Three ‘buy Avios’ bonuses – are they any good?
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British Airways and avios.com launched their latest ‘buy Avios’ promotions on Monday. Iberia Plus has been running a similar offer for a few days. How do they compare?
British Airways and avios.com
Both ba.com (buy here) and avios.com (buy here, scroll down to the Avios logo) are offering the following deal:
15% bonus when buying 5,000 – 26,000 Avios
25% bonus when buying the annual cap of 27,000 Avios
At the cap, you are paying £447 for 33,350 Avios. That is 1.34p each. This is not bad if you need to top up an account.
This offer is available until 23rd March.
Iberia Plus
The Iberia offer is slightly different:
The bonus is a flat 20% on all purchases of 4,000 Avios or more
The Iberia cap is higher than BA’s, at 35,000 Avios per year
At the cap, you are paying €665 for 42,000 Avios. That is 1.32p each. However, if your credit card imposes a surcharge for foreign currency payments, you would end up paying 3% more.
The Iberia offer is only available until 23rd February.
Remember that you cannot transfer Avios from Iberia Plus to ba.com or avios.com until your Iberia Plus account is 90 days old.
If you are interested, the ba.com and avios.com offers are the easiest to use, and will also be the cheapest unless you have an FX-free credit card. Whilst there is a cap, don’t forget that you can in fact buy up the annual cap in all three programmes and then merge the Avios points together using ‘Combine My Avios’ online.
Purchases of Avios points go through your credit card as ‘points.com’ and do not therefore count as a BA purchase. You will not receive bonus Avios on your credit card for BA spending.
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 Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review
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.
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