How to use the British Airways shopping program

More than 600 stores participate in the British Airways shopping program, including Apple, Best Buy, Home Depot and Marriott hotels. You can use this program to shop and earn rewards points that are redeemable for airfare or cabin upgrades. Just be sure to read the offer descriptions as some products, such as gift cards, may not be eligible for earning points.

How does the British Airways shopping program work?

Using the British Airways shopping portal is straightforward — the more you spend, the more you earn. Let’s say you want to subscribe to Bloomberg Businessweek. With the current offer, you’ll earn 25x Avios. Since a one-year subscription costs $70, you’ll earn 1,750 Avios right off the bat.

Or say you want to renovate at home. Purchases made at Houzz earn 10x Avios. If you spend $5,000, that’s 50,000 Avios. Depending on the store, you can earn up to 30 points per dollar. Some stores let you earn a batch of points for eligible purchases.

How to use the British Airways shopping program

Before you start using the program, you need to become an Executive Club member. This is the British Airways frequent flyer program and it’s free to sign up. Once you’re set:

1. Go to the British Airways shopping website.
2. Log in with your Executive Club account number and password.
3. Search for your favorite store or look for special offers.
4. Start shopping.

How credit cards can help you earn points with British Airways shopping program

To earn points through the program, you can use any credit card you want. However, using a British Airways credit card can help you earn additional points per dollar spent.

For example, use a British Airways credit card to buy $300 worth of clothing from Macy’s with a 6x points promotion, and you would earn 2,100 Avios points. Use any other card and you would earn 1,800 points instead.

Another way to get more Avios points is to use a rewards card that lets you transfer points to Avios. For example, you can earn 1x points on all purchases and 2x points on travel and dining purchases using the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. With this card, you can transfer your points to Avios at a 1:1 ratio.

Compare British Airways credit cards

What retailers are available through the British Airways shopping program?

There are more than 600 participating stores in the British Airways shopping portal, some of which are:

Category	Retailer
Banking and insurance	Brian Tracy, Intuit Turbo Tax, Lexington Law and The Motley Fool
Children and family	AliExpress, buybuy Baby, Chicco Shop, GAP, GapKids, Pottery Barn Kids and shopDisney
Clothes and fashion	Bloomingdale’s, Groupon, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Nike, Samsonite, Shoes.com and Swarovski
Department stores	Alibaba, Belk, eBay, Fingerhut, QVC, Selfridges, Target and Sears
Electricals	Apple, Best Buy, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Logitech, Newegg, Samsung and Walmart
Entertainment and leisure	Alibris, eBooks.com, Guitar Center, iTunes, Jet.com, LivingSocial, Lonely Planet and Warner Bros Online Shop
Food and drink	Bake Me A Wish, Blue Apron, MagicKitchen.com, Omaha Steaks, Restaurant.com, Wine.com and zChocolat.com
Gifts and flowers	Barron’s, Calendars.com, The Economist and The Wall Street Journal
Flowers and gifts	Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Cookies by Design, Groupon, Lindt Chocolatier, Omaha Steaks, Restaurant.com, Vitamix, Wine.com and WSJwine
Food and dining	Blue Nile, CafePress, FromYouFlowers.com, ProFlowers, Raise.com and Vera Bradley
Health and beauty	Benefit Cosmetics, Clinique, Jo Malone London, Sephora, SpaFinder and Yves Rocher
Home and garden	Ace Hardware, Bed Bath & Beyond, Blinds.com, Home Depot, Houzz, Lowe’s and Overstock.com
Luxury	Farfetch, Hugo Boss, J.Crew, Links of London, Michael Kors, Nancy Meyer and Saks Fifth Avenue
Office and business	Best Buy, Bloomberg Businessweek, FedEx Office, GoDaddy, Office Depot, Office Designs, Staples and VistaPrint
Sport and fitness	Athleta, DC Shoes, Finish Line, Footlocker.com, Nike, O’Neill, Quiksilver, The North Face, Timberland and Under Armour
Toys and games	Fisher-Price, Gamestop, Lego, Loot Crate and The Lakeside Collection
Travel	Agoda, Best Western, eBags, IHG hotels, Lonely Planet, Marriot, Radisson Hotels and SeaWorld Parks
Utilities and telecoms	iCracked, T-Mobile, Verizon, Vision Global WiFi and Wireless Emporium

Note: With most participating stores, you can only earn points if you make the purchase at the US store. Shopping at an international store may prevent you from earning any points on your purchases.

Read more about loyalty shopping programs

• How to use the Alaska Air shopping program
• How to use the American Airlines shopping program
• How to use the Amex shopping program
• How to use the Chase shopping portal

• How to use Delta’s SkyMiles shopping program
• How to use the Southwest Airlines shopping program
• How to use the United Airlines shopping program

Bottom line

Making purchases through the British Airways shopping program is a great way to earn additional rewards points. You can earn up to 30x points on purchases you’d make anyway at popular brands and stores.

However, if you don’t find this program appealing, check out other reward credit cards and compare your options.

Frequently asked questions

• Can I use Avios points to make purchases within the program?

  No. You can only make purchases at the British Airways shopping program with US dollars.

• Can I earn miles for in-store purchases?

  No, there’s no such option at this time.

• Do I need to have a British Airways credit card to earn points through the program?

  No. Any payment card works. But if you want to earn additional points on your purchases, using a British Airways cobranded credit card can certainly help you out.

• Is it more expensive to shop through the British Airways shopping portal?

  No. It’s the same price if you skip the portal and go to the store directly. The only difference is that you earn Avios points when you shop through the portal.