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Earn 30,000 bonus Avios for every return Club World flight (15,000 in World Traveller Plus)

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British Airways has launched its semi-regular Autumn promotion on long-haul travel. And it’s a good one – 30,000 bonus Avios for a return flight (or two one-way flights) in Club World or First, and 15,000 bonus Avios for a return or two one-ways in World Traveller Plus.

There is, of course, a snag. This offer is not open to people with a BA account registered in the UK. But we’ll come back to that later – it is not necessarily a problem.

Here are the summary rules:

What is the best Avios credit card?

This offer is available on all long-haul routes operated by British Airways.

The offer is also available across all of the airlines in the ‘price fixing gang’ that BA has on North American flights, ie American, Finnair, Iberia, BA and OpenSkies (the BA subsidiary flying from Paris to New York). You could therefore fly Madrid-New York, Helsinki-New York, Zurich-New York (American) etc and it will still count.

Iberia and Finnair flights which do NOT go to North America from Europe will not count

The eligible booking classes are British Airways First (F, A), Club World (J, C, D, R, I), World Traveller Plus (W, E, T), OpenSkies Biz Bed (J, C, D, R, I), Prem Plus (W, E, T); American Airlines First (F, A, P), Business (J, D, R, I); Iberia Business (J, C, D, R, I), Finnair Business (J,C,D,I). In plain English, this means that even cheapo Club World tickets (which book into I or R) will count.

The travel dates are 1 September to 19 December.

Note that there is no upper limit to how many bonus Avios you can earn! If you have two long-haul flights on one itinerary (eg Moscow – London – New York return) then that counts as four flights and you would get 60,000 bonus Avios in Club World!

Getting around the residence restriction

The rules say:

Eligible Countries for this promotion are: Andora, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Vatican City State, Malta, Gibraltar, Albania, Russian federation, Tunisia, Turkey, Israel, Belarus, Iceland, Moldova, Serbia, Ukraine, Morocco, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Algeria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Macedonia, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Uganda, Montenegro, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Tanzania, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Botswana, Tome and principle, Seychelles, Senegal, Namibia, Sudan, Libya, Guinea.

As I see it, you have three options:

You could change your BA registered address to an address in one of the countries above. However, you would not be allowed to change it back for six months. Remember that any documents posted to you over the six months – including any new BAEC card – would go to that address. Note that if you move your BA account abroad, you cannot collect BA Amex points. They remain sitting with Amex and are only transferred across when your account returns to the UK. Any 241 voucher will also not be triggered.

You could open a new BAEC account purely for the purposes of this promotion, registered in one of these countries. This is strictly against BAEC rules, and BA will close the second account if it spots it. If you added your date of birth or passport number to the second account, you massively increase the chance of BA spotting the duplication. There is also NO WAY of merging the Avios points with your UK-based account, and of course your UK account would not benefit from the tier points. If you have BA status, you will not earn any status bonus on flights credited to this account as it will be Blue – that reduces the benefit of the 30,000 Avios bonus.

Assuming you are flying to the USA, you could register for the American Airlines version of this promotion. You earn the same amount of bonus Avios points. You would still need to change the country of your AA account to one of the participating ones (note that the country list is different for the AA offer) but you wouldn’t be running the risk of having two BA accounts open.

If you have a chunk of Club World flying coming up, you need to have a think about whether this is worth going for. It is a big bonus, though.

Full details can be found here at ba.com.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

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:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

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.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

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.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

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.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

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.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

American Airlines and AAdvantage, British Airways and Avios, Iberia and Iberia Plus

Comments (24)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • gnarlyoldgoatdude says:
    22 Aug22 August 06:37

    Are you saying that BA flights to and from Moscow is considered long haul for this promotion? I know that they use long haul equipment (I did a CW sector on Friday, which is why I’m writing from Irkutsk is Siberia).

    This could get very interesting. Especially as I have another address and passport/nationality to play with.

    • Rob says:
      22 Aug22 August 08:17

      Long haul plane = long haul route, yes? Just because it is close enough to be in a Reward Flight Saver Zone shouldn’t exclude it.

      One question is whether the ‘fifth freedom’ Caribbean flights, or Bahrain to Doha, count!

      • gnarlyoldgoatdude says:
        22 Aug22 August 08:24

        Hence the LHR-FRA try outs on the A380 are worth a go?!?!?

  • Roger says:
    22 Aug22 August 06:52

    The AA offer is interesting, even if it also excludes those of us in GB.

    BA’s T+Cs say register, book, fly and imply that registration is necessary before booking – whether that’s set in stone is not clear. AA’s T+Cs are simple, register before flying.

    I could relocate for either of these but would lose AmEx BAPP and Tesco privileges if I moved my BA address and BAEC tier points if I flew BA but using my AA number for the AA promotion. I need the TPs so will have to watch from the sidelines.

