Bits: last day for Amex ‘Shop Small’, fly London to Perth non-stop with Qantas

News in brief:

Last day for American Express ‘Shop Small’

Don’t forget that today (Sunday) is the last day for the Amex ‘Shop Small’ offer.  You will receive £5 cashback on EVERY transaction you make for £10 or more at a participating ‘Shop Small’ business.

There are very few rules apart from the fact that you can only get one £5 cashback per shop per card.  You can, of course, register multiple American Express cards if you have more than one.

Any Amex-issued Amex card can be registered by going to the American Express website, logging in and looking under ‘My Offers’ on the statement page.

You can register supplementary cards (an additional card held by your partner on the same account) as long as it has a different card number to your main card.

The main Shop Small site is amexshopsmall.co.uk/shopper which contains a link to an interactive map where you can find participating shops in your area.  This map is pretty useless though, including shops which do not take Amex or are closed.  There are also lots of participating shops not featured – the ‘Cards Galore’ near us triggered a £5 credit when I bought £10 of stamps.

The easiest thing to do is to pay with an Amex whenever you can today and see what turns up your statement next week.

17 hour flights to Australasia announced by Qantas

Qantas has announced plans to fly DIRECT from London to Perth from 2018.

This will be a whopping 17 hour flight, covering 9,000 miles.  It is only possible due to the new Boeing 787 aircraft that Qantas will begin to receive next year.

There are a few other flights of a similar length (I think Santiago, when it launches in January, will be the longest British Airways flight at 14 hours) but none from London.  Air India, oddly, holds the record at 9,400 miles for Delhi to San Francisco.

I am not sure what 17 hours in a 787 economy seat will be like – you have to assume that Qantas will not use one of the very dense seating configurations used by other airlines – but as a Business Class flight it would be manageable.

Of course, as Perth will not be the final destination for most passengers, a connecting flight will still be required.  On that basis I think a stopover elsewhere – which would allow you to fly both legs on long-haul aircraft – may be preferable.

One group of people it might work for is Avios collectors.  I assume that getting short haul connections on Qantas with Avios is relatively simple, so as long as you can get the long haul you are sorted.  You won’t have the problem of trying to match up availability for two long haul flights.  That said, I have generally seen Australasia as a poor use of Avios given that cash tickets are usually available for under £2,000 if you are not too picky about your airline.

You can find out more in this Bloomberg article here.

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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.