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You can now transfer ‘pending’ Tesco Clubcard points to Avios or Virgin Flying Club

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Most Head for Points readers know that both Avios and Virgin Flying Club are Tesco Clubcard partners.  This allows you to transfer your Clubcard points into miles instead of using them in-store.

It is a decent deal.  £1 of Tesco Clubcard vouchers converts into 240 Avios or 250 Virgin Flying Club miles.  This is substantially better value than using your Clubcard vouchers in-store for face value.

You can convert to Avios via this page of the Tesco website and to Virgin Flying Club via this page.  The points usually arrive overnight but this is not guaranteed.

To be honest, I prefer to take Uber credit rather than airline miles.  £1 of Tesco Clubcard vouchers gets you £3 of Uber and / or Uber Eats credit.  This is as good as cash to me which means that I am effectively ‘buying’ Avios for 1.25p if I choose them instead.  I don’t value them that highly.

But there was always a snag ….

Tesco only issued your Clubcard points once per quarter.  This meant that, if you had a large number of Clubcard points due to you, you had to wait up to 12 weeks to get your hands on them.  This was clearly no good if you had a redemption flight to book.

Tesco has now changed its rules.  You can request your ‘pending’ Clubcard points whenever you like.  You can then transfer them to Avios or Virgin Flying Club.

There are some rules ….

There are a couple of points to note about this new feature.

The key one is that it is disabled for two weeks before your February, May, August and November Clubcard points statements are generated.  This is to stop you withdrawing your points in the period that Tesco is printing and posting your statement, which might mean that you ended up with two lots of points.

Secondly, using this feature requires you to opt out of receiving paper Clubcard statements.  Future statements will be sent by email.

You need at least 150 Clubcard points to request instant vouchers, but this is the same rule that was in place for triggering paper vouchers so no-one loses out here.

This is, undoubtedly, a genuine improvement to Tesco Clubcard for miles collectors.  It is just a shame that Tesco has gutted the Clubcard scheme over the last two years, especially with the closure of Tesco Direct and Tesco Wine, making it hard to run up substantial points balances.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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 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 card

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.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Tesco Clubcard, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (86)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Nick says:
    20 Jan20 January 07:04

    Yes, it is indeed possible through the Tesco website.
    Go to “My Clubcard Account”
    Go to “Vouchers”
    Go to “Turn Points Into Faster Vouchers”

  • Ken Middleton says:
    20 Jan20 January 08:13

    I love the Tesco points scheme, even with all its quirks. Using my Tesco Premium card I have just managed to trigger the end of year bonus points (they haven’t acknowledged it yet though). It took me about 9 months to spend £5000. This gets me a bonus of 12000 Avios, plus the credit card points and Clubcard points. To do this I had to buy the groceries and fuel primarily at Tesco, rather than Morrisons or Sainsburys. All 3 supermarkets are close. I also bought all the wine I needed from Tesco, mainly on 25% off days. Id did complain to Tesco about the closure of Tesco Direct making it difficult to collect the end of year bonus, but all I got was a take it or leave it reply with an option to cancel the card and get some money back. However, others must have complained too as they will now address the issue when the Premium card returns this year with a lower fee.

  • Genghis says:
    20 Jan20 January 08:34

    Bit late reporting, Rob. Been working since early Dec IIRC.

    • Paul says:
      20 Jan20 January 09:24

      Even before then. I did a faster voucher transfer at the beginning of October last year

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:
      20 Jan20 January 09:44

      Still news to me and very useful when I trade in a large voucher and have previously had to wait a quarter for the change.

    • BJ says:
      20 Jan20 January 09:48

      Rob probably gihued it would be a good idea to give people a couple of months to collect 350 points before reporting it! Clubcard really has gone down the drain with the exception of opportunities on fuel. Cannot see that lasting much longer tbh.

      • Russ says:
        20 Jan20 January 17:30

        Not everyone shops at Tesco so it isn’t high on their priority list to keep tabs on. Don’t think mine is even on Award…thingy

    • Rob says:
      20 Jan20 January 10:43

      Only went onto the app as an option this week which is the only place I look!

  • John says:
    20 Jan20 January 08:35

    Why not just scrap the normal voucher system altogether? Are there people who still like using vouchers to get 1% off in Tesco?

    • Mark says:
      20 Jan20 January 10:52

      If you saw the stats, I think you would be amazed at the numbers who don’t have computer or smartphone, nor even a bank account. I guess these would use CC vouchers etc in the shop and think they were getting a good deal.

    • Spurs Debs says:
      20 Jan20 January 10:56

      Yes, the vet i use told me just this week she uses hers in shop, she knows it’s the worse value but she said it suits her the best. Most of friends also use them in the shop.

      • Matt says:
        20 Jan20 January 11:36

        I’d also imagine the vast majority of people use them in-store as it’s the most obvious unless you’re sussed up on the savvy front.

        • Lady London says:
          20 Jan20 January 17:23

          Even the sussed ones seem to just say its easier to use them in the shop.

          I have a keen Tesco friend who used her Tesco points for some Avios that she got an rfs flight with. She said it was all too much bother and she’ll just use them for money off her shopping in future.

  • Mikeact says:
    20 Jan20 January 08:47

    I think I’ll leave the instant conversation option as I’m still on the Grandfather rate, and if rather not mess that up.

  • Roger says:
    20 Jan20 January 10:34

    I know the answer would be NO; still trying.

    When I transfer Amex MR to Delta SkyMiles, are this Elite Qualifying?
    i.e. would it count towards Elite MQM – Medallion Qualifying Miles?

    Any other avenues for earning MQM other than flying?
    In UK of course we do not have any Delta credit card, so that does not seem an option.

  • Peter K says:
    20 Jan20 January 10:36

    Except he doesn’t shop at either. Plus the COOP is much more than 5% more expensive to stay off with.

  • Rob says:
    20 Jan20 January 11:05

    Tesco Metro is 45 seconds from my house, Co-Op is 2 miles …..

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