Bits: Cathay Pacific sale, BA launches Tesco competition, Qatar to Heathrow for £700

News in brief:

Cathay Pacific sale prices reduced further – and earn Avios

Cathay Pacific sent me a press release about their current sale, and before I got around to running it I had another one saying that prices had been cut further!

The sale runs until the end of May although these additional discounts are only available until 17th May.  Headline economy prices include Phuket from £419, Hong Kong from £369 and Tokyo from £569.  Business class to Hong Kong starts at £1,659 for travel until March 2017.

The full list of offers from London and Manchester can be found here.

Remember that, as a oneworld partner, you will earn Avios and British Airways tier points when flying Cathay.

No Tesco conversion bonus to Avios, but a competition

As I wrote last week, Virgin Atlantic is currently running a 15% bonus when you convert your Tesco Clubcard vouchers to Virgin Flying Club.

British Airways is not.  Instead, they are running another competition:

For every £5 in Tesco Clubcard vouchers you exchange for Avios by midnight 31 May 2016, you’ll receive one entry into a prize draw, which includes a pair of Club Europe return flights and three nights in a 4* hotel, in either Chania, Crete; Biarritz, France; Palermo, Sicily or Menorca, Spain — some of our new summer short haul destinations.

Those of you who auto-convert your Clubcard points into Avios (which I do NOT recommend) receive two entries for every £5.

You can find more details on the ‘Tesco to British Airways’ page of tesco.com here.

The reason I don’t recommend auto-converting Clubcard points to Avios is that the downside outweighs the upside.  Clubcard vouchers convert to Avios within 24 hours on demand, so if a good redemption pops up you have time to transfer.

You would lose out, however, if Tesco launched a very generous special offer with another partner.  Perhaps you feel the need to buy a gift at Goldsmiths (3x face value), put some furniture into Safestore (3x face value) or buy a Eurotunnel ticket (3x face value)?  These are all good value deals where I would happily take 3x face value on my vouchers rather than Avios points.

Very cheap Qatar Airways flight TO Heathrow

Over the Summer, Qatar Airways is offering flights from Colombo in Sri Lanka to Heathrow – and back again – for £700 return in Business Class.

How could you use this deal?

You could treat it as a one-way back from the Maldives (a very short hop from Colombo) and throw away the return

You could use it to straddle two holidays a few months apart

You could nest it inside an Avios ticket if you travel to the region a lot, eg fly London to the region on BA, come back on Qatar from Colombo, return to Colombo a few weeks later on Qatar and then do the last leg back on BA

Availability at this price is limited but it is there if you trawl through the Qatar Airways website here.  You are looking for an outbound at 54,000 LKR and an inbound at 90,000 LKR.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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, and the standard card is FREE. Capital on Tap cards also have no FX fees.

Capital on Tap Visa

NO annual fee, NO FX fees and points worth 1 Avios per £1 Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year 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.