Why the British Airways ‘triple Avios’ offer is worse than we thought

On Tuesday I wrote a piece about the new British Airways ‘triple Avios’ promotion.  To say that the website for it left something to be desired was putting it mildly, with contradictory statements, misleading statements due to poor punctuation and key terms and conditions missing.

Someone was reading the criticism on here and on Flyertalk, because on Tuesday night the registration page for the offer was changed.

The dodgy punctuation remains – ‘You can earn triple Avios on all British Airways flights and when you fly with our partners American Airlines, Finnair and Iberia on flights between Europe and North America.’ which implies that only flights between Europe and North America are included. This is not true.

There is now a FAQ.  This makes clear that when the website was wrong – and remains wrong – when it says that you should go to the BA Avios-earning calculator to work out how many Avios you will get.  The one thing you won’t be getting in many cases is 3 x the number shown in the calculator.

This is because triple Avios is now defined as triple BASE Avios before the application of any cabin bonus.

At least, I think it is, because as far as I can tell these two statements from the rules are totally contradictory:

8) Eligible Participants who book and complete their journeys on Qualifying Flights within the Promotional Period will qualify for a triple Avios bonus based on cabin of travel.

9) Eligible Participants will receive triple Avios Points before any cabin or tier bonuses on all tickets except reward flights.

In my original article on Tuesday I used this example:

Berlin to Hong Kong on British Airways, Club World, 8th-16th November

Cash cost: €1,737 (£1,454)

Avios earned as a Blue member (a status member would get more):

Calculated at this web page as (869 + 8969 + 8969 + 869) x 3 = 59,028

I was wrong.  This is because a cheap Club World ticket earns 150% of base Avios.  For any particular flight due to the cabin bonus.  The base Avios earned is what the BA calculator shows for a Y-class Economy ticket.

In reality, this is what you will get:

Berlin to Hong Kong on British Airways, Club World, 8th-16th November

Cash cost: €1,737 (£1,454)

Avios earned as a Blue member (a status member would get more):

Calculated at this web page as (869 + 8969 + 8969 + 869) + a bonus of (579 + 5979 + 5979 + 579) + (579 + 5979 + 5979 + 579) = 45,908

It still isn’t a bad deal, of course, just not as good as I first though.

If you haven’t already registered for triple Avios, the page you need is here.  It is open to readers worldwide.

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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.