    • Modex says:
      22 Aug22 August 12:04

      I have a few club world return flights coming up this Fall (am a GCH) and am UK based (also have BA Amex PP). Would BA care that with a non-UK domicile I always fly ex-London? Would changing the Exec Club domicile stop Amex from transferring Avios to the account?

      If so, as my wife also has a BA Amex PP, would the below solution work?

      – I change my account address to a non-UK address for the next 6 months
      – My wife issues me a supplementary card which I use to help her hit her companion voucher threshold (I have hit mine already) + earn Avios

      Can I use the 2-4-1 voucher currently on my account to book flights in the next 6 months?

      • Rob says:
        22 Aug22 August 12:57

        Yes – excellent point which I forgot. If you move your BA account abroad, you cannot earn miles from the BA Amex (they stack up at Amex until you move back). You also cannot convert from Tesco, but you get around that by converting to avios.com and then to BA.

        Your plan for your wife is OK.

        I am NOT sure if you can still spend a 241 sitting in your account though.

        • flood says:
          22 Aug22 August 15:01

          Along with the miles stacking up at AMEX, does the spend towards the 241 stack up/count as well while the account is domiciled non-UK?

          • Rob says:
            22 Aug22 August 15:37

            I seem to remember that the spend racks up but the voucher will not be issued. When you move back ring and they release it. (I did this a few years ago when I moved my account abroad, and I’m sure that is how it worked.)

          • flood says:
            22 Aug22 August 16:09

            That sounds fair. So the miles and spend (towards 241) are definitely held and not lost forever (retrievable on “return” to the UK)..

          • Rob says:
            22 Aug22 August 17:21

            Definitely held, been there and done that.

          • Modex says:
            22 Aug22 August 18:48

            Thanks Raffles. Very helpful.

            One last question, would you suggest it is worth going through all the trouble if BA issue a double Avios promotion again for UK card holders (similar to last Fall that gave you 2* (miles+tier bonus+cabin bonus) avios) and not risk running foul of BA? (who I need to fly for all my corporate travel anyways!)

          • Rob says:
            22 Aug22 August 20:38

            Probably not, to be honest. You might want to wait until as late as you can and see if anything turns up.

  • Djouzef says:
    22 Aug22 August 07:51

    most of the tickets LON – NY return with BA are roughly:
    Premium Economy – £2270
    Business Class – £6574
    First Class £10176

    • Rob says:
      22 Aug22 August 08:13

      There was a £1,500 deal ex-UK knocking around the other day in Club World.

  • Evan says:
    22 Aug22 August 07:55

    I have a few USA flights coming up, but I’m UK based. I’m not quite following on how to earn Avios with the AA sign up. Wouldn’t you have to credit these miles to your AAdvatage account, thus meaning you’d receive AAdvantage miles and not Avios?

    • Rob says:
      22 Aug22 August 08:12

      Yes. But AA miles are redeemable for BA flights (although you can’t use the 2-4-1) and in general they are more valuable than Avios. No fuel surcharges when you fly on an AA plane to the US on AA miles; lower redemption rates to Middle East and India from London (and access to Etihad seats); no extra charge for a connection (whereas Avios does now charge for connections outside the UK).

      • Evan says:
        22 Aug22 August 08:27

        Appreciate this. What caught me off-guard was the,” Assuming you are flying to the USA, you could register for the American Airlines version of this promotion. You earn the same amount of bonus Avios points.”

        • Rob says:
          22 Aug22 August 09:14

          Sorry, bad writing. Same number of points / miles, but they are not Avios of course.

  • BritBronco says:
    22 Aug22 August 15:51

    There have been reports that you can’t register if you dont receive the email.
    It seems unlikely you would get the email now if you change your address at this stage.

    • Immunedata says:
      24 Aug24 August 20:57

      Just to follow up on this: I’ve changed my residency address to our company office in France where I am actually now based. I get an error message on signing up saying I am not eligible. Im guessing my lax updating has cost me 30,000 avios or can I contact Exec Club directly?

      • Rob says:
        24 Aug24 August 21:27

        I would ring them and say its not working, they can probably do it for you

  • Graeme says:
    23 Aug23 August 00:24

    This may be a daft question… I’m doing a few Canada trips from UK in Sept/Oct. If I book them via AA, with AAAdvantage card number (which I’ll reregister to one of the qualifying countries) but then use my BAEC gold when I take the flights (looking for the TPs), will the bonus still get credited to the AAAdvantage even though flight points are credited to BAEC?

    • Alan says:
      23 Aug23 August 00:27

      I’m afraid not – it’s flying rather than booking that they’re looking for, so you’d have to credit the flights to AAdvantage to receive the bonus. You could still use your Gold for lounge access, etc. but if you wanted the TPs then you’d need to credit the earnings for the flight to BAEC and thus would only be eligible for the points if you moved your account abroad and hadn’t yet made the bookings. It’s frustrating for there to be such a good offer but to miss out due to being in the wrong country!!

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