Best BA Shopping rates right now — the retailers worth activating in 2026

If you've already got Boardingpoints installed you'll have noticed the rates vary wildly between retailers. Some give you 1 Avios per £1. Others give you 15x or more. Knowing which ones are worth prioritising can make a real difference to how quickly your balance grows. Here's a breakdown of the best rates on BA Shopping right now, by category.

The highest rates overall

Before we get into categories, these are the standout rates worth knowing about:

SHEIN UK — 25x The highest per-£1 rate of any mainstream fashion retailer. If you shop there anyway, it's worth activating every single time.

Appleyard Flowers — 30x One of the best rates on the entire portal. If you're buying flowers for someone, this is a no-brainer over a high street florist.

The Protein Works — 16x Surprisingly high for a supplements brand. Worth switching to if you're already buying protein or vitamins elsewhere.

Sim Local — 20x Travel eSIMs for when you're abroad. High rate and a genuinely useful product for frequent travellers.

Diptyque — 18x Luxury candles and fragrance. If you're going to spend the money anyway, 18x is exceptional.

Beauty & health

This is one of the strongest categories on BA Shopping — lots of competition between retailers seems to push rates up.

• LOOKFANTASTIC — 15x — one of the best beauty rates on the portal
• Sephora UK — 15x — matches LOOKFANTASTIC, worth bookmarking
• Kerastase UK — 15x — haircare, excellent if you're a regular customer
• Myprotein — 12x — supplements and sports nutrition
• allbeauty — 12x — good for fragrance and gift sets
• Space NK — 9x — premium beauty, solid rate
• Boots — 6x — lower than the others but a household name everyone uses
• Superdrug — 6x — worth activating on your weekly shop

Department stores & luxury

• Harrods — 13x — one of the best department store rates anywhere
• Selfridges — 12x — consistently strong
• Harvey Nichols — 12x — matches Selfridges
• Liberty London — 12x — luxury gifts, stationery, fashion
• Tommy Hilfiger UK — 12x — worth noting for clothing purchases

Fashion

• boohoo — 9x — highest rate of the mainstream fashion brands
• JD Sports — 9x — trainers and sportswear
• H&M — 8x — good rate for fast fashion you'd buy anyway
• Adidas UK — 8x — if you're buying trainers, activate this
• New Look — 7x — solid for everyday clothing
• ASOS — 6x — new customers only, worth noting

Electronics & tech

• Dyson — 10x — excellent rate for high-value purchases. A £400 vacuum is 4,000 Avios
• LEGO UK — 10x — great for gifts, especially before Christmas
• Apple Store — 6x — not the highest but given basket sizes, the Avios add up fast
• Samsung UK — 5x — worth activating before any big tech purchase
• Currys — 3x — lower than competitors but covers a huge range of products

Hotels & travel

• IHG Hotels — 15x — outstanding hotel rate, especially on longer stays
• ALL Accor Live Limitless — 15x — covers Mercure, Novotel, Sofitel and more
• Viator — 14x — tours and experiences, great for holidays
• Agoda — 11x — strong hotel booking rate
• Hotels.com — 8x — solid and widely used
• Booking.com — 6x — lower than Hotels.com, worth comparing before booking

The hidden gems — services & insurance

This is where most people don't think to look, but the Avios can be huge because they're fixed amounts per policy rather than per £1:

• Uswitch Broadband — 15,000 Avios per switch — enough for a short-haul flight
• Sky — 6,500 Avios for signing up
• Confused.com Car Insurance — 3,600 Avios per policy
• Go.Compare Car Insurance — 3,500 Avios per policy
• MoneySupermarket Car Insurance — 2,850 Avios per policy

If your car insurance or broadband is up for renewal, comparing through one of these first could earn you thousands of Avios in one go.

How to make sure you actually earn them

All of these rates only apply if you activate BA Shopping before checkout. Visit the retailer directly and the cookie never gets set — no Avios.

That's exactly what Boardingpoints is for. It detects when you're on a supported retailer and reminds you to activate before you get to checkout.