British Airways Executive Club launches ‘birthday bonus’ – up to 30,000 Avios

British Airways Executive Club has launched a ‘birthday bonus’ promotion – although if your birthday isn’t in February you won’t have heard about it!

This is actually quite a clever one, I think.

Reader Kevin, who sent me this, has his birthday in February.  On Monday he received an email offering him a big Avios bonus if he booked a flight before 31st December to take in the month of his birthday.

The bonuses are:

• European economy return – 4,000 Avios
• European Club Europe return – 8,000 Avios
• Long-haul economy or World Traveller Plus return – 15,000 Avios
• Long-haul Club World return – 30,000 Avios

Here is another interesting one – the bonus is valid on cash, Avios and ‘Avios and money’ bookings.

This represents an excellent deal, especially for the solo traveller.  (The bonus is per booking, not per person, so it is worth more to a single traveller.)  On a short European flight, you would be getting 4,000 Avios back after spending just 9,000.

And on a long-haul economy flight to the Middle East or New York, you would be getting 15,000 Avios back after spending just 40,000.

If buying a ticket for cash, the ‘sweet spot’ is the 15,000 Avios points for a long-haul trip.  If you could bag a cheap enough ticket, the bonus Avios – plus the Avios from the flight itself – could effectively make the flight almost free!

For those of us without a February birthday (and perhaps only a few of those were targetted) we will have to wait and see if this promo continues.

The bonus is strictly targetted, with the bonus Avios posting in arrears, presumably after BA manually works through a list of people who were invited to see where they travelled. 

You only get the bonus on one flight, but if you take multiple flights during your birthday month, you get the highest bonus to which you would have been entitled.

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

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.