You can now link your Nectar and Avios accounts – this is what you need to do

The Sainsbury’s and British Airways partnership is now up and running.

You can read our coverage of the Nectar and Avios partnership launch here. Our guide to earning Nectar points is here and our guide to spending Nectar points is here.

How can I transfer points between Avios and Nectar?

The website to link your Nectar and British Airways Executive Club accounts is now live.

On ba.com you should go to this page.

The screenshots below are from the Nectar site.

How do you earn your 500 bonus Avios and double Nectar points?

This is how the offer works.

You will receive 500 bonus Avios when you transfer 1,600 Nectar points into 1,000 Avios between 25th January and 14th February.

Once you have done this, you also qualify to receive double Nectar base points on all of your Sainsbury’s shopping up to 19th April.

For absolute clarity, you will NOT receive double Nectar base points on your shopping until you have made a transfer from Nectar into Avios.

Note that:

• the 1,600 Nectar points must be transferred into your Avios account in one go

• transfers of less than 1,600 Nectar points into Avios will NOT qualify you to earn double points on your Sainsbury’s shopping

• you do not receive the bonus if you transfer 1,000 Avios into 1,600 Nectar points and then reverse the transaction

• the 500 bonus Avios may take 28 days to arrive

Linking your accounts is very easy

Click on this page of the British Airways site.

Once you have provided logged in to both accounts, you’re done. It is very easy.

You will see both your balances together.

Once linked, you can make a transfer.

The minimum transfer out of Avios is 250 Avios, which converts to 400 Nectar points. Transfers must be in chunks of 250 Avios.

The minimum transfer out of Nectar is 400 Nectar points, which converts to 250 Avios. Transfers must be in chunks of 400 Nectar points.

Transfers are instantaneous, which is good news.

Do both accounts need to be in my name?

No.

You can link accounts in different surnames together.

I tried linking my Avios account to a Nectar account in a different name to mine and it worked fine.

This would represent a way of transferring Avios for free between two people by linking and unlinking different Nectar accounts – but be careful.

However, you cannot link and unlink an Avios or Nectar account more than four times in a calendar year. Once you have done this, you cannot link the Nectar card back to ANY Avios account, even one to which it has been previously linked. There is a risk that you end up with a Nectar account which cannot be linked to an Avios account again until 1st January 2022.

Auto-conversion is also possible

You can arrange a weekly conversion of your Avios to Nectar points or Nectar points to Avios.

Once activated, a transfer will take place weekly as long as your Avios balance is above 250 or your Nectar balance is above 400. You can choose which direction to auto-convert.

The ‘cap’ figures shown above – 40,000 Nectar points or 25,000 Avios – are the maximum that can be auto-converted per quarter.

There is a cap on what you can transfer

At no point during the launch of this partnership were we told that there was a cap on the number of points you can transfer. It wasn’t in any of the press information and it wasn’t discussed with me verbally.

There is a cap, however. That said, it is not a huge one.

You are restricted to converting a maximum of 80,000 Nectar points or 50,000 Avios per month via manual conversions.

This is not, I admit, a huge restriction although it will disappoint those who immediately planned to turn 1 million unspendable Avios into eBay, Argos or Sainsbury’s credit.

It appears that the 50,000 Avios per month cap on manual conversions is separate to the 25,000 Avios per QUARTER cap on auto-conversion transfers. This means that the average monthly cap out of Avios is actually 58,333 Avios.

As we are close to the end of the month, anyone looking to move as many Avios as possible should ensure that they use up their January allowance ASAP. You will then be able to move a further 50,000 Avios on 1st February.

If you are part of a British Airways Household Account, you can only transfer your own personal Avios. Other members of your Household Account will need to set up their own Nectar accounts.

To find out more

Go to ba.com here and link your accounts. You can make your first transfer immediately and the points will go across instantly.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (January 2024)

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:

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

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.

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, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

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.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.