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Get a 25% bonus on HSBC Premier credit card points conversions to Avios

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HSBC has launched a secret 25% bonus on conversions of HSBC Premier credit card points to Avios.

I say ‘secret’ because no announcement has been made.  HSBC has form on this front, however – when it last did an Avios conversion bonus it never told anyone.

We have no idea how long it lasts.  Back in 2018 and 2019 it ran similar offers in August which ended on 31st August, although those offers had started on 1st August.  This one didn’t start until mid-month.

If you want proof that a bonus is running, take a look at this Flyertalk thread.  You will see a screenshot there from someone who accidentally got the bonus after making a planned transfer.  Other users did trial transfers of their own and also received the bonus.

Are the HSBC Premier credit cards a good way of earning Avios?

The two HSBC Premier credit cards are very generous.  The snag is that you need to have a HSBC Premier current account to get them.  Whilst Premier is free, the income and/or savings requirements are high as you can see here.

The free HSBC Premier Mastercard, reviewed here, earns:

  • 0.5 Avios
  • 0.5 Asia Miles
  • 0.5 Singapore Airlines Krisflyer miles or
  • 0.5 Etihad Guest miles

…. per £1 spent in the UK.  This rate is double for overseas spending.

Note that the credit card earns 1 HSBC point per £1 spent (2 HSBC points per £1 spent abroad) and these convert at 2:1 into airline miles.  Don’t get confused by the HSBC earning rate and the equivalent airline miles earning rate.

The £195 per year HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard, reviewed here, earns 1 mile per £1 spent in the UK (2 HSBC points per £1) and double this when abroad.

The card also comes with airport lounge access via LoungeKey.  The World Elite card is less good for families who want lounge access than Amex Platinum as your HSBC card only gets the main cardholder into an airport lounge.

You can pay £60 to give your partner a supplementary card for a year to get them in, but there is no way to get children into airport lounges for free.  Amex Platinum, on the other hand, gets a family of four into a lounge.

You also get comprehensive travel insurance as part of the HSBC Premier current account, which makes this an interesting alternative to The Platinum Card from American Express for couples or solo travellers.

Disclaimer: don’t blame us

Whilst HSBC Premier is clearly running a 25% bonus on transfers of HSBC points to Avios, there is some risk in this:

  • we don’t know when the offer ends, although no-one has reported getting the bonus who transferred before last Monday and I doubt it would end in under a week
  • everyone who has reported in the Flyertalk thread has a World Elite card.  Two HfP readers have told me that they got the bonus on the free card, although I haven’t seen screen shots.

If you don’t get the bonus, you can’t complain to HSBC and you won’t get very far with us either!

If HSBC does make a formal announcement about an Avios transfer bonus, we’ll mention it in a ‘Bits’ article.

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – December 2021 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit or charge card, here are our November 2021 recommendations based on the current sign-up bonus. 

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the top current deals:

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

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

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers.

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review

Amex Platinum Business American Express

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and a long list of travel benefits Read our full review

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

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending:

Barclaycard Select Cashback Credit Card

1% cashback and no annual fee Read our full review

Category

British Airways and Avios, HSBC Premier Mastercard

Comments (71)

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

  • Joe says:
    21 Aug21 August 17:39

    Still don’t know why people don’t get the (0% fx) US version of this card instead. Objectively better and if you are entitled to premier in one location you are entitled to it everywhere.

    (Easiest way is HSBC expat which requires salary of 100k gbp only – no investments?

    • Matt says:
      21 Aug21 August 19:13

      I always assumed you had to be resident in the US. Would be very interested if that’s not the case!

      • Waddle says:
        21 Aug21 August 19:32

        You do not have to be a resident of the US to open a US Premier account as a Premier member in another country. The US account even allows you to set your home address as default.

        Source: I have the US account having qualified as a UK member.

        • Matt says:
          21 Aug21 August 19:44

          Thanks, I knew that it was possible to open a US bank account through HSBC Premier but thought that applying for a credit card would be a different story.

          • mr_jetlag says:
            21 Aug21 August 22:29

            not only is it possible to open a US card, it is possible to hold both (US and UK) simultaneously. I have both and earn US premier points as well as UK.

          • Joe says:
            22 Aug22 August 07:27

            I had no issues and have never lived in the US and have no social security number

  • David says:
    21 Aug21 August 20:39

    Can confirm 25% bonus on HSBC Premier card.

  • Polly says:
    21 Aug21 August 21:42

    So, it’s worth a punt then.. did 40k this morning, might do the rest now.. good news. Obvious why they are not publicising it tho. Would cost them…

  • mr_jetlag says:
    21 Aug21 August 22:47

    testing this on the free card with 32k (16k avios). If bonus posts would be a nice way to recoup the 20k I just used in the BA 2p promo!

  • Ls says:
    22 Aug22 August 16:42

    When does the signup 40000 points for £2k spending post? I’ve spent that much already but not got the bonus yet. Wait the full 90 days?

  • DJ says:
    22 Aug22 August 20:11

    OT, it looks like Rob might have to update the picture of the card soon, the latest HSBC Connect email suggests there will be a new design soon 🙂

    • Youllnever says:
      22 Aug22 August 22:23

      How does it look?

      • Rob says:
        22 Aug22 August 22:43

        There is a new horizontal design but it will take 3 years to roll out, hopefully, so we’re safe for a bit. Rhys and I have had long discussions about how to handle this. Our hand may be forced sometime soon …

        The BA Amex cards are NOT going horizontal. You heard it here first 🙂

        • Youllnever says:
          22 Aug22 August 23:47

          Re BA cards: oh god, in that case I’m with Rhys – never understood the obsession with vertical designs.

  • Youllnever says:
    22 Aug22 August 22:08

    Does this mean that transfers to other programmes like Asia Miles don’t get the bonus?

    • Rob says:
      22 Aug22 August 22:44

      Yes – has always been the case with these offers.

      Sometimes Etihad or Singapore include HSBC in their ‘bonus for all incoming points’ transfer offers but this is not promoted or sanctioned by HSBC.

      • Youllnever says:
        22 Aug22 August 23:36

        Any suggestion as to whether I should do the Avios transfer now for the bonus? My points don’t expire till early 2024 though.

  • Ben says:
    23 Aug23 August 11:16

    I received two different messages from HSBC agents. One said that their manager confirmed there is a bonus but it is not yet live. The other said there is no bonus that HSBC gives and it could be that BA runs such a scheme.

    I transferred over 600k points so fingers crossed.

    One other point which is worthwhile adding to the articles you run on HSBC points is the limit they have on the size of the transfer. One can request to transfer/convert up to 199,996 HSBC points in each transaction. Multiple transactions are possible on the same day.

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

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