The British Airways shopping portal is offering double points for all merchants this weekend.
Important: When you browse to the British Airways Shopping Portal make sure to switch to the US version of the site if it defaults to the UK site:
This offer has led to some fantastic deals. One that jumps out at me is the ability to buy Avios for less than a penny per point.
Do you remember my post “Buy miles, get a date (76 miles per dollar)“? In that post I showed how you can use the BA Shopping portal to buy Avios for 1.32 cents per mile by signing up for a dating service (regardless of whether you actually use that service). That deal was based on an earning rate of 76 Avios per dollar. Now, BA is offering double points: 150 Avios per dollar! This is for first time match.com customers only.
UPDATE 3/2/17 10:50pm Eastern time: The match.com deal appears to have expired. Clicking through the portal produces an error that says, “Invalid Publisher Code, Offer, or Publisher – Advertiser Partnership Status”. We will keep you updated if there is any news to report. eHarmony may still be alive.
Assuming that Match.com still has a $197.88 package available, this weekend’s deal should result in 29,682 Avios! That comes to .67 cents per Avios ($0.0067)! That’s dirt cheap! And while Avios points aren’t great for all awards, they do have extreme sweet spots that make them very much worthwhile. I don’t usually buy miles anymore (since I earn so many from signup bonuses and promotions), but at this price I’ll consider it. A similar play should be possible with eharmony as well (but I haven’t researched that option).
UPDATE: Readers have reported that you can un-bundle your subscription to Match.com to make it more expensive. This One Mile at a Time post has the details on how to do this and earn up to 82,285 Avios for $548.57. You can also see our update.
Other deals
Check your Amex Offers for deals that overlap with these. For example, you could stack the current Sunglass Hut Amex Offer (Spend $200, Get $50 Back) with the BA portal’s 16X rewards.
Another stack we noticed (by “we” I mean “Nick”) is Ebags which has both an Amex Offer and is 24X through the BA portal.
Nick also pointed out the following:
- T-Mobile 15,000 for new service.
- Safeway…..2,000 for new customers. I don’t see any minimum purchase. They only deliver in California, Arizona, Maryland, Oregon, Delaware, Virginia, Washington and Washington D.C. Might have to send a can of coffee to someone.
What deals have you found?
This offer is only available through March 5th. Please help out other readers by reporting in the comments below any great deals you find! And, likewise, read the comments before shopping to get ideas from other readers. Thanks!
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Since the Match offer was dead I went through and tried to sign up for the eharmony one. It seemed like a decent deal until I read over the terms more carefully:
“I agree that I will be charged $79.80 today and 2 subsequent monthly payments of $79.80 each, for a total of $239.40 for a 12 month term; my subscription will automatically renew on these same terms until I cancel; I authorize eHarmony to charge my card now and upon each monthly payment and each renewal; and a cancellation will be effective on the next renewal date of my subscription.”
The terms for Cancellations is where they get you:
“If you purchase a subscription on an installation payment basis (such as three-part pay), cancellation will not affect your obligation to pay the total contractual amount due on your subscription and your credit card will continue to be charged the scheduled payments until the remaining balance is paid in full. ”
So in effect you will be required to pay $239.40 for 10,374 Avios giving you a price per point of $0.043. Ouch! Not a great way to buy Avios. Just thought I would give people the heads up so they don’t go through the trouble of setting up an account just to spend way too much on purchasing Avios.
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I signed up yesterday morning for $572.57 while it still showed 150 point/$. I just received an email from support@shopping.ba.com below. What should I do now?
Our merchant Match.com US has informed us that you made a transaction with them on 02-Mar-17, and as a result the allocated Avios are pending.
Retailer: Match.com US Pending Avios: 34184
I was thinking about using my recent AmEx Offer-purchased Neiman Marcus giftcard at Last Call through this portal, until I saw this fine print:
“Avios will not be awarded on the purchase of gift vouchers or purchases made using gift vouchers, which for avoidance of doubt includes gift cards, gift certificates or on VAT, sales, use, excise or other applicable taxes, and delivery charges.”
So, does this mean you can’t pay with a giftcard and get points? Guess I’ll be sticking with United’s shopping portal. 🙁
I’m on match.com so I can’t take advantage of the promo but will try eharmony instead.
