GWR drops Nectar points bonus for train passengers

‘Getting 1% of your GWR spending in inflexible Nectar points was never going to move the needle when people were deciding how to travel,’ says Head for Points editor

Departing soon: GWR passengers at Paddington will lose the right to earn Nectar points at the end of the month (Simon Calder)

“A night at the cinema, a wardrobe update, or even a weekend away” – that is the offer made by GWR, the train operator linking London Paddington with the West of England and South Wales.

But GWR will end its Nectar points scheme – which is owned by Sainsbury’s – on 30 March.

The firm said: “We have taken this decision as we adapt to the impact of Covid-19 on the railway and continue to evaluate our offer to deliver the best value for our customers and taxpayers.”

Until the scheme closes, passengers can collect two Nectar points for every £1 spent on train tickets online – including for travel after 30 March – or 2,500 points for an annual season ticket.

Each Nectar point is worth 0.5p, representing a one per cent saving on rail tickets – or £12.50 on a year’s season ticket.

They are also interchangeable with the British Airways loyalty scheme, Avios, at a rate of 1.6 Nectar points for each Avios.

Rob Burgess, editor of the frequent-traveller website Head for Points, said: “The list of companies that have pulled out of Nectar since it launched is huge.

“The rewards are simply not enough to drive changes in customer behaviour.

“The ability to get back 1 per cent of your GWR spending in inflexible Nectar points was never going to move the needle when people were deciding how to travel.

“The drain on GWR’s pockets, on the other hand, would have been very noticeable.”

LNER, which runs trains on the East Coast main line from London to Yorkshire, north-east England and Scotland, left the Nectar scheme in 2020. It now has its own loyalty scheme, Perks, effectively offering a 2 per cent discount.

South Western Railway left the Nectar programme in 2021.