Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Get a free £5 to spend with LNER when you join ‘LNER Perks’

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

LNER, the East Coast rail franchise holder, is launching a new loyalty programme – ‘LNER Perks’.

This is not wholly unexpected. LNER dropped out of Nectar back in August and as we covered last week will stop letting you spend Nectar points for LNER vouchers in November.

To persuade you to join ‘LNER Perks’, LNER is giving away £5 credit to everyone who joins.

LNER Perks review

Full details are on the LNER website here.

You can join via the LNER app or, if you already have an LNER account, by simply opting in to Perks. When you are logged in, there is a big red button under ‘My Account’ which enrols you.

The £5 credit is deposited immediately, as you can see below. It is valid for 24 months.

LNER Perks review

The sign-up money is ringfenced and can only be used for LNER Advance rail tickets. You cannot cash it out, either for yourself or for a charity partner.

What does LNER Perks offer long-term?

Long term, LNER travellers will earn 2% cashback on all of their ticket purchases.

This is added to your LNER Perks account. It can be redeemed for e-vouchers for your own use, or donated to one of LNER’s selected charity partners.

You do NOT need to have bought your tickets directly from LNER to earn cashback. However, there are special rules in place on how you can use cashback earned for tickets bought at stations, from another online retailer or from another train operator.

LNER Perks review

Do I need to earn a minimum amount to redeem my cashback?

No, if you are redeeming for tickets for yourself or donating your cashback to charity.

Yes, if you want to gift your cashback to another person. In this case, you would need to earn £10 before you can issue a voucher. The voucher can only be used on LNER Advance tickets.

Can I get 2% back on my existing LNER bookings?

No. The only exception is if you have made a booking in the past 48 hours before joining LNER Perks. If you have, you will automatically be credited with the 2%.

Can I get 2% back on travel on other rail operators?

No, if the trip is entirely on other operators but booked through the LNER website.

Yes, if the trip is partly on LNER and partly on another operator. The 2% is paid on the entire trip value.

There is more to the scheme then we have covered here, including earning points from season tickets. The reward scheme is relatively simple, and may suffer from the lack of any gamification elements, but we need to see how it develops. It talks of “exclusive competitions, surprises and treats just for you from LNER and our partners.”

The £5 sign-up bonus is a smart move, however, and will generate some buzz to launch the scheme. You can find out more, and claim your £5, on the LNER Perks website here.

Comments (15)

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

  • ChrisC says:

    If the government has money to throw about there are better things to spend it on than this. Like just not increasing the fares next January then everyone benefits.

    Especially as LNER is operated by Directly Operated Trains which is part of the Dept of Transport.and is where failed franchises get put into when their private operators hand back their contracts early because they have failed and given them up.

    • Ken says:

      Surely well worth £5 if it encourages people to join, download the App and book direct rather than with Trainline who charge the TOC’s 5% commission

      • Fenny says:

        Why does every company want us to use an app rather than a web portal? I’d rather sit at my pc and order stuff than faff about on an app on my phone! I’m deleting apps rather than adding new ones.

  • Baji Nahid says:

    Save East coast rewards! I know you’ll have a greater input here in regards to whether this scheme would be successful

    • Charlieface says:

      I’m assuming wombling tickets is going to work then…
      🙂

      • Save East Coast Rewards says:

        Some risk is attached to that. Unlike the old days of GNERTime you don’t post your tickets in, you have to use your booking reference (if booked on another site) or scan the barcode on your ticket if bought at a station on on-board. So if the person has already enrolled that ticket then presumably they will see that ticket is already registered and stop you. If that happened a few times they may suspect you’re trying to game the system

    • Baji Nahid says:

      Thanks SECR for the inside view to this, I do remember you well on another forum and also on twitter about saving EC rewards and the good value they had under that franchise. But alas all good things come to an End.

  • Ben says:

    I also have a 5% off Amex offer for LNER (every time up to £30)

  • DANi says:

    Also 5% on Halifax cards 🙂

  • Josh says:

    Naff offer regarding the 2% back as a voucher. Lacks creativity, but better than a kick in the face.

  • ChrisC says:

    Just checked my nectar app.

    My November ‘count up to christmas’ bonus offer is 200 points if I shop 4 times in Sainburys in the month

    Not the most exciting offer but as the say better than a smack in the face with a wet fish for shopping for essential like bread and milk!

    Wonder if Lockdown 2 is going to affect the christmas double up offer?

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