On match.com, you can “hide” your profile so it can’t be seen by anyone.
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Does it matter what CC you use?
No. You can pay with any card.
Does anyone know if switching to the USA site is necessary to get the points or is it recommended to see the offer? I got the offer under the default UK site (even though im in the US) and signed up under the UK page.
I have the $15 off $75 purchase Amex Offer at eBags for 3 different Amex cards. Can I possibly purchase a $75 eBags gift card with each card and get the $15 off on each Amex card. Then use the $225 in GC’s and go through the BA portal at 24 avios/$ for Bose headphones? Any thoughts or has anyone tried this? Thanks in advance. The terms for the eBags Amex Offer doesn’t mention gift cards:
Terms
Valid online only. See merchant website for shipping policy. Some merchants may not ship to all areas. Must add offer to Card and use same Card to redeem. Limit 1 statement credit(s) per American Express® Card across all American Express offer channels. Statement credit will appear on your billing statement within 90 days after 4/30/2017, provided that American Express receives information from the merchant about your qualifying purchase. Note that American Express may not receive information about your qualifying purchase from merchant until all items from your qualifying purchase have been provided/shipped by merchant. Statement credit may be reversed if qualifying purchase is returned/cancelled. If American Express does not receive information that identifies your transaction as qualifying for the offer, you will not receive the statement credit. For example, your transaction will not qualify if it is not made directly with the merchant. In addition, in most cases, you may not receive the statement credit if your transaction is made with an electronic wallet or through a third party or if the merchant uses a mobile or wireless card reader to process it. By adding an offer to a Card, you agree that American Express may send you communications about the offer.
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Can you cancel the subscription after you’ve paid for it? I’m married and have no interest in the whole thing other than earning the Avios. Advice anyone?
Just use a throwaway email and never check it again?
That might work. Thanks for the suggestion.
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Second thoughts on this. Everyone that is a miles hacker that signs up for this that doesn’t plan to use it for dating should post a special message in their profile like “mile earning professional” or something so you can find each other on the site 🙂
When do these type of miles usually post?
[…] follow-up on this morning’s post about the incredible British Airways portal promotion: Readers have pointed out that you can un-bundle a Match.com subscription to earn even more […]
I don’t see the T-Mobile offer mentioned. Is it possible Nick found this on the UK site? Or do you have a link?
Sorry. Here it is, https://www.shopping.ba.com/utilities-and-telecoms/t-mobile-usa
It’s there. You might have to change the country back to USA as I’m pretty sure the portal always defaults to the British version, but here’s the link:
https://www.shopping.ba.com/utilities-and-telecoms/t-mobile-usa?lang=en&
If you go to Cashbackmonitor, you’ll see that they also have the same link and have it labeled at 15,000:
http://www.cashbackmonitor.com/cashback-store/t-mobile/
Enjoy!
[…] I wrote about earlier (and as discovered by Frequent Miler), British Airways’ online shopping portal is offering double Avios on purchases this weekend. […]
As read on another site, you can unbubdle your subscription for match.com to make it more expensive.
Yep ironic one of the few instances where you actually want to pay more.
Ok, I gave it a try. Is there any way to see whether it tracked properly?
Ah thank you! I just subscribed for their 12 month subscription for $274. Fingers crossed the miles post correctly, I will update my comment when it does.
[…] (Tip of the hat to Frequent Miler) […]
Greg – have they a history of honoring these deals?
I do not want to waste $200 only to find BA refuse to pay up the Avios
Yes. This is a very old data point but I earned over 150,000 Avios several years ago when they had a ridiculous Nordstrom deal. Some people had to fight for those miles, but for me they posted automatically. Make sure to keep screenshots (including terms for match.com) and you should be fine. FYI current terms state: “Please note: the stated reward is for first-time Match.com paid subscriptions only”
Still works. Make sure to switch to the US version of the site.
Maybe fix your link to reflect that…?
Seems to default to UK regardless of the link to their home page. Maybe a deeper link will work…
Looks like they discovered their mistake and it’s gone. DARN!
I just saw it on the regular non-BA Avios US site as 75 per $1 but not sure if that will double with the promotion.
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