Get 2,000 free Virgin Points with Tesco Clubcard auto-convert

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Tesco and Avios are going their separate ways on 18th January 2021 which has been a blow to many flyers.

The good news is that Virgin Atlantic is remaining a Tesco Clubcard partner even though Tesco is not part of the new Virgin Red loyalty app.

In an attempt to persude ex-Avios collectors to send their Clubcard points to Virgin instead, it is offering its biggest ever incentive.

You will receive 2,000 bonus Virgin Points if you switch your Tesco Clubcard account to auto-convert points to Virgin Flying Club.

There is a competition too

For each of the next three statement periods, FIVE people will win 40,000 Virgin Points. This means that there are 15 winners in all.

Everyone who activates auto-convert during this new promotion will be eligible to win.

How do you turn on auto-convert?

You need to visit the Clubcard website here.

Sign in to your account and click on ‘Clubcard Account’. Select ‘Account Management’ and then ‘Voucher Schemes’. From this page you can select the “Virgin Points” box to enable auto-exchange.

Virgin Points to Tesco bonus

Is there any small print?

Yes. Note these three things:

you must activate auto-convert by 28th January

you must have at least £1.50 of Clubcard vouchers available for conversion on that date

you must not have receive a bonus for turning on auto-convert to Virgin Flying Club in the past

Is this worth doing?

I am usually a little sceptical about auto-converting your Clubcard points.

You would miss out if a conversion bonus came along, or indeed a better Tesco Clubcard offer launched with another partner.

In general, it is better to keep your Clubcard vouchers in a drawer until you need them, or until a conversion bonus appears.

However …. the days of lucrative offers on Tesco Clubcard seem to be over. 2,000 Virgin Points is also a VERY good incentive – you’d usually need to spend £800 in Tesco to earn £8 of Clubcard vouchers to receive 2,000 points.

On this basis, assuming you’d only generate a few pounds of vouchers per quarter, you are likely to be better off by activating auto-convert for a while and seeing how it goes.

A quick reminder on timing

As a reminder, the Avios partnership with Tesco ends on 18th January. As the next lot of Clubcard vouchers are sent out AFTER 18th January, you will not receive any future Avios points via auto-convert.

The Clubcard points you accumulate during November and December should, if you want them to go to Avios, be MANUALLY turned into vouchers before 18th January. You can do this via the Clubcard app. You need at least 150 Clubcard points.

Find out more

You can see details of this new Tesco / Virgin Points bonus on the Virgin Flying Club / Tesco Clubcard page here.

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, one has a bonus of 15,000 points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

The UK’s most generous free Visa or Mastercard at 0.75 points / £1 Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 points bonus and the most generous non-Amex for day to day spending Read our full review

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points:

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 comes with 30,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 30,000 Virgin Points:

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points.

(Want to earn more Virgin Points? Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)

Category

Tesco Clubcard, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

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

Baji Nahid says:

26 Nov26 November 04:13

how is virgin affording all this? its on the verge of a collapse.
- Rhys says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 08:37
  
  Virgin Red (which run Points) and Virgin Atlantic are separate companies.
- Genghis says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 08:44
  
  And there’s no initial cash cost
- Rob says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 09:28
  
  The taps are back on, we are seeing it.
Track says:

26 Nov26 November 04:28

Supposedly only for new auto-conversions, and the bill from Tesco will arrive a quarter later, and be paid within another 90 days (if not postponed).

Its either Virgin will restart flights in March and have some cash coming in, or not.. (prolonged 3rd wave from Feb scenario).
- Sean says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 07:28
  
  Bill from Tesco’s?
  - Mike says:
    
    26 Nov26 November 07:42
    
    I know an Arthur from Waitrose – very helpful
  - Genghis says:
    
    26 Nov26 November 08:49
    
    Exactly. No bill from Tesco I reckon.
    
    Best guess is that it goes to marketing expense in Virgin red.
    
    When points created, Dr inventory, Cr liability
    
    Points given away, Dr marketing spend, Cr inventory
    
    Then when people convert their Tesco points:
    
    Dr inventory, Cr liability, Dr CASH, Cr inventory.
    - Genghis says:
      
      26 Nov26 November 08:51
      
      There’s obviously a revenue journal in there too!
    - Gringo says:
      
      26 Nov26 November 10:45
      
      That’s a lot of credit in the liability account
Abdul says:

26 Nov26 November 08:03

What if you already have auto-convert to Virgin points on?
- @alastairtravel says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 09:04
  
  If you turn it off and turn it back on again in a few weeks this might work (might not), but nothing lost…
Will says:

26 Nov26 November 08:09

You say you can manually convert points into a voucher on the app. I can’t see on the Clubcard app and it states only every 3 months. No manual trigger function afaik
- Rob says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 09:24
  
  Do you have 150 points?
  - Ming The Merciless says:
    
    26 Nov26 November 19:53
    
    When they first started manual points to voucher conversion you could manually convert 30 000 points to vouchers in a quarter and then they’d automatically convert the rest of your points. Netted £600 in a quarter, in 2 accounts for 2 quarters running. Almost 600,000 Avios very quickly.
Matt says:

26 Nov26 November 09:18

I’ve never auto-converted, and have about £150 of vouchers in my account from the last year or two. If I turn on auto-convert, does it convert all of them? Or just those earned last quarter? Or next quarter?

Basically I’d like to convert £2.50 worth to get the bonus, but don’t want to move loads to Virgin at present.
- Genghis says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 10:05
  
  Just the points earned in the previous quarter.
- ankomonkey says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 10:18
  
  In the past, auto-convert has only converted newly-generated vouchers from the most recent collection period. Previously earned vouchers have been left untouched.
JR says:

26 Nov26 November 09:20

I’m probably being a little slow here, however, does “auto convert” convert all your unused vouchers or only those point generated in the last cycle?
Mr. AC says:

26 Nov26 November 09:25

To clarify – if I have a stash of existing vouchers in my account, and I turn on auto-convert, will all of them be converted when the next statement happens in January? Or it’s just the points that would have become a new voucher by then?
- Mr. AC says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 09:29
  
  D’oh, 2 people asked the same question while I was writing mine out.
Concerto says:

26 Nov26 November 09:40

Living outside the UK at the moment, can’t see a way to use this. Would need to join Clubcard first and do some purchases to get it up to 150 points.
- Andrew M says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 09:59
  
  You don’t need to have any Clubcard points in your account to get the 2000 point bonus. You get it simply for turning on autoconvert.
  - Geoff says:
    
    26 Nov26 November 10:31
    
    As above, and from the Ts&Cs, you need to ‘Have at least £1.50 in Tesco Clubcard vouchers in your Tesco Clubcard account by 28 January 2021’ to get the bonus.
- The real John says:
  
  26 Nov26 November 17:10
  
  I noticed that you can’t log into Tesco from outside the UK unless you use a VPN set to UK
  - Lady London says:
    
    27 Nov27 November 16:04
    
    It’s weird how Tesco seems to imagine Tesco Clubcard customers never have a holiday abroad.