Tesco Clubcard and Avios divorce in two weeks – how should you play it?

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As we exclusively broke back in October, British Airways / Avios and Tesco Clubcard have decided to part ways. The option to convert your Tesco Clubcard points into Avios is ending very soon.

(Nothing will change with the partnership between Tesco Clubcard and Virgin Flying Club, for clarity. You can still earn Virgin Points.)

Tesco Clubcard dropping British Airways Avios as a partner

When is Clubcard ending Avios earning?

The last day to initiate a transfer of your Tesco Clubcard points into Avios is 18th January. Probably.

There is some confusion over the date. ba.com says that “You can continue to collect Avios with Tesco up to and including 18 January 2021”.

The Avios page on tesco.com says that “From 18 January 2021, you’ll no longer be able to exchange your Clubcard points for Avios.”

I suspect that BA is correct but, as it is Tesco’s scheme, you might want to convert by the 17th just to be sure.

Hang on …. my next Clubcard statement isn’t generated until 28th January

That is correct, which is why I am writing this article today to explain your options.

By the time you receive your Clubcard vouchers for the November to January quarter, in early February, it will be too late to convert them to Avios.

This is why you need to know about ‘Faster Vouchers’.

What is ‘Faster Vouchers’?

‘Faster Vouchers’ is a feature available to users of the Tesco Clubcard app.

It allows you to convert your CURRENT quarterly points balance into Clubcard vouchers. It is a simple process:

you must have at least 150 Clubcard points to convert

you will have your Clubcard voucher in your Tesco app, ready to spend, within 24 hours of requesting it

There is one thing to bear in mind. Whilst you can order ‘Faster Vouchers’ with a minimum of 150 Clubcard points in your account, you need at least 250 Clubcard points in order to convert to Avios.

It is pointless converting your existing Clubcard points into ‘Faster Vouchers’ if you only have 150, unless you have other unredeemed Clubcard vouchers to allow a conversion of £2.50+.

Here’s an example

The screenshot below is from my own Clubcard account:

I have 157 Clubcard points available to convert, which means that the blue button to order ‘Faster Vouchers’ is showing.

There would be no point in doing this if I had no other points to convert, because of the £2.50 minimum conversion to Avios.

However, I have also other unredeemed Clubcard vouchers which takes my total over the £2.50 minimum for Avios. This means that it makes sense to order the additional £1.50-worth before converting the lot.

What is the timing?

The last day to convert Clubcard points to Avios is 18th January (or perhaps 17th January for the reasons I gave above).

As ‘Faster Vouchers’ are meant to arrive within 24 hours, you should be OK if you order them as late as 16th January.

If you are currently close to 150 Clubcard points this quarter but not quite there, you have another 12 days to do a bit of shopping to ensure you will be at 150 points by 16th January.

(Remember that you will need to be at 250 points by 16th January if you have no other outstanding Clubcard vouchers to convert, because of the £2.50 minimum transfer.)

Who will replace Tesco as BA’s supermarket partner?

I honestly don’t know. We have been bouncing ideas around in our ‘Comments’ section in recent weeks.

My money would be on a combined John Lewis / Waitrose deal, but I haven’t been told anything – except that we will find out after 18th January.

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

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

Kevin B says:

4 Jan4 January 08:57

Don’t forget you need to leave £1.50 in your Clubcard account if you haven’t taken advantage of the 2000 bonus for auto-converting to Virgin.
- Andrew says:
  
  4 Jan4 January 09:10
  
  Only if you collect virgin points – if you don’t, you can just clear out the account to Avios.
BJ says:

4 Jan4 January 08:59

Why would BA take a huge hit to their avios income by partnering with JL/Waitrose who only have a small market share? Doesn’t this mean that Nectar are the only viable alternative to Tesco given that Asda don’t do loyalty?
- BuildBackBetter says:
  
  4 Jan4 January 09:13
  
  Depends on how many actually convert to avios and what rate they are willing to pay. Waitrose customers are affluent and travel savvy. Plus JLP might be willing to pay more for avios exclusivity
  - BJ says:
    
    4 Jan4 January 09:59
    
    Problem I see with this is that if customer base are more affluent and travel-savvy they are more likely reading the likes of HfP and redeeming on J/F with a 2-4-1. I cannot see that being in BA interests, they would presumably much prefer customers doing daft redemptions in Y via the least sensible option, seat selection, hotels etc.
- Rob says:
  
  4 Jan4 January 09:31
  
  Avios wants to be the dominant partner with whoever it partners with. This is more important than scale. Remember that BA has voluntarily dropped Tesco in order to get a more prominent role with another supermarket.
  - BJ says:
    
    4 Jan4 January 10:08
    
    What do you think they would hope to achieve with a more dominant role though? Is there that much more that can be done with an avios earn/burn partnership than is being done at the monent? Interfering too much would presumably only frustrate the partner and sour relations, and for the customers there is a fine line between frustrating them and exciting them with rules and promotions.
    - Rob says:
      
      4 Jan4 January 10:47
      
      Big fish, small pond.
      
