The Wine Flyer Is Now LIVE! (BA’s Avios Earning Wine Shop)

British Airway’s new Avios earning wine shop, aptly named the Wine Flyer is now live. This is now an ‘in-house’ operation replacing BA’s existing Avios wine delivery service from Laithwaites. But with the ability to convert your Avios into Nectar points to spend at Sainsbury’s (for example), is the Wine Flyer competitive?

How many Avios will I earn from The Wine Flyer?

There are different earning rates depending on what you purchase. You will earn…

• 5 Avios per £1 spent for one-off purchases
• 10 Avios per £1 spent on subscriptions

Until the 31st of December 2022, there is an introductory offer running boosting the Avios earning rate. You will earn…

• 10 Avios per £1 on one-off purchases
• 15 Avios per £1 on subscriptions

You can check out the website here – https://thewineflyer.co.uk/

Is The Wine Flyer good value for cash purchases?

It’s OK. At least when supermarkets aren’t running multi-buy offers, but there is a £7.99 delivery charge if you spend under £125. Let’s look at some examples…

Champagne Moët & Chandon Rosé Impérial NV. £49.99 at the Wine Flyer. £40 at Asda. Even if you factor in the 500 Avios you’d earn it’s still poor value.

Whispering Angel Côtes de Provence Rosé 75cl. £19.99 at the Wine Flyer when you purchase 3 bottles. £19 at Sainsbury’s. The 600 Avios bonus you’d earn is probably enough to swing it in favour of the Wine Flyer.

Champagne Moët & Chandon Imperial Brut NV. £39.99 at the Wine Flyer. £39 at Sainsbury’s. The 400 Avios bonus you’d earn again is again probably enough to swing it in favour of the WIne Flyer.

Don’t forget unless you spend over £125 you will need to add a £7.99 delivery charge to your costings.

What about Avios purchases?

The ability to redeem Avios for purchases on the Wine Flyer is still coming soon. British Airways gave a small insight to the potential value when using Avios…

“Wine can be purchased from as little as 8,000 Avios per case of six, and there will be options to purchase with a combination of cash and Avios.”

Assuming the example above is based on the cheapest case the Wine Flyer Rosé Selection Six at £59.99 you would be receiving 0.75p worth of value per Avios point. Lower than the 0.8p you can get converting into Nectar to spend at Sainsbury’s and before considering you could pick up the wines in the case cheaper elsewhere…

Don’t forget you can also use your Avios for wine/champagne by converting your Avios into Nectar points and spending them in Sainsbury’s. You will get a guaranteed 0.8p per Avios point worth of value this way (assuming Sainsbury’s price is competitive!)

Can I earn Avios from buying wine/champagne at Sainsbury’s?

Yes, in addition to being able to redeem your Avios for wine/champagne (by converting Avios to Nectar) you can earn Avios from your purchases by converting the Nectar points you earn into Avios points. The earning rate (as you might expect) is a lot lower with 1 Nectar point per £1 (the equivalent of 0.625 Avios per £1.)

Conclusion

Whilst the earning rate is a lot lower (1 Nectar point per £1 (equivalent of 0.625 Avios per £1)) it’s unlikely the added Avios from The Wine Flyer will be enough to convince most shoppers to redeem at The Wine Flyer. What do you think of the launch of The Wine Flyer? Is it competitive enough for you to move your purchases to it?