting as a travel agent in this respect. Honestly, I think they’ll still be around though, and it sounds like most flights up until the end of the summer season are going ahead as planned (today’s mess notwithstanding!!)

    • Shoestring says:

      I don’t think so @Chris L – BA is not the operating carrier, nor is it a travel agent here – they bear no legal responsibility & would wash their hands of the OP pdq.

      • Charlieface says:

        He could always cancel the ticket and get hhis Avios back. The Avios cancellation rules are set out and underwritten by BA not Flybe.
        Arguably Amex should cover the Avios as well under section 75, it’s a non-cash liability.
        I’m not a lawyer though, just an armchair

  • Angel says:

    Very offtopic, advice needed:
    I have a BA ticket AMS-LHR-HND return
    arrive LHR 22:30 depart to tokyo 9:30 am next day
    Plan is – going to amsterdam with just carry on, then sleep in london, get my big luggage and check it in for first time in LHR
    Is there any rule that says i can’t add checked in luggage mid-way on stopover?
    Thank you

    • Jonathan says:

      Absolutely fine. I do this all the time on ex EU’s including checking in luggage for the long haul leg at Heathrow prior to a same day back to back which I then do with hand baggage only. If your long haul leg is on a different airlines metal eg. AA then you have to check the luggage at their desks though regardless of if it’s a BA ticket.

  • xcalx says:

    @ Harry
    but because they have been known to swipe back confirmed, payable earnings for unknown reasons you can’t appeal – it happened to me a couple of times!

    I had a few!! accounts shut down by Quidilo ( 4 figure sum ) a long time ago due to a very generous offer of 13% cash back with a car rental site its amazing how quickly 30 day rentals in New York build up ( paid out usually 1 week prior to the rental starting I then cancelled). Had a good 8 month whilst it lasted. Then 2 years after the accounts were closed I logged in to one by mistake and lo and behold the account was active again cashed out the balances. Oh the good old days.

  • Louise says:

    OT Tesco 2500 Clubcard pts for home insurance just posted for me, 18 days after purchase

  • Shoestring says:

    Xcalx – Europcar is a fast payer, very flexible to hire from them as you can cancel for free with 48hrs notice.

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    Can anyone recommend a cheap life insurer 😉

  • IMH says:

    I’m also in Hamburg this week and remembered a different way to avoid the ridiculous hotel prices: book a private flat via a portal (VRBO, Airbnb etc.). It’s rarely as straightforward as a hotel booking and of course it does nothing for my points balances, but there are always ‘hosts’who don’t price dynamically

    • Rob says:

      It must be coming. It is a huge revenue loser for Airbnb hosts who simply are not plugged in to the local demand cycles.

      • Chris L says:

        Airbnb give hosts the option of dynamic pricing – it’s just some choose not to implement it.

        • Rob says:

          But does Airbnb tell them when to implement it? The only room left at the Park Hyatt last night when I checked, which admittedly was a small suite, was €820.

        • Chris L says:

          It’s either on or off – they call it ‘Smart pricing’ –

          “Smart Pricing lets you set your prices to automatically go up or down based on changes in demand for listings like yours. You’re always responsible for your price, so Smart Pricing is controlled by other pricing settings you choose, and you can adjust nightly prices any time. Smart Pricing is based on the type and location of your listing, the season, demand, and other factors.”

      • Pangolin says:

        If they are hosts and therefore (likely) locals, you’d think they have the ‘smarts’ to know when the demand is dramatically higher.

        I remember looking at what happened to Airbnb prices for hosts in WAW during Euro 2012. Most of them just seemed to add a zero onto what they’d been asking for 6 months prior.

      • Relaxo says:

        Airbnb’s smart pricing is total rubbish and no experienced host will choose to activate. it is a ploy to drive prices down across the market – It almost never prices upwards, only downwards. And there is no categorization of property types i.e. a 4 bedroom house is placed in the same pricing pool as a bedroom with live-in host.

    • Alan says:

      Totally agree – was in Venice for a conference a couple of years ago. All hotel rooms (unless VERY far out) were >€300/night. Instead got a whole apartment on AirBnB for £130/night – central location, great facilities. Was very much worthwhile – especially with the Qantas points from booking via their portal!

      Only thing to be aware of is cancellation – have an Aussie friend that was going to be in New York for Hogmanay but then the host cancelled a week beforehand. Pricey getting accommodation at that short notice!

  • Octopus says:

    @ Harry do you need to choose a different ins co each time for multiple policies to track or can you use the same cheapest provider?

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