      What does Tesco do for BA at the moment? Nothing. Tesco, to some extent, leeches off the Avios brand equity (to get you into its stores) but does nothing for Avios in return – apart from send them money, of course.
      
      I think they want a partner who will do more to promote the Avios brand.
      - BJ says:
        
        4 Jan4 January 11:03
        
        Whatever it is, it will hopefully be interesting for a while at least. I’m walking distance from Waitrose, Sainsbury, M&S and Morrisons so hopefully I have all the bases covered 🙂
      - kitten says:
        
        4 Jan4 January 21:30
        
        sounds awfully like Sainsbury’s to me.
        
        Nectar not rolled in immediately… or posibly.
        
        I think it the supermarket originally involved with Avios’s precursor Air Miles, was Sainsbury”s as well.
Peter says:

4 Jan4 January 09:01

This probably only applies to a few people but there is cap of 30000 points being made available through faster vouchers in a quarter.
- blenz101 says:
  
  4 Jan4 January 11:44
  
  Yes, the cap is there for all forms of voucher faster or posal and point type (they treat Tesco Bank and Instore points differently when you request vouchers).
  
  It particularly frustrates MS via Tesco bank earned points as it is only possible to have one debit or credit card. Back in the day of generous instore promotions mutilple clubcard accounts could be used to get around the cap.
  - Chris Heyes says:
    
    4 Jan4 January 15:28
    
    Bienz101 Was always still easy to get round the Tesco Cap did it for years Clubcard my name Clubcard partners name Double the Cap
    Also Clubcard House in Blackburn, Clubcard Flat in Bognor Regis, 4 times the Cap lol
    That was until they twigged, but no repercussions just told only one address
    Was ok by me left me/us with still “Double” the cap
    - Blenz101 says:
      
      4 Jan4 January 20:35
      
      Yes, that’s what I meant. What the cap did/does prevent is excessive points earning via Tesco bank (manufactured spend) given you can’t personally have more than one credit or current account.
Kelvin says:

4 Jan4 January 09:34

Transfer points not showing on my account even though there are 719 points there
Lesley Sinclair says:

4 Jan4 January 09:40

Hope its not John Lewis / Waitrose as there are no Waitrose shops in most of Scotland ( just the south ) and the nearest John Lewis is 77 miles from us. Also no shops in Norther Ireland. Shame to leave out all the BA customers in these areas.
- Andrew says:
  
  4 Jan4 January 11:50
  
  Online shopping is what we keep hearing is all people want to do now, so that’s still an option regardless of location.
- Anuj says:
  
  4 Jan4 January 13:22
  
  Waitrose totally withdrew from Manchester. The only JL is far away in Trafford. By picking Waitrose BA will just reinforce how it’s a airline for Londoners and southerners
- Jill ( Kinkell) says:
  
  4 Jan4 January 14:02
  
  Nearest JL is 120 miles away and nearest Waitrose ,I think is Edinburgh which is 150+ miles away. So most Scots are stuffed!
  - ExEDI says:
    
    4 Jan4 January 14:34
    
    Most Scots are stuffed? Are you sure?
    Isn’t it true that majority of the Scottish population live in the central belt?
    Isn’t it also true that there are 7 Waitrose stores and 2 John Lewis stores located in the central belt?
    Remember retail businesses locate where the majority of their customers are located; not where you personally are located.
mark2 says:

4 Jan4 January 09:53

In order to use ‘Fast Vouchers’ you need to have your option set to ‘Vouchers’ rather than Auto Convert to Avios
or Virgin Miles.
So change the option momentarily while you convert the points then change back.
- Kelvin says:
  
  4 Jan4 January 10:25
  
  Thanks for that
- Harry Holden says:
  
  4 Jan4 January 10:39
  
  This alarmed me as I was a lazy auto-converter having realised bonuses were a thing of the past. It appears that the Auto-convert has already been removed as when I logged onto the account, the option to order Fast vouchers was already there.
BJ says:

4 Jan4 January 10:11

What about Amazon/Morrisons?
- Navara says:
  
  4 Jan4 January 10:28
  
  Or Lidl
  - ankomonkey says:
    
    4 Jan4 January 15:12
    
    Or multiple supermarkets. Cover the vast majority of the population… Then the supermarkets can compete with juicy offers for their customers 🙂
Sharon S says:

4 Jan4 January 10:16

Will Virgin accept more than one clubcard account auto converting to one flying club account ? ie Creditcard, Clubcard & Current account.
- Rob says:
  
  4 Jan4 January 10:45
  
  Your points should all be flowing into the same Clubcard account. If not, ask Tesco to merge them – it makes your life a bit